Seth Stohs

Throughout the offseason, Terry Ryan has continued to say that he is looking for a third baseman to provide competition for Trevor Plouffe. He says that Plouffe will go into spring training as the Twins starting third baseman. However, as the Twins media contingent in Nashville last night met with the Twins GM, it became clear that he will bring in a quality third baseman, and maybe even this week. As Nick wrote yesterday, when Terry Ryan says something over and over, it generally is true. Initial response by Twins fans (myself included) was that, with all of the Twins pitching needs and maybe needs in the middle infield, why would third base be such a focal point. [ATTACH=CONFIG]2798[/ATTACH] Plouffe’s 24 home runs in 2012 was the most by a Twins third baseman since Corey Koskie hit 25 homers in 2004, his final season with the team. It is also hard for Twins fans to forget how Plouffe hit in June and July. In 26 games in June, he hit .327/.391/.735 (1.126) with seven doubles and 11 home runs. In 16 games in July, he hit .302/.343/.476 (.819) with three more homers. It was at that point, in mid-July that Plouffe hurt his thumb, and although initial reports said he would be day-to-day, he missed a month, and when he returned, he hit like he did in April and May. That’s the part that we might forget. In April, Plouffe hit .121/.274/.242 (.517). In May, he hit .185/.254/.400 (.654). In August, he hit .161/.232/.226 (.458). In September, he hit .218/.269/.416 (.684), although he did add four home runs. At the end of the day, er… season, Trevor Plouffe hit .235/.301/.455 (.756) in 119 games. Combined in 2010 and 2011 (103 games), he had hit .226/.286/.382 (.668). Plouffe has been willing to play all over the field. He went to spring training, and started the season, as an outfielder. However, when the Twins DFAd Luke Hughes in April and then optioned Danny Valencia to Rochester in May, Plouffe took over at third base. Initially, he looked quite good at the position. However, in 95 games at the position, he made 14 errors and had a .935 fielding percentage. However, after his return from injury, it appeared that his range, particularly to his right, decreased. If you like UZR, he posted a -6.8 UZR at third base. For all of the struggles, that hot stretch in June and July is encouraging and exciting. Still just 26 years old, Plouffe still has a chance to improve. With so much of Plouffe’s 2012 offensive success coming in about a six week time frame, and struggles with the bat most of the other four months, it’s understandable that Ryan and all of the Twins decision-makers would not be sure what to make of Plouffe’s season or his long-term potential. Ryan has also commented that he isn’t just looking for any third baseman. He wants a third baseman who could be a starter. So, who are the options? Kevin Youklis would seem to be too high-priced to be competition and a backup. Scott Rolen could retire or would stay close to the Reds. Eric Chavez wants t keep playing, but we have to assume he’ll want to play on a contender. Here are some possibilities: Placido Polanco – His numbers have steadily declined the last couple of seasons with the Phillies. He also has not been able to stay on the field consistently. He could play third base while at the same time being a backup option at second base. Brandon Inge – Ron Gardenhire gushed about Inge when the Tigers released him last year during the middle of the season. Solid defensively at third base, he has shown power in the past. When he signed with the A’s, he had some big hits right away, and then was hurt again. Inge could also play some second base and in a pinch, I guess he could go behind the plate. Chone Figgins – He got the big contract from the Mariners three years ago, and has gone from big free agent acquisition, to bust, to utility, to hardly-plays-at all, to the Mariners paying him a lot of money in 2013 NOT to play with them. However, he can play third base, second base and likely some in the outfield. He still has speed. I’m sure he would like an opportunity to get into a nice role and show teams he still has something left. Jack Hannahan – The former Gophers infielder will turn 33 years old in March. Cleveland non-tendered him last week, making him a free agent. He has played 110 and 105 games for the Tribe the past two seasons. Combined, he hit .247/.323/.366 (.688) with 32 doubles, 12 homers and 69 RBI. Certainly not great numbers, but decent for a backup. In 451 games as a big league third baseman in his career, he has a .968 fielding percentage. Last year, that number dropped to .949 (although it was .983 in 2011). In 2011, his UZR was 8.7. In 2012, his UZR was -3.9. Ryan hinted to reporters that the Twins could sign someone for the position this week in Nashville. A case could be made for each of these players, although the assumption (by me) is that Hannahan just makes the most sense. Another local guy who, other than last year, has provided really solid defense at the hot corner. As a left-handed hitter, he could platoon (in theory) with Plouffe if it came to that. He could be an everyday player for a period of time if necessary. And, frankly, he should be available on a minor league deal at around $1 million if he makes the team. A year ago, a 23-year-old Eduardo Escobar was the White Sox opening day utility infielder. He would come in to play third base in late innings. It was more the case later in the season when the Sox acquired Kevin Youklis. They would move Youklis to first base in the late innings and take out Paul Konerko or Adam Dunn (whichever was playing first base). Escobar came to the Twins in the Francisco Liriano deal and can play all three infield positions well. He is very much similar to Twins utility infielders of the past. However, the Twins typically have two backups in the infield, so that may factor in as well. So, what do you think? How much value do you put into Trevor Plouffe’s six-week power binge as it relates to his future? Can he be an .800+ OPS third baseman? Can he make the necessary defensive plays at the hot corner? Do the Twins need to bring in someone as competition who will all but be ensured a big league job? Should third base be getting this much attention when pitching remains a black hole for the Twins?

Can certainly question the level of play in Mexico as opposed to the other leagues, but regardless, he is putting up remarkable and consistent numbers. Striking out a bit much, but dominating. I'm with you on him deserving a chance at a big league bench job, but I also wonder where he'll play in 2013. His only real position is 1B, and the Twins just brought in Jeff Clement to play 1B at Rochester. The two could also alternate at DH, I guess.

Hendriks - Terry Ryan told Twins media that Hendriks had his elbow scoped, so he won't be pitching in the WBC, and which explains why he's not playing for Australia. Dozier and Hicks were only going to Venezuela to get a couple of weeks worth of at bats. They both put in their time and are now back home. I would think that the Twins would want Rosario to begetting some reps at 2B. Not sure why he isn't.

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?1218-Twins-Week-in-the-Winter-Leagues-(Nov-26-Dec-2)

As the Winter Meetings in Nashville’s Opryland are now going full tilt, it’s time to take or weekly look at what is going on in the Winter Leagues. Dozens of Twins players are spending time getting extra at bats or innings pitched. Although there were a couple of players that had poor weeks, there were a few players who had tremendous weeks. At Twins Daily, we will take a look at all of them. Here’s how players from the Twins system did during the week from November 26 through December 2: VENEZUELAN WINTER LEAGUE [ATTACH=CONFIG]2793[/ATTACH] Player of the Week – Oswaldo Arcia, OF Deolis Guerra was the player of the week for Venezuela the last two weeks. This week, he threw 4.2 scoreless innings. However, he was removed from the Twins 40 man roster, and we are going with a hitter this week. Arcia played in four games. He went 8-18 (.444) with his sixth double, first triple, sixth home run and six RBI. Deolis Guerra – 2 Games, 4.2 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs, 1 walks, 8 strikeouts Eduardo Escobar – 5 Games, 5-20 (.250), 2 BB, 3 RBI Darin Mastroianni – 5 Games, 4-15 (.267), 2B, 2 BB, RBI Shairon Martis – 1 Game Started, 4.0 innings, 3 earned runs, 5 hits, 1 walks, 5 strikeouts. Angel Mata – 1 Game, 0.2 innings, 0 runs, 0 hit, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts. Bruce Pugh – 3 Games, 2.1 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout. Dakota Watts – 2 Games, 3.2 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts. MEXICAN WINTER LEAGUE Player of the Week – Chris Colabello, 1B For the four straight week, my choice for player of the week in Mexico is Chris Colabello. On the week, he played in six games. He went 6-14 (.429) with a double and two home runs. Overall in Mexico, he has had 148 at bats in 41 games played. He is hitting .331/.400/.636 (1.036) with 11 doubles, 12 home runs and 30 RBI. Anthony Slama – 4 Games, 4 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts. Gonzalo Sanudo – 2 Games, 1.1 innings, 5 hits, 1 earned runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts. DOMINICAN WINTER LEAGUE Player of the Week – Samuel Deduno, RHP Deduno made his second start of the Winter Leagues. He went five shutout innings. He gave up just one hit, walked two and struckout seven. Now that he’s off the 40 man roster, it will be interesting to see if, at 28, he can find a way to find some control. Jhonathan Arias – 3 Games, 0-4, K Pedro Florimon – 3 Games, 3-12 (.333), 2-2B Wilkin Ramirez – 2 Games , 3-7 (.429), 2B, SB (had not played in almost a month, 3-4 in return game) Miguel Sano – 3 Games, 1-5, BB, 2 RBI. Luis Perdomo – 2 Games, 1.2 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout. PUERTO RICO WINTER LEAGUE Player of the Week – Eddie Rosario, OF Last week, there wasn’t a Twins player playing in Puerto Rico worthy of a player of the week recognition. This week, there are a couple of outfielders who definitely warrant consideration. However, I am giving the slight edge to Rosario over Daniel Ortiz. On the week, Rosario went 10-19 (.526) in five games. He hit three home runs. Angel Morales – 3 Games, 0-8, BB, 7 K Danny Ortiz – 6 Games, 9-22 (.409), 2 BB, 4-2B. Kennys Vargas – 3 Games, 1-2, BB Jorge Fernandez – 3 Games, 1-2, 2 RBI Nelvin Fuentes – 4 Games, 3.1 IP, 5 hits, 3 earned runs, 2 BB, 0 K Josue Montanez – 3 Games, 2.1 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 BB, 3 K. AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE Player of the Week – JD Williams, OF JD Williams had his best weekend in Australia. He played four games and went 5-14 (.357). He also doubled twice and drove in a run. Logan Wade – 4 Games, 1-9 (.111), 1 walk, 1 strikeout Josh Hendricks – 3 Games, 1-7 (.143), 0 walks, 5 strikeouts Jacob Younis – 3 Games, 1-10 (.100), 0 walks, 3 strikeouts Tim Atherton – 1 Game Started, 5.0 innings, 1 walks, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 2 strikeouts Sam Gibbons – 1 Game Started, 6.0 innings, 4 hits, 1 walks, 3 earned runs, 0 strikeouts Tyler Herr – 2 Games, 1.2 innings, 1 hit, 4 walks, 2 earned runs, 0 strikeouts (Named to the World Team for the ABL Team Australia vs The World game.) Feel free to discuss or ask any questions that you like. Also, feel free to pick a player of the week. Here were the nominees: Venezuela – Oswaldo Arcia Mexico – Chris Colabello Dominican – Samuel Deduno Puerto Rico – Eddie Rosario Australia – JD Williams

yeah, the news on Harden and Brandon Webb making comebacks again hit Twitter over the weekend. I'd be fine with a low base, high incentive type of deal... I'd also only sign him as a reliever.

I wonder if he will coach hitters to swing out of their shoes the way he used to. Nothing but a huge swing, even if you miss the ball by a foot. Ha!

If anyone is at home and has MLB Network, be sure to watch Gardy at 2:30 (5 minutes from now), and then let us know what was said/discussed.

So if we had given Willingham something like 18M a year you would have been happier? Sounds like all you want is upgrades to the payroll and not worried about the return. Getting cheaper and better, like the Twins did by signing Willingham, is the ultimate win-win for a team. Absolutely agree. I guess the Twins could have given Willingham or Doumit more than they did. I guess that would make people happier! By definition, any free agent signing is signed for more than market value. Most times, the team that 'wins' pays more than any of the other 29 teams would have paid.

I think Hannahan is all but a given to come to the Twins... And, don't be surprised if that means that Trevor Plouffe is encouraged to bring his right field glove to spring training again.

He had some pretty strong numbers out of the bullpen for Pawtuckett (Red Sox AAA last year). 38 strikeouts in 25 innings... with 23 walks.

Yup, I still struggle with defensive metrics as a whole. I have 0 confidence in this stat. The Butera negative numbers tell me that this stat means pretty much nothing. I don't think anyone would say that Doumit's some great catcher defensively, but having watched most of the games, I didn't see anything that was overly alarming.

Ha!!! B- comment at worst!!

I love reclamation projects, if the price is right... give him $2-3 million base, throw in a couple of incentives... I'd love an option... absolutely!

It's a tough question because there are no A,B,C ratings for prospects other than Sickels, so it's really hard to judge. I've never 'graded' prospects by letter, just be ranking. I was just hoping that you'd ask Aaron for where Meyer ranked among Twins prospects. I 100% agree that the further from the big leagues, the less that stats matter... with Meyer, it's all about the projection.

After you listen to GatG podcast, if you want to listen to Twins thoughts without yelling and whining and arguing, check out this podcast. I'm a little biased since the Pleiss twins invited me to join their podcast for a 1/2 hour segment in which we talked about the Span/Meyer trade, where Meyer fits into my top prospect list, Joe Benson, which Twins affiliate will be most interesting in 2013, and much, much more. Give it a shot, and let us know what you think.

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?1214-12-Questions-With-David-Hurlbut

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2781[/ATTACH] Before the Arizona Fall League began, we had our first 10 Questions With posting with RHP Kyle Gibson. I’m hoping to do much more of these, and I have a few in the works. Today, I’m coming back with a 12 Questions With Q&A with a Twins minor league pitcher. Frankly, 10 questions is not enough to get to know some of these guys. Today’s 12 Questions interview is with LHP David Hurlbut. He was the Twins 28th round pick in 2011 out of Cal State-Fullerton (and their 35th round pick in 2009 out of junior college). In 2012, he pitched in 25 games for the Beloit Snappers as a 22 year old, making 15 starts. Overall, he went 6-6 with a 2.76 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. In 111 innings, he gave up 105 hits, walked just 25 and struckout 85 (6.9 per nine innings). He will most likely begin the 2013 season in Ft. Myers. [ATTACH=CONFIG]2782[/ATTACH]TEN QUESTIONS WITH… David Hurlbut 1.) Growing up in California, who was your favorite team and who were some of your favorite players? David Hurlbut (DH): Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, it has always been fun to go watch the Giants or the A's play, although I tend to go to more A's games because of the prices. Ha Ha. Some of my favorite players growing up from those two teams were Barry Zito, Matt Cain, J.T. Snow, and Eric Byrnes. 2.) Tell us about your high school career (baseball and/or other extra-curriculars). DH: In high school, I played football, soccer, and baseball as a freshman. I made varsity only for baseball, and the freshman team for the other two sports. After that year, I only played baseball because it was the sport I was best at, and I had the most fun with the group of guys I was with. I was a starting pitcher and played first base all 4 years. Some personal accomplishments during high school were some all-league honors, mvp awards, but my favorite was throwing a no hitter my senior season. In that final season, we made it to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years, which was pretty exciting. 3.) What were some of the highlights of your college playing days? DH: I Played at Diablo Valley College after high school for a year under former professional pitcher Mike Neu. That year, our team made it to the state championships, where I started the first game. That is one of my favorite moments in baseball to this day. After that season, I was drafted by the Twins, but I declined to go pitch at California State University of Fullerton. I played there for two years, getting eliminated in playoffs before we had a chance to make it to the College World Series. My favorite moment was going to LSU and playing against the Tigers in a very hostile environment. 4.) The Twins drafted you twice... were there a lot of other scouts talking to you, or were the Twins scouts the blocking you from other teams? DH: The Twins showed a lot of interest in me throughout my college career. They made their fair share of calls to me, but I don't think that they negatively influenced any other teams from contacting me or talking to me. 5.) You signed quickly and went to Elizabethton. How would you describe your adjustment to pro baseball and what did you learn from that first season? DH: Well, if one were to look at my stats, they would say the transition didn't go very well. Ha ha. No matter the stats, I love the feel of professional baseball. I almost felt claustrophobic under the gaze of my coaches at Fullerton, but in Elizabethton it was exactly the opposite. I felt like I learned a lot within the few months I was there, from both the players and the coaches. [ATTACH=CONFIG]2783[/ATTACH]6.) You moved up to the Midwest League and had a tremendous season. You made 15 starts and 10 relief appearances. How is your preparation different for each role, and do you prefer one over the other? DH: I tried to go about relieving and starting in similar fashion. The bottom line is that you are trying to get outs, but there does come a time when you need to switch on the competitive side and get ready for a game. The difference was if it was before a game, or in the 6th inning. Having a routine was a large part in preparing myself for starts, not only physically, but mentally to go out and compete at a high level. When I was a reliever, my physical routine mostly consisted of getting loose in the bullpen properly. 7.) What are your highlights from this 2012 season in Beloit, the team and the full-season? DH: A few moments last year stand out to me. The first was being called up from extended spring training. I was overjoyed to get on a team and start playing. When it came to pitching, throwing a 7 inning 2-hit shutout against the Cedar Rapids Kernals was my favorite start of the year. Also, striking out my old teammate Nick Ramirez was a good feeling, although he did get the better of me and hit a double off of me. And of course, getting to pitch in the playoffs was a great memory. 7.) When do you start preparing for the 2013 season, and what did you learn from your first full season to help you prepare? DH: Once I was home in California, I took about a month-long break to relax and get my mind off of baseball for a little while. Afterwards, I started working out and running. Now, I have started playing catch to shake off the rust so from mid-December on, I can really get my arm ready for spring training. When I came into spring training last year, I felt that I had done a good job of getting ready. One thing I did want to correct was to increase the amount of long toss I do to get my arm a little bit stronger. 8.) Who are some of the people who have helped you get to this point in your career as a baseball player? DH: My parents have been behind me every step of the way. Without them, I wouldn't be who I am. My long time pitching coach, Fred Breining, has been my true mentor when it comes to my baseball career. I have been seeing him since I was eleven years old, and he has shown me everything from the proper arm angle to a good balance point. I wouldn't be playing this game if it weren't for him. 9.) If you weren't playing baseball, what would you be doing (your career of choice)? DH: I honestly have no clue what I would be doing if I weren't playing. My gut tells me I would have ended up in one of the military branches serving our country, but ever since I was a boy all of my ambitions have been towards baseball. It is hard to imagine another route for me. 10.) Favorite baseball movie? DH: My favorite baseball movie would be "The Natural." It has the most epic ending to a baseball movie ever, what's not to love? 11.) Favorite baseball book? DH: My favorite baseball book would be "Heads Up Baseball" by Ken Revizza. It is all about the mental side of baseball, a must read for any serious baseball player looking to improve on their game. Thank you David! We certainly appreciate the time he spent in response. He is a frequent Twins Daily reader. Who knows? Ask him some questions in the comments section… maybe we can get him to respond!!

No clue what John was talking about with the A/B/C prospects... I'll say this, in my opinion: A - Sano, Buxton, Arcia, Meyer B - Hicks, Gibson, Rosario, Berrios That said... Sickels will likely have just 1 A because his grading system involves how far they are, risk, things like that.

Rick, Is this the first of the 70 episodes you've listened to? Ha!

That was awesome!! That was the first time in a long time and the last time since that I have literally jumped out of my chair while watching a game. What a game!