Jose Miguel Fernandez left Cuba in December to seek a Major League Baseball contract. It’s clear that the Cincinnati Reds are building towards the future. They are trying to shed some payroll now with trades of established players and get younger and cheaper.

Fernandez is a second baseman, which is a position that is currently played by Brandon Phillips and is also the position that newly acquired prospect Jose Peraza plays. That, in itself, makes the Reds pursuit of the Cuban infielder questionable at best. But what if the organization got creative?

There are some out there who believe that Jose Peraza can play shortstop. They are in the minority, but the thought is out there. What if the Reds are one of those teams? At just 21-years-old, Jose Peraza can head to Louisville and get plenty of reps at shortstop and bide some time until he’s ready to take over for Zack Cozart, who seems to be in the Reds plans at the position in the short term.

That leaves up the issue of what to do with Brandon Phillips. The team obviously wants to move him at this point if they can. Things seemed to fall apart with the Nationals over money. How much is unknown at this point though. But, if the team were to acquire Fernandez, they would be more inclined to pay up to move Phillips. While I doubt that the team could save money overall by replacing Phillips with Fernandez, they would get younger by going from a 35-year-old second baseman to a 28-year-old second baseman.

In his last full season in Cuba, as a 25-year-old, he would hit .326/.482/.456 with 65 walks and just 10 strikeouts. Yes, 10 strikeouts in 314 plate appearances. The Reds seem to be going hard after players who make a lot o contact, and this guy seems to show an elite ability to do so. While there’s not much power that comes with it, he appears to understand the strikezone incredibly well and has enough pop to perhaps keep pitchers somewhat honest in the strikezone.

The issue could come into play in that his defense has been on the decline. Prior to being suspended for attempting to defect early in 2014, his range was considered below-average at second base. The Reds have been building their team around defense since Walt Jocketty took over as General Manager and in the short time that Dick Williams has been at the helm as the new GM, the things that he’s said seems to follow a similar path.

At some point you need to be able to outscore the other team as well. Fernandez seems to be a cure for all of the needs that the offense needs right now. He doesn’t swing at pitches out of the strikezone, giving him a chance to post a high on-base percentage. He makes tons of contact on pitches inside of the strikezone, hardly ever striking out, giving him a chance to hit for a high average.

If his defense is not atrocious at second base, the Reds should explore the option of signing Fernandez. Offensively he profiles exactly as the type of player that they both need and that they seemingly have been trying to acquire. Defensively he doesn’t quite fit their usual “want”, but every now and again you need to make sacrifices on one side of the ball for the other. The Reds have a few guys in the lineup who can’t hit but are their for their defense. Maybe they can afford a below-average defender that can give the offense just what it needs. It would require plenty of moving parts, but with some creative moves, it could be just the thing that gets them back into contention quicker than originally planned.