As part of my usual Twitter babbling I asked this question and was surprised by how varied the responses were, so I’ll open it up to the HBT crowd too.
If you could have a lengthy but mediocre MLB career--say more than a half-dozen seasons, but no big contracts or great years--would you choose to be a fifth starter, middle reliever, or platoon hitter?
I’m thinking the fifth starter/long reliever would be someone like Kevin Correia or Bruce Chen, the middle reliever would be someone like Brandon Lyon or Chad Qualls, and the platoon hitter would be someone like Reed Johnson or Jonny Gomes.
Players who have a sizable role on teams--so ruling out backup catchers, utility men, and left-handed specialists--but definitely far from household names and always at risk of being out of a job if they play poorly for a season or two.
So ... what say you? (I’ll post my answer in the comments section.)