Dan Hayes at the North County Times reports that Chase Headley, Matt Antonelli, Scott Hairston, and Chad Huffman will be working out at Petco Park this week to improve (or learn) their outfield skills.
The switch-hitting Headley, a third baseman by trade, is blocked by Kevin Kouzmanoff and may get a look in left field this spring. Antonelli, who already has moved from third to second base in his brief professional career, will get some reps in center field, as will Hairston.
Quoth GM Kevin Towers:
It’s probably the biggest challenge for Headley, with him having never really played outfield at all. But if he’s able to do it he’ll be a big part of our club (this) year.
The Bill James Handbook 2008 projects Headley to hit .310/.409/.522. For the record, BJH08 projects him to have the sixth highest OBP in the big leagues behind Barry Bonds, Miguel Cabrera, Todd Helton, Ryan Howard, and Albert Pujols.
Yeah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt.
CHONE has Headley at .252/.335/.392, Marcel has him at .276/.349/.427, and ZiPS has him at .264/.353/.410. That CHONE projection seems low to me, but I could see either of the other two happening.
In a perfect world, Headley can play an adequate left and Hairston a fair center. This — with Chase’s switch hitting — allows Haiston (hitting like he did last year with the Pads) to provide some rest for both Edmonds and Giles against lefties. A nice four outfielder rotation.
Meanwhile Antonelli masters center in half a season in Portland and is ready to contribute later in the year … if Edmonds goes down, or start the 09 season.
I’m guessing it won’t work out quite so perfectly though.
I’m guessing Antonelli sees very little time, if any in CF at Portland, and is the Padres starting 2b in 2009.
I can’t believe how high the James projections for Headley are. I know that OBP translates fairly well from level to level (better than any other skill as far a I can tell). Hopefully Headley really is that perceptive and patient at the plate.
2: Agree. Unless they see something magical with Antonelli in CF, this seems like the bare minimum of emergency planning. It may be more about getting him out to SD to check on his fitness and save him from a few days of New England winter.
Antonelli at 2B in ’09 seems like the reasonable expectation to me as well. Petco is a great park, imo, and I love the way it plays, but it demands a premium defensive CF, and preferably plus corner OF’s as well. To expect him to become comfortable out there in such a short time while learning to hit and play at the MLB level is just not reasonable.
Holy Moly! Thanks to yesterday’s thread I just realiezed Ben B. is not even old enough to drink alcohol legally in the state of CA. Ben, I have to tell you I’ve always been impressed by the intelligence and maturity of your posts, but now, knowing your age, I’m absolutely blown away.
Good stuff from Posnanski (who’d have thunk it?
):
http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2008/01/16/rob/