What's our best outfield?

Since I think it is not the best idea to have your 20 yr. old rookie phenom have to worry about playing out of position, it would have to be a significant benefit for it to make sense. Here would be my criteria:

1. The guy we get would have to play passably in right. The Diaz/Hinske platoon works in left, but wouldn’t fly defensively in right. Therefore we need a right fielder who isn’t so bad defensively that the defensive downgrade offset our gain offensively.

2. They guy we get couldn’t be able to play center passably. Otherwise, we just put the new guy there.

3. We would have to get a significant hitting upgrade, otherwise, it just isn’t worth it. Bonus points to righties because we need them more, but a good enough lefty could work.

So who on the list (and your list of available guys looks reasonable) fits the bill?

Dunn(L)—-great hitter. Possibly the worst defensive outfielder in baseball history. With him in right the outfield defense would be too brutal. And he won’t be cheap. Pass.

Bautista®—-plays average defensively in right (literally a 0 career UZR/150) and doesn’t play center. However, he has been a mediocre hitter his whole career until an explosion this year. That makes me leery. Still, if he were cheap enough, I could go for that. Call it a maybe depending on price.

Guillen®—-plays a passable right field, but I don’t think he is enough of a hitting upgrade. Has a career OPS+ of 100, and his career OBP is .323. He’ll be cheap, but I would still not be interested because he just isn’t that much of an upgrade on Melky. Pass.

Garrett Jones(L)—-came out of nowhere last year and was great after being a career minor leaguer. Plays decently in right but doesn’t play center. Has only been average this year with the bat however, and lefties usually do well in Pittsburgh’s stadium (see McLouth). Plus, he is a lefty with severe platoon splits (career .648 OPS vs. lefties). Pass.

Corey Hart®—Plays a passable right field. Has played some center in the past however, and done so decently. But who is the real Corey Hart at the plate? He was great in 2007 and has been great this year, but was completely mediocre in 2008 and 2009. I guess he’d be worth a shot if the price were right, but the Brewers have been asking for a ton. I guess I’ll give it a maybe, on the condition that the price comes down. I’d probably just play him in center rather than moving Heyward, however.

Luke Scott(L)—While he DH’s a lot, the defensive metrics show that he can play passably in the OF, and quite possibly passibly in right. He does not play center. He has been a consistently pretty good hitter, too. While he is a lefty, his platoon splits are not particularly bad. I think I would be okay with him, and hopefully, the price would not be too high. I think I say yes here.

Josh Willingham®—-Consistently good hitter. A righty, too. The defense isn’t great, but he is okay in left, and was passable if not great when he played some right field last year. This is probably the guy we really want. He is my strong yes.