Reds LF for 2009 and beyond

Walt jocketty said the other day that the Dye deal hadn’t been talked about in a few days and that the Reds were looking for a long term solution. I was a bit confused by that at first because of how it seems things could be lining up.

The Reds have a lot of guys that could lay claim to either playing left field or moving someone else to left field within a year. Todd Frazier and Juan Francisco will both start the year in AA. If things go well for either, or even both, they could spend half a year in AA and half a year in AAA. Both players could play 3B and Frazier could also likely play LF. The Reds could also move Edwin Encarnacion to LF if either could claim 3B with their defensive abilities pushing Edwin off the position.

Yonder Alonso could also wind up spending half and half between AA and AAA this season and is the Reds #1 rated prospect. He plays first base, but ever since his being drafted there has been a thought process among fans that since Joey Votto is athletic, Votto could be moved to LF to accomodate Alonso who is stuck playing at first base.

The other option in this could be the guy who actually plays left in the minors, Danny Dorn. Dorn has done nothing but hit the cover off of the baseball since he was drafted in 2006. He has a career .297/.387/.528 line in the minor leagues, good for a .915 OPS. He haas some struggles with lefties still, but he has shown the ability to still get on base against them, so just a small improvement against them could make him an every day player in the majors. Given that Dorn will start in AAA next season, reaching the majors isn’t out of the question for 2009.

With all of these options available I wonder if getting a long term solution is the best way for the Reds to go, as there seems to be a lot of strong options from within who could be in the majors by September of 2009. Now if the Reds go out and get Matt Holliday, then who cares what is happening in the minors because none of those guys are likely to be that good. However since that isn’t very likely, the Reds should weigh the options carefully before acquiring a longer term solution to LF if they believe in any of their prospects.

Of course the other option could be that the Reds get a long term left fielder and use the guys in the minor leagues to acquire other positions of need such as a long term solution at shortstop or catcher. While I always want the Reds to keep their own, that isn’t always how it works and the farm can help on two different fronts in improving your major league talent.