Although the construction of the major league bench and bullpen have been shambolic, the front office has assembled a fairly useful collection of players in AAA. I'm not going to focus on the real prospects in AAA in this thread, but rather the guys who could be useful contributors from the pen or the bench if promoted to the majors.
There are several guys in the pen who have put up very good strikeout to walk numbers so far (small sample caveat applies) and in some cases have a track record that suggests they could be solid major league relievers. Those include:
David Hernandez (9 Ks, 2 BBs)
David Peterson (9 & 3)
Jason Hursch (9 & 2)
Kevin Chapman (9 & 1)
Jason Motte (6 & 1)
Luke Jackson (6 & 1)
There are a couple others who might be able to help but so far have not put up impressive strikeout to walk ratios. Of the above, Chapman is the only lefty. I believe Chapman, Hernandez and Motte are out of options. Hursh and Jackson are on the 40 man roster and the others are not.
Hernandez has been the closer for Gwinnett and I would guess he will be called up at some point in the next month or so. There is a spot in the pen that so far has been "shared" by Roe/Hursh/Jackson/Blair. Roe is on the DL and is also I believe out of options. Given the choice I think Hernandez is the one of that group most likely to help us at the major league level.
As for the bench, there is a case to be made for an almost complete restructuring. I would keep Jace. And I think having the third catcher has worked out well so far. I would send down Bonifacio and D'Arnaud and bring up Xavier Avery and Lane Adams. Our lefty pinch hitters would be Jace and Avery. From the right side we would have Adams and whoever is not catching that day.
I'm open minded about eventually bringing up Howard, but he needs a few more weeks.
It is a shame that the major league team has had to make do with a sub-optimal bench and pen during the first month of the season. But the ingredients are there in Gwinnett for an upgrade.
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