Marwin: Still Here, Still Good

He'll always be welcome on my team. Great move signing him.

I thought it was a great signing and even after last years down performance he still was worth the $. 

Big value in a guy who can fill in at multiple positions, play them well and add something with the bat. Not to mention he is ok play 4 or 5 days a week spelling guys at different positions along the way. 

Nice to have a guy like that, he can play multiple positions well if you need to give someone a rest or to cover a short-term injury. Plus he's got a pretty good bat. Outside of the rough start to the year he was pretty good in the middle, had some big hits. 

Yes, he had a down April and May (and September, apparently) but wasn’t he right up there through the summer? I kept feeling his OPS was over .800 and he was right there with the best of the lineup through those months...

Ehire and others can easily replace him. Would rather cut him loose and spread a message.

Never liked the signing and still don't, He's an average hitter at best and his versatility in the field can easily be replaced by the other bench players. (Cave, Adrianza, Astudillo. Wade). Pile on the sign stealing scandal and I like him even less. My opinion, every Astros player involved should have to serve an 80 game suspension. Cheating is cheating in any form, doesn't matter if it's PED's or sign stealing or corked bats, pine tar, vaseline, scuffing the baseball, whatever. 

I am not going back to his Astros days, but I am looking at last year and this and I think he was there as a one size fits all bandaid last year and he filled in well.  He was not a star and he probably got to many ABs, but this year with Donaldson and Sano at the corners and lots of corner OFs his need and therefore his value dropped.  SS and CF are the weakest positions and they are his weakest too.  I do not expect to see him in 2021. 

I think any projection for Gonzalez should probably give little weight to 2017-2018. His 2019 numbers are in line with his 2016 but he isn’t nearly as valuable as 2016 because he played just 1 game at SS and 2 games at 2B last year. Even Astudillo was given 2 games at 2B.

He is still a good defender on a corner. His bat likely at 5-10% below league average isn’t empty. A good BABIP year and he a valuable piece. Selecting the right match ups with pitchers and his numbers will be skewed better. I hope he has one more useful year. On the other hand if there is more decline I hope the Twins will be ready to cut ties.

Ehire plays middle infield. Gonzalez plays the corners. They overlap at 3B. If Ehire isn’t needed it will be Gordon or Lewis or some other middle infielder that pushes him out.

Gonzalez needs to hit well enough to be useful at a corner.

Gonzalez is the definition of a bench guy on a team that expects to compete for a championship. Veteran who can provide near-average offense from either side of plate, and good defense at multiple positions. Adrianza was a revelation offensively in 2019, but, we don't know if he can sustain that. Cave has been even better offensively. Like virtually every bench player on every major-league roster, all of these guys likely suffer if exposed to extended periods of every-day action. For that reason, their redundancy is a good thing, not a bad thing. Meanwhile, if Adrianza can sustain the offense, and one or more of the prospects actually 'arrive', then in 2021 it will probably make sense to let Marwin walk.

Made mistakes? He cheated along with many other Astros and in so doing took the integrity of the game down the crapper. They knew what they were doing. I for one will be happy to see him move along after this season if not sooner.

Hes typically a slightly above average hitter which is more than we can say about Adrianza or Astudillo and he has much better defensive metrics at any positions that any of Cave, Adrianza and Astudillo play (other than catcher)

Disagree. His range in the infield isn't as good as Adrianza's. Cave has better speed than him in the outfield and with Astudillo able to play catcher that makes him more valuable than Marwin especially since Donaldson and Sano all but have the corner infield spots locked up. in 2019 he hit .264, Adrianza hit .272, Astudillo hit .268 and Cave hit .258. All 3 are very capable of filling his expensive shoes. 

Sometimes things go beyond analytics

I would be happy if the Twins simply hit the eject button and no one ever spoke his name again

If we are going to sent a message and hit the eject button, just cut The Turtle. We don't need cheerleaders, we need rings. Saw Cruz brought his son to ST. He can easily replace The Turtle and looks much better in a uniform.

If we are going to sent a message and hit the eject button, just cut The Turtle. We don't need cheerleaders, we need rings. Saw Cruz brought his son to ST. He can easily replace The Turtle and looks much better in a uniform.

Astudillo’s DRC+ was 95 last year and above league average for his career. That is better than Gonzalez (93) and Cave (89) who faced a much easier set of opposing pitchers.

If we are going to sent a message and hit the eject button, just cut The Turtle. We don't need cheerleaders, we need rings. Saw Cruz brought his son to ST. He can easily replace The Turtle and looks much better in a uniform.

How is Gonzalez necessary to win a ring?  I get that he has 10.5 left on his contract this year and we aren't going to just throw it away, but I know I would.  His game is no better than Adrianza's and I think it is important to send a message to all Twins players that this bullsh*t is not tolerated here.

Not sure how or why that is a crazy notion.  Tell him he can keep his check and just leave.

Don't confuse him with the facts.

...I think it is important to send a message to all Twins players that this bullsh*t is not tolerated here.

 

Not sure how or why that is a crazy notion.  Tell him he can keep his check and just leave.

That'd be balllsy. $12M for Cruz...$44M for Polanco...$20M for Pineda....and about $10M for Gonzalez. Four contributors and about $86M.

Would send a message though.

That'd be balllsy. $12M for Cruz...$44M for Polanco...$20M for Pineda....and about $10M for Gonzalez. Four contributors and about $86M.

 

Would send a message though.

Uh, there is a distinction I make between taking PEDs and being part of a team-wide cheating scandal.  Those guys did it and deserve a strike.  Another strike and I would want to cut ties.  The other thing about it is all of those other players suffered consequences.  Marwin has not.  You do understand this, right?