cmathewson

Are you saying Suzuki is a journeyman? That would be weird because he has spent most of his career as the starter for the same organization. If you mean Fryer as a journeyman, I agree. Make Pinto beat him, which should be no problem for the kid.

Yeah. I hear ya. But I don't think people run businesses like that. No matter how much cash you have, you still want to be prudent with your investments. My company's not hurting, but finance watches every dollar and tries to find ways to cut costs all the time. The finance guys have to earn their paychecks too.

I think they might be able to slip Escobar through. He's about the only one. Parmelee is like Restovich of old. If he doesn't make the team, he'd get claimed and passed around the league until he eventually finds a home in AAA. But I think they'll find room for him as a lefty bat off the bench. They likely only have room for two of the pitchers, unless Deduno has a setback in the spring. As it stands now, they can't him on the DL just to stash him. And according to The PiPress, he's healthy. If he's healthy, I can't see anybody beating him out. So it'll be down to Diamond and Worley. Maybe they can work out a trade if both are pitching well. Otherwise, one goes to the pen and the other goes away.

He was in their academy, and they thought they had him. Offered him $1 Mil and assumed he'd give them a discount. Biggest mistake of Terry Ryan's career. (#2? Big Pappy).

Every year, guys who are major league quality regress below the line of being major league quality. I'm not saying Bonifacio is there yet, but the risk is pretty high that he is close because he wasn't far above the line for most of his career, with the exception of one year. It's just not worth investing in marginal upgrades if you are trying to develop players. You get into a cycle of mediocrity in which you never give the kids the opportunities they need to develop. If it's a clear upgrade, fine, but not guys who spend most of their careers as replacement players. One note on this thread: My last point is often used when the Twins do sign an aging veteran stop gap, like Bartlett, as an argument that they should not have signed said player. In this case, the self same posters are dismissing it out of hand as somehow not relevant. It makes me think that their opinion starts with being negative of whatever decision or non-decision the Twins brass make and trying to fill in the argument for their opinion with cherry picked data. I looked at the data and immediately thought he wasn't worth it. In Bartlett's case, he has actually been significantly above replacement level for long stretches of his career. So, if he can get back there, he is a clear upgrade. If not, they lose nothing. In Bonifacio's case, one year does not a career make. For him to get back to his career average is not a clear upgrade for any of the other candidates already in the system. And, it turns out, if he fails, they lose some dollars that might come in handy down the road.

I was speaking of the first time we signed him, after he was DFAd from the Pirates, I believe. Anyway, it was greeted with a collective "meh"' except some thought it a waste of a roster spot. It turned out pretty good. Same with Burton and Fein. Those that have not worked out also didn't cost anything. We don't need his roster spot until the end of Spring. If he fails to impress in the Spring, run him through waivers. If you lose him, no big deal. If he can make it through, free talent.

I remember when we first signed Guerrier. Similar reaction. Same with Burton and Fien. But we forget the grays and remember the Fiens. Still, it's an effective way to build a bullpen cheaply.

Having moved from Minnesota to NY, I can see why it is hard to play here. Not only is the population orders of magnitude greater, but New Yorkers are really focused. On everything. They are news, sports and weather hounds. They follow players everyday. I remember earlier this year, all the buzz was about "what's wrong with Eli?" They thought his career might be over. Every conversation on every train ride I had was about this. They were beside themselves. To me, for a guy to handle that microscope and be universally beloved by New Yorkers over nearly two decades takes doing. Jeter and Rivera are like demigods here, because they were the most consistently excellent players this town has seen since Gehrig. Most Yankees have abbreviated careers. Think of Mantle, who was one of the all-time greats at any position. You just wonder what might have been if lifestyle and injuries hadn't shortened his career. So it goes because of the microscope. Not so for Jeter.

I meant SS, not all players.

Jeter is one of the best ever. Maybe top 5. He was the best hitting shortstop of his era, an era that included Ripken, Garciaparra, and, yes, Rodriguez. If A-Rod had stayed at short and not juiced, it would be a discussion. His defense was overrated. But it is tough to compare him all time defensively because guys like Wagner never had the advanced metrics spotlight that Jeter has lived under. Back then, it was all about scouting eye. Who knows? He certainly was not the best defensive shortstop of his era. Ripken, Visquel, and others were better. Overall, I'd put him just behind Ripken. That's elite company. I for one will cheer when he is announced. Guys who play their whole careers for one organization should be celebrated. HOF guys all the more.

I guess what I meant was, there are a dozen better starting candidates. After that, it's a semantic discussion as to what a "legitimate MLB starting candidate" is. That dozen includes the guys they already signed, of course. As for Capuano, I don't disagree, if your goal is to improve the current roster this year. If your goal is more long term than short term, then, I'm not so sure. I for one want to make sure Gibson and Meyer get MLB opportunities this year. I think both are better than Capuano right now. And I think they have upside, whereas, he does not--regardless of their handedness. BTW, they both are part of that dozen. It's a little like the Bonifacio discussion. Yes, he could help the team maybe win one or two more games this year. But it comes at the expense of guys developing for next year.

Thanks. Looked all over for these, even on BB-ref. Upshot, his splits were still good, but not as good as his mlb splits. Great K rates, though.

I wouldn't call Pinto a back-up as much as a right-handed platoon. Fryer is a backup. I just don't think Suzuki can handle the grind as well as he used to, so it's more of a job share. And Pinto needs to learn how to handle pitchers, which is perhaps best done under the tutelage of Suzuki, Steine and the major league staff. At least that seems like a likely outcome to me.

I'm not at all surprised. If you're a utility guy and you are not a wiz with the glove, you better carry more lumber than he has in his career. Plus, at age 30, he's in decline. Better to give opportunities to guys with upside, even if it means you're marginally worse than you would have been with the veteran. Maybe a minor-league deal?

I don't even understand the question. Why would you boo a future hall of famer? Because he beat your team? Really?

I doubt the Twins view him as a starter. As many have pointed out, there are more than a dozen starter candidates this year, and we're just starting to ramp up the influx of good starters from the system, after a longish drought. Let's assume, they got him to be a reliever. It is entirely possible he will be a good lefty specialist based on his .507 OPS against when facing lefties. We don't have access to his minor league splits, but the Twins do. I'm OK with this if he's seen as Thielbar insurance. Thielbar doesn't throw especially hard, but he dominated lefties in 2013. That's a valuable thing to have. It's nice to have two of them.

We already have the guy who taught Johan to throw the change-up on the major league staff.

It might still be an organizational weakness, but adding five viable lefties (two for the lower levels, three for the upper levels) in less than a year goes a long way to shoring that up. In the lower levels, I would add Gonsalves. I rank him two slots behind Sulbaran in the organization.

Meh

Right. Bartlett's a .702 career OPS player. He's an 18.6 career WAR player. Forimon is about replacement level. If Bartlett is healthy (which he is, according to reports) for the first time in two years, he could easily win the job.

It is ever thus. If there is one thing the previous GM did most wrong, it was trading two major league quality shortstops with not much in return. He acted like SS is just like any other position. We draft and sign shortstops all the time, but most of them move because of the demands of the position. Therein lies the problem. Every team faces this challenge, all the time. If this kid can play short now, sign him. It's that simple.

I think the Twins should take an any and all approach to SS. So, yeah, let's go after him.

Guerrier probably needs more rehab, come to think of it. But I give Bartlett a better than 50% shot. I probably am the only person around here so optimistic, but the Twins sure liked what they saw of him when he worked out for them. If he is anything like the guy he was in TB, he's the best shortstop in the organization. Big if, I know. Perhaps it is wishful thinking. Reading between the lines, I think the Twins expect him to make the team. They have told Florimon that he will have to earn his job back. Ryan has said it is a four-way competition, giving Bartlett and Santana more props than I would have. We'll see.

I'm with ABJ. I don't think 2013 was a lost year. It was a learning experience for sure. And there were some ugly stretches. But man they asked a lot of him! I think their plan was to give him frequent breaks with Mastro, but he got hurt on the last day of spring. So there's Hicks taking his five at bats out of the lead-off hole with no one to back him up against some of the toughest pitching in baseball. Not to make excuses, but this was mostly on the Twins for asking too much of him. To his credit, he also showed some resilience and an ability to make adjustments. It didn't show up in the numbers so much because his hole was so deep to start the year. But if you throw out his first soul crushing slump, he wasn't bad. It'll be interesting to see how they handle him out of spring training. Roster spots might be tough to come by (with Kubel, Bartlett and Guerrier still needing spots), and Hicks and Presley are the only guys who can play center on the 40 man. If the season started today, they would both be on the roster. And if you're going to do that, Hicks needs to be the starter. Most people around here around here assume (me included) that he'll go back to AAA to earn his way up. But they didn't force Dozier to do that last year. Instead, they gave him a new position and threw him back in the fire. For the first two months, that experiment was not looking too good. But they were patient. And they were rewarded for their patience. Let's say they make him the starter and ask him to hit 9th until he can earn his way back to the top of the order. Presley can be the guy Mastro was not able to be last year, giving Hicks breaks from the grind. Seems like a reasonable approach to me.

I doubt he gets over a mil at this point. Anyone could have had him for 2.5. Apparently his services are not in such demand after all. Could it be he is not the second coming of Cesar Tovar?