Defensive questions with no definitive answers for the Twins

[twinssporto]

Brandon - good article.  You bring up some very good points that T.R. and Molitor need to address:

 

I will start by addressing the first one.  Plouffe, to trade or not to trade?  At this point I don't think I would trade the guy.  If we trade him we need to fill that position.  The logical thought is to put Sano there.  Fine, move Sano to 3rd but if his defense isn't up to ML standards then what?  I'm still suspect on Sano's ability to play great defense at 3rd.  Obviously the Twins thought Plouffe was better playing 3rd base than Sano.  If they didn't think that they would have moved Plouffe to RF.  In addition, I'm a capitalist (sorry Bernie Sanders) but there does not seem to be a market for Plouffe at the moment.  It would be nice to get a good prospect or two for him.  Why unload him now for marginal players or nothing in return?  

 

Regarding the corners and DH:  If we want to strengthen/improve our defense (which was the original intent of Brandon's article) then make some moves.  If the Twins think Sano will be the cornerstone of the team in the future than I like the idea of sending Mauer to RF and moving Sano to first base.  I know Sano hasn't been given a lot of time to play RF but he just doesn't look comfortable or graceful out there. 

 

Ultimately Mauer is the cause of this bottleneck.  Move him off of 1st base and the bottleneck improves....In order to totally contradict myself and my comments above, what if we did this?  Mauer (RF), Park (1B), Sano (3B), Arcia (DH), Plouffe (RIP).

[Boom Boom]

There are too many pieces to the puzzle and they don't all fit. Some of them need to go.

 

I know we don't want to see another player discarded and become the next Big Papi... but if you have two (or three... or four...) Big Papis on your 25 man, you're doing something wrong. The Park signing exacerbated this problem.

 

The Twins need to make some hard decisions. If they want to make fans believe that they have a chance this year, they need to make those decisions soon.

[Riverbrian]

 

In the AL in 2015 there were 2634 homers hit.1549 were with the bases empty. 58.8%.

 

The Twins that year hit 156 HR. 92 were with bases empty. 59.0%.

 

This year so far they have 16 HR. 14 were with bases empty. 87.5%

 

Yes, terrible. Unbelievable, even. Which is why I say, same guys as last year for the most part, so I'm going to go with Small Sample Size. That's how I often look at unbelievable things - I don't believe them.

 

I'm going with "It's April". I'm going to get a tattoo that says "It's April" 

[mikelink45]

Let's imagine a football team that signs 6 great centers and four great fullbacks and then has to keep all of them on the roster so the other positions need to accomodate them.  Or one with a really great, recently drafted quarterback on the taxi squad because they signed 3 over the hill or never made it to the top of the hill older QBs to fill the primary QB slots. How long do we keep that GM?

[Platoon]

Here's an interesting question. How often do the Twins make a "hard" decision, moving an adequate vet? What I would refer to as selling high. I know they have, and do. I imagine you could say Span? Please don't say Hicks, he burned his bridges. AJ? There are likely more, but I can't remember them without reams of research. And btw, letting a FA fly the coop is not one.

[Platoon]

I'm going with "It's April". I'm going to get a tattoo that says "It's April"

 

I would hurry if I were you. By the end of the week, someone will be pointing out that tat is "so April"! May is the new in thing! I would think someone like you, in an upscale urbane area such as GF, would be a trend setter. Getting an "It's May" tattoo, in late April puts you amongst the A listers! And on TD, that's an eclectic group.

[Riverbrian]

 

Let's imagine a football team that signs 6 great centers and four great fullbacks and then has to keep all of them on the roster so the other positions need to accomodate them.  Or one with a really great, recently drafted quarterback on the taxi squad because they signed 3 over the hill or never made it to the top of the hill older QBs to fill the primary QB slots. How long do we keep that GM?

 

The Football GM you describe doesn't sound adequate to me. 

 

The football GM you describe also sounds like an extreme exaggeration of what Terry Ryan and his staff are doing. 

[Platoon]

The Football GM you describe doesn't sound adequate to me. 

 

The football GM you describe also sounds like an extreme exaggeration of what Terry Ryan and his staff are doing.

 

Extreme Exaggerafion! Great name for a SO. MN. polka band, bad idea for a baseball post!

[Riverbrian]

 

Here's an interesting question. How often do the Twins make a "hard" decision, moving an adequate vet? What I would refer to as selling high. I know they have, and do. I imagine you could say Span? Please don't say Hicks, he burned his bridges. AJ? There are likely more, but I can't remember them without reams of research. And btw, letting a FA fly the coop is not one.

 

I don't like trying to speculate on something I haven't seen first hand. 

 

But from the outside... way outside... 314.4 miles to be exact. Terry Ryan just doesn't seem like a pick up the phone and call AJ Prellar just to bounce ideas type of guy. 

 

My impression is that Terry is a pick up the phone and call Dave St. Peter, Paul Molitor, Rob Antony, Wayne Krivsky, Jack Goin, Radcliffe, Johnson, Followell guy. 

 

I could be wrong cuz Terry Ryan has never called me and that's perhaps his biggest fault. 

[adorduan]

 

Brandon - good article.  You bring up some very good points that T.R. and Molitor need to address:

 

I will start by addressing the first one.  Plouffe, to trade or not to trade?  At this point I don't think I would trade the guy.  If we trade him we need to fill that position.  The logical thought is to put Sano there.  Fine, move Sano to 3rd but if his defense isn't up to ML standards then what?  I'm still suspect on Sano's ability to play great defense at 3rd.  Obviously the Twins thought Plouffe was better playing 3rd base than Sano.  If they didn't think that they would have moved Plouffe to RF.  In addition, I'm a capitalist (sorry Bernie Sanders) but there does not seem to be a market for Plouffe at the moment.  It would be nice to get a good prospect or two for him.  Why unload him now for marginal players or nothing in return?  

 

Regarding the corners and DH:  If we want to strengthen/improve our defense (which was the original intent of Brandon's article) then make some moves.  If the Twins think Sano will be the cornerstone of the team in the future than I like the idea of sending Mauer to RF and moving Sano to first base.  I know Sano hasn't been given a lot of time to play RF but he just doesn't look comfortable or graceful out there. 

 

Ultimately Mauer is the cause of this bottleneck.  Move him off of 1st base and the bottleneck improves....In order to totally contradict myself and my comments above, what if we did this?  Mauer (RF), Park (1B), Sano (3B), Arcia (DH), Plouffe (RIP).

I'm sceptical of him even being MLB average at 3rd.

[HitInAPinch]

Well, just my opinion, but if the Twins were going to trade Plouffe it came to a screeching halt when he got hurt.  That and Plouffe is [i think] a free agent at the end of the year.  So why trade for him now when you can just buy him next year?

 

From MLBTR, 1/30/2016:

 

"Coming into the winter, Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe seemed a plausible trade piece, but we never heard much buzz on that front. Minnesota GM Terry Ryan tells Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press that the club did not consider scenarios for a deal — let alone make Plouffe available to other clubs."

 

He'll be missed for his steady bat and defense.  Sano's defense?  He looked pretty OK yesterday.  And like many have said, Sano has the ability to out hit his defensive liabilities. 

[ashbury]

That and Plouffe is [i think] a free agent at the end of the year. 

He's under team control through 2017.

[old nurse]

 

Here's an interesting question. How often do the Twins make a "hard" decision, moving an adequate vet? What I would refer to as selling high. I know they have, and do. I imagine you could say Span? Please don't say Hicks, he burned his bridges. AJ? There are likely more, but I can't remember them without reams of research. And btw, letting a FA fly the coop is not one.

Since it appears you think that it is poor that the Twins do not move veteran players, how many other players get moved from position to position by a team?  Right versus left field shouldn't be an issue. Nor should swapping places in the middle infield.  An inadequate defender in the corner outfield/3b going to first shouldn't count. The list would probably be minimal for adequate veterans. Aging CF to the corners, Miggy to 3b for a season.   Lombo to the OF might not count as he was no longer an adequate 2b

[Platoon]

Since it appears you think that it is poor that the Twins do not move veteran players, how many other players get moved from position to position by a team?  Right versus left field shouldn't be an issue. Nor should swapping places in the middle infield.  An inadequate defender in the corner outfield/3b going to first shouldn't count. The list would probably be minimal for adequate veterans. Aging CF to the corners, Miggy to 3b for a season.   Lombo to the OF might not count as he was no longer an adequate 2b

. I have got to get better at being more specific, although I did think the term "selling high" was indicative of trading players, not repositioning....... Oh well.

[Platoon]

I was ambivalent about the Hicks/Murphy trade. Meh! But now that I have seen Murphy play I have two questions. How in the name of Earl Battey do you get to the major leagues as a catcher, and cannot block the low ball, especially anything to your right? And if you do, why would anyone trade an adequate, but on occasion confused, OF for you?

[ttreadway]

I would love to see Mauer in Right, Sano at 1st, keep Plouffe through the end of this year, and give third base to Polanco next year. Don't really have much hope that this will happen, but I think that would allow us to field the best team and lineup that we currently have available to us.