Thread: Twins sign former Mariners top prospect to minor league deal

Originally Posted by spycake

A former first-round pick, he had a very brief but promising first call-up at age 23, then followed by a poor partial season in the majors and a dominant half-season at AAA at age 24.

Interesting that the above statement can be applied to both Clements and to Parmelee. Not saying they are equivalent, but Clements' story does serve as a reminder to temper our enthusiasm about Parmelee a bit.

Nah, I'll remain enthusiastic about Parmelee.

Originally Posted by Jeremy Nygaard

After Bollinger tweeted the news of the Clement signing, there were a number of replies about how the Twins need to sign real players instead of minor league guys. I get that. I think most of us here get that, especially considering no one here's complaining about the Clement signing.

Either way, I did a little research:

Last year, the Twins had 14 minor-league free agents they didn't re-sign (according to my records). They had 15 non-roster non-organizational spring training invites, most of whom weren't announced until later in the winter.

This year, the Twins have 17 currently not re-signed minor-league free agents (some still unsigned, some lost to others). The Twins have only signed four from other organizations. Obviously the door is still open for some of them to return - a name like Kyle Waldrop comes to mind - but it shouldn't come as any surprise if the Twins continue to add another dozen minor leaguers.

I would think Jeff Clement essentially replaces Sean Burroughs, who played a lot of first base last year. As mentioned above, Romero will probably get a lot of the 3B at-bats and Colabello will probably get a lot of ABs as well at 1B/DH.

I continue to look forward to more of these signings, even though they aren't very exciting.

Thanks for providing a little perspective on these signings. A reminder that there is more going on then just signing starting pitching. I would like to say that this should cool peoples jets a bit, but it won't.

Signing guys like Clement is a task performed by every organization, every off season. More of an administrative task than a really serious personnel undertaking. Like replacing an under-performing tofutti concession stand with a deep fried butter-on-a-stick vendor, and about as relevant to the long-term on-field performance of the major league club.

Last year, the Twins had 14 minor-league free agents they didn't re-sign (according to my records). They had 15 non-roster non-organizational spring training invites, most of whom weren't announced until later in the winter.

This year, the Twins have 17 currently not re-signed minor-league free agents (some still unsigned, some lost to others). The Twins have only signed four from other organizations. Obviously the door is still open for some of them to return - a name like Kyle Waldrop comes to mind - but it shouldn't come as any surprise if the Twins continue to add another dozen minor leaguers

I will be a little disappointed if the Twins add that many minor league free agents. You should lose about 15 minor league free agents a year near the top of the minor leagues just to make room for younger players moving up. If you have to replace all the minor league free agents you lost, with more minor league free agents, well then your young guys just aren't developing. That is pretty much what happened last year.

It seems like a lot of kids in the lower minors had pretty good years. I hope that means they are developing and ready to move up a level. What you hope happens is that there is a few players at AAA every year who move up to the majors. Ideally there should be around 10 AA players ready to move to AAA. The same all the way down the system. Of course it doesn't work that way in real life. There are mid-year promotions and injuries and often promising prospects stall out at higher levels. Still, if a minor league system is real healthy, it should be able to replace most of the minor league free agents and other dropouts from within the system.

The good news here is that the Twins are a desirable location for minor league free agents with some upside. They should be (what with all their opportunities), but it's nice to see them leveraging that to bring in guys like Clements.

Originally Posted by Jim H

Last year, the Twins had 14 minor-league free agents they didn't re-sign (according to my records). They had 15 non-roster non-organizational spring training invites, most of whom weren't announced until later in the winter.

This year, the Twins have 17 currently not re-signed minor-league free agents (some still unsigned, some lost to others). The Twins have only signed four from other organizations. Obviously the door is still open for some of them to return - a name like Kyle Waldrop comes to mind - but it shouldn't come as any surprise if the Twins continue to add another dozen minor leaguers

I will be a little disappointed if the Twins add that many minor league free agents. You should lose about 15 minor league free agents a year near the top of the minor leagues just to make room for younger players moving up. If you have to replace all the minor league free agents you lost, with more minor league free agents, well then your young guys just aren't developing. That is pretty much what happened last year.

It seems like a lot of kids in the lower minors had pretty good years. I hope that means they are developing and ready to move up a level. What you hope happens is that there is a few players at AAA every year who move up to the majors. Ideally there should be around 10 AA players ready to move to AAA. The same all the way down the system. Of course it doesn't work that way in real life. There are mid-year promotions and injuries and often promising prospects stall out at higher levels. Still, if a minor league system is real healthy, it should be able to replace most of the minor league free agents and other dropouts from within the system.

I agree to an extent. But you also want to create competition for roster spots and have to assume that will squeeze a dozen or so from the roster completely. Regardless of how many are brought in there is only so much room for organizational filler. The more you bring in, the more you ultimately release... which is fine.

Clement will be the next Garrett Jones!

Even if Clement isn't going to catch, Butera is probably going to be nontendered

Originally Posted by SpantheMan

Even if Clement isn't going to catch, Butera is probably going to be nontendered

He probably won't amount to much but then again... He might. Nothing wrong with running him up the flagpole. He's got power... A little contact added to that and maybe it pays off. If he is in the way of anyone... I'm not sure who that is.