Caseintheface is on top of things, getting in the first word on the Twins' Rondell White signing. (AP blurb, espn.com blurb, PiPress, STrib (by LEN3).) This isn't exactly a surprise, but now it's official. For the first half of the year, Rondell put in one of the worst performances in the history of the DH position, but now that the Twins have been through that, I doubt they'll let it happen again.
Some numbers:
AVG/ OBP/ SLG
.182/.209/.215 -- Pre-ASB/Injured, 2006
.321/.354/.538 -- Post-ASB/Healthy, 2006
.286/.339/.476 -- Career (translated)
With most players, the low walk rate would really worry me, but Rondell hasn't walked all that much throughout his entire career anyway, and he's been fairly successful. I'd say Rondell can hit for something like .285/.330/.450 if he doesn't play when he's injured. That's not great, but it's better than I would expect out of a Tyner/Ford platoon. It would also make some sense if the Twins try to rest him semi-frequently against RHP, as he's shown reasonably large platoon splits over his career:
.314/.364/.508 -- White vs. LHP
.276/.330/.451 -- White vs. RHP
There are all kinds of plate appearance totals that can escalate the value of the contract, but I don't think that'll be much of a problem as long as the plate appearances that he makes are healthy ones.
It's a bit unfortunate that White will be patrolling LF given his noodle arm, but Gardy has already shown a tendancy to put Ford in as a defensive replacement for White late in close games. In this situation, I think an offense/defense platoon makes some sense since it seems to cost a lot more than $2.75M to get a corner outfielder that can hit and throw these days.
At the end of the day, this move won't make or break the Twins' season. It's not great, it's not terrible, it's just a way to fill a position for a year or two.
Now if you haven't already, go read what caseintheface has to say about White.