The Surprisingly Simple Solution to the 25th man question

[DaveW]

I have nothing against Parmelee or Collabello, however neither bring much to the team other than a decent bat at best, no defense, no speed, no intangibles. They need to use that 25th spot on a guy that can A. Hit. B. Defend above average several key positions (SS, 2B, 3B as a preference) C. Has intangibles.

 

The simple solution to this is:

 

Mark DeRosa.

 

Go get him Terry!

[Old Twins Cap]

Colabello been flashing some leather this spring at first. And, I think Parmelee has thrown out a guy or two on the bases. Give 'em some love my friend.

[Otto von Ballpark]

I know this is a joke, but the Blue Jays actually exercised a 2014 option for DeRosa, but he chose to retire and become a broadcaster. Wonder if we'd have to trade something to Toronto for him.

 

Assuming that, are you volunteering to visit DeRosa at his home and convince him to come back, Favre-style?

[Craig Arko]

No, talk Molitor out of retirement to be a player-coach. He can DH and bat lead off.

[Chance]

So you want a 39 year old utility infielder that has batted over .235 once in the last 5 years and has hit 8 homerun in the last 4 years (7 came last season)? Sounds similar to Jamey Carroll...

 

Are you sure this has nothing to do with him having a pretty wife?.....

[Jarends703]

Why pay for a player who is well past his prime (which wasn't all that great to begin with)? Parmelee or Colabello would likely equal his production and might be healthier (a problem for DeRosa in 3 of the past 4 seasons).

[nicksaviking]

Here fishy, fishy, fishy....

[Guest USAFChief]

Another thought...I bet Brian Buscher would listen if the Twins called. Combine his LH bat with Plouffe at third (Plouffe +Buscher = "Bluff") and we'd have an .800 OPS third baseman for the price of two min salary guys!

[ashbury]

C. Has intangibles.

 

I will give you this, the value I derived from reading this thread certainly is intangible.

[twinsin17]

Is Jeff Reboulet still available?

[DaveW]

Fun fact to all the haters: Amongst Twins regulars last season, DeRosa would have had the 3rd highest OPS+

[DaveW]

Another thought...I bet Brian Buscher would listen if the Twins called. Combine his LH bat with Plouffe at third (Plouffe +Buscher = "Bluff") and we'd have an .800 OPS third baseman for the price of two min salary guys!

[h=2]This user likes USAFCHEIF'S post and wants to buy him/her a steak dinner: NICK NELSON 2009[/h]

[Brock Beauchamp]

Fun fact to all the haters: Amongst Twins regulars last season, DeRosa would have had the 3rd highest OPS+

 

I don't find that fun at all.

[old nurse]

Adding a very slightly less mediocre player may be on paper an improvement, but is it really an improvement?

[alskntwnsfn]

How about Joe Dillon? He's only 39! Tongue in cheek, but still, there was a window when I have no doubt he could of been in the top half of all MLB 3B.

 

For those of you who don't remember I launched a full scale "Free Joe Dillon" campaign on DTFC and BYTO back in the day. He had one of the most amazing minor league seasons back in 2007, it still blows my mind he never got an actual shot at a starting position even though he was in his early 30's.

 

Joe Dillon... circa 2007:

 

317/405/605 at AAA Nashville

50/34 BB/K and 50 XBH in 378 PAs

then he slashed 342/390/500 in 82 PAs for the big club (Milwaukee)

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=dillon001jos

 

I gotta think his story would make a good book or a movie, or at least an article. He battled back problems (herniated discs) for several years before walking away from the game in 2003 to coach at his alma mater, Texas Tech. With his back fixed, his friends talked him into getting back in the game. He played 6 more seasons, with one season in Japan. He put up huge numbers in the minors, OPSing over 1.000 three times but only started 30 MLB games in which he slashed 287/379/407.

[DaveW]

Joe Dillon! This thread makes me smile.

[alskntwnsfn]

And... now I can't get a thought out of my head... how many other players have collected 40 XBHs or more while striking out fewer times than the number of XBHs they had? And a follow up, how many of those players walked more than they struck out.

 

It's really impressive just to walk more than you strike out, but to do it with power for nearly 400 PAs I would have to think is extremely rare.

[Thrylos]

Plouffe +Buscher = "Bluff"

 

That's more like "Bluffda"

[Rick Blaine]

I'd rather coax Frank Quilici out of retirement. Veteran utility infielder with leadership qualities with World Series experience. I could be wrong but I think he's about the same age as DeRosa and Bartlett.