LEN's Lastest scared me a bit.

by FrozenTed9 on Nov 29, 2006 10:51 PM EST Comment 11 comments

http://www.startribune.com/509/story/843659.html Lots of stuff the most serious Jason Kubel had surgery on his other Knee to repair some damage I guess playing Winter ball would have been a bad idea.

It also sounds like LEN was hinted something that TR might be willing to go with a Santana Bonser Garza Baker Sliva rotoation which wouldn't be such a bad thing in my mind.

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That

"Ryan said the club and outfielder Rondell White have agreed to "keep all options open" about a return to the club. White feels he has unfinished business because he battled shoulder problems most of the season, and the free-agent market might make White an affordable solution. The Twins prefer White to DH while Kubel plays left."

That's what I wanted to hear. A good start.

I really hope White really has a passion to come back, because if he comes back with a chip on his shoulder about how he played, we could really get something.

"Baseball is great because you can't take a knee or kill the clock. You have to put the ball over the plate and give the other guy his damn chance." C Stengel

by AdamOnFirst on Nov 29, 2006 10:57 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

The key with Rondell

Gardenhire is convinced that the only way Rondell will produce is if he's playing left field. If that truly is the case, then Rondell's career would be over. You can't be a one dimentional player if you don't even play within that dimention (as a DH). I would love to have Rondell back, but only if he can produce as a DH. With Hunter starting to decline defensively we can't afford a poor left fielder. While Cuddyer has a great arm, his range is limited, so it would be important that we're not losing too much in left.

break the 30 HR curse!

by caseintheface on Nov 29, 2006 11:20 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Rondell

Rondell holds his own ranging about in left.

"Baseball is great because you can't take a knee or kill the clock. You have to put the ball over the plate and give the other guy his damn chance." C Stengel

by AdamOnFirst on Nov 29, 2006 11:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Rondell

Oh the arm though!

break the 30 HR curse!

by caseintheface on Nov 29, 2006 11:49 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

That

That is true.

But at least it is in left...

"Baseball is great because you can't take a knee or kill the clock. You have to put the ball over the plate and give the other guy his damn chance." C Stengel

by AdamOnFirst on Nov 30, 2006 1:40 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I agree...

I might be okay with him playing some in LF to give Kubel rest when needed, but he has to play at LEAST half-time at DH. And then of course we are forgetting (I always forget at least) that you always are going to have Mauer DH'ing 20-30 games a year. I'd be okay with something like:

LF-Kubel-100 games, White-40 games, Tyner or better LF option-20 games

DH-Mauer-20 games, Kubel-40 games, White-90 games, whoever else-10 games

Of course, I'd be even happier with something like:

LF/DH--Payton/Kubel/White split it all, except the obligatory Mauer games there.

If we aren't going to upgrade the starting rotation from outside, I really hope Ryan is pouring ALL his other money/potential trading chips into LF/DH/3b/bench.

It's gonna be an interesting next few weeks.

by djskilbr on Nov 30, 2006 2:44 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I

I don't think Kubel has to play over half at DH. I feel like White and Kubel could split time at the beggining and one or the other could take to the DH more and by midseason play there 3/4 of the time or more. Ideally, that would be White, gradually getting used to the role.

"Baseball is great because you can't take a knee or kill the clock. You have to put the ball over the plate and give the other guy his damn chance." C Stengel

by AdamOnFirst on Nov 30, 2006 3:49 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I am not interested in White

Look, the guy is 35, can't stay healthy, and had a terrible season. I suppose there might be some sort of bench bat/platoon role for him, but to run him out there everyday isn't workable. He just isn't reliable enough, either health or performance wise.

I don't know what the market is for him, but I would try to bring in Craig Wilson as a DH who you can run out there at 1st or an OF corner occasionally.

He's an established hitter, had a slight off year last year, mostly due to 100 poor ABs after being traded to the Yankees, which might bring down his price. He'll be 30 this season.

He's similar to Cuddyer, with a longer track record of success. I think he's a good bet to give you 25 bombs with a decent OBP in 150 games. Given the market, you can't expect to get more than that. He's not an all star, but a pretty decent risk/reward guy, I think.

by Eric in Madison on Nov 30, 2006 12:44 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

White splits:

Rondell White, 2006:

.182/.209/.215 -- Injured
.321/.354/.538 -- Healthy

It should have been painstakingly obvious to the Twins that White was hurt the first half of 2006. Now they know exactly what to look for, so this should not be a problem that happens again.

Rondell would have legitimately helped the team last year if he hadn't played a single game before the All-Star break. This organization has zero depth at corner outfield/DH spots, and because White's overall line from last year looks bad, he'll probably come cheap. Even if he hits .290/.340/.475 for 300 AB, that would help this team a lot.

If I had to guess, I'd say that Rondell comes a lot cheaper than Craig Wilson. If it was in the budget, I'd say that the Twins should sign both of them.

by ubelmann on Nov 30, 2006 1:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Exactly...

White can probably be had for 1-2 million per. Wilson's gonna take 4-5 million, especially if the Yankees still want him (which is rumored they do).

But I completely agree, if we can, we should get both.

by djskilbr on Nov 30, 2006 1:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yup

Plus, White said he has "unfinished business here" because he knows he didn't produce. I think he'd be a very motivated teammate if he was brought back.

But I've been talking about this forever, so everyone knows where I stand.

"Baseball is great because you can't take a knee or kill the clock. You have to put the ball over the plate and give the other guy his damn chance." C Stengel

by AdamOnFirst on Nov 30, 2006 2:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs