Article: What in the Hell is a Pedro Florimon?

[cmathewson]

Ah, the old "if everyone else does their job, he doesn't have to hit" gem. Thanks for that, cmat, it's been too long since someone trotted that out. Well played.

 

Thank you. I appreciate your compliment. Seriously, it would be great to get a shortstop who does both. But those guys are pretty rare and really expensive. Also, the Twins have been really bad at developing them over the years, something I have repeatedly blamed on Gardy. And when they did get one, they let him go for peanuts--one of Bill Smith's biggest blunders.

 

So here we are, without many good alternatives and the closest prospect two years away. The free agent market looks thin. I would have signed one of those guys to at least be competition for Florimon. But I don't think any of them is better overall than Pedro. That is controversial, I know, but that was the gist of my post. I was reacting to a post that criticised his offense and said little about his defense. In that, it seemed to miss the point. His glove makes up for a lot. Relative to a guy who will hit .250/.280/.320 (my projection for the best FA out there), he's better overall.

 

And yes, we have enough offense to absorb a #9 hitter who hits .230/.280/.300, as long as we pitch better. Offense wasn't our problem last year. Pitching was. Florimon will actually help this contact pitching staff by getting to more balls.

[Mike Sixel]

Minnesota was 10th in runs scored in the AL last year....so offense was part of the problem.

[ThePuck]

Minnesota was 10th in runs scored in the AL last year....so offense was part of the problem.

 

and we lost our table setters...

[Riverbrian]

To be fair to Ryan, Smith traded the last two legitimate shortstops the team had on the roster (yeah, he acquired one of them but then turned around and gave him away for virtually nothing).

 

Still, I think this comes down to how this organization is run and what they look for in middle infielders. There's a reason why they continually fail to produce middle infielders who can play above a replacement level. I don't know what that reason is but after 15 years of scuffling at two key positions on the field, it's obvious that they're doing something wrong.

 

What's most damning is that they refuse to acknowledge this shortcoming and compound the issue by bringing in the likes of Juan Castro, Adam Everett, and Pedro Florimon and expect something good to happen.

 

I'd love to argue this point... But I can't... I think it's on the nose and a completely fair comment. I don't know what the reason is either... But after this much time... You'd figure that we would have drafted and developed something... Even by accident. I hadn't really thought about it until this thread... The Twins have not drafted and developed a solid SS... ever?

 

My god... Is there a Solid MLB SS that I'm not thinking of that was drafted and developed by the Twins but traded and did good things for another squad?

[TheLeviathan]

What's most damning is that they refuse to acknowledge this shortcoming and compound the issue by bringing in the likes of Juan Castro, Adam Everett, and Pedro Florimon and expect something good to happen.

 

Right, regardless of what was available this offseason, I'm not sure it would have mattered. This team, under Ryan, has had a really awful approach to filling that position regardless of how they attempt to. Their vision for the position is the problem, not the availability of solutions.

[cmathewson]

What really bothers me is that the Twins don’t even seem to view their perpetual ineptitude at this crucially important position as a problem, because you have Terry Ryan claiming they’ve been “pretty good” there in seven of the last nine years and you’ve got them lining up Pedro Florimon as if he’ll be anything more than another failed stopgap that leaves them right back where they started.

 

I hear ya. They have been "pretty good" over there in three of the last 10 years, by my estimation: Bartlett's two good years and Hardy's year. Otherwise, it's been a revolving door of horse hockey that belied the other success we had. And I thought they would try to upgrade, at least to give Florimon competition. But apparently Ryan wanted to just focus on pitching this offseason. I can only hope they get someone in on a minor league deal before spring training. But whoever they get is not likely to be much better than Florimon. Perhaps they think he earned a shot to start based on his decent play in the last two months with the Twins (one really good month and one sub-par month). The only other thing is I know several of the coaches are very high on him despite his numbers, including Gardy and Bruno.

 

If Florimon tanks it, I'm sure SS will be tops on the list for a midseason acquisition. I expect Ryan to be active. I would think Willingham will fetch a decent shortstop plus a prospect.

[FrodaddyG]

Perhaps they think he earned a shot to start based on his decent play in the last two months with the Twins (one really good month and one sub-par month).

I'd hate to see what a "bad" month looks like to you.

[snepp]

I'd hate to see what a "bad" month looks like to you.

 

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/9836/29436.png

 

 

"Hi."

[FrodaddyG]

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/9836/29436.png

 

 

"Hi."

To be fair, Drew probably falls under the "decent" category if Pedro's 2012 stint did.

[jokin]

But apparently Ryan wanted to just focus on pitching this offseason.

 

 

Multi-tasking be hard.

[jokin]

I'd love to argue this point... But I can't... I think it's on the nose and a completely fair comment. I don't know what the reason is either... But after this much time... You'd figure that we would have drafted and developed something... Even by accident. I hadn't really thought about it until this thread... The Twins have not drafted and developed a solid SS... ever?

 

My god... Is there a Solid MLB SS that I'm not thinking of that was drafted and developed by the Twins but traded and did good things for another squad?

 

The other clubs were probably too busy building their own MI depth chart. If you look around the league, SS prioritization is evident on many teams' 40-man rosters, depth charts and minor league prospects. Good teams, and teams that prioritize actually getting better instead of paying lip service to the concept, stockpile pitching arms and SSs.

[Ben B]

I'd love to argue this point... But I can't... I think it's on the nose and a completely fair comment. I don't know what the reason is either... But after this much time... You'd figure that we would have drafted and developed something... Even by accident. I hadn't really thought about it until this thread... The Twins have not drafted and developed a solid SS... ever?

 

My god... Is there a Solid MLB SS that I'm not thinking of that was drafted and developed by the Twins but traded and did good things for another squad?

 

The Twins acquired Bartlett when he was in single-A. Same for Gagne. So they had a hand in developing those two, but otherwise...