By Greg Pyron
September 4, 2008 10:42am CDT

Here, as the title suggests, we will examine platoon battles around baseball. We will focus on things such as who is getting more playing time, how the upcoming schedule might favor a platoon mate over the other and which struggling players could be on the verge of becoming part of a platoon. The goal is to help fantasy owners, especially those of you in deeper leagues, identify platoon players who might be of use to fantasy squads.

Philadelphia Phillies

Right Field: Jayson Werth and Matt Stairs

Analysis: The Phillies were left with a void when Geoff Jenkins went down with a right hip flexor strain on August 23 that could cause him to miss the rest of the season. After reportedly pursuing a few left-handed hitting options via trade, the Phillies settled on Matt Stairs, acquiring him from the Blue Jays on Saturday.

Stairs, 40, has past experience playing the outfield and first base, but has been used mainly as a designated hitter this season. In 320 at-bats with the Blue Jays, the veteran left-handed hitter amassed a .250 batting average with 11 homers, 44 RBI and .736 OPS. As usual, Stairs has done his best work against right-handed pitching, batting .249 with 10 homers, 39 RBI and .739 OPS in 289 at-bats. Those numbers are a bit off from those he posted last season (.288-21-53 with .931 OPS in 312 AB) and for his career (.272/.364/.496 in 4,032 AB vs. LHP), but he remains a useful platoon option.

Werth has done a fine job for the Phillies this season, as evidenced by his .280 batting average, 21 homers, 56 RBI, 14 steals and .901 OPS in 329 at-bats. He has done most of that damage against southpaws (.313-15-33 with 6 SB and 1.066 OPS in 131 AB vs. LHP), but it's not as though he has been awful against right-handers (.258-6-23 with 8 SB and .792 OPS in 198 AB).

Going Forward: Since Werth is coming off of a strong month of August in which he hit .313 with six homers, 15 RBI, two steals and 1.071 OPS in 83 at-bats, the Phillies may still use him against some right-handers. That remains to be seen. The Phillies have faced just one right-hander since the acquisition of Stairs, that being Tim Redding. In that game, manager Charlie Manuel elected to give Pat Burrell a day off and put both Werth and Stairs in the lineup.

San Diego Padres

Center Field: Jody Gerut, Chip Ambres and Will Venable

Analysis: The Padres have been using a platoon of Jody Gerut and Scott Hairston in center field this year, but that is up in the air now that Hairston is out for the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb. It stood to reason that the left-handed hitting Jody Gerut could be in line for extensive playing time the rest of the way due to Hairston's absence. However, he has been sidelined since last Wednesday with what has been described as a sprained middle finger. That has opened up playing time for recently recalled outfielders Will Venable and Chip Ambres.

It seems as though Gerut is at least a few days away from a return to the lineup. In the meantime, Venable and Ambres figure to continue to platoon in his stead. Venable, a left-handed swinger, is certainly the most intriguing option in the short-term. The 25-year-old hit .292 with 14 homers, 58 RBI, seven steals and .825 OPS in 442 at-bats with Triple-A Portland prior to his promotion and should see most of the playing time until Gerut recovers from his injury. Ambres, 28, put together a solid season with that aforementioned Portland squad (.279-22-77 with eight SB and .906 OPS in 412 AB), but the .232/.316/.357 with four homers, 10 RBI and 19BB/42K totals he has accumulated in 168 career major league at-bats is a bit troubling.

That being said, once Gerut is back in the fold, we could envision him losing some at-bats to right-handed hitting Ambres against left-handed pitching. Gerut has historically struggled against southpaws (.218-8-40 with 34BB/73K and .646 OPS in 376 career AB vs. LHP-including this year's stats), though he has fared quite well against them this season (.313-3-10 with 3BB/11K, 3 SB and .937 OPS in 64 AB).

Going Forward: Those in NL-only leagues will want to monitor this situation closely in the coming days. Gerut was in the midst of a fine month of August before suffering the finger injury (.322-7-19 with .985 OPS), so NL-only leaguers are no doubt missing his presence.

Texas Rangers

Catcher:Taylor Teagarden and Gerald Laird

Analysis: The Rangers announced Tuesday that Jarrod Saltalamacchia is out for the season with a strained muscle in his right forearm. The plan now is for Taylor Teagarden and Gerald Laird to split playing time over the team's final 22 games. Laird, 28, has already publicly expressed his displeasure with that setup, but that's not going to shake the team's thinking on this. Bottom line, they want to see what they have with the 24-year-old Teagarden.

Teagarden has had a rough go of it in the minors this season, after putting together a terrific 2007 campaign. A combined .211 batting average, nine homers, 22 RBI, 36BB/82K and .693 OPS in 246 at-bats between Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Oklahoma failed to meet expectations. After all, this guy was the team's 3rd round selection in the 2005 draft out of the University of Texas. The same player who hit .310 with 27 homers, 83 RBI, 75BB/128K and 1.012 OPS in 394 at-bats combined between Single-A Bakersfield and Double-A Frisco a year ago. Though he does not figure to hit for much of a batting average this month, the power and defense should be there.

Laird hasn't played poorly this season. He carries a .284 batting average with six homers, 39 RBI and .744 OPS in 292 at-bats into Wednesday's action. However, the team is blessed with tremendous young depth at the catcher position. Aside from Teagarden and Saltalamacchia, the team also has the talented 23-year-old Max Ramirez biding his time in the minors and waiting for an opportunity.

Going Forward: Laird will, in all likelihood, not be back with the Rangers in '09, so it makes perfect sense for them to want to give a youngster like Teagarden an extended look as they play out the string of games this month. Teagarden should have some value in AL-only leagues thanks to his power potential.