I would bet cash money that Herrmann would have a better offensive year than Eric Fryer.

 

And Fryer certainly would not even have been remotely considered by any other team in the rule 5 draft.

 

We have a ton of guys on our 40 man roster who would never be picked in the rule v draft - Parmelee, Colabello (are those two eligible or would they be outright releases? Either way, they wouldn't be taken), Herrmann, Hendriks, Hermsen, Iberra. Fryer has at least one thing that has shown to have value - strong catching defense.

 

As for Herrmann's offense, sure, I'll take that bet. You can send me $5 bucks at the end of next season.

I'm not arguing on Fryer's strong defense, just asking, but where is this knowledge coming from on his defense?

I don't get the angst. He was the starting catcher for a playoff team in the IL that used 20 starting pitchers, while hitting .704. I'm sure they'll sign a veteran to start. They'll keep either Fryer or Hermann as the back-up, and put Pinto in the starting spot in Rochester.

 

I don't think they consider either Hermann or Doumit catchers. They're utility guys who can catch. But we've seen what happens to the pitching staff when Doumit catches. Hermann is a little better. Pinto is a little better than Hermann defensively, but he still has a lot of rough edges to file off in AAA. Fryer is now the best defensive catcher in the system above A ball. He's the reason they traded Butera.

 

The only risk is to a roster spot, which is no big deal. AAAA guys get added and subtracted from the 40-man all the time.

Screw it, you convinced me. Let's start him.

The minimum is $500,000. Fryer's deal is for $515,000.

 

That's $15,000 that could have gone toward the posting fee for Tanaka.

 

Screw it, you convinced me. Let's start him.

 

I wouldn't go that far. But depth is good, especially at catcher, where guys tend to get hurt. A lot.

Based on my understanding of the CBA, the Twins really aren't out anything unless they outright release Fryer. If they released him today, he would cost them the minor-league share of his split-contract. They're on the hook for this major league salary if they released him within two weeks of Opening Day. It's all moot, though, because he has an option remaining. They thought they'd lose him on waivers if they tried to get him off of the 40-man.

 

The other thing I wondered is how many players sign their contract during the winter. The Rockies waived Roenicke - and the Twins claimed him - after he expressed disinterest with the split-contract they offered on November 2 of last year. I'm guessing the agreements just aren't made public (usually) until they put out the press release during Spring Training of all the players now being under contract. We'd have no idea if Berardino didn't report it... I'm wondering how many others are already done.

Fryer is an odd one. He was a college draftee, and always old for his level, but he actually put up some decent hitting seasons in the minors until he got to AAA in 2011, when his average just plummeted to around .200. Even so, last year he posted a ~.150 ISO and ~.100 "isolated discipline" at AAA which blows Butera out of the water.

 

If his 2013 AAA OPS translates to MLB anything like Butera's, he'd be about a .630 OPS guy. That's Florimon/Escobar (or almost career Punto) territory. Not good for a starter, but not embarrassing for a backup if his defense is legit.

 

Pinto starting with Fryer as his backup, with Doumit or Hermann able to start in the event of a Pinto injury, wouldn't be the worst situation in the world.

gunnarthor, I will take that bet. MLB with some sort of qualifying number of plate appearances.

 

Anyway, where is the evidence that Pinto was better defensively than Herrmann? That has never been true in the minors.

 

The "angst" is about the TR interview coupled with this. My guess is that they found out what Salty and A.J. wanted, potentially, and decided to get serious about the 28-year-old Eric Fryer as a major leaguer.