After having to watch the San Francisco Giants battle their way to a World Series title from the dugout last year, veteran infielder Mark DeRosa and his beleaguered wrist are finally 100% healthy and ready to compete. Spending all but 26 games of the 2010 season riding the pine, DeRosa can now take pain free BP for the first time in a long time, and wants to get back to being an every day player.
It must have been difficult to sit back and watch as the Giants climb to the mountain top, but DeRosa was anything but stagnent as he recouped his injury. As Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle writes, Mark was actively involved with the players everyday, giving advice and support whenever necessary. Second baseman Freddy Sanchez put it this way:
“I’ve never seen any player who was hurt and not able to play have a bigger impact on a group of guys. He had the ‘it’ factor. He was the glue that kept our team together. When things weren’t going well, everyone went to talk to Mark.”
Being the team’s soothsayer is all fine and good, but for a competitor like DeRosa, he wants to be out on the field. Offensively, Mark has always put up decent numbers when he’s getting regular playing time (.272 career BA, 440 career RBI in 13 seasons) and has always been solid with the glove. But his long absence has raised the debate on where he would make the biggest impact for the team. Can he be an everyday player? He probably could. Would that be the best course of action for the team? Probably not. I foresee Mark being a sort of super-utility guy, as Juan Uribe had been the last few seasons, playing infield and out while getting clutch hits when necessary. Either way, it’s good to see him out of the shadow of the dugout and into the Arizona sunshine this Spring Training.