It is generally understood that most LHB's suffer a reduction in walks and power against LHB's, even if their batting average is not too dramatically lower. If Corey Hart starts having leg problems or, heaven forbid, goes down with an injury this lineup would be in dire straits against LHPs. You need more depth than that. A guy who can step into the lineup and provide some offense, even if just for a few weeks, seems the minimum necessary to address this problem. Cano understands this. Let's hope Zduriencik is giving it due weight. It's not been uncommon in his regime for the M's to fail to address apparent glaring needs in the offseason that inevitably show up during the regular season as genuine glaring needs.

Would you trade Franklin to the Dodgers for Van Slyke? He brings the RH COF bat the team needs. Might be a bit of an overpay but I'm not seeing anything out there any better.

I think Franklin is worth more than Van Slyke; more upside, even if less of a fit for the Ms right now. But since Chris Withrow seems to be the odd one out in the bullpen after the Dodgers' FA signings, I'd think Withrow and Van Slyke for Franklin and somebody like Kohlscheen or the like that might be useful in a year or so, would be close. All that said, Van Slyke and Romero seem close to comparable, with Romero's flexibility vs. Van Slyke's experience balancing out. LA needs infield depth and Romero has shown the ability to handle 2B, 3B, and LF. If Stefan could show the ability to hit MLB(tm) pitching during ST, I wouldn't be surprised to see something like that. Alternatively, Tenbrink plus a useful arm might be close as well.

Van Slyke will be 28 in July.  Franklin turned 23 this week.
Van Slyke is in the style of what we need, but until a couple seasons ago he was basically Alex Liddi. So how much do you trust Van Slyke's conversion from .270/.330/.440 hitter to a .330/.420/.580 masher in AAA?
He seems to hit both lefties and righties well, but Franklin's downside is a couple WAR a year at second.
Maybe Van Slyke's a righty Crush Davis, and I would love that, but Franklin's a lot to bet that it's true. OTOH I wanted Goldschmidt from the D-Backs a couple years ago, but if he was DFAed then like Van Slyke was before last season, he'd have been picked up.
Nobody wanted Van Slyke then. I'm not sure his value should go from "not even just a roster spot" to "Nick Franklin" based on what he did last year. Maybe I'm wrong. The value of "RH Jayson Werth Masher" would be very high, and Jayson wasn't a full timer til age 29. It does happen.
If it happened to us with Van Slyke, I wouldn't cry. ;)
~G

Cole Gillespie fill the FGutz role and keep Franklin. Cole is a good hitter, good defender in the corners andpassable in center... Plus he is from OSU where Pat Casey teaches his players to be team first, dirt dog players. He would be a great 4th OF IMHO.