As far as problems go in the baseball world, it's a nice problem to have. It's the kind of problem that happens when your best hitter and best hitting prospect play the same position.
That's where the Cincinnati Reds find themselves these days, with Joey Votto establishing not only that he is the team's best hitter, but that he has no desire to play any position other than the first base position he has fought hard to call his own, and prospect Yonder Alonso close to the majors and willing to move away from first base, but not athletically capable of doing so. The good news is that he's willing to work, reports John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Alonso is working on his own to get comfortable at third base and in left field, but the Reds have not worked with him officially, although have not provided a good explanation as to why. Even if they don't think he is capable of playing another position, it would be beneficial for them to make it appear as though he can to increase his trade value. After all, if Alonso can't move and Votto won't, then one will have to go (although if it comes to that, the more expensive Votto seems like the more likely candidate).
Alonso dabbled at third base while at the University of Miami, although if he couldn't do it at "The U," then what's to make us believe he can do it in the majors? Alonso has even caught a couple of bullpens, but a conversion to catcher would take much longer than his contract will allow (he signed a big league contract after the draft and is out of options after next year).
It remains to be seen what the Reds will do, but it seems like they ought to start taking Alonso up on his willingness to work at other positions sooner rather than later. Alonso has said he's willing to do whatever it takes to get at-bats, so why aren't the Reds doing more to help him find them?
