(Giants fans know what I’m talking about)

The Yankees and Mariners seem to have “filled” their spots for now, although we’ll see as the season goes along.

Here’s some ideas — teams that might find themselves in contention this season and could use OF help that Hairston could provide. Again, I’m just throwing it out there; I don’t know everything about every team (too lazy to go back through all the depth charts).

Milwaukee might contend, and while Carlos Gomez is a good defender, if he’s totally bombing with the bat, Hairston might make sense. Don’t know whatother options they might have for CF… oh yeah, Jody Gerut, Hairston’s old platoon partner. Hmm… maybe not.

Don’t know of SDN will trade in division, but they seem to be trying to win now a bit, and their patience with Chris YOung might be running out. Also, Conor Jackson’s a decent player, but Hairston’s just as good with the bat and better defensively.

CHONE really likes Delmon Young’s bat, but with MIN looking like a playoff team but not putting ht division away, if Delmon starts to bomb yet again, Hairston is a better option than putting KUbel out in the field. They need a backup CF, too… frankly, Denard Span is the only decent OF defender they currently have.

The White Sox, who should have signed Thome, could use Hairston over Juan Pierre. Hairston would be good there, and could also back up Rios in CF.

I dunno… what do you think?

The beginning? God damn. What took them so long?

1) the comment was about the others “as a group”

2) durability is an issue when discussing value

3) I account for park issues by using CHONE’s context-neutral linear weights

4) at 27, Gwynn is likely in his prime, whereas at 30, Hairston is likely declining

5) Hairston is offensively superior, but the difference (about 9 runs per 150 games that Hairston will never be able to play in a season) is pretty much exactly made up by Gwynn’s superior defense. the age difference means that Gwynn will retain his skills for longer than Hairston. So if they’re about equal right now (assuming Hairston could play as many games as Gwynn), Hairston is likely to be less valuable in the near future and that without dealing with…

6) Salary: “upside” aside (ahem), I also mention cost-control. Hairston is in his second year of arbitration, while Gwynn is still pre-arb for at least 2010. So if they’re both of equal value per game now, Gwynn is likely to be to be more valuable per game in the future, likely to play more games, and is cheaper. Given that, whom would you rather have?

Again, Hairston’s a decent player at a team-favorable salary. I just don’t think there’s much point in the Padres’ keeping him around if they can move him for a prospect or some other younger player. His value (both in skill and surplus contract value) makes that possible.