What to do with Arcia?

[gunnarthor]

This has been in a couple different threads so maybe it deserves it's own.  What happens with Arcia? 

 

1) He plays LF most of the season, continues to be a big part of the Twins future

2) Twins don't really trust Vargas and see Arcia as the longterm answer at DH.

3) Arcia is on the trade block.  Twins won't give him away but if they could get a young cost controlled starter they'd flip him. (One year of Heyward got Shelby Miller).  A team like Texas might have enough bullets to make a trade for him and Arcia in TX would be terrifying. 

 

 

I think the Twins still think of him as part of the future, although his role - OF or DH - is still open.  But I do think the Twins will listen on offers to him and would part with him for better pitching.

[Mike Sixel]

I have no idea what they will do......what I would do:

 

plan a:  Move Hunter to LF, and let Arcia play his potential long term position for at least 1 more year

 

plan b: Trade him for a legit pitcher or LF (this seems like a pipe dream to me) that is under 30 and under control

[nicksaviking]

I like option 1 the best.  There's still too much unknown at this time, can his defense improved to a passable level, can he improve his contact rate?

 

His offense still looks promising enough to make him worth the trouble.

[ashbury]

It somehow rubs me the wrong way to move younger players (flawed or otherwise) because of a one-year signing of another player.

[Mike Sixel]

It somehow rubs me the wrong way to move younger players (flawed or otherwise) because of a one-year signing of another player.

 

Where is the LOVE button when you need it?

[Willihammer]

Wherever Arcia ends up, his long term spot should be left field IMO. Fewer fly balls hit to left than right.

[minnesota transplant]

If Arcia had any kind of plate disiplin, he could turn out to be another Big Papi.  We moved Big Papy years ago and see what happened>  I would hate to see this happen again to Arcia.  When he steps up to the plate, he looks ferocious.  Just too bad he swings at everything.  Two bad defensive outfielders in the same outfield, on a pitching staff starving for teamates to help them out?  I just dont understand.  As it stands now, the outfield last year is better than this year will be if both Arcia and Hunter are out there at the same time.

[High heat]

I think you call the rays or Oakland rangers Astros and you see if you can get a pitcher with some high end upside. Vargas looks to me like the dh of the future. You run with a hodge pudge of outfielders to begin the season and as soon as Rosario and buxton are ready you put them in the outfield. If I'm the twin I role with hicks and Schafer and I take delino deshields in the rule 5 and those 3 split time in CF and LF and we wait for the prospects and if your lucky one of the 3 sticks.

[MileHighTwinsFan]

It is clear to me that there is not enough room in the lineup for Sano, Arcia and Vargas.  Great power, but way too many strikeouts for a team that will likely seek a balance between speed and power. 

 

Yes, it may be a bit early to commit between Vargas and Arcia but, it seems that either could command a pretty big return right now.  With the Twins in full rebuild mode, making a commitment to one or the other allows the team to trade for pitching or another area of need to create the balanced line-up and rotation they seek.

 

The obvious answer is to make it clear that these players can be had for a certain price - hold hard and fast on that price and see what happens.  The Twins don't need to be in a hurry, but I think it this is an inevitable decision the team will need to make.

 

One thing is for sure - sitting Arcia is not an option. He needs to play everyday to maximize value and to further his development, (which means Plouffe is on the bench and Rosario remains in the minors).

 

All I can say is that once we get to June and Arcia, Sano and Vargas are in the line-up - fans better use some extra hair spray to protect against the wind being generated from home plate.  

[twinsfanstreif]

The Royals would be a good trade partner, they need a RF and a DH. From what I hear they want to use the DH in a rotating basis so that would work well with them rotating Arcia in the DH spot when they use their defense/speed look with Dyson in CF and Cain in RF. They are also in win now mode and have a deep farm system with lots of arms plus they need power in their lineup bad. They wouldn't part with any of their young current MLB arms (Duffy, Ventura, Finnegan) and probably not Zimmer but they might part with Manaea and a lesser prospect. I'm not confident that Arcia will hit for average and I see him as at best an Adam Dunn type of guy (no D, no hit, all power) except he doesn't get on base as much as Dunn did. Plus I think Vargas will solidify the DH spot. I say cash in on Arcia while he's young

[Seth Stohs]

He's younger than guys like Santana and Hicks and Vargas, and he's produced well at the big league level. To me, he should be a fixture. His power is elite. Plug him in the lineup every day for a long time!

 

My biggest issue with signing Hunter was moving Arcia to LF. That's not going to be pretty. Rosario can play RF too, but he's got the speed to play LF. I don't like moving Arcia for one year only to move him back to the position he should have stayed at. 

[Halsey Hall]

I think somehow Arcia stays in right.  Certainly don't trade him, there's tons of homers to come from the brute.  

[RealTwinsFan357]

I always throught Arcia's natural position was left and he switched to right because of Willingham.  Of course, I could be wrong.

 

I do have a couple thoughts about Arcia: I looked at Steamer projections, and Arcia is projected to be the Twins best hitter this year (by both wRC+ and wOBA).  The fact that a 23 year old is our best hitter is a good thing for a rebuilding team, so based on his offense alone, I think trading Arcia would be a huge mistake.  I also think Arcia's defensive ratings will go up if he plays in LF.  Just looking at data from Fangraphs, it appears two seasons ago (when he played about 2/3 of his innings in left), Arcia was less terrible in left than in right.  Last season, he played exclusively in right, and although his defense was still bad, his defensive numbers were better than what he put up in either left or right in 2013.  Obviously all of these numbers suffer from small sample size, but if Arcia truly got better as an overall outfielder and he has more ability in left field than in right, it seems reasonable that Arcia won't be as bad defensively next year.  I know not as bad is not the same thing as good, but if Arcia is truly our best hitter, I have no problem with building an outfield around him.

[REPETE]

If the roster stays close to the same, I say Option 1. Maybe I'm seeing something that isn't really there, but I think Arcia can be an elite power hitter (not Adam Dunn), and should improve slightly in the OF. But to move him now would be a mistake. Like the early 80's, 2015 should be a time to bring up all the young guys, and determine what we have for a core. Trading or not bringing up the young guys, after you brought in Torii for a one year "mentoring/leadership/whatever" role, makes absolutely NO sense!

[bholmgren]

I don't see how signing Hunter for 1 year has any bearing on the team's feelings towards Arcia.  The Twins made a short term move that they hope will pay off in spades in the future.  Hunter's been around a loooong time.  I feel like they signed him more to mentor the youth than to steal playing time from them.  No reason an OF/DH/IB platoon with Vargas/Arcia/Mauer/Hunter wouldn't work.  I'm certainly NOT saying that Mauer/Vargas are part of the OF rotation, just implying that days off and platooning may be in order.  If Torii can mentor Hicks and Buxton the way he was mentored than we'll all look back in a few years and praise this signing.  

[Mike Sixel]

Buxton won't be up until September....how much mentoring is he getting? No idea where Rosario plays, since the Twins had him play in LF in the AFL......who is he mentoring? Hicks? Yuck.

[nicksaviking]

I don't think we should get too enamoured with Vargas' small sample size.  I have high hopes for him, but there was a reason Arcia was rated a top Twins prospect since he was a teenager and Vargas was not. 

 

Most of Arcia's problems seem to stem from stubborness and mental lapses.  I'd really like to see what happens with another year of maturaty and a manager that seems a lot less likely to put up with nonsense.

[Major League Ready]

We are just way too far from April to make assumptions of who Hunter may or may not be mentoring.   Maybe they finally decide it's time to accept we are rebuilding and they roll with Rosario out of spring training.  More likely, they start with Schafer and Hicks as a platoon in CF and bring up Rosario by the AS break to replace one of them.

[SydneyTwinsFan]

Arcia should be going nowhere at this point.  I don't much care whether he plays LF or RF as long as the team picks one and plugs him in there for the foreseeable future.

I don't think it's being at all aggressive to see a .260/.320/.480/.800 line with 25-30 HR from Arcia next year.  At age 24.  Despite the K rate I have much more faith in Arcia than Vargas.

As far as Hunter is concerned: by all means use him to sell some season tickets, get the best of his clubhouse presence/mentoring/experience during spring training and the early part of the year, sprinkle 250-300 AB between OF/DH and flip him to someone in need of a bench bat at the all-star break.

[curt1965]

At only 23, I believe Arcia has played in parts of 3 ML seasons. He is still just a puppy! As he matures, it seems possible that he not only become a better hitter, but also better defensively. As one who was not crazy about the Hunter addition( he will have his number retired one day as a Twin), I believe Torii's best use might be his help with the development of the Twins' youngsters. But Arcia should play every day: can you see the possibilities when he gets to his prime at 26-28?

[Shane Wahl]

Any impact on Arcia should be positive. Will it? I don't know. Hunter should be the one moving to left, though. This seems pretty clear. It can be sold to Hunter as the more difficult of the two to play in TF. Arcia is likely to have a breakout year. Mark my words. I am talking a .290/.340/.480 kind of breakout, so it is nothing monstrous. But it will be significant.

[jorgenswest]

Play Arcia in RF. Sign Rasmus and play him in CF until Buxton is ready. Release Hunter as early as June 1 if either Rosario or Buxton or Hicks are tearing it up in the minors. Otherwise platoon Hunter in LF with Schafer. Meanwhile bring in thee mid 20s failed prospects either DFA'd or as minor league free agents. Hope for a JD Martinez. Don't stop looking for a solution because you replaced your mid 30s LF with a late 30s LF.

[jokin]

Play Arcia in RF. Sign Rasmus and play him in CF until Buxton is ready. Release Hunter as early as June 1 if either Rosario or Buxton or Hicks are tearing it up in the minors. Otherwise platoon Hunter in LF with Schafer. Meanwhile bring in thee mid 20s failed prospects either DFA'd or as minor league free agents. Hope for a JD Martinez. Don't stop looking for a solution because you replaced your mid 30s LF with a late 30s LF.

 

Boy, that's an interesting set of solutions... but unfortunately, it's mostly exactly the opposite of how TR rolls.

[jokin]

Any impact on Arcia should be positive. Will it? I don't know. Hunter should be the one moving to left, though. This seems pretty clear. It can be sold to Hunter as the more difficult of the two to play in TF. Arcia is likely to have a breakout year. Mark my words. I am talking a .290/.340/.480 kind of breakout, so it is nothing monstrous. But it will be significant.

 

That would be monstrous enough for me. (Actually, Arcia's personality would seem like a really good fit with Torii's, but moving him to LF isn't likely to end well).