With Overbay Brewers could platoon at first base

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It would appear in the last week I have turned this space into a Yankees blog, that would would not be the case. The Brewers have just picked up Yankees castaways over the least week or so to play first base. the latest is Lyle Overbay, who will make his return to the Brewers after being traded away prior to the 2006 season.

As I said on Twitter last week, normally retreads are not a good idea. The Brewers learned that lesson with Doug Davis (before his injuries), but given the free agent landscape and their budget it makes sense to bring options in to play the position and see who wins out in spring training.

Sure Overbay's numbers have slipped lately, but he turns 38 next week and can still hit, especially right-handed pitching, which would make him a great candidate for a platoon.

Overbay hit .240 last season in 142 games with the Yankees, but had 111 strikeouts in 486 at-bats. That's not quite Mark Reynolds pace, but close. He did have 14 homers with 24 doubles and can still produce.

The split that jumps out as a candidate for a platoon came last year when he .258 with all but one of his home runs against right-handed pitching and .190 against lefties, according to Baseball Reference.

That bodes well for him to make the team, not only to platoon at first, but to be a bat off the bench as the Brewers are notoriously right handed.

This does not clear up the mess that is the Brewers first base riddle. I have written my take on Mark Reynolds. He is the right-handed veteran in the mix and that could get a roster spot alone. 

The other options include Sean Halton, who saw some time last season, but I can't see that panning out, at least to start the season, and Jaun Francisco.

Francisco has all the potential, but he's viewed as a lottery ticket. Sure the payoff could be huge if he puts his tools together, but he hasn't shown the ability to do that in his time with the Braves and Brewers.

How this all pans, out we shall see. That's what spring training is for and it will be interesting to see how things shake out in Maryvale.