Twins Designate Oswaldo Arcia

Where might Arcia fit?

It has to be as a RF or DH.

The team with the least production in RF is the Phillies. They have DFA'd Lough and recently acquired Paredes. That might be a platoon fit but Paredes has shown reverse platoon splits as a right handed batter.

Milwaukee has had limited production from RF with Domingo Santana is on the DL. It probably depends on his outlook. They wouldn't want to take at bats away from Santana to give to Arcia. They might claim Arcia and DFA him when Santana is healthy.

The Yankees production in RF has been poor thanks to Aaron Hicks. That might be a platoon pair if Beltran wasn't in the way.

It was suggested that the Royals and Rays might need a DH. Would the Royals see Arcia as an upgrade over Morales at DH or Orlando in RF? Probably not. The A's have a similar situation with Butler at DH. The Rays use DH by committee and have a young RF.

The Braves production in RF has been poor. Would they cut ties with Markakis?

I think there are two teams that are in the most need of production from DH or RF without having anyone like Markakis, Butler or Morales in the way. The Phillies and the Twins are the teams most in need of Arcia.

 

Ryan better think long and hard about his roster moves coming up, because if Buxton, Park or Kepler get optioned any time the rest of the year, he's going to have a lot of explaining to do.

 

TR will just say "Put this one on me, I should be held accountable." We've heard it before, and we'll hear it again. Yet, if there are no consequences for their actions, then there cannot be accountability right?

I'm not understanding your argument. DFA'ing Danny Santana instead of Arcia would've opened a 40 man spot for Bereford or a random waiver utility guy

I understand the argument as if they DFA and lose Santana.  There is a similar player waiting in AAA if that type of player is needed again at a future date.

Relax boys & girls.  This is the Twins.  ZERO chance of this being a bad move.  In 3 years Robbie Grossman will be batting cleanup and battling Mike Trout, Miguel Sano & Byron Buxton for MVP honors.  With an outfield impediment being removed Sano will FINALLY be able to return to right field where he'll rival Buxton as a defensive player and the two of them will make Twins fans forget that Kirby Puckett & Torii Hunter ever wore the vaunted pinstripes.  Happy days are here again.  It's gonna be HUGE.

Any explanation of why the Twins DFA'd Arcia instead of sending down Park?  That would seem to be at least as logical of a move. 

Because a 30 year old who can't get on base at even a 30% clip is better for our future than a 25 year old who still has room for growth.  or something like that.  Could also be ticket sales, or the ability to spell Mauer at base bcause he's got a 1B mitt (not because he can play it well).

Of course, if Park got sent down (or traded) our hitting jewel (Sano) could play his best position, DH, when he got back while Arcia could fill in until then.

Arcia has a career .303 OBP. Maybe the better move would have been to send Park down, but the Arcia DFA is not as bad of a move as it's being made out to be.

But he's also 5 years younger than Park and if used as a DH versus RHP (as opposed to Park under .720), he carries an OPS near .800.  Most pitchers are righties.

I've never been sold on Park, thought it was a bad move to get him based on how our roster was constructed.  Not one thing has changed my mind.  In fact, this season has re-enforced every reason why I had an issue with his signing all along.

Pretty sure this move is also a strong indication that they plan on running Sano back in RF when he returns. Apparently Plouffe ain't going nowhere and look for a Robbie Grossman extension coming soon, right before he reverts back to the real Robbie Grossman.....

It does seem to be set up that way, which makes me wanna just puke.  This TR-Molly axis has just been horrible.  They both need to go, like yesterday.  But if it's only going to be one or the other, I really hope it's Molly.   By God, tho, Pohlad, get off your behind and make something happen in a positive way, instead of just whining.

I would like to see him come of the bench in SF. They could really use someone like him in that role. 

I hope he goes to a winner, so TR and Molly can enjoy watching him in a good platoon situation, whacking the ball around all the way through October.

If Plouffe had been traded, Sano would have been at third and Arcia would have been given a better look this year. If these had been his numbers with double or triple the playing time, then fine, time to cut bait. Unfortunately, Arcia was not given much of a chance this year to bounce back so I am upset. I love Arcias passion. I love his raw energy and emotion. Our team needs more of that. I love his home run power and what he did as a rookie. He had many flaws and I understand managements frustrations but he was so young and raw. SMH, *sigh*

Two points. 1. Park is still here because if he gets sent down its an admission that this was not a great idea. I never saw the difference between ABW and Park. Huge hitters in inferior leagues with a ton of SO's. 2. If the FO and Molitor don't like demonstrative players they better get out of the Carribean. Baseball is played differently there. That's not bad, it's not good, it's different. And it ain't Twins Way compatible.

I hope he goes to a winner, so TR and Molly can enjoy watching him in a good platoon situation, whacking the ball around all the way through October.

 

There is a fatal flaw in your premise here. From what I can tell, Terry Ryan and Paul Molitor do very litte watching what is going on in the league.

If someone were to tell them about the success of Arcia two months from now, they will probably just shrug their shoulders and conclude they were once again unlucky. I can't help but picture Lloyd and Harry at the tail end of Dumb and Dumber. "We are going to catch our break, we just gotta keep our eyes open"

They should have DFA'd him in spring training considering last years performance. He would have likely gone unclaimed and gotten the reps some feel he still needs while in the minors.  Instead, they chose to keep him around and now the cats out of the bag. Every team in the league will be posturing to acquire the services of this guy who can't play defense and put up a .214 batting average against mostly favorable side pitching.

I'm glad they cut bait on him. The timing is just strange though. They kept him and then never gave him the reps. Very hard to understand this team.

For the record, I do not think he will be in the league for long if claimed. He just is not very good.

I think this is the last time we see Arcia in a Twins uniform and possibly in a MLB uniform.  The reason I say this is because he is not a good outfielder.  He has some pop, but not enough to overshadow his poor defense.  That makes him a bad candidate for a NL team.  So, what AL team is looking for a DH?...I mean other than the Twins.  Think about it.  If the Twins don't want him as a DH, who does?

Admittedly, I haven't watched too many Twins games this season because of various reasons, one being how embarrassingly terrible they've been.  My opinion is if you have a lot of young players that you think are going to be part of your organization going forward, it doesn't make much sense to me in a totally lost season to have them hanging out in AAA not learning how to hit MLB pitching.  What good will it serve the Twins in 2017 and beyond if you send Bux or Kepler or Park to AAA where they won't see MLB pitching and then bringing them back up again and they flail away like they continually have?  The one thing that I've noticed throughout this thread that hasn't been mentioned is why the hell Bruno is still the hitting coach.  I thought he should have been axed after that 0-9 start and it's not like they've been racking up the offense since then.  If long swings are what we're seeing as a flaw in a number of these young players, isn't it up to a competent hitting coach to start correcting that and seeing some positive results?

The only way today's move works is if Arcia clears waivers and he rebuilds himself at Rochester.  But dumping him and getting nothing for him is just another colossal fail.  I wasn't the biggest proponent of trading Plouffe in the offseason until they decided to send Sano to RF.  Why Nolasco wasn't traded (even for unstitched balls and broken bats) in the offseason is beyond me.  I was also very skeptical of the Park signing simply because you can't glean anything from someone tearing up Korea.  He's like the reverse Pedro Cerrano -- can't hit the fastball.  This team needs a complete overhaul and it needs to happen by the ASG.

Well, crap - looks like it's time for a new avatar. 

I will miss Oswaldo - mismanaged asset to be sure. I really hope he doesn't end up on the White Sox or Tigers.

An outfielder with pop? But can't overshadow his defense? You are correct sir. There have never been any of those in MLB. . If Robbie Grossman can get a gig, Arcia will get a couple also.

"some pop"...just not enough pop to overcome the bad defense.  I wish the guy well, but I don't see me missing him.  Grossman at least isn't considered a liability in the outfield whereas I would have to say that Arcia is.  Grossman doesn't have as much pop as teams would like...but we are the Twins.  We have a first baseman who lacks pop.

I don't especially dislike Park. But. Park has had 93 more AB's than Arcia. I could live with Arcia being DFA'd if the Twins had said: " OK Ozzie, you are going to play every day for 3 weeks. Against right and left handlers. If you strikeout 3-4 times a game ( kinda like Buxton and Park), you'll still be in the lineup the next day. Play hard."

Then, if he failed, move on.By moving him, they have essentially have said there is no room on the worse team in baseball for him.

Baltimore or Toronto seem like ideal spots. They have home run hitting lineups with home run hitting philosophies and Arcia can be used to the best of his talents. Say 25-30 home run potential hitting 6th in the lineup.

 

For the record, I do not think he will be in the league for long if claimed. He just is not very good.

In his last real appearance as an everyday player (2014) Arcia (then age 23) put up an OPS of .752 and wRC of 109.

The 29.9 year old Park currently sits at .719 with an abysmal 92 wRC, and has been absolutely wretched since April, culminating in a June OPS of .604.

Sooo.. would it be fair to say that the only reason that Park will be in MLB for long may well turn out to be that the Twins chose to commit $24 million to his 4 year deal?

And for the record, I was fine with the Twins gambling 24 mil on Park figuring out MLB pitching, which he may yet do, but only if the Twins were willing to regard him as a failed experiment and sunk cost when the time came.

We're not there yet, but it will be interesting to see what happens if Park continues to struggle, because now the Twins have already bailed on one younger, cheaper player who has outperformed Park.

How many more will there be?