Castro to 7 Day (Concussion) DL, Granite Promoted

[drjim]

 

Maybe Garver just had a bad game. it was his first MLB start behind the dish. Plenty of reason to be nervous. Reports were earlier this year that his glove has come a long way in the past couple years.  

 

Its hard to tell, maybe you're right and there's reason to be nervous. Maybe he just had a bad game.

 

That's possible, but I like to think they make decisions based on more than one game, bad or otherwise. If they felt confident about his catching in AAA he likely would have caught more than one game so far. If Castro is back on time, he probably won't get another one in a game that matters this year.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Sometimes that is all that it takes to understand why the front office/coaching staff make the decisions that they do.

 

I'm concerned he's going to be a tweener. Not enough glove to be effective anywhere, and not enough bat to cover the fielding deficiencies. Going to take more time in AAA behind the plate I would guess.

 

ya, no confirmation bias there.....regardless of how many games they've had to make a decision, fans have had one game....so, ya, I'll go with SSS for people posting here this proves things.

[USAFChief]

 

ya, no confirmation bias there.....regardless of how many games they've had to make a decision, fans have had one game....so, ya, I'll go with SSS for people posting here this proves things.

Explain then why the Twins were so slow to get him to Minneapolis, and the manager seems reluctant to put him behind the plate.

 

I also believe, if he were a good defensive catcher, he wouldn't have been spotted around the diamond in the minor leagues.  That wasn't, IMO, an attempt to add versatility to a good skillset.  Rather, that's an attempt to find a way to potentially wring a little value out of a guy who can't be a regular catcher.

 

I could be wrong, of course.

 

 

[drjim]

 

ya, no confirmation bias there.....regardless of how many games they've had to make a decision, fans have had one game....so, ya, I'll go with SSS for people posting here this proves things.

 

The confirmation comes in the way that the Twins are using him, not from any of my thoughts/theories.

 

This is a poor use of a confirmation bias accusation against me. I'm not "proving" anything. I'm trying to understand why the Twins make the decisions that they do. I can obviously read minor league stats. I found it interesting that he was putting up such good numbers, but that wasn't exactly translating to a higher prospect ranking and why the Twins were seemingly hesitant to call him up. I guess we'll find out.

[drjim]

 

Explain then why the Twins were so slow to get him to Minneapolis, and the manager seems reluctant to put him behind the plate.

 

I also believe, if he were a good defensive catcher, he wouldn't have been spotted around the diamond in the minor leagues.  That wasn't, IMO, an attempt to add versatility to a good skillset.  Rather, that's an attempt to find a way to potentially wring a little value out of a guy who can't be a regular catcher.

 

I could be wrong, of course.

 

Or what was said here.

 

I do hope I am wrong too. Would be nice to have the potential for a great hitting catcher under team control for 6 more years.

[Doubles]

I find it even more curious that Garver has played more first base than catcher.  In fact, I've been critical of Garver playing first base- and Vargas, too, for that matter- and two critical misplays in two losses last week while a gold-glove first baseman has watched from the bench.  

[Mr. Brooks]

Explain then why the Twins were so slow to get him to Minneapolis, and the manager seems reluctant to put him behind the plate.

 

I also believe, if he were a good defensive catcher, he wouldn't have been spotted around the diamond in the minor leagues. That wasn't, IMO, an attempt to add versatility to a good skillset. Rather, that's an attempt to find a way to potentially wring a little value out of a guy who can't be a regular catcher.

 

I could be wrong, of course.

Teams have been wrong on players before.

[Doomtints]

 

I find it even more curious that Garver has played more first base than catcher.  In fact, I've been critical of Garver playing first base- and Vargas, too, for that matter- and two critical misplays in two losses last week while a gold-glove first baseman has watched from the bench.  

 

The Twins have lost more than one game this year with the better player at some position sitting on the bench, yes even in rubber games in a series. I wouldn't read anything into it other than Molitor is managing the team and he gets his "scheduled days off" thing stuck in his mind over winning a series, just like he used to get "pitchers must finish an inning" stuck in his mind in previous years.

 

Gardenhire had this right. Win the first 2 games in a series and the 3rd game means days off for some people. The Twins won a lot of series.  Sure, they didn't go on long winning streaks, but players were adequately rested (not that this mattered come playoff time).

[wsnydes]

 

I also believe, if he were a good defensive catcher, he wouldn't have been spotted around the diamond in the minor leagues.  That wasn't, IMO, an attempt to add versatility to a good skillset.  Rather, that's an attempt to find a way to potentially wring a little value out of a guy who can't be a regular catcher.

 

I believe this to be the case as well.  Much of my clamoring to get Garver up is more related to the fact that that big league club didn't have anyone on the active roster to spell Mauer aside from Sano for quite a while.  I know that Kepler has played some 1B, but for whatever reason Molitor doesn't play him there.  I'd rather he play RF as well.  They've also been trying to figure out a DH for most of the season.  Garver would at least be an option for both of those situations.  I didn't expect him, or any other rookie call up this year, to make any meaningful impact but they're at least getting a taste and something to work towards for next year if nothing else.  

 

If our assertion is correct that they're trying to get some value out of him by playing multiple positions, it's less important that he's catching much at the MLB level as long as he's getting reps and ABs somewhere.  In that context, one game is pretty meaningless one way or another.

[Mike Sixel]

If people don't think one game is SSS, I don't know what to say. Seemed like a post that was not debatable.

[yarnivek1972]

FWIW, Garver really doesn't have much catching experience as a pro. Certainly not for someone his age. He's caught about 2700 innings in the minors. Compare that with the dearly departed JR Murphy (who is actually a few months younger). Murphy has caught almost 5300 innings between the majors and minors. That's the equivilent of 2 or 3 extra seasons of catching 125 games. I guess it will be up to Falvine to decide if they are prepared to let Garver develop at the MLB level. One thing is certain. The Twins will need an experienced catcher (preferably one with some MLB experience) at AAA next year. Recker would certainly fit the bill.

[Craig Arko]

My feeling is Garver would be a better defensive catcher than Josmil Pinto could ever have dreamed of.

 

And maybe a comparable hitter.

 

And I also remember Brian Harper.

[jorgenswest]

I don't think we understand sample size in the same way.

 

I don't think a sample was used to support a conclusion about Garver. For instance if you looked at brooks baseball and noticed 14 in zone pitches were turned into balls and only two out of zone pitches were turned into strike and then used that data to make a conclusion that Garver was a poor receiver, you would absolutely be misusing that data due to sample size. I didn't see any data used to support any conclusion here. Without data, where is the sample (small or not)? This wasn't about data or samples. This was about watching him catch.

 

It is reasonable to observe that he wasn't good that day without making a conclusion about his career as a catcher. It is reasonable to wonder whether what we saw Saturday might hint at the Twins reluctance to use him right now over Gimenez.

[drjim]

Garver starting tonight with Berrios chucking. Shows what I know.

 

Probably the best situation for him, a junk balling lefty on the mound, and he's catching someone he has experience with.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Garver starting tonight with Berrios chucking. Shows what I know.

 

Probably the best situation for him, a junk balling lefty on the mound, and he's catching someone he has experience with.

 

agreed on experience to Berrios helping. Though they had to let Gimenez rest some time. Giving him 2 days is probably a good idea.

 

Any update on how Castro is doing?

[yarnivek1972]

 

agreed on experience to Berrios helping. Though they had to let Gimenez rest some time. Giving him 2 days is probably a good idea.

 

Any update on how Castro is doing?

An update dated yesterday on mlb.com says Castro is still having headaches and has not resumed baseball activities.

 

Unrelated, but not entirely, is Grossman expected back with his broken thumb?  It seems likely that calling up another catcher in September would be a wise precaution given the concussion circumstances and that Garver is extremely green.  Grossman, if not expected back, is an obvious 60 day DL candidate to make room for Recker.

[drjim]

 

Slower than was originally thought. Concussions are nasty.

[yarnivek1972]

What does he need to swing a bat for? As long as he can crouch and stick out a sequence of fingers.

[jorgenswest]

Very encouraging performance behind the plate. Liked the pitch mix and the relatively low pitch counts in spite of the 11 strike outs.

[yarnivek1972]

 

Very encouraging performance behind the plate. Liked the pitch mix and the relatively low pitch counts in spite of the 11 strike outs.

The comment I made in the game thread is that he went mostly un-noticed.  That is he did what one would expect the catcher to do.  At this point, that's going to have to suffice.