Twins Designate Oswaldo Arcia

This could be wrong, but Arcia was not a fit here.  I am more disappointed in Molly as the manager than the front office.  TR is not going to tell Molitor who to play and how often, so this is the result.  Future needs to be here and playing, so trades and player movement is to be expected.  This could turn out wrong, but if Molly was not going to use him, what was to be done.  He may clear waviers(Doubt it, but possible).  Bet he is claimed and probably on waivers in another week or two to send to AAA. 

Don't see the love here. 

The demise of Oswaldo Arcia could likely be the demise of Buxton, Kepler and several others:  extraordinarily long swings.  I don't know where this all started, but I'd have to question how this got through the entire MiLB system.  I don't want to see a return to "The Twins Way", but reality should start setting in.

Arcia almost didn't make it out of Spring Training.  If I remember correctly, Darin Mastroianni, Carlos Quentin or Ryan Sweeney were the other options.  That tells me a lot.  His MLB .732 OPS [MLB average] is highly influenced by his occasional power.  Per FanGraphs: 

"The problem with OPS is that one point of OBP and one point of SLG are not equal. OBP is about twice as valuable as SLG, meaning that OPS overrates power hitters and underrates high-OBP guys."

My best hope for Arcia is that he ends up in Boston, somehow, and listens to David Ortiz.  There's a lot of similarities, except for the swing.  Ortiz has a short, quick swing [not choppy] that Arcia needs to be successful.  Best wishes!

I am interested to see how Arcia's DFA resolves. The Twins must have assessed that he will not be claimed. They had other options and a great need for players with an upside.

I see two possible bright sides.

-Arcia makes it to Rochester and hits well given consistent playing time.

-Arcia is claimed by another club. He plays regularly and hits well. The eyes of the Twins owner are finally opened and the result is new management in the front office and on the field.

I don't get it. Its not that there aren't goo reasons to want to keep Buxton/Kepler up here. And it not like Arcia was getting much time. But losing talent like that organizationally is just wasteful and there wer so many other options. One option not mentioned: send Park to AAA. He's on his way there anyway.

Do you think the front office is hesitant to send Park down because it would be an admittance of failure of their only off season signing?  Otherwise, he probably should have been sent down already.  Besides 1b/DH types didn't strike me as an offseason need anyway. 

I'm going to be the contrarian here and say that this is probably what's best for Arcia. I doubt the Twins were either going to use him properly (as a platoon bat) and/or provide him the proper instruction in order to correct his contact issues. Nothing in this organization's history has shown they can do either, never mind doing both. Another team may very well unlock his potential, but it was never going to be the Twins.

In nearly 1,000 PA's Arcia has provided -0.5 fWAR, he has only had one season with above replacement value. And with the logjam of 1B/DH/RF types on this team- there just isn't space going forward for another strikeout prone, defensively limited, one dimensional player. 

True, and wRC+ at FanGraphs tries to correct for that.  Still, Arcia's career OPS+ and wRC+ are the same, 101.

thanks for that info.  I'm still not up on all the advanced stats.  Interesting stuff.

What a lot of people who are hating this move should be aware of, is Ozzie never earned a full-time spot on BAD teams. Is not an outfielder, huge flaws in his approach... I've always thought he's been way overvalued around here because he a hit a few dingers that one time.

Who has "earned" playing time?  Park?  Nolasco?  Santana?  

Look.  lots of people are over the top here.  Its not likely he becomes a serviceable player.  But its a bad move for a last placed team to cut young players at the expense of old players

I think everyone agrees with that first paragraph for sure.

So my point is, other than the poor roster management that got us to this place, I'm not too bummed out. He was never going to be an above replacement level player with the Twins. Replacement level or worse players is not something this team needs more of.  

Designated for Assignment? What's the assignment? Hitting? Home Runs? Sounds good to me. 

The Royals and Rays could use a DH.  They may even be smart enough to platoon him as a DH.

The Royals and Rays could use a DH.  They may even be smart enough to platoon him as a DH.

I would like to see him come of the bench in SF. They could really use someone like him in that role. 

His MLB OPS vs Right handed pitchers is .785 (.316/.469).  I don't think you'll find many people who thought he should be a full time starter in the outfield. But he could've been an extremely productive LH Platoon at DH

I believe he has had over 600 plate appearances vs. right handed pitching in his MLB career, with over 34 home runs.   With Park's struggles, they probably could have got him a few more at bats at DH vs righties.   

From Gleeman:

"Oswaldo Arcia has played 251 games. Most homers in Twins history through 251 career games:

51 J. Hall

44 Morneau

44 Oliva

40 ARCIA

40 Gaetti"

Interesting decision.   Roster management and player development continue to be the thing I am most alarmed at, over the last number of years.

Well, this only works if you commit to play Kepler and Buxton every single day, which means Santana is the fourth outfielder and bench fodder with Centeno and Escobar (what a bench, eh). They should've sent down a pitcher with options (lots to choose from who are proving themselves marginal). Maybe they are hoping to get a trade bite.

But if you intend to play Santana, then Kepler or Buxton should be down at AAA playing everyday, and it would probably be Kepler, who seems to make the most of his work, although if you put Santana in center, then Buxton.

The Twins lose another player (probably) and not get anything in return. One that is young and still has some potential, not like 4-5 members of the pitching staff (not counting starters) plus a couple of promising outfielders who need to play and if they don't play up here, then you really lost someone. Better to have Santana playing at Rochester and re-developing his shortstop skills on a regular basis (in case you do part ways with Nunez).

Since the Twins are out of contention, it's in their best interests to maximize the evaluation of every player vs. wins. In fact since the top two picks in the draft have a significant advantage, there's additional incentive to view wins as secondary.

Keep Buxton & Kepler in AAA until late August (there's no rush - they have options left).

Play Arcia, Grossman, Santana, and Park as much as possible. Bring up and play Polanco after the ASG.  

But the Twins are short sighted.

His MLB OPS vs Right handed pitchers is .785 (.316/.469).  I don't think you'll find many people who thought he should be a full time starter in the outfield. But he could've been an extremely productive LH Platoon at DH

That OBP leaves something to be desired. The major league average OBP this season is .320. For his career Arcia has a wRC+ of 115 vs RHP and 71 vs LHP. John Jaso, a very successful left handed platoon bat has a career wRC+ of 127 vs RHP and 57 vs LHP. Fangraphs doesn't have any split data prior to 2002, but David Ortiz had a wRC+ vs RHP of 139 and 63 vs LHP his last season with the Twins. Arcia just does not provide enough value with the bat to offset his defensive limitations or his struggles vs righties. 

I'm glad they finally made a decision on him. Personally, I think it's a good move for him and for the team.

John Jaso is 32 and had all of 10 major league at bats by the age Arcia is today. 

He had a wRC+ of 120 vs RHP and 82 vs LHP in 2010, his first year with an significant playing time in the majors. Plus he was primarily a catcher then.