Help me out on figuring JD's play here:
1) There IS a handshake agreement that if he just remains upright in spring training, Lee-man has the job.
2) He clearly 'out-competes' Montero...all Pete Carroll-y like...and takes over in triumph.
Now, there are two downsides to those scenarios. First, Montero, who is already a prime 'buy-low' candidate being eyed by the rest of baseball (sort of like a free ice cream sandwich), is sold for even less because he 'lost' his job in spring training. Or worse, no one offers anything (waiting for him to be released.) And second, if Lind decides to flee next year, we now have a very large 34 year old man as our only incumbent first baseman (with the option, of course, to convince Cano that he, too, is old and fat, and thus should make the shift to first).
3) Montero is moved before spring training, putting incredible pressure on Lee, Romero, etc.
4) Lee-man either flops entirely, or simply hangs around Tacoma waiting for someone to get hurt. In which case, of course (assuming he's hitting), JD looks very good.
So I'm having a hard time seeing this now as anything other than a (smart) depth play.
And I repeat that:
--career, Montero is 292/341/429 against lefties
--every time he takes the field, Montero will clearly outplay Lee--which is probably true for almost no other first baseman in the game.
I feel like I'm missing something that makes JD look like a genius.