Article: Terry Ryan Thinks Brian Dozier Was Rushed In '12

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Originally Posted by Alex

There are "struggles" and then there is just being overmatched.

I'd argue that Ben Revere "struggled" in his first nearly full season in 2011. His play was a mixture of darn right terrible to solid starter type numbers. He had a rough May (34 AB), an excellent June (.294 AVG/.333 OBP), an awful July (.218/.280), an improved August (.255/.300), and a excellent Sept. (.311/.342). This, after a short stint in AAA that proved he was ready for the majors.

Dozier, by contrast, didn't really have those ups and downs and didn't put together more than a couple of consecutive games of what looked like major league talent . His numbers did get slightly better, but his best full month was an OPS of .611 and he never cracked a .300 OBP. His last month started out better in terms of SLG % because of a couple of HR, but AVG and OBP were both down again. (I'll add that even though I didn't think the Twins should have called him up when they did, I don't think there was a reason to send him down at that point either and would have liked to see him finish the season).

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And, if they are overmatched, they are overmatched. Again, look back to a historical precedent and the 1982 Twins. When they broke camp that year, they inserted Lenny Faedo as their starting shortstop. He was a former first round draft pick and was just 22 years old. Guess what? He wasn't good enough so during the rebuilding process they had to find someone else that was, And, that meant that in 1983 they brought up a 21 year old Greg Gagne and installed him as their starter in 1985.

True evaluation is critical in the rebuild process. Is it a case of being overmatched? Is it a case of further development? We are not committed to Brian Dozier at all, but by bringing him up NOW we can make some true observations, rather than waiting another year or more into the future.

And, I will reiterate. This team needs to commit to the concept of developing players at the major league level. We already have had two consecutive 95+ loss season, and if we continue on the one step at a time minor league development process we are going to have several more. It worked in 1982, as the young players they essentially plugged into that lineup became the nucleaus of two World Series teams. Some of the players worked, some of them did not. But, again, THE CRITICAL FACTOR WAS that by the time these players all hit their peak performance we had dumped all of the failures and had an opportunity to find replacements, such as the aforementioned Gagne, and Kirby Puckett who replaced Jimmy Eisenreich when he could not handle the majors.

Lenny Faedo could not hit, and after 1984 he never had another major league at bat. Brian Dozier may be following hte same path, but we NEED TO FIND OUT, just as we found out about Faedo.

You can always point out players that skipped a level and didn't miss a beat. The list of guys who's careers were hurt by this is much longer. That is what player development is, being able to judge when they are ready to move up and when they aren't. Plouffe was pushed through the system despite his numbers and it is starting to look like the Twins took a good approach with him. Hicks was held a year and it looks like it helped. I was fine with them bringing Dozier up when they did, the problem was they kept him there despite him struggling helplessly. It got pretty bad for Dozier. It was obvious he wasn't making adjustments and they left him out to dry. A big part of that is a terrible job by management to provide insurance to that position.

Dozier was the guy that got to take the lumps. Combine his call-up with the inconsistent play of Luis Rivas...eh, Alex Casilla. The non-play of Danny Valencia. You had Jimmy Carroll playing super sub somewhere. You come to the majors and take some lumps.Soon the film catches up to you, or the line-up is such that pitchers don't have to pitch to you, or so they learn. Plus the everyday grind. Even the worst players on a 25-man roster are better than the majority of players in AAA ball. Is Mastro better than Hicks? Well, he can hold a spot for a season or two in the majors, which is more than you can saw for a Carson, Wilkin or Dinkelman, who can barely scratch their way to 25th-man roster spots.

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Originally Posted by mlhouse

And, if they are overmatched, they are overmatched. Again, look back to a historical precedent and the 1982 Twins. When they broke camp that year, they inserted Lenny Faedo as their starting shortstop. He was a former first round draft pick and was just 22 years old. Guess what? He wasn't good enough so during the rebuilding process they had to find someone else that was, And, that meant that in 1983 they brought up a 21 year old Greg Gagne and installed him as their starter in 1985.

True evaluation is critical in the rebuild process. Is it a case of being overmatched? Is it a case of further development? We are not committed to Brian Dozier at all, but by bringing him up NOW we can make some true observations, rather than waiting another year or more into the future.

And, I will reiterate. This team needs to commit to the concept of developing players at the major league level. We already have had two consecutive 95+ loss season, and if we continue on the one step at a time minor league development process we are going to have several more. It worked in 1982, as the young players they essentially plugged into that lineup became the nucleaus of two World Series teams. Some of the players worked, some of them did not. But, again, THE CRITICAL FACTOR WAS that by the time these players all hit their peak performance we had dumped all of the failures and had an opportunity to find replacements, such as the aforementioned Gagne, and Kirby Puckett who replaced Jimmy Eisenreich when he could not handle the majors.

Lenny Faedo could not hit, and after 1984 he never had another major league at bat. Brian Dozier may be following hte same path, but we NEED TO FIND OUT, just as we found out about Faedo.

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To be clear, I wasn't referring to this year but last year, clearly a wasted year of both development and evaluation for Dozier because he was way above his skill level for developmental purpose. In fact, you could see by the end of the season it had clearly messed with his confidence and he mentioned recently it also hurt his mechanics. So, just brining someone up doesn't tell you what kind of player he is going to be or could, especially if the timing is wrong.

I'd agree, though, that he probably needs to be back in the majors this year, but I think it's too late. Had he played in the minors last year, I think you'd see a better Dozier this spring.