I think the key here is depth, both on the bench and in the bullpen. You can never count on everyone staying healthy, and the schedule heightens that concern.
On the bench, we've upgraded Rutledge to Hill and, uh, side-graded Hernandez to Martinez. I'd been hoping they might upgrade on the Holt/Brentz platoon in LF. My first choice would have been to get Reddick or Carlos Gonzalez and have Holt be the upgrade on Hernandez, but perhaps the prospect of Benintendi jumping AAA gives us an internal option for that, as well. And I guess they feel like Brentz can play the role of Chris Young acceptably until Young is healthy. In any event, we're now a bit better insulated against the prospect of Ryan LaMarre or Deven Marrero getting starts, even if I'd like one more layer there.
In the bullpen, assuming Kimbrel comes back in a month looking like Kimbrel, we're in better-than-expected shape with the addition of Ziegler and the emergence of Barnes and Hembree as potentially cromulent high-leverage options -- even if Tazawa's shoulder and Uehara's old-being limit their effectiveness. Kimbrel, Ziegler, Uehara, Tazawa, Barnes, Hembree, Ross, Layne, and, hell, maybe Joe Kelly -- if three or four of those guys stay healthy and effective, we'll be fine.
The point is, with a grueling schedule, I think the key is to have as many players available as possible who you wouldn't mind being thrust into key situations. So I'll be watching closely to see not just whether they add more of those guys via trade or promotion, but also how people who fit that description in a fringe way (Brentz and Martinez on the bench, Barnes and Ross in the pen) perform in the opportunities they're given.
