Real solid AAA guy with defensive versatility for a long time. Held his own in 2 stints with Chicago. Probably has a decent argument for inclusion on our major league roster to be honest.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minor ... ales001bob

Kinda curious as to what brought this on at this point - in planning those minor league rosters, no real obvious fit.

How long are Havens and Lutz out? How much will Valdy play in the OF once AAA starts? - that creates some time at 2nd.

Maybe they wanted somebody with a bit more versatility than Vin Rottino as the 26th man.

It's crazy-crowded if everybody gets healthy though.

Why would Lutz be out? Did I miss an injury? I thought he at least heads into the season healthy this year.

Not sure if serious.

Scales managed to strike out 103 times in 80 games in Japan last year. For a dude who has a SLG that begins with a '3', that is a frightening sign in the Nippon Ham lineup. And he didn't even have to face Yu Darvish because he was in the Hammy's rotation.

He seems to be "a Justin Turner" who is seven years older than Justin Turner and without the track record. He is minors fluff and a safety valve IMO.

Fun fact: Bobby Keppel was his teammate last year in Japan.

Bobby bonilla not available? At least we wouldnt have to pay him...because we already do. Unless that contract expired?

Either that or I remember wrong, and I've remembered wrong before, so that's a possibility.

Yeah, I actually was kinda serious.

Again, the standard is set so low for this bench, it doesn't take a susperstar to make it. But he's ACTUALLY defensively versatile, a switch hitter, athletic (or at least as much as Vin Rottino, who is actually getting "adds speed" labeled on him due to the complete lack of athleticism on the current bench) with a long solid AAA track record.

You don't have to tell me he's flawed - he was unaffiliated as of April 1, which tells you that by itself of course - but that doesn't necessarily disqualify him from what I said.

Of course, at 34 and not on the 40 man, his candidacy is almost certainly DOA, but on on-field merit alone, yeah, I could absolutely think a case could be made there.