Twins Claim 1B CJ Cron

I will refer to him as Crom! In honor of Conan the barbarian!

Hmmm,

With Cron on the roster and Robbie Grossman sure to be gone.  The Twins really could use some LH or Switch Hitter Depth @ Corner Outfield and 1B.  Probably C too since we all know that Castro is injury Prone.  

Guys...I've got a brilliant idea!

Based on what I assume the Twins will do, I don't think that this is that bad of a decision because it is low risk, relatively low cost, and has some upside in the end game.  

I get that it might be preferable to find a left handed hitter to work in the mix, but not all opportunities fall from the trees.  I think there is enough ABs to work Austin, Sano, and Cron in the lineup.

It is obviously low cost and low risk, and if Cron hits you could potentially move him around the trade deadline for prospects.   

At the same time, and continuing my series, why not just start the season with Brent Rooker instead?   Rooker and Cron are very similar players.  Both right handed power hitters that were first round draft picks out of college (witht he exception being Rooker was a 4th year college player).   

Both players pounded Rookie level ball in their initial professional debut.  And while Cron spent the next year in A+ ball, the Twins (uncharacteristically) advanced Rooker to A+ ball that same season.    

Cron had a slightly higher A+ batting average but Rooker had higher OBP and Slg, with a A+ OPS of .917 vs. Cron's .843.  It is also important to note that because Rooker was a 4th year college player, they both played A+ ball as 22 year olds.

AS 23 year olds both Cron and Rooker played a full season of AA.   Cron, in 2013 hit .274 with a OBP of .319 and SLG of .428 (OPS .746) with 14 home runs in 519 at bats. Rooker hit .254 with a OBP of .333 and SLG of .465 (OPS .798) with 22 home runs in 503 at bats.   

WHile statistically Rooker is slightly better than Cron, he has had a much higher strike out percentage than Cron, with Rooker's minor league strike out percentage being almost double Cron.  But then also, Rooker started slowly in AA last season, had incredibly hot June and July months with OPS over 1.000 before having a terrible end of the season in August and September.   

I will also add that the Angels never really seemed to commit to Cron while he was with them.  They brought him up as a 24 year old and he hit reasonably well with a OPS of .739 and 11 home runs in 253 ABs.   But he started in AAA the following 2015 season, then was called up and hit 16 home runswith a .739 OPS and then started the 2017 season in AAA again before being brought up and having an almost duplicate season.  Cron's 2018 Rays season was his first complete major league season and then they designated him for assignment after a pretty solid season.

From the evidence, Rooker has a lot more power potential and despite more Ks and lower average and significantly higher strikout percentage, a much higher on base average than Cron.  I can perhaps see having Rooker spend some time in AAA to see if he can work on cutting back on his strike outs and that will be a concern for him going to the major league level.  

So, I would personally just start out with Rooker.  But, what I hope is that Rooker plays well in AAA, Cron hits well in Minnesota, and then at the trade deadline we can move Cron for prospects.

Same reason why we fear Scott Boras clients... Irrational feelings. I'm not going to trust people from Tampa coming off career seasons. There's probably a valid reason why they're letting him go for nothing... And why this is his 3rd team in 3 seasons.

IDK, Corey Dickerson had a fine year and they did this with him last year.

Sort of looks like a cost controlled Dozier type.

Hits for power, streaky and is an adequate defender.

Need to replace Dozier's bat somehow and this might be the way to go.

This is a perfectly fine get for nothing. He just had a nice season, he's 28, and it's late November. He hits lefties and righties pretty equally. His arbitration number won't be huge. Our new manager just spent a season in close proximity and maybe likes what he does. Maybe they see him as Tyler Austin with less strikeouts.

If they do nothing else, we should yell and scream and gnash our teeth and rend our garments.

If they made a bet on an incremental improvement over Tyler Austin and make other incremental improvements and/or a big improvement no such yelling, screaming, gnashing, and rending is necessary.

As a power guy, does he also strike out a lot?

Last year he struck out at a 29% clip. Over his career, 24.6%.

So, which two minor leaguers will the Twins get for him in August?

He's a slightly above average defensive 1B. Austin and Cruz are not.

Why are some of us giving Austin a scholarship?

On the other hand, his OBP without his (unsustainable) 17 HBP's last year was about .304. Hard pass.

The Angels traded Cron when they signed Ohtani. Ohtani needed to DH and this forced Pujols to 1B and Cron can’t play anywhere else.

 

The Angels were only able to trade him for a PTBNL because there are a lot of these guys who can’t play anywhere in the field so nobody is willing to give up anything for them. The Angels were overloaded with them and Cron was forced out the door. Then the Rays find Choi and out the door goes Cron because the Rays can’t get anything of value for him in trade and neither Choi or Cron can play anywhere else.

 

Welcome to Minnesota where Tyler Austin is waiting for you.

 

I go back to asking the question. Why couldn’t Austin play some OF in September while Rosario was hurt? It would have taken just a hair of foresight to see the need before us today. I saw it... I mentioned it here when I saw it.

 

Cron is bouncing from team to team for pennies not because he can’t hit. It’s because he plays at the Pizza joint of positions. There is pizza everywhere from the store bought frozen stuff to the fancy stuff. Nobody finishes the whole box so getting a free slice is easy and it’s hard to survive in the Pizza business because there is pizza everywhere.

 

We’ve gone from 23M pizza to 5M pizza. What we need is Pizza and Wings to survive. Give Austin an OF glove please.

I’m hungry.

Mauer had an OPS+ of 99 while Cron had 123. He'll make less than 25% of the money, so what's the problem? If he doesn't work out it's only a very small amout of money invested.

 

 

 and rend our garments.

 

 

God, let's hope that's not necessary...........

They didn’t get him for nothing. A roster spot isn’t nothing, especially when they’ve finally got some money to burn.