jokin
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Everything posted by jokin
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More Proof that the Twins Just Don't Care or Aren't Trying Very Hard
jokin replied to jokin's topic in Minnesota Twins Talk
I could repeat the list of the guys that wouldn't get claimed, but that has been done frequently in the past. Butera would be first on the list! Having Martinez available as depth at Rochester would also help them to be in position to trade Doumit, if the right offer came along or readily replace him, if injured. It's clear that the Twins current catching situation is unusual and not sustainable longer-term. As far as prime considerations for a 3rd catcher, try to find a "hitter" from anyone projected as bench players in 2013. -
The Orioles acquired from the catcher-rich Rangers via waiver claim, Catcher, Luis Martinez, back in January and just put him through the waiver process again, which after he cleared, placed him at their AAA affiliate. Martinez is 27 and is said to have a plus arm. He has some 32 games of MLB experience and has hit terrifically at AAA (for a Catcher, albeit in the PCL) the last 2 seasons, with a .757 OPS. This compares to Butera's 2 year AAA OPS of .582. The next 2 catchers on the Twins depth chart, Hermann and Pinto, only have experience at the AA level (less Hermann's Twins September cup of coffee) , with Pinto putting in just 12 games at New Britain in late 2012. Assuming Hermann catches full-time at Roc. and Pinto stays at New Britain, what is holding the Twins back from claiming guys like Martinez to add competition for playing time and depth to areas of weakness at little or no cost?
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66-75 would be my category. With the chance to go as great as 15-2 or 14-3 against the likes of Houston, Miami, NY Mets and Milwaukee, a disastrous plague of injuries or performance down-years can be mitigated to the downside with these 17 gimmee games- providing an expectation floor of 66 Wins and can help inflate the ceiling to 75 Wins if "Plan A" stays fairly well-intact all season.
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Good, cheap short-term fix, assuming the Twins go north with 13 pitchers, wouldn't they have to keep Butera temporarily down at Roc. (like last year) to make room for Campana? Also, this guy likes taking a BB about as much as Revere did, which means practically never.
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Neal: Diamond Unlikely to be Ready for Opening Day
jokin replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Minnesota Twins Talk
Marcum, Lannan, Bedard, Francis, and now Saunders (who I admittedly didn't like, but....).... all cheap one-year deals that the club passed on. And adding further insult to self-inflicted injury, Todd Redmond would have been an awfully cheap insurance policy (could have gotten him cheaper than a Businessman's Group Lunch Special) and would have likely quickly moved towards the head of the class on the Twins alleged depth chart of AAAAs. -
Wa Po: Weird Story About Span Leaving the Twins
jokin replied to John Bonnes's topic in Minnesota Twins Talk
Except that the original poster suggested that he couldn't recall one real, single "bust" that the Twins drafted high. I believe the responding poster pointed out very accurately, that from 2000-07, among 1st-5th round draftees, the Twins have only netted two legit every-day position players in Mauer and Span, with Revere being a 4th OF on a good team. I guess I would ask to make this level of fairness a "comprehensive" comparison; in your ongoing analysis of the other 28 teams, beyond the Rangers and Twins, how many teams have more than 2-3 players drafted in the first 5 rounds who are currently starting position players? If more than half have 4 or more who fit the criteria, than the Twins are at least 33%, or more, worse than the median. Only 3 players produced in 8 years of 40(+comp choices) potential high draft picks "seems" like a low rate, it's apparently as problematic for the Twins (and perhaps, others) as it is projecting and picking the right arms. -
Ben, you obviously have back-story knowledge about both Redmond and Jurrjens, anything to share on why the Twins haven't shown any interest on kicking either set of tires here?
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Have any of our intrepid beat guys around town, on Twitter, or at TD asked the Twins why they didn't put in a no-cost/no-risk claim? Especially as the question marks around the health of the pitching staff are continuing to grow?
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I agree with with the premise of your question and you are correct. My mistaken memory was that the Twins were out if it by then, what with them having a horrid run to the trading deadline and finishing the month of July going into August losing 15 out of 19 games. And it didn't get much better after the trade, from August 1 to September 1 the Twins record was 11-19. So, they traded one of their key catalysts on July 31, Matt Lawton, who led the team in OBP at nearly .400 and OPS+ (at the time) @ 120. A curious "buying mode" trade, as it left 3 rookies to pick up the pieces in RF for the last 50+ games. And let's not forget, Reed didn't actually distinguish himself positively that year.
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I pick Fien as a surprise guy, should Burton falter or suffer injury. He impressed the heck out of me last year, just hope it wasn't a mirage. Robertson should be strictly a LOOGY. If Cuellar gets decent performances out of Hendriks AND Blackburn, he should get more than just a well-deserved bonus. He better get all the credit and the managerial position. Has anyone pointed out how dominant Hendriks and to a lesser extent, Blackburn were after their demotions to Roc.? They both could have jumped off a cliff or gone postal, but they appeared to go about their business in the right way after their career setbacks- Cuellar has to get some of the credit already, just for keeping them viable options.
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A great acquisition, I left it out because we were most definitely buyers, not sellers, in 03.
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I'll be stunned (and pleasantly surprised because that means TR beat enormous odds in Dumpster Dive Roulette) if Pelfrey and Harden are in the rotation for the whole month of April. What scuttlebutt there is out there is that the Twins are "hopeful" that Harden can somehow find some productivity as a reliever and we know about Pelfrey and 11 months out from TJ.
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Not really a wash, although admittedly somewhat unspectacular, I thought the Twins could have done better, usually when you "sell", it's because you want to get a younger prospect with some upside. Rick Reed WAR ( from after trade to retirement) 2001-03 3.1 Matt Lawton oWAR (from after trade) 2001-05 7.0
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Redmond can possibly be picked up on a minor league deal- of the pitchers mentioned, only DeVries and Hernandez are on the 40-man roster and I believe they both have options remaining. Redmond could take one of their spots or possibly join or replace Walters and Deduno in Rochester. Plus the possibility that at least the older 3 mentioned in the OP provide value to the Twins is very debatable.
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Deduno is also 2 years older. From pitch to pitch, no control, the tradeoff for one more K/inning doesn't seem worth the wildness, "effective", or not. BB/9 is 2.5/9 vs. 5/9 for Deduno. K/BB almost half of Redmond's number. The major league experience for none of the 3 has been exactly promising about their future as ML starters. If you look at Redmond's career, it doesn't look like he's ever missed a start, so you do have some predictability of what you're going to get, vastly unlike Deduno. Redmond, also, to some degree has been blocked by better pitching staffs in Atlanta and Cincy.
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This is open to anyone. When was the last time the Twins were deadline sellers and came away with a net positive deal? ie: better than: Kyle Lohse for Zack Ward Mentkiewicz for Justin Jones Matt Lawton for Rick Reed Scott Erickson for Scott Klingenbeck and Kimera Bartee Aguilera for Frankie Rodriguez & JJ Johnson Kevin Tapani and Mark Guthrie for Coomdog In light of these beauties, I'm inclined to think that Escobar and Hernandez for Liriano was pure genius, but I still worry about TR's multitasking abilities.
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By next year, do you mean 2013? If he close to duplicates last year's numbers near the break, his value probably would never be higher as a Twin.
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Which "kids" are you referring to, Deduno (30), DeVries (28), Walters (28)? (Being facetious, but still, if you're looking for pitching depth with a still-questionable ML rotation only slightly upgraded from last year, why should any of these guys still be around?) Promote from below and find better replacements on the cheap, Redmond and Hermsen (and maybe Hernandez?) seem to fill the bill.
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I actually would love to see a Benson revival as well, the OF defense could use the shot in the arm and even Benson putting up a pale comparison of his 2011 AA numbers, say .250BA/.750 OPS would be a nice comeback from his nightmare 2012 season. But this potential outcome for surplus at OF & DH does raise the inevitable questions about who gets moved, and when, between Willingham, Doumit and Morneau.
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What? You're not already blown away by that current veritable embarrasment of bench riches for those late inning situations...? Thome is still available....
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Short of Mauer moving up to the 2-hole, that actually is about the best 8-9-1-2 "turn-over-the-order-and-set-the-plate" batting lineup until, presumably, Hicks fits his shoes into the Leadoff spot at some point during the season, bravo! Since we know they are never going to move Mauer in the 2-hole, I still would like to see if Carroll could continue his success in the 9 spot last year and try an experiment with a top of the order of Hicks-Parmelee when Hicks finally gets the call-up.
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Did they extend Doumit to have him play back-up catcher and pinch hit only? Or do you see them moving Doumit out in ST?
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The Reds released AAA SP, Todd Redmond, yesterday after signing him to a $490,000 contract in November. Redmond is a big-framed guy, 6'3" and 215#s and will be 28 in May and has the dubious distinction of having his name in the dictionary twice, pictured next to the meaning of "Starting Pitcher, AAAA" as well as "Positional Blocking, Major League". His 4 years worth of AAA stats are actually pretty decent, he apparently never misses a start and he throws about 72% FBs averaging 89 MPH and has very good K/9 (7.6) and K/BB (3.00) ratios with a AAA 3.78 ERA along with a WHIP of 1.25. Question??? As these are numbers that vary from much-better to far-superior to what the current "depth guys", Deduno, DeVries, Walters and Hernandez have put up at AAA- and given the fact that he's the same age or younger than everyone except Hernandez- why wouldn't TR pull the trigger on this virtually zero cost option in the Twins favorable waiver postion?
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But only a loss of a 2nd rounder? And an opportunity to regain the lost pick with a qualifying offer the year after, right?
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It's safe to say that both Glunn and I were talking tongue in cheek after midnight. We all "know" that Deduno won't be pitching in the World Series, just sayin' that when optimism still rides high in preseason, that he was just confounding enough in2012 to be eminently qualified to pin down as a one-year lightining in a bottle kind of guy.