I went out to Hammond Stadium again this morning and hung around for a couple of hours talking baseball with other fans and watched some of the early arrivals hit and take some infield. Not much going on as yet. Some of the players I recognized today that were participating in early workouts of one variety or another were Trevor Plouffe, Jason Bartlett, Miguel Sano, Nate Roberts, Adam Walker, Lewis Thorpe, Wilkin Ramirez, Kyle Gibson, Jared Burton, Mike Kvasnicka, AJ Pettersen, and Amaurys Minier. These players and others that I did not recognize were working under the tutelage of some minor league coaches and Joe Lepel. After hitting, some of the infielders including Jason Bartlett and Miguel Sano took some infield on field 4 practicing their fielding and working on turning double plays. It was interesting watching Bartlett and Sano doing some of these infield drills on their knees. All in all there is not much going on out at the ballpark as yet with no players having officially reported. I would however expect that more players will arrive over the week-end and that the action will pick up next week. The people working the hardest at Hammond Stadium these days are probably the construction workers that are trying to getting things ready for the start of spring training. I took some more pictures today primarily of the ball players and I have uploaded them to the “2014 Spring Training” link you can find on the right hand side of this page. I will be out there again early next week and I will keep you updated on what I see going on at Hammond Stadium..
Tag: Wilkin Ramirez
Who can hit leadoff for Twins?
The Twins have not had a decent leadoff hitter since Denard Span was traded after the 2012 season and he was a good leadoff man, not a great one. This past season the hitters that Ron Gardenhire sent up to the plate to hit lead off for the Twins were just plain dismal.
| Rk | Player | G | PA | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darin Mastroianni | 3 | .357 | 14 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .250 |
| 2 | Alex Presley | 27 | .339 | 121 | 112 | 9 | 32 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 8 | 21 | .286 |
| 3 | Clete Thomas | 17 | .312 | 77 | 69 | 12 | 16 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 21 | .232 |
| 4 | Brian Dozier | 74 | .310 | 344 | 312 | 40 | 79 | 12 | 44 | 7 | 23 | 63 | .253 |
| 5 | Jamey Carroll | 26 | .252 | 120 | 110 | 13 | 21 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 19 | .191 |
| 6 | Eduardo Escobar | 9 | .182 | 33 | 30 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | .100 |
| 7 | Aaron Hicks | 10 | .109 | 46 | 43 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 20 | .047 |
| 8 | Chris Parmelee | 2 | .000 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| 9 | Wilkin Ramirez | 1 | .000 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| 10 | Ryan Doumit | 1 | .000 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| 11 | Chris Herrmann | 2 | .000 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 |
The Twins could use Brian Dozier to hit lead off again but that is not his ideal spot in the batting order but yet Gardy might not have a choice. All things being equal, if you look a the projected Twins line-up the leadoff hitter should come from center field. But who will play center field for Minnesota in 2014? Unless something dramatic happens it looks like Darin Mastroianni, Alex Presley, and Aaron Hicks will battle it out this spring in Ft. Myers to see will open the season as the Twins center fielder.
Mastroianni spent most of 2013 on the DL and if you look at his major league OBP, it stands at .298 which is not very good but it is a small sample size of just 230 at bats. In the minor leagues Mastroianni had a .370 OBP but that is in the minors. Darin is 28 years old so he is not the Twins center fielder of the future by any means and is best suited in a back-up role but that doesn’t mean he might not start the season in center field.
Alex Presley who the Twins acquired from Pittsburgh last season in the Justin Morneau trade is also 28 and he was OK in that role at the tail end of last season but nothing in his past major league stats indicates that he could put up the same kind of numbers over a 162 game schedule. In the minors Presley had a .352 OBP but again, that is in the minors. He too has a shot at being the Twins center fielder on Opening Day but he too might just be a placeholder.
The ideal man for the job is 24 year-old Aaron Hicks but when the Twins gave him the job in 2013 he hit for a .047 average and his OBP was a microscopic .109 in the 46 plate appearances that Gardy gave him in that role. Hicks would like to get the 2013 season in his rear view mirror and start his major league anew in 2014 but who knows if the Twins brain trust will let him start the season with the Twins in Chicago. The Twins sent Hicks down to prove he belongs in the big leagues after hitting .192 in 81 games and Hicks responded by hitting all of .222 in the 22 games he played in Rochester. The Twins sent Hicks a message by not recalling him in September and Hicks had better come to Florida with a chip on his shoulder and play like a man possessed if he want to be the Twins opening day center fielder because he has something to prove to Gardy and Terry Ryan. Then again, Hicks had a fantastic spring training in 2013 and yet when the season started Hicks flopped big time. Hicks could very well start the season in Rochester and have to beat the Twins door down to prove he belongs in the big leagues with Minnesota. Dozier did it in 2013 and Hicks can do it this year. This team needs Hicks as their center fielder.
Looking back in Twins history to see who the best Twins leadoff hitters have been from a OBP perspective you have to admit that Chuck Knoblauch was the best the Twins have ever had. I know that Knoblauch was a jerk at times and a stuck up snob much of the time but the man played some good baseball for the Twins and it is a joke that he is not in the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame. Hopefully he will get voted in this year, remember that you are voting for him for what he did in a Twins uniform on the ball field, not how he choses to live his life. While you are voting, put a “X” down next to Cesar Tovar too, he also deserves to be in the Twins HOF.
Best OBP hitting lead off with 100 games or more
| Rk | Player | Year | G | PA | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chuck Knoblauch | 1996 | 151 | .448 | 699 | 577 | 140 | 197 | 13 | 72 | 45 | 97 | 74 | .341 |
| 2 | Chuck Knoblauch | 1995 | 134 | .423 | 620 | 530 | 105 | 175 | 11 | 63 | 45 | 77 | 94 | .330 |
| 3 | Denard Span | 2009 | 145 | .392 | 676 | 578 | 97 | 180 | 8 | 68 | 23 | 70 | 89 | .311 |
| 4 | Chuck Knoblauch | 1997 | 155 | .390 | 712 | 608 | 116 | 178 | 9 | 58 | 62 | 84 | 84 | .293 |
| 5 | Kirby Puckett | 1986 | 128 | .375 | 592 | 558 | 103 | 189 | 25 | 77 | 15 | 26 | 74 | .339 |
| 6 | Lenny Green | 1962 | 149 | .367 | 713 | 609 | 96 | 165 | 14 | 62 | 8 | 87 | 36 | .271 |
| 7 | Cesar Tovar | 1971 | 142 | .364 | 653 | 598 | 90 | 191 | 1 | 41 | 18 | 41 | 34 | .319 |
| 8 | Otis Nixon | 1998 | 107 | .360 | 498 | 446 | 71 | 132 | 1 | 20 | 37 | 44 | 55 | .296 |
| 9 | Cesar Tovar | 1970 | 156 | .356 | 721 | 646 | 119 | 194 | 10 | 54 | 30 | 51 | 46 | .300 |
| 10 | Jacque Jones | 2002 | 133 | .346 | 606 | 558 | 92 | 169 | 25 | 81 | 6 | 37 | 123 | .303 |
Here and there
Yesterday the Minnesota Twins announced that they have added Minnesota native and former Twins player Paul Molitor to their major league coaching staff. Molitor will oversee base running, bunting, infield instruction and positioning, plus assist with in-game strategy from the dugout for manager Ron Gardenhire. I don’t consider this as any kind of bold move by the Twins and I don’t see it adding any wins to the Twins victory total but with the way the Twins have run the bases the last few years it can’t hurt. Molitor served as a bench coach under Tom Kelly back in 2000 and 2001 and coached for the Seattle Mariners in 2004. Despite what has been written over the last couple of years, I still don’t see Molitor as a strong candidate to replace Gardenhire when he vacates the managers seat. I don’t think it is a secret that Molitor covets a big league managers job but teams have not exactly been knocking down his door to discuss a possible managers position with him. I find it interesting however; that Molitor has turned up as a coach with the Twins when TK was nearing the end of his tenure and with Seattle in Bob Melvin‘s final season at the helm in Seattle. Molitor isn’t exactly “Mr. Personality” so I will be interested to see how he interacts with the Twins fans in Ft. Myers come February.
Outfielder Wilkin Ramirez was activated from the 60-day disabled list and then outrighted to Triple-A Rochester. Ramirez may exercise his right to declare free agency and determine if anybody else wants him or he can choose to resign with Minnesota as Doug Bernier did recently. The Twins 40 man roster is 36 but is expected to go to 37 when Samuel Deduno is taken off the 60-day disabled list.
The Twins also announced yesterday that Twins closer Glen Perkins underwent arthroscopic surgery two days after the 2013 season ended, but he should be ready for spring training in February. Perkins, who saved 36 games in his first full season as the Twins’ closer, had the procedure to repair the meniscus in his right knee. So why did the Twins wait so long to announce this? What would they have to gain? The Twins continue to keep team medical issues close to the vest.
Outfielder Darin Mastroianni underwent surgery last week to have the pin in his left ankle removed. The hardware, removed last Wednesday, had been inserted during his May surgery to repair the broken bone in his foot, suffered during the final week of spring training. He too also is expected to be fully healed by spring training.
Baseballamerica.com did a nice little piece on Max Kepler about a week or so ago that you can read at Max Kepler Adds At-Bats In Fall League – BaseballAmerica.com.
Minor League Baseball and the Topps Company announced on October 22nd that outfielder Byron Buxton, the second overall pick in the June 2012 Draft by the Minnesota Twins, is the 2013 winner of the 54th annual J.G. Taylor Spink Award as the Topps/Minor League Player of the Year. Buxton finished among the top 12 MiLB™ players in six offensive categories, including a Minor League-best 18 triples. His 109 runs ranked second.
The San Francisco Giants announced that they have agreed to sign free agent to be RHP Tim Lincecum to a two-year $35 million no-trade deal pending a physical. The 29-year-old Lincecum just completed a $40.5 million, two-year contract that paid him $22 million this past season, that come out to $1.2 million per win this past season. Lincecum has a career record of 89-70 with a 3.46 ERA but that is not the whole story. After posting a 40-17 record with a 2.90 ERA in his first three seasons in the majors, his last four seasons have been a different story. During the last four seasons in which the Giants have won the World Series twice, Lincecum has won 49 games while losing 53 and his ERA has jumped to 3.87 and if you look at the last two years, he has a 4.76 ERA. His KO/9 have dropped from a league leading 10.5 in 2008 to 8.8 in 2013 and his velocity has dropped noticeably. This deal is just plain outlandish and will make this years off season hunt for free agent starters even that much more difficult for teams like the Twins that are desperate for starting pitching. I know Lincecum has won two Cy Young‘s and has thrown a no-hitter but there are many people out there that feel that Lincecum is sliding quickly and he may spend more time in the near future coming out of the bullpen then he will as a starter. This is a bad signing for the Giants and for baseball in general, the only winner here is Tim Lincecum.
The Cardinals and the Red Sox play game 1 of the 2013 World Series starting tonight and I really have no clear cut preference as who wins the Series but it might be an interesting series to watch. I am leaning a bit towards the Red Sox to win but we will have to wait and see how it turns out. Here is a little something fun for you to look at to see how the Cardinals and Red Sox regular season prices compared at the register courtesy of Team Marketing Report FactBook.
Byron Buxton is 2013 Minor League Player of the Year
Baseball America announced today that Byron Buxton is the 2013 Minor League Player of the Year joining Joe Mauer (2003) as the only Twins players to be so honored. The Twins second overall pick in the 2012 draft from Appling County High in Baxley, Georgia is on the fast track to Minnesota. A few days ago the Twins announced that Buxton will be joining the Twins contingent of players heading for the Arizona Fall League where he will join infielders Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler along with pitchers Trevor May, Alex Meyer, A.J. Achter, and Zach Jones playing for the Glendale Desert Dogs.
Buxton started the season at low Class A Cedar Rapids and was promoted in late June to high Class A Fort Myers, Buxton hit a cumulative .334/.424/.520 with 49 extra-base hits, 55 stolen bases and a sparkling 76-to-105 walk-to-strikeout ratio in 125 games. He led the minors with 18 triples, finished second with 109 runs scored, one behind Marcus Semien of the White Sox and 12th in stolen bases. Even more impressive, Buxton ranked sixth in the minor league batting race, 10th in hits (163) and seventh in on-base percentage, despite being a full year younger than any other member of those top-10 lists.
Twins minor league attendance numbers
I enjoy the work that Ballpark Digest does and check their site every day, as a matter of fact I have their RSS feed going to this site whenever they publish anything new. This past Monday they published their 2013 minor league attendance totals and averages for every team as well as how they ranked over all. They also have affiliated attendance by league. Check them out, they are interesting to look at and see how the Twins minor league teams rank.
September Call Ups
The Minnesota Twins announced on September 8th that they have recalled infielder Eduardo Escobar, outfielder Chris Parmelee, left-handed pitcher Scott Diamond and right-handed pitchers Michael Tonkin and Cole De Vries from Triple-A Rochester. Additionally, the Twins have selected the contracts of catcher Eric Fryer and right-handed pitcher Shairon Martis from Rochester. To make room on the Twins 40-man roster right-handed pitcher Sam Deduno and outfielder Wilkin Ramirez have been transferred from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day DL.
Looking back at April
The Twins finished April with an 11-12 mark playing at a .478 winning clip and in the middle of the pack in the Central Division, 3 games behind the division leading Detroit Tigers and just barely ahead of the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox. Everyone would like to see the Twins doing better but when you compare this teams play to expectations going into 2013 you can’t help but be pleasantly surprised. Before the season began I thought that if this team could put up a 74-88 (.457%) mark and improve 8 games over last season I would be satisfied that the team was making progress. The Twins have played most of their April games in questionable weather and you could argue this worked against them but then again you know that the other team was playing in that same weather so that is a wash. The Twins have played 13 of their first 20 games at home and they are slightly above .500 at Target Field at 7-6.
Although I have not yet seen a single game in person at Target Field this year, I have pretty much watched every game on TV from beginning to end. Here are my perceptions of how the Twins have played in April.
Wilkin Ramirez – (B) – has filled the difficult extra outfielder and pinch-hitter bench role well and is hitting .381.
Eduardo Escobar – (A-) – this switch-hitting utility man has already played at SS, 2B, 3B and in LF and is hitting .378 with a home run in 37 at bats. An easy player to like who makes you wonder if he could be good enough to man a regular spot in the Twins middle infield some day.
Jimmy Carroll – (B-) – the Twins forgotten man most of April but he does whatever is asked of him and almost acts like another coach out there for the Twins younger players.
Joe Mauer – (C+) – endured a long hitless streak late in the month but has played almost every day. Not sure exactly what, but something about Mauer just doesn’t look right to me this year. He is not as solid behind the plate this season and he strikes out way more than he has in the past. Almost looks like he is trying to show more power at the expense of average.
Justin Morneau – (C-) – hitting .253 with 2 home runs and 11 RBI’s. Very disappointing showing so far, Morneau used to be a solid RBI guy but that trait seems to have deserted him the last couple of years. We are watching a shell of what Morneau once was.
Pedro Florimon – (C+) – Playing as I would expect him to in his first full year at short. He and Dozier have shown they play well together. Florimon let’s some easy plays get away at times but for the most part has been solid at short. Hitting has been adequate but I was hoping to see more stolen bases from him and he is just starting to run in the last few games.
Josh Willingham – (C+) – Twins top power guy is doing what the Twins pay him to do and is hitting .250 with a team leading 13 RBI. The Hammer is also on pace to get on base 90-100 times via walks. A liability in LF but the Twins will keep sending him out there for his power. Would be nice to see Willingham get hot before the trading deadline because rest assured he will be moved to make room for Oswaldo Arcia sooner than later.
Brian Dozier – (C) – hitting better since he was moved to the lead-off role to replace Aaron Hicks and playing well at 2B. Dozier is hitting only .243 and he is a better hitter then what he has shown so far.
Trevor Plouffe – (D-) – continues to show that he can not hit big league pitching consistently nor can he play 3B. Then again he has shown he can’t play SS, 2B, or the OF either. Gardy can say what he wants to the press but he knows that Plouffe is not the Twins 3B. Things will change here soon. Problem is the Twins have no one to play here while they wait for Miguel Sano.
Oswaldo Arcia – (C ) – This power hitting lefty will make Twins fans forget trading Willingham in no time. Not a solid outfielder but then again Willingham isn’t either and Arcia is only 21 and will be a Twins fixture for years to come. Watch this guy get better every game.
Darin Mastroianni – (D) – has only 9 at bats due to injuries. This utility outfielder is a much better than what he has shown so far this year but he sure seems to get dinged up a lot.
Chris Parmelee (C) – has been disappointing so far and I expect Parmelee to turn it around soon. Parmelee is no speedster but he is a better outfielder then I expected and he finally notched his first home run of the season, maybe that will get him going.
Ryan Doumit – (C-) – disappointing start to 2013, no other way to say it. Doumit has to start producing with the bat.
Aaron Hicks – (D) – The only reason I gave him a D versus an F is his outfield play. I like Hicks and he will be a very good player but he seems in over his head right now. With no one else to play center the Twins keep sending him out there day after day but Joe Benson is starting to show signs of life so we will see how long the Twins patience lasts with Hicks. There is no shame in going back to the minors after a tough start in the big leagues, happens to almost every player. Needs to show his speed more frequently when he does get on base.
Jared Burton – (A) – the man has a 0.96 ERA with 12 KO’s and 2 walks in his 8th inning role, you can’t ask for more.
Josh Roenicke – (B) – Nice addition (stolen from the Rockies) to the relief staff giving up only 9 hits in 12 innings.
Ryan Pressly – (B) – When your Rule 5 selection sticks and has a 1.69 EA in 10+ innings in April you have to pat yourself on the back Mr. Ryan.
Anthony Swarzak – (B) – Got a late start due to his rib issues but has pitched well so far, hope he can keep it up.
Brian Duensing – (B) – doing fine in his current role but it just seems like they could get more out of this lefty then what they do.
Kevin Correia – (A+) – No one had a better month of April then Kevin Correia did. That said, most everyone knows that it is unlikely that Correia can continue pitching like he has without a few speed bumps but you have to enjoy what he is doing with the smoke and mirrors in his pitching arsenal. Keep it up Kevin, you are definitely my Twins player of the month.
Pedro Hernandez – (B-) – the mark may be a little high for this recently recalled Twin but he does what Gardy asks of him and in his two starts he has kept his team in the game.
Casey Fien – (C+) – always looks angry when he is pitching and he shows his emotion, I like that. Fien probably deserves a better mark then what I gave him but he had one real bad outing in early April when he gave up 4 earned runs and these grades are for the month of April. But look at his numbers in 2012, a 0.97 WHIP and this year his WHIP is 0.90 in spite of his bad outing, those are amazing stats.
Glen Perkins – (B) – the Twins closer shuts the door when he is called upon to save the game. The only runs he has given up have been in non-save situations.
Scott Diamond – (B) – another late starter due to surgery in the off-season but he is getting better with each start and there is no Twins starter currently on the team that I have more faith in keeping his team in the game than Diamond.
Vance Worley – (D) – is in my eyes the biggest disappointment on the team. He gives up so many runs in the first and second inning that the Twins are always playing from behind when he pitches. 46 hits in 28.2 innings with 9 walks tells you all you need to know how Worley has pitched. I’m tired of hearing too that “the pitches are coming out of my hand good”, all I care about Mr. Worley is what you put in the “W” column, the one that has a huge goose egg in it now.
Mike Pelfrey – (F) – I know he is coming off TJ surgery but the man says he is ready to pitch and yet he gives up 19 earned in his last four starts. This is unacceptable and one more bad start should cause him to give up his starting spot. Let’s see how long a leash that Pelfrey has.
In the end it is all about winning games and so far the Twins have put 11 in the win column in April. They are playing better than they have in two years and they are more fun to watch but the bottom line for judging any baseball team is how many games they win. There are no moral victories in baseball. When I look at the Twins hitting as a whole in April, I give them a “C” and when I grade the Twins pitching I come up with a “B-” for an overall team grade of “C+”. Just a month of baseball is a short time to judge anybody so I don’t lose sleep over these grades one way or another but yet there are some trends that are beginning to develop, some good, some not so much. Let’s see what May brings the Twins and their fans.
Glimpse of the future?
With Twins outfielder Wilkin Ramirez out on paternity leave for several days the ballclub needed to make a move and the move they made was to bring up one of their top prospects, outfielder Oswaldo Arcia. Arcia played in New Britain last season and has just 9 games of AAA experience under his belt but so far he is pounding AAA pitching to the tune of a .414 batting average in 34 plate appearances with 8 runs scored, 3 home runs and 8 RBI’s. Hopefully the Twins did not bring Arcia up to warm the bench for a couple of days so I think it will be fun to watch this young man get his first shot at the big leagues. Arcia is more of a corner outfielder but he has played centerfield in the minors so I would not be shocked if Gardy had him playing in center for at least one game. He can’t play Arcia in center much more than that because you can’t have Hicks sitting on the bench either, they both need to play. I heard Gardy on his Sunday morning radio show state that it might be time to move Hicks out of the leadoff spot and I couldn’t agree more. It is not good to see your lead-off hitter strike out as much as Hicks does but what bothers me about Hicks striking out is that he takes so many called third strikes. At least take a hack at the ball, who knows, you might hit it. It is easy to be down on Hicks now with him hitting .047 and leading the league in whiffs and he may have to be sent down for a while to regain his confidence but the man is going to be a solid big league player, just give him a little time.
The poor start by Hicks has taken the spotlight off 2B Brian Dozier to a large degree but Dozier needs to turn it around and turn it around soon. Dozier is playing a decent 2B but hitting .161 will not cut it, particularly when you have young Eduardo Escobar scratching at Gardy’s door for more playing time. I think you are going to start seeing Gardy start to make some changes in his line-up and batting order soon, he can’t afford to sit back and watch this team flail away and say that good pitching stops good hitting, not every pitcher the Twins faced this year is an all-star. It would be nice to see what the Twins might look like playing in some decent weather for a change but if you look at the Twins schedule it might not happen for some time.
Twins post first “W” of the season
What a nice win! The Twins posted their first “W” of the season this afternoon in a come from behind walk-off double by Eduardo Escobar that scored Jamey Carroll and Brian Dozier with two out in the ninth at Target Field. I know that the Tigers outfielders probably should have caught that ball for the third out but the fact is they did not. Kevin Correia started and pitched 7 innings allowing two runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out two. Correia did a great job against the Tigers and kept his team in the game. I know it is only one game but maybe this will help quiet all those Correia critics out there. I have to mention Wilkin Ramirez too and give him his props for the pinch-hit double that plated the Twins first run in the seventh inning. On the not so good side, the Twins had 8 more LOB today making 20 in their first two games, they have to do better than that if they want to win games. The Twins still have not started a single inning this season with a lead. I wonder what the Twins are going to do when they have to add Scott Diamond to the roster in a few days, there is no obvious candidate to ship out to Rochester at this point.
Former Twins and current Tiger outfielder Torii Hunter started the game with 1,988 hits and had a single in the top of the third inning and singled again in the top of the fifth for hit number 1,990 but was thrown out at third base by Chris Parmelee on Miguel Cabrera’s single that scored Omar Infante as Hunter tried to advance from first to third.
Thirteen years ago today the Twins introduced TC Bear as their mascot and last May he marked his consecutive 1,000 game. That bear is out there day in and day out, he never misses a game, he just grins and bears it I guess. You can read a nice piece about TC by going here.
Twins cut 12 including Nishioka and Tosoni
The Twins announced today that they had reassigned 12 players to their minor league teams. The biggest names were 2B/SS Tsuyoshi Nishioka and outfielder Rene Tosoni. Nishioka is guaranteed $3 million this season and next and he just has not shown that he is the player that the Twins thought they were getting when they paid $5.3 million just to gain his negotiation rights. Nishioka does not seem comfortable playing second or shortstop in the big leagues and the man who won a batting title in Japan has not shown anything to speak of with his bat. One of the main reasons for signing Nishioka last season was that Gardenhire wanted to add some speed to the team but all Nishioka could muster was two stolen bases in six attempts. Couple that with the perception that Nishioka appears to want to do things his way versus the Twins way and did not seem to fit in with the rest of his teammates and you have a player that will cost you $3 million for the next two seasons and if you are really honest, you would say that he does not even deserve to be in AAA Rochester with what he has shown the Twins in his year with the club. In my opinion, the Nishioka signing was one of the main reasons that Bill Smith was fired as the Twins GM, not the only reason, but it was a key contributor. If you spend $15 million of Pohlad money and make a “Nishioka” mistake, you had best be prepared to suffer the consequences. But why send Nishioka down about half way through spring training? It has to be a message that Ryan is sending to Nishioka and to the rest of the Twins team. The Twins are not exactly blessed with an abundance of infield prospects so sending Nishioka down should give players like Sean Burroughs, Pedro Florimon and Mike Hollimon some hope for a utility role with the big club. At this point the Twins have to look at Nishioka as sunk money and just want to move on without his distraction. I don’t see Nishioka as one of Ryan’s favorite players and Ryan really has no ties to Nishioka so sending him packing will not cause Ryan to lose any sleep at all. Besides, there is always the chance that Nishioka will be embarrassed by his demotion and ask the club for his release and that would be a win-win for all parties and would end a very sorry but hopefully short chapter in Twins history.
The numbers game has caught up with Rene Tosoni who is 25 and probably a career utility outfielder who is not talented enough to garner a starting role but would make an adequate 4th or 5th outfielder. However; with Willingham, Span, Revere, Plouffe, and Doumit a cinch to make the team and Joe Benson pushing hard, there is no room for Tosoni at this time.
Pitcher Carlos Gutierrez, 25, was also sent down to get more experience and prove that his control issues are a thing of the past. Gutierrez had no serious control issues in his 5 innings pitched this spring but in 66 innings at Rochester in AAA, Carlos has walked 33 batters. The other players that the Twins sent down today were pitchers Jason Bulger, Luis Perdomo, Daryl Thompson, Esmerling Vasquez and P.J. Walters; catchers Chris Herrmann and Daniel Rohlfing; infielder Aaron Bates; outfielder Wilkin Ramirez.
What is the Twins plan?
What exactly is the Twins plan going forward? In the past, the Twins have always stressed pitching and fielding. The Twins went into 2011 saying that they wanted to improve their defense and their speed. This past off-season the Twins signed Josh Willingham, Ryan Doumit and Jamey Carroll and none of these players can be seen even remotely as defensive stars or speed demons. On the pitching side they resigned Matt Capps to be their closer and signed Jason Marquis as another “innings eater” starter to replace Brian Duensing whom they want to move to the bullpen. For middle relief they went after quantity versus quality hoping to catch “lightning in a bottle” by claiming or signing relievers such as Jason Bulger, Jared Burton, Samuel Deduno, Matt Maloney, Aaron Thompson, Daryl Thompson, Casey Fien, PJ Walters, Brendan Wise and Joel Zumaya. GM Terry Ryan also signed players with big league experience such as 3B Sean Burroughs, 1B Steve Pearce, OF Wilkin Ramirez, and catcher JR Towles.
In the past, Twins management has stated that they didn’t want to start camp too early because the players just got bored and burnt out waiting for the real games to begin. The Twins have historically been one of the last teams to report to and start training camp, this year they are one of the first teams to report and start work-outs.
This year the Twins will have at least 25 non-roster spring training invites this year, there will be more players out there than you can shake a stick at. In the past the Twins position has been not to invite too many players in spring camp because there was just not enough playing time and they wanted to give everyone a chance to showcase their talents.
This year the Twins seem to be desperate, picking up some veteran hitting help even though their defense and speed will suffer, they picked up a slew of relievers hoping that one or maybe two can find their way north to Minnesota. Speed? Gardy felt a need for speed going into 2011 but I have not heard him mention speed once this off-season. When you sign a 38 year old Jamey Carroll who has never had a full-time starting role to be your regular shortstop you are indeed close to a panic situation. Yep, these are desperate and trying times in Twinsville as the team tries to regroup from a horrendous 63-99 2011 season and the team is taking desperate steps to right a ship that is on the shoals of a major rebuilding effort. The problem they have is that Joe Mauer is making a ton of money and they haven’t a clue as to what will happen with 1B Justin Morneau who is coming off his seventh career concussion. Without big comebacks from both of these Twins stars the team has no chance at even finishing near the .500 mark. Ron Gardenhire will have to do his best managing act ever to get this team to win half of their games.
So it will be an interesting spring in Ft. Myers this year and I would expect to see a number of intrasquad and “B” squad games taking place on the back fields of Hammond Stadium. I will be there to watch the action and it should be fun. The beauty of this time of the year is that we all have hope and no one has lost a game as yet. It just seems to me that the Minnesota Twins are changing gears this year and things are going to be a lot different going forward into 2012 and beyond. So make sure you buy a scorecard when you attend your first Twins game this year.