I think that such a move could be a win-win for the Twins. Someone claims him, he is gone (clean slate, other than the signing bonus.) He will probably not be claimed and will open another spot.
Thoughts?
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I think that such a move could be a win-win for the Twins. Someone claims him, he is gone (clean slate, other than the signing bonus.) He will probably not be claimed and will open another spot.
Thoughts?
I agree with you Thrylos. There is no harm to outrighting him. If he gets claimed we are off of the hook for $6M, if not he still gets $3M and it opens up a roster spot. They might yet do that. It all really comes down to which players win the bullpen jobs and the bench spots. It looks like that Twins are going to need to free up at least 2 spots (Burton & Bench spot), so somebody other than Zumaya is going to have to be taken moved.
Nishioka will be off the 40-man roster by Opening Day. He'll still be in Rochester - it's not a secret he's not worth the money he's being paid - and collecting a pretty big paycheck.
I agree removing Nishioka is good option, but they don't need to do it yet, so they will at least wait until they need the spot. If they want to to make a waiver claim or sign Roy Oswalt they can just move Zumaya to the 60-day DL.
The Twins essentially can make five spots pretty easily, if they needed to. Joel Zumaya (60-day DL), Terry Doyle (since he's not making the big club, he'll be off the 40-man one way or the other), Jeff Gray (out of options and hasn't been considered in the bullpen race as of late), Nishi (obviously) and Darin Mastroianni (plenty of capable AAA OFs, though I saw Mastroianni got some reps at 2B earlier this week). Though I don't think they'll need all that room, it makes adding Jared Burton, Brian Dozier/Sean Burroughs and J.R. Towles pretty easy (and harmless).
I'd 100% do it. If someone claims him, awesome. If not, then he's in AAA just like now, and you have an open spot on the 40 man. I see no downside to doing this at all. So, no chance it happens.
I see can see it, but I kind of doubt it. Say for example, Jamie Caroll pulls his hamstring in mid April... 15 day DL. What do you do then? Dozier is still not ready for the show and now you are down a SS. Leaving him on the 40 man at least allows you the option of bringing Nishi back up to fill in (even though, he probably also still isn't ready). But at least he has experience. Caroll comes back in 15 days and now you'd have 26 players. If you have to option Nishi back to AAA, who cares? But if that's Dozier, you've just started his ML clock for two weeks of play that probably been better spent in AAA. I think he'll stay on the 40 man until they think Dozier is ready to take over SS full time.
Side note- Zumaya will be put on the 60 day DL at the end of ST, or just released. So we can count on an open spot there for sure.
Well... lots of options: Start Casilla at SS, bring up Dozier (might not be ready but right now is better than Nishi), bring up Florimon (Same bat as Nishi, better defense).Quote:
Originally Posted by James
I can't believe people are worried about starting Brian Dozier's arbitration clock.
I remember a quote prior to the start of spring training, by Nishioka, something to the effect of "if I can't make it here I'll just go home". As I remember it at the time, the translator didn't come out and repeat those words, but when the tape was played later, that is en essence what he said.
Do you think Nishi will really be willing to spend a whole season playing AAA ball?
The guy has had a very rough 12 months. I'm sure he came to the US with really high hopes and the huge media coverage. then to play as poorly as he has and to throw in a divorce on top of that, he has to be about as low as I guy can get. Then again, I would be jumping for joy to be paid 3 million to spend the year playing AAA ball. Is there a chance that he will just walk away from his contract? I'm sure he is not happy with his current situation, and it has no chance of getting better for the next two years. Sometimes the decision isn't all about the money.
I'd say there is a chance the Twins could sell his rights to a Japanese team. Maybe enough to cover his buyout.Quote:
Originally Posted by minn55441
The thing is that he can quit. And (caveat: I have not seen that contract) if he quits (per posting rules - and that is for sure) the Twins will recover a pro-rated part of the posting money from his previous team and (per MLB rules) will not be responsible for a dime for his contract. If that is the case, his former team (because had to pay back the posting money) will still hold his rights in Japan.Quote:
Originally Posted by jnygaard
The Twins could take Nishioka off the 40 man roster. Thrylos makes a good point in that it just doens't matter if he were claimed or not. But generally speaking there is no need to take someone off the 40 man roster unless someone else is going to take that spot. Might as well keep him on until there is a need. There is no rush!
My thoughts on Nishioka, if you really want to get rid of him you take him off the 40 man roster ASAP. Just think how hurt his ego must be having to go to AAA, you pull him off the 40 man it would be a huge blow to his name and reputation he built in Japan. He would look like a total failure to his people of Japan. I would think he would have his agent come to the Twins and try to work out some sort of buyout. That's when you say no and tell him you are sending him to Class A or so to work on his game, which would be such a disgrace he will just go away without compensation. Why release him and pay him when you can just let him rot in the minors.
I guess it's time for a Bill Smith mention for making the signing but he is not alone when it came to scouting Nishioka. Too bad he can't be blamed for Marquis and Capps.
I don't think anyone is worried about that. Personally, I'm worried about his development, and my personal opinion is that it's best for him (and hence, for the Twins) to play every day, so that whenever he is deemed ready (or there is an injury need), he's really ready.Quote:
Originally Posted by mike wants wins
It will be interesting to see how the Rochester fans, take to Nishioka. He could become a fan favorite if he plays well.