Maybe not, but in your scenario, that Rookie isn’t playing because he doesn’t give us the best chance to win. If our Rookie ends up being someone that gives is the best chance to win, he will play.
I think a Duarte or Murphy stands a good chance to play immediately next year over whatever minimum guys we bring in. There’s not a chance in hell Quin doesn’t play a rookie just to keep a one-year minimum guy happy if the rookie gives us a better chance to win.
But Quin will play whatever guys give us the best chance to win. If that’s the minimum guys we sign, then absolutely they will play over the rookie.
I think the narrative that Quin “doesn’t play rookies” is a silly one. There’s not a single example of a rookie player anyone can look back on in hindsight and say “Quin really should have been playing that guy more.” If you wanted to say Quin prioritizes winning over player development, then yeah, that’s absolutely true (but again true that we’ve really not had anything in the cupboard worth developing). And if you’re trying to contend, that’s how it should be.
If the Trib article from last month is to be believed the beef between Quin and DL was basically about that. DL said “play my young guys,” and Quin said “get me some young guys I can actually play.” And Quin is right. DL has not, other than Mitchell and Allen, given Quin any young players worth playing.
