Humber clears waivers, assigned to Rochester

Kind of a surprise with teams like the Angels using AA pitchers. But there it is. I haven't given up on him. Hopefully he can get back on track and help later on.

almost 3 years ago cmathewson 10 comments 0 recs |

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Wow

Wow, blow to him personally. Good for us though. Depth is always nice.

"You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all."
~ Earl Weaver
"In God we trust. All others must provide evidence."
~ Billy Beane

by AdamOnFirst on Apr 21, 2009 3:32 PM EDT reply actions

Very surprising

I’m shocked that a Baltimore or Washington didn’t take a flyer. I guess it tells us what kind of trade market we had for Humber this offseason. Nice to have the depth in AAA, hopefully Humber or someone else catch lightning and contribute in the majors this season.

by Adam Peterson on Apr 21, 2009 3:38 PM EDT reply actions

I am actually not all that surprised

seems to me that most teams have a Phillip Humber in their system

by guinness junky on Apr 21, 2009 3:43 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah,

AND on top of that, I suspect that we, as Twins fans, have overvalued Humber a little because he was part of the Santana trade. Its pretty hard to keep that from creeping into the subconscious equation.

by montanatwinsfan on Apr 21, 2009 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions

Humber's value

I’m sure that’s a temptation. But I remember a lot of fans writing him off last year when he got off to such a bad start. But after he was the best pitcher in the IL for two months, some of us got optimistic about him. The other thing that tends to overvalue him, more so than the trade IMO, is that he was a number 3 overall draft choice. The reality there is he doesn’t throw nearly as hard as he did prior to TJ surgery, so he’s not nearly as valuable as he was when he was drafted. But he still could be a useful guy if he developed a third pitch.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Apr 21, 2009 4:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Good point.

Does that also explain why we cut Gomez slack and don’t cut Delmon Young slack?

They take similar at-bats, Young has more talent at the plate and Gomez has more talent in the field. But they’re both exasperating. But Gomez came via Santana and replaced Torii. And he had a tremendous marketing push behind him.

It’s been interesting watching our reactions to the two players.

by Evan Nelson on Apr 21, 2009 7:21 PM EDT up reply actions

The reason Gomez gets more slack

is that he’s still got value even when he doesn’t produce at the plate.

by DK on Apr 21, 2009 8:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Gomez can field, Delmon can't

Also, Gomez has a bubbly personality, Delmon doesn’t have a personality.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Apr 21, 2009 8:53 PM EDT up reply actions

"personality goes a long way"

Gomz does have value outside of his offense….but he tends to at least say the right thing and give the appearance of trying to grow as a ballplayer. Delmon…not so much.

It seems to me that when and if Young realizes his potential it will be in a contract year or after he has left the Twins. Similar to Sheffield in a way.

by guinness junky on Apr 21, 2009 9:13 PM EDT up reply actions