Article: Three-Bagger: Duffey's Debut, Struggling Starters & Catching Depth

[Rosterman]

Roster overhaul time. Yet when veterans are playing bad, what do you do with them. Teams will hope that you just release them and they can then be signed for pennies on the dollars. The vets have the salary. Yes, they have to play for the next season salary or go into limbo and never play again. Right now, the Twins would get a bag-of-balls for Fien or Jepsen. Perkins is on the DL and is expensive for anyone but the Twins.

 

Supposedly no one was knocking down doors for Plouffe last season and during the off-season, partly because he, too, will be expensive. Now he's on the disabled list. The Twins had a modest trade chip that they could still offer out during the off season but decided to stick with him, Brian Dozier. Doz has power and has been a valuable cog in the system. But sadly, his value has plummeted, too.

 

I imagine Gibson and Milone are out of options. Gibson was a good trade chip and may redeem his value. The BIG THREE all have mighty contracts but if they keep pitching like the are, they should be flippable.

 

Hicks was an oddity. I was thinking the Twins should've brought his hot spring bat north and let Murphy start fulltime at Rochester. The catching situation is a mess. Total destruction. We lost Pinto because of roster space. It was fun to see Ramos having good at bats for the Nationals while Matt Capps languishes in the low minors for another team.

 

Some ways I long for a presence like A.J. Pierzynski, who might just cause some clubhouse tension and get guys to make personal moves more on the field.

 

Regarding the prospects, we have to be salivating about the arms in the minors, both starters and the bullpen. We can be assured that there might be some rough spots for the guys in their initial year up, which means if this is truly a "lost" season, we should be doing more up-and-downs with the prospects.

 

Speaking of downs, maybe Buxton AND Sano could use a little trip to the farm. Just to right some wrongs, have a change of pace, something. DON't worry the Twins braintrust by being Arcia 2015 at Rochester, just work on those swings and looking at the ball. I would give Danny Santana the centerfield position with Rosario and Arcia on either side (or maybe give Murphy that placeholder, since it seems the Twins badly want to pay a guy $1.1 million to come on the team and probably stink and get released). I would also use a Sano demotion as a chance to play him more at third base, and quickly make the decision of signing Plouffe longterm for three years plus an option or moving Plouffe to the outfield if Sano comes back and IS the third baseman for the near future.

 

Vets in the bullpen throwing gopher balls aside, we have a weakness right up the center - catcher/second base/centerfield. THREE positions totally dragging down a lineup. Three positions that you can't work around in line-up construction. Three positions creating an awful lots of sktrikeouts.

 

Speaking of strikeouts, I read somewhere about Buxton being hesitant to bunt (shades of Carlos Gomez). I somehow keep thinking that if he actually bunted the ball, putting it in play instead of striking out half-the-time, I might actually not mind those "outs" because the "corners are playing in expecting me to bunt."

 

The FUTURE of the Twins is showing itself in the minor leagues. YES, not ALL the guys will be Stars, but they are hungry and they have to know that they will have to make the most of any chance they get. When Pat Dean is #5 on the rotation prospect list...that means you have depth to look at and try.

 

Oh, and back to Hicks. What was someone thinking? Why? Makes me even long for the return of Eric Fryer. Or even Rene Rivera. Where's Corky Miller when you may need him. Maybe Kansas City wants to flip Drew Butera back to us. 

 

 

[Taildragger8791]

 

I'm comfortable with 17 since we still have Milone. He's basically #18 as he's now a better offensive option than a pitching option.

 

He's also a better offensive option than Murphy, Buxton, and probably Suzuki. Can we DH for our catcher on days Milone is pitching?

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I used Baseball-reference, though I relied on my own observations about the hard contact.

 

Within the limited scope of a AAA emergency starter making a spot-start, I completely agree that Duffey did the job. However, I took from Nick's article that he thought Duffey showed something more in the start, so much so that he should be considered for a permanent call-up. That was the point I was trying to counter. He might (might!!) be better than Milone going forward, but that's almost entirely based on Duffey's performance from last year, not his 1 strikeout, lots of contact outing from yesterday. And I don't think he showed anything from this start that would justify putting him ahead of Berrios (or even Meyer?) in the promotion queue. (Though I've been a pessimist with Duffey from the beginning, so I'm probably a little biased here.)

 

Got it. Thanks. I like Duffey so my bias runs the other way.

[PopRiveter]

 

I am not sure how can anyone said that Duffey did his job with just 4 innings pitched.

 

I understand the argument regarding Milone doing worse the second and third time facing a lineup.  If you check Duffey's numbers, you will found an even more pronounced discrepancy.   Thus using the same argument Duffey also belongs in a pen.

 

Duffey has not proven that he can pitch 6 innings in the majors yet.  And he will be an asset in the pen that is really hurting.

 

I would not trust Milone in a contender's pen.  Milone belongs to AAA.

First off, pretty clear from Nick's article that Duffey was performing well until getting hurt. Is your beef that he hasn't proved he can pitch into a game after getting hit with a liner?

 

Second, "I understand the argument regarding Milone doing worse the second and third time facing a lineup... I would not trust Milone in a contender's pen." 

 

I think you may have understood his point backwards. He used the statistics to make the point that Milone is not a good candidate to move to a bullpen. Seemed like you thought you were disagreeing when in actuality, you both conclude he's not a bp asset.

 

Regarding Duffey to the bullpen- you may have a great idea there. I could get behind that.

 

 

[DocBauer]

My head hurts from banging it against walls. The only person you can drop from your roster to make room for an aging role playing corner OF is your 3rd catcher, who at least has some ability and a little potential?

[scottz]

 

 

My head hurts from banging it against walls. The only person you can drop from your roster to make room for an aging role playing corner OF is your 3rd catcher, who at least has some ability and a little potential?

 

I really don't understand exposing the 3rd catcher to waivers either, for David Murphy. Especially because when Danny Santana comes off the DL, we have to figure out what to do with our 7 OFs (Arcia, Buxton, Kepler, Sano, Rosario, Santana, and supposedly, Murphy). They really need to clear 2 of these, and clearly, it won't be Murphy if they are going through the hassle of getting him up here. So do they send both Buxton and Kepler down? If they try to send Arcia down, he's gone (claimed) and that would be absolutely stupid to lose both the 3rd catcher and Arcia for David Murphy.

 

I'm not even making a point, so I'll be done here. David Murphy.

[jokin]

 

. So do they send both Buxton and Kepler down?

 

Yep, and probably on the same plane.

[KirbyDome89]

 

 

Speaking of downs, maybe Buxton AND Sano could use a little trip to the farm. Just to right some wrongs, have a change of pace, something. DON't worry the Twins braintrust by being Arcia 2015 at Rochester, just work on those swings and looking at the ball. I would give Danny Santana the centerfield position with Rosario and Arcia on either side (or maybe give Murphy that placeholder, since it seems the Twins badly want to pay a guy $1.1 million to come on the team and probably stink and get released). I would also use a Sano demotion as a chance to play him more at third base, and quickly make the decision of signing Plouffe longterm for three years plus an option or moving Plouffe to the outfield if Sano comes back and IS the third baseman for the near future.

 

 Have you been following Sano at all the last 2 weeks? He had a slow week to start the season and since then he's been exactly who we thought/hoped he would be. If you seriously want him at AAA its going to be a tough season for you watching him mash in the big leagues....

[Taildragger8791]

 

 Have you been following Sano at all the last 2 weeks? He had a slow week to start the season and since then he's been exactly who we thought/hoped he would be. If you seriously want him at AAA its going to be a tough season for you watching him mash in the big leagues....

 

I hope you're right, and he did seem to turn a corner there for a week, but he just struck out in 7 of 15 PAs this weekend with 1 walk and 3 hits. I wouldn't say he's settled in just yet.

[Pitz]

losing stinks

[gocgo]

There is no way it's Murphy coming up.  Just no way.

[jimmer]

'Three-Bagger: Duffey's Debut, Struggling Starters & Catching Depth'

 

We have catching depth? :-)

 

Two catchers on the 40 man roster and not one catcher who should be starting at the major league level.

Edited April 25, 2016 by jimmer

[Nick Nelson]

Welp. According to Mike Berardino, the move to outright John Hicks was made in order to make room for David Murphy, but then the Twins talked to Murphy and he informed them he wished to be released. 

 

Yep. Gonna be a tough to top this for worst roster move of the year. Horribly botched. 

[Vanimal46]

If what Berardino says is true, this is a panic move and a complete disconnect in communication between TR and Murphy.

 

Surely this had to have been discussed between TR and Murphy before this plan went into effect, right? Or did TR act on this without speaking to Murphy first?

[Mr. Brooks]

If what Berardino says is true, this is a panic move and a complete disconnect in communication between TR and Murphy.

 

Surely this had to have been discussed between TR and Murphy before this plan went into effect, right? Or did TR act on this without speaking to Murphy first?

It's worse than that.

This is a professional scout who has been around the game for 50 years who scouted Murphy in person the last few days.

 

His personal evaluation was that Murphy belonged on a mlb roster, when in fact the player was playing without his heart in the game and decided to retire because he didn't have it anymore.

 

Wow. It's time for Ryan to step down and let someone younger take over.

[Mike Sixel]

The should be embarrassed by this move, completely and utterly embarrassed.

 

Odds any reporter in this town actually confronts them on this? Zero.

[jimmer]

 

The should be embarrassed by this move, completely and utterly embarrassed.

 

Odds any reporter in this town actually confronts them on this? Zero.

Did any reporter call them out about having only two position players on the bench?  I know if one tries really hard and looks at things at a certain angle cause they really want it, they can come up with why that was defensible, but it really wasn't.

[jokin]

 

Wow. It's time for Ryan to step down and let someone younger take over.

 

The sad fact is- Ryan himself said as much in so many words the first time he stepped down.

[jokin]

 

. So do they send both Buxton and Kepler down?

 

Yep, and probably on the same plane.

 

 

:shoot: :fenforcer: