So with yesterday's injury to Hoskins, i got to thinking about what the Tigers would look like if something happened to Tork where he was out for an extended period. It's not a pretty scenario to think about. Schoop and maybe Haase could fill in as short timers, but they really don't have anyone else to fill a void if that occurs. At least Philly has Hall, which is not great to have to rely on an unproven guy for a whole year on a certain playoff team. They could move Bohm over from 3rd, but that just creates a hole for them to fill there.

The Tigers lost Lester, and Nieporte was pencilled in at Toledo, but he is gone for the year now with Tommy John surgery, so that spot I would assume gets filled by Lipcius there with a possibility of one of the catchers like Feliciano or Knapp as the backup. Not really and exciting scenario for your first backup to Tork in the minors. Now lets look at Erie. I think Navigato was the backup to Nieporte there and he is really the only guy there currently to fill 1st base and he is a SS normally. Then you look at West Michigan and Jake Holton is probably the #1 guy there with Justice Bigbie and Austin Muir as his backups which neither one has a decent hit or power profile. I wouldn't be surprised if Navigato was promoted to Toledo and Holton to Erie as well, at least very early in the year.

This leads me to a couple of conclusions, #1 Schoop has value as a backup to Tork, #2 Nevin really has value if Schoop can't be the MLB player or close to the player he was a couple of years ago. #3 they really need to shift someone with a power LH bat to first base in the system, NOW! My brain tells me that Jung is the perfect prospect to get reps at 1st, maybe Pacheco as another LH bat should as well. Or maybe Malloy or Luke Gold as RH bats. And Carpenter is not the answer here or he would have already been taking reps at 1st.

I believe Harris will really try to hold onto Nevin if he can somehow and don't be surprised if he starts to claim some 1st base depth off waivers as everyone starts to finish roster construction this week or next. We all are lead to believe that 1st base is an easy fill, but veteran useful or MLB ready 1st base prospects are really at a minimum right now. Philly will have a tough time locating an effective replacement for Hoskins. My guess is that they try to trade for Brown from the A's or try to pry Gurriel from the Marlins.