Or just the position that he already is at least somewhat used to and won't cause him extra time to develop at. Your idea is fine in theory...have guys play multiple positions, but you don't need to do that if a guy really has a bat like Wade Boggs. Or whoever. Then they play the position they're the best at and you move someone else.

Plus most guys who come up or are drafted as shortstops don't end up sticking at shortstop in the first place. Again, I'm not saying he definitively can't...I'm just saying why bother? Even if Arcia isn't going to be this good of a hitter, I really can't envision where we gain by having Hirura play short over him given the defensive drop off. And that's based on the very unlikely scenario that he's even capable of making those throws(not even factoring in the range).

I'll be the first one to say let someone fail before moving them....like Coulter or Lara or anyone. But you're suggesting he play a position he hasn't played at a time when he just avoided Tommy John surgery and one that puts more stress on your arm than any position other than pitcher or catcher.

So..again, if that happens, if they try him at SS or 3rd...my bet is that he'll be in his 2nd or 3rd time around at AAA and he'll have struggled in his call up's to that point and the Brewers are trying to salvage his career as a utility player. Otherwise it just doesn't make sense to force that onto him. He could potentially be our 2nd basemen by 2019. If they play around with him that won't happen. And Shaw and Arcia will still be around..as will Thames and Aguilar. Not that you develop a top 10 picked based on those factors anyway.

Absolutely agree with everything you said and add in the things I mentioned, ie, Kinsler looked like he was declining, was older, Texas was looking to compete and putting a huge LH'ed bat at that time looked like it could have turned them into a dominant lineup AND they could have DH'ed Prince moving forward and also looked like they were gonna replace Kinsler with an better player at 2nd(Profar was considered a can't miss prospect and Odor, who ended up playing that year looked like a young stud as well). So they likely would have had to eat some of Kinsler's contract in order to trade him at that point...now it looks like a steal.

And as far as Prince having a body "destined to fail by 30," that was the knock on Prince since he was 18. He had a body that was destined for injury his whole career. The reason his games played the previous 5 years(actually his entire career) is relevant is because all the assumptions made about Prince ended up being completely and utterly false. He proved them all wrong. He had a very unfortunate fluke injury. That's it. And if you have a chance to finally win a WS after losing a couple straight by adding one of the top LH'ed power bats in the game in a LH'ed hitters paradise like Texas....that seems like a good deal.

Using hingsight can make almost every trade look stupid and nearly every move look bad for that matter. At the time, both teams got rid of a contract they wanted to or needed to and one team thought they would be substantially better....