Soooooo I don’t get it.

It’s just the Willie Bloomquist, 25th-man-on-the-roster argument. Yes, if you’re trying to eke every fractional win out of the roster, it matters. If you’re no longer in contention, it doesn’t. There are still reasons to keep him up for the purposes of planning for 2010, but those fall into a bin with whole lot of other off-field considerations that we’re not privy to, so I just have to defer to the decisions made by the people who are.

Shelton is trying not to take this as too much of a negative. He’s been designated for assignment, but expects to go back to Class AAA Tacoma and hopes to be back up here in September.

Doesn’t make it the right decision, but 1 more month of Sweeney over someone who could contribute more for 2009 doesn’t mean a ton in the grand scheme of things.

As to who would back up first… Hannahan and/or Lopez, probably. Hardly ideal, but the most likely scenario given the roster.

But then without Shelton or Sweeney, who do you have to back up first and DH? Bring Carp back? Tui? Nelson?

Shelton is young and has shown potential for being a very good hitter.

Shelton is 29 years old, past his peak. I know, that’s not perfect for everybody. But I don’t think this is that big of a deal. If Shelton were any good, then surely somebody would have offered Zduriencik a 25-year-old AA reliever for him before the trade deadline. Obviously, nobody else in major league baseball cares that much about Chris Shelton, and he will likely be in Tacoma whenever the rules say he can be.

He hasn’t done anything in the majors since 2006. Maybe he will become a right-handed Russell Branyan, but obviously his 11 Ks in 28 plate appearances this year were.

The M’s will have the same record whether Mike Sweeney or Chris Shelton is batting from the right side at DH. And Griffey probably plays better defense at 3rd, and he’s left-handed.

Shelton’s presence has no effect on the rest of this season. It’s not like he’s going to pull off a mask and reveal he’s Albert Pujols in disguise.

He was Pujolsian for one month a couple of years ago. More than Pujolsian. Sure, there was luck involved, but Shelton is young and has shown potential for being a very good hitter. Sweeney on the other hand is playing out the end of a nice career. He was a good ballplayer, but his body is held together with ace bandages and pine tar these days. Shelton has much greater odds of being a valuable hitter next year than Sweeney.

If you think the team is not competitive, why keep Sweeney around? He has zero long-term value to the team, and the team employs a managerial staff (and Griffey, among others) to keep the clubhouse happy, if you think that’s important. He’s not a part of the long-term plans, and he’s taking a roster spot they could use on someone interesting or useful.

If you think the team is competitive, or that they should try and win games this year, why keep Sweeney around? He can’t hit, can’t play defense. At least Shelton can hit, and play bad defense at third in a pinch in addition to first. He’s a useful part of a bench.

From a performance standpoint, I don’t really see the a huge difference between dropping a -0.1 WAR who didn’t played enough in favor of a -0.5 WAR player, who doesn’t really play a lot. They are both in the way of Carp. And if having Sweeney and Griffey around make Wak’s first season easier, then so be it.

I am bothered that we are denying Royals fans the opportunity for a Mike Sweeney Farewell Tour. After they took Yuni off our hands, we owe them that much. Maybe we can send him back there for some delicious BBQ or something, let him retire in style…