A Plan For Pinto

OH man I just lost a long reply to this by hitting the arrow on my keyboard to go back. Blergh. Blergh and a half.

Anyway, it hinges on two things: the real status of his catching ability and the possibility of learning a corner OF position. The DHing can still happen 1-2 times a week, spelling Mauer or Vargas. The (fairly remote) possibility of a Pinto/Arcia true platoon in RF is pretty interesting though.

yes, I dont get giving up alternate days at catcher. Meaning, bring Pinto up, make him the backup catcher....and when he plays we have a chance to put the ball in the seats.

Simple answer, I would catch him 70\30, with Suzuki as the back up. DH then depending on situations. But that won't happen. Neither will full time DH. I am afraid you cannot use the words Pinto and Gardy in the same sentence, or same dugout. If Gardy is still here, Pinto cannot DH without us returning to the days of 3 catchers. What if your starting catcher gets hurt, and you lose your DH for maybe 3 innings in a 162 game season. And with the continual [need] for 13 pitchers, that leaves one with another season of the short bench syndrome! More Hermann? I have not heard of Pinto playing OF in Rochester? So the Arcia\Pinto duo is out, plus Arcia is just too young to platoon. If you platooned every lefty who did not hit left handed pitching, you would need 30 man rosters. (Btw Ruesse had an interesting bit on that Sunday). I like Pinto, and would have never resigned Suzuki. He is a nice catcher, and tough. But he is not the future. Same as Escobar at short. The Twins have half frittered away chances to evaluate, and give experience. To avoid 90 losses? I know this comment has wandered seemingly off topic, but not really. It goes to the core of the stuck in the middle of the road philosophy that has cost the Twins at least a year of major league development time.

What we truly want at every position is players that can play both halves of a baseball game, offense and defense (except DH and Pitcher in the AL)

If a prospect is not going to play both halves, they need to be moved. Management isn't the only part of the organization to complain about his mitt. (See Glen Perkins) Sometimes fans spend too much time looking at offense and then wonder why the pitching staff isn't better... Good defense lowers ERA's.

To the point, if Pinto is not going to be an MLB level defensive catcher he needs to be at a different position or traded for best value.

Good point Willihammer. I like Vargas' power more but both are still MLB small sample sizes

Vargas plays first, Pinto is the DH and backup catcher and Joe moves to LF. Joe certainly can play out there as well as Willy or Delmon  did.

I don't want the Twins to make Pinto into a Ryan Doumit, DHing most of the time and only catching a little - you could do better at DH, and you're also inviting the manager to keep a third catcher around.

Pinto either needs to be a #1 catcher or be traded, and the Twins didn't sign Suzuki to a contract extension to be a backup, so I think they're planning on the latter.

Kurt Suzuki in August

.238/.294/.349/.643

The guy is too old to ride him this hard.

I think this makes the most sense, but I think the Twins will be reluctant to do it, but I'm not sure why.

Because it is a defensive downgrade at two positions. Mauer would be a minus at LF and Vargas a minus at 1B. Mauer is a plus at 1B and Vargas is best suited to DH.

Have him catch 60-70 or so games, at least. If they don't think he can catch, they should deal him to someone that does (and regret it).

I agree that is what should happen, but it should have happened this year. So I don't know why it will next year. 

The Twins have pioneered a new strategy this year. If you want a guy to improve defensively, play him at another position (Santana) or not in the field at all (Pinto).  Improved defense through altering the vantage point.

Kurt Suzuki in August

 

.238/.294/.349/.643

 

The guy is too old to ride him this hard.

Suzuki's PEITTH (Pitchers' Enjoyment In Thowing To Him) is 1.000.

Suzuki's PEITTH (Pitchers' Enjoyment In Thowing To Him) is 1.000.

He also leads the AL in RGAI, really gets after it.  The NL leader is Nick Punto.

To the comment about Mauer being plus at 1B. I don't think he is right now, but this is year 1. He could eventually be at least for a few years.

It'd be convenient if Pinto could play the outfield, but I think there's basically no chance of that happening. He doesn't move well enough to play anywhere other than 1B, C or DH.

I agree. I don't think the Twins view him as a viable catcher option.  So I think his future here could be an emergency catcher (3rd catcher) and backup DH.  Please don't snicker, this could be an actual roster spot for us.

I think the Twins need to take a "use it or lose it" approach to Pinto. Even if he's terrible defensively, I would expect many teams to have a substantial interest in acquiring a young, cost-controlled, offensively solid catcher. I'm not really sure where he fits in on the current Twins: definitely not left field, unless we want pitchers to have ERAs north of 6 we should not even consider having Arcia and Pinto play both corners. I'm interested to see if Herrmann has figured something out, at least enough to be a better backup than Fryer. I don't see DH/1B as a good option because the Twins won't move Mauer again (whether they should or not is a different issue, but it's just not going to happen), Vargas can't play anywhere else, and if Sano has issues playing third base after his surgery, that adds a third player to the mix. Pinto has become a talented player with no room for him to play and no desire from his organization to find him playing time, so unless something changes, they might as well flip him.

According to the SABR defensive ratings Mauer is an above average 1B. Vargas has not looked good at 1B and the scouting reports agree.

I'd find a young catcher from outside the organization who is better defensively than Suzuki and who projects to have as good or better offensive output than Suzuki's career numbers. I'd most likely take the trade route to accomplish this. Think Travis D'Arnaud of the Mets. I'd quietly put Pinto on the market this winter and look for an overpay, likely in prospects, but not accept anything less than an overpay. If I failed to trade him, I'd plan on starting the 2015 season with Suzuki and my new guy and put Suzuki out there at the trade deadline in 2015 and again look for a slight overpay. I'm assuming Suzuki has only a minor regression, and that Pinto improves just a little behind the plate, enough so that I can tolerate him as my backup at least for half a season. Longer-term, I've concluded that Pinto is not part of a future contender here.

By this time, the geniuses at TD are calling for my scalp, and the consensus view is that Ryan would be the perfect replacement for me, partly because at least he would not be constantly shooing Jack Goin out of his office.

Do we know Vargas can't play first? Who would be a better overall player in LF than Mauer for the next two years or so (combination hitting and fielding)?

We may not know, but I think the Twins certainly know he can't play an adequate 1B over the course of a season. And they can fairly easily go outside the organization for a better overall solution than Mauer for a corner OF. Hell, maybe they could find a cheap Cuban.