SS options after Cozart

[Trajinous]

With Cozart most likely hitting the 7-day DL with concussion precautions, it got me thinking about our future SS prospects. We all know about Hamilton but he's still a year or two away from the majors.

Negron - Pretty much a warm body, not much ceiling or history of success.

Janish - I think he would be an upgrade over Valdez. He's a got a great glove and was hitting well before the injury this year. I believe Janish could easily equal Valdez's offensive output (which is small) and be an upgrade defensively.

Valaika - He was a SS at one point but is struggling offensively and is considered more of a 3B/2B.

I think Janish should be up with the club over Cairo/Valdez.

[RedsFanInBama]

Might not be a whole lot longer before Janish takes Rolen's spot on the team.

[Larkin88]

With Cozart most likely hitting the 7-day DL with concussion precautions, it got me thinking about our future SS prospects. We all know about Hamilton but he's still a year or two away from the majors.

Negron - Pretty much a warm body, not much ceiling or history of success.

Janish - I think he would be an upgrade over Valdez. He's a got a great glove and was hitting well before the injury this year. I believe Janish could easily equal Valdez's offensive output (which is small) and be an upgrade defensively.

Valaika - He was a SS at one point but is struggling offensively and is considered more of a 3B/2B.

I think Janish should be up with the club over Cairo/Valdez.

Janish would probably be our emergency call-up guy given his few years of seasoning and comfort level at this level. I don't disagree that he might be able to match or exceed Valdez' contributions to the club, though Valdez has a little more versatility in his ability to play outfield.

In terms of a broader prospect conversation, though, the guy missing from your list is Didi Gregorius. I feel fairly confident in saying that I think Hamilton will eventually be converted to an outfielder based on his skillset. Gregorius is more of a true shortstop, is smooth as silk defensively, on the 40-man roster and currently owns a .276/.346/.343 line in AA. He was pretty spectacular in Spring Training this year.

[Who Dey Time]

You have to think that Janish is on a plane to LA as we speak. My guess is that Valdez start tonight and hits 2nd with either Stubbs or Heisey leading off.

[Moosie52]

Might not be a whole lot longer before Janish takes Rolen's spot on the team.

It might be forever. Paul gets no respect from management.

[Who Dey Time]

It might be forever. Paul gets no respect from management.

In fairness he was handed the SS job last season and fell on his face. If Janish was that productive he'd be here.

[Larkin88]

It might be forever. Paul gets no respect from management.

I hardly think that's a fair assessment. Janish had every opportunity to be the everyday guy last year at shortstop, less a few Renteria spot starts. He played himself off the big league club. Everyone last year was crying about how long it took for Cozart to get the call - shortstop was a black hole and Janish was leading the chare on its unproductiveness.

I've got nothing against the guy. Glad he's on the team for depth. But no way do I fault the Reds for moving on from him or think that's indicative of some lack of respect.

[RedsFanInBama]

It might be forever. Paul gets no respect from management.

Are we talking about Paul Janish?

[Trajinous]

In fairness he was handed the SS job last season and fell on his face. If Janish was that productive he'd be here.

Agreed but Willie Harris made the team this year.... That shows me there's some disrespect toward Janish. Janish isn't a starter, let me make that clear, but he's a great defensive sub. His career .289 OBP is bad yet, it is 40 points higher than Valdez and Rolen right now.

I did forget about Gregorious! I'm unsure of him getting to the majors this year and it sounded like next year will be his chance.

[bigredmechanism]

Agreed but Willie Harris made the team this year.... That shows me there's some disrespect toward Janish. Janish isn't a starter, let me make that clear, but he's a great defensive sub. His career .289 OBP is bad yet, it is 40 points higher than Valdez and Rolen right now.

I did forget about Gregorious! I'm unsure of him getting to the majors this year and it sounded like next year will be his chance.

Willie Harris' bat is comparable to Janish, and he plays OF. Also, most importantly, he was the lefty off the bench.

[Trajinous]

Willie Harris' bat is comparable to Janish, and he plays OF. Also, most importantly, he was the lefty off the bench.

Here I completely disagree. Willie Harris was useless this year and was as close to an automatic out as you ever will see. Janish was hitting .300+ in AAA this year until he got injured. Even dropping .100 from AAA to the majors, Janish's .200 avg would be double Harris. Him being lefty was irrelevant because he couldn't hit anyways. Sure he could play OF but Janish could play every infield position well and would do fine in LF/RF if given the chance.

[Larkin88]

Here I completely disagree. Willie Harris was useless this year and was as close to an automatic out as you ever will see. Janish was hitting .300+ in AAA this year until he got injured. Even dropping .100 from AAA to the majors, Janish's .200 avg would be double Harris. Him being lefty was irrelevant because he couldn't hit anyways. Sure he could play OF but Janish could play every infield position well and would do fine in LF/RF if given the chance.

To be clear, it was never a Willie Harris over Janish snub situation to start the year. If anything, the guy who was snubbed at the time was Todd Frazier. The Reds picked up Valdez to serve Janish's backup role to Cozart. Offensively and defensively, he is a comparable player, but unlike Janish can fill in at any of the outfield positions when needed... and not just "LF/RF if given the chance" but in CF as we recently saw.

On paper, the Reds carried Willie to begin with because he was a lefty. When it became clear he couldn't hit anything and the splits were a moot point, they moved on with Frazier instead of him.

It isn't disrespect necessarily and I think if any of the middle infield guys gets hurt, Janish is the emergency policy. But as I and others have pointed out, he really had a pretty long leash last year and did nothing with it. I know you pointed to his AAA numbers this year and his career norms for OBP to make your case, but when the Reds decided to move on from Paul last year, this was his line in 366 plate appearances: .214/.259/.262

Valdez is only weighing in at .231/.247/.269 on the year, but his positional versatility gave him the edge over Janish as the super utility guy on this club.