Please include Spring Training results as part of the evaluation. Slama was given a good look this Spring--and he struck out.

Please include Spring Training results as part of the evaluation. Slama was given a good look this Spring--and he struck out.

4 innings in ST? Meaningless. By that measure, nearly half the team's pitchers "struck out"- including the #1, #2 and #3 Starting Pitchers.

 

A Gray-type experiment would more definitively answer the Slama question once and for all.

Who would be?

 

See the "5 predictions" post where I called that a week ago ;-)

 

Incidentally, I think Mauer will be our main Catcher at least another two seasons, and that gives us a lot of time for a kid like Josmil Pinto to prove he deserves the job.

See the "5 predictions" post where I called that a week ago ;-)

 

Incidentally, I think Mauer will be our main Catcher at least another two seasons, and that gives us a lot of time for a kid like Josmil Pinto to prove he deserves the job.

 

Entering his 6th year in the minors, it would be nice if Pinto could force the issue this year with a breakout season at New Britain, leapfrogging the sundry collection of C placeholders at AA and AAA.

 

It looks like his bat has come alive at the plate in 2012, do you have a good handle on how he's progressing behind the plate?

4 innings in ST? Meaningless. By that measure, nearly half the team's pitchers "struck out"- including the #1, #2 and #3 Starting Pitchers.

 

A Gray-type experiment would more definitively answer the Slama question once and for all.

 

Slama 4G 4.1IP 7H 6R 4ER 7BB 6K .350 BAVG 3.23 WHIP 8.31ERA Spring Training 2013.

 

What says "Major League" about this guy? There were scores of pitchers in camp, everybody gets a chance, but the starters and those expected to be on the Active Roster have to get "their innings". Slama got 4 chances to demonstrate he is effective at a "set-up" role--apparently he whiffed badly. How many chances should get?

Slama 4G 4.1IP 7H 6R 4ER 7BB 6K .350 BAVG 3.23 WHIP 8.31ERA Spring Training 2013.

 

What says "Major League" about this guy? There were scores of pitchers in camp, everybody gets a chance, but the starters and those expected to be on the Active Roster have to get "their innings". Slama got 4 chances to demonstrate he is effective at a "set-up" role--apparently he whiffed badly. How many chances should get?

 

I think it's clear that the Twins firmly established The Gray Threshold in 2012.

Burnett was the correct choice to go. Twins have a number of relievers with stuff coming in the next 2 years, he was not needed.

I think someone earlier was shredded for passing an opinion on Hermann based on the last year's performance in the majors.

Leviathan must like you.

 

Totally missed the point of that one man. Using 19 at-bats as an indicator of anything is terribly misguided. I don't know if Hermann is ready, but I will go out on this shaky limb: Most major league teams do not have a thrillingly solid option as their third or fourth catcher. So I'm really not that concerned about who that person is. (As long as that player isn't wasting a spot somewhere that a more versatile player should be in. And this year, we can say that isn't the case. Huzzah!)

I would project both Herrmann and Pinto on the roster in the future. It helps that they are opposite-handed. I think Doumit will be traded at some point in 2014.

Slama had 4 2/3 innings in 2010 and 2 1/3 inning in 2011. Are you seriously basing your conclusion on a grand total of 7 innings over 2 seasons? Given the state of the bullpen the last two years and the state of the Twins org during that same time frame, Slama should have been given every opportuntity to earn a spot, especially over the likes of Jeff Gray. I'm not going to pretend that he's the next Joe Nathan or anything like that, but the one thing he has done is put up gaudy stats at every stop, and has had no problems getting strike outs, only to get crapped on by this organization.

 

He's one of the few people in the high minors that has a chance to be a good late inning reliever. Why he has not gotten an extended trial, especially by a terrible team is beyond me.

 

No, I don't base my opinion solely on that small sample size, but neither can it be ignored, nor can his spring training numbers be ignored, nor can it be ignored that apparently nobody else in baseball rated him that likely to succeed as well, as he was passed over in the last two rule V drafts.

 

I do not believe he has been passed over because of some bias inherent in the organization; he's been passed over because, when the opportunity was there, he didn't take it and make the job his own. He had the opportunity to win the job this spring, just like Ramirez did. Ramirez took advantage of it; Slama didn't.

 

Success in the minor leagues does not always equate to success at the top level. There's a reason the batters Slama faces in Rochester are at the Triple-A level. I'm skeptical about Hendriks, too, for the same reason.