To Kevin Cash, a healthy Desmond Jennings likely represents more of an idea than a known commodity.

Face it, the Rays’ manager saw Jennings play just 28 games last year before the outfielder gathered dust because of a nagging left knee injury. Cash wasn’t around when Jennings had a career-high 31 stolen bases in 2012. Cash wasn’t around when Jennings had a career-high 54 RBI in 2013 and looked to be the heir apparent to Carl Crawford.

As Kevin Kiermaier’s stock rose last year – capped by an AL Gold Glove Award – Jennings’ arrow was pointed down, down, down.

So when asked what a healthy Jennings would mean for the Rays, Cash can only dream. He tried to explain the vision to reporters Wednesday, as captured by WDAE-AM 620 microphones:

“A lot. Unfortunately, we didn’t see it much last year. But we’ve talked about it, the little times he was there, we saw him go run a ball down in the gap. It adds to our defense where we can separate KK and Desmond a little bit and know that that coverage is going to be there so Desmond maybe covers more of a line,” Cash said. “KK can help out the right side a little bit more. Offensively, the speed and the power [are there]. It can do a lot for us. … He just hasn’t played a lot of baseball recently.”

That’s the rub. Jennings must stay healthy and prove his knee won’t become a flat tire again — a big chore for him.

There’s no doubt that the Rays are better with a healthy Jennings teaming up with Kiermaier and others to patrol the outfield. But until Jennings can stay on the field for longer than a blink, keep those best-case scenarios in check.