REWORKING THE BENCH: MARCUS GILES?

The Phillies bench depth last year is what allowed them to continue their incredible offensive production despite injuries to Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Shane Victorino, and an ever aching Pat Burrell. While some bench players didn't provide the force initially hoped for (Abe Nunez, Wes Helms and Rod Barajas) guys like Greg Dobbs, Jayson Werth, Michael Bourn, Chris Coste, and Tadahito Iguchi carried this team through some rough stretches of the season.

The team will bring back Werth and Dobbs as utility/spot start players, and I believe we own Werth's arb rights until 2010 and Dobbs' until 2011. Bourn I would like to see traded if the team can resign Rowand, which will hopefully net pitching help...far more important than a 4th/5th outfielder, though if not we own his rights until 2012. Werth is too valuable of a pinch hitter to use exclusively as a defensive replacement for Burrell, but the Phils should be able to find someone cheap for that role, or stomach Chris Roberson for the time being. Coste should be retained, and after the failed Barajas experience, keep Coste as the veteran catcher to mentor and provide insurance for Ruiz and Jason Jamarillo, while also using him to pinch hit and play the variety or other positions he's made career of. I believe Helms will be traded if the Phils acquire a starting 3b, which should leave one or two spots open.

Iguchi can opt out of his contract (which means we can't offer him arbitration and get draft picks...which is why the ChiSox traded him for Dubee's kid) and will look for a starting 2b spot somewhere else, which he's earned. I just caught news that Marcus Giles has been granted an unconditional release by the Padres. I think the Phillies should at least take a look at him as a 29 year old career .277 coming off a few bad years looking to revive his career and likely to accept a low paying bench role. The Braves seemed to be genius (as usual) to get rid of him when they did. This is a guy, however, who hit .316, .311, .291 before falling to .262 and then dropping off completely this year. If he's playing well, he's a staple at the top of the lineup, good for 40 doubles, 15 homers, and 15 steals. He's very comparable offensively to Aaron Rowand: solid but not spectacular numbers, but strikes out too much and doesn't walk enough to justify lack of power production, so value hinges heavily on batting average.

The Rowand-Giles Offensive Production by batting average chart:
> .330 = Incredible
> .300 = Great
> .270 = Good
< .270 = Bad
< .240 = Cut (apparently)

To put it in perspective, here's the Howard-Burrell Offensive Production by batting average chart:
> .300 = Incredible
> .280 = Great
> .260 = Good
> .240 = Acceptable (Adam Dunn anyone?)
< .240 = Bad

Marcus Giles has steadily improved his defense at 2b, cutting down to 7 errors in 112 games last season. I think he would be an effective low risk, high reward signing for this team. He provides a solid, experienced back up should Utley get hurt at all, and also a back up for Ryan Howard as Utley can shift to first if the big fella goes on the DL for an extended period. I would guess Giles doesn't have the arm or range to play SS or 3b, though the Braves did play him at third for 9 games over the seasons he was there, so he could potentially enter the 3b mix.

I understand I'm spending a lot of time on a player who hit .229 this season and was cut from the very team his brother plays on, but it's signings like these that make or break your season. Our All-Star lineup gets the headlines, but without Iguchi, Dobbs and Werth we are a sub .500 team last year, plain and simple. When starters were injured or unproductive, these guys stepped in to not only match production, but in some cases exceed it. That's what got this team to the postseason. These three guys were as important collectively as Jimmy Rollins was to this team.

I would like the Phils to take a waiver on this guy and check his recent medical condition as well as ask about steriod use...the guy hit 21 home runs in 2003 with a SLG% .065 higher than any other year, and he's the size of Ozzie Smith (I think baseball's gotten to a point where every contract should have a clause that says "Have you ever taken steroids?" "If yes, please explain" and "This contract is void should if it be found that player lied on the previous question or begins to take steroids under this contract"). Coming out of that negative light, I think he'd be an excellent addition to the team, the signing would fly under the radar, but he'd be there when we needed him most.