Mauer at 3rd base???
by BD57 on Sep 5, 2007 11:38 PM EDT
60 comments
Assume Mauer could handle the defensive load ...
Assume also that Mauer matches his career stats ... .314 / .397 / .458 / .854 OPS. Say he averages 12 HRs a season (he's played roughly 3 "full" seasons) & 70 RBI a year (a number likely to go up if he gets some decent hitters in front of him).
There's a historical 3B who was considered pretty darn good with similar numbers, namely .328 / .415 / .443 / .858 OPS - though he didn't average double digit HRs a season and his RBI totals were in the 50-60 range.
If Joe Mauer @ 3B turned out to be Wade Boggs II, do you REALLY think the Twins would be hurt by him playing 3rd?
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Yes
by Flip27 on Sep 5, 2007 11:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Agreed ...
The conventional wisdom around here is that Mauer's offense becomes very "ordinary" if he's playing 3B. Except, based on his body of work to date, it's not "ordinary" - not when it's comparable to a 3rd baseman elected to the HOF in 2005.
Now, that doesn't mean Mauer is as good as Boggs (maybe he isn't, maybe he's better) and it's not an argument to move him (if he can stay in the lineup & doesn't get too beat up by catching).
It's just an argument that the conventional wisdom is a bit too conventional.
by BD57 on Sep 6, 2007 7:33 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Offensively
Imagine, Wade Bogg's numbers at a defensive position with top quality defense. Now THATS a perfect player.
Oh wait, that's Joe Mauer.
by AdamOnFirst on Sep 6, 2007 2:10 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
But
by rayken on Sep 6, 2007 2:49 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I don't
by AdamOnFirst on Sep 6, 2007 3:18 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Joke
I used to think that he would eventually become a perennial 20-homer guy. I based that on his body size. But I'm not so sure anymore. I remember a ball he hit that just cleared the wall in the left-center gap. I think it was in Chicago. Afterwards, he said "that was all I have," meaning, with his approach and his strength, he could barely clear the wall there with the best swing and contact he had. That doesn't suggest that he'll ever be a 20-homer guy. Like Boggs, Carew, or Gwynn, he might approach 20 once or twice, but single digits is a more reasonable expectation, with around 40 doubles.
But I'm not all that bothered by his lack of power anymore. As long as he gets on base at this rate, runs the bases as deftly as he does, and hits to the situation as well as he does, he'll be fine. Nobody worried too much about Molitor. Even though he didn't hit a lot of homers, he was a pretty good number 3 hitter. When he had Knoblauch hitting ahead of him, he drove in plenty of runs with his approach.
by cmathewson on Sep 6, 2007 7:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Agreed ...
But what if he can't keep himself consistently in the lineup as a catcher? Then what?
THAT is the source of the "position switch" discussion.
by BD57 on Sep 6, 2007 7:56 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I understand that
Muscle injuries are the most difficult to understand because they have various levels of severity. Hunter tweaked his hammy and missed one game. Bartlett strained his hammy and missed five games. Mauer pulled his hammy and will miss about 20 games. I don't know what the averages is for hamstring injuries, but they sometimes heal very slowly. I pulled one once and I didn't run at full speed for another year, and full speed was not what it was before the injury.
The notion that his hitting, especially his power, will magically get better at third is highly suspect. His approach doesn't lend itself to power. But some of the best hitters of all time used something like his approach. It seems that was part of your point by comparing him to Boggs.
For what it's worth, I think VORP is valuable, but there are different ways of constructing line-ups. When you have a middle-of-the-diamond hitter who hits for power, you can get away with a corner position without power. But the theory that the corner positions need to have power is pretty well established, base on the model of middle of the diamond players lacking power and focusing on defense.
by cmathewson on Sep 6, 2007 8:15 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
It isn't
If we had a guy like Brian McCann coming up through our system, talk about moving one of our allstar catchers might make sense. But we DON'T.
Cleveland is so good because they have big hitters up the middle at defensive positions, particularly Grady Sizemore and Victor Martinez. With those guys producing so much more than what mot teams get from those positions, they didn't NEED quite so much from traditional positions. They have Hafner, but he is having a slow year anyway. THink of their other corner positons. Ryan Garko, Casey Blake, Kenny Lofton, etc, those aren't names that say HUGE offense. But when you consider the huge contributions offensively from places most teams aren't able to get them, suddenly you don't NEED a huge hitting corner outfielder to have a big offense. You just need an average one.
by AdamOnFirst on Sep 6, 2007 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
As pointed out in Sinker's comments
Mauer: 33hr, 209rbi in 402 games
Martinez: 82hr, 402rbi in 630 games
The "advantage" in VORP and OPS don't mean much when your butt is on the bench.
by wcooley on Sep 6, 2007 2:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Couldn't Have
by AdamOnFirst on Sep 6, 2007 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
It's a massive advantage
by natetheskate on Sep 6, 2007 3:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
And
If we moved Mauer, we'd have to sign a STARTING catcher. Or, we could keep Mauer where he is and sign a starting third baseman. The third baseman, for equal money, would be a far superior hitter to the catcher.
Mauer's hitting and value has nothing to do with Nick Punto sucking.
by AdamOnFirst on Sep 6, 2007 4:27 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
round and round
Is there any point that you would say that it is time to move Mauer? What if he gets hurt again next year, or the year after that? What if his offensive numbers continue to slide?
by wcooley on Sep 6, 2007 5:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I'm not Adam, but I'll chime in...
- You can confirm that his injury problems are a result of catching
- He sustains an injury that makes it impossible to catch regularly
- You determine that his production, taking defense into account, is reduced by his catching to an unacceptable level
by BeefMaster on Sep 6, 2007 5:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Like
by AdamOnFirst on Sep 6, 2007 5:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
This makes sense
If that's the assumption behind VORP, I'll buy it. I like stats and I appreciate your use of them. It just makes it all the more curious why TR can't come up with a replacement level offensive 3B, I guess.
Mauer's hitting and value has nothing to do with Nick Punto sucking.
Well, actually here I disagree, and will disagree again. If Mauer is a hypothetical candidate play 3B (is 3B a really easy position to pick up? Is that why that's where he'd go instead of second?) then his relative hitting and value have a lot with Nick Punto because Nick Punto is who you are relating his value against. Of course, as everyone keeps pointing out, there is a 3rd and even a 4th player in this valuation: the mysterious replacement level catcher and replacement level thirdbaseman who TR can pluck off Adam's replacement level tree and sign to a fair, even-keeled contract.
Adam, why won't you tell TR where the replacement level tree is? It's not very nice of you to keep it to yourself.
by natetheskate on Sep 6, 2007 9:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
3rd Base
by MauerPower on Sep 6, 2007 10:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Nick Punto truly is
by natetheskate on Sep 7, 2007 2:32 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I have to
It isn't his fault he isn't being used in his role.
by AdamOnFirst on Sep 7, 2007 3:43 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
That's exactly what the devil's spawn
by natetheskate on Sep 7, 2007 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Mauer and Punto VORP cancel each other out
Punto 2007 VORP = -27.9
Does that mean the Twins might as well have a league replacement C and third baseman for the value their getting from both of these players?
http://baseballprospectus.com/statistics/sortable/index.php?cid=204117%22
by natetheskate on Sep 9, 2007 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
VORP's deficiencies
by cmathewson on Sep 9, 2007 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I'm actually wondering
I agree about defense cmath, but actually I have a different question there: why is the talk about moving Mauer to 3B and not somewhere else? Did he play third in high school or something? Assuming that he can't last forever at C--if he's such an athelete, why can't he be a plus-defender in another weak-offense position and have a better VORP because of it? Is second base just way too hard to pick up at age 24?
by natetheskate on Sep 9, 2007 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
The other place I could see Mauer
Ya'll can argue about VORP & all that amongst yourselves, I'm just wondering
#1 - injury aside, whether (and how much) Joe would be a more effective hitter if he wasn't at such a physically demanding defensive position? and
#2 - whether that position has contributed to the amount of time he's missed (and if it has, to what extent)?
While I acknowledge his injuries this year weren't suffered on defense, there's always the concern that the physical stresses of catching make those types of injuries more likely.
If they do, then we have to consider the value of having Joe Mauer in the lineup for an additional 20-30 games too.
by BD57 on Sep 9, 2007 4:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
VORP only measures offense...
"This year, Joe Mauer and Nick Punto have been offensively equivalent to a replacement level catcher and third baseman."
Where replacement level players are assumed to be average defensive players. So, since Punto and Mauer are both above average defenders, they are overall worth more than a replacement level third baseman and catcher. (I think you could also pretty convincingly argue that both could realistically perform better next year than they did this year, which is the relevant question as far as building for the future.)
Also consider, though, that this is a completely freak situation. Punto has the third-worst VORP since 1960 right now. Even if someone thinks that replacement level is set too high, it shouldn't be unrealistic to think that Terry Ryan should be able to do better at 3B in 2008, even just by bringing back Punto.
why is the talk about moving Mauer to 3B and not somewhere else?
Because Morneau is at first base and because Punto has been a black hole. Traditionally, catcher to first base is a pretty common transition (see, for instance, Justin Morneau), but Morneau is at first already and Mauer has a good arm, so he would seem to make a reasonable candidate to third base. And while Mauer runs well for a catcher, I don't see him having great range as an outfielder, and middle infield is obviously out of the question.
Personally, I see the allure in limiting Mauer's injury risk, but I also see a risk in decreasing his overall value by moving him to a different position that he might not even be that good at. So I don't see it as being clear cut either way.
by ubelmann on Sep 9, 2007 7:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
In Short
by AdamOnFirst on Sep 9, 2007 7:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I agree with you re: power
It's part of what makes him as good an average guy has he is - he waits, waits, waits & then lets it go. IMO, the balls he hits the hardest (at least, consistently the hardest) go to left-center. Instead, I really, really see a "Boggs" type hitter when I look at him - a guy who'll hit for high average, good on-base percentage, lots of doubles, etc., but not a guy who's going to hit 20 plus HR's a year.
I think there's a good chance Mauer's hitting would improve at another position because I believe there's a physical toll from catching every day that has to affect a player's offense (part of which shows up in the discussion about how exceptional Mauer's offense is "FOR A CATCHER").
How much, I can't say, only that I think Mauer will hit closer to .347 as an everyday player at another position than he will as a catcher. But that's just an opinion.
For the Twins, though, I do think the question isn't "what's Mauer's value as a catcher vs. him playing another position," it's "who's in the lineup if Mauer catches vs. if he's playing another position - which lineup is more effective?"
by BD57 on Sep 6, 2007 7:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Opposite field doesn't equal power?
It's part of what makes him as good an average guy has he is - he waits, waits, waits & then lets it go. IMO, the balls he hits the hardest (at least, consistently the hardest) go to left-center. <<
Going to the opposite field precludes power?
Where did Puckett drive the ball? He was a right-handed hitter, and his power was to right field.
And, Mauer doesn't wait and wait and wait. I mean, c'mon, at 95 mph from 55 feet, how long can anyone wait? OK, you're being figurative, I guess.
But what really helps Mauer go the opposite field is his bat is "in the strike zone" a long time, that is, he doesn't uppercut or chop.
by Firpo Marberry on Sep 6, 2007 8:01 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Pretty much ...
Given the MLB package wasn't around during Kirby's career, I can't speak to where his power was with any degree of confidence. I do know the HR that ended game 6 in 1991 wasn't to the opposite field, though.
And looking back through his stats, I really wouldn't consider Kirby a "power" guy - he only hit more than 30 HRs once (1986) and he had 5 years where he played at least 145 games with less than 20 HRs.
Just checking a few hitting charts, though, it seems guys who would be considered "power" guys hit the majority of their HRs to their "pull" field. Morneau & Hunter both seem to fit that bill this year (for example).
It wouldn't surprise me at all if Joe was "Puckett like" for career BA with more walks & fewer HRs.
That would still be darn good, no matter what position Joe played.
by BD57 on Sep 6, 2007 8:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Perception
To the original post: Hunter's 31. He finally hit 30 in a season at age 30. Puckett did that at age 26. Who's the power hitter? Given the home runs flying from the yard during Hunter's career, he should have been hitting 30 for quite some time if he's a power hitter.
We're not talking Harmon Killebrew here, we're talking about someone who can put the ball out of the yard 25 or 30 times a year, inflation adjusted. No one is comparing Killebrew and Mauer. To introduce Morneau and Hunter is an attempt at a little bit of blogging sleight-of-hand, where someone tries to shift the focus away from the original statement.
The original statement implied that going to the opposite field precludes hitting the ball out of the park. That was the statement I am addressing.
This is not true. While truly big boppers are almost exclusively pull hitters, no player needs to pull the ball routinely to hit 20 or 30 home runs. Ergo, Mauer's penchant for the opposite field will not mean he won't hit 20 or 25 home runs a year.
All anyone has to do is watch Mauer this year to know that his swing is more out of whack than Dick Cheney's concept of foreign policy. That Mauer has not launched rockets in '07 means little.
by Firpo Marberry on Sep 6, 2007 11:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
The Vast
by AdamOnFirst on Sep 7, 2007 1:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Agreed, with a caveat
The idea that hitting to the opposite field doesn't result in less power than pulling the ball, though, is pretty counterintuitive. I don't know about the exact physics that go into it, but or me, personal experience (I hit the ball a lot farther when I pull it) and observation (I'd guess around 90% of the homers I've seen in person, at various levels of baseball and softball, were pulled) are enough to convince me that it's easier to hit for distance if you pull the ball.
by BeefMaster on Sep 7, 2007 12:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
WW: Wasn't Watching
Being in the park and watching are two different things. It's not my fault you weren't watching.
by Firpo Marberry on Sep 7, 2007 10:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I was watching
He was a line-drive hitter, so it was tough for him to get the ball over the baggie to right field. Plus, except for 86, 87 and 88, he wasn't that big of a home run hitter. He averaged fewer than 20 homers in a season.
by cmathewson on Sep 8, 2007 1:04 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
He was an opposite field hitter
That's the way anyone who watched Puckett closerly will recall him, but I sit here looking at his yearly charts to support this assertion, the right-side of the field is dotted. From center to left, very sparse. He has no hits down the left-field line at all against right-handers.
Power is not just home runs. Power is doubles, triples and home runs. Puckett's power was a tad left of center all the way to the right-field line.
by Firpo Marberry on Sep 8, 2007 4:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I don't know why we're approaching pissing match .
In the seven years after that, seasons he played pretty much the full year (lowest game total 146), he hit 28, 24, 9, 12, 15, 19, 22 and 23 HR.
While that (sadly) might be considered a "Power Hitter" for the Twins during that period of time, it's not what I'd define as a "power hitter."
IMO, Puckett was a very good hitter with some power - but only "some" - power hitters don't have consecutive years of 9, 12, 15, 19 when they're in the prime of their career.
Second, when did I say Mauer's swing was "out of whack"? He's an excellent hitter - guys who win batting titles don't get there by being lucky.
He might get to being "an excellent hitter with some power." Right now, I doubt it, but that's just an opinion (and because opinions aren't facts, they aren't 'right' or 'wrong').
I see "excellent hitter with gap power" - high average, high OBP, lots of doubles, a few HRs.
And guys fitting that description are in the HOF.
by BD57 on Sep 7, 2007 11:13 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
What is power? For one thing, it's relative.
Let's make that relative to the day in which Puckett played.
When Puckett hit 31, the league runner-up hit 35. Puckett's 31 home runs tied him for fourth in the league.
When he hit 28 home runs, a player needed to hit 34 home runs to tie for third most in the league.
When he hit 24, that was the 8th-most number of homers hit in the league.
Doesn't matter if you think that's not a power hitter. It was a power hitter "back then."
---
You didn't say Mauer's swing was out of whack. I did. It is. Has been all year.
by Firpo Marberry on Sep 8, 2007 12:30 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I woudln't
Perhaps a powerful hitter, but I wouldn't call him a power hitter.
by AdamOnFirst on Sep 8, 2007 12:57 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
It's about facts, not opinions
If your total home runs for the season ranks among the top 10 in the number of home runs hit, you're hitting for power. It doesn't matter if the top number of homers is 59, 53, 51, 49, 44, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33 or if the top totals are 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16.
You don't look at the single-season record for the history of baseball and decide if someone's totals are not within some arbitary number of that total that he's not a power hitter, you look at the number of homers that were being hit that season.
If my season ERA is the lowest in the league at 4.5 and the next-best guy is at 5.3, then I'm a helluva pitcher that season.
by Firpo Marberry on Sep 8, 2007 4:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
When he
Anyway, defining Puckett's hitting wasn't the point of ll this anyway.
Anyways, it's just definition. To me, Albert Pujols is a power hitter. Alex Rodriguez is a power hitter. Ryan Howard, David Ortiz, and Travis Hafner are power hitters.
Jimmy Rollins and Hanley Ramirez both are in the mid twenties for homers this year, placing them in the top 40 in all of baseball this year, but I wouldn't consider them power hitters. Carlos Beltran is up there too, tied at 11th in baseball, and he's hit over 40 once before, but I wouldn't really consider him a power hitter either. Just a hell of a hitter, with some pretty good power, but not an outright power hitter.
by AdamOnFirst on Sep 9, 2007 5:52 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Real world vs. Fantasy
It's real life for baseball players.
It's 1988. Exactly 300 position players got their names into the American League statistics that year.
Fourteen of them hit more home runs than Puckett, whose 24 home runs don't fit some folks' definition of a "power hitter".
Those other "power hitters" were:
Eddie Murray, Brian Downing, Joe Carter, Cory Snyder, Fred Lynn, Bo Jackson, Danny Tartabull, Gary Gaetti, Kent Hrbek, Jack Clark, Dave Winfield, noted steroid users Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco, and Fred McGriff.
Of those, who was within a gust of wind of being tied with Puckett? Five "power hitters": Downing, Lynn, Jackson, Hrbek and Winfield.
That strong breeze would have meant Puckett would have hit more home runs that season than all but nine players in his league -- one of whom, Canseco, was already sticking needles in his butt.
You want to say some of those guys don't fit whatever subjective criteria you use for "power hitter"? Tough. They were power hitters that season.
The 1988 season wasn't even Puckett's career high in homers, but if you were able to ask pitchers that year who the league's power hitters were, Puckett would most likely be named by the majority of them. Anyone who objectively looks at those stats also has to include him.
It really doesn't matter if you consider Puckett to be a power hitter.
Let's say you're lucky enough to be in the big leagues, and one season only 4.6 percent of a league's players hit more home runs than you. You would call yourself a power hitter.
By the way, when "power hitter" Justin Morneau hit 34 last year, 14 A.L. players hit more than he: the same number who hit more than Puckett in 1988.
Baseball isn't about a bunch of statistics applied to fantasy teams, it's about real life. If you're playing real baseball in 1988, going out there day after day, out after out, trying to win games, Kirby Puckett is a power hitter.
Start looking at the game from a player's perspective rather than a fan's perspective and you'll have a better understanding of baseball.
by Firpo Marberry on Sep 9, 2007 12:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
power hitter
by cooldude on Sep 10, 2007 1:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Power is not entirely relative
If no one in a season hits a home run, is everyone a power hitter or is no one a power hitter?
Some years there's just more power hitting going down in the league than in others. You can chalk a lot of that up to that year's specific balance between pitchers and hitters but maybe some years the 14th dude on the list of home runs isn't all that impressive.
by natetheskate on Sep 10, 2007 2:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
You are both right
I also don't get why your alleged players' definition of "power hitter" is any more authoritative than Adam's. It's purely subjective descriptive term (there's no official threshold for defining it), so whether a player or fan is defining it doesn't really make a difference as to its accuracy.
by BeefMaster on Sep 10, 2007 2:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Right
But the original lament was that Mauer couldn't hit homers the other way and few guys can. Puckett was used as a counter example. But he's not a counter example because he couldn't get enough loft on the ball. Torii Hunter has hit more opposite-field homers than Puckett did in his career. And, like most hitters, the majority of Hunter's homers are to the pull side of the field.
David Ortiz is a good example of a guy who hits homers the other way, but that's because of the Green Monster as much as anything. Finding a good exception that proves the rule is tough here.
The name that comes to mind for me is Pete Incaviglia. But he only hit 30 once--in his rookie season. He also struck out 186 times that year, so that serves as another criterion for a power hitter.
by cmathewson on Sep 10, 2007 3:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I'm not just
After hitting 31 in 86', he hit 28 in 87' then 24' in 88. THen down to, in order, 9, 12, 15, and 19 in 89'-92'. Before 86' he had 4 career homers in two full professional seasons. For his lat three years he settled back into the low 20's.
After his first two years in the league, when he really was a total singles hitter, he hit 203 HR's over 10 years, averaging about 20 a year. That works out if you just look at it as his couple years in the low 20's are balanced out but years in the higher teens. As a great hitter with good power, he was totally capable of tossing a 31 HR season in there, but it was balanced out by a tough luck year with only 9 just a couple years later.
After 85', Puckett was pretty much the same hitter for the rest of his career. Yeah, he had some yearly up and down fluctuations with his numbers, but they always stayed pretty similar around his career averages and didn't ever pas beyond what you could reasonably expect from him (ie, he never went and hit 40, but he never hit .270 either.).
Take a look at the number of doubles Puckett hit. Pucket NEVER hit more home runs than doubles in a season. He actually had exactly twice as many doubles as home runs for his career, and most seasons, it does fall relatively near that 2 to 1 ratio. Let's take a look at A-Rod. He hasn't hit more doubles than home runs since 1997, before his power even really too off like it is today. Albert Pujols has about the same number of doubles as home runs. Giambi had generally more homers than doubles in his healthy days, and Travis Hafner also generally has about equal numbers in doubles and homers.
I'm trying to define what i consider a power hitter to be. Unless someone REALLY changes what kind of player they are, I wouldn't say they are power hitter one year and not the next. Puckett was a big change from 85' to 86', but from 86' on he was pretty much that same player. 86' was a big year for him, but not out of the bounds of mere possibility (or even probability) for a good hitter. Neither was the 9 home run 1989 campeign.
At ANY rate, this is STILL all a pointless argument, because whether Puckett was a power hitter or not, and whether he did hit most of his home runs the other way or not, almost all players hit most of their home runs by pulling the ball.
by AdamOnFirst on Sep 10, 2007 2:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Pronouns
by AdamOnFirst on Sep 10, 2007 2:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Forget Mauer
----------------------------------------------------------
Punto's immediate goal is to make the most of September -- Gardenhire said Punto will not be benched -- then get to work on a hitting plan that he hopes will breed success in 2008.
"For me, it's probably a combination of me trying to work too hard, trying different stances and different things," Punto said. "Just tried way too many things and was overthinking it.
"I'll be excited to work this offseason and try to come in [next season] with the same thing night after night."
----------------------------------------------------------
I don't know about you guys, but I sure am excited about 2008 with articles like this being written. The guy is a sunk cost but the organization seems to be eager to go down with the ship as well. This whole situation makes me sick.
by rayken on Sep 7, 2007 2:24 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
If
by wcooley on Sep 7, 2007 2:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Geez, that's exactly what I said
Gardy's hoping Punto will have a good last month because he knows he's going to be here next year & he wants to give Punto a chance to have something positive to think about during the off-season.
I agree - yeech.
by BD57 on Sep 7, 2007 6:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Waste
by AdamOnFirst on Sep 7, 2007 8:53 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Wait!
He must be planning on playing Luis Rodriguez at third next year then. This guy is a joke.
by rayken on Sep 8, 2007 1:25 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Casilla
Actually, Casilla has ALWAYS been like that, all the way through the minors, so it's not a matter of playing through it at the mlb level. he's been an ok at best hitter from the left side of the plate his whole career, but a player with an PS over 800 from the right side his whole career.
He's one of those guys who could be better served by not switch hitting. Unfortunately, nobody ever stops switch hitting...
by AdamOnFirst on Sep 8, 2007 4:13 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Okay
by rayken on Sep 8, 2007 5:27 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I'm Just
by AdamOnFirst on Sep 8, 2007 5:45 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
But here's the thing
If the Twins were actually in a pennant race, I could understand not playing Casilla.
They aren't, so I don't.
by BD57 on Sep 8, 2007 3:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yeah...
by BeefMaster on Sep 10, 2007 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
White
Though I'm not exactly thrilled about Garrett Jones being one of our "power" prospects either, as he has only shown the ability to hit really high pop-ups.
by rayken on Sep 10, 2007 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
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