Want to Stump the Chump? Or Schimpf the Chimpf? Get in line.

Earlier this spring, keen on shedding Steven Pearce and his bloated(? $4,500,000) salary, I packaged the enigmatic Jorge Soler with Pearce in a trade with Kaline. Kaline let me choose between Brian Johnson and Ryan Schimpf.

I chose Schimpf.

Here are the spring training lines and outcomes (apparently) for each player:

Schimpf:  0 for 30 with 19 strikeouts.  And 5 walks.  That’s an OPS of .143, against opposition that Baseball Reference rates as about AA level.  The worst hitter in MLB.  Optioned on Sunday to AAA.

Johnson: 11 ip, 3 er, 2.45 ERA. He is on the verge of starting the season in the Red Sox rotation. He would have made a nice handcuff with Rick Porcello.

Pearce: In 19 plate appearances this spring, he’s batting .313, .368, .500. Like he usually does.

Soler: In 55 plate appearances this spring, he’s batting .271, .364, .708.  With 6 homers. He’ll start for KC.

Earlier, at the last minute before the deadline I switched Andrew Heaney onto my Rule 5 Draft protected list, and left Dylan Cease unprotected instead.  Heaney is injured again.  Cease, snagged by the Cheese, has pitched 6.3 scoreless innings this spring, with 9 k’s.

I also left Gregory Polanco unprotected in the Expansion Draft.  The Outs grabbed him.  His spring line: .344, .382 .750.  The man I protected in Polanco’s stead? Kolten Wong: .161, .278, .226 in 36 PA.  That’s less than half of Polanco’s OPS.

I suppose I could hope for a slight rebound from fellow second-baseman Ryan Schimpf? It wouldn’t take much.

I don’t see why everyone isn’t beating a path to the Old Detroit door, eager to be the next to fleece the chump.

After all, I couldn’t get anyone to take Dan Vogelbach off my hands, even though I tried repeatedly.  His line this spring? .415, .538, .854. In 52 plate appearances.