Bench Battle: Updated

Time to take one last look at the bench battle. New stuff from Ken Rosenthal says that the Mariners could go with an 11 man bench. The other day, Jason Churchill said that the battle for the last bench spot was down to two. This crap changes everyday.

I'm not going to pass on too many stats for you right now, because a lot of you would've probably checked already. I'm sorry if I've come across as kind of mean or sarcastic these last couple posts, but it's the stress talking.

We have Jamie Burke and Willie Bloomquist as locks. Two spots filled. Scenerio time: here's what the bench would look like with Jimerson and Morse on it.

Bloomquist
Burke
Jimerson
Morse
Greg Nortan or Miguel Cairo (Reed starting at AAA)

That's scenario one. That looks alright. It'd be coming down to between two players, so Churchill would be right in this scenario. I'd have Reed at AAA, because he still has two options left, and there's no reason to get rid of him. Bleeding Blue and Teal agrees with me. The Mariners have said that Cairo's garunteed contract doesn't mean anything. Nortan has played allright, but the main thing is that he can play first. If Sexson tanks, then that would be a plus. Although Morse can play first too.

Scenario 2: The Mariners only take four on their bench. We now go back to stage one, with Burke and Willie garunteed. Then, you'd have the rest of those mentioned in secenario one going for the two open jobs. You'd end up with something like this:

Burke
Bloomquist
Jimerson/Morse
Cairo/Nortan

Pretty much the same idea. I'd say that Cairo and Morse would be the other two on the bench.

Scenairo 3: The Mariners go with three bench players.

Burke
Bllomquist
Cairo/Morse/Nortan/Jimerson

This would be the least likely of the three. If it were to happen, then I'd say that Morse takes the spot, because he can play third, first, and right and left field. Willie would play up the middle.

Only time will answer this one for us. You can make your own predictions, but I'd say that scenarios one and two are going to be the ones decided on. With Rosenthal's new stuff, then maybe scenario one. But it would make sense to start with scenario two.