Aledmys Diaz: Do we want him and at what cost?

[johnnydakota]

well I to have to rethink Diaz, since our own scouts and now the Yankees ,both teams with glaring holes to the middle infield either this year or next are not in the mix.

[nicksaviking]

nick, right.....but from what I can tell, if scouts lie to KLAW, he cuts them off.....so I doubt that, but it is certainly possible.

 

Well he may say that, but the scouts are much more important to Klaw than he is to them. In fact if I was an orgainzation, I'd play my cards close to the vest, Klaw wouldnt get much from me. Mentioning that, it strikes me that the Twins seem to be just such an organization, and Klaw isn't always the kindest to the Twins. Those two things are likely unrelated, but the guy does seem to have a bit of a vindictive streak.

 

That being said, with Gammons reporting the same thing clearly there should be some hesitation.

 

Though Gammons' report shows concern about his defense, I wonder what his source's judgment of his offense is. It's not a popular opinion, but if "may struggle" means below average, I'm fine with that if the bat plays.

[Mike Sixel]

Klaw compliments teams when they make good decisions, and rips them when they don't. Hence this whole "he used to HATE the Twins, but now he doesn't" silliness. The Twins were awful at executing their strategy at the end of Ryan's last term, and Smith was awful at making trades. Why would he not rip them? Now that they've changed things up, and realized where they were, and mostly righted the minors, of course he is now complimentary.

 

The whole "analyst x hates my team, or doesn't like my favorite player enough" meme is below you Nick, imo.

[nicksaviking]

Klaw compliments teams when they make good decisions, and rips them when they don't. Hence this whole "he used to HATE the Twins, but now he doesn't" silliness. The Twins were awful at executing their strategy at the end of Ryan's last term, and Smith was awful at making trades. Why would he not rip them? Now that they've changed things up, and realized where they were, and mostly righted the minors, of course he is now complimentary.

 

The whole "analyst x hates my team, or doesn't like my favorite player enough" meme is below you Nick, imo.

 

Well that's good since I never said anything like that. The fact of the matter is Klaw and other journalists need the orgainzations and scouts for access. The orgainzations don't need Klaw other then if they really want to disseminate information, a tactic which is pretty contradictory to how the Twins operate.

[Mike Sixel]

"Klaw isn't always the kindest to the Twins."

[cmb0252]

"Klaw isn't always the kindest to the Twins."

 

It is more accurate to say Klaw isn't the kindest. Every fan feels klaw hates his or her team. For the Twins the last two years he has given our system plenty of love.

[Mike Sixel]

Klaw is what he is. Extremely open in his praise and criticism. Sarcastic. Sardonic. Occassionly cruel in his ridicule of the inane (though he does love one reality tv show, go figure). Personally, he's the reason I pay for Insider. He's one of the reasons I even go to espn.com. Many others don't agree with my appreciation for his work and style.

[nicksaviking]

"Klaw isn't always the kindest to the Twins."

 

Which is a far cry from "analyst x hates my team, or doesn't like my favorite player enough"

[Twins Twerp]

Klaw is what he is. Extremely open in his praise and criticism. Sarcastic. Sardonic. Occassionly cruel in his ridicule of the inane (though he does love one reality tv show, go figure). Personally, he's the reason I pay for Insider. He's one of the reasons I even go to espn.com. Many others don't agree with my appreciation for his work and style.

 

Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd Mcshay. Best draft coverage on the planet. KLaw and ESPN probably rank 3rd to 4th when it comes to prospects and baseball coverage on the internet. Also KLaw says what is on his mind, plus he rips fans on the site. I agree that a scout/team would perhaps "fib" about a player to KLaw to lower his perceived value in a heartbeat. I agree that he needs teams/scouts more than they need him. He can only scout so many players/teams a year, whereas teams have scouts watching almost every game possible. The Twins had someone watch, in person, all of Kohl Stewart's pitches.

[old nurse]

Getting back to the worth of Diaz, if he has a ceiling of utility player/2b then a reasonable signing bonus and make good from there wouldn't be a bad plan.

[thetank]

Getting back to the worth of Diaz, if he has a ceiling of utility player/2b then a reasonable signing bonus and make good from there wouldn't be a bad plan.

Utility players are a dime a dozen.

[old nurse]

Utility players are a dime a dozen.

 

The Bonafacio thread would disagree. If Diaz can be an above average hitter it would make him useful.

[kab21]

If Diaz is an above average hitter then he's not a utility player. If he were a prospect then I would rate him a little behind Rosario. Less bat but there is a chance that he can play SS. How much would people pay Rosario if he was an int'l FA? I like Rosario but even at this point he could still bust and not make it as a starter in the majors. Do people really want to lock up for 5-7M/yr for 4-6 years that might not make it as a starter?

 

Like I said before it's not my money but 30-40M guaranteed seems excessive for a prospect of his caliber (that hasn't played in well over a year - almost 2 years). If we are talking 10 to maybe 15M then it gets interesting since he is a legit prospect but not a sure thing at all.