Arcia returns to Caribes lineup with a walk, then a bang

[jokin]

Where's Oswaldo?  Due to wrist and back concerns, his return to Carribean winter ball was in doubt going into the post-season. But suddenly, he's back in action as the VZL heads into its final week of round-robin action.  Last night, Arcia drew a walk in an 8th inning PH appearance.  He followed that up tonight with a HR and 2B in 4 PAs. leading his Caribes team to an 8-6 victory.  Caribes has the lead among the 5 postseason VZL teams, with a 9-3 record.  

 

If you are interested, read the following, amusing, but clumsily-Google-translated article.  The passion by the natives in representing their home team, and even from Arcia- AKA in the article below- "The Gardener"- (and country in the upcoming Caribbean World Series) really comes through:

 

 

Oswaldo Arcia surprised with his return

 

Oswaldo Arcia was discarded. The management and technicians Caribbean Anzoategui lacked the grandeliga in the postseason, but Tuesday was included in the roster of the club.

The gardener overcame back ailments that affected him at the end of the elimination round and is now available to the manager Omar Lopez.

"I felt a little discomfort in the back and so I took a few days off and rest," said the native of Anaco. "I took the opportunity to catch up on some issues, but thank God I'm already here. Do not want to miss the big moment living in the Round Robin Caribbean. I already talked to Omar ry told him I was ready to make in what he saw fit, for whatever you need me, anytime .   So far, the gardener has not received official notification of the Minnesota Twins to stop their participation in Venezuela.

 

http://www.lvbp.com/images/noticias/893Arcia_Oswaldo_03.jpg

[nater79a]

From everything I've been able to glean on social media that Arcia HR was an absolute bomb.  Must be feeling healthy.

[Willihammer]

What's the backstory to the nickname?

[jokin]

What's the backstory to the nickname?

 

Good question.  "El Jardinero" is the Spanish form used in the original text, but characterized without capitalizations or quotes.  Although "gardener" is the exact translation to English, it seems likely possible that perhaps it's idiomatic to South American Spanish in relation to a baseball player who plays in the outfield...

 

or just for fun maybe... it refers to one frequently "going yard", or of one who is eminently capable of "planting" balls out of the park? 

[scottz]

SCENE - EXT. DUGOUT

Sounds of batting practice in the background.

In the dugout, two players are milling about the bat rack. All the bats in the compartment labeled "Arcia" have green smears on handles. Oswaldo Arcia emerges from the tunnel holding a bat. He has green smears on his jersey, pants, and bat. His thumbs are bright green.

 

PAUL MOLITOR:

Hey Ozzie.

 

OSWALDO ARCIA:

Hey Skip.

 

MOLITOR:

That flower box is starting to look real good in right field.

 

ARCIA:

Thanks Skip. I think so, too.

 

MOLITOR:

Do you think you could plant a few more out there? 

 

ARCIA:

Yeah, I think I can do that.

 

He exits the dugout.

 

SCENE - EXT. BATTER'S BOX

Arcia in the batter's box. He takes several large swings, each timed with a loud crack. After the last swing we see the ball flying through the air and landing in...

 

SCENE - EXT. CU OF FLOWER BED

...the flower bed overhanging the right field wall. The ball smashes into a flower and destroys it. Cut to...

 

SCENE - EXT. WIDE SHOT OF FLOWER BED

It is littered with baseballs. One flower remains, as all others are destroyed.

 

SCENE - EXT. DUGOUT

Arcia returns to the dugout. We see the back of his jersey says "El Jardinero."

 

MOLITOR:

You missed one.

 

ARCIA:

It looks pretty that way.

 

VOx:

THE MINNESOTA TWINS - LLEGAR A CONOCERLOS

[jokin]

SCENE - EXT. DUGOUT

Sounds of batting practice in the background.

In the dugout, two players are milling about the bat rack. All the bats in the compartment labeled "Arcia" have green smears on handles. Oswaldo Arcia emerges from the tunnel holding a bat. He has green smears on his jersey, pants, and bat. His thumbs are bright green.

 

PAUL MOLITOR:

Hey Ozzie.

 

OSWALDO ARCIA:

Hey Skip.

 

MOLITOR:

That flower box is starting to look real good in right field.

 

ARCIA:

Thanks Skip. I think so, too.

 

MOLITOR:

Do you think you could plant a few more out there? 

 

ARCIA:

Yeah, I think I can do that.

 

He exits the dugout.

 

SCENE - EXT. BATTER'S BOX

Arcia in the batter's box. He takes several large swings, each timed with a loud crack. After the last swing we see the ball flying through the air and landing in...

 

SCENE - EXT. CU OF FLOWER BED

...the flower bed overhanging the right field wall. The ball smashes into a flower and destroys it. Cut to...

 

SCENE - EXT. WIDE SHOT OF FLOWER BED

It is littered with baseballs. One flower remains, as all others are destroyed.

 

SCENE - EXT. DUGOUT

Arcia returns to the dugout. We see the back of his jersey says "El Jardinero."

 

MOLITOR:

You missed one.

 

ARCIA:

It looks pretty that way.

 

VOx:

THE MINNESOTA TWINS - LLEGAR A CONOCERLOS

 

Wonderful.  I'd suggest you get that copyrighted, the Twins promotion office is bound to snap it up.

[diehardtwinsfan]

From everything I've been able to glean on social media that Arcia HR was an absolute bomb.  Must be feeling healthy.

 

He's got quite a bit of power.  A few of us got to see him hit an absolute bomb against Detroit in August.  It hit the flag at the top of the flag pole in the right field concourse. 

 

It makes me drool a bit more over Sano, who by all scouting reports has even more power.  

[Seth Stohs]

Yes, Sano probably has a little more power potential, but Arcia still has elite power. 

 

He just needs to put the ball in play a little more and he'll certainly add more homers.

[Old Twins Cap]

Jardinero = Yard Man

 

Algo mas?

[scottz]

Wonderful.  I'd suggest you get that copyrighted, the Twins promotion office is bound to snap it up.

They are welcome to purchase it. I'm a reasonable guy. They could also consider hiring me, for Pete's sake. I'm pretty creative - there are more ideas where that came from. In any case, I feel pretty safe as it has a timestamp and date of publication and witnesses such as yourself. 

 

Copyright Scott Zilka, 2015.

All Rights Reserved

[jokin]

Yes, Sano probably has a little more power potential, but Arcia still has elite power. 

 

He just needs to put the ball in play a little more and he'll certainly add more homers.

 

And let's not leave Vargas out of this discussion of mashers... finally... we are very soon to be regularly serenaded at Target Field by the recurring sound of "bombs away" by the "Power Trio" at the heart of the Twins order. It's reasonable to forsee collectively upwards of 100 dingers or more per season from these three, perhaps as early as 2016, 

[nater79a]

Scottz- I like that potential Twins ad too. Except, I don't know how many HR's he'll drop in the box just over the limestone. Maybe there's a flower box at the back of the plaza!

[jokin]

Jokin- I like that potential Twins ad too. Except, I don't know how many HR's he'll drop in the box just over the limestone. Maybe there's a flower box at the back of the plaza!

 

Here's the YouTube link of El Jardinero's HR last night for your enjoyment:

 

 

 

We tend to dismiss Winter Ball in the US, but starting with the announcer, all the parties involved in this video are taking it quite seriously.

 

Interesting to note that Arcia keeps his shirt fully-buttoned in Venezuela?

[ashbury]

Although "gardener" is the exact translation to English, it seems likely possible that perhaps it's idiomatic to South American Spanish in relation to a baseball player who plays in the outfield...

It rings a bell, like there's an English slang term for an outfielder that is similar, but I can't think of it.

 

I guess grandeliga is big leaguer, and the translation tool just couldn't quite split it apart.

 

Anyway, yay for Arcia's return.  We need el jardinero de Grandes Ligas to hit las bombas.

[Ben Noble]

What's the backstory to the nickname?

 

'Jardinero' just means 'outfielder.'

 

www.baseball-reference.com/friv/English_to_Spanish.pdf

[nicksaviking]

Well I hope The Gardener sticks stateside.

 

Hmmm, or does that sound like a bad joke idiot white guys would make regarding the type of work people of his ethnicity often get if they are undocumented?

[scottz]

Scottz- I like that potential Twins ad too. Except, I don't know how many HR's he'll drop in the box just over the limestone. Maybe there's a flower box at the back of the plaza!

Me either. I'm depending on "artistic license."

[scottz]

Well I hope The Gardener sticks stateside.

 

Hmmm, or does that sound like a bad joke idiot white guys would make regarding the type of work people of his ethnicity often get if they are undocumented?

In the "ad" above, I first wrote that Arcia was wearing typical gardener clothes. Then I wondered/worried if people would too directly associate it just as you said. So I changed it to having green thumbs and green all over everything. It's a better look anyway.

 

Jardinero means outfielder - ok, makes sense. But I REALLY like "El Jardinero" for Arcia. As in, The Outfielder. It would maybe be more applicable to someone with better fielding skills, but I have big hopes for Arcia this year, and El Jardinero fits the bill for a nickname, as far as I'm concerned. I also hope it sticks, idiot white guys be damned.

[ashbury]

Jardinero means outfielder - ok, makes sense. But I REALLY like "El Jardinero" for Arcia. As in, The Outfielder. It would maybe be more applicable to someone with better fielding skills, but I have big hopes for Arcia this year, and El Jardinero fits the bill for a nickname, as far as I'm concerned. I also hope it sticks, idiot white guys be damned.

El Jardinero Grande, unless that has some kind of unfortunate idiomatic meaning I'm unaware of.  That would seem harder to misinterpret as a clueless slur.

 

Although, what I am afraid of is that applying a generic Spanish slang term for "outfielder" to our guy is what will come across as clueless. But, nobody got their tightie whities in a twist when Steve Carlton was tagged with the generic name "Lefty".  So your point about EL Jardinero is well taken, if he'd take it the same way.

[Dantes929]

The rare times LNP would hit a homer I would always cringe a little bit because he would spend the next couple weeks over swinging in hopes of doing it again.   Likewise with Arcia when I read about his moonshot because in his case he can the ball a long way but I get a little leery about his tape measure home runs.   In seeing the video though, it was the kind of home run I hope to see often in 2015.   His head was still, his stride was toward the pitcher and the swing was solid without losing his balance.  

[jokin]

The rare times LNP would hit a homer I would always cringe a little bit because he would spend the next couple weeks over swinging in hopes of doing it again.   Likewise with Arcia when I read about his moonshot because in his case he can the ball a long way but I get a little leery about his tape measure home runs.  

 

In seeing the video though, it was the kind of home run I hope to see often in 2015.   His head was still, his stride was toward the pitcher and the swing was solid without losing his balance.  

 

Dang, he looked like an experienced grandeliga veterano on that shot, didn't he? Dialed in with perfect mechanics at the plate (remember, this was his first live swing and hit AB in about a month), no showboating after the bomb, and a full-buttoned collar, as well.

[Squirrel]

Well I hope The Gardener sticks stateside.

 

Hmmm, or does that sound like a bad joke idiot white guys would make regarding the type of work people of his ethnicity often get if they are undocumented?

PC police will give you a demerit for that one.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Jardinero = Yard Man

 

Algo mas?

Yard man, going yard... same concept.

 

No mas.

[jokin]

Given these ongoing back and wrist injury issues for El Jardinero, it will be interesting to see how much leeway Arcia will be granted by the Twins to possibly continue playing beyond the close of the round robin tournament in the Venezuelan League, which ends this coming Thursday.  Arcia's Caribes team is the leading team at this point in the postseason tourney, and could possibly be the League's representative in the Caribbean World Series in February.

[jokin]

BTW, Arcia's team is playing the Aragua Tigers today, which is the team of Josmil Pinto and Eduardo Escobar (although Escobar has been out for the last couple games, after being pulled in the 1st inning from the game on Friday, haven't heard about any injury).

[jokin]

BTW, Arcia's team is playing the Aragua Tigers today, which is the team of Josmil Pinto and Eduardo Escobar (although Escobar has been out for the last couple games, after being pulled in the 1st inning from the game on Friday, haven't heard about any injury).

 

Uneventful game tonight.  Arcia went 0-5, Pinto continues to have a monster Winter League season going 2-4. 

 

But there were a couple of Winter League-related developments...

 

First, Eduardo Escobar missed his third straight game.  Seth PMd me tonight and said he was looking into the situation, hopefully it's nothing serious.

 

Second, LEN3 was asked if Terry Ryan was done for the offseason.  He mentioned that the Twins are basically done, with the exception of Winter Leagues, where they're hot on the trail of some more sleepers and rehabbing-type pitching.  Two names were mentioned, Johan Santana was no surprise, but former flame-thrower, Alexi Ogando is.  He hasn't thrown yet in Winter ball, but he is said to have worked out for perhaps a dozen teams in the last week, reportedly throwing 92-94 MPH (about 3 MPH below where he was in 2012).  With Ryan's name being directly linked with Ogando's is pretty impressive, considering the fact that Ogando is in turn being linked with the Dodgers and Red Sox.

[jokin]

Oswaldo Arcia played in his 4th straight game for Caribes, the last three in LF (so the experiment continues).  After an 0-5 and 2 strikeout game on Sunday, Arcia got back on track tonight, reaching base 3 times in 5 PAs with 2 singles and a walk, and no strikeouts.

 

Two games left for Caribes in the round robin.

[TwinsMasochist]

After looking at Waldo's wRC+ and wOBA from his last full(ish) year at AAA (2013), It makes me really want this kid to stay healthy and get it together.  

[jokin]

After looking at Waldo's wRC+ and wOBA from his last full(ish) year at AAA (2013), It makes me really want this kid to stay healthy and get it together.  

 

So far, Arcia's two seasons at the major league level has been full of streaky stints of dominance and then followed by dreadful droughts.  There's little doubt that Waldo's mastered AA and AAA pitching.  Here's his combined minor league line for 2012-14:

 

Slash .318/.393/.556/.950 ISO .239 wOBA .420 wRC+ 163 BB/K 10.1%/20.8%

 

Coming off of his AAA demotions in both 2013 and 2014, his return to the Twins in his first 12 games were tremendous, offering fleeting glimpses of potential greatness-- but also illustrative of areas for inevitable subsequent concern and improvement:

 

2013, first 12 games back from AAA in August-

Slash .298/.353/.660/1.013 ISO .362 wOBA .430 wRC+ 176 BB/K 7.8%/37.3%

 

2014, first 12 games back from AAA in May-

Slash .378/.378/.733/1.111 ISO .356 wOBA 482 wRC+ 217  BB/K 0.0%/24.4%

 

Buried within these SSS stat lines is what has always ended up being Arcia's undoing.  It looks like he needs to be working in the minor league stints much more focused on the things that will help sustain his productivity at the major league level.  Part of the remedy perhaps is better monitoring of his overswinging ways and focusing on making better contact, especially on the outside corner, and better overall plate discipline.  I don't have direct evidence, but I'm wondering if his slumps begin with a mini-slump- laden with multiple strikeouts, and then perhaps, he reacts by swinging harder as if to compensate, and ends up hurting his wrists and back in the process?

[jokin]

Arcia reaches base on 2 walks in 6 PAs tonight.  No hits, but more importantly no strikeouts.