Yesterday afternoon, DJSkillz posted his thoughts on Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel, in terms of their free agent designation. In some detail he went over what it would take for each player to be a Type A or Type B guy and the resulting fallout for the Twins. You can follow the link or scroll down the front page to read the post in full.
This morning, MLB Trade Rumors posted their latest reverse-engineered Elias Rankings. With Cuddyer playing one more game as an outfielder than a first baseman, his rankings took a small jump upward. Among potential free agent outfielders, he ranks second among four who project to be Type As.
Name |
Team |
Type |
Score |
Pos |
Nick Swisher | NYY | A | 87.945 | OF |
Michael Cuddyer | MIN | A | 78.904 | OF |
Josh Willingham | OAK | A | 76.712 | OF |
Carlos Beltran | SFG | A | 76.512 | OF |
With Luke Hughes available to play first base and the Twins looking to keep the physical toll on Joe Mauer as low as possible, there are two players who can field the position in the absence of Justin Morneau. Kubel will continue to DH, while Rene Tosoni and Ben Revere will get a lot of time in left and center field respectively. It's certainly no guarantee with the defensive positioning totals so close for Cuddyer between outfield and first base (where he'd slip to a Type B), but those are the reasons I think Gardy will play him in right field more often than not the rest of the way.
Kubel, meanwhile, is the top-ranked free agent outfielder with projected Type B status.
Name |
Team |
Type |
Score |
Pos |
Jason Kubel | MIN | B | 69.863 | OF |
Raul Ibanez | PHI | B | 69.070 | OF |
David DeJesus | OAK | B | 64.932 | OF |
Ryan Ludwick | PIT | B | 62.093 | OF |
Kubel isn't necessarily on the cusp of being a Type A (the American League cutoff is somewhere between Kevin Youkilis, 75.294 as a B, and Delmon Young, 76.164 as an A), but he's not so far away that a very good month of September couldn't change something.
Neither Cuddyer nor Kubel would be considered a superstar, which means that finishing the season as a Type A free agent might actually help the Twins keep them around - it's unlikely that a team surrenders a first round draft pick for Type As who aren't superstars. But one or both of them finish as a Type B player, and they choose to test the market, it's very likely we'll be looking at an extra draft pick or two next June.