MVN - Most Valuable Network

NEWSFLASH: Hank Blalock Moving Back To Third Base

You knew something strange was transpiring when Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning news openly suggested that Hank Blalock’s unusual playing time distribution during his minor league rehab assignment at Double-A Frisco was a sign that “something [didn’t] add up.”

We now know what that something is. And though it’s a tremendous shocker in many respects, it’s also a complete non-surprise at the same time.

Multiple local media sources, including Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, have simultaneously reported this afternoon that the Blalock-to-first base experiment has been completely scrapped (for the time being, at least), and that the 27-year-old infielder will return to the Texas Rangers’ lineup on Friday evening in Minnesota as the club’s starting third baseman.

Blalock was initially placed on the 15-day disabled list on April 29th after sustaining a “small tear” in his left hamstring while attempting to leg out a double during the bottom of the 10th inning of the Rangers’ April 25th contest versus the Minnesota Twins. Texas won the game moments later when emergency pinch-runner German Duran was plated from second base on David Murphy’s walk-off double, thereby potentially saving manager Ron Washington’s job in the process.

In the two-plus months that have passed since, Blalock’s problematic hamstring has, by all accounts, completely healed. A debilitating bout of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in his right hand, however, necessitated last-resort surgery to alleviate the ongoing pain and irritation, thus rendering the May 18th announcement that he would be moving permanently from third to first base moot until he was physically capable of retaking the field.

Meanwhile, the Rangers’ front office eventually addressed the offensive sinkhole at first base by promoting red-hot first baseman Chris Davis from Triple-A Oklahoma to the active roster, representing his big league debut. The 22-year-old slugger has since forced the club’s hand, belting six home runs in his first 58 Major League at-bats and providing the power boost Texas so desperately needed at the position by hitting .259/.328/.655 (157 OPS+ and .309 EqA) to date.

Washington had been thoroughly adamant in his vocal support for Blalock, telling the media less than a week ago that Hank was his first choice to play first base and that the subject of either Blalock or Davis moving back across the diamond to accommodate the other’s presence “had not been discussed even in internal discussions.”

That stance apparently unraveled in recent days, however. Washington famously (and repeatedly) emphasized during his post-game press conference last Friday evening that “Chris Davis is safe,” giving rise to speculation as to exactly what the Rangers’ second-year skipper meant by those remarks.

He very likely meant far more than most dared to believe.

General manager Jon Daniels and Washington reportedly met with Blalock before the final game of his minor league rehab assignment at Dr Pepper Ballpark on Wednesday evening to deliver the news that they needed him back at the hot corner far more than they needed him at first base. Once the decision had been finalized, RoughRiders manager Scott Little was informed of the situation and apparently instructed to switch Blalock from first base to designated hitter on his lineup card:

“We looked at our options with what’s best in mind with what’s best for the team in the second half and going forward,” general manager Jon Daniels said. “We’re better with both Hank and Chris in the lineup, and this is the best way to accomplish that.”

Blalock, meanwhile, is understandably less than thrilled:

“It’s what the boss said is best for the team, and I’m the employee. That’s what I’m going to do.”

Hank’s opinion of the surprise move notwithstanding, there’s little doubt that the Rangers made the correct call. Even when the initial decision to move Blalock to first base was announced, I was something less than pleased:

By displacing the current first base platoon of Frank Catalanotto and Chris Shelton, Blalock and the Rangers have essentially accomplished little more than to transfer their lineup’s soft underbelly from first to third base - and all while downgrading Blalock’s trade value, actively decimating Catalanotto’s worth and creating a more formidable roadblock between top first base prospect Chris Davis and the big leagues.

The timing is odd. The logic is strange. And, to echo a popular refrain currently resonating throughout Rangers fandom, I’m just not understanding how this aids the franchise from a short-term, long-term or, heck, any-term perspective.

Granted, Ramon Vazquez and German Duran constituted an adequate third base tandem in the interim, thanks mostly to the former’s .310/.382/.472 offensive performance to date. Frank Catalanotto and Chris Shelton were both rendered wholly irrelevant once Davis was promoted, with the former receiving just 15 AB from June 26th onward, and the latter being designated for assignment (and subsequently outrighted to Oklahoma) less than 24 hours after the news first leaked that Davis was Major League-bound.

But the point still stood.

Vazquez, for all his fine work with the glove and the stick in 2008, was beginning to fall on hard times at the dish. The 31-year-old journeyman infielder had compiled a meager .240/.316/.280 batting line in 50 AB since the conclusion of play on June 24th, the apparent result of a gradually declining BABIP that still rests at an unsustainable .367. To that end, Blalock’s return to the active roster couldn’t have come at a much better time for the Rangers.

Duran will almost certainly be optioned to Oklahoma and serve as the RedHawks’ new everyday second baseman, while Vazquez will be retrieved from the pitfalls of overexposure and relegated to a bench role, giving Washington the much-needed flexibility to spell All-Stars Michael Young and Ian Kinsler whenever necessary.

Not only does Blalock’s transition back to third base ostensibly enhance whatever trade value he might still possess (Baseball Prospectus’s Will Carroll suggested on Tuesday that the Twins had taken a “hard look” at Blalock to replace the .220-hitting Mike Lamb), but the once-bleak odds of Hank remaining Rangers property past 2008 have also skyrocketed as a direct result.

Assuming he is still physically capable of handling the position, Texas may well pick up his $6.2 million club option for 2009 and head into Opening Day without having to worry about installing an internal or external alternative at the position. Such an arrangement might also allow Texas to recoup far more trade value at the 2009 trade deadline than they might be able to now, given that Hank’s return will come with less than two weeks remaining until this season’s July 31st trade deadline.

Do I still have some questions about this unforeseen turn of events, particularly where the glaring absence of a passable right-handed backup infield bat is concerned? Certainly. But not nearly as many questions as I would have had if Texas hadn’t satisfactorily and punctually remedied this situation.

Baseball’s most potent offense is getting stronger. And that can only mean good things going forward.

Really, really good things.

[11:05 p.m. Update: Evan Grant reports that Duran is likely to stick around until Sunday, when right-hander Vicente Padilla will be activated from the 15-day disabled list for his 1:10 p.m. start. Reliever Joselo Diaz and Wes Littleton may be in the most immediate danger of being sent back to the minor leagues to clear room on the active roster for Blalock.

Kevin Millwood and Matt Harrison will precede Padilla, while Eric Hurley and Luis Mendoza are scheduled to start on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.]

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 2:39 pm and is filed under NEWSFLASH, The Season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.