Figgins Benched, Ackley Assumes His Rightful Position At Leadoff

A word comes to mind… Finally.

"“I talked to Figgy today. I told him we’re going to change his role, he’s going to [play in] more of a utility role for us now,” Wedge said. “I had a good conversation with Chone earlier today before I posted the lineup, and he was a total pro about it. He understood.“I felt like this was the time we needed to do it. I wanted to give it as long as I felt like we could, but it just wasn’t happening to the point where we felt like it should. He’s been great with his attitude, he’s working hard, had a decent spring and good first week. But it’s just fallen off from there.”"

MLB.com

Figgins is done. It was predicted and it has come to pass. With less at bats, Figgins is only headed for worse numbers and far less potential to prove he is worth keeping around. This is likely the first step in Figgins’ inevitable release.

This is somewhat more disappointing than it would have been had we released him in the off season or in Arizona, because Figgy had one helluva start. It turned out to be a rather rude tease because Figgins has crashed violently down to earth. At the start of today’s game Figgins is sporting a .188/.250/.305 slash line. The league average thus far is .711.

If I had to get predictive with this situation I would say that Figgins’ playing time slips further and further into oblivion with starts becoming as scarce as an 1847 Irish potato. As he grasp for playing time, his already ugly performance continues to disappoint until eventually we wake up to some much awaited news.