Eric Chavez

Minnesota will carry two backup infielders as they do next year. Comes down to.....do you want Eduardo Escobar or Eric Chavez?
There is room on the roster.
Nobody is saying he's the everyday player......against righthanded pitching.
You dont need 13 pitchers if you allow your pitchers to get to 110 pitches rather than the 95 Rick Anderson allows. Got a feeling that was discussed in his re-hiring. Old way isnt working, time to catch up to the other 28teams (COL was inexcuseable). Diamond 8 games over 100 pitches but only one over 102. DeVires 3 times over 100, 7 times in 90s......as bad as the pitching was/is, there is no reason for 13 pitchers.

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Originally Posted by greengoblinrulz

Minnesota will carry two backup infielders as they do next year. Comes down to.....do you want Eduardo Escobar or Eric Chavez?
There is room on the roster.
Nobody is saying he's the everyday player......against righthanded pitching.
You dont need 13 pitchers if you allow your pitchers to get to 110 pitches rather than the 95 Rick Anderson allows. Got a feeling that was discussed in his re-hiring. Old way isnt working, time to catch up to the other 28teams (COL was inexcuseable). Diamond 8 games over 100 pitches but only one over 102. DeVires 3 times over 100, 7 times in 90s......as bad as the pitching was/is, there is no reason for 13 pitchers.

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I don't think anybody is saying it's a bad idea.

I think people are saying it's pretty unrealistic, not to mention ON's excellent point (which I've mentioned before, elsewhere) that true platoons are becoming more and more rare as pitching staffs grow.

Soooo...now there is speculation that A-Rod gets traded this off-season (To the Marlins), if that happens I can't see any way whatsoever the Yankees feel comfortable heading into 2013 with Chavez as the everyday 3B or anything close to it.

Now that doesn't mean they still wouldn't welcome him back, but I do think there is a good chance they try to bring in a young 3B to replace A-Rod/Pencil him in as the every day guy.

Again, their are a lot of things working against the Twins in this situation, but perhaps Chavez could see this as his best shot to get some solid at bats in a good baseball town on a team that could actually end up surprising people next season.

Either way, IMHO its def worth exploring. Keep in mind he would also provide some depth at the 1st base/DH spot as well in case one of Morneau/Parmelee/Doumit gets injured/struggles-Parmelee

I'm not totally opposed to this idea.

FWIW, in the Handbook we have Chavez getting a 1-year deal for about $1M. He won't be brought back by anyone as a full-time player, or at least not without a significant discount. There is no evidence he can stay healthy as a full time player.

Does it make sense for the Twins to sign him as a complement to Plouffe? Yes.
Could they afford him? Probably, though they have higher priorities.
Would Chavez sign with the Twins? If it means he gets a fulltime platoon job, hell yes. Playing behind Plouffe presents lots more opportunities than playing behind ARod.

The biggest reason I can come up with for not doing so is that it essentially pigeon holes Plouffed into a 1/3 platoon role at third base. He has hit left-handers considerably better than right-handers, but I'm hesitant to limit his role just yet. I suppose they could bring Chavvy in to kind of be a platoon, still giving Plouffe about half of the at-bats vs RHs. But I'm not sure Chavez would be as interested in that.

I do kind of like the idea if they could land him.

BTW, just to reiterate, the only role I think Chavez could handle is the strong side of a platoon. Not only should teams be worried about his health, but he also has shown zero ability to hit LHs at this point. His impressive stats this year hide that almost all of those at-bats were aganst right-handed pitchers. He had just 39 AB against LHs. He had just five hits. And none of them were for extra-bases.

I'm also not against the idea... If the team could land him, which I doubt. As a platoon player on the cheap, he should have plenty of offers that would allow him to go to a contender.

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Originally Posted by John Bonnes

I'm not totally opposed to this idea.

FWIW, in the Handbook we have Chavez getting a 1-year deal for about $1M. He won't be brought back by anyone as a full-time player, or at least not without a significant discount. There is no evidence he can stay healthy as a full time player.

Does it make sense for the Twins to sign him as a complement to Plouffe? Yes.
Could they afford him? Probably, though they have higher priorities.
Would Chavez sign with the Twins? If it means he gets a fulltime platoon job, hell yes. Playing behind Plouffe presents lots more opportunities than playing behind ARod.

The biggest reason I can come up with for not doing so is that it essentially pigeon holes Plouffed into a 1/3 platoon role at third base. He has hit left-handers considerably better than right-handers, but I'm hesitant to limit his role just yet. I suppose they could bring Chavvy in to kind of be a platoon, still giving Plouffe about half of the at-bats vs RHs. But I'm not sure Chavez would be as interested in that.

I do kind of like the idea if they could land him.

BTW, just to reiterate, the only role I think Chavez could handle is the strong side of a platoon. Not only should teams be worried about his health, but he also has shown zero ability to hit LHs at this point. His impressive stats this year hide that almost all of those at-bats were aganst right-handed pitchers. He had just 39 AB against LHs. He had just five hits. And none of them were for extra-bases.

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My ideal plan would be to only "sit" Plouffe against tough righties, so maybe once or twice a week, I think Plouffe has the potential to improve his at bats against righties, his average isn't much worse and he was still able to hit 12 HR off them this year, I see no reason why he couldn't improve against them overall. But when he faces the Greinkes/Verlanders/Scherzers of the world he should sit (.452, .467, .120 OPS in his career against those guys) in fact maybe we should just have him sit against all Detroit pitchers haha

However if Plouffe does end up struggling more then we like, then perhaps you have Chavez start 2-3 times a week for him instead of 1-2. You are right though, Chavez brings zero value against LHP but that isn't a real huge issue IMO, since as a whole the Twins hit LHP pretty well.

Chavez also seems like a nice bat off the bench as well, I certainly would prefer him hitting for Carroll late in the game rather then Mastrionni, Casilla or whatever other light hitting MI they have on the bench.