Gathright to Start in Center

Now I'm even shaking my head more over the Howell for Gathright trade. According to an article in the Star this morning, "Gathright is expected to arrive tonight and become the club's regular center fielder." Bell said that he'll move DeJesus to left field to make room for Gathright. Emil Brown will become our 467th designated hitter, behind Mike Sweeney, and presumably, in front of Matt Stairs.

I love the fact that Gathright has speed. He stole 165 bases in his four-year minor league career and he's shown a propensity to be patient at the plate—he drew 126 walks in 320 minor league games. And he's certainly played the outfield well for Tampa Bay. He's only made 4 errors in 140 games at the major league level. And maybe that's enough. But the guy can't hit a lick and Bell is planning to hit him in the nine hole—below Angel Berroa, and below John Buck.

Moore's thought process is simple. He'll take speed and good defense over power and average since speed and good defense don't go in slumps. We've certainly lost our share of games in the past few years because of bad defense. But taking a legitimate stick out of a line up that already has a hard time getting big hits is a bit of a risk. We'll see if it pays off.