Braves get Schimpf

All legitimate options and questions.

It's a simple question folks - not that much to get worked up over.

The point is (just as many others have made before), Schimpf simply can't make contact. Now Adams and Rio are having similar problems. Just about all those guys are 25th-man options at best, including Santana.

If the choice of infielders came down to Schimpf or Ruiz, I'd take Rio. That would give you two options at 1B (Freeman and Ruiz), three options at 2B (Ozzie, Camargo, and Culberson), three options at SS (Swanson, Camargo, and Ozzie), and two options or a platoon at 3B (Camargo and Ruiz). All of those options make more contact than Schimpf.

People around here have generally complained about Adams pretty consistently other than the once in a while SB or good play. Someone pointed out his defense isn't markedly better than Santana's in CF, and we're only talking about needing someone to be Ender's backup for two weeks until Acuna arrives. Inciarte usually plays just about every day to begin with, so we're not talking about needing to be incredibly worried about the emergency CF's defense - the Ender "replacement" will be here in mid-April in the event he misses extended time.

Assuming you're trying to fill the bench with legitimate pinch-hitters, I'd personally rank the "non-starters" as hitters in this order...

Suzuki
Tucker
Peterson
Santana
Ruiz
Culberson
Adams
Schimpf

While keeping the "best" of that bunch will require some roster juggling, what's the big deal? Is anyone seriously going to lose any sleep if another team claims Adams or Schimpf if AA tries to slip them through waivers to tuck them away in Gwinnett? While I don't disagree that you'd like to see DPete continue to get regular ABs, he's your top RH option as a PH based on that list (assuming Snitker holds off on using Suzuki until as late as possible as everyone would expect), so it's not like he's going to be "buried" on the days he doesn't play against lefties at the big league level.

Unless you're someone (not you personally jpx7) who honestly believes Peterson's going to turn into the Braves' everyday LF down the line, where's the harm in using him now if he's shown that he's your best option as a bat off the bench? If he struggles before Acuna comes back up (or shows he can't thrive without everyday ABs), send him back down at that point - it's not like you're going to lose a controllable year if he has to go back down (particularly if you're not able to unload Markakis at some point).

Like I said, I don't see it as a big deal - just looking to upgrade the bench as much as possible, and I don't think Schimpf or Adams do much to help on that front. Since both are on the 40-Man Roster, you really don't have to do much "finagling" to replace them with Peterson and Santana other than DFA them, and you create Acuna's spot by DFAing Santana two weeks in (or sending Peterson back down).

Well, while I don’t “honestly believe Peterson's going to turn into the Braves' everyday LF down the line”, I do honestly believe it’s a better use of 2018 rosters to test out that long-shot with regular AAA PAs versus watching him mostly pine-ride in Cobb County, especially since the latter also requires roster reshuffling. It probably won’t really matter, either way, but the optimal is still preferable even amongst the minuscule.
 
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