Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Presto(n) Change-o
Good morning to everyone! I'm writing this early on Wednesday morning. I actually went to bed at about 9:15 last night. Just couldn't keep my eyes open. If you can believe this, I didn't even watch the Twins game (even with Johan pitching!) until I saw the Castillo/Mauer double-steal followed by the Cuddyer two-run single (I know, maybe I should have been watching earlier if it brought that kind of luck, right?). I heard that Torii Hunter added another RBI. Then I saw that Joe Nathan was coming in and I knew that it was over! A very nice win for the Twins. Eight strong innings of three-hit, shutout ball for Santana. That's all you can ask for. Through 7.2 innings, Jake Westbrook was excellent as well. Joe Mauer was 1-2 with two walks.
Anyway, the other day, I wrote the below article and was going to only use it for scout.com. However, it is a couple of days later and it hasn't been posted there, and I hate to have wasted the time that I did put into it. Let me also say that I don't think that the Twins should do what I am saying below, especially not for the package I mentioned as he could be made available for very little in the next day or two. However, I thought that some of the numbers were rather interesting and it may be another name worth consideration for the Twins in 2007 so that they don't have to pick up a $12 million option on their 6th best player. I'd love to hear your thoughts, so be sure to post some Comments or just send me an e-mail.
If you’re anything like me, you like perusing the MLB Transaction pages. On Saturday, the Houston Astros called up their top pitching prospect, Jason Hirsh, to start for them against the San Diego Padres. That is a very similar situation to what the Twins did Friday when they called up their top pitching prospect, Matt Garza, to start against the Toronto Blue Jays. Similarly, each had what would be considered a disappointing start.
Their performances will likely be discussed in several places online. What made that transaction interesting to me was the other half of the transaction. In order to call Jason Hirsh up to the Astros, they had to drop someone from the 40 man roster. So Saturday, the Astros decided to Designate OF Preston Wilson for Assignment.
Now, I realize that Wilson has not been the player that a lot of people figured that he would become after he put up a few very strong seasons in Florida followed by a monster 2003 season in Colorado when he hit 43 doubles and 36 home runs to drive in 141 runs. He just missed about 100 games in 2004 because of injury. He was a big-time strikeout guy who showed major power flashes. However, outside of 2003, he never really seemed to fully reach his potential.
Sound familiar, Twins fans? An athletic outfielder with some power in his bat, who strikes out a lot and never quite met the potential that people felt he had… Torii Hunter anyone? So, putting this all together, I thought it would be interesting to compare the numbers of these two players.
Here are their 2006 numbers:
Wilson 102 G 105-390 .269/.309/.405 22-2B 2-3B 9-HR 55-RBI
Hunter 101 G 102-374 .273/.347/.444 15-2B 2-3B 15-HR 59-RBI
As you can see, both have missed a few games. Their batting averages are similar, but this year, Hunter has actually been more patient at the plate than normal, and he has hit for more power. But, both have been in the league about the same amount of time (Service Time - Hunter 6.35, Wilson 6.48), so let’s take a look at their career numbers:
Wilson 1050 G 1,014-3,828 .265/.330/.470 215-2B 16-3B 180-HR 646-RBIHunter 1028 G 993-3,709 .268/.323/.457 108-2B 25-3B 148-HR 565-RBI
So, as you can see, the career numbers of these two players are extremely close, especially if you were to factor in the Coors Field Factor when Wilson played for the Colorado Rockies.
Age -
Preston Wilson is 32. Torii Hunter is 31.
Salary -
Preston Wilson will make a total of $4 million in 2006. The team that has him at season’s end will have the option of picking him up for three more years at $8 million each year. Torii Hunter will make a total of $10.75 million in 2006. The Twins have the $12 million option for him for 2007.
So here is my question for you? Should the Twins try to deal for Preston Wilson now? Clearly this season, Torii Hunter has been better than Wilson, so maybe the Houston Astros would be interested in obtaining Hunter to better their weak CF spot. Since the Astros are apparently willing to eat the remainder of Wilson’s 2006 contract, I would assume that they would like to get something in return for Wilson.
Remember also that Hunter lives in Texas in the offseason, so maybe he would be happy to go to Houston. Remember also that for the Twins to trade Hunter, he would have had to clear waivers earlier this month.
What about a trade scenario like this:
The Twins trade Torii Hunter and a second-tier pitching prospect to the Astros in exchange for Preston Wilson and RHP Jimmy Barthmaier, OF Josh Anderson and P Raymar Diaz.
At season’s end, the Twins and their medical team could make the decision of whether or not to give Wilson $24 million or let him go. They would also stock up more prospects including two pitchers and a solid all-around OF.
In all, I just find it incredibly interesting how similar the career numbers of Torii Hunter and Preston Wilson have been. Both are free-swinging, athletic OF with power potential. Both have missed some time in recent years with injury. Both are now on the wrong side of 30. And both have interesting 2007 options in their contracts.
I don’t foresee the Twins even entertaining the idea of Preston Wilson as their CF for September or even for 2007. From their perspective, I do believe adding more prospects would be a positive.
I would love to hear your thoughts on Torii Hunter’s status with the team, Preston Wilson being Designated for Assigment or if the Twins should be a player in any August trade talk.
Any thoughts? Send me an e-mail, or leave some Comments below.
Here is a quick look at many of the other Twins blogs. If you haven't already, be sure to check each of them out for a few days and determine which you chose to bookmark on your computer. There are a lot of great Twins sites out there.
Probably a good Twins blog to start with is none other than On the Road with Pat Neshek. Today he discusses some of the letters he received in the mail. He also talked yesterday about an autograph signing he did over the weekend. Just a great site from the Twins rookie reliever! (NOTE - At John Sickels' site, someone posted a diary with the question "Do you see Neshek as a closer or set up guy?" Check it out and leave your thoughts.
The people over at Twinkie Town have really put together a nice site for Twins fans. It is good because of the ability to be interactive and to write your own "blogs/diaries" and get other Twins fans to respond.
Of course, everyone who reads my site probably already reads Aaron's Baseball Blog. If you don't read Aaron's site (you should!), you still probably read his work several other places as well!
The Twins blog of choice for me and obviously for many other Twins fans has become Stick & Ball Guy. His postings are usually short, pointed and incredibly valid, to go along with entertaining. His Comments fields are becoming quite populated with excellent discussion.
Right up there in that category is the stuff on Nick & Nick's Twins Blog. They write most every day and cover the information from several angles. They're just good and they're consistent.
Josh Taylor writes Taylor's Twins Talk, but he actually spends much of his time covering the Twins minor league system..
Battle Your Tail Off is a Twins site that includes forums as well as blogs on the Twins and on their minor leagues. Obviously the page's name comes from the phrase that Ron Gardenhire uses all the time.
Jeffrey Straub hosts the Minnesota Twins Fan Network. Twice a week, he produces a podcast for Twins fans. He makes a lot of great points and has been able to have some very good guests for discussion on his show as well. If you haven't already, definitely be sure to check it out!
The Twins Geek now has a big job with Gameday Magazine, the excellent Twins publication that you can buy outside the Metrodome before Twins games. His site is now the Gameday site and includes some of the information that you will find in the magazine as well as other links and thoughts.
Will Young continues to post articles and graphs using the Win Probability as Twins games progress each night.
Twin Killings had an excellent article on Justin Morneau hitting his 30th homer called Going for 40.
Jim Mandelaro writes for the Rochester Red Wings in the Democrat & Chronicle. He has also been writing a blog called Extra Bases. It talks mainly about the Red Wings (which this year means a lot about Twins players!), and it is very informative!
You can find some Twins rumors, thoughts and game information over at Twins Territory.
Twins Without Spin really does a great job of talking Twins frequently with some good analysis.
And of course, I have to encourage people to check out the Twins page on Scout.com. OK, I don't have to, but there really is a lot of good stuff there. Roger writes for them and others, and their Forum is pretty good too.
Here are the other pitching matchups for the remainder of the Twins/Indians series:
Tonight - 7:10 - Carlos Silva (8-10, 6.41, 1.58, .336) vs Cliff Lee (10-8, 4.64, 1.44, .285)
Thurs - 12:10 - Matt Garza (0-1, 23.62, 3.75, .500) vs Paul Byrd (7-6, 4.72, 1.43, .297)
Any thoughts on the series, please let me know! Send me an e-mail, or leave Comments below.
SethSpeaks Player of the Day - Garrett Olson, Elizabethton Twins
SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day - Peter Munro, Rochester Red Wings
If you have any thoughts on the Twins system, please e-mail me.
ROCHESTER REPORT
Tuesday - Red Wings 5, Ottawa 2 – Peter Munro picked up his eighth win of the year. He gave up just two unearned runs in 7.2 innings of work. Levale Speigner got him out of the eighth, and Bobby Korecky pitched the 9th for his seventh save. Andres Torres went 2-4 with two triples and two RBI. Kevin West was 3-4 with his 10th homer. Garrett Jones knocked his 18th homer of the year.
NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Tuesday - Rockcats 2, Erie 1 (16) – Yes, 16 innings! In the top of the 16th, Matt Tolbert doubled in Felix Molina and Danny Matienzo. Brian Duensing started the game and struck out seven in 6.1 shutout innings. Tristan Crawford then struck out three in his 1.2 innings. Julio DePaula and Justin Olson each went two shutout innings. Colby Miller pitched an inning. Jay Sawatski pitched two shutout innings before giving up one in the bottom of the 16th, but he got the win. Alexi Casilla went 4-7 with a double. Trent Oeltjen and Garrett Guzman each had two hits.
FT MYERS MEMOS
Tuesday - Miracle 3, Jupiter 0 - Oswaldo Sosa went six strong innings to improve to 2-0 since his promotion. He struck out two in his six shutout innings. Ryan Callahan and Chris Schutt combined for three more shutout innings. The Miracle scored single runs in the first, second and third innings. Luke Hughes hit his fourth home run. David Winfree had an RBI triple. Brock Peterson had an RBI double.
BELOIT BITS
Tuesday - Snappers 3, Quad Cities 4 – The Snappers had just seven hits, and Dwayne White had three of them. Alexander Smit, after taking about 25 steps forward this year, took a step back last night. In three innings, he gave up three runs on six hits, but the key was that he walked six batters. Armando Gabino gave up a run in his three innings. Adam Hawes threw two shutout innings, and Danny Vais pitched one.
ELIZABETHTON UPDATE
Tuesday - E-Twins 14, Bristol 3 – A ten run third inning gave the E-Twins another win. Alex Burnett improved to 4-1. The youngster went five shutout innings. He gave up just two hits, walked none and struck out five. Patrick Bryant gave up three in his two innings. Then Aaron Craig went two shutout frames. Garrett Olson led the offense with a 4-5, four RBI game. Brian Dinkelman went 3-6 with a double and two RBI. Greg Yersich was 3-6 with two doubles. Danny Santiesteban and Wesley Connor each had two hits including a double.
GCL TWINS REPORT
Tuesday - GCL Twins 5, GCL Reds 4 – Chris Parmalee went 1-2 with three RBI. Wilson Ramos was 2-5. Omar Alcala gave up four runs on five hits and four walks in five innings. He struck out six and it was good enough to improve to 3-1. Luis Carreras got a save as he gave up just one hit over the final four innings. On another note, former Twins reliever Grant Balfour started for the Reds club. He got two outs, gave up one hit and walked one. I assume he was on a pretty strict pitch count in this comeback attempt.
Do you have any further thoughts on any Twins prospects, minor leaguers, or these summaries? I would love any input, or ideas to make it better. Thanks! E-mail me, or also feel free to leave comments below.
Let me know what you think. Send me an e-mail, or let's talk about it in the Comments here. That is it for today!
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