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Twins sign former Mariners top prospect to minor league deal

Parker Hageman

By Parker Hageman
in Minnesota Twins Talk

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Parker Hageman All-Star

Parker Hageman

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According to MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger reports that the Twins have signed catcher Jeff Clement, a former Baseball America's Top 50 prospect, to a minor league deal. Clement, 28, never gained any traction at the major league level with Seattle and was later traded to Pittsburgh in 2009 for Ian Snell and Jack Wilson.

 

In the International League last year, Clement hit 16 home runs and 35 doubles (second most in the league) but like a true swing big, miss big type of hitter, he also struck out in 101 at-bats (22% of plate appearances).

 

Clement was a Twins former 12th round draft pick in 2002 out of his Marshalltown, Iowa high school but chose to attend USC instead.

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roger GCL Twins

roger

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If I recall, the Twins tried very hard to sign him following the draft. He chose instead to attend college. That worked out well as he was the Mariners first round pick, #3 overall. I believe he set some type of national home run record while in high school.

 

Most likely will be at Rochester, although they now have four catchers (Clements, Fryer, Herrmann and Lehmann) which seems a bit crowded. Will Lehmann begin another year at AA? Or is this a sign that Butera could be on his way out as a non-tender candidate? On the other hand, the Twins always like to have a couple AAAA catchers around.

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gmarais66 Draft Eligible

gmarais66

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If I recall, the Twins tried very hard to sign him following the draft. He chose instead to attend college. That worked out well as he was the Mariners first round pick, #3 overall. I believe he set some type of national home run record while in high school.

 

Most likely will be at Rochester, although they now have four catchers (Clements, Fryer, Herrmann and Lehmann) which seems a bit crowded. Will Lehmann begin another year at AA? Or is this a sign that Butera could be on his way out as a non-tender candidate? On the other hand, the Twins always like to have a couple AAAA catchers around.

 

He's no longer considered a catcher. He's a first baseman.

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Jim H College Ball

Jim H

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Roger, I doubt if the Twins really signed him to be a catcher, although he may get an invite to spring training to help with all the pitchers. These kind of signings are interesting because it is fun to speculate on the rationale. Was he signed to provide a bat at Rochester? Maybe the Twins think he can still catch and be a potential replacement if injuries befall Mauer or Doumit? Maybe he was signed just as a favor to his agent or see if he can recapture what made him a hot prospect?

 

Most of these type of signings of former high draft picks who were once hot prospects, never really seem to work out all that well. A lot of them are released in spring training or lanquish in AAA for a the whole year and then are released.

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roger GCL Twins

roger

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This pretty much showd ya what Roc's everyday players are.

C:Hermann/Fryer w/Pinto/Lehman in AA

1B: Collabello/Clement

MI: Dozier or Escobar w/Field/Betesford....Santana in AA

3B:Romero

OF: Dinkelman/Ramirez/Bigley w/either Benson/Hicks...other & Arcia in AA

 

Remember when Romero was added to the 40-man roster while at Beloit? After a disappointing season, including injury, he was removed a year later. He has quietly moved up the ladder and following last year's all-star season is again a real prospect. Doubt he will be in contention for the third base job this year, but by September or spring, 2014 he could be.

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roger GCL Twins

roger

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If I recall, the Twins tried very hard to sign him following the draft. He chose instead to attend college. That worked out well as he was the Mariners first round pick, #3 overall. I believe he set some type of national home run record while in high school.

 

Most likely will be at Rochester, although they now have four catchers (Clements, Fryer, Herrmann and Lehmann) which seems a bit crowded. Will Lehmann begin another year at AA? Or is this a sign that Butera could be on his way out as a non-tender candidate? On the other hand, the Twins always like to have a couple AAAA catchers around.

 

He's no longer considered a catcher. He's a first baseman.

 

Thanks, I hadn't followed him since he left the Mariners.

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Otto von Ballpark All-Star

Otto von Ballpark

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A former first-round pick, he had a very brief but promising first call-up at age 23, then followed by a poor partial season in the majors and a dominant half-season at AAA at age 24.

 

Interesting that the above statement can be applied to both Clements and to Parmelee. Not saying they are equivalent, but Clements' story does serve as a reminder to temper our enthusiasm about Parmelee a bit.

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Jeremy Nygaard St Paul Saints

Jeremy Nygaard

Twins Daily Staff
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After Bollinger tweeted the news of the Clement signing, there were a number of replies about how the Twins need to sign real players instead of minor league guys. I get that. I think most of us here get that, especially considering no one here's complaining about the Clement signing.

 

Either way, I did a little research:

 

Last year, the Twins had 14 minor-league free agents they didn't re-sign (according to my records). They had 15 non-roster non-organizational spring training invites, most of whom weren't announced until later in the winter.

 

This year, the Twins have 17 currently not re-signed minor-league free agents (some still unsigned, some lost to others). The Twins have only signed four from other organizations. Obviously the door is still open for some of them to return - a name like Kyle Waldrop comes to mind - but it shouldn't come as any surprise if the Twins continue to add another dozen minor leaguers.

 

I would think Jeff Clement essentially replaces Sean Burroughs, who played a lot of first base last year. As mentioned above, Romero will probably get a lot of the 3B at-bats and Colabello will probably get a lot of ABs as well at 1B/DH.

 

I continue to look forward to more of these signings, even though they aren't very exciting.

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twinsnorth49 St Paul Saints

twinsnorth49

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A former first-round pick, he had a very brief but promising first call-up at age 23, then followed by a poor partial season in the majors and a dominant half-season at AAA at age 24.

 

Interesting that the above statement can be applied to both Clements and to Parmelee. Not saying they are equivalent, but Clements' story does serve as a reminder to temper our enthusiasm about Parmelee a bit.

 

Nah, I'll remain enthusiastic about Parmelee.

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Fire Dan Gladden First Round Pick

Fire Dan Gladden

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After Bollinger tweeted the news of the Clement signing, there were a number of replies about how the Twins need to sign real players instead of minor league guys. I get that. I think most of us here get that, especially considering no one here's complaining about the Clement signing.

 

Either way, I did a little research:

 

Last year, the Twins had 14 minor-league free agents they didn't re-sign (according to my records). They had 15 non-roster non-organizational spring training invites, most of whom weren't announced until later in the winter.

 

This year, the Twins have 17 currently not re-signed minor-league free agents (some still unsigned, some lost to others). The Twins have only signed four from other organizations. Obviously the door is still open for some of them to return - a name like Kyle Waldrop comes to mind - but it shouldn't come as any surprise if the Twins continue to add another dozen minor leaguers.

 

I would think Jeff Clement essentially replaces Sean Burroughs, who played a lot of first base last year. As mentioned above, Romero will probably get a lot of the 3B at-bats and Colabello will probably get a lot of ABs as well at 1B/DH.

 

I continue to look forward to more of these signings, even though they aren't very exciting.

 

Thanks for providing a little perspective on these signings. A reminder that there is more going on then just signing starting pitching. I would like to say that this should cool peoples jets a bit, but it won't.

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LaBombo Wichita Wind Surge

LaBombo

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Signing guys like Clement is a task performed by every organization, every off season. More of an administrative task than a really serious personnel undertaking. Like replacing an under-performing tofutti concession stand with a deep fried butter-on-a-stick vendor, and about as relevant to the long-term on-field performance of the major league club.

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Jim H College Ball

Jim H

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Last year, the Twins had 14 minor-league free agents they didn't re-sign (according to my records). They had 15 non-roster non-organizational spring training invites, most of whom weren't announced until later in the winter.

 

This year, the Twins have 17 currently not re-signed minor-league free agents (some still unsigned, some lost to others). The Twins have only signed four from other organizations. Obviously the door is still open for some of them to return - a name like Kyle Waldrop comes to mind - but it shouldn't come as any surprise if the Twins continue to add another dozen minor leaguers

 

I will be a little disappointed if the Twins add that many minor league free agents. You should lose about 15 minor league free agents a year near the top of the minor leagues just to make room for younger players moving up. If you have to replace all the minor league free agents you lost, with more minor league free agents, well then your young guys just aren't developing. That is pretty much what happened last year.

 

It seems like a lot of kids in the lower minors had pretty good years. I hope that means they are developing and ready to move up a level. What you hope happens is that there is a few players at AAA every year who move up to the majors. Ideally there should be around 10 AA players ready to move to AAA. The same all the way down the system. Of course it doesn't work that way in real life. There are mid-year promotions and injuries and often promising prospects stall out at higher levels. Still, if a minor league system is real healthy, it should be able to replace most of the minor league free agents and other dropouts from within the system.

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Jeremy Nygaard St Paul Saints

Jeremy Nygaard

Twins Daily Staff
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Last year, the Twins had 14 minor-league free agents they didn't re-sign (according to my records). They had 15 non-roster non-organizational spring training invites, most of whom weren't announced until later in the winter.

 

This year, the Twins have 17 currently not re-signed minor-league free agents (some still unsigned, some lost to others). The Twins have only signed four from other organizations. Obviously the door is still open for some of them to return - a name like Kyle Waldrop comes to mind - but it shouldn't come as any surprise if the Twins continue to add another dozen minor leaguers

 

I will be a little disappointed if the Twins add that many minor league free agents. You should lose about 15 minor league free agents a year near the top of the minor leagues just to make room for younger players moving up. If you have to replace all the minor league free agents you lost, with more minor league free agents, well then your young guys just aren't developing. That is pretty much what happened last year.

 

It seems like a lot of kids in the lower minors had pretty good years. I hope that means they are developing and ready to move up a level. What you hope happens is that there is a few players at AAA every year who move up to the majors. Ideally there should be around 10 AA players ready to move to AAA. The same all the way down the system. Of course it doesn't work that way in real life. There are mid-year promotions and injuries and often promising prospects stall out at higher levels. Still, if a minor league system is real healthy, it should be able to replace most of the minor league free agents and other dropouts from within the system.

 

I agree to an extent. But you also want to create competition for roster spots and have to assume that will squeeze a dozen or so from the roster completely. Regardless of how many are brought in there is only so much room for organizational filler. The more you bring in, the more you ultimately release... which is fine.

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twinsnorth49 St Paul Saints

twinsnorth49

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Even if Clement isn't going to catch, Butera is probably going to be nontendered

 

 

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Riverbrian Cooperstown

Riverbrian

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He probably won't amount to much but then again... He might. Nothing wrong with running him up the flagpole. He's got power... A little contact added to that and maybe it pays off. If he is in the way of anyone... I'm not sure who that is.

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