We NEED to keep Pinango and Valenzuela on the team.
We're going to have guys coming back from the IL, and right now these two are on the chopping block, but it's clear we need to squeeze out every win we can.
The reason you send them down is to protect your depth, but a mediocre performance won't get us to the playoffs, so we should take the gamble at the expense of organizational depth
Pinango:
He's a top 3 hitter on the team right now. It makes absolutely no sense to send down the guy who hits in the 2 spot when he's on the team, the slot reserved for your BEST hitter. We need to work around him to make sure he's an everyday player. Barger in right and Pinango in left works. Lukes, Straw, and Sanchez are great options for any potential injuries/days off, or if Barger doesn't improve. Pinango is also a good DH option when Springer is out. We just need to make it work so he gets the playing time he deserves. Sosa is an easy first cut. Unfortunately, babe is an easy second cut.
Valenzuela:
The risk with DFAing Heineman and making Val our backup catcher is twofold. 1. He gets less playing time. My argument is this doesn't matter. He'll likely play about a third of the games this season if he stays healthy. He'll also get to learn from Kirk. He's already 25. It's not like he's a fresh 18 year old who needs more experience. 2. We lose depth. Heineman has been bad on offense and defense. Val's OPS is more than double what Hein's is. Val's WAR is 1 (best on the team) while Hein's is -0.8 (worst on the team). Val doesn't choke under pressure either. Hein's a 34 year old career backup. Love the guy but he doesn't have it. He's bad enough that we could likely bring up any catcher from triple A and expect roughly the same performance, if not better.