Sunday Morning: Ken Rosenthal:

Hairston, 32, plays six positions and was a favorite of new M’s manager Don Wakamatsu when both were with the Rangers.

Saturday:

According to Cincinnatti Reds OF Jay Bruce, free agent Jerry Hairston is trying to decide whether to sign with the Reds, Phillies or Mariners.

Hairston is a utility-type guy that can play all over the field, and can hit a bit as well.

His career line stands at .260/.330/.370, but he was putting up career numbers last season between injuries, as he hit .326/.384/.487 in 297 plate appearances.

Where does Hairston fit with this team?  He’d make a solid utility man, but I thought GM Jack Zduriencik did a great job of bringing in league minimum guys to fill that role; guys like Reegie Corona and Callix Crabbe.  Besides, I doubt that Hairston would consider an American League team for a utility role when he can start for the Reds and get decent playing time with the Pirates.  So what gives?

Has Zduriencik offered Hairston a possible starting gig?  The only spots I could think of for him would be left field and shortstop.

If it came down to starting Hairston in left, I would much rather go with Endy Chavez out there.  Chavez is an exponentially better outfielder than Hairston, and I don’t believe there is enough in Hairston’s bat to justify him starting there.

At shortstop, Hairston would be a more valuable hitter than Yuniesky Betancourt, especially hitting ninth.  Even if Hairston reverts to his career numbers, he gets on base at a much better clip than Yu-Bet, obviously meaning he’d be on base much more often for the the top-middle of the lineup.  From the offensive standpoint, I wouldn’t mind bringing Hairston in as the new starting shortstop.

Defensively he’s harder to crack.  Hairston hasn’t logged enough innings at short in recent years for any of the defensive measurements to hold any credibility, so it’s difficult to know what kind of defensive shortstop he is without at least seeing some video.

At age 32, Hairston was new to the position, as 2008 was the first year he’s played more than a handful of innings there.  From what I can gather, he’s a below average shortstop, but I’m not sure if he is worse than Yuni.  Can anybody be worse than Yuni?

All said, I wouldn’t mind a Hairston acquisition.  He can challenge Yuni, and if it doesn’t work out he can be a better super-utility player than Willie Bloomquist ever was.  Again, I don’t like the idea of dishing out a couple million to fill a role that we can (and have already) filled for ~$400K, but all in all it’s not something worth getting too worked up about.