Sano Tweaks Elbow, Will Get Examined

[chuchadoro]

To me, there is a big difference between counting chickens and counting one chicken.

 

The Twins should've gotten a bucket of KFC for a sacrifice. %*€# you, Jobu.

[jokin]

Let me tell you (from experience) : If you ask someone to play 3B, you might ask him to play SS. 1B and C (and corner OF) are more alike than 3B and SS. You probably noticed that most third basemen are failed shortstops, not catchers. There is a reason for this.

 

Catchers who are good athletes and end up switching positions frequently have 3B as an option- Torre and Bench are examples. Joe Mauer was a good enough athlete to be offered a QB scholarship at an NCAA National Championship-level football team and played Point Guard for a MN High School State Tournament team. Killebrew, Torre and Cabrera would never be asked to play SS, but they did adequately man 3B, Mauer's easily a better athlete than all 3.

[howieramone1406390264]

I dont know what would happen, but to be fair there is a strong sentiment often posted here that there is no reason to add talent until "the core" is in place.

 

One player does not constitute the core. The checkbook has been out since November and there is no reason to believe a single injury, which is just part of the game, will cause our favorite team to take their baseball and go home.

[jokin]

Agreed. Because of his athleticism, Joe might be able to do it but not in a month. And probably not as a 31 year old.

 

How about as a 30 year old?

 

Joe Torre- @ age 30, NL MVP playing 161 games at 3B in 1971. And his only prior experience at the position was 72 games at the position the previous year- this is exactly what I'm proposing that Mauer do this year should Sano prove to be out of commission for 2014, get his feet wet at the position, sharing time @ 3B with Plouffe, also providing the opportunity at getting another LH bat into the lineup against certain RHP. By season's end, it gives the team another option going forward- as they assess what to do with Sano.

[jokin]

One player does not constitute the core. The checkbook has been out since November and there is no reason to believe a single injury, which is just part of the game, will cause our favorite team to take their baseball and go home.

 

As near as I can tell, the checkbook has been closed since December 23, when Suzuki and Pelfrey were signed.

 

To the contrary of your conclusion, if Sano is out for the season, it merely adds another reason to forestall "the parade" of any new potential roster-bolstering acquisitions until the rest of the "core" hits the bigs for good. If Sano ends up on the shelf, wake me up in 2016.

[sandbun]

One player does not constitute the core. The checkbook has been out since November and there is no reason to believe a single injury, which is just part of the game, will cause our favorite team to take their baseball and go home.

 

But he wasn't just a part of the core, he was the vanguard of the new core. If the vanguard is delayed, the plan is delayed.

 

I'm not a Twins apologist and I don't believe that would happen, not even for a second. Heads are on the chopping block, this team has lost 90+ games three years running. No one is going to be foolish enough to tell the fans they need to wait three additional years to compete. If anything, a Sano injury would mean it is more likely that they WOULD spend money to compensate for the expected gap he would fill.

 

I suppose that's a possibility, but my guess is they do the same thing they did this year, let some people walk - Willingham, Correia, Suzuki would be over 15 mil right there plus Kubel and some other guys who are probably on their last chance to stick - and then sign a B or C free agent with that money and claim they've opened the checkbook. Maybe add a few more Suzuki type contracts, get up to maybe 90 mil. Then talk about how much they've changed and how aggressive they were, plus leak some reports of guys that they almost signed.

[jokin]

I'm not a Twins apologist and I don't believe that would happen, not even for a second.

 

Heads are on the chopping block, this team has lost 90+ games three years running. No one is going to be foolish enough to tell the fans they need to wait three additional years to compete.

 

If anything, a Sano injury would mean it is more likely that they WOULD spend money to compensate for the expected gap he would fill.

 

I don't get the bolded part, Nick. The entire coaching staff, contrary to the first guillotine-heeled instincts of nearly every other club in baseball, was given a 2-year extension- practically moments after yet another disastrous 96-loss season. Contrary to 2012, this year, they didn't even make a token sacrificial lamb out of one of the batboys. In effect, 2 more years were purchased to continue their 2014-15 master-plan:

 

1) Shore up the Starting Pitching from "Pathetic"...to... "Fair to Middlin' chance to get 3 Times through the Batting Order"- without raising the Net Payroll- Check.

 

2) Bask in the marketing Before-and-After-Glow of hosting the All Star and Futures Games- Check.

 

3) Deposit the annual $25M media checks into the capital fund paying down the Pohlad debt on Target Field- Check.

 

4) Sell "Hope", both this year and next, in the Dr Feelgood designation-mode of the club allegedly sporting "The #1 Farm System in Baseball."- Check.

 

With Sano possibly going down- this could mean he is possibly delayed from becoming an effective and entrenched major leaguer until at least 2016, thus, assuming the dreaded "announcement" that he's going under the knife, they would now already have a ready-made post-season excuse to give to season ticket holders for yet another 90+ year on the Loss side, and every perverse incentive to shoot for one or two more top 5 draft picks in June 2015 and possibly 2016 before any significant attempts at increasing the payroll.

 

I go with Sandbun on this, the scenario of Sano going down means 2, or even 3 years before this team will make the full commitment to compete.

[jokin]

But he wasn't just a part of the core, he was the vanguard of the new core. If the vanguard is delayed, the plan is delayed.

 

 

 

I suppose that's a possibility, but my guess is they do the same thing they did this year, let some people walk - Willingham, Correia, Suzuki would be over 15 mil right there plus Kubel and some other guys who are probably on their last chance to stick - and then sign a B or C free agent with that money and claim they've opened the checkbook. Maybe add a few more Suzuki type contracts, get up to maybe 90 mil.

 

Then talk about how much they've changed and how aggressive they were, plus leak some reports of guys that they almost signed.

 

Dutiful Doogie will be sure to get and publish the stories next offseason about how it was down to the Twins, the Yankees and the Dodgers for Sherzer, Lester and Ramirez.

 

Meanwhile, the club will have shocked everyone and proved how aggressive they were in bringing back Nick Punto to stabilize the middle infield situation, Josh Johnson coming home to the place of his birth (he says he remembers how great the winters were here before he moved to LA at the age of 6), to both shore up the lack of LH starting depth and revive his starting career and Torii Hunter, who "took a steep discount" to finish up his career at the age of 39 with the Twins in CF and as a mentor to Hicks and Buxton.

 

The "vanguard", if you will, leading the way to the delayed core- ETA 2016.

 

Remember, you heard it here first.

[BigTrane]

...and now your 2014 forecast: fair to very Plouffey.

[Brock Beauchamp]

How about as a 30 year old?

 

Joe Torre- @ age 30, NL MVP playing 161 games at 3B in 1971. And his only prior experience at the position was 72 games at the position the previous year- this is exactly what I'm proposing that Mauer do this year should Sano prove to be out of commission for 2014, get his feet wet at the position, sharing time @ 3B with Plouffe, also providing the opportunity at getting another LH bat into the lineup against certain RHP. By season's end, it gives the team another option going forward- as they assess what to do with Sano.

 

Like I said, Joe might be able to do it. Torre isn't a great comp because he was two years younger when he made the transition and he had loads more starts at first through his mid-20s.

 

But I don't think it's really fair to ask Joe to learn the position during Spring Training. That's asking a bit much, even for Joe Mauer. Maybe if all of this went down in October, he would have had time to prepare during the offseason.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Perhaps. But if we are to play this scenario out, perhaps Dozier to 3B instead?

 

If he proves the last 4 months of 2013 weren't a mirage, I'd move him back to short.