Revere on the trading block?

[Brock Beauchamp]

Twins gave away there #1 hitter, if they give away the #2 there won't be many runs to drive in. The defense is hurt already and the future is no where in site just as well donate the money to the fiscal cliff.

[Jim Crikket]

Twins gave away there #1 hitter, if they give away the #2 there won't be many runs to drive in. The defense is hurt already and the future is no where in site just as well donate the money to the fiscal cliff.

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You obviously have company, Brock. If you haven't already, check out LaVelle's early morning Insider post. Sounds like the Twins were up late working on a possible Revere deal. Serious enough that they called their PR guy back from the airport where he was set to fly home to Minnesota. And Hicks' representatves were pumped about speculation that the Twins would be willing to give their client a shot at the CF job.

 

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/blogs/Twins_Insider.html

[Riverbrian]

Interesting indeed?

 

I'm serious... I would buy any book that published every conversation.

[Brock Beauchamp]

You obviously have company, Brock. If you haven't already, check out LaVelle's early morning Insider post. Sounds like the Twins were up late working on a possible Revere deal. Serious enough that they called their PR guy back from the airport where he was set to fly home to Minnesota. And Hicks' representatves were pumped about speculation that the Twins would be willing to give their client a shot at the CF job.

 

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/blogs/Twins_Insider.html

 

I would be so excited if they dealt Revere. Right now, we're seeing the difference between Ryan and Smith at the helm. Ryan traded his centerfielder and it looks as if he has realized that there's still a market for centerfielders. Well, damn, the Twins just happen to have another centerfielder on the roster and a second one hammering away in New Britain.

 

Revere may or may not be dealt. I can see upside and downside to each. But just the fact that Ryan is playing supply and demand to his advantage is reassuring. We finally have a GM that understands how to run a baseball team again.

[ericchri]

Tim Raines made it into the HoF with a similar skillset.

 

Care to reevaluate that statement?

 

He should be in the Hall of Fame with that skillset, but as of right now...

[Jim Crikket]

Revere may or may not be dealt. I can see upside and downside to each. But just the fact that Ryan is playing supply and demand to his advantage is reassuring. We finally have a GM that understands how to run a baseball team again.

 

I tend to agree. That said, "trying" only gets a guy so far with me. If they come through all of this without significantly improving this team, Ryan will open himself up to justifiable criticism for only being willing to do just below whatever it would have taken to get the job done. This team needs help and it's not enough to try, he has to do it. I'm really not interested in reading a bunch of post-mortem columns by the beat reporters about how hard Ryan and his group worked, even though they didn't get anything done but pick someone in the Rule 5.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Revere may or may not be dealt. I can see upside and downside to each. But just the fact that Ryan is playing supply and demand to his advantage is reassuring. We finally have a GM that understands how to run a baseball team again.

 

I tend to agree. That said, "trying" only gets a guy so far with me. If they come through all of this without significantly improving this team, Ryan will open himself up to justifiable criticism for only being willing to do just below whatever it would have taken to get the job done. This team needs help and it's not enough to try, he has to do it. I'm really not interested in reading a bunch of post-mortem columns by the beat reporters about how hard Ryan and his group worked, even though they didn't get anything done but pick someone in the Rule 5.

 

Absolutely. Results matter. But at least Ryan isn't stuck in a rut and he's thinking outside the box a bit. Even considering moving Revere is a pretty big step, IMO.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Tim Raines made it into the HoF with a similar skillset.

 

Care to reevaluate that statement?

 

He should be in the Hall of Fame with that skillset, but as of right now...

 

Hah, right. That should read "Tim Raines should make it into..."

 

I think he'll make it in time.

[LaBombo]

Even if he converts ground balls into hits next year at the same rate as the 2012 league leader in infield hit rate, Norichika Aoki (13.5%), Revere will only pick up 8 extra hits, which would be an improvement of about 10 points of batting average. Meanwhile, his line drive rate fell to 18.6%, which puts him just outside the 20 lowest rates of the 142 qualifying hitters in 2012. His speed-related hitting is just about maxed out, so if he's going to see a sustainable improvement in obp, it will have to come mostly from more walks or more line drives.

 

Those are infield hit percentages, meaning balls fielded without error and no out recorded. BABIP on ground balls will be higher. Heck, Mauer's was .285 last year, although I don't know what Revere's was. But, that reminds me of another peanut stat - reaching base on error, where Revere had 8, Aoki had 13. Mauer had 4, Willingham had 5, by comparison. Just another marginal benefit of speed that doesn't even get factored into BAv or OBP, although they are obviously recorded as at-bats.

 

Water over the dam at this point, I guess, but what you said doesn't make sense. 10.8% IS Revere's batting average on ground balls in play. Honest. 295 ground balls(!) times 10.8% equals Ben Revere's infield hit total of 32, not including bunt hits. And I'd wager that nobody in the history of the league has converted ground balls into hits at a .285 clip. Mauer only managed to beat out about 3% of his grounders for infield hits.

 

So again, Revere isn't due for a breakout solely on the basis of a disparity between his speed and his BABIP. He is, however, going to lose a big chunk of his value the very minute that he loses just one ounce of speed, since he's already close to maxing out his potential for getting on base when he hits the ball on the ground. That said, he's a good player, and I wish him well in Philly.