Off-day timewaster: Weighing a Carlos Quentin reunion
/This is some disrespectful crap, man.
It was bad enough that the Braves just automatically dumped Carlos Quentin like he was empty contract, like he was friggin' Theo Ratliff, but they announced dumping him as the third entry in a roster move tweet that talks about Josh Outman and Brandon Cunniff?! Why don't they just dump his corpse into pauper's grave while they're at it?
Carlos Quentin, he of just 32 years of age and career 122 wRC+, was an MVP candidate the last time the Sox made the playoffs. Now, he's recyclable that the Braves don't bother separating from their trash because their hand might get icky and it's not worth the effort.
The Braves were never alive to me and yet now they are somehow dead.
REASONS WHY THE WHITE SOX WILL OBVIOUSLY NOT PICK UP CARLOS QUENTIN IN A BLISSFUL AND ROMANTIC REUNION ON THE HIGH SEAS:
--They clearly have a budget that they've hit. Ever since they reached out for the Melky deal in the middle of December, their only signings of consequence have been Emilio Bonifacio and Gordon Beckham, whose salaries combined still don't equal Carlos Quentin's $8 million tab for 2015 (lumbering bench bat), even though his ideal role wouldn't be much bigger.
--Giving Robin Ventura a real bench with real defensive and baserunning flexibility was a clear offseason priority, and Quentin would pretty much ruin that. He's a corner outfielder and you probably would want to avoid him playing there, even just occasionally. The Sox would either need to send down the speedy J.B. Shuck and just stretch Emilio Bonifacio everywhere, or you know, go back on that whole loopy Gordon Beckham thing, eat $2 million (in addition to spending $8 million) and merely stretch Bonifacio over every infield position.
--Maybe there are limits to the Sox desire to bring back every old player ever.
WHO CARES?
--Adam LaRoche hit .204/.284/.336 vs. lefties last season with a 27.7% K-rate. He needs a platoon partner and there isn't one on the roster. Quentin doesn't specialize in lefty-mashing, but when healthy can punish anyone and can certainly handle such a limited role.
--Quentin is perennially hurt, LaRoche is 35 with back trouble. The two effectively could cover up one another's dodgy prospects of staying upright for six months uninterrupted. For as much as Quentin gums up the bench, he'll likely barely do it for much more than half the season. If you stopped listening when I tried to argue that a player getting hurt a lot was a feature and not a bug, I respect that.
--If the starting lineup doesn't pan out, the Sox don't really have any offensive help on the way. In a horrible, worst-case scenario, his presence gives Robin Ventura an early reason to bail from Avisail Garcia's growing pains, but in a better, happier, world, TCQ could provide a viable bat if someone completely falls apart or gets hurt, or gets hurt while completely falling apart.
HOW WOULD THEY DO IT?
--We're not big on Gordon Beckham, but since they won't just eat his $2 million and J.B. Shuck is even so accommodating as to have a minor league option left, he would probably have to suffer and go down to Charlotte, and make Bonifacio the defensive replacement for the outfield. Beckham in turn would see even more infield opportunities, and we would wonder what we really gained from all this.
WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS? HAVE WE TALKED OURSELVES OUT OF THIS YET?
Unfortunately, it's kind of an offense-for-defense substitution. The big value add of Quentin's bat is clear, but the Sox could see themselves bleeding value in bits and pieces everywhere else. Bonifacio's reps would be splits all over the diamond, which is his purpose in life but likely saps the quality of his defense everywhere individually, the Sox would lose the capability to kick both Garcia and Cabrera out of the outfield for defense in extreme run prevention scenarios, and would probably hemorrhage runs if Quentin ever got in the field. Shuck and Bonifacio are not just simple insurance, but figure to have use for Adam Eaton's expectedly lighter schedule. And whereas LaRoche and Abreu split duties at first, Quentin would take PAs and make no contribution to field work. Maybe he's not the MVP anymore.
If Quentin appeared on the Sox, I would cheer it, partly for nostalgia but also because I cheer aggression for aggression's sake at this point from this franchise. The areas of help are obvious, and if they pulled the trigger, it meant they felt confident they could avoid the pratfalls. But the reasons it's a foolish, trigger-happy move are here too, and if they hold off, it's likely because it's even dumber than I already admit it is.
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