Jim Crikket

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?1240-Hey-Twins-Fans-Meet-Vanimal!

Now that we’ve had a day to absorb the news of the Twins trading Ben Revere to Philadelphia, it’s time for us to get to know our newest member of the Twins MLB family, Vance Worley… aka “Vanimal.” http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/vance_the_vanimal_worley_by_timokreations-d478foc1-295x300.jpg (Image: timokreations) In an effort to do a little advance scouting on behalf of the Twins fanbase, I did a little Vanimal hunting on the internet. I have to say, so far I’ve liked what I’ve found. (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com) All of the initial reports provided the basics. He had a great rookie year in 2011 as a 23-year-old, during which he finished 3rd in National League Rookie of the Year balloting, but his sophomore year in 2012 was a bit bumpy and ended with some “clean up” surgery on his pitching elbow in September. He’s back to throwing now and is expected to be ready to roll in time for Spring Training. You can read all about Worley’s pitching record any number of places (though you might want to start with Parker Hageman’s excellent break down of Worley by clicking here). We’ll strive to bring you more here at Knuckleballs. The Asian-American pitcher (his mother is Chinese) apparently had the “Vanimal” moniker bestowed upon him by a weightlifting coach in the weight room during his freshman year at Long Beach State University (or Cal State Long Beach, if you prefer). I guess Worley must have hit the weights pretty hard, because the nickname has stuck. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Worley2-300x225.jpg (Photo: Len Redkoles/Getty Images) Here’s something else you should know… Vanimal has a reputation for having some swagger. We’ll definitely know when Worley is on the mound. The distinctive Oakley goggles are one clue and he’s got a bit of a strut coming off the mound after a strikeout. And then, of course, there’s the mohawk haircut (though word has it he may be tiring of that trademark hairstyle and might just let his hair grow long… so we have that to look forward to). He also talks to himself on the mound… and parents of small children might want to be prepared to answer some awkward, “what did he say, daddy?” questions from the young fans in the family. It’s not personal, just all about self-motivation, but lipreading could be entertaining this season. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Worley-300x192.png Vance Worely Like most professional athletes, Worley values his privacy away from the workplace. Don’t hassle him if you see him at a movie theater and if you happen to discover where he gets his haircut, don’t Tweet it to everyone in cyberspace. That kinda thing ticks him off. But on the job, he has a reputation for being friendly and accessible to fans and media (and even to the occasional blogger). While he wasn’t a fan of any particular MLB team while growing up in Northern California, he has grown in to a hobby of sorts that he shares with many fans… he collects autographed baseballs from many of his peers in the game. I’m looking forward to getting to know Worley better next season. He’s got personality and, frankly, that’s something I’ve thought the Twins clubhouse could use a bit more of lately. I’m not sure how the largely staid local fanbase will react to the Vanimal persona, but I suspect a lot of that will be determined by how well he gets… what do they call them?… oh yeah… outs. If you’d like to read more about our newest Twins pitcher, I suggest clicking here. He granted weekly access to Ed Condran, a columnist/blogger for www.metro.us, an online news publication. Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer also wrote a couple of interesting background pieces on Worley during his rookie campaign in 2011, which can be found here and here. - JC

Now that we’ve had a day to absorb the news of the Twins trading Ben Revere to Philadelphia, it’s time for us to get to know our newest member of the Twins MLB family, Vance Worley… aka “Vanimal.” http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/vance_the_vanimal_worley_by_timokreations-d478foc1-295x300.jpg (Image: timokreations) In an effort to do a little advance scouting on behalf of the Twins fanbase, I did a little Vanimal hunting on the internet. I have to say, so far I’ve liked what I’ve found. (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com) All of the initial reports provided the basics. He had a great rookie year in 2011 as a 23-year-old, during which he finished 3rd in National League Rookie of the Year balloting, but his sophomore year in 2012 was a bit bumpy and ended with some “clean up” surgery on his pitching elbow in September. He’s back to throwing now and is expected to be ready to roll in time for Spring Training. You can read all about Worley’s pitching record any number of places (though you might want to start with Parker Hageman’s excellent break down of Worley by clicking here). We’ll strive to bring you more here at Knuckleballs. The Asian-American pitcher (his mother is Chinese) apparently had the “Vanimal” moniker bestowed upon him by a weightlifting coach in the weight room during his freshman year at Long Beach State University (or Cal State Long Beach, if you prefer). I guess Worley must have hit the weights pretty hard, because the nickname has stuck. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Worley2-300x225.jpg (Photo: Len Redkoles/Getty Images) Here’s something else you should know… Vanimal has a reputation for having some swagger. We’ll definitely know when Worley is on the mound. The distinctive Oakley goggles are one clue and he’s got a bit of a strut coming off the mound after a strikeout. And then, of course, there’s the mohawk haircut (though word has it he may be tiring of that trademark hairstyle and might just let his hair grow long… so we have that to look forward to). He also talks to himself on the mound… and parents of small children might want to be prepared to answer some awkward, “what did he say, daddy?” questions from the young fans in the family. It’s not personal, just all about self-motivation, but lipreading could be entertaining this season. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Worley-300x192.png Vance Worely Like most professional athletes, Worley values his privacy away from the workplace. Don’t hassle him if you see him at a movie theater and if you happen to discover where he gets his haircut, don’t Tweet it to everyone in cyberspace. That kinda thing ticks him off. But on the job, he has a reputation for being friendly and accessible to fans and media (and even to the occasional blogger). While he wasn’t a fan of any particular MLB team while growing up in Northern California, he has grown in to a hobby of sorts that he shares with many fans… he collects autographed baseballs from many of his peers in the game. I’m looking forward to getting to know Worley better next season. He’s got personality and, frankly, that’s something I’ve thought the Twins clubhouse could use a bit more of lately. I’m not sure how the largely staid local fanbase will react to the Vanimal persona, but I suspect a lot of that will be determined by how well he gets… what do they call them?… oh yeah… outs. If you’d like to read more about our newest Twins pitcher, I suggest clicking here. He granted weekly access to Ed Condran, a columnist/blogger for www.metro.us, an online news publication. Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer also wrote a couple of interesting background pieces on Worley during his rookie campaign in 2011, which can be found here and here. - JC

Actually, I'd say that any fan who would drop season tickets because the Twins traded Revere really hadn't been paying enough attention to this point. There have been, and remain, a fair sized list of really legitimate reasons to drop your season tickets for 2013, but this trade shouldn't be anywhere on that list.

I'd probably take issue with these two points to some degree. First, the Twins and Phillies are in vastly different places. The Phils were a .500 team who believe they should be much better than that. Just because they see Worley as expendable doesn't mean he can't be a considerable help to the Twins, who lost a bazillion games the past 2 seasons and would probably be pretty satisfied getting back to .500. I don't think it's at all silly for the Twins and their fans to think a healthy Worley could help raise them to that level of competitiveness. Nobody is saying he's ALL the Twins need to be competitive, but he can and should "help". I also think the Twins should be at the point where worrying about when they start a player's service time clock just isn't a big factor. I'm not sure Hicks will be ready to play Big League baseball. If he's not, he should go to Rochester. But if an honest evaluation determines that he either IS ready or will benefit more by playing every day in Minn than in Rochester, that's what he should do... regardless of what it means for his service time. By 2018 or 2019 or whenever he becomes eligible for free agency, Buxton or Kepler or someone else will probably be ready to replace him (or already have done so). If not and if the Twins feel he's worth keeping along the way, they should have signed him to a nice extension. This should no longer be a team scrimping nickels by playing games with service time.

After glancing through a few Phillies fan-sites, I'm struck by the reactions, as compared with most of those here. Phillies fans are seeing the addition of a young, team-controlled CF with a lot of upside. Twins fans like Revere, but I think it's safe to say most of us doubt how much upside he has. Twins fans are pumped about getting a top 100 pitching prospect in May. Phillies fans seem to consider May a "former top prospect" who lost that standing with a bad season in 2012. Twins fans see Worley as immediately becoming the current #1 SP in the Twins rotation. Phillies fans frown a bit about losing a "solid" starting pitcher, but feel that's the price you pay and aren't too concerned because there appear to be a number of "back of the rotation" arms available on the FA market. Just goes to show how perspectives affect things. The Twins have enough OF depth in the system that the idea of giving up pitching to get an OF is totally foreign. The Phillies have a rotation with multiple CY winners and consider losing Worely an inconvenient necessity, at worst.

As others have said, I'm also REALLY going to miss Revere's smile and just the approach he brought to playing the game. So many MLB players clearly have lost the pure joy they got from playing baseball by the time they make the Big Leagues. I never had that feeling with Revere and it was a breath of fresh air to see. I wish him nothing but success throughout the rest of his career and hope he never changes that approach. I'm hoping even Phillie fans will appreciate it. That said, when it became apparent to Terry Ryan that Revere might possibly bring both a top 100 prospect AND a current MLB pitcher that slots in above Scott Diamond, he would have been a total fool not to make that kind of deal. Props to Terry Ryan and his crew for pulling this off.

I guess the question I would pose is whether we really think Ryan can get away with trading Revere for another pitcher that will not contribute in 2013. After doing that with Span, I pretty much assume that further trades of MLB level talent will have to bring some kind of immediate contributor (preferably that will contribute for several years). We can talk all we want about what's best for the long term good of the organization, but there's a PR reality that has to be considered. Gutting the team for 2013 or even appearing to do so will absolutely kill attendance. That means less revenue. That means less money to spend in 2014. That means you're going to rely almost 100% on your home grown talent in 2015 and beyond because the death spiral of attendance and revenues may not leave money to fill gaps by acquiring veterans. I just think sending the message that they're totally punting on 2013 would be very, very risky from a business standpoint.

If you just bump Marcum up to the upper tier and drop Saunders to the 3rd tier, it gives a pretty clear picture of what the Twins are facing now. I'm not altogether sure that a couple of those remaining upper tier pitchers might not end up a bit disappointed in their contracts, though. Yes the rumors for all of those guys have multiple teams "interested," but they seem to be the same handful of teams. The Dodgers are reportedly considering going after both Greinke and Sanchez, but how many others will hand big bucks to more than one of these pitchers? The Angels for example appear to have a pretty full rotation already, yet they're still mentioned as suitors for some of those upper tier guys. But you're right, it's going to be interesting to see how this shakes out. The Twins may indeed find that their best path to legitimate pitching is the trade market and that could mean they have to face the possibility of coughing up prospects, which they've also been averse to doing in the past.

I'm not sure if the Pohlads would buy the team, but maybe Mike Veeck and his group would get involved? No idea what kind of money it would take. Also, I think I read that the new stadium in St. Paul was being designed to meet or exceed Class A standards, in terms of seating capacity and other facilities. If anyone would want to get serious about bringing a Class AAA team to the Twin Cities, it would probably be a good idea to address the stadium issues now, rather than trying to bring it up to spec later.

I caught that too, and fixed it, probably while you were commenting. He was 23 years old last year. (Also, just a point of grammar to all you budding writers out there: if that phrase is being used as a noun or adjective, it should have hyphens. So the 23-year-old or the 23-year-old pitcher will be turning 24 years old.) Skipping year 23 isn't unheard of. I was closing down bars at age 22, passed out in an alley, and when I woke up I was 24, married and working in an office cubicle. Weird stuff happens at 23. This pick is defninitely a yawner. But let's be honest, anyone available in the Rule 5 is iffy, at best. With Boston drafting a Twins minor leaguer later, maybe there's a shot at simply trading one for the other and allowing both teams to keep the players they drafted even if they don't greatly impress.

Things would just be so much easier around here if you would all just realize I'm always right and just agree with me. Until then, you're all just a bunch of poopie-heads and I think it's my right... nay, my duty... to advise you of such.

I tend to agree. That said, "trying" only gets a guy so far with me. If they come through all of this without significantly improving this team, Ryan will open himself up to justifiable criticism for only being willing to do just below whatever it would have taken to get the job done. This team needs help and it's not enough to try, he has to do it. I'm really not interested in reading a bunch of post-mortem columns by the beat reporters about how hard Ryan and his group worked, even though they didn't get anything done but pick someone in the Rule 5.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2817[/ATTACH] You obviously have company, Brock. If you haven't already, check out LaVelle's early morning Insider post. Sounds like the Twins were up late working on a possible Revere deal. Serious enough that they called their PR guy back from the airport where he was set to fly home to Minnesota. And Hicks' representatves were pumped about speculation that the Twins would be willing to give their client a shot at the CF job. http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/blogs/Twins_Insider.html

I'm glad to see Watkins and Lucas being retained on staff and it will be interesting to see what Mauer can do with what should be a pretty talented group of players shuffling through Cedar Rapids this summer.

If the Twins trade Morneau and the other team is willing to take on his whole $14 million salary, I would imagine that would constitute $14 million of "revenue" to Jim Pohlad. Therefore, Terry Ryan would, at most, be allowed to spend 52% of it on payroll, right? #sarcasm

They have teh internets in Dallas and LA too, y'know. You'd have to know my bosses. I'm pretty sure the availability of the internet would be news to at least one of them Besides... I'm really good at what I do, so they tend to make allowances for some of my less productive "hobbies".

I think almost the entire Orioles rotation would constitute improvements over what the Twins have right now, so I wouldn't turn my back on any deal. Baltimore isn't going to give up either of their top pitching prospects, so you really would be looking at Tillman, Arrieta, Britton, and even Hammel (who, like Morneau, would be a FA in a year). What else either side puts in to the deal in terms of supplemental players or money would be the X factor that makes any potential deal good or bad. I wouldn't see this as a sign of treading water in 2013 unless it did happen to be Hammel coming back as a primary piece. It would tell me the Twins really do see Parmelee as a legitimate Big League 1B. I'm not sure I'm ready to agree with that, but that's how I would interpret any trade of Morneau.

I don't know the Rangers roster inside and out, but I guess I was just basing my thoughts on the fact that they were reportedly trying hard to re-sign Napoli, primarily to play 1B and DH, and it would seem Morneau would fill any need they thought they had for Napoli... and probably better. As for Revere, I was figuring any team that used Josh Hamilton in CF as much as the Rangers did would seem to be able to make some use out of Revere. Whether they need Revere's offensive skill set or not is certainly open to question and could depend on whether they make any of the deals they've been rumored to be considering regarding some of their infielders.

Just to be clear, I actually wasn't suggesting the Twins trade Revere AND Morneau for Holland... just saying both guys seem to be potential fits in Texas, if the two sides could figure out ways to balance out the deal equitably. People much smarter than I would have to figure out what constiutes "balance".

Hey, the Rangers need a catcher! I wonder... nah... I won't go there again.

Shhhhh... my bosses think all this typing I'm doing means I'm working my butt off! Actually, one of my bosses is in Dallas and the other in Los Angeles... which probably does partially explain how I can get away with this

Revere and Morneau would both potentially be fits with Texas, I would think. It just depends on how the Rangers view those guys and what kind of supplemental package of players/money would have to be included.

Hey, those names aren't awful. Encouraging. Exactly. Look, I've been a vocal skeptic, one might even say a cynic, this week (OK, not just this week). But like everyone else, I assume, I WANT to "believe" that Terry Ryan was serious about improving the rotation and this is the first indication I've read that even hints that he is. So I'll grasp at it.