6
2013
Mets Spring Wrap-up: Collins Not Worried About Santana, Cowgill Goes 3-for-4
An article by 
This time, Terry Collins knew what Johan Santana was doing and seemingly both are on the same page, even though the left-hander was mum today on both his throwing and the death of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
After mugging with several friends on the Venezuelan WBC team, Santana long-tossed in the outfield, and followed that with several pitches off the mound from where he fielded bunts.
The timetable is a bullpen session, then batting practice and possibly pitching in a game, March 14. That would leave three starts before the start to the season.“We’re not worried about April 1,” Collins said. “We’re worried about 30 starts. … This is about protecting him.’’
Collins and Santana didn’t appear on the same page Sunday when the latter threw off the mound and the manager questioning his reasoning later, saying he had nothing to prove.
MUPRHY UPDATE: Daniel Murphy, sidelined with a strained right side muscle, played catch, took grounders and hit in the cage. He followed that up by saying he didn’t have a timetable for when he’d take live batting practice and appear in a game. “I want to play,’’ Murphy said. “But, I want to be smart. There’s three weeks left. There’s time.’’
THE GAME: Jon Niese gave up four runs on six hits in 2.1 innings, and Carlos Torres was hit for seven runs on eight hits in 1.2 innings as the Mets were beaten, 14-10, by the Venezuelan WBC team. Collin Cowgill continues to impress, going 3-for-4 with two RBI as the DH. … Marlon Byrd hit a three-run homer and Lucas Duda was hitless in two at-bats.
K-ROD SEEKS REDEMPTION: Former Mets reliever Francisco Rodriguez did not distinguish himself during his tenure with the Mets. It wouldn’t be a reach to say the highlight of his stay was general manager Sandy Alderson’s ability to trade him the summer after his fight with his former father-in-law outside the family lounge at Citi Field. The punch cost Rodriguez an injured hand and night in jail.
Yesterday, he visited with Collins as a member of Venezuela’s WBC team. He told reporters after the game he would like a chance to make amends with the Mets.
“I would love to,” Rodriguez said. “They’ve got a great coaching staff over there. To come back and redeem myself would be great, because I’ve got to be realistic and honest. You would have to be real blind to not see that I fell when I was there. That’s not even a question. To be able to get one more shot and get it done would be great.”
JUST WONDERING: With Mark Teixeira out eight to ten weeks, and to open the season on the disabled list along with Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez, nobody is projecting a hot start from the Yankees. The media is expected to crush the Yankees assuming a slow start, which could take some of the negative attention away from the Mets.
METS NOTEBOOK: Despite the Mets scoring ten runs, Collins said he’s concerned about the offense. “We’re not swinging the bats very good,’’ he said. “But, we still have around 40 at-bats (per starter) to go.’’ … Kirk Nieuwenhuis is getting treatment on his bruised left knee and said there’s no timetable for his return. I’ll have something with Nieuwenhuis in the morning. … The Mets are in their 25th spring in Port St. Lucie, the seventh longest tenure in the majors. … Matt Harvey will start Thursday against Miami, followed by Greg Burke and Brandon Lyon. … Dillon Gee, Bobby Parnell and Josh Edgin will pitch Friday against Detroit at Lakeland. … Former Mets bullpen coach Guy Conti lives in nearby Vero Beach and is a guest instructor.
About the Author: John Delcos
I am an active member of the BBWAA and have covered Major League Baseball in several capacities for over 20 years, including ten in New York working the Mets' and Yankees' beat. I covered the Baltimore Orioles for eight years and the Cleveland Indians before that. I currently serve as an editor and senior staff writer for Mets Merized Online. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 24 | 18 | .571 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 20 | .535 | 1.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 23 | .465 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 32 | .256 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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I saw your post on the Yankees, did you hear about the allegations that A-Rod, Cano, Granderson, and Braun are all going to be handed 50 games suspensions this season?
Unsubstantiated rumor that was already put to rest.
The guy who dropped it said Melky was going to get suspended, everyone said he was crazy and an idiot. A month later, bye bye Melky. May be more to it than it seems.
Cowgill seems to be the biggest highlight of the spring so far/ Everyday he’s doing something good with the glove, on the bases or at the plate. I love me some Cowgill! :-p
On another note…Chavez’s death may affect Cuba…
if Cuba eventually loses its 2nd benefactor in 20 years ( USSR was 1st ), Castro may have to open up tourism even more to off-set those losses…
to do that, he would have to negotiate with the US on their terms…
and that may eventually lead to a flood of Cuban players coming into baseball…which may also have an affect on the rest of the Carribean, Venenzuela. Panama and Mexico.
There are A TON of good cuban players…this could potentially be a game-changer…esp if MLB eventually opens up more camps down there…
( yes i am looking 10 years out )
Of course all this is Null and void if China decides they want to be the ones who profit off of being Cuba’s new step-daddy…
( on a more political note )
what would happen if China decided to open up military bases in Cuba or Venenzuela…?
what would we do ?
what could we do ?
Hi Just,
As a follow up to that hypothetical question, China is so directly tied to the U.S. as a lender and in international trade that it would have more to lose by upsetting the geo-political strategic military balance with that air base in Cuba than we would. Fortunately, with countries now interdependent with each other due to the global economy we have less to fear from adversarial nations (sans Iran) than we do instead with the now more dangerous threat of organized terrorism.
Anyway, I’m sure his fellow Central American leaders would rather see the non-existing diplomatic relations between Cuba and the U.S. continue because it means the influx of Cuban players takes away some of the chances of their own peoples becoming major leaguers. Interesting parallel for in 1947, many major league players were against breaking the color barrier not due to their bigotry as they were the threat of more people trying to take away their jobs.
“Anyway, I’m sure his fellow Central American leaders would rather see the non-existing diplomatic relations between Cuba and the U.S. continue because it means the influx of Cuban players takes away some of the chances of their own peoples becoming major leaguers. Interesting parallel for in 1947, many major league players were against breaking the color barrier not due to their bigotry as they were the threat of more people trying to take away their jobs.”
Yup….
well…is there a cap on many IFA’s a team can sign?
No, but the next CBA will probably include an international draft.
We’d probably wonder how a country with no navy to speak of gets that kind of material across an ocean.
HI Donal,
That would be easy – they will either pay or give the U.S. a credit against our debt payment and use our navy to ship the material to a neutral Central American nation and have Cuba pick it up from there. Then, the President can address the nation and say any missile launched from Cuba will be considered an attack against the United States and will be met with a full retaliatory disolution of our debt obligations and loss of all records set in the World Baseball Classic!
Secretely, tensions will be mounting between Washington and Bejing due to the bill China got for the services of our naval transportation – refusing to pay $150 per pint of Ben and Jerry’s included as re-imbursable expenses.
Where did you get this idea that China has no Naval Power?
What they don’t have is any interest in threatening or extending thier power in our hemisphere…
China needs us for thier continued economic success. Thats why the agreed to buy up all our debt.
If they want to hurt us all they need to do is cach in those markers…They don’t need Cuba at all…
the Iranians will jump to Cuba’s lap if Venezuela changes it’s Anti-American tune….
Which isn’t likely anytime soon….
The whole reason the Iranians are so close to Venezuela is to use them as a foot in the door of our side of the planet….
And if Venezuela stops supporting Cuba then they will also not be with Iran and Iran will support Cuba more directly.
I said none to speak of. As in, it can’t compete with ours. They are about flexing for Taiwan, Japan and India.
they have one non-nuclear Soviet castoff aircraft carrier that may not even be fully functional yet. Never mind the support craft that has to go along with it…unless they want to make one of our sub commanders famous.
“What they don’t have is any interest in threatening or extending thier power in our hemisphere”
Not military power anyway.
“The whole reason the Iranians are so close to Venezuela is to use them as a foot in the door of our side of the planet….
And if Venezuela stops supporting Cuba then they will also not be with Iran and Iran will support Cuba more directly.”
Iran’s not even the biggest dog in their own neighborhood. And again, how exactly are supposed to project power in the face of our Navy?
You don’t even listen to yourself do you?
Just take the contrary and come with any thing that pops into that pretty little head….
“Not military power anyway”
Well Cuba sure doesn’t offer any ECONOMIC advantage does it?
It’s only importance is as a lunch site for missiles against the US! Hell it’s not even a good dtaging point for an invasion since we already HAVE a base there that could stop that effort before it even got to the island!
SO again WHY would the chinese have any reason to be Cuba’s Patron?
They can already hit the US with whatever missiles they have if thats what they wanted to do…
Iran and North Korea are the only two that might want to hit us with Missiles and still don’t have the Missiles to do it!
They NEED a place like Cuba to launch from….
And lets face it North Korea is more likely to need Cuba’s assistance than Cuba needing theirs!
The Iranians can at least keep them in Oil which is how Venezuela helps them now.
“Iran’s not even the biggest dog in their own neighborhood”
Yeah who is the biggest dog pray tell?
Kuwait?
Iraq?
Palestine?
Afghanistan?
Syria?
Lebanon?
Maybe Jordan and Saudi Arabia and why is that?
Because of us! How do you weaken them? Weaken the USA!
and other than Syria and Iraq the rest want nothing to do with them!
Just some pissants in Gaza who they use as Proxies and have lost every battle they have started.
If they lose Syria they lose Lebanon too….
Some links…
http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2012-04/chinas-navy-horizon
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2087973,00.html
This is all about threatening Tiawan and the other nations in the area…Not us!
Cuba will ALWAYS find another benefactor because of it’s prime real estate so close to the USA….
And it’s not China who will take over for Venezuela (although it’s not clear yet that anything significant is going to change in that country, just his flunkies taking over where he left off and they have been running things all this time while he was sick) It will be Iran!
We might even be headed to a second Cuban Missile Crisis! LOL
What country will cozy up to cuba
RIF!
OK, any country that is going to be the next USSR for Cuba is going to need a really strong navy. With Cuba being an island nation and all. Air craft can’t hold territory. ICBM’s can’t hold territory. In fact, they are the exact opposite of what you need there.
If there is a regime change in Cuba that is looking for a new benefactor, said benefactor is going to be the US.
Russia never had a strong Navy…One Carrier and a lot of Cruisers but very few if any Battleships and most of thier Naval Effort was in Subs to launch Nukes!
You don’t need a strong Navy to support Cuba what you need is a lot of commercial shipping to smuggle weapons in great enough quantities that it will be too late to have to worry about defending them via sea and all they need to defend themselves is already on the Island.
Russian Navy didn’t show up during the Missile Crisis….They sent a SUB with the commercial ships to defend them.
And if you think Missiles can’t hold territory I suggest you review the Historical Occurrances on the Missile Crisis because the main reason we didn’t just invade when we first saw them was because if we had they might have launched those missiles that were ready before we got to them!
Also why we didn’t just send planes over to bomb them cause if you didn’t get them all they would have launched and they would have all the justification for launching them they needed because we attacked first!
What neither of you are considering is that China has as much to lose with our demise as we do!
They are making all the products our American Companies sell!
Why would they shoot the hand that feeds them and drives thier economic success?
Upgrades in satellite and sonar technology has rendered subs as sole escorts useless. They certainly have a role, but you need a full task force now.
The Russians already had logistical support in Cuba, they weren’t holding a position in the sense of invading it. The missiles were flexing. That wasn’t what prevented an invasion. If anything, it got our attention more.
“What neither of you are considering is that China has as much to lose with our demise as we do!”
No, I’m well aware of that and tell that to anyone who gets all scared that China’s trying to go to war. Neither side wants it. We’d both probably lose in every sense of the word.
Russia managed to getthat support on the island without a strong navy didn’t they?
The whole reason for having a LAND base at all is because you can see a Navy coming and can’t hide it like you can weapons on land.
Truth is no one is going to militarize Cuba they are just going to be friendly enough to make us think they could.
Cuba is in transition now…Castro is stepping down in a few years and whoever takes over will probably open up a bit to us without the Castros loosing face….
All China (and Russia) is doing against us is keeping us tied up in the middle east and the Iranian and Syrian (which is also all about Iran) things so that we can’t pivot to the Pacific where they actually have interests.
China wants to control the Pacific. Russia just wants to be a pain in the butt to feel like they are still a Super Power….
Iran is the only real revolutionary exporter these days ….
And the only ones who have a need for a land base to threaten us because they can’t do it where they are!
Hi Metsie,
The administration knew from it’s U2 missions the earliest that the missles could have been ready to be fired and thus the time frame in which we had the chance to knock them out before that came into play. Though we were concerned about Russian retailation in Berlin, Robert MacNamara admitted the administration was unaware of, however, were the the nucleur weapons that the Russians had already provided Castro with and how Castro was prepared to use them in a naval invasion.
Even though the missles in Cuba would have been more a theoritical deterent for Russia’s protection in the geo-political chess game since the U.S. had first strike capability and weapons in Europe and subs virtually surrounding the USSR, Nikita Krustchiev took way too much a risk because he felt that Kennedy would not stand up to him.
As most knew, it didn’t matter where the missles were or who had first strike capability or not. Once the third world war began everyone involved knew that the fourth one would then be fought with sticks and stones.
I was 11 when the crisis was occuring but to be honest, I didn’t realize the seriousness of it till after that time.
The Issue was the Medium Range missiles. Those were what the U2 Flights found because they needed launch sites to be constructed to launch them…
But the hold up on Attacking was they also had Short Range missiles that had a range far enough to hit the southern part of the country….Oddly enough where most of the Military bases were to keep them further away from the Russian missiles that would come over the North Pole!
The Medium range could cover most of the US and the rest of the Hemisphere….
But if we attacked them they could launch some of those short range missiles at Florida and Texas, New Orleans even as far north as the carolinas and maybe Washington.
And your right they also had tactical Nukes (usually fired by Artilery shell) to repel any invasion…
the Movie “Thirteen Days” was the most recent attempt to tell that story…The DVD even came with a Commentary track by McNamara (not comments made for the movie they just pieced them together)…
Since then more has come out as it got declassified…
In the end all we really did was trade Cuba for Turkey and there is even some reports that they some of the more concealable nukes remained until the fall of the Soviet Union.
The only other time we have come that close to being nuked was when Reagan was president and the Russians thought some readiness excersize was the real thing!
Hi Metsie,
Fortunately, the reason those non-nuclear warhead missles were not launched was the same reason why Kennedy and the Soviety leader were looking for a way out that would save both of them face with their political counterparts – self preservation. That one would allow brinksmanship to come so close was not so uncommon as many might believe. Though the missle crisis was public, the ongoing paranoia of the cold war had us virtually a few strokes before midnight on that nuclear clock all the time.
Am not going to defend the Soviets for their brutality to their own people and those in the Warsaw block, however, they had legimate fears of the U.S. not just because of our anti-communist fever but with our own inability to see ourselves no different than the nations of Europe and their empires and thus avoid the lessons learned from their use of military force to expand their influence and control beyond their own borders for their own exploitation by the use of military force. Russia had a history of being attacked for many reasons and now it was due to anti-communist hysteria brought on by a combination of paranoia and self-interest on the part of the West as a suddenly emerging super power at the end of the second world war. We succumbed to the entrapment of all the nationalist faults associated with dominance that only manifested our own vision of virtue, self-righteousness and manifest destiny to justify all of our own injustices both home and abroad – and needed an enemy to sustain that.
So of course, the Soviets made moves to protect themselves by installing puppet governments to protect their borders and the development of their own atomic weapons which we saw not as a defensive measure on but as part of a goal for international communist domination. And what we refused to recognize was that What we refused to allow ourselves to see was that even though the Soviets defeated Germany, the USSR was by all means and purposes a defeated country itself – it was in ruins itself.
Yet despite that madness, it was each other’s own natural instinct for surivival and self preservation that prevented that madness (mutually assured destruction) to occur.
Though we did not have the likes of Buck Turdison calling the shots, the Soviets were indeed fearful of the influence of those like Curtis LeMay inside the White House.
Regrding the Kenneds, strongly recommend the revisionist biography of JFK written by Thoms C. Reeves titled “A Question Of Character”.
But what all this has to do with Cowgill going 3 for 4 I will never know.
Oh and if you hadn’t known Iran is slowly becoming a Naval Power….
They just recently sent a fleet through the Suez to dock in Syria (the proxy they may soon lose) and they even have bought some subs to add to it.
Nothing with Missiles but no need to have one until this administration of ours fumbles and lets them get Nukes!
And just how long would all that shiny new equipment last in a fight with no experienced commanders or infrastructure to support them?
It only has to last long enough to launch the Missiles in Cuba duda!
After that you hurt us about as good as anyone has ever!
You want to debate the intelligence of attacking us at all fine…
But anyone who is interested in being Cuba’s friend is only interested because it is a land mass that they can attack us from that they can’t do from where they are!
‘ The media is expected to crush the Yankees assuming a slow start, which could take some of the negative attention away from the Mets.’
Not according to Ernie Palladino with CBS Sports:
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/03/06/palladino-yankees-problems-almost-enviable-compared-to-mets/
Doesn’t matter what the Yankees look like right now with some of the problems they’re dealing with – which are adding up fast. According to Palladino, ‘Compared to the long-term and potentially expensive troubles Alderson is looking at, the Yankees’ problems seem almost enviable.’
Say wut?
The Media is inherently lazy, and are deadly afraid of missing the boat on the big story of the day.
If the Yankees stumble out of the block, they will be all over the chum in the water, and once the first story hits, the feeding frenzy will begin. And anyone playing poorly will be hung out to dry, along with gimpy Cashman who most likely would not come close to surviving the year.
I’m starting to think Cashman’s hands are tied money-wise. Steinbrenner’s ordered him to get that payroll under 189 MIL for the start of the 2014 season, regardless of the talent on the team. Their father must be rolling over in his grave.
Still saying I wouldn’t be surprised to start hearing rumors of them selling the team in a couple of years.
I tell you, as a Mets fan, that breaks my heart to hear he might have had his checkbook privileges curtailed. Just a terrible thing for those poor fans.
Hi Guys,
In a few years, New York City might be re-living the sixties as far as it’s baseball clubs are concerned. We know our problems and the Yankees certainly have their’s coming up. They are an old club with little going for them as far as the future with having to replace the multitude of superstars and/or marquee players that will not be around in another two years or so at third, short, first, left and center fields, the backstop, the back of the rotation and closer.
But while the Yankees think for today and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow, I don’t see the Steinbrenners wanting Cashman to reduce the payroll to 189 million going to be a major hurdle as far as buying those replacements is concerned. Unbelievable as it is, the Yankee payroll is projected to drop to approximately $114 million next season and remain near the $100 million mark for a few seasons after that. This means even next season the Yankees could spend in the neighborhood of $75 million on free agents.
That is probably ten times more than we will spend but with so many openings, they might be trying to buy almost a new team virtually overnight due to the limited amount of younger players they have going for them now and in the farm system.
Funny that with their problems, the Yankees still laughed when Joba Chamberlain suggested they try him out as closer or starter. If Joba was in Flushing, he would be handed the closing role by default while being asked how his hitting and fielding is and would he like to try out for the outfield.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/2012-roster.shtml
The problem with all that money to spend – as Yankee money comes off the book – will be….are there players to spend it on?
Seems the wave of the future is many teams locking up their young talent before they hit FA. Gone will be the days where the Yankees can just buy top notch talent as looks like there will be less and less of that available.
It will be interesting to see how they go about remaining competitive when the last of that aging core has gone.
Cashman understands this and I expect him to adjust. The last few years did see some improvement in the Yankees farm system. I would not be surprised if they dedicated a lot of their resources the next couple of years to that and really built it up. Then, look for them to make trades of prospect for big salary players (or potentially big salary that the Yanks extend).
Hi Task,
I think the problem facing the Yankees is, of course, so many of their front line players getting old at the same time yet I cannot believe Cashman did not see this coming the past few years.
I know I said this could be a repeat of the sixities for both New York teams but there is still a chance the Yankees can remain on top by becoming a virtual team in transition over the next few years. While they have an old team, some players are older than others so that could enable them to buy new players in stages (for example, third base, left field and replacements for Petite and Riveria) while Nuenez replaces Jeter at short in 2014, ,followed a year or so later with center, first base and a replacement for Kuroda ,
Not so simple as it sounds, but at least Yankee fans know something is going to be done to at least try to get a solution – even though there will be a reducation in spending, there will still be plenty of money. The question is, of course, will there be enough quality players out there to get and if players in their early thirties now like Granderson, Teixera, Sabathia, etc. can stay close to the top of their games for a few more years allowing for that transition to be done in those stages.
This was my reply on that link:
If you want to stay on the Yankee brand (yes brand) wagon go ahead. It’s a runaway train wreck waiting to happen no matter what the Mets do this year and more importantly in 2014 and beyond. With new salary caps yesterdays pathway of FA is not the solution but the problem. Over the hill gang fat egos, injuries and now stiff competition in their division. If the Yankees were a public company I would dump the stock.
Wright nets 2 hits, RBI in tune-up vs. Rocks
see Mets Blog ESPN
A typical Yankee Fans response to my post on that site SRT linked. Umregister user they called FYI:
FYI to Hotstreak and that’s why you’re a XXX%%###$. One team net worth is in the billions, while the other owes in the billions. You can’t be that stupid not to know which is which, but you are a Mets fan so I could be wrong. It’s a runaway train wreck waiting to happen. You are talking about the Mets here with their two historical chokes of ’07 & ’08 right. The Mets have never recovered from that. They just got from bad, to worst, to one of the worst teams in all of baseball. Don’t hold 2014 as the light at the end of the tunnel. The losers are still years away from being a major league ball club let alone a contender. The Mets have been on a five (5) year plan for the last 27 years. How’s that working out? LOL. Later loser
Hotstreak FYI
For Your Information: Losing 4 in a row to Boston in the playoffs was the ultimate collapse. There are some Yankee fans with class but your a spoiled brat just like the majority of Yankee fans. When the Yankees are losers you will discard your Yankee gear just like the good old BS (CBS ownership ) days.
The war with the Yankee and Met fans shall continue: Let’s unite here.
Also, I just have to ask…what did this kid Torres do to Terry?
First time I saw him this ST – and I’ll admit to never having heard of him – TC left him out there to get shelled for 6 runs. Today he left him out there to get shelled for 7 runs – against that stacked Venezuelan team.
Poor kid….
Terry must not want him on the team. I think this is his way (passive-aggressive as it seems) of making a point. Leave a guy out there to get hammered to make sure he goes bye bye.
I think he pitched in Colorado so he is accustomed to getting shelled like that. LOL
I am telling you, i think the guy who may surprise us all is marlon byrd. he’s a proffesional and has had success as a big leaguer before, after having a terrible 2012 i think he’s set for a good season. he should be our starting RF once the season comes.
Actually it’s possible that he could go Tatis or Valentin on us. It’s also possible that he sucks.
Yeap… I think he has the chance to be 2010 retro type byrd for us. but as you said, he may sucks. however, if you give me to choose, i’d choose byrd because he’s done it before instead of the rest of the put together OF sandy acquire who haven’t proved anything. You start the season with byrd, then if he struggles, then put the other guys in and pray..
Alex, Cowgill is making the team unless his legs fall off and can’t use his arms to walk. And it also looks like Byrd is going to make the team as well. The competition will be for Cowgill and Byrd’s platoon partners.
I agree at this point it looks like both Cowgill and Byrd are making the team.
Looking at Brown…what’s the knock with this kid? Has he had a problem staying healthy his entire minor league career?
Looks like he’s only had a brief cup of coffee in the MLs.
He’s hit some 49 HRs in the past couple of years in the minors so he’s got some pop – hit for average in the minors.
He’s got a great arm.
Take a look at some highlight reels for Brown:
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/search/media.jsp?player_id=518500
I think right now the biggest negative for him is he has options remaining.
Pretty much true for the entire OF with the exception of Byrd….
Ok, i know that, what i am saying is that byrd should be the starting RF, and if he struggles then platoon them i guess, problem is, we might be platooning in LF and CF as well.. Patch together OF
I think Duda will be given every opprotunity to be a full-time player. CF will most likely be a platoon if DD or Kirk can provide something this spring and then RF will most likely be a platoon as well with Baxter or V-Spin. I am curious to see how these guys look against their off hands. But either way I expect 5 OF and all of them used. I expect 3 LH and 2 RH.
I think barring any major developments, the 5 OFs on the team will be Duda, Byrd, Cowgill, Valdy, and Baxter.
Den Dekker is AAA bound until they feel comfortable with his hitting. Kirk is most likely on that path too since he was horrid at the plate before he got hurt and is sidelined at least a week now. Brown hasnt shown much thus far nor Hoffman.
I think CF and RF will be manned by some combo of Byrd, Cowgill, and Valdy with Baxter being the 5th OF and most likely defensive replacement for Duda in the 8th inning.