Well, Marlon Byrd is a Phillie. He wasn't even on my 25 man big board, but I don't hate the move. Sure, there is the threat that his success is PED aided. Sure, last year was one of his best. Sure, he's not young. He is better than Delmon Young though, at least.
Then there's this talk of bringing in Jose Bautista. I'm not sure I buy Howard Eskin's report, because it has way too many pitfalls for both sides. I'm not sure trading Dom for Bautista makes sense for a team with many needs. Again, an older player, with health issues. It doesn't seem like it makes total sense unless the deal gets bigger, and gets more parts into it.
Finally, there's this crazy talk about tendering John Mayberry Jr. a deal. Really? So are we going to keep him around as a 4th outfielder, and give him another 300 plate appearances? Has that worked yet? Is it better to give him a bench role than Cesar Hernandez or Darin Ruf? I think not, and I hate this move.
I'm not sure what Ruben has cooking here. If all of this comes to fruition, we'd be looking at an outfield of Bautista-Revere-Byrd across, with Mayberry Jr. in as the fourth outfielder, and Cesar Hernandez and Darin Ruf fight for the last spot. Top this off with the bizarre saga at catcher, and I'm not following this off-season so far.
