With Byrnes playing with a nagging injury, and playing just down right terrible overall, I figured it's about time some one actually went over all of our options at this point. Some people will start throwing out suggestions like DLing, Trading, or DFAing Byrnes with out suggesting a corresponding roster move to replace him in left field. I'm not going to mention the mistakes that were made after signing Byrnes to the extension (See Scott Hairston,  Carlos Quentin), and I'm not going to speculate on any player outside the current system that we could acquire via trade.

Unlike the last few years, we don't really have any good offensive prospects that are ready for the majors RIGHT NOW. Our best positional prospect, Gerardo Parra , is a 21 year old right fielder. He's not that different from the last young toolsy right fielder we traded away, Carlos Gonzalez. he doesn't have as much power as Cargo, but he's a more polished hitter overall. I've also heard he has an even better arm and is better defensively. He's playing for our Hi-A affiliate in Visalia, and will probably end up in AA by the end of the year. At the earliest, he should be ready by next year, and in all likelyhood, by the end of the 2009 season. There really aren't that many other outfielders in the system ahead of Parra that are  worthy of mentioning. I guess Cyle Hankerd is  worthy of note. He's really the only outfielder other than Alex Romero in the higher levels of our system worth mentioning.

So until then, if Byrnes doesn't pick up his hitting, we do need to find an adequate stop gap for LF until Parra arrives.

Here is who we have that can help us RIGHT NOW

1.) When Tracy comes off the DL, put him in left field. Or move Reynolds to LF, and have Tracy play third.. This seems like a very good option, especially if Tracy starts hitting with any kind of authority. This would give Tracy more playing time with out taking away from Reynolds or Jackson. Reynolds has played right field this year, and he has played left field in the minors. Tracy has also played some out field. This seems like the best, and most likely option at the moment.

2.)Either platoon or replace Byrnes with some combination of Salazar and Romero.  Neither of these guys has a lot of power, but they're both left handed bats with good speed, and great defense. Romero is three years younger than Salazar, and still has some decent upside.
Alex Romero's current statistics in Tucson
Career statistics

3.) Trot Nixon. He's hitting well in Tucson, and has been playing left field. His defense is questionable at this point in his career, and he really isn't that versatile either. A corresponding roster move would have to be made too. A platoon of Byrnes and Nixon would be one route.  Nixon's current stats with Tucson
]Nixon's Career batting splits

4.)Jamie D'antona. He's been hitting like a mad man this year(1.061 OPS). He's got decent power. He's versatile defensively, having played first, third, and catcher this year. I'm pretty sure he could be average in LF. He does have a very strong throwing arm. The biggest red flag I see with D'antona is extremely average dependant OBP. In 126 ABs, he's walked twice. However, he's K'd only 17 times. His BABIP is ridiculously high, so make of that what you will.
D'antona's current and career stats
Career splits

5.) Not that it's ever going to happen, but Barry Bonds. Yes, he's a headache, a clubhouse cancer, and he's old and poor defensively. However, he still has legit power, and great OBP. With Young and Upton to his right, it wouldn't hurt the team D too much.

Any one have some other ideas/suggestion/comments?