The Benefits Of Badness

 

Joe Mauer is a great player, but the experience of having him makes me leery of "investing" so much hitting talent in that position. It makes the management of the 25-man roster harder.

 

Getting 130 games behind the plate out of any one player is a challenge, and then you want your stud batter in the lineup for the other games, which likely means DH. That in turn means you can't carry too many "corner" types like we have now, vying for extra at bats at DH (or those corner positions); at DH it also means there's a temptation to carry a third catcher if the manager is paranoid about being caught having to have pitchers bat in case of a mid-game injury. There's also the worry of the stress of playing catcher wearing your elite bat down.

 

These are not insuperable obstacles, and of course you don't want an offensive black hole playing the position. But given a close decision, I would opt for another player, at a high first round pick, than catcher.

Agree, Mauer averaged 90 games behind the plate for his 10 year catching career and it looks like it took a toll on him after he moved. 

 

But Bryce Harper was a catcher before the draft and immediately switched positions.  So if he the best hitter in the draft, hopefully they look at the long term value not just a quick fix.

One additional benny.  Pretty tough to raise ticket prices or any other prices after a year like this.  Now whether you want to pay the current price to go is another subject.  Once could even make the case that they should drop ticket prices if they want to get people in to the park.

I hate to mention Reusse on here, it drives people nuts, but yesterday he said the rumor ar the park is 20% discount if you renew season tickets in August?

Quick question, take out injuries and how many of the Twins youth would be playing regularly on the ML team? Replacing injured players with another player is not constructing a roster, it's plugging holes temporarily.

You fix it some other way. And the attempt to fix it via trade of a center fielder, which thus far has worked out so badly, leaves me underconfident that the talent assessment at the position will be better at the top of the draft.

Good catchers rarely hit free agency. Guys like Perez, Posey, etc. get money thrown at them early. The one's that do are typically older and get huge deals.

 

We have just not made the investment and it shows.

I completely forgot that John Ryan Murphy was a guy. Weird. 

 

Good catchers rarely hit free agency. Guys like Perez, Posey, etc. get money thrown at them early. The one's that do are typically older and get huge deals.

We have just not made the investment and it shows.

 

"Ahem?"

 

I hate to mention Reusse on here, it drives people nuts, but yesterday he said the rumor ar the park is 20% discount if you renew season tickets in August?

While I can appreciate the marketing effort, the economics still don't add up.  You can get tix on stubhub for roughly at 50 percent discount.  Giving a season ticket holder a 20 percent discount may lessen the amount of money that he/she loses, but that's not exactly a selling point.  Want me to buy season tickets?  Offer to buy them back at the halfway point of the season if the team is under .400 winning percentage.

That's usually how young players first get playing time. Eddie Rosario was an injury replacement last year, and since he played well, he stayed. Hopefully we see Buxton and Kepler show that they deserve to stay up the rest of the year this year too.

So why is that usually the way? Because the FO won't stick it's neck out to make a change? Monetary? Incorrect talent assessment? In essence this formula leaves an underachieving healthy team intact indefinitely!

"Ahem?"

That draft pick was 15 years ago. The big contract was handed out six years ago, to a guy that should have moved off catcher a year or two later.

At this point, the Twins should trade away every veteran except Mauer. Ervin Santana, Nolasco, Hughes - gone. Suzuki, Dozier, Nunez, Plouffe - gone. Abad, Boshers, Jepsen, Kintzler - gone. I'd also trade Tonkin.

 

None of these moves needs to return any significant prospects, tho they should be able to get something for a few of them. Doesn't really matter for the immediate future.

 

Mainly this is clearing the way for the next gen Twinkies. First, I'd promote as many decent pitchers as possible from Rochester. Wheeler, Darnell, Chargois, Wimmers, possibly Albers...but not Milone. Trade him, too. 

 

Then I'd promote the new infield, again mostly from Rochester. Polanco, Beresford, and since there are NO SS's listed on the AAA roster (!), grab a shocked and happy Engelb Vielma from AA as your slick-fielding, light hitting SS. 

 

Since I just remembered Escobar is fairly young and a good SS, that's a tougher call. They could trade Esco for some value to a contender, or keep him as captain of the infield. Either way Rochester gets at least one SS bumped up from AA. Ridiculous not to have a starting SS on a AAA roster. 

 

Let's see now...what to do with Murphy? He's still not hitting, so I promote Garver from AA to split time 50-50 with Centeno. Turner to AAA, all below in the minors get bumped up. 

 

Notice I'm leaving Berrios and Meyer in AAA. Throw strikes, kiddies.

 

Hey, this is fun!

Edited June 8, 2016 by jimbo92107

 

That draft pick was 15 years ago. The big contract was handed out six years ago, to a guy that should have moved off catcher a year or two later.

Point is, the Twins haven't failed to make that investment. They invented that investment.

Point is, the Twins haven't failed to make that investment. They invented that investment.

Okay. Let me re-phrase. The Twins have not made an investment in the catcher position in 6 years. That guy was only going to catch another few years. They did not plan for the 2013+ period. I am guessing we have been bottom three in the league at the position and the outlook is about the same for the foreseeable future. So we have at least a 2013-2018 gap where we have punted the position, not had a plan, and not made an investment.

 

Okay. Let me re-phrase. The Twins have not made an investment in the catcher position in 6 years. That guy was only going to catch another few years. They did not plan for the 2013+ period. I am guessing we have been bottom three in the league at the position and the outlook is about the same for the foreseeable future. So we have at least a 2013-2018 gap where we have punted the position, not had a plan, and not made an investment.

Word up. 

Why does everyone keep saying to dump Santana? He's one of the few SP above AA with a shot at being decent. You still need to fill out a rotation this year and next and there aren't 5 solid SP behind him. Without Nolasco/Santana/Hughes you'd have Gibson, Berrios, and Duffey as the only decent starting pitchers for next year. Possibly May on the unlikely chance he jumps back to starting. I don't consider Dean a real prospect and the rest of the names are pure lottery tickets. If the Twins went into the season with no reliable #4 and #5 starter, an no options for fallback or injury replacements, it would be absolute mayhem again. Stewart, Gonsalves, and Jay aren't going to be ready for the start of the season and may not even be ready by midseason. I'm not clearing out the major league roster for them this early.