Maybe he won't be any better than Hall, Hardy and Weeks, but he can't be any worse.
I'm not going to rely too much on Dillon's numbers, because he only has 13 PA. But going back to last season, Dillon has shown a great knack for driving the ball and taking a lot of walks (OBP .385 this season, 3 walks in those 13 PA).
Of course, the argument I'll hear is, "Joe Dillon has never been a prospect. Weeks, Hardy and Hall have more natural talent, so therefore they should be starting all the time." Since when does natural talent actually trump production?
Let's break down Hall, Hardy and Weeks' seasons so far:
Hall: .217/.288/.442, 32 Ks in 120 AB. Any way you slice it, those numbers are pathetic. The .288 OBP is just a ghastly number for an everyday player. Just awful. He's the ultimate feast-or-famine hitter, just as uselss as Jose Hernandez was. The fact that he has 7 HR and just 19 RBI shows that most of his homers come with nobody on base. And this is not an anomaly. This is exactly what he did last season.
Hardy: .226/.303/.283. Hardy's SLG is currently far below Craig Counsell's. He's shown absolutely no power this season and can barely get the ball out of the infield. When he does, it's a weak flyball or popup. And don't praise him for hitting the ball hard once today. Hitting the ball hard once every other game is no grounds for praise. His power surge to start last season was clearly an anomaly. One homer this season. This is what he is. He's a weak-hitting shortstop who would've been better-suited to playing in an era when middle infielders had no power. Except he has no speed either. A slightly above-average defensive player, and a below-average offensive player. Can think of probably 10 NL SSs I'd rather have.
Weeks: .192/.322/.344. Only plus is that he has power for a leadoff guy, but that doesn't nearly offset his other problems. His OBP is too low for a leadoff man, and he's one of the worst hitters I've ever seen with RISP. FYI, he said he wouldn't begin to worry about his ghastly batting average until he hit the 200 AB mark this season. Well, he's at 125 AB. That's well over halfway there. And it's not like this is a slump or an anomaly. He hit this way pretty much all of last season, and save for about a month last year, has never put up consistently good numbers in his career.
So I ask: Given the fact that he puts up a quality AB almost every time, what reason is there to keep Joe Dillon from starting in the infield? To me, it's just Yost's stubborness and the organization's desperate attempt to not admit that any of their prospects may be busts.
And this post doesn't even get into Fielder's current problems (Problem number one: he's fatter than ever before. If you want to p*** and moan about your contract, at least get yourself into acceptable playing shape, fatty.)