Eddie Rosario

[Number3]

Great to see Eddie Rosario come through with a big hit for the Braves yesterday and be with a team capable of actually winning a playoff series. Letting him go along with blowing up the pitching staff has the Twins where they are. I can hear the chuckles now; fine. There was something about Rosario in left, Buxton (when available) in center and Kepler in right that just seemed to work. Now the outfield is the result of throwing darts with players names at an outfield on the wall.

[RpR]

WHAT? -- We have such great out fielders as Booker,  Celestino, Larnach and Gordon ?

[gunnarthor]

I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Eddie. I loved that a 4th round draft pick turned himself into a team leader and has had a nice career. He struggled a lot more with Cleveland than I thought he would have but looks good in Atlanta. I hope he gets a ring this year.

The Twins had a lot of corner OF depth, they probably could have handled some of it better, but letting Rosario go was a pretty obvious Twins payroll move. Blame the Pohlads. The fanbase has gotten so accustomed to it, we argue when it's time to let these guys go. 

[tony&rodney]

Twins Daily argued Eddie Rosario endlessly. The question now is how to leverage the players and prospects we have to improve for next year. I was opposed to moving Rosario because of his instincts and fire, although he would have stretched the budget and was certainly prone to mistakes, in addition to an expected decline in performance. Would moving some combination of Kirilloff, Rooker, and Larnach last winter have returned a haul. Looking forward, the Twins need to decide what prospects are worth more as trade bait than waiting for their development or lack thereof.

To the post - yes, it was wonderful to see Rosario hit. He will get his shots against the right handers in the next round.

[Rosterman]

It was all about the monies. And in the back-of-their-minds the front office thought Rooker or Kirilloff would be ready. Who knew both would start in the minors and that the Twins would make a decision between Garlick, Broxton and Refsnyder to start out there. Then Larnach made us forget, for awhile, about Eddie, although Kepler was in the dumps, Buxton injured, and Celestino totally overmatched.

 

Yes, it would've been nice to sign Eddie going into his free agent year. But the Twins didn't feel he was worth north of $9 million and neither did any other team. And the Twins didn't see the need to invest in Eddie with a long-term contract either.

 

In hindsight, would he have played as well for the Twins and been a valuable tradechip at the deadline?

 

The horrors of arbitration on baseball.

[a-wan]

Rosario was so sought after at the trade deadline that the Braves traded the desiccated corpse of Pablo Sandoval to get him. ?

[cHawk]

Ugh, not this again. Are we really arguing that Rosario would’ve put this team anywhere near contention?

[tony&rodney]

39 minutes ago, cHawk said:

Ugh, not this again. Are we really arguing that Rosario would’ve put this team anywhere near contention?

No, at least we shouldn't. I'm not thinking that. I enjoy watching him hit though and Atlanta is still playing and Eddie had a nice hit for them. Maybe just some nostalgic rooting for a former Twin.

[mikelink45]

Eddie had a bad year and also had more WAR than any of our LF players this year.  He was not going to lead us to a championship, but hopefully he can find a way to be part of a championship.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I will never understand the fan obsession with a player that prevents them from acknowledging that your favorite team should not prioritize that player while that player also is good at baseball.

[nclahammer]

We went from Nothin' but Raindrops to Nothin' but Fourth Outfielders.   RefSnyder, Rooker, Garlick, Larnach...all saw significant playing time in the outfield and never showed the consistentcy to be a starting outfielder in MLB.

[mikelink45]

ESPN quote - on how the Braves rebuilt their OF after losing Ozuna and Ocuna.  "The Pederson acquisition was a boost, but it wasn't enough, so Anthopoulos leaped into action as the trade deadline approached. On one momentous day, he remade the outfield mix for manager Brian Snitker. In three trades completed on July 30, the Braves acquired Jorge Soler from Kansas City, Adam Duvall from Miami and Eddie Rosario from Cleveland."

[Number3]

I know it does no good to dwell in the past. My main point is that I was glad to see Eddie in that situation. When Acuna returns to the Braves Eddie will probably be on his way to another team; that team being not the Twins. I do hope he sticks another year with the Braves. The Braves are my favorite NL team. Guess why? It is because when I was a kid they defeated the hated Yankees in the 1957 World Series and had a 3-1 lead in the 58 Series but managed to lose. Those were some teams with Aaron, Matthews, Spahn and the rest.

[tony&rodney]

10 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I will never understand the fan obsession with a player that prevents them from acknowledging that your favorite team should not prioritize that player while that player also is good at baseball.

I might be wrong or confused but while I agree that it made sense to move on from Rosario last offseason, it is pretty  natural to be pleased that Eddie is contributing to his current team. I'm not obsessed with Rosario and it doesn't seem others were obsessed. At least I hope not because baseball is a tough business and teams need to bring in new players while the ones we watched are released, traded, or moved on from like Rosario. 

[cHawk]

11 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

No, at least we shouldn't. I'm not thinking that. I enjoy watching him hit though and Atlanta is still playing and Eddie had a nice hit for them. Maybe just some nostalgic rooting for a former Twin.

Ah, I see. I guess I interpreted it incorrectly. I’m glad too that Rosario finally made it past the first round.

[Brock Beauchamp]

26 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

I might be wrong or confused but while I agree that it made sense to move on from Rosario last offseason, it is pretty  natural to be pleased that Eddie is contributing to his current team. I'm not obsessed with Rosario and it doesn't seem others were obsessed. At least I hope not because baseball is a tough business and teams need to bring in new players while the ones we watched are released, traded, or moved on from like Rosario. 

Oh, that's not what I meant at all. I'm happy Rosario is doing well with another team. I have nothing against the guy at all, I enjoyed his time with the Twins, it simply didn't make sense to keep him for $9m.

[cHawk]

13 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Oh, that's not what I meant at all. I'm happy Rosario is doing well with another team. I have nothing against the guy at all, I enjoyed his time with the Twins, it simply didn't make sense to keep him for $9m.

This.

[MABB1959]

They let him go for nothing, is that correct?  And they thought Cave would do a better job?  I know he isn't a super star but he has better stats than any left fielder on the Twins.  Robbie Grossman is up there to and there was tons of hate for him.  Rosario has better stats than most of the Twins team.  He is right behind Polanco.  

[Otto von Ballpark]

I have to admit, I lost track of Rosario this year after he really scuffled in Cleveland, only 7 HR and a 86 OPS+ before hitting the IL on July 10. And he remained on the IL even after his deadline trade to Atlanta, ignominiously in exchange for Pablo Sandoval.

But after Atlanta finally activated him on August 27, he a nice final month-plus: 7 HR and a 131 OPS+ (in only about one-third of his Cleveland PAs).

[chpettit19]

8 minutes ago, MABB1959 said:

They let him go for nothing, is that correct?  And they thought Cave would do a better job?  I know he isn't a super star but he has better stats than any left fielder on the Twins.  Robbie Grossman is up there to and there was tons of hate for him.  Rosario has better stats than most of the Twins team.  He is right behind Polanco.  

No, they let him go to save $9-10M that he would've cost in arbitration. That every other team also decided he wasn't worth. I don't think they thought Cave was better than him at all. They thought Cave, Kirilloff, Lewis (he wasn't hurt yet), Rooker, and Larnach plus $9M+ to spend elsewhere was better than Rosario.

[tony&rodney]

We shouldn't get carried away  discussing Eddie Rosario. There were dollar reasons for the Twins to turn in another direction, in my opinion, and Eddie was my favorite Twin. The post was just, I think, pointing out that our former player was enjoying a fun offseason with Atlanta and he has the potential to be a part of an exciting NL Championship Series. Good luck to Eddie. The difficult 2021 Twins season is water under the dam and it seems pointless to look back too much, but better to look forward to an exciting 2022.

[Karbo]

I think the Twins made the right decision at the time when they released Eddie, though I hated to see him go. He was so much fun to watch because he could really blow up a play (unfortunately either way). I'll always pull for Eddie and wish him well, but no way was he worth the money he would have made in arbitration that final year. 

[USAFChief]

Good for Eddie. He was always entertaining, if not always fundamentally sound. His "ankles to forehead" strike zone led to some interesting ABs, both good and bad.

 

As for the Twins not signing Rosario, I think it's fair to say Falvine were correct to move on. I think it also fair to say their plan to replace him was a pretty miserable failure. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

26 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Good for Eddie. He was always entertaining, if not always fundamentally sound. His "ankles to forehead" strike zone led to some interesting ABs, both good and bad.

One of my all time favorite Twins plays was Rosario inducing a balk against Milwaukee. Pure, classic, 100% Eddie Rosario.

 

[jmlease1]

22 hours ago, MABB1959 said:

They let him go for nothing, is that correct?  And they thought Cave would do a better job?  I know he isn't a super star but he has better stats than any left fielder on the Twins.  Robbie Grossman is up there to and there was tons of hate for him.  Rosario has better stats than most of the Twins team.  He is right behind Polanco.  

If you only look at what he's done in Atlanta, sure. but he wasn't anywhere near Polanco based on his Cleveland stats. Alex Kirilloff accumulated as much bWAR as Eddie Rosario did while battling a debilitating wrist injury that eventually ended his season.

Do you think Cleveland is happy with the signing? They traded him to dump salary.

I wish Rosario nothing but success, but the Twins made the correct decision when they declined to give him $9M in arbitration. he wasn't going to take less with the twins (who almost certainly would have chosen to keep him over Cave, if he'd been willing to stay for $5-6M), so he took the money in Cleveland, and underwhelmed. In a short stint in Atlanta he's been revived, which is great for him and them. He'll play in the majors next year, but he's not going to get a 3 year deal and he's not going to get an AAV of $8M+, because teams are going to look at his whole year and not just 100 ABs with Atlanta.

[AceWrigley]

On 10/14/2021 at 9:48 AM, Number3 said:

The Braves are my favorite NL team. Guess why? It is because when I was a kid they defeated the hated Yankees in the 1957 World Series and had a 3-1 lead in the 58 Series but managed to lose. Those were some teams with Aaron, Matthews, Spahn and the rest.

Too bad they couldn't come up with a 2B man to round out that lineup instead of cycling through O'Connell, Schoendienst, Mantilla, & Cottier.

[AceWrigley]

Wouldn't mind seeing some Eddie Rosario exploits sink the Dodgers. ?

[wavedog]

I was rooting for Eddie to get that hit in the playoff game and enjoyed seeing him deliver.   Hope he has continued success against the Dodgers.  I have watched a few Atlanta games since he joined them and he also has had his usual share of fielding adventures in the outfield.    So he is still the same Eddie.     

[roger]

Eddie was my favorite Twin, beginning that summer down at ETon when he battled Sano for the HR championship, winning it I believe in their last game.  

I may be in the minority, but I wanted the Twins to keep him.  I believed his value on the field for the Twins was worthy of the cost and his value OFF the field more so.  The Twins went into the crapper this year, in part I believe from lack of whatever Rosario brought to the locker room and dugout.  I  also believe the lack of those relationships are partially the reason his play at Cleveland was lacking.  Now that he is on a team in the spotlight, the Eddie we have come to know and love will shine.  And yes, I won't be surprised if he makes one of those gaffes on a throw or on the bases, but he will overcome it with some clutch hitting or throwing someone out at the plate on an impossible to make throw.

Eddie, Eddie, Eddie!!!

[bean5302]

I've always believed Rosario possessed an elite hit tool, but it was clear to me he wasn't willing to adapt to be a player his strengths suggested he should be. High average and on base percentage, mediocre power with good defense. Rosario, instead, wanted to hit a home run at every single plate appearance and rely entirely on his athleticism in the outfield.

Being non-tendered by the Twins and getting the paltry offer he did is the only thing which may have lit a fire under him or shown him he has to adapt at this point. Which will give in? His pride or his brain?