Hairston, Baldelli, Mench Of Interest

In MLB.com’s Hot Stove Blog, Ken Mandel reports the Phillies have looked at three more potential left field replacements for Pat Burrell: Jerry Hairston Jr., Rocco Baldelli and Kevin Mench.

In a post I’m planning for the weekend, I break down all the candidates for left field. Here are my assessments of the three listed above:

Rocco Baldelli
Age: 27
First take: Finally healthy, maybe, but such an uncertain player. Pass.

Jerry Hairston Jr.
Age: 32
First take: Would be an intriguing platoon partner for Geoff Jenkins. Consider.

Second take: He had a career year in 2008, but for the most part he’s a light hitter with a little pop. Not that keen on him, but he’s cost-effective and would likely ask for a two-year deal, at most, for $2M per.

Kevin Mench
Age: 31
First take: Blue Hen hasn’t been much of a hitter. Pass.

I assume the Phils are trying to re-sign Burrell first. If that doesn’t work, they’ll be gunning for Matt Holliday. And these three names comprise options six through eight, or so. I’m not high on a left field platoon, but if it comes down to any of these three, I’d probably rather settle for Hairston, while Baldelli is more of a high-risk/high-reward sigining. Still, this is the bottom of the barrel.