Willi Castro As The Minnesota Twins 1st Base Fill-In???

I have a hard time seeing Castro being a primary 1B. 

The FO seem on a mission to assure that Willi start 130+ games this year.

11 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

The FO seem on a mission to assure that Willi start 130+ games this year.

Getting paid as a 6 million dollar man requires it.  Ref Vazquez, Paddock, Bader, Gallo et Al. 

The defensive numbers are not great for Willi, but I believe if he isn't overused and sticks to 2B, LF and 3B, his defensive stats will be better. Castro is definitely stretched at shortstop and center field, but in '23 when he played a large majority of his time at third and left, he was very good. 

IF Miranda can sustain what he did for pretty long stretches, having him at first would be fine. I’m also okay with Castro getting near-regular at-bats. Not comfortable slotting Lee as a backup. I hope he wins a job and thrives. 

4 hours ago, ddubbl1 said:

what about Mike Ford? former 1st baseman of Yankees. We signed him to camp and maybe he works out for us. 16 bombs in 2023. 32 years old with more experience. I want Castro as daily 2b and Lee as backup. Miranda can be backup fir 1st base. Julienn we can trade away or send back to St Paul after he cost us over 5 games from his fielding errors and 47 strike 3s he stood and watched go by last year. 

I trust you will apologize to Edouard Julien when he thrives this year.

1 hour ago, BillyBallLives said:

"First base is easy?"

Tell that to the guy who just turned a routine grounder into a three-base error.

How many errors of any kind were first-basemen charged with last season?  222.

How many home runs did first-basemen hit last season? 670.

One of these is of more importance than the other (not every error leads to a run, while every home run does), and is also more frequent.  Of course a slick-fielding first baseman is valuable, but if he doesn't hit home runs at a pace which keeps up with his peers, he's dragging his team down, one plate appearance at a time.

Elephant-rabbit stew, and we keep wanting to talk about the rabbit.

26 minutes ago, RpR said:

Santana had 594 chances to hit a home run, but had 1251 chanes to possibly screw up (He only did 4 times.)

Your numbers do not work..

Fielding percentages are far higher than batting averages.  Rare is the Dick Stuart (Dr. Strangeglove) type who screws up enough to lose his first base job if he's hitting homers, and of course now there's the DH to bail such a player out.  Yours is a much poorer comparison.

8 hours ago, ashbury said:

Fielding percentages are far higher than batting averages.  Rare is the Dick Stuart (Dr. Strangeglove) type who screws up enough to lose his first base job if he's hitting homers, and of course now there's the DH to bail such a player out.  Yours is a much poorer comparison.

Santana won a Gold Glove not because he was only charged with four errors. He won by converting tough plays into outs while handling the routine ones as well. I remember a slugging outfielder (Juan Gonzalez?) was asked how he would make up for a couple misplays in the outfield and he said "swing the bat". I think he was correct.

I'd like to see a defense like the Twins had in the early 2000s, with plus defenders everywhere, but I'm okay with competence at the three lower spectrum positions and average is acceptable at second and third if they hit well enough. 

Up until the All-Star break, the Twins graded out in the middle of the pack in Defensive Runs Saved. It was only with the losses of Correa and Buxton and higher use of inferior defenders that the overall rating slipped. The Twins defense lost two good defensive players, so it will be a challenge to get to middle-of-the-pack, but good health would be a great start for improvement in run prevention by the defense.

24 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Santana won a Gold Glove not because he was only charged with four errors. He won by converting tough plays into outs while handling the routine ones as well.

I started out replying to someone referring to 3-base errors, so I discussed on the terms presented.    It's not really how I judge defense, but was fine for conversation's sake.  Still, for one of the two players on the Twins who managed to put in a full season's worth of plate appearances, Santana's counting stats on offense don't really stand out versus the league.  His glove is what made him arguably a slightly above-average player in 2024, and I give him credit for it, but it takes multiple bad plays to amount to an actual run scored in most cases, while an HR is guaranteed to score 1 and might knock in 1 or 2 or 3 others.  It's virtually impossible for any player who isn't up-the-middle to prevent enough runs to make up for so-so offense.