Berardino: Willingham wants to finish career with Twins

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

UZR was similar. Hicks had many more outfield assists.

 

I loved Revere's speed and highlight catches, but he just didn't have the arm that Hicks has. The trade for Worley will look good pretty soon. (Still not sure why Revere was ever put in RF, but whatever.)

[Mike Sixel]

Revere was an awesome RF defender. Arm is over rated....most important is catching fly balls, or turning doubles into singles. Yes, extra bases matter, but keeping guys off base is way more valuable.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Which gets back to the corner outfielder that brings no offense to the lineup. Though he does turn the occasional single into a double. I like Revere and hope he can hold on to the leadoff job in Philly but the Twins made a good move with him.

[TheLeviathan]

UZR was similar. Hicks had many more outfield assists.

 

One year of UZR is highly unreliable as a base of comparison. Revere's range was ridiculously better by the eye test.

 

And Range >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Arm. Though I may have undersold the amount of >'s in that analysis.

[cmathewson]

One year of UZR is highly unreliable as a base of comparison. Revere's range was ridiculously better by the eye test.

 

And Range >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Arm. Though I may have undersold the amount of >'s in that analysis.

 

So you watched him play last year? I watched him in one game and he was not the same Ben Revere I remember in Minnesota. Much more tentative. Then again, it was just one game...

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Revere was banged up all year and then broke his foot in July. I think a concern in philly is that he's a guy who just throws himself around and can't stay healthy -- which is not really what we saw here. Anyway, he is entering his prime and is too good in center field to not have a starting job somewhere.

 

Levi, you only get one greater than sign.

[Thrylos]

Rhett Bollinger has a similar story out today (here) with more realistic expectations from Willingham saying:

 

"I do love playing in Minnesota,".... "From the organization, to the weather, to my friends and teammates, I think all that stuff is a plus to me. So yeah, I'd love to stay here another year or so."

 

Another year or so is much different than 3 years

 

I wonder who got the wrong quote from Willingham here

 

A couple of points from the discussion on Hicks and Arcia:

 

re: Arcia: Corey Koskie was awful at third base, probably worse than Arcia is at the OF. And he cracked the bigs at age 25 and after lots of work was alright by year 2 to 3 in the majors. So there is hope for Arcia

 

re: Hicks: In his age 23 season he had OPS+ of 65. Carlos Gomez had exactly the same OPS+ in his age 23 season and Torii Hunter had 73 in his age 23 season. They both turned out alright. And Hicks' .794 career minor league OPS is higher than both Gomez' (.735) and Hunter's (.751 and aided by a 2 season PCL 1.013 OPS). So, he might do better than these guys...

[Thrylos]

One year of UZR is highly unreliable as a base of comparison. Revere's range was ridiculously better by the eye test.

 

And Range >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Arm. Though I may have undersold the amount of >'s in that analysis.

 

With Buxton in the organization, discussion about who is a better CF Revere or Hicks is academic. Buxton will push Hicks to a corner OF position as soon as he is in the majors.

[TheLeviathan]

So you watched him play last year? I watched him in one game and he was not the same Ben Revere I remember in Minnesota. Much more tentative. Then again, it was just one game...

 

I didn't know you were comparing the 2013 versions, but that doesn't help your case much as it's less than a half season's worth of UZR data. Here's what I trust - I saw Revere play OF here and he was very, very good. Hicks was very, very underwhelming.

 

As Thrylos said, it's a moot point because Hicks will make a fine corner OF I'm sure. Hopefully he hits enough to man that position.

[johnnydakota]

Hmmm an extention? Maybe we slide Willingham back behind the plate,and see what he can do ? Naw, but this years catching corp without Pinto has to be the worst we have had since before joe showed up. Ham hope you mash the ball this year, wait till September and then lets talk ...Ok?

[Badsmerf]

Are we really arguing Revere vs. Hicks in CF? This thread made a funny twist. How can anyone forget how horrible Hicks played in the OF for the first few months? He settled down and was alright, but nowhere near Revere. I can't wait until I have to stop discussing how terrible Hicks is.

 

*Please Aaron Hicks, turn into a solid corner OF so we don't have to talk about this anymore.

 

**While I'm at it, stop switch hitting. Thanks.