Saturday,
November 13, 2010
Twins Ink Chase Lambin
The Twins have come to an agreement with minor league
infielder Chase
Lambin. The 31 year old switch-hitter spent
the 2010 season playing for Syracuse, the AAA affiliate of the Washington
Nationals. He hit .252/.327/.414 with 28 doubles, 15 home runs and 58 RBI. He
spent 2009 in Japan playing for Chiba Lotte. In 58
games there, he hit .192/.254/.358 with four homers. He was in the Marlins
organization for the 2007 and 2008 seasons and posted a .896
OPS in 2008 at AAA when he hit .300/378/.518 with 15 doubled, five triples and
14 RBI. Lambin was originally a 34th round
pick by the New York Mets in 2002 out of the University of Louisiana in
Lafayette. In his nine professional seasons, he has played all around the
infield, primarily at 2B and 3B. Last year, he saw time at 1B (19 games), 2B
(48), 3B (51), LF (6) and RF (4). He has been solid at worst with the glove
throughout his career, although the .910 fielding percentage at 3B last year
isn’t good.
At this point, I am not aware of whether it is a minor
league contract, or if it is a spot on the 40 man roster (hopefully minor
league deal!). Honestly, he looks like an improvement as a utility infielder in
Rochester over Matt Macri
or Toby Gardenhire.
But I guess I wouldn’t mind if he was brought in to Spring Training and given a
shot to compete with Matt Tolbert for a Twins utility spot. Lambin
has not played in the big leagues to this point in his career.
If nothing else, it appears that the Twins are looking
to help the Rochester Red Wings in 2011 by providing some early signings for
their roster. Obviously this isn’t the kind of signing that will win a division
title for the Twins, but as I’ve said before, teams need all 40 players on
their roster and usually another half-dozen or so who get added throughout the season.
Any thoughts? Feel free to leave
your comments here.