Cody Asche remains a third baseman, say Phillies

Coming in to replace Michael Young at third base in 2013, Cody Asche looked spry enough to handle the position. He could dive for the ball, he could charge a dribbler, he could move to his left and right. But in truth, Asche is not an incredible defender, and with a second young third baseman in the farm system in Maikel Franco, the Phillies seem open to a contingency plan.

Ruben Amaro listed Asche among the young players the team could build around when the Phillies admitted that they were, in fact, going to rebuild this offseason. Though Asche's numbers at the Major League level have not been stellar, he has played only one full season and unless someone wants to trade for him, they shouldn't just give up on him after four good years in their minor league system (.290 BA, .790 OPS, 32 HR, 168 RBI, in 1291 PA). Keeping him around would have its benefits, and that's what a plan like moving Asche to the outfield would do, while giving Franco his shot at third.

The team looked into this back in late May, when Asche had already committed six of his 16 errors on the season. 24-year-old Asche was hitting .259 with a .789 OPS at the time, and the Phillies outfield wasn't looking promising, so in theory, the move seemed sound. All they had to do was reshape a young player in the middle of the season. The plan was shelved.

The concept resurfaced this offseason, with Marlon Byrd being the team's most popular trade target, and the idea of Franco getting to play third continuing to make sense. Of course, the team had also given Franco some reps at first, presumably to give him a shot at taking Ryan Howard's spot, but that plan cooled off after a bit.

As has the plan to make Asche an outfielder, according to Todd Zolecki:

The Phillies have discussed trying Asche in the outfield, possibly giving him a look there in Spring Training. But following last week's organizational meetings, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said that is not in the current plans.

"We've talked about it, but at this stage, he's a third baseman," Amaro said.

This wasn't the first time the Phillies tried to force an infielder in an outfield-hole: Freddy Galvis, Cesar Hernandez, and Darin Ruf all have been monitored as potential outfielders. All of them, in a variety of ways, have failed to establish that they could handle an every day outfield spot.

If nothing else, the experiments have indicated that the Phillies don't have a lot of confidence in the output of outfielders in their farm system yet, and that, whether it's Asche in the outfield, or Franco at first base, they are open to at least trying plenty of scenarios. Remember when Chase Utley was going to play third?