What’s the going rate?
Remember
the 1994 movie Little Big League? In it, the owner of the Twins passes away and
wills the team and the stadium to his grandson, 12-year-old Billy Heywood. He
names himself the manager of the Twins. Some of the veteran players do not like
that decision and needing to abide by the rules of the youngster. A veteran
pitcher tells him that he isn’t going to pitch and isn’t going to do anything
to affect his upcoming free agency.
Heywood
says, “What’s the going rate for a 30 year old free agent pitcher that can’t
get anybody out?”
Suddenly,
the pitcher had a change of heart and pitched well again.
The
Twins will have some big decisions to make between now and the beginning of the
2012 season. Two of the bigger decisions involve a couple of immensely talented
but enigmatic ball players, Delmon Young and
Francisco Liriano.
Some
believe that the Twins should trade them for whatever they can get for them.
Both have one more year of arbitration remaining, but some fans believe that the
two are non-tender candidates. What would you do?
How
about this? Go to each player with the Billy Heywood comment.
“Hey
Francisco, what is the going rate for a 28 year old pitcher with an ERA of
5.00, a history of injuries and the perception that he doesn’t put in his
work?”
“Hey
Delmon, what is the going rate for a 26 year old
corner outfielders coming off of a season with a .650 OPS, less than 30 extra
base hits, bad defense and a questionable attitude?
Neither
of these guys is old. Both have had very good seasons as recently as 2010 when
Young hit .298 with 46 doubles, 21 homers and 112 RBI and Liriano
won 14 games with an ERA of 3.62 and 201 strikeouts in 191+ innings.
Instead
of selling low on both of them, why not put the pressure on them to work really,
really hard in the offseason, knowing that they really need to put up big
numbers in 2012 or potentially lose out on a lot of money. Why not let the
Twins see what they can get from those players in a contract year? Let the
Twins be the beneficiary of that effort. Both do have the world of
talent. We have seen that talent on the field. They are both young enough
to still reach that level again.
Of
course, bringing them back means that the Twins will need to pay them at least
80% of what they are paying them this year. Most likely, each would be in line
for a small raise. That could mean $10-13 million for the two players that
could be used elsewhere.
I
just really do not believe in selling low. What do you think?
(For
the record, I don't think that this is what will or even necessarily should be
done. I think at least one, most likely Young, will be traded in the
offseason, or sooner)
TWINS WIN!!
The
Twins were able to beat the Red Sox 5-2 on Wednesday night. It was a
much-needed win for the team. A couple of quick notes:
·
Following
the game, Trevor Plouffe was optioned to Rochester
with Alexi Casilla coming off the Disabled List. He
got a few games here and there in this stint, but again, no regular, daily
playing time. He definitely was shaky defensively no matter where they put him,
and the bat did not come through in the limited playing time.
·
Justin
Morneau will be activated on Friday before the game
in Cleveland. At that time, the Twins will need to send one more player down. I
have to assume the decision is between Jason Repko,
who has an option, and Ben Revere, who has all three of his options remaining.
Revere is clearly the better player, but that isn’t the decision. Revere needs
to play pretty much every day. If he will do that with the Twins, then keep him
up. If not, send him to Rochester for the next two weeks and let him play. With
Denard Span struggling, I have to believe Revere
stays.
·
Nick
Blackburn needed a good start, and he got it.
·
Congratulations
to Joe Nathan for becoming the Twins all-time leader in Saves, passing Rick
Aguilera on the list.
MINOR LEAGUE
NOTES
·
Rochester
11, Durham 3 – Justin Morneau went 2-4 with a walk
and a long home run. Dustin Martin went 2-5 with his 21st double.
Michael Holliman went 1-3 with a walk. Jake Stevens started and gave up only an
unearned run in four innings. He gave up eight hits, walked none and struck out
two. Eden Prairie native and former Gopher Cole DeVries
struck out four in three scoreless innings. Dusty Hughes struck one out in one
shutout frame. Jim Hoey gave up two solo home runs in
his inning of work.
·
After
being rained out on Tuesday, the New Britain Rock Cats and Altoona played two
games on Wednesday. In the first game, the Rock Cats lost 5-0. David Bromberg
went four innings and gave up four runs on eight hits. He walked two and struck
out one. Brett Jacobson then struck out three and gave up an unearned run in
two innings. Matt Schuld pitched a scoreless inning.
The Rock Cats managed just five hits. Yangervis Solarte (30) and Mark Dolenc (13)
each doubled.
·
The
second game got ugly quick, and the Rock Cats lost 14-1. Spencer Steedley started and went one inning. He gave up seven runs
on seven hits and four walks. Dakota Watts then gave up five runs on five hits
and a walk in the next two innings. Steve Hirschfeld
gave up a run on two hits and two walks in two innings. Deolis
Guerra gave up a run, but struck out two in one inning. Tyler Robertson worked
a scoreless inning. The Rock Cats had just six hits. Mark Dolenc
went 3-3 with his 14th double.
·
Beloit
lost to Wisconsin 3-1. Blayne Weller made the start
in place of BJ Hermsen. He went four innings and gave
up two runs on three hits and a walk. He struck out four. Michael Tonkin gave
up one run on three hits and a walk in three innings. He struck out three.
Adrian Salcedo pitched a scoreless inning. The
Snappers had just four hits. Nate Roberts was 1-3 with a walk.
·
Elizabethton
shut out Danville 3-0. Tim Shibuya threw five scoreless innings. He gave up
eight hits, but he walked none and struck out four. Corey Williams gave up one
hit and two walks in two scoreless innings in which he struck out four. Steven
Gruver struck out two in two scoreless innings. Eddie Rosario led the offense
by going 2-4 with his sixth triple. He also stole his 12th base. Kennys Vargas hit his 11th double. Matthew Koch,
the Twins 12th round pick, made his debut and went 1-1 with a walk
and a sacrifice fly.
·
The
Ft. Myers Miracle and the GCL Twins games were both rained out.
·
Twins Minor League Weekly
will be on tonight at 10:00.
·
LaVelle blogged his updated prospect list,
starting with Twins
prospects 6-10. Today, he will post his Top 5 Twins Prospects.
Any thoughts?? E-mail me, or leave
some Comments.