Finally got around to writing my Arcia take

[Brandon Warne]

It's complicated, but I haven't agreed fully with any take I've seen elsewhere, so here goes:

 

http://www.todaysknuckleball.com/minnesota-twins/past-present-future-oswaldo-arcia/#disqus_thread

[glunn]

Interesting article. Thanks for sharing this.

[beckmt]

Twins may have to be more careful how they handle Latin players.  Do not know if Arcia will succeed or fail, but do not want to get the reputation as a place Latin players do not want to be.  

I do not know how tight the Latin players are, but if they are tight this could be an issue.

Very insightful article, also on makeup of Arcia. 

This was more of a sudden use of a chance by Grossman and we will see if he maintains this in about 2 months.  My guess is that by that time he will be a 4th outfielder, though better than most the Twins have had the past few years.

[old nurse]

Only in advanced metrics could an OPS of .732 be similar to an OPS near .800.    It is a stretched reality to make Arcia and Ortiz similar.

[Platoon]

Thanks for sharing. The paragraph pertaining to Shane Robinson tells a lot about why the Twins are the Twins. We fall in love with the same type of player over and over and over. Punto, Robinson, Suzuki, and now Grossman. It's like watching the movie Groundhog Day. We have never been able to differentiate between players that can "play" MLB, vs being able to "win" in MLB.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I'd be cautious assuming his results in Rochester were sulking.  Perhaps you have access to the Twins and can say that for certain, but he also had a hip injury, and those aren't always easy to recovery from. I'd give him the benefit of the doubt unless I had information that said otherwise...  Besides, if he was sulking in Rochester in September, what exactly makes it so that he is the guy coming to camp in Feb looking like he wants to earn a job?

[Oldgoat_MN]

I highly doubt that anyone on these boards expects Arcia to be Ortiz 2.0. That is not going to happen. The fact that it will not happen does not mean that those of us sorry to see him go are delusional. 

 

Someone posted an excellent breakdown of how Arcia has been used this year (sadly, I cannot find it). It was not pretty. It's as if every time he starts to roll he gets benched for a while.

 

When someone on the team hit a home run Arcia was always one of the happiest guys on the team. He was always pulling for his teammates.

 

I wish him well.

[Mike Sixel]

Ya, assuming last year was all him sulking seems unfair, unless you have access to Rochester people that aren't affiliated with the Twins and don't have an agenda......

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Only in advanced metrics could an OPS of .732 be similar to an OPS near .800.    It is a stretched reality to make Arcia and Ortiz similar.

Is league average OPS really an "advanced metric"?

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=np&stats=bat&lg=al&qual=0&type=1&season=2016&month=0&season1=1997&ind=0&team=0,ss&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

 

Ortiz had his highest PA total for the Twins in 2000.  AL non-pitcher OPS that year was .794.  Ortiz was at .810.

 

Arcia had his highest PA total for the Twins in 2014.  AL non-pitcher OPS that year was .708.  Arcia was at .752.

 

Weighted by their respective PA each season, we can estimate that the AL non-pitcher OPS was ~.773 during Ortiz's Twins career, versus .721 during Arcia's.  The league average during Ortiz's career is even higher (~.785) if you cut off his sample at his 25th birthday (Arcia just recently turned 25).

[ashbury]

I'm not upset due to a belief that Arcia is about to win an MVP for someone else.

 

It's just that this action seems like bad asset management. It looks (even though I'm sure it can't be true) as though the front office has come to believe that the pipeline of prospects is inexhaustible and that a prospect with deficiencies can simply be flushed without any return on the investment.

[TheLeviathan]

Guess I forgot Shane Robinson in my list of ugly names Arcia was benched for.

 

He deserved (and earned!) better.

[Brandon Warne]

 

Only in advanced metrics could an OPS of .732 be similar to an OPS near .800.    It is a stretched reality to make Arcia and Ortiz similar.

 

Well, no. The eras were completely different. That was the a. Metrodome and b. tail end of the steroid era. 

[jimmer]

In 2014, Arcia's last year of being able to actually play with an regularity, his wRC+ was 109.  Ortiz last year with us was 118. :-)

[scottz]

Disagree with a large premise of the article that he was sulking in Rochester. Other than that, thanks for sharing.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

I'm not upset due to a belief that Arcia is about to win an MVP for someone else.

 

It's just that this action seems like bad asset management. It looks (even though I'm sure it can't be true) as though the front office has come to believe that the pipeline of prospects is inexhaustible and that a prospect with deficiencies can simply be flushed without any return on the investment.

 

Very well said.