Reusse: Could Parmelee Be Platooned?

[John Bonnes]

On Patrick Reusse's blog (heh, sorry, those 3 words together always make me smile, heh), Reusse speculates that including Wilkin Ramirez could be taking away at-bats from Chris Parmelee:

 

Two extra outfielders -- Ramirez and Mastroianni --tell me this: Josh Willingham is going to serve as the designated hitter in a good hunk of games this season, with Ramirez or Mastroianni in left field. And, it's probably going to be close to a platoon situation in right field, with Chris Parmelee against righthanders, and Ramirez or Mastroianni against lefties.

 

I think Reusse is getting a little carried away there, but it is a little interesting that the last guy on the Twins roster happens to be a right-handed corner outfielder. I would never expect a straigh platoon, but I could expect Parmelee to be "protected" against some lefties. I wondered the same thing in yesterday's GATG episode.

 

Ramirez looks like surprise addition to Twins | StarTribune.com

[DaveW]

To be honest I think Parmelee needs to prove to deserve to play every day, if Mastro continues to hit at a decent clip and Parmelee isn't mashing (esp against LHP) you almost have to start doing a straight up Platoon.

 

Mastro at least brings a good amount of value with his legs and fielding work, while Parmelee is a one trick pony more or less when he is in the OF.

[cmathewson]

I think he's not paying attention. Ramirez is a good bat, but he's a horrible glove. Parmelee is no gold glover, but he's much better than Ramirez. And his bat is on par. Mastro will be there in the late innings, maybe pinch running for Parm in the eighth, and playing outfield closer in the ninth.

 

The Hammer as DH story makes more sense, especially against lefties.

[Boom Boom]

Gardenhire won't want to hurt Parmy's confidence by benching him against lefties.

[Mr. Brooks]

To be honest I think Parmelee needs to prove to deserve to play every day, if Mastro continues to hit at a decent clip and Parmelee isn't mashing (esp against LHP) you almost have to start doing a straight up Platoon.

 

Mastro at least brings a good amount of value with his legs and fielding work, while Parmelee is a one trick pony more or less when he is in the OF.

 

The only way Parm is going to getter better against lefties is through repetition. What better time to give him those reps than during a rebuilding season? Unless it gets to a point that it seems to be hurting his confidence, I don't see what good it does to to give away any of his AB's, unless they are to another player who has a future as a starter on this team (Arcia).

[Seth Stohs]

Yeah, first, Gardy doesn't platoon. Second, he'll play Ramirez from time to time in the field, but he just wants a bat. Ramirez strikes out a ton, but he does have some pop in his bat. He'll DH against lefties and spell the corner OF from time to time. If there were a platoon with Parmelee, it would likely be with Mastroianni.

[Willihammer]

I think Reusse's probably right. Gardy has always timed Mauer and Morneau's days off for games against LH starters, I assume he will do the same for Parmelee. Not quite a straight up platoon but at the least Parmelee will be filling in at 1B sometimes, if he's not the guy sitting that day. Its going to be a lot to juggle but Gardy's always been pretty good at it IMHO.

[TheLeviathan]

Reusse may be on to something but I'm going to just throw out there that the guy that will be more adversely affected will actually be Ryan Doumit. Since ST I've thrown around the suggestion that even if Hicks wins the job we'll see a lot Mastroanni. Couple reasons:

 

1) Mastro-Hicks is a FAR better 1-2 in the lineup than Hicks-Dozier IMO and likely in Gardy's as well.

 

2) Gardy's bizarre obsession with not giving the DH up and having a backup catcher available. We know about Escobar, but still I think it's a factor.

 

3) Keeping Willingham healthy and playing means lots of DH at-bats and it makes the OF defense better.

 

I wouldn't be shocked at all if we saw far more at-bats lost to Doumit in the scenario of platoons than we would Parmalee. Just my theory.

[Riverbrian]

I'm hoping it isn't a platoon... I hope it's simply the ability to move around mix and match.

 

Looks like the proverbial "Good Problem to Have"

 

We didn't have that good problem last year.

 

Let's have a roster of 25 and utilitze all 25.

[mudcat14]

Don't forget that a pinch-hitter off the bench may be required for Floriman or Escobar in the nine hole and Carroll or Dozier in the two-hole on a regular basis. Who's that gonna be? Has to be somebody with more pop than whomever isn't starting at 2nd or SS.

[Willihammer]

I thought it was interesting today on the broadcast, Atteberry and Provus got into a smart discussion about Earl Weaver's book, "Weaver on Strategy," where Weaver evidently explained how 10 men on the pitching staff was wasteful because it forbade him using true platoons. Atteberry worked in some other good quotes, my favorite being "if you only play for 1 run, that's all you'll get."

[ThePuck]

Gardenhire won't want to hurt Parmy's confidence by benching him against lefties.

 

Kubel says hello...

[jorgenswest]

Maybe the Twins should look to platoon.

 

Below are links to two articles about how platooning was significant in the A's turn around in 2012.

 

Oakland?s Platoon Advantage | FanGraphs Baseball

 

How the A's built a surprise contender - Joe Lemire - SI.com

 

Parmelee's splits in the minors were extreme in the last two years. Why not platoon?

 

Of course, the Twins could have planned for this during the offseason. While Parmelee's splits make him a good candidate. Ramirez may not be a very good match. He strikes out against lefty and righty at the same rate.

[twinstalker]

Heh, yeah, "Gardenhire's always looked to..." is not a good way to start a point. He's never platooned. Between Ryan and Gardenhire, do not expect anything that makes sense or optimizes wins or spares outs.

[stringer bell]

With three and four man benches, platooning has diminished. I would expect both Mastro and Ramirez to start some games against lefthanders. The Twins have three veterans (Doumit, Mauer, and Morneau) and Parmelee who will be rested some against LH pitchers. Still somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 of games are started by righthanders. If Parmelee starts against all righties and a third of the time vs. lefties, he starts about 130 games.

[stringer bell]

It's a small sample size for Parm, but here were the OPS splits for the four guys I listed in my posting above: Mauer vs. RH: .918 vs. LH: .754 Morneau vs. RH: .902 vs. LH: .569 Doumit vs. RH: .823 vs. LH: .690 Parmelee vs RH: .667 vs. LH: .681

[LaBombo]

With three and four man benches, platooning has diminished. I would expect both Mastro and Ramirez to start some games against lefthanders. The Twins have three veterans (Doumit, Mauer, and Morneau) and Parmelee who will be rested some against LH pitchers. Still somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 of games are started by righthanders. If Parmelee starts against all righties and a third of the time vs. lefties, he starts about 130 games.

 

Good points, here and in the one about relative platoon splits of CP vs. other LHB Twins. To that I would add that as roughly the 6th or 5th best hitter in a typical lineup, Parmelee shouldn't see a ton of LOOGY's. Some teams won't have enough of them available to waste one on him when there are the other guys you mentioned who are much more likely to punish a righthander than Parmy.

[stringer bell]

I was going over the Twins projected starting lineup in my head. It looks pretty symmetrical. Three switch hitters (Hicks, Doumit, Florimon), three RH hitters (Plouffe, Willingham, Dozier) and three LH hitters (Mauer, Morneau, Parmelee). If they split up the M & M boys with the Hammer, it should be pretty tough for managers to LOOGy them. Among the switch hitters, Doumit's strong side is LH, while Hicks' is reported to be RH. Florimon--neither.