stringer bell

I have thought since last fall that what is best for Hicks' development is at least six weeks in Rochester to reacquire his swing and gain confidence. I thought Presley would be a good stopgap and then become the fourth outfielder when Hicks was recalled, but he lost a job that he had with a really poor showing in the spring. Hicks is just about where he was last year--a couple more hits and a few more walks--but still well below the Mendoza line and looking overmatched at the plate. Being optioned to Rochester still might be the best move, no matter that Sam Fuld shouldn't be a starting center fielder.

The season is now 18 games old and some trends can be determined. The Twins are hitting .231 vs. left handers with an OPS of .670, while they have hit .261 vs. right handers and put up an OPS of .773. Looking at splits when the season is only 11% complete means that the sample sizes are really small, so there will be outliers. However, I think the numbers tell us something. Some items of note: Three right handed hitting regulars (Dozier, Plouffe, and Pinto) have reverse splits. All are hitting markedly better against right handed pitching than against left handers. Colabello also has a slightly higher OPS vs. RH pitching, but he's hit well against everybody. Going into this season, Dozier and Plouffe were thought to be lefty mashers, but so far they've reversed that trend. Pinto is only 3-20 vs. LH pitching, but two of his hits have been homers. The Twins two left handed regulars (Kubel and Mauer) have been better against right handers. All of the Twins switch hitters haven't hit much. Hicks, in full-time play, has a dreadful .139 BA and .395 OPS with a still-substandard .208 BA and .636 OPS vs. southpaws. Escobar is 4 for 11 vs. right handers (.727 OPS), but 1 for 7 (.393 OPS) against lefties. Florimon has been terrible across the board, but particularly against RH pitching (.115 BA, .409 OPS). The most substantial splits are Dozier (.942 OPS vs. RH, .454 OPS vs. LH), Kubel (1.006 vs. RH, .714 vs LH), Suzuki (.959 vs. LH, .707 vs. RH), Hicks (.636 vs. LH, .395 vs. RH), Pinto (1.057 vs. RH, .820 vs. LH) and Mauer (.755 vs. RH, .575 vs. LH). What conclusions can we draw from this? First of all, it is early and one good game can change bad numbers into acceptable numbers. For now, it looks like Suzuki should be playing against left handed pitching and that Pinto has no problem with right handers. If the numbers continued, that would set up a platoon of Suzuki vs. left handed starters and Pinto vs. the righties. The numbers say that Kubel should be platooned if a decent RH bat is available and that Colabello has mashed against everybody and deserves to be playing every day, at least until he cools off.

Of the so-called five tools, the "hit tool" seems to me to be the hardest to project. Sometimes it is curve balls, sometimes it is high fastballs, sometimes it inability to adjust to a certain location, but some guys just never develop that tool, including very good athletes. Torii Hunter and Carlos Gomez are two other Twin center fielders who couldn't really hit until much later in their careers. Maybe Hicks will develop like one of those guys or maybe he'll hit like Rich Becker.

The thing about Plouffe's very good 18-game stretch to start the season is that it hasn't been fattened by home runs, he has only one. Yet his OPS is over .900 and he hasn't had the two guys projected to be the biggest boppers in the lineup for most of the time. Plouffe has the third best average among AL third basemen and the best OPS through 1/9th of the season. Everybody keeps talking about a super utility role in the future for Plouffe. How about a regular corner outfield spot? An OPS over .800 with less-than-horrible defense should garner regular status somewhere on a Twins team with still too many holes.

The Twins have one extra reliever right now. Alex Presley is a backup outfielder for the Astros. Ryan Pressly is the reliever who spent all of last year with the Twins.

During Spring Training, I had several opinions on players--some were right on, some were debatable, and some were totally wrong. I was wrong about Chris Colabello--I never thought he could amount to more than a spare part on any big league team. I was right, I think, that he should not be considered an outfielder. I was right about Kyle Gibson and Trevor Plouffe (so far) and wrong as far as Josmil Pinto being used as a DH. The opinion I probably spent the most time discussing was that Aaron Hicks should have started 2013 in the minor leagues. I was willing to see the Twins start with Alex Presley and have him replaced by Hicks if Aaron played well enough in Rochester. Day games during the week have prevented me from seeing much Twins action. However, I check out every game and every box score. So far, Hicks is hitting .167 with a .492 OPS, he has walked 11 times, but struck out 18. From what I have seen, he isn't hitting in particularly bad luck and he hasn't looked particularly potent from either side of the plate. Much conversation has centered on the lack of hitting from the Twins starting shortstop. I think we fans and the front office should be equally concerned about the present center fielder. Tuesday will be Hicks' 100th game as a Twin. Is anyone getting the vibe that Hicks will never be a decent hitter? I've said for a while that the best situation for the Twins is to have Hicks display competence as a major league hitter and center fielder and then trade him as soon as Buxton is ready. I maintain that Hicks will not hit enough to be a corner guy and one way or another he end up on another team as a center fielder (ceiling) or be Joe Benson (high draft choice, great tools, couldn't hit) and struggle to find another big league gig (floor). The Twins' offense has been surprisingly potent so far this year. So far, Hicks and Florimon haven't really joined the party. I'm at least now entertaining the notion that neither guy ever will.

Pretty much agree with Brock, above. However, for whatever reason, it may be time for Mauer to adjust a bit. He is notorious for taking the first pitch, he refuses to expand his zone, no matter what the game situation, and he doesn't often pull the ball with authority. Some tweaks may be in order to improve an already outstanding hitter.

I concur, but also would point out that Fuld being a left handed hitter is also a better fit as an alternate center fielder.

I think it is near a lock that Arcia will go on a rehab assignment and at the conclusion of the rehab, then the Twins might decide to option him. A lot can happen during the rehab time, so it is very possible that something will happen so that he comes back before they use that last option.

As noted above, Mastro has been DFAed before, so he will have the option to be a free agent. I think his opportunity here is better than almost anywhere else, so he probably will accept the outright assignment. Getting Fuld to play center in a platoon is probably a good move, although Hicks should play more than just a right handed half of a platoon.

Good job by Correia.

A lost ball in the sun has always gone as a hit.

Oops! Kubel with a terrible display.

Probably more bases-loaded walks this year than all of last year.

Good take Hicksie!

Bottom of the order is still a major concern.

Or not.

Glad to see Pinto catching, but Suzuki DHing is a sad sight.

I forgot about the 40-man roster spot. Claim Fuld?

The cleanup hitter for the next decade currently has his right arm in a cast from shoulder to wrist.

The compromise position would be to send Arcia to Rochester on rehab assignment and wait to see if Hammer or one of Suzuki, Pinto, Colabello, Kubel cools considerably. I don't want to see Arcia on the bench when he can play. If one of the catchers slumps, the other gets more playing time, but I doubt that either will DH much if Willingham returns. I don't trust Colabello in the outfield at all and would rather he was the DH until he slumps. Assuming Arcia stays without a rehab assignment, we have four guys (Colabello, Willingham, Kubel, and Arcia) getting at-bats at the two corners plus DH, with no catcher DHing.

I was hoping they would score another run with a sacrifice fly and then the third out would come from a guy trying to advance, so that they could go one full trip through the lineup without an official at-bat.

OK. Another series is in the books and the early trends are continuing. The Twins lead the AL in runs per game, OBP and walks. They still have disappointing pitching numbers despite four solid starts in the last six games and they continue to take advantage of other teams' generosity, be it free passes or extra outs. I'll confess that after the Twins lost two of three in Chicago to open the season, I didn't think they would see .500 any time this year. The coming road trip should be a good test. If the team comes back within sight of .500, I'll be satisfied and surprised.

I like what the Twins are doing offensively and there is zero reason to change what is definitely working. I'd love to see Mauer hitting third, but the Twins don't have the guys who should be hitting #1 and #2. Dozier has done a fine job getting on and working counts (also mixing in an occasional long ball), so I suppose he should continue as the leadoff guy. As long as Plouffe, Colabello, Kubel and Pinto continue to hit so well, it only makes sense to keep Mauer at #2. The bottom of the order has Hicks below the Mendoza line and Florimon barely above the half-Mendoza line. That needs to change but there have been hopeful signs from both guys. Mixing in two more hitters (Hammer and Waldo), could take some managin', but it is nice to have such problems.

I thought the strike zones for both games were inconsistent and tight. Especially in the first game, neither pitcher seemed to get the black on either side of the plate. I thought Guccione (the first game ump) opened up his zone but remained inconsistent throughout the game. The ump in the second game seemed to give a bit more on the corners, but not much high or low. I heard a snippet of Reusse on Monday talking about umps and saying that, particularly for new umpires, Quest-Tec was influencing them and keeping the zones very small. Are there any "pitchers' umpires" left? Are four hour games with 350 pitches going to be the norm? Are these good trends?