Miguel Sano How Soon Is Now?

[Otto von Ballpark]

Interestingly, Schwarber and Sano are about the same age, although they obviously have taken very different paths.

 

In his brief pro career, Schwarber has struck out less and been a more consistent .300 hitter than Sano, but on the other hand, Sano has had more flirtations with extreme power levels (.325+ ISO).  Both obviously draw a lot of walks.

 

If one's ready for a DH look in MLB, I'd say they are both ready.  And I wouldn't wait to promote them while I tried to get a guy like Kennys Vargas on track.

[nicksaviking]

 

As far as I know Sano, has not played 1B at any level. That's not putting your best team out there. Also, very few would believe sitting Mauer twice a week would improve our team long term. He's earned as long a leash as any player in baseball. It's not anywhere near time to put a fork in him.

 

Sano hasn't played 1B, but Plouffe has.  In fact he played quite a bit in spring training, almost certainly in anticipation of this exact scenario.

 

I don't know why Mauer would have earned the longest leash in baseball either.  I hope he improves, and would love to see him regain his form, but a .715 OPS for a 1B/DH over his past 182 games seems like he's already had an awful long leash.

[Linus]

 

I've heard a few supposed experts disagree with you on this.  

All I'm saying is that nearly all prospects struggle when they first come up.  If you have to win 10 of the next 15 to stay in contention, you won't take the chance of calling someone up and not having them hit their stride until after it is too late.

 

People assume that Sano is going to come up and hit a dozen bombs and lead the Twins to the promised land.  That could happen, but a more likely scenario is that he struggles a bunch, strikes out a bunch and that for that same 15 game period, Nunez would contribute more offense.

[jimmer]

 

All I'm saying is that nearly all prospects struggle when they first come up.  If you have to win 10 of the next 15 to stay in contention, you won't take the chance of calling someone up and not having them hit their stride until after it is too late.

 

People assume that Sano is going to come up and hit a dozen bombs and lead the Twins to the promised land.  That could happen, but a more likely scenario is that he struggles a bunch, strikes out a bunch and that for that same 15 game period, Nunez would contribute more offense.

I understand what you are saying, I'm just saying I've heard many so called experts say that it's more likely a good prospect will get called up when in contention as opposed to holding them back. And I've heard it recently too because of all the callups that are occurring on teams that are doing well.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

We always hear about a team "sending a message" by signing/trading for a guy.

 

I think calling up a top-rated prospect, like Buxton, Sano, or back in the day Mauer, maybe even Garza (and hopefully Meyer again and Berrios), etc. can send a similar message.  We're playing to win, now.

 

(Lesser prospects, such as Pinto, Polanco, Harrison, etc. -- I agree, they are more likely to be called upon once the team's season goals shift away from immediate contention and back to development.)

Yeah, this. The Twins can build a lot of "win now" attitude just by calling up some of their super prospects.

 

They've already called up Buxton. Sano could come soon. If Meyer works out of the pen, we might see him. There are a lot of options that don't rely on calling up decent, but not top-shelf, prospects.

 

Meyer is still walking too many guys but he's making AAA hitters look foolish with 15 Ks in 10.2 relief innings. He might not be far away if the Twins' pen stumbles again.

[Lefty]

 

Dougie was quoted extensively recently, I think, and made his view quite clear that both Sano and Buxton have things they need to master before they're ready to have success in MLB.

 

 

Every player in the Twins' lineup has things they need to master.  Dozier doesn't hit for average, but he's acceptable.  Mauer doesn't hit for power, but he's acceptable.  Plouffe has a very inconsistent bat, but nobody wants to send him down to work on anything.  Buxton and Sano both have something that a lot of Twins don't.  They have tremendous upside and they have certain things that they do VERY well.  Granted, they aren't all-around stars yet, but they show major upside and will do certain things extremely well when they get here.  Can't teach Buxton's speed or Sano's power.  

 

In my mind, someone needs to be moved to find a place for Sano.  I see him as a corner infielder/DH.  I think we'll have Buxton/Rosario/Arcia/Hicks in the OF and so that means either he's DHing, Mauer learns a new position, or Plouffe is moved.  Somebody that we like is going to lose a spot because they can't keep this beast down forever.

[jimmer]

 

Plouffe has a very inconsistent bat, but nobody wants to send him down to work on anything.  

FYI, Plouffe is out of options.  He can't be sent down to work on things.

[Mike Sixel]

 

FYI, Plouffe is out of options.  He can't be sent down to work on things.

 

That wasn't his point.....his point, and it is accurate, is that no player on this roster is perfect, and all have something they could improve. Saying Sano isn't perfect is no reason not to promote him. There might be other reasons......

[Kwak]

Plouffe can be traded in July--if the Twins are willing to accept the risk that Sano isn't a 3B for more than the rest of the 2015 season.  That dovetails nicely with Ryan's  earlier statements of "... Sano [up] in August...".

[jimmer]

 

That wasn't his point.....his point, and it is accurate, is that no player on this roster is perfect, and all have something they could improve. Saying Sano isn't perfect is no reason not to promote him. There might be other reasons......

I wasn't slamming his point, it was only an FYI. Some may not know that.  Options are a tricky business sometimes.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

That wasn't his point.....his point, and it is accurate, is that no player on this roster is perfect, and all have something they could improve. Saying Sano isn't perfect is no reason not to promote him. There might be other reasons......

Still, it's not an entirely valid comparison. Plouffe has a WAR of 5.0 in the past 195 games. He's a two-way player and a pretty good one overall.

 

Sano is a question mark. While I'd like to see him at DH, he might not hit enough to be there on a contending team and his defense is... questionable, to be extremely generous about it.

 

There are a lot of Twins players with flaws, both great and small, but using that as a reason to promote a prospect is flawed reasoning. The prospect is either ready or he's not. Exceptions can be made in a pinch when the need is dire but I wouldn't fall over myself getting Sano to Minnesota if I felt that it would hinder his development, particularly defensively.

 

And not having watched Sano on a daily basis, I'm certainly not in the position to make that call.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

People assume that Sano is going to come up and hit a dozen bombs and lead the Twins to the promised land.  That could happen, but a more likely scenario is that he struggles a bunch, strikes out a bunch and that for that same 15 game period, Nunez would contribute more offense.

Nobody assumes that.  But what many including myself realize is that if there is any chance of the Twins being close to a playoff spot late this season, it's probably going to take an infusion of new plus performers.  Even assuming an initial adjustment period, Buxton and Sano are much more likely to deliver that level of performance at some point than Nunez, Vargas, or Hicks.

 

If it was Sep. 16 rather than June 16, your point would be much more valid, but the next 15 days don't have to make or break our season.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Also, very few would believe sitting Mauer twice a week would improve our team long term. He's earned as long a leash as any player in baseball. It's not anywhere near time to put a fork in him.

In 11 MLB seasons, Mauer has spent a month or more on the DL in 6 of them, including 2014 as a first baseman.

 

Also, Plouffe has had one DL stint in each of his three full MLB seasons thus far.

 

Sitting Mauer and shifting Plouffe an extra game or two a week would not only help give Sano everyday opportunities to adjust to MLB, it would also better prepare us for a Mauer or Plouffe (or Vargas) injury (which right now would involve scrambling and giving a lot at-bats to scrubs like Nunez, etc.).

 

And it improves our chances in 2015, our preparation for 2016, etc., much more than the marginal improvement from continuing to give Joe the extra 8 PA a week to break out of his funk that we've been giving him the past year-plus.

[Mike Sixel]

 

In 11 MLB seasons, Mauer has spent a month or more on the DL in 6 of them, including 2014 as a first baseman.

 

Also, Plouffe has had one DL stint in each of his three full MLB seasons thus far.

 

Sitting Mauer and shifting Plouffe an extra game or two a week would not only help give Sano everyday opportunities to adjust to MLB, it would also better prepare us for a Mauer or Plouffe (or Vargas) injury (which right now would involve scrambling and giving a lot at-bats to scrubs like Nunez, etc.).

 

And it improves our chances in 2015, our preparation for 2016, etc., much more than the marginal improvement from continuing to give Joe the extra 8 PA a week to break out of his funk that we've been giving him the past year-plus.

 

What a great post.

[Linus]

 

Nobody assumes that.  But what many including myself realize is that if there is any chance of the Twins being close to a playoff spot late this season, it's probably going to take an infusion of new plus performers.  Even assuming an initial adjustment period, Buxton and Sano are much more likely to deliver that level of performance at some point than Nunez, Vargas, or Hicks.

 

If it was Sep. 16 rather than June 16, your point would be much more valid, but the next 15 days don't have to make or break our season.

I think my point is valid for any point in time in which the Twins might be slipping out of contention, especially with Sano as it also implies a trade deadline boundary for trading Plouffe.  In other words, if the Twins slip to 5 games behind the wildcard, they pretty much have to be in win now mode no matter what the calendar says.  If they are realistically out of contention, then they can go ahead and call people up willy nilly.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

I think my point is valid for any point in time in which the Twins might be slipping out of contention, especially with Sano as it also implies a trade deadline boundary for trading Plouffe.  In other words, if the Twins slip to 5 games behind the wildcard, they pretty much have to be in win now mode no matter what the calendar says.  If they are realistically out of contention, then they can go ahead and call people up willy nilly.

Promoting a top 15 prospect (top 10 before 2014) with over 500 career PA in AA, when he's a slugger on a month-plus hot streak and your DH production has been bottom-quartile and trending down, is not "calling people up willy nilly."

 

Do you think we only called up Buxton out of injury desperation?

[tobi0040]

 

Promoting a top 15 prospect (top 10 before 2014) with over 500 career PA in AA, when he's a slugger on a month-plus hot streak and your DH production has been bottom-quartile and trending down, is not "calling people up willy nilly."

 

Do you think we only called up Buxton out of injury desperation?

 

Completely agree.  Both Sano and Buxton are ready (at least Sano for DH, not sure about 3B).  Both are also upgrades over what we have today.

 

From my chair, these are no-brainers.

[Sam Morley]

Definitely didn't read every post in this thread, so I'll probably be redundant.

 

I want to see Sano up now. I think Molitor can deal with juggling him, Plouffe, and Mauer at third/first/DH. I think he should play third the most and DH the least. I think Plouffe and Mauer should split the remaining time at first/DH. But also just go with the hottest bat. 

 

Suggestions that Sano be called up and play RF are 99.9% insanity. The missing .1% considers the extreme outside chance that he is secretly really really good at playing RF. To suggest that someone who has never even sniffed RF in pro ball try it for the first time in MLB shows absolutely no appreciation for or understanding of the challenges of RF.

 

I noticed that people are putting Sano in league with the likes of Bryant, Gallo, Correa, and the other young hot shots, which is good; it has seemed like in other recent past threads regarding Sano, people have forgotten how good he is. He is definitely as good as those guys and maybe better. One poster suggested that Sano needs to be all around a better player than Plouffe before he can replace him at third. Whether that is the case or not, he might actually be an all around better player than Plouffe now. There's no way to argue that with any real clout. It's a case of talent vs. experience. 

 

And if we want someone who mashes to come up from AA to play RF, isn't there someone there who does that and already plays RF?

[Linus]

 

Promoting a top 15 prospect (top 10 before 2014) with over 500 career PA in AA, when he's a slugger on a month-plus hot streak and your DH production has been bottom-quartile and trending down, is not "calling people up willy nilly."

 

Do you think we only called up Buxton out of injury desperation?

Yes, I think that the injury situation played a big part in it.  I also want to clarify that I am only talking about the short term - everyone is in agreement that Sano and Buxton are the best options over any other timeframe.  Let's see how Buxton does these first 15 games and see.  In the first 3, he's proving my point.

[tobi0040]

 

Yes, I think that the injury situation played a big part in it.  I also want to clarify that I am only talking about the short term - everyone is in agreement that Sano and Buxton are the best options over any other timeframe.  Let's see how Buxton does these first 15 games and see.  In the first 3, he's proving my point.

 

9 at bats?  One of which was a triple. 

 

Methinks that if all he has to work on are breaking balls, he is in the right spot.  He isn't learning how to hit major league breaking balls in AA or even AAA for that matter. 

[Mike Sixel]

 

Yes, I think that the injury situation played a big part in it.  I also want to clarify that I am only talking about the short term - everyone is in agreement that Sano and Buxton are the best options over any other timeframe.  Let's see how Buxton does these first 15 games and see.  In the first 3, he's proving my point.

 

Your point being what? That sometimes players struggle? That he's not ready and that proves something about a different player? What point?

[Linus]

 

Your point being what? That sometimes players struggle? That he's not ready and that proves something about a different player? What point?

To you and the others: my point was clearly stated if you read my posts.  If you are playing a short term stretch of critical games, say 15 that could determine whether you slip out of contention or not, then calling up prospects is not likely to give you the magic boost everyone is anticipating because it is going to take them longer than 15 games to acclimate. 

[Sam Morley]

 

To you and the others: my point was clearly stated if you read my posts.  If you are playing a short term stretch of critical games, say 15 that could determine whether you slip out of contention or not, then calling up prospects is not likely to give you the magic boost everyone is anticipating because it is going to take them longer than 15 games to acclimate. 

It might also take the league 15 games to acclimate to them. 

[jimmer]

Kris Bryant continues to do awesome, BTW :-)

 

So does Pederson.

[Mike Sixel]

 

To you and the others: my point was clearly stated if you read my posts.  If you are playing a short term stretch of critical games, say 15 that could determine whether you slip out of contention or not, then calling up prospects is not likely to give you the magic boost everyone is anticipating because it is going to take them longer than 15 games to acclimate. 

 

How likely is it Sano is a worse DH than Nunez or Escobar?

[jimmer]

 

How likely is it Sano is a worse DH than Nunez or Escobar?

slim and none...with slim having left town? :-)

[tobi0040]

Some positive commentary from Molitor.  I think he is close. I don't think you would get much commentary if they didn't have a move in the cards within the month. 

 

Just my personal read.

 

http://www.startribune.com/miguel-sano-could-be-called-up-soon-molitor-says/307657841/

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

To you and the others: my point was clearly stated if you read my posts.  If you are playing a short term stretch of critical games, say 15 that could determine whether you slip out of contention or not, then calling up prospects is not likely to give you the magic boost everyone is anticipating because it is going to take them longer than 15 games to acclimate. 

Of course, nobody here is claiming any kind of "magical boost" in the first 15 games.

[Linus]

 

Of course, nobody here is claiming any kind of "magical boost" in the first 15 games.

Good then, I'm out.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Yes, I think that the injury situation played a big part in it.  I also want to clarify that I am only talking about the short term - everyone is in agreement that Sano and Buxton are the best options over any other timeframe.  Let's see how Buxton does these first 15 games and see.  In the first 3, he's proving my point.

The Hicks injury obviously affected the day they called up Buxton, but I doubt it affected the month or possibly even the week.  He wouldn't be here now if the team wasn't planning on him coming up very soon regardless of Hicks.

 

At this point, 15 games aren't likely to make or break a season, no matter who your DH is.  But your DH over the next 3.5 months could/should have an impact.  We've got time to try addressing the latter (3.5 month DH plan), without quibbling around the margins of the former (15 game DH plan).