As you all know by now, the Marlins added Ross Gload to the roster for a player to be named later also with the Royals eating most of his $1.9 million dollar salary.
The Marlins bench did not stay devoid of a left-handed bat for long.
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Wednesday, the Marlins acquired left-handed hitting first baseman/corner outfielder Ross Gload from the Kansas City Royals for a player to be named. A career .287 hitter in parts of seven seasons, Gload in 2008 batted .273 with a .317 on-base percentage and .348 slugging in 122 games (388 at-bats for the Royals).
Juan puts his stats in the best light possible, and there is nothing wrong with that. But when you really take a look at them, he is nothing special, however he isn't bad.
He has no pop in his bat but he does make contact, most of the time. Being 33 years-old he does have experience coming off the bench to pinch hit.
He can play 1st or the corner outfield positions. None of which he is really good at, but he isn't bad at them either.
As a major league baseball player, overall, he is just kinda average. Which, honestly, isn't a bad thing off the bench. If you grew up where I did he would be described as "soggy milquetoast". In other words there is nothing exciting here, but if you are hungary it will get the job done. But you probably don't want a steady diet of it.
I will say this, Gload has a good attitude.
I knew I wasn’t going to be starting (here) at first base, but I’ve backed up good first basemen and never said a word about it. I’ve played a major-league season from opening day to the last day, got 150 at-bats and played a big part on that team. So I wasn’t going to complain about anything.
I don’t know what’s ahead. I don’t know how many ABs I’m going to get over there. I may pinch-hit 50 times.
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And there’s always double switches in the National League, so you’ve got to make sure you’re stretched a little earlier in the National League.
The man knows he is going to be a bench player and he is ready to deal with that. And when it comes to professional athletes in a team sport, that is all you ask (attitude-wise).
The signing of Gload probably means the Marlins won't be in the running for Frank Catalanotto, who was released by the Rangers yesterday.
Then again, stranger things have happened.