Thus speaketh St Antony

[jokin]

From the GM's mouth, to the Asst. GM's lips... to God's ears...

 

Heard the Asst GM on the radio in the last half hour.    When quizzed on Buxton and Sano, he kept coming back to how much they like Rosario for now, and that both of the top prospects "still have a lot of work to do" , "Sano's    current strikeout rate won't translate at the major league level",   "both are still shaking a lot of rust off" etc., etc..... translation..... it doesn't sound like either will be called up any time soon.

 

Interestingly, Antony may have let a little cat out of the bag on Sano.    When asked about his throwing arm, Antony said he was still working on getting his throws down in the OF,   no comment about his play at 3rd base, which seemed to strongly imply that the Twins are not thinking about displacing Plouffe at 3B any time soon.

 

ON the pitching front, when Wolfson quizzed Antony on any possible pitching target upgrades via trade from the groups of teams that will be sellers, Antony pretty much said that promoting pitching from within is the best route for the Twins at this time, and fairest to those within the system who earn the promotion.

[gunnarthor]

These guys never really say anything of substance.  On Plouffe, I could see the Twins keeping him and having Sano in a corner.  His bat will play anywhere and he's probably athletic enough to hold down RF.

[Winston Smith]

I would think Plouffe, who was a shortstop thus likely a good athlete, would be a much better outfielder than the 260+ pound Sano who is more like a defensive lineman.

[drivlikejehu]

 

I would think Plouffe, who was a shortstop thus likely a good athlete, would be a much better outfielder than the 260+ pound Sano who is more like a defensive lineman.

 

Plouffe may be a better outfielder than Sano, but he wouldn't be better than a real outfielder, and moving Plouffe there would basically tank his value as a player.

 

Sano is a pretty good athlete for his size - his problems at third base aren't due to speed... he just can't play the position. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

The "problem" is that Plouffe is playing pretty darn well.

 

Very odd remarks by Antony. On the other hand, Ryan speaks well of Sano's play at third:

 

http://www.twincities.com/twins/ci_28130128/despite-errors-twins-miguel-sano-impresses-terry-ryan

 

Supposedly this is a good problem, when a major league club doesn't have any playing time to give an elite prospect whose time has come. Or should come soon. So we'll see what happens.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Sano is a pretty good athlete for his size - his problems at third base aren't due to speed... he just can't play the position.

 

What are the errors he is making? (low throws to first or something else..)

 

Would they be errors in MLB?

[jokin]

 

What are the errors he is making? (low throws to first or something else..)

Would they be errors in MLB?

 

I only saw    him play one game, which happened to be last Sunday, but what I witnessed sounds generally    reminiscent of his recent play at the position.       

 

Through the first 5 or so innings, he made three plays involving long throws, a couple after tough stops on hard-hit grounders, his throws on all three were very strong and true.    He also made a nice play on a low-spinning pop foul that required good reaction time and an athletic response to a tough chance.    At all times, he was the take-charge guy in the infield.

 

And then inexplicably, he booted an easy two-hopper.    So, it's possibly a mental concentration inability to sustain focus rather than    a physical inability to play the position.    In any case, the Twins do need to find a place to utilize that cannon arm and leadership qualities.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

So, errors of attention... in others words, what we see from Santana, Dozier and Mauer occasionally

[drivlikejehu]

Sano's fielding % is .885. Plouffe's is .971 and Dozier's .995. And it's not like Sano is making up for it with amazing range.

 

Plouffe is under team control through 2017... Mauer's contract is up after 2018. Seems like the obvious move is to have Sano play outfield until he can move to first in 2019. Assuming he is able to produce in the Majors of course.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Sano's fielding % is .885. Plouffe's is .971 and Dozier's .995. And it's not like Sano is making up for it with amazing range.

 

Plouffe is under team control through 2017... Mauer's contract is up after 2018. Seems like the obvious move is to have Sano play outfield until he can move to first in 2019. Assuming he is able to produce in the Majors of course.

I appreciate you going over to bbref for me to report on fielding percentages, but also be sure to check out the link to Ryan's comments and jokin's first hand account in the comments above

 

I'm pretty sure I've seen Dozier boot more than one easy ground ball this year even though I haven't seen anywhere near all the games. Probably the scorers are tougher on the fielders in AAA and have more freedom to actually report and score the plays accurately down there. Everything is a hit in MLB.

 

I do agree with you that if putting Sano in the outfield temporarily gets him to MLB sooner, then we should consider it.

[sane]

"the scorers are tougher on the fielders in AAA" Definitely not responsible for a .100 difference in Fielding %.

[drivlikejehu]

 

I appreciate you going over to bbref for me to report on fielding percentages, but also be sure to check out the link to Ryan's comments and jokin's first hand account in the comments above

I'm pretty sure I've seen Dozier boot more than one easy ground ball this year even though I haven't seen anywhere near all the games. Probably the scorers are tougher on the fielders in AAA and have more freedom to actually report and score the plays accurately down there. Everything is a hit in MLB.

I do agree with you that if putting Sano in the outfield temporarily gets him to MLB sooner, then we should consider it.

 

So fielding % doesn't count but jokin watching 1 game does? In which Sano blew an easy play? Not really a sensible comment on your part.

[jokin]

 

So fielding % doesn't count but jokin watching 1 game does? In which Sano blew an easy play? Not really a sensible comment on your part.

 

Regarding the value of fielding percentage as the definitive defensive indicator, may I refer you to Baseball Reference and Fangraphs:

 

 

1) Unfortunately, for most of baseball history, we’ve had exceptionally lousy practices for measuring defense. Errors and fielding percentage seem to make sense at first but if you peel back the onion at all, they just don’t get the job done.                                                                                                                                                                               2)  Citing fielding percentage as evidence of the best fielder is like saying the best quarterback is the one with the lowest interception rate, or the best basketball defender is the one with the fewest fouls.

3) Not making errors has value, but its far from the most important thing you can do as a defender.

                                                                                                                                                                                     

 

 

[drivlikejehu]

Except we know that Sano does not have exceptional range to make up for his horrible error rate.

[nicksaviking]

Except we know that Sano does not have exceptional range to make up for his horrible error rate.

At the minor league level there aren't any dependable stats to verify that assumption. Which brings us back to relying on Jokin's, or someone else's, eye-witness evaluation.

[jokin]

 

Except we know that Sano does not have exceptional range to make up for his horrible error rate.

 

Except exceptional range isn't really a top priority for a 3rd baseman, especially with a rangy, strong-armed SS.   The play he made the error on was hit right at him, and very easy.   He did make a throw from foul territory and throw his man out on one play, and FWIW, he did cover a lot of ground in catching two pop fouls last Sunday.... but I acknowledge that I didn't get the chance to see him charge a bunt.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

So fielding % doesn't count but jokin watching 1 game does? In which Sano blew an easy play? Not really a sensible comment on your part.

Basically, yes, eyewitness accounts by knowledgeable people are worth at least as much. I'm just trying to get a more complete picture. However, I checked and.......

 

Sano has the most errors in the Southern League. So you win

[ashbury]

but I acknowledge that I didn't get the chance to see him charge a bunt.

I saw him do a couple of these in Spring at Ft Myers, and I was surprised by how quickly he got onto the ball, and impressed with the accurate throw to first on the run. In one of the same games I saw him boot a routine grounder hit a little to his left. I'm in the camp that believes he currently^* has the tools to play the position, and that the errors he makes are the kind that can be eliminated with experience.

 

^*Unless he eats himself out of a job.