I was going to delay this post to give Matthew's more exposure, but I am almost laughably impatient. As such, please make note of Matthew's excellent Felix post below this one. Read it, because it's way more interesting than all this bench talk and roster speculation.

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At this point, it seems like the major transactions are finished. I'm not one to pretend to have any kind of insight into what the front office might do next, but with guys like Cliff Lee, Chone Figgins, and Milton Bradley already here, by and large the roster has already taken shape. Though the team could always opt to add a starter or pull off a surprising trade, right now, as constructed, there's only one remaining roster spot that absolutely has to be filled before the start of the season.

We've discussed that roster spot before. Not too long ago I said the team is most likely searching for a semi-regular righty bat capable of playing the outfield. But I feel like I left something out. For reference, here's what I assume is the team's current depth chart:

You can see the need for a righty outfielder. Ryan Langerhans, though oft-underrated, isn't much of an everyday player, and while Milton Bradley's got a lot of talent, the team would like to keep him at DH as often as possible so as to protect his health. Which leaves a hole. The Mariners need a guy they can platoon with Langerhans, and a guy who can act as a more legitimate fourth outfielder than Bradley can.

However, that's not all they need. Look at short. Jack Wilson is a neat little player. For every run he fails to produce at the plate, he takes one back in the field, providing an average overall performance and great glovework at a critical defensive position. But for as dependable as Wilson is in the field, you can never count on him to be healthy. He only missed four games in 2005, but since then he's missed 20, 27, 75, and 56, a sum total of 178 games missed over the last four years. That's a lot of missed time. Since 2006, Wilson's missed more than a quarter of his games, and at 32, we can't expect him to become more durable overnight.

It's not that Wilson doesn't have a capable backup. He does, in Jack Hannahan. Though Hannahan only has two games of shortstop experience in the Major Leagues, he's a terrific defensive third baseman with all the tools and agility to make it work in the middle. While most teams would shy away from using a guy with so little experience as their utility infielder, the Mariners are confident that they know what they're doing, and I think they'll be rewarded for it.

But consider the situation, here. It'd be one thing if Wilson kept going on the DL. A DL trip would allow the Mariners to call someone up from AAA (say, Josh Wilson or *sigh* Chris Woodward) without missing a beat. Wilson, though, doesn't go on the DL very often. He's only been twice in the last six years. No; Wilson's the type to develop those nagging day-to-day injuries with unpredictable recovery timelines. The sort of injuries that often don't require a DL stint. And should Wilson come up with one of those, then this roster, as currently built, would have to get by without any depth at all in the infield.

That's something I imagine the Mariners don't really want to do. It's not an issue that's likely to come up too terribly often, but it's one of those things you'd rather deal with before it happens. If Wilson gets knocked out of action for ten days, you don't want to play with a thin bench or send down a reliever. You want to be prepared.

It's for that reason that, though I mentioned guys like Reed Johnson and Rocco Baldelli, I think it's more likely the Mariners look for someone capable of playing both the infield and the outfield. Someone, incidentally, like Bill Hall, only presumably better. Someone a lot like Fernando Tatis. Tatis fits the mold. He's cheap, he's a righty, he has some power, and he can play almost anywhere. Last year with the Mets, he played everywhere but center and catcher. That's a versatile player, and the sort of versatile player I think the Mariners really want.

Fernando Tatis isn't a stud. At 35, his offensive skills are beginning to deteriorate, and though he can play almost any position, it's not like he can play them *well*. You don't go after Fernando Tatis because you think he can change your team's outlook. You go after Fernando Tatis because you need a guy who can swing a righty bat in the outfield while offering some emergency depth in the infield, and there really aren't a whole lot of those guys available. Like it or not, the team's probably a little wary about the shortstop position. Bringing in a guy like Tatis would give them options and keep them from freaking out every time Jack Wilson limps to first base.

This isn't, of course, the only possible route. Maybe the Mariners make a trade. Maybe they choose to be more vigilant about putting Wilson on the DL if he suffers any kind of injury. Maybe something else. I don't know what the plan is. But from looking at how the roster has shaken out, I can make a best guess, and at this point in time my best guess is that the Mariners end up with Fernando Tatis or Jerry Hairston Jr. or some other guy with a similar skillset to round things out. They aren't real sexy players, but versatility can be underrated, and, ultimately, there's definite value in covering all your bases.