With this being Junior's last year with us, should we consider moving Votto to Rightfield for next year (Jay can hold his own in center for a few years I say)? We don't have many solid OF bats coming up that'll be ready for next year. Frazier's close, but I'm not sure he'll be ready yet. Tonys Gutierrez has been solid at every level in the minors and is yet again putting up very solid numbers at Chattanooga this year. He's been almost exclusively a firstbaseman in the minors and I think he could easily be ready next season. He's certainly close to being in line for a promotion to Louisville shortly this season. Especially since the player "blocking" him is the 33 year old Kevin Barker. I'm not knocking Barker here, but...he's 33 and producing average numbers in the minors. It's time to bring up Gutierrez because we don't have any other firstbasemen down in Louisville right now.
If Votto isn't the long term answer for 1B (and many don't think he is in terms of his D), then preparing him now for the OF and getting Tonys up to Louisville now should be a priority IMO. This is not the year we contend. This should be the year we PREPARE to contend for an extended run. Lining up our minor leaguers for the proper holes should coincide with adjusting our big leaguers too.