Earlier today, ESPN's Jayson Stark had some new information on how the Phillies plan to fill right field if Jayson Werth were to leave via free agency:
"All you need to know is that they continue to explore numerous options for replacing Werth. They've done what one source described as "extensive" groundwork on a potential deal for the White Sox's Carlos Quentin. They remain interested in Jeff Francoeur to play against left-handers. And while they have mild interest in Jermaine Dye, that appears to be on just a back-burner, spring-training-invite level."Ok. Great. So where exactly do you play Quentin? As currently constructed, the Phillies outfield defensive alignment is Ibanez in LF, Victorino in CF, and highly touted prospect Domonic Brown in RF. On the surface, it appears that Quentin would be slotted in as the starting RF if a trade was to be completed, thus demoting Brown back to AAA. Brown doesn't has nothing left to prove in the minors having .327/.391/.589 between AA and AAA. Brown's a five tool player that appears primed and ready to bust out. Sending him back to the minors could stunt his development.
The move that makes the most sense (and also the one the Phillies will probably ignore), is to start Brown in RF, while setting up a righty/lefty platoon between Ibanez and Quentin. The only problem with this is that it'd be an awfully expensive platoon. (Next year, Ibanez scheduled to make $13M and Quentin projected to make between $4-5M in arbitration.) This platoon would limit both players defensive shortcomings, while allowing maximizing their abilities to contribute offensively. It's not an ideal situation, but it's the one that makes the most sense.
Stark's report also mentioned that the Phillies are interested in Jermaine Dye and Jeff Francoeur (yuck!), both of whom would be better candidates to be platoon with Ibanez than Quentin.
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