Shannon Drayer tweets that in Seattle’s first infield drills manager Don Wakamatsu has Jose Lopez at third base and Chone Figgins at second.

Does this mean that is how they’ll start the season?  Of course not.  But apparently it’s a possibility, and an interesting one at that.

In the expected alignment, Lopez projects as an average or slightly below average defensive second baseman.  Figgins projects as a plus defensive third baseman and one of the better ones in baseball.

Lopez doesn’t have much experience at third base.  He’s played 25 innings (5 games)  there in the big leagues, most of which came in 2007.  In the minor leagues he made it into 34 games, mostly in 2004.  Throw in some winter ball experience as well.  He’s looked pretty solid over there (relative to experience) when I’ve seen him, and profiles fairly well for the position.  He has a strong arm, quick enough reactions and charged the ball decently as I recall.  I’ve got to think he’d be at least average over there after the adjustment period.

Figgins moved around the diamond throughout his LA Angels career, but hasn’t played second base for more than a handful of games since 2005 (when he was 27 years old).  In small samples Figgins hasn’t looked good at 2B by UZR, though you’ve got to think he’s at least average given his physical skillset.

So what do you choose?  A slightly below average second baseman and an above average third baseman, or two middling fielders?  And I would think that they could be worse than average more likely than better than average in scenario two.  Lopez could make all kinds of doofy errors and Figgins could lack the lateral range needed to be effective there, for example, more likely than Lopez adjusting quickly and Figgins playing at a high level at his third most played position (3B, CF).

It could be close to a wash either way, but I’ve got to think Figgins at 3B and Lopez at 2B would be more effective.  You give up some with Lopez (maybe), but you can make it up and maybe more with Figgins.  They’re more of a known quantity this way, and the known quantity is pretty good overall.

But Wakamatsu isn’t crunching the amount of runs saved.  He’s going for what looks right, and so the realignment could be a possibility.  Figgins certainly looks like a second baseman and Lopez looks like a third baseman.

That said, Kotchman was brought in to help Lopez.  I believe it was Tony Blengino at FanFest who said one of the reasons they wanted Kotchman was because of his range to his right, which would obviously allow Lopez to shift up toward the middle.  Sandwiching Lopez between Jack Wilson and Kotchman will surely bail him out from time to time.  I’ve got to think the front office will keep this in mind.

All said, this is probably just Wakamatsu looking for even more versatility from his players.  He loves flexibility, and this could simply be him making sure both are decent enough to play those positions in an odd situation.  We’ll see.

Update: Larry LaRue adds some quotes.  Versatility and experimentation.  This could morph into one of the more interesting storylines of the spring.