Thoughts After One Series

[Otto von Ballpark]

2. Nolasco and Hughes had decent first starts. (If they keep the ball in the park...ooh boy what they could do.)

 

Although the knock on Hughes has been inconsistency and high pitch counts, and both of those were on display yesterday.

 

But yeah, I don't expect his HR/FB rate to continue at 33% which should help a lot.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I agree about not wanting to react to quickly after one whole series, although I and many others could see a problem with our 1-2-3 even before the season started. You're right, though, nothing wrong with letting things play out for a couple weeks to get a better picture of things.

 

I just love playing with lineups. In a perfect world we could even drop Dozier to the 7 hole and go:

 

Hicks

Mauer

Colobello/Hammer

Arcia/Kubel

Plouffe

Dozier

Suzuki/Pinto

Floriman

 

That moves Hicks to his natural spot (in this lineup), gets Mauer more ABs, allows whichever RH bat is hotter to support him in the 3 spot, and gets Dozier's bat to the bottom of the order for balance.

 

Suzuki being anywhere near the top of the lineup is ulcer-inducing. I think we can all agree that is just silly.

 

As for Hicks, I'd like to see him end the season at the top of the lineup. Whether that happens in May or July, I'll wait it out to cast judgment. Right now, he doesn't belong there and should be protected a bit in the lineup, both hitting- and expectation-wise.

[Dave T]

My takeaway from the Chicago series is, this season is shaping up to be a LOT more interesting than I thought. The Twins scored 19 runs in three games. 19 runs! No doubt swirling winds and cold pitchers had something to do with this, but on the other hand, Mauer and Dozier didn't do **** at the plate. When those guys get going, things might get even better.

 

Averaging 6+ runs a game is not sustainable, of course. But I was expecting Joe Mauer and the 7 dwarves, and that's not what I got.

[cmb0252]

I was really impressed with Hughes. His stuff looked great but had problems hitting his marks, which isn't uncommon to start the year. If he can get his command under control he could be a steal at $8M a year.

[LaBombo]

Whatever the payoff of the extra offense netted by batting Hicks in the leadoff spot, it's hard to see it outweighing the risk of him pressing and foundering again.

 

Eventually leadoff should be his until Buxton is ready for it, but it's hard for me to get excited about putting him there when the season is three games old. Give him at least a month to get comfortable at the plate before asking him to accept the greater responsibility of leading off.

 

Waiting to move Hicks up and missing a few AB's from a guy who's finally living up to his billing as a strong leadoff guy is a first world problem, like having to drive half an hour before you get to a stretch of road where you can drive your Ferrari 150 mph in relative safety.

[jokin]

Yeah. Even though he's been streaky, and usually streaky bad rather than streaky good, Plouffe still managed to be a near league average hitter in over 500 PA last year. If he's also an average defender at 3B (and B-Ref thought he was last year, FanGraphs not so much), that's a reasonable value player, certainly worthy of a modest salary and lineup spot on a poor team, possibly even a utility spot on a better team.

 

The eye test tells me to go with Fangraphs in this case. But I think he ultimately finds himself having the most value as a SuperUtil guy. Guys that can hit with some decent power and in Plouffe's case, increasing willingness to hit to all fields, and play up to 7 positions in a pinch with at least a minimum of competence, are pretty valuable-- the Yankees are now forced to be employing Yangervis Solarte at 3rd- and even turned to Mark Reynolds last year- and kind-of have Kelly Johnson in their Super UTIL role now. But with Plouffe now actually showing some power potential to RF as well as LF, he could become attractive to the Yankees and their much smaller ballpark (He'd already have 2 RF HRs this year at Yankee Stadium).

[jokin]

Whatever the payoff of the extra offense netted by batting Hicks in the leadoff spot, it's hard to see it outweighing the risk of him pressing and foundering again.

 

Eventually leadoff should be his until Buxton is ready for it, but it's hard for me to get excited about putting him there when the season is three games old. Give him at least a month to get comfortable at the plate before asking him to accept the greater responsibility of leading off.

 

Waiting to move Hicks up and missing a few AB's from a guy who's finally living up to his billing as a strong leadoff guy is a first world problem, like having to drive half an hour before you get to a stretch of road where you can drive your Ferrari 150 mph in relative safety.

 

Amen to that. And if there was any doubt, 4 ABs batting LH today should offer a nice dose of reality. 2 years ago, Hicks wasn't moved up to the leadoff spot in New Britain until late June. This obviously turned out to be a smart move, as Hicks obviously had reached his comfort zone, as he was huge for the Rock Cats in the #1 spot for the rest of 2012 in AA ball. Supposedly, Carew has pumped up Hicks' bunting skills in the offseason, if he has become more adept at this skill, I'd especially like to see him employ it more often from the left side. Ferrari from the right side of the plate, Prius from the left side.

[Reider]

I don't usually get too worked up about the first month of the season. Some players get off to great starts, then tail off, while others start off slow and finish strong.

 

Overall, I agree that there are a lot of positives, which I won't bother outlining again. I also agree with keeping Hicks near the bottom of the line up for now. If he's still hitting and playing with confidence later in the season, then he definitely needs to get moved to the lead off spot.

[longstrangetrip]

There is no sample size too small to prevent me from jumping to a brash conclusion. Therefore, based on the first 5 games of the season, I predict the following:

 

1) Kurt Suzuki and Trevor Plouffe will stun the baseball world by becoming the first hitters since Williams to hit .400.

 

2) Unfortunately, Mauer, Dozier, Arcia and Florimon will struggle mightily, and all bat below .200 for the year.

 

3) The Twins will regret extending Glen Perkins, as he will finish the year with an ERA of 12.00

[Mr. Brooks]

There is no sample size too small to prevent me from jumping to a brash conclusion. Therefore, based on the first 5 games of the season, I predict the following:

 

1) Kurt Suzuki and Trevor Plouffe will stun the baseball world by becoming the first hitters since Williams to hit .400.

 

2) Unfortunately, Mauer, Dozier, Arcia and Florimon will struggle mightily, and all bat below .200 for the year.

 

3) The Twins will regret extending Glen Perkins, as he will finish the year with an ERA of 12.00

 

I don't understand why you are even here if you don't think anyone should have any opinions or discussion this early in the season?

You could always just come back around June or so.

Honestly, I'm getting a little tired of the few posters who think it is their job to jump into every thread to remind us all that it is too early in the season to draw any conclusions.

I'm pretty sure just about everyone knows that, and jumping into threads for the sole purpose of reminding us of that just implies that we are too stupid to realize that on our own.

We've waited all offseason to finally discuss actual baseball again, and now we have to wait another 2 or 3 months before we can?

Please, just ignore the thread if you think the content is not yet relevant.

[longstrangetrip]

I don't understand why you are even here if you don't think anyone should have any opinions or discussion this early in the season?

You could always just come back around June or so.

Honestly, I'm getting a little tired of the few posters who think it is their job to jump into every thread to remind us all that it is too early in the season to draw any conclusions.

I'm pretty sure just about everyone knows that, and jumping into threads for the sole purpose of reminding us of that just implies that we are too stupid to realize that on our own.

We've waited all offseason to finally discuss actual baseball again, and now we have to wait another 2 or 3 months before we can?

Please, just ignore the thread if you think the content is not yet relevant.

 

Whoa, I think you misunderstood me, Mr. Brooks! I love giving my opinion at any time, and I love hearing what others think also, especially the solid baseball minds on this forum. My post came after a quick look at the stats this morning after observing how upside-down they seem. Didn't think it was "new thread worthy", though, so I added it to this one.

 

I can see how you concluded that I was mocking those that jump to early conclusions, but I assure you that I was not...I'm a member of that club!