Wednesday News and Notes
Nick and Nick have an interesting take on the whole Washburn nonsense today. The suggest that if the Twins are so desperate to sign a pitcher with “veteran” in front of his name, they should go after Ben Sheets. I like the idea. Although I don’t think they will, because our rotation is set, but lets think about this. Washburn is set to make 10.3 million next year. If we were to trade for him we would have to pick up at least half of that. Considering that Washburn is terrible and has no upside, what is the point? Haven’t they learned from the Sidney Ponson’s of the world? The closer we get to pitchers and catcher, the cheaper someone like Sheets will be. He will probably be available on a one year deal, for around the same, or less, as Washburn. Sheets has tremendous upside and even if he pitches 100 innings will probably be worth more than washburn. We have enough depth in the rotation, that if (when) he goes down he can be replaced with someone good.
I do not think this will happen. I’m just saying, that if this team really wants “veteran” leadership, why not get someone who is not only a veteran, but also a good pitcher? See how these crazy Washburn rumors affect me? I think whoever gets Sheets, will be getting a hell of a deal. However, the Twins are having enough problems making room for their pitchers (namely Bonser and Humber) that adding someone as risky as Sheets will force us to get rid of someone who could be a very reliable reliever/spot starter. Obviously we should pass on adding any starting pitching. As you all know, I do not support handing people jobs based on past performance, but all five of those guys deserve to be in our starting rotation on opening day.
This might be the worst post I have ever written, but it was written over about two hours intermittently, so my train of thought is off. So to summarize: we shouldn’t add a starting pitcher just because we think we need “veteran” leadership. When will we start calling Baker a “veteran”? I know he looks like he is 12, but c’mon. IF the team for some reason feels the need to add a “veteran” presence, instead of paying an expensive, no upside guy, why not sign an expensive high upside guy if the price is similar?
Obviously not much else is going on in Twins land these days. We discussed the cheap signing of Ty Wigginton. It looks like the Twins are going to go into spring training with the roster they had last year. I’m not comfortable with the fact that there aren’t too many competitions going on in spring training. I feel that always brings out the best. The OF competition should be interesting. Obviously all four guys will make the team, hopefully Gardy gives them all equal reps in spring training. This year might be the first year in a long time where Gardy really has to “manage” game in and game out. We have a platoon at third, and a platoon of sorts in the OF. In the past (for the most part) the lineup was “set it and forget it”. No he has to consider matchups each game. The third base platoon should be fairly straigh forwards. Harris against lefties, Buscher against righties. The OF will be a little bit more work. He will have to look at how players have faired against certain pitchers. This will be difficult since three of them (Young, Gomez, Span) have very limited major league experience, therefore can’t possibly have much of a track record against anyone. I’m afraid Cuddyer will unfairly be favored and instead of 4 guys rotating through 3 positions, it will be 3 rotating through 3. The DH spot will probably be open against most lefites, and Young or Cuddyer and step in on those days, and then the outfield will be set by default.
What other roster spots are guys competing for? Is it just the utility infielder? I would assume Tolbert is far and away the leader for that spot.
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I like the idea of signing Sheets. And FanGraphs has taken a look at it, pointing out that you’re right: Sheets for 100 IP plus 100 IP of replacement level pitching is BETTER than 200 IP of many pitchers. And when he goes down, we’d be replacing him with Perkins, so we’d be getting better than replacement level out of his replacement.
I think there’s nothing not to like about a one year Sheets signing. Especially since he’d probably be a Type A free agent next year.
That said, it’s not happening. The Twins don’t like acquiring players who are good. They like acquiring players who won’t get paid by anyone else. I guess they must feel bad for these crappy players and want to hand some cash out to make the fans feel like they’re closer to the payroll expectation.
I’m on the fence about signing another starter. I think our starters are just fine and we don’t NEED another guy, but it’s a long season and anything could happen. It seems to be general consensus that Perkins is the weakest of the Fab Five, and I also worry about how Blackburn will hold up. But I’d hate to see Perkins or Blackie pushed out of the rotation at the beginning of the year just because Ben Sheets has a longer history of success while not injured.
Off topic: I think some people are too down on Cuddyer. I understand being disappointed by his 2008 campaign, but now some folks are seriously downplaying what he brings to the team. Cuddy just needs to watch out for freak accidents (seriously, getting hit by a baseball on the basepaths= really unlucky). I look for him to surprise some Negative Nellies by supplying some much-needed power in 2009. What do you think?
I think he gets too much credit because he was excellent in 2006. His 2007 was nothing special. I don’t think he should take a backseat to the other three, the point I was trying to make was that all four should get equal playing time. Whether its in the OF or at DH (only against lefties). I hope he puts up huge numbers, but I’m not assuming he will. I’m more optimisitc about Young, since I believe he is the more talented player.
I’m curious to see how Cuddyer does this year, after his eye surgery. I think he could do just fine.
I really don’t think it’s a problem that we have 4 outfielders good enough to start, two of whom could also be our DH if we didn’t already have one.
Gardy says it all the time, and he’s right: Having too many good players is a better problem than having too few.
Good points- that’s why I’m glad Smith has decided not to trade any of the outfielders thus far.
I wonder if Tolbert will contribute much this season- Gardy really liked him last year before he got hurt. I would love to see yet another AAA guy get an opportunity to prove himself in ‘09.
No offense to Tolbert, but I personally hope he doesn’t get much of a chance to play. If he has a chance to contribute, it means someone got hurt.
That said, it’s not happening. The Twins don’t like acquiring players who are good. They like acquiring players who won’t get paid by anyone else. I guess they must feel bad for these crappy players and want to hand some cash out to make the fans feel like they’re closer to the payroll expectation.
Quick question — do we consider the Twins organization a place where veteran players come to retire? When no other team will sign them, they end up with us?
Ruben Sierra. Tony Batista. Craig Monroe. Adam Everett. Ramon Ortiz. Sidney Ponson.
Oh yes. RONDELL WHITE.
Juan Castro.
Sierra: yes. White: yes. Batista: played 80 games with the Nationals. Monroe: Pirates now? Everett: Tigers. Ortiz: 10 games with the Rockies. Ponson: Rangers and Yankees after us. Castro: Reds and Orioles.
Does that prove that every team picks up guys at the end of their careers or their are other organizations that are even more dumb than us…both I bet.
Batista: NATIONALS. Also, he went to Japan. Monroe: PIRATES. Ortiz: Only played for the Rockies because the inexplicably traded for him. We signed him to the last contract he ever got. Ponson: The Rangers and Yankees aren’t really known for their great pitching; and the pitching-poor Rangers CUT HIM; and the Yankees only picked him up after every other option had failed.