Now that Castro’s gone, Jeff Keppinger is the only legitimate SS I can see on the roster.
- The Official Site says Jerry Hairston is the backup. Baseball-reference informs us that he’s played all of 17 innings at short – in his 819 game major league career.
- Sportsline says it’s Freel. So does ESPN.com. One problem: He’s never played there as a major leaguer.
- Yahoo! says nobody.
- Rototimes is probably the closest to what Dusty Baker is thinking. They have Keppinger backing himself up.
This is more than a trivial question – guys get hurt all the time, and it’s going to be some time before Gonzalez returns. Brandon Phillips has the most experience on the roster: 19 innings at short, including 1 last year. Despite the protests about letting him focus on 2b, I think that Phillips needs to be the emergency shortstop until this roster gets cleaned up. (I’m glad Hairston had a great game tonight, but does he add anything that Freel and Hopper don’t? And Ross is supposedly coming back Wednesday.)