Offseason Handbook: Time to Choose Between Christian Vázquez and Ryan Jeffers - Caretaker Exclusive

[JD-TWINS]

18 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

As always , I still think the catcher is the leader on the field ( or used to be ) , from a catcher you need defense  , blocking pitches , throwing out runners  , if he hits , it's a plus  ...

Years ago you also had shortstops with great defense but couldn't hit ,  now you have plus defenders and alot of them are plus hitters ...

If you trade jeffers and keep Vazquez  , you have a problem for 2026  , I do prefer Vazquez defense and savvy behind the plate  ...

Jeffers trade would get value back but you might have to offer alittle more in trade to get that value , the value we need back is a solid defensive catcher that can hit 260 or better ...

There out there , but very few ...

I like trading Jeffers & Duran as a package to get a solid bat back……I’m stuck on one solution (our guys for Boston’s 1B, Casas) but there are probably a dozen deals I’m unaware of around baseball. Jax becomes closer and has opportunity to make more $$ going forward and puts “starting again” behind him.

The $9M saved could be used on DeArnauld from Atlanta, FA catcher…… maybe $5.5M. Experienced - has some pop - gotta be a bit better than Jeffers behind the plate. Casalli could probably be signed for $4M or less and also seems better than Jeffers behind the plate but doesn’t have much offensive upside.

As every day passes it seems settling with and then packaging Castro with someone in a trade makes a lot of sense…….I vacillate here.

If they can’t trade for a 1B - the $$ saved on a Castro trade allows them to resign Santana as a solid platoon guy/pinch hitter/defensive replacement late. Castro can hit LH pitching! …..25% of starts are v. LH pitching……he’d get 80-90% of the pinch hit AB’s they gave Margot last year, he’ll hit .230 in that situation v. Margot’s .000. He’s around if Miranda gets hurt or if they just want better defense with late leads! Miranda is a reverse split guy and would play against RH pitching.

Santana is up for Silver Slugger Award - he won the Gold Glove - he lead the Team in HR & RBI………if he did that for another Club, Twin’s fans would clamor to sign him for $5M. Did this in Minnesota and “he’s 38” and it’s all taken for granted.

[JD-TWINS]

1 minute ago, JD-TWINS said:

I like trading Jeffers & Duran as a package to get a solid bat back……I’m stuck on one solution (our guys for Boston’s 1B, Casas) but there are probably a dozen deals I’m unaware of around baseball. Jax becomes closer and has opportunity to make more $$ going forward and puts “starting again” behind him.

The $9M saved could be used on DeArnauld from Atlanta, FA catcher…… maybe $5.5M. Experienced - has some pop - gotta be a bit better than Jeffers behind the plate. Casalli could probably be signed for $4M or less and also seems better than Jeffers behind the plate but doesn’t have much offensive upside.

As every day passes it seems settling with and then packaging Castro with someone in a trade makes a lot of sense…….I vacillate here.

If they can’t trade for a 1B - the $$ saved on a Castro trade allows them to resign Santana as a solid platoon guy/pinch hitter/defensive replacement late. Castro can hit LH pitching! …..25% of starts are v. LH pitching……he’d get 80-90% of the pinch hit AB’s they gave Margot last year, he’ll hit .230 in that situation v. Margot’s .000. He’s around if Miranda gets hurt or if they just want better defense with late leads! Miranda is a reverse split guy and would play against RH pitching.

Santana is up for Silver Slugger Award - he won the Gold Glove - he lead the Team in HR & RBI………if he did that for another Club, Twin’s fans would clamor to sign him for $5M. Did this in Minnesota and “he’s 38” and it’s all taken for granted.

My apologies - my post above was supposed to read “Santana can hit LH pitching” …..not Castro. 

[bean5302]

4 hours ago, old nurse said:

When you are not a caretaker you could not have read the article. Your comment on nonsense and then credibility  on an article you really do not what was in it is pure compost of the bovine variety. 

So you're saying it's click-bait and you're saying click-bait grants credibility? I was a caretaker until some stuff went down. Welcome to my ignore list.

[Schmoeman5]

11 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

Falvey quote from a Bobby Nightingale piece -  “It’s hard for me to envision a world where one catcher is catching 80-90 percent of your games,” Falvey said. “It’s just changed so much. I feel good about the tandem that we have.”

It's changed because they embraced it. Not just Falvey. All of them. Let's just do a hypothetical here. The team has a Rodriguez/Munson type of catcher. With Jeffers as a backup. Falvey is saying he would still do a split. Maybe not 50/50 but there would still be a catchers threshold.  NUTS.

[Doctor Gast]

6 hours ago, old nurse said:

To answer your question on why they signed him look no further than his statistics with Boston . Did it work out? No.  Easy to throw rocks in hindsight 

???? Who's throwing stones I just asked a question. I'm not criticizing anyone for the signing, It had to be done. It worked out as far as I'm concerned. He just didn't adjust very well offensively to begin with. I think you are missing the point of my question.

[chpettit19]

18 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Jeffers...  with a below-average arm.

Conger still has done nothing to come up with a viable MLB-ready catcher prospect now or anytime soon.

Ryan Jeffers had a 75th percentile pop time last year. He does not have a "below-average arm." He has plenty of arm. 

And it is absolutely not in any way, shape, or form Hank Conger's job to come up with an MLB-ready catcher prospect. He's the freaking first base coach for the Twins. He works with the major league team, not the prospects. He's not traveling around to minor league teams working with catchers and then hopping back to wherever the Twins are to coach first base that night. Not his job.

[Doctor Gast]

18 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Sounds to me maybe the question should be why are we paying Conger?

Our catching drafting & development has gone no where since he took over. Actually FO puts very little importance on catching defense. If they can hit a few HRs they're good we don't have to develop them defensively. So we don't have to have anyone good there.

[chpettit19]

18 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Sounds to me maybe the question should be why are we paying Conger?

The Twins are paying Conger to coach first base and work with the 2 major league catchers. Not work with and develop prospects.

[Riverbrian]

7 hours ago, old nurse said:

To answer your question on why they signed him look no further than his statistics with Boston . Did it work out? No.  Easy to throw rocks in hindsight 

Very true. He had some good numbers in Boston in comparison to his catcher peers around the league. 

Yet... you have to factor in the price tag paid for a position that will only play 102 games when healthy or 355 AB's max when healthy. 

It doesn't matter now. Contract was signed and he will be here for one more year. We will need a catcher next year. It sure would be nice if we could develop a catcher who comes in at the major league minimum so we don't have to go back to that high priced market. 

[chpettit19]

13 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Our catching drafting & development has gone no where since he took over. Actually FO puts very little importance on catching defense. If they can hit a few HRs they're good we don't have to develop them defensively. So we don't have to have anyone good there.

It's not his job! You have a fundamental misunderstanding of what Hank Conger's job is. Hank Conger is not drafting and developing catchers. He's the first base coach for the Twins. He didn't "take over" for the catching drafting and development. That is not his job.

[Doctor Gast]

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

It's not his job! You have a fundamental misunderstanding of what Hank Conger's job is. Hank Conger is not drafting and developing catchers. He's the first base coach for the Twins. He didn't "take over" for the catching drafting and development. That is not his job.

Conger is 1st of all the catching coach, being the catching coach I'd hope he'd know & have a big impute in what kind of catchers the Twins need & how to develop those catchers. Is there someone else who's directly responsible for the catching department over him?

[chpettit19]

Just now, Doctor Gast said:

Conger is 1st of all the catching coach, being the catching coach I'd hope he'd know & have a big impute in what kind of catchers the Twins need & how to develop those catchers. Is there someone else who's directly responsible for the catching department over him?

He is the Twins first base and catchers coach. He works with the major league catchers. He is not writing development plans for prospects. He is not training prospects. He is not scouting catching prospects. Just like the Twins pitching coaches and hitting coaches aren't writing development plans or scouting prospects. Might he do some work with the minor league guys here and there at spring training? Sure. But each and every minor league player has their own development plan designed specifically for them and Hank Conger is not the one writing those up. Drew MacPhail is the Director of Player Development. But he has a whole team of people under him and the minor league coaches and player dev guys do all that.

Hank Conger is not telling Derek Falvey or Sean Johnson what sort of catchers to draft. He's not telling Kevin Goldstein which international catchers to sign. Derek Falvey decides whether he prefers defensive or offensive catchers. Sean Johnson is the Vice President of Amateur Scouting who's in charge of getting all his scouts to know what to look for in catchers that MacPhail believes his dev guys can train up to be the type of catchers Falvey wants. Hank Conger isn't making any of those decisions. Conger's job is to work with major league catchers. The thing to say he hasn't done well is continue to improve Jeffers behind the plate. Jeffers is throwing very well, but his receiving and blocking is not very good. But the drafting and developing of catchers has nothing at all to do with Hank Conger. Just like the drafting and developing of the hitters and pitchers has nothing at all to do with the hitting and pitching coaches for the Twins. Their jobs are to get the major league players to perform. Not draft and develop prospects.

[DJL44]

13 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Conger is 1st of all the catching coach, being the catching coach I'd hope he'd know & have a big impute in what kind of catchers the Twins need & how to develop those catchers. Is there someone else who's directly responsible for the catching department over him?

Derek Falvey is responsible for obtaining talent. Looking down the org chart:

Director, Player Development: Drew MacPhail

Director, Professional Player Procurement: Brad Steil

If there are no good catchers in the minor leagues - that's who to blame. Not the major league coaching staff.

[old nurse]

6 hours ago, bean5302 said:

So you're saying it's click-bait and you're saying click-bait grants credibility? I was a caretaker until some stuff went down. Welcome to my ignore list.

I’m heartbroken. I did not say it was clickbait. I said nothing negative about the article. You called it nonsense without being able to read it. Uninformed opinion on your part 

[Doctor Gast]

Many rate arms by accuracy, quickness & arm strength. Many looked at Jeffers's earlier poor CS% & pop time & evaluated him as a poor arm which is misleading. Jeffers worked hard to better his pop time but his framing technique suffered.                                                                                                                                                              Maybe Conger's main job is 1B coach but he's also listed as Twins MLB catching coach. Twins catchers always praised Tanner Swanson when he was coach here. Jeffers has stated that he didn't get much help from coaching (Conger) but took it upon himself to better himself. I don't doubt that Conger doesn't help with the scouting & development which isn't under his job description. But those who are in charge of all of the scouting & the development of pitching, hitting, baserunning, INF, OF as well as catching IMO is very overwhelming. I hope that they should be able to depend very much on our main catching coach for direction  & work together as a team.