Thread: Heyman: Twins Have Interest in Brignac

Reid Brignac, recently DFA'd by Tampa plays all over 2B, SS, 3B and OF. Is he potential upgrade to Escobar? Is he worth a look?

We were discussing this on the Dozier thread. I'd definitely give him a shot. Why not?

Looks like another Gordon Beckham prospect bust to me.

Originally Posted by ScottyB

Reid Brignac, recently DFA'd by Tampa plays all over 2B, SS, 3B and OF. Is he potential upgrade to Escobar? Is he worth a look?

He's not only a potential upgrade to Escobar, but he's also a potential upgrade to Florimon. That's not saying a whole lot, but if the Twins get the chance to pick Brignac up they should.

All the rhetoric coming out of the Twins camp during the offseason is that they're in love with Florimon and he's their guy.

Does anyone know what happened to Brignac? He was a top 100 prospect for years and has seemingly dropped off a cliff, even in the minors last year.

He could be a good "change of scenery" guy. It's not like we have anything special in the middle infield to block anyways.

I'd take him seeing as he's a much more consistant defender, but he really is of no offensive value. His numbers are really no different than Florimon's in the minors last year and it wasn't much of an anomaly. I was pretty surprised when I checked his numbers to see how awful he has been offensively at every level recently. Still, if nobody has a bat, you go with the best defender, that's Brignac over Florimon.

Originally Posted by nicksaviking

I'd take him seeing as he's a much more consistant defender, but he really is of no offensive value. His numbers are really no different than Florimon's in the minors last year and it wasn't an anomaly. I was pretty surprised when I checked his numbers to see how awful he has been offensively at every level. Still, if nobody has a bat, you go with the best defender, that's Brignac over Florimon.

Actually, outside of last year, Brignac has been a better offensive player than Florimon in the minors. His career minor league OPS (a dubious statistic, I know) is nearly 100 points better than Florimon's.

If they don't have to give up anything to get him, I'd absolutely take him. If they need to trade something to get him, I don't know if I'd give up much. Probably the same for Elliot Johnson or any other utility infielder on the waiver wire.

I'm really surprised that the Twins haven't already brought in a warm body to compete in the infield. They need 4 or 5 guys to play 2b, 3b, ss, and utility roles. They have 1 guy and 4 question marks. Having a 5th question mark only makes sense. With only Carroll having any sort of real MLB experience, I would imagine Gardenhire would give anything for an experienced guy he could feel comfortable with, while letting the unpolished young guys get playing time at AAA. Of course maybe Ryan is sick of Gardenhire being enamored with bad veterans. But there's no reason to think that Dozier, Florimon, Escobar, or even Plouffe are any better. They might piece it together, but if things go bad or there is an injury or two, things could be even worse than last year.

Originally Posted by nicksaviking

Still, if nobody has a bat, you go with the best defender, that's Brignac over Florimon.

I doubt that's true.

Originally Posted by Nick Nelson

I doubt that's true.

Agreed! I'm frankly not certain that Brignac is a better hitter than Florimon, and don't think his offense is any better either.

According to Tweets from Darren Wolfson, he's not certain of the Twins level of interest in Brignac. He wrote that the Astros have called the Twins, but the Twins had not returned the call yet. If it got to waivers, the Astros would likely take him.

Well apparently he has a hot girlfriend. I went to google his stats and autocomplete had "Reid Brignac girlfriend" ahead of "Reid Brignac Rays" and "Reid Brignac stats." What do the scouts say? Good baseball body and a hot girlfriend? We're good to go, I think.

Hot girlfriends can only improve the watchability of the television broadcasts, I'm sold.

Originally Posted by snepp

Hot girlfriends can only improve the watchability of the television broadcasts, I'm sold.

I miss Brain Dinkleman.

Originally Posted by 70charger

Well apparently he has a hot girlfriend. I went to google his stats and autocomplete had "Reid Brignac girlfriend" ahead of "Reid Brignac Rays" and "Reid Brignac stats." What do the scouts say? Good baseball body and a hot girlfriend? We're good to go, I think.

The elusive Sixth Tool: good baseball girlfriend body.

Based on his lack of progression from top prospect to polished major leaguer, the stats say don't bother, he'd be just another peer in the Florimon-Escobar mix, and they have a full 40-man so it's not clear he's an improvement over the player you'd risk losing, dregs though they are. However, this is one that comes down to scouting and player evaluation, which is where the Twins have the advantage over armchair GMs like me: they no doubt saw him when Rochester played Durham, and if they saw something they think is correctable in his swing, then it's worth a low-cost pickup. So I say 'no', but if they Twins pick him up I'll hope they spotted something that the normally astute Rays braintrust missed.

It would make sense to bring him in for competition but I wouldn't trade anything for him and I doubt he's getting past Houston.

I'm all for kicking the tires if it doesn't cost you much.

Chances are he's not an upgrade but there is always the chance that changing scenery could energize a player.

Personally... I'd be more interested in Eliot Johnson. All IF positions plus outfield... Can steal a base and hit an occasional dinger.

Ill be curious to see if the Twins go someplace with Johnson or Brignac.

Meh...he can't be worse then what we have but I wouldn't give up anything to get him. Honestly I'd like to see them bring Punto back, the Dodgers really have zero use for him.

Originally Posted by SpiritofVodkaDave

Meh...he can't be worse then what we have but I wouldn't give up anything to get him. Honestly I'd like to see them bring Punto back, the Dodgers really have zero use for him.

No need to sign an infielder who had top 100 prospect promise as recently as 2010. They finally nailed down a couple guys around 30 who have been good enough to merit a combined 8 MLB ABs.