jokin

There actually was a bigger dilemma than who plays in CF- and that's the overall OF defense. By all accounts, (as expected), Arcia has struggled in his transition to LF, and Torii is soon 40. Shane Robinson isn't much of a major league hitter, but there's no question that he is a major league outfielder. Hicks is still a work in progress and didn't rise to the opportunity right in front of him this spring- for now, he should still be playing every day in AAA, if at the very worst, only to preserve whatever perceived value he still retains.

Tony Phillips was a very versatile, near-great player who completely confounded the typical MLB player aging curve.... who like fine wine, grew (much) better with age. He ended up being one of the best players, not just utility players, in the early and mid 90s for Detroit, California and the White Sox. Thus, the comp to Escobar is high praise, indeed, and like Phillips, at least for now, he's a man in search of a position, Oh Wait- check that, many positions. Consider: Tony Phillips- 5'10 175# Eduardo Escobar- 5'10 175# Both started their careers at SS and when they hit the majors at a young age began playing multiple positions. Stat Line through Age 25 Phillips- GP 342 PA 1081 BB% 9.4 K% 16.8 Slash .253/.326/.336/(.662) ISO .083 wRC+ 91 fWAR 2.9 bWAR 3.8 Escobar- GP 258 PA 797 BB% 5.8 K% 19.9 Slash .255/.300/.365/(.665) ISO .110 wRC+ 85 fWAR 2.0 bWAR 1.6 FYI, despite nearly 400 fewer PAs, Escobar has 58 XBH and 9 HR vs. Phillips who had 54 XBH and 8 HR. It gets more encouraging, as Escobar gets his first regular playing time in 2014...here's a comp from their age 25 year: Phillips- GP 154 PA 505 BB% 8.3 K% 17 Slash .266/.325/.359/(.685) ISO .093 wRC+ 96 fWAR 1.7 bWAR 1.9 Escobar- GP 133 PA 465 BB% 5.2 K% 20 Slash .275/.315/.406/(.721) ISO .132 wRC+ 102 fWAR 2.5 bWAR 1.1 Phillips was a gradually improving, better-than-decent utility guy in his 20s, but his career catapulted forward when he was traded by the A's to Detroit at the age of 31 after 8 seasons in Oakland. Playing 5 years for the Tigers, he led the Tiger position players in fWAR with 23.3 (better than Whitaker,Trammel and Fielder), playing lots of 2nd, 3rd and LF, but 6 field positions plus DH, in all. I wonder how many "super"-utility players have put up numbers like that over a 5-year period (Zobrist from 09-13 basically matches Phillips)? What happened from his time with the A's? It appears that he learned from Ricky Henderson how to take a pitch and from the Bash Brothers on how to elevate his swing and finally put it all together. Talk about a "utility" player consistently overperforming at an advanced age... In those 5 Tiger years, from ages 31-35 Phillips saw these combined stats- - GP 722 PS 3320 BB% 15.6 K% 14.5 Slash .281/.395/.405/( .800) ISO .124 wRC+ 124 fWAR 23.3 bWAR 25.2 To be the Twins best player in the first half of the 2020s is not a likely scenario for Eddie, in point of fact, it would be crazy to suggest that Escobar is destined to a Phillips' type of career after he hits age 30, but the increases in mini-Toy Cannon-like power and OBP from Escobar, as he is finally getting regular playing time is encouraging. Perhaps he can short-circuit the 8 year matriculation that Phillips had in his 20s and over The Next Five Years average, say .750 OPS/115 wRC+ with some natural maturation plus incremental, achievable adjustment upgrades in his approach at the plate. Clearly, to take it to the next level for Eddie, he's going to need to enroll in Plate Discipline 101 class with whomever the Twins version of Ricky Henderson is and get that BB% up to more respectable levels. Of course, that's after he takes supplemental courses on LF and RF defense- in order to meet his "5 Position Starter Certification" badge. In looking at the contact-rate information for 2014, it's apparent that Esco needs to both sit down, and hit the batting cage, with Kurt Suzuki--> He's got to think this out, as well as work this out. Eddie was actually 2nd (89.3%) to Suzuki (93.7%) on the team of regulars in Contact% within the Zone. Unfortunately, he and Santana were way, way down at the bottom of the Twins lineup in swinging at pitches out of the zone (40.3%). Whereas, Suzuki was second to Mauer in this category, only swinging at pitches out of the zone at 25.3%. Interestingly, in addition to Suzuki's good pitch discrimination, he also had by far the best Out of Zone Contact rate, @ 81.3%, Esco was middle of the pack @ 70.4%. Work on your plate discipline with Suzuki, he's your guy Eddie, not Santana Vargas and Arcia.

I'm guessing you're trying to indict me for something that I never said, but you conveniently omitted the entire context of my post, which put the stats into proper perspective. I'm not a fan at all of ST stats, but Molitor's defense of the "Milone Minimalization" decision was simply ludicrous, and both conveniently and plenty refutable in three little stat lines.

..... And after that... then there's "Twins Fan" patience.

You do realize, right, that you are talking in different tenses (present vs. future) in your response to Winston? It's practically a different language.

Well, he's currently listed on the Red Wings roster, but he hasn't really mastered AA pitching yet. And Chattanooga is still short an OF, depending on if/when Walker and Harrison are moved up. And they may want him to take significant CF reps, which won't as likely happen with Buxton in AA. So, it seems a slight edge towards him heading to Rochester to start out.

If it's "minimization" as the quality we're looking for, I've got other guys who demonstrated that "battling" skill more markedly, including one with the best "minimizing"-related skill: Milone 14 IP H/9 9.6 WHIP 1.357 ERA 4.50 K/9 5.1 Earned Runs 7 Pelfrey 13.2 IP H/9 9.9 WHIP 1.244 ERA 1.32 K/9 4.6 Ernd. Runs 2 Meyer 5.2 IP H/9 6.4 WHIP 1.946 ERA 1.59 K/9 9.5 Earned Runs 1 Now, can the "staff" seriously say they were more impressed by "damage minimization" by Milone than the other two?

First Nickname Overvaluation Alert:

Based on Molitor acknowledging that Hunter is going to need time off, perhaps the Twins should be/are seeking a 5th OF with a little pop? It would sure be nice to have all three OF positions potentially covered by stronger defenders at times (and actual OFers, not fish-out-of-water shortstops), particularly in late-inning situations, and with Escobar now the utility guy, Nunez being on the team is superfluous (and he very well might pass through waivers if timed right).

And Danny Santana, too.

You asked for it.... (not sure if this is the oldest ever opening day roster, but here goes...) The St Louis Browns, the ultimate in Clown-Show MLB futility, had 7 straight 90+ loss seasons (and added 8th & 9th straight as the Orioles in 1954-55). Similar to the Twins, going into their 5th straight season of futility, 1951, I would bet that the 1951 Browns squad had to be one of the oldest, if not The Oldest team coming off of four 90 loss seasons. The squad that year suited up 14 players, aged 30 or older, at some time during that season. In all, they had 22 players, 29 or older who played for them that year, including 45 year old Satchel Paige. Of course, 3'7"/65 # Eddie Gaedel was a spry 26 year old pinch hitter for them, so there's that.

No disagreements here. It's really sad that the only bullpen arm "fit" we can now get behind is the Rule 5 guy. I was just arguing from the point of view that of the Twins' "arms on-hand", they let go to the Mets the one guy in AAA who had a decent shot in fulfilling a specific and still-needed role in the pen, no matter what his velocity is- and it was a decent chance (and no doubt surmised by the Mets- who already have a good pen) that going to the pen could increase Gilmartin's velocity to the low-90s.

I'm not sure anyone has complained here, the key phrase used was, "As of right now", the trades look very sad. And that is simply a fact... 1) Still no CF... nothing from Hicks in 3 failed attempts and two new journeyman now manning the black hole that is the position for the Twins, 2) Still no SP mainstay studs... the clock is ticking, perhaps "5 months from now" the trades will make us all happy (and more than happy to move on from the wretched aftermath of the trades).

Yesterday's awful performance sealed his fate. He'll live to pitch another day.... it won't be long before someone in the rotation has something go wrong.

Uhh, except for the fact..... the Twins decided to make more room and stick with guys with an inferior track record and pedigree (Gilmartin was a former Braves 1st Rd pick)... ex-NL guy Aaron Thompson with inferior splits, and ex-Indy Leaguer T-Bar- who for all intents and purposes, looks like he's finally turned into a pumpkin? Who's the flame-thorwing LHP you propose the Twins should acquire/promote?

Actually, it's looking more and more possible that Gilmartin makes the Mets squad in a relief role, at least to start the season, anyway. I honestly don't get the Twins thinking on protecting some of these other pitching "prospects" on the 40-man, in favor of a LHP who actually has some decent stuff, and if healthy, a reasonable chance to get guys out. Seriously, as you suggest, they could expose any number of these guys like Oliveros, and it's not likely anyone is going to bite, and yet the Mets, no dummies, with already one of the better Pens in baseball, were more than happy to take a chance on drafting Gilmartin as a Rule 5. The Mets were especially proactive, apparently in the knowledge that, since Gilmartin continued on his dominating career minor league lefty splits record, with more outstanding splits against LHB in 2014- (combined AA and AAA.... and note his BB/9, I thought the Twins loved pitchers who don't give up walks!)- 2014 vs. LHB- K/9 9.96 BB/9 0.81 FIP 1.26 SIERA 1.83 WHIP 0.77 OPS .454 Decent LHPs are in very short supply. Did anyone check if Ryan O'Rourke still has a pulse? A real head scratcher on why the Twins tend to think so little of the Strikeout.... perhaps they were, and still are confident that Gilmartin bounces back to Minnesota. With basically NO apparent viable options for the third LH in the bullpen, it seems like a pretty needless gamble.

And the Dodgers have a history of "sweetening the pot" for Terry Ryan when he holds out on prized players like Drew Butera and Kevin Correia....

To me, it looks like a Boras-encouraged, if not Boras-planted story, presumably to gin up "last week of Spring Training angst"- the timing with Oliveros clearing waivers within a couple hours of this announcement is rather convenient. It makes me wonder if this story has surfaced other times that some team has cleared a roster space. I would be stunned were the Twins to break all precedent and go this route. Soriano made $11M last year, the Nats declined a $14M option for this year. I would think that Boras is looking for a multi-year deal, probably starting negotiation at what?... At least 2/$16? (Which probably goes a long way in explaining why Soriano is still unsigned).

I see success with the Pirates in his near-future.

Any chance the #5 SP sweepstakes could be re-opened? J R Graham has earned a look-see, and let's recall Berrios and Meyer for another go at it.

Out of 8 hits given up by May, 7 were XBH, including 2 HRs. Only 2 Ks to go along with one BB. Not exactly seizing the opportunity.

Looks like Mike Pelfrey now has the chance tomorrow to be The Last Man Standing.

Prepare to be surprised, Hunter will be starting in RF, that's a given.

Yup.

Except they haven't been consistently in that range in 2012, 2013, 2014.