Thread: Article: Gardenhire: Dozier will start in Rochester

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I believe it's very fitting to say manager Ron Gardenhire has set the Twins organization back 10 years. And 10 years is being nice. The guy is a class A bum and could screw up a wet dream.

This should surprise no one. It's just not the Twins' way to promote a guy like this.

As a fan of Twins prospects, I am really happy to see Joe Benson, Chris Parmelee, Brian Dozier and Liam Hendriks are giving the Twins front office plenty to think about this spring!!

That said, the decision for all of them to start in AAA this year is pretty easy, but it's great knowing that they're pretty close if needed!!

So does this mean Nishioka starts at 2B? I thought they were saying they wanted to send him down to work on his SS mechanics, specifically learning how to backhand grounders in the hole.

Originally Posted by nicksaviking

So does this mean Nishioka starts at 2B? I thought they were saying they wanted to send him down to work on his SS mechanics, specifically learning how to backhand grounders in the hole.

Nishioka has already been sent down.

I don't know if I'm right on this or not... I don't think Nishioka will be in the organization terribly long. Clearly Dozier's going to be the starting SS. I would think that Florimon, Chang, Hollimon, Burroughs or others will get their playing time. Nishioka may get a game a week at SS (with Dozier moving over to 2B), but I suspect that he'll eventually be released or quit... I could be wrong.

To truly make sure that Dozier is ready for the bigs, it only makes sense that they send him down to AAA. He hasn't even played an inning at AAA before, anyway. If we rush this guy too much, we might set ourselves back even farther with a long-term solution at short. Let him get some time at AAA, maybe not even call him up till September so he can have a full year at AAA and see how concrete the proof that he is about to break out is.

Originally Posted by gil4

Nishioka has already been sent down.

I believe "nicksaviking" is referring to the AAA positioning. You have both Dozier and Nishi playing short. This is the issue: who starts at SS at AAA?

Nishioka will not get in the way of Dozier...

Originally Posted by Seth Stohs

Nishioka will not get in the way of Dozier...

Correct. Dozier will be playing every day at AAA. I'm sure the Twins' thought is that Dozier is going to be starting on the major league team for the next several years, while Nishioka is a headache (unless he gets better) for the next two seasons who will not stand as an impediment to other prospects' development.

Originally Posted by Seth Stohs

That said, the decision for all of them to start in AAA this year is pretty easy, but it's great knowing that they're pretty close if needed!!

Agree it's the right move from a baseball perspective.

Originally Posted by Fanatic Jack

I believe it's very fitting to say manager Ron Gardenhire has set the Twins organization back 10 years. And 10 years is being nice. The guy is a class A bum and could screw up a wet dream.

WOW!

Originally Posted by Fanatic Jack

I believe it's very fitting to say manager Ron Gardenhire has set the Twins organization back 10 years. And 10 years is being nice. The guy is a class A bum and could screw up a wet dream.

You're right, that is being nice. In 2002 the Twins won the division with 94 wins.

It's 2010 and Danny Valencia all over again. Is Dozier really "too good to be a utility infielder" or did they spend too much on Jamie Carroll for him to be the utility guy? In 2010, it was more important to find a starting job for Nick Punto to justify his $4M contract than to go with Valencia at 3B out of spring training.

Originally Posted by Seth Stohs

Nishioka will not get in the way of Dozier...

Well that would be a first. He's always in the way, ask Nick Swisher.

I was hoping for Casilla at 2b and Dozier at SS on the big league roster (with Carrol backing up both).

Lets not forget Carroll is 38 and Casilla has never been able to produce a full productive season. The longer Dozier stays in AAA, that probably means both our middle infielders are performing pretty well. This has to be looked at as Casilla's last shot at a big league job with the Twins, so once Dozier does get called up, lets hope it is for good.

You know Fanatic Jackass, Gardenhire has more baseball knowledge in his Class A bum than you have the capacity to accumulate in an entire lifetime. What's more, he's actually nice.