Article: Oswaldo Arcia To Be Called Up On Monday

[StormJH1]

I've been trying to get worked up about this, but the fact is that he dominated AA, even if only for 69 games, and he's murdering the ball early in AAA this year. He'll be 22 in May, and if we're at the point where the younger "Top 100" prospects are close to or already better than the Parmelee-type mid-tier prospects who are just hanging around, then we might as well get them up here and have a look. He'll probably be sent right back down anyway.

 

Kinda strange that Wilkin Ramirez's paternity leave led to Arcia's callup, since Ramirez is a righty that shouldn't be getting platoon time anyway. Parmelee's been alright so far, but now he takes a seat for "the next big thing". Of course, Parmelee may have the 1B job by the end of the year anyway due to Morneau injury or trade, but he does have to hit.

[Danchat]

Kinda strange that Wilkin Ramirez's paternity leave led to Arcia's callup, since Ramirez is a righty that shouldn't be getting platoon time anyway. Parmelee's been alright so far, but now he takes a seat for "the next big thing".

Wait... who said Parmelee was taking a seat?! He has the third highest AVG next to Mauer and Escobar! I also hope Ramirez gets his spot back, y'know, in case Arcia suddenly becomes a sensation and starts. I'd plop Arcia in left, Willingham DH, and Doumit... catcher and pinch hitter.

[kab21]

Nothing wrong with calling Arcia up for 3 days and getting him a couple of starts (my guess).

 

It will be a surprise if they put him out there in CF though. If Mastro isn't capable of starting games to give Hicks a couple days off then they need to address that differently.

[Madre Dos]

Good Luck Oswaldo! It was so good to see him during spring training. He will take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself.

[TheLeviathan]

Yeah, is Mastro another one of these 'he's hurt but we're not going to put him on the DL for 3 weeks, shorten our bench, and then finally put him on the DL right before he's healthy enough to come back" routines that seems to be common for the Twins lately?

 

I was really hoping we wouldn't have that again this year.

[DAM DC Twins Fans]

I'd plop Arcia in left, Willingham DH, and Doumit... catcher and pinch hitter.

 

I would start Arcia one day in each of the 3 OF positions--straight up or Hicks in CF, move Willingham to DH when he plays left , move Parmalee to 1B and Morneau to DH when he plays RF. The last is important--to see Parmalee at1B so we can tell if we should sell Morneau in July (if healthy)

[cmathewson]

Arcia can play CF as good as Cuddyer; this did not stop Gardenhire of playing the latter there...

 

That was a failed experiment if there ever was one. Just because Gardy was comfortable with it for a few games doesn't mean it's a good thing. I personally would rather have Parmelee in center than Cuddyer.

 

I hope Arcia is better than Cuddyer, and by all accounts he is much faster anyway. He still isn't likely good enough. But it's better than the worst center fielder ever to play out there for the Twins.

[spideyo]

There is another twist on this:

 

Bringing up Arcia instead of Benson or anyone else on the current 40-man roster, will bring some rear ends on Target Field seats. I would not doubt that people who were not planning on going to the games against the Angels (the only team with worse record than the Twins in the AL, btw) will go. Maybe up to 1000 a day; that's 3000 people for the 3 days, which translates to about 150K for the Twins (tickets, concessions etc.) Not bad.

 

I was just coming on to post something like that.

 

Right now, we're on a 5 game skid, with our last two games being awful thumpings. Our hitters aren't hitting. The weather has been awful. They need SOMETHING to get people excited, to get some good buzz going around this team. Bringing up Benson or a third catcher ain't gonna do it.

 

Besides that, Ryan has said more than once this season that "service clock" issues aren't going to keep him from bringing up the best players available, and I have to take him at his word. What use is an extra year of control going to be if Target Field is empty in 2015?

 

It's worth remembering that If Gardy and co go, Terry Ryan might not be far behind. It's all well and good to talk about building for 2015 and beyond, but they still need to earn their paychecks this year, an that means trying to field the best team possible with the assets they have

[stringer bell]

Per Baseballreference.com, Arcia has played 77 games in center field. He's played only 31 in left. I think the eventual destination for Arcia is right, with Parmelee moving to first. I hope he can get a game in as a left fielder because the Hammer would be better served as a DH.

[kab21]

There is absolutely no reason that the service clock should even be in the discussion. He will be up for 3 days and then sent down. 3 days of service time is meaningless unless he suffered a season ending injury in those 3 days.

[shimrod]

"they still need to earn their paychecks this year, an that means trying to field the best team possible with the assets they have"

 

I think management is evaluating Ryan by dollars, not wins. If Arcia loses games due to shoddy defense but attracts paying customers to the stadium due to hope and promise I think the Twins management takes that tradeoff in a heartbeat. I doubt, however, enough potential ticket buyers have ever heard of him to make a difference in attendance.

[Steve Penz]

Its tough to be original after 70 comments so here goes. I think he should stay long enough to give Ramirez the leave he needs and then go back. Address centerfield with centerfielders. Let him go back to killing it and playing everyday at AAA. When they trade Mourneau and/or Willingham midseason then space will be made and he can come back for good. Whatever they do they should not cut into parmalees normal amount of ABs.

[whydidnt]

Looking at the weather, isn't it possible that the next couple of games are postponed anyway? We might not even see Arcia before Ramirez returns. If they do play, I think he'll probably be a bench player and maybe start one game. This is one of those times the Twins just want to give him a taste of MLB and also give the Major League staff a chance to see how he reacts to the bigs.

[ashbury]

Its tough to be original after 70 comments so here goes.

 

It's been attributed to the Buddha and variously to others: "Do not speak unless you can improve the silence."

 

/ This, coming from one of the worse offenders at TD

[Steve Penz]

Yeeouch. Brutal.

[Ultima Ratio]

I would like to see Arcia get his own extended look like Hicks, and during that time Hicks goes down. Of course, the real problem (not for me) in this scenario is who would lead off? I mean Hicks must lead off and no one else can even with a sub .110 OBP, but he's also kind of fast - so there's that.

[Kwak]

Gardenhire said "...the computer says Mauer should bat 1st, 2nd, and 3rd...". But, there is the rather likely scenario where Mastroianni plays CF and leads off. Include Arcia in the mix and who sits? My take: Arcia in LF, Willingham DH, and Doumit sits/backs up Mauer.

[DaveW]

The idea that Arcia is going to bring "fans to the seats" is pretty foolish IMO, yeah, a few more fans will come watch the games, but your average Twins fan (the ones that make up 95% of the attendance day to day) probably have no idea who Arcia is, and if they do aren't going to go out of there way to shell out money just to see him take a few at bats in the middle of 35 degree weather while the Twins most likely drop 2 of 3 against the Angels.

 

There is one thing that puts fans in the seats: Winning baseball games! Well that or cheap beer, but Rocketpig knows that ain't happening anytime again.

[Oxtung]

Injury is only a concern if he gets seriously injured while in the majors. Once he's back in the minors, any injuries from that point forward will use the minor league DL and no additional service time would be accrued.

 

I don't understand what you're saying about "not making it back and still using a year of service time." It's been pointed out that it doesn't work that way. The clock doesn't simply start and then just keep running, it stops the instant the player goes back to the minors.

 

I have tried to write this response a couple of times now and each time it comes out wordy and clunky not really getting at my point very well. So please try your best to understand my underlying points.

 

Obviously if Oswaldo goes back down after 3 days he will not accrue a full year of service time in 2013 regardless of how the rest of this year plays out. That seems to be what you think I'm arguing....which I'm not.

 

I thought I had read somewhere, probably during the Hicks service time debate on a website I can no longer find, that you could only accrue one season of partial service time. In other words if Arcia was on the roster for only 140 days this year he would still have the full 6 years of service time available (this part is obviously true.) However I think this website stated you could only do this for 1 season and that there after (so starting in 2014 in this Arcia example) he would be charged with a full season of service time regardless of whether he reached the magical 172 (or whatever the magic number is) games.

 

So my worry, and argument, is that Arcia comes up and starts his clock. He returns to AAA. Get's injured like Benson. He burns his 1 year of partial service time playing only 3 games that could have gone to a bench player. Then in 2014 he is not ready to go to start the year, whether because he is still rehabbing or is just rusty, and doesn't get called up until let's say July. If my memory is correct he would still get charged a full year of service time. So instead of almost 7 years of pre-FA control he would instead end up with 5.5 years or so.

 

So like I said I understand that his service clock stops when he is sent back down this year. I understand that as long as he goes back down he will not accrue a full year of service time. It's next year that I have a problem with. Of course I can't find that website now to double check my memory so.....

[Mike Sixel]

You can't be afraid to make moves because I guy might get hurt. That's just not a way to run an organization. why would you do that?

[Otto von Ballpark]

I thought I had read somewhere, probably during the Hicks service time debate on a website I can no longer find, that you could only accrue one season of partial service time.

I think this is false. Look at Justin Morneau. According to BB-Ref, he has 8 full seasons of service time through 2012 (so, 2005-2012). But he also spent partial seasons in MLB in 2003 and 2004. By your suggested rule, he would have accrued a full season of service time in his second partial year of 2004 and would thus have over 9 years of service time through 2012, and been eligible for arbitration and free agency a year earlier, etc. But that's not the case.

 

Basically, you cannot collect MLB service time when you are in the minor leagues (unless it's a rehab stint when you're on the MLB disabled list), as long as you spend 20 or more days in the minors for a season (the JJ Hardy rule). What you are suggesting would actually be a pretty massive change from that, and it would surely be better known if it were true.

[nicksaviking]

You can't be afraid to make moves because I guy might get hurt. That's just not a way to run an organization. why would you do that?

 

Sounds a lot like the third catcher arguement. They finally put aside that safty blanket.

[snepp]

I have tried to write this response a couple of times now and each time it comes out wordy and clunky not really getting at my point very well. So please try your best to understand my underlying points.

 

Welcome to the club. Every time I've tried to write out service time related posts they sound great in my head, but stream out of my keyboard like crap.

 

 

I thought I had read somewhere, probably during the Hicks service time debate on a website I can no longer find, that you could only accrue one season of partial service time.

 

Nope, doesn't work that way. The only thing that really matters with service time is total days. It takes 1,032 days of service time for a player to become a free agent, and a player can accrue, at most, 172 days of service in any single season. Once a player hits 172 days in a season, the clock stops for that year (typical season is like 184 days).

 

(172 x 6 = 1032, for the non-mathletes among us)

 

There are no limits to the amount of partial seasons. You could accrue 10 days in year one, 172 in year two, 20 in three, 60 in four, etc, and still be well short of qualifying for free agency even after all those seasons of appearing on the major league roster.

[ThePuck]

Welcome to the club. Every time I've tried to write out service time related posts they sound great in my head, but stream out of my keyboard like crap.

 

 

 

 

Nope, doesn't work that way. The only thing that really matters with service time is total days. It takes 1,032 days of service time for a player to become a free agent, and a player can accrue, at most, 172 days of service in any single season. Once a player hits 172 days in a season, the clock stops for that year (typical season is like 184 days).

 

(172 x 6 = 1032, for the non-mathletes among us)

 

There are no limits to the amount of partial seasons. You could accrue 10 days in year one, 172 in year two, 20 in three, 60 in four, etc, and still be well short of qualifying for free agency even after all those seasons of appearing on the major league roster.

 

Have to factor in the amount of options a player has too...

[snepp]

Have to factor in the amount of options a player has too...

 

Well yeah, that, and the player's right to refuse assignment that they gain (after 5 years of service), but those were unnecessary complications for my hypothetical.

 

There's also the option for a player to opt for immediate free agency if they've been outrighted previously in their career, or if they have a certain amount of service time (3 years?)

[diehardtwinsfan]

Have to factor in the amount of options a player has too...

 

Options are simply the number of years a player can get sent to the minors without a say in it. Every player has 3 options when they first hit the 40 man. Arcia burned an option this year by starting in AAA. If/when he gets sent back down, he will not burn a second. If he starts next year in AAA again, he uses his second option.

[ThePuck]

Options are simply the number of years a player can get sent to the minors without a say in it. Every player has 3 options when they first hit the 40 man. Arcia burned an option this year by starting in AAA. If/when he gets sent back down, he will not burn a second. If he starts next year in AAA again, he uses his second option.

 

I know what options are...and how they work. Thanks for the refresher though.

[kab21]

Options won't be an issue with Arcia since he just burned his first option this year. he will be up to stay before that 4th year. Easily.