David Espinosa

He was a first round pick by the Reds a few years back, and didn't do a ton in low levels.  He was eventually traded to Detroit(for Brian Mohler).  I think most people wrote him off a while back, and his 2002 and 2003 seasons were indeed pretty uninspiring.  But last year he perked up a bit, and while he's not as good as he looks this year, he's always had pretty good discipline and if the power's for real, he may actually have turned the corner.

That's the optimist's view, anyway.  He is 24 and repeating AA, so take this year's performance with a grain of salt.  He's oldish for the level, so if he is to have much of a career he probably can't afford to spend another whole year there.  On top of that, Espinosa comes with one huge caveat: he was signed to a major league contract by then-Reds' GM Jim Bowden.  I'm not sure when he has to be added to the 25-man roster, but given that he's a 2000 pick it's probably coming up pretty soon.  He really needs to hold his gains after a promotion to AAA for his future to look very bright again.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure he plays center field, which is also where Detroit's best prospect, Curtis Granderson, plays.  Granderson's not showing very good plate discipline or home run power in AAA right now, so there is a slight chance that Espinosa could edge past him as Tigers' Center Fielder of the Future, but that's not very likely given their respective performance records.  I think the most likely scenario is Espinosa becomes trade bait pretty soon(maybe a creative team like Boston or the Dodgers might look to him as a nifty way to bolster the bench for a couple years come June or July...), though given Detroit's utter dearth of noteworthy prospects, he might move to right if the power continues to develop.

Espinosa was drafted as a shortstop and moved off the position due primarily to poor throwing mechanics, but he was regarded as a 5-tool prospect(kind of a really poor man's Upton).  Last year was the first he's shown much power and he's never hit for a very good average, but he's supposedly always had the physical tools to do so.    If indeed he's managed to put it together, and I'm running things for the Tigers, I'd see if I couldn't develop his defense at the middle infield positions enough that he wouldn't be a total embarrassment afield, and deploy him in a Mark McLemore/Chone Figgins style role, shifting around and getting regular ABs without a regular position.  He probably won't hit for enough of an average to be an outstanding player, but with a nice speed/power package, good discipline, and some positional versatility he could become a pretty useful player.

Pat Caputo is an idiot, to put it nicely.