Clete Thomas Is The Twins Starting Right Fielder? Really?

[Bark's Lounge]

the problem with Thomas playing to me comes back to Morneau not being able to play 1B regularly. Willingham should then be the fulltime DH & Revere shoulda been the fulltime LF. I was looking forward to a Plouffe/Tosoni type platoon in RF. With Parmelee playing 1B, it weakens the defense at both 1B and LF

How does Parmelee weaken the defense? Where does Morneau fit into your plans if Willingham is DH? Your post was not clear.

[nokomismod]

Because of Parmalee's lack of speed, I would rather see Clete/Plouffe out in RF until Benson is ready. Revere's lack of power and lack of arm will sink him until he shows at AAA that he can increase his OBP.

[Bark's Lounge]

Because of Parmalee's lack of speed, I would rather see Clete/Plouffe out in RF until Benson is ready. Revere's lack of power and lack of arm will sink him until he shows at AAA that he can increase his OBP.

In my estimation Parmelee has no less speed than Cuddy did, It is not Revere's lack of power that will hold him back, but his suspect arm, and i think that will ultimately be the deal breaker with him.

[whydidnt]

In that case, Plouffe should be the right fielder

 

I've seen Parmelee play RF in about 10-15 games now, most of them with the Rock Cats, some in ST and I think one or two with the Twins. He is very immobile out there. His range is not any better than Doumit's. He, like Doumit, is an outfielder on paper (like Kubel was.) I think that his future is at 1B (and with Sano and Harrison coming up and Morneau there for another season) his window there will be short... so unless he really concentrates in one position (he is not excellent defender in 1B) he will end up like Kubel (a DH and PT fielder) sooner than later.

I haven't seen enough of Parmalee to see if can play RF or not, but the Twins must agree with your assessment, based upon the limited appearances there. At the major league level he has hit well, though and it would be nice to get his bat in the lineup regularly. I would rather see Plouffe out there everyday than Thomas as well. I doubt he'll produce any less offensively, and he's athletic enough to be a decent fielder, if not experienced. Reality is that with our lineup, we should not be basing our starting RF on who has the best glove. You can get away with that to a large extent up the middle, but seriously, going with a corner OF because he's your best glove guy doesn't make sense to me. Whoever it is, I don't really like see Thomas take regular at bats from pretty much any of the possibilities on the Twins roster right now (Parmalee, Doumit, Plouffe, heck even Burroughs, who I still don't get why he's on the roster).

[Bark's Lounge]

heck even Burroughs, who I still don't get why he's on the roster

My assumption is that Burroughs serves as a quick replacement to Valencia as he is not favored by Gardy and his staff, which at this point am in total agreement with them. Valencia continuously has bad plate appearances and is a below average fielder because of his range. I would not be surprised if Burroughs is our starting 3B by mid-May. He can most definitely field and he will hit a bit (singles mostly).

[twinsnorth49]

I'm pretty confident that Parmelee won't strike out 3-4 times a game, he should have been in the lineup tonight and deserves more serious consideration in RF. As it's been pointed out by a few posters, we got by pretty well with Cuddyer and Kubel, Parmelee can surely cover as much ground as those guys.

 

Valencia is a mess, I'd like to see Burroughs get a couple games in, Danny seems to think he's entitled to play 3rd base. The poor plays on defense tonight had nothing to do with his range, just looked lost, no confidence. His lack of discipline at the plate is getting tiresome, 14 SO's and too many pop-ups to count.

[Riverbrian]

Some may not see the value in Burroughs in his current role. Oddly enough... I agree. Not much value in Burroughs thus far with his playing time.

 

However, Velencia needs a message benching right now. I'm not talking about 1 game on the bench either.

 

Errors happen but its the type of errors that he makes... The blowing off of fundamentals. His boot in the 7th with the bases loaded was inexcusable. He didn't move his feet. He settled for a backhand. One out... bases loaded and he's fine with waiting and reaching for a routine grounder with a high probability of getting the lead runner at home and a fairly decent chance of an inning ending DP.

 

Anyone have the game taped? Watch it. I know the Carroll error didnt help the health of the inning but The Carroll error at least happened with effort.

 

With Velencia... Longoria hit a routine ground ball to his right with an easy hop. If Velencia plays that ball PROfessionally... Aggressively(which the situation demands), Burnett could have escaped the inning. Velencia had TIME to move right while moving IN at an angle to get centered for a throw home or continue that momentum for a step on third and throw across for a 5-3 DP.

 

Laying back on the ball and settling for a backhand reach (which he dropped) was the work of a player who drifts mentally. Not engaged enough to move his feet with the bases loaded. He isnt hitting enough to tolerate it. Plouffe... Burroughs... It does not matter. Sit Velencia for a message sending amount of games and tell him why.

 

Im not saying give up on him. I'm sittiing him until he understands that he doesnt have a major league job sewn up. His discipline in the field and at the plate is the reason why he is a below par MLB third baseman. He could be above average in my opinion and have a decent career. I'm beginning to doubt the kid will pull out of it.

[Seth Stohs]

Thomas will be back in the lineup today (Sunday), Gardy just said on his show, because he is 3-6 lifetime against Jeff Niemann.

[John Bonnes]

Gardenhire said Thomas is in right field again today. That's 6 of 8 games. At least it sounds like there is some reasoning - Thomas is 3 of 6 in his career vs Niemann. Thomas is now hitting .143.

[jorgenswest]

Disappointing reasoning. A manager should know better. I want my manager to know better. The 3 for 6 has no meaning and no predictive value.

[xtwin]

Clete spent the last 2 years in the Minors. Look at his stats and explain why the Twins picked him up. The Twins cut better players than him.

[Riverbrian]

With Clete Thomas getting playing time, it's really not hard to figure out.

 

Someone thought Thomas was a ballplayer and someone had to be an advocate for Thomas to sign him. So now someone is going to give Thomas every chance to prove that someone was right.

 

Any one of us would have done the same thing. It's called backing your convictions.

 

Disclaimer... I'm not saying I agree with those convictions. They are not my convictions. These convictions belong to someone with actual influence.

 

If I was in Charge. Willingham would be in RF and Revere would be in LF nearly every day.

[Bark's Lounge]

Some may not see the value in Burroughs in his current role. Oddly enough... I agree. Not much value in Burroughs thus far with his playing time.

 

However, Velencia needs a message benching right now. I'm not talking about 1 game on the bench either.

 

Errors happen but its the type of errors that he makes... The blowing off of fundamentals. His boot in the 7th with the bases loaded was inexcusable. He didn't move his feet. He settled for a backhand. One out... bases loaded and he's fine with waiting and reaching for a routine grounder with a high probability of getting the lead runner at home and a fairly decent chance of an inning ending DP.

 

Anyone have the game taped? Watch it. I know the Carroll error didnt help the health of the inning but The Carroll error at least happened with effort.

 

With Velencia... Longoria hit a routine ground ball to his right with an easy hop. If Velencia plays that ball PROfessionally... Aggressively(which the situation demands), Burnett could have escaped the inning. Velencia had TIME to move right while moving IN at an angle to get centered for a throw home or continue that momentum for a step on third and throw across for a 5-3 DP.

 

Laying back on the ball and settling for a backhand reach (which he dropped) was the work of a player who drifts mentally. Not engaged enough to move his feet with the bases loaded. He isnt hitting enough to tolerate it. Plouffe... Burroughs... It does not matter. Sit Velencia for a message sending amount of games and tell him why.

 

Im not saying give up on him. I'm sittiing him until he understands that he doesnt have a major league job sewn up. His discipline in the field and at the plate is the reason why he is a below par MLB third baseman. He could be above average in my opinion and have a decent career. I'm beginning to doubt the kid will pull out of it.

Well put! I am in total agreement.

[Highabove]

Thomas is mostly a career Minor Leaguer.

 

The Twins will figure this out soon.

[Seth Stohs]

I tweeted this a few minutes ago: "Thinking that the Twins 'see-what-Clete-Thomas-has-got' experiment may be short-lived cuz they are seeing what Clete Thomas has got!"

[John Bonnes]

It'll be interesting to see what this week holds.

a) he's been terrible and

they're finally facing a bunch of southpaws.

BTW, the "extra innings" in the Gleeman and the Geek podcast has a lot of Clete talk.

[one_eyed_jack]

I was fine with giving Clete a shot, but I really hope this experiment has come to a merciful end. Never mind Jason Kubel, this guy has had me longing for Jason Repko and Jason Tyner!

 

And with Casilla and Valencia doing Butera-esque things in the batter's box, we've basically had 3 automatic outs at the bottom of the lineup lately, which has been frustrating.