The Young and the LaRoche
Hmm, it was worth a try. It’s my first post in a while, so I’ll leave the title alone for now.
I wanted to post to say how awesome Delmon Young has been this season. His triple slash numbers for .295/.333/.500 are only up slightly from his rookie year with Tampa (.317/.336/.476) but that doesn’t mean Delmon hasn’t ‘turned the corner’ in 2010:
Exhibit A: 1.57 K/BB
What is this? A decent strikeout to walk ratio?? Last year, his rate was 7.67 K/BB – that’s about an 80% improvement! He has pretty much halved his strikeouts, and almost doubled his walk rate.
Exhibit B: 11.0 EBH% (Percentage of plate appearances resulting in an extra-base hit)
Delmon’s new selectivity has led to an increase in power, from an Isolated Power of .142 in 2009, to a .205 mark this season. For the record, Joe Mauer has an ISO of .129 and a 9.2 EBH% so far this season. (To be fair, a ton of Mauer’s plate appearances end in walks).
The title of this post also mentions a LaRoche, Andy LaRoche specifically. The Pirates just called up prized prospect Pedro Alvarez to play third base, and LaRoche no longer has a position to play. My thinking is: how about the Twins try to acquire LaRoche instead of the carcass of Mike Lowell? LaRoche is younger and was once Baseball’s #19 best prospect. He could take the place of Brendan Harris on the roster, and could either serve the same purpose as Harris or start at third. If Gardenhire decides he wants to start LaRoche at third, Valencia should be sent back to Rochester to play every day. It looks like LaRoche is nearing arbitration, so the Twins would be able to non-tender him after this season if he doesn’t work out.
I guess it all depends how ‘out of favor’ LaRoche is in Pittsburgh. If they still think he has untapped potential, they might be asking more than the Red Sox will ask for Lowell. If they are willing to give him up for a mid-level prospect or two, I say the Twins should give him a try.
Bullpen Reinforcements
It’s about time! The Twins acquired Jon Rauch and Ron Mahay from the Diamondback and Royals, respectively. While on the surface these don’t appear to be huge acquisitions, they do improve the overall quality of the bullpen: addition by subtraction, if you will. This means that two relievers from AAA are on their way out and I can’t really complain about that.
Rauch was had for a PTBNL, but I’m hoping it’s not a important prospect. He does have a team option for next year for a little under $3 million, so he might be returning in 2010 depending on how he does this season, and if he gets along with the rest of the team. He hasn’t exactly been a strike-out machine like you’d expect from someone who is pushing seven-foot-tall, but he has had decent control. He used to be a starter before injuries forced him into the bullpen; would the Twins do something crazy like convert him back into a starter? I doubt it, but that means the Twins are still looking for Starting Rotation help.
UPDATE: I just read that Philip Humber has been outrighted to Rochester to make room for Rauch on the 40-man roster.
Mahay is a 38-year-old veteran lefty and I’m not sure yet what the Twins gave up for him. I’m sure it’s not much since Mahay had been DFA’s by the Royals. Hopefully he will be used as a left-handed specialist since he has some pretty terrible numbers against right handed hitters this season. As a veteran in the last year of his contract, there is probably a zero percent chance of him being with the team next season. This is purely a rental.
Overall, depending on who was sent to Arizona for Rauch, I like these trades. Nothing flashy, just average players to give the team depth. One of the problems the Twins have had this year is that they have a group of excellent players on the roster but the front office has struggled to supply a competent supporting cast. It’s too bad this didn’t happen earlier in the season.
However, the Twins still need at least one more veteran starter in the rotation. It’s pretty alarming when the fourth and fifth starters are emergency call-ups from Rochester (especially when one isn’t really a starter yet, having only made four starts in the minors this year). Rumor has it that the Twins claimed Rich Harden and may have interest in Brad Penny. Harden would be really nice, but I’m not too keen on giving up Type A prospects to rent him for five starts, draft-pick compensation be damned. Only if they were somehow able to work out an extension with Harden would I give up substantial talent. Though, with his injury history, would it even be prudent to give up talent and extend him? Penny is an interesting option; he was a good pitcher with the Marlins in 2003 and with the Dodgers, but has had shoulder problems and has looked rusty this season. Penny would be another “addition by subtraction” since they’d get to bump one of the struggling youngsters from the rotation.
Here’s an evaluation of the two reliever’s possible contribution from The Tenth Inning Stretch: http://tenthinningstretch.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-does-john-rauch-fit-in-twins.html
Help on the Way?
The Twins recently added starting pitching Carl Pavano to their starting rotation, acquiring him from the Indians for a player-to-be-named-later. I wasn’t too thrilled when I first heard about it, but then again Pavano is only 33-years-old and can be good at times. Oh yeah, and he has dominated the White Sox and Tigers this year. For whatever reason our five young starters have regressed this year, causing the Twins to be 10th in the league in pitching. Maybe the front office knew what they were doing when they signed a veteran retreads… Hopefully the presence of Pavano will help take the pressure off some of the young guys. Based on his history with the Yanks, I don’t expect him to be a huge clubhouse leader or anything, but hopefully just having an extra steady arm in the rotation will help the team.
However, I don’t think one new pitcher is enough. The Twins are still going to need at least another starter, or another reliever (or both!) to be competitive this year. The pickings this time of year are slim, but I’m sure Bill Smith can find someone who will implode less often than Swarzak and Liriano have been. Idea: John Smoltz. I heard he was DFA’d by the Red Sox after eight starts. He hasn’t been terribly good this year, but looking at some of his number I think the Twins should give him a chance at an extended tryout. His K/9 and K/BB rate look pretty good to me, plus he has experience in the bullpen. I also thing he could provide the veteran leadership that Pavano probably isn’t capable of, not to mention his plethora of playoff experience. Perhaps he can even teach one of the young starters that nasty splitter that he has. (Side note: is it just me or do all the Twins pitchers pretty much have the same arsenal of pitches? It seems like the organization has a cookie-cutter pattern they use to develop their starters: Fastball, Curve/Slider, Change-up, Cutter/Sinker. Why don’t they have anyone that throws something neat like a splitter, or knuckle-curve, or fork-ball, or palm-ball, or screw-ball? I’m partially kidding, but partially serious as well…)
The rest of the season will depend on the pitching. The Twins finally have an offense that scores runs, now they just need to make sure they give up less runs than they score. Gardy seems to think that the front office is heavily shopping for pitching help. Hopefully he’s right.
Orlando Cabrera is a Twin
There you go guys, you got your man. Now shut up and win some ballgames.
Kidding aside, I think this ended up being an okay deal for the Twins. They gave up toolsy 21 year old shortstop Tyler Ladendorf but were able to shore up their atrocious middle infield. Scutaro probably would have been a better acquisition, but considering the prices involved I think Bill Smith went with the safer choice (not that that is a bad thing, not at all). Since he’s gone at the end of the year, lets hope Cabrera can stay hot. He’s not the best on-base guy and his defense has deteriorated but he’s a veteran who knows how to play the game.
While I don’t think this will make the Twins much better, it will keep the players happy. Who knows, it might spark the others to play harder now that they feel that the “front office is behind them”. It’s always sad to see talented players like Ladendorf leave, but it was a necessary evil to both keep the players happy and remove at least one black hole from the line-up. Cabrera is not a big bat but he’ll certainly hit better than Punto or Casilla. Actually, he’s pretty much another Brendan Harris who might actually see regular playing time; It would be nice if Harris could get out of his currently slump and learn how to turn double-plays at second base. A batting order containing Harris and Cabrera is much better than one containing Punto and Casilla, though the defense wouldn’t be anything to brag about.
Fun Fact: Apparently Cabrera hasn’t been very good against lefties this year. (So says Baseball-Reference). That gives up at least two right-handed hitters that don’t hit lefties (Cabrera and Crede).
One Year Ago in Twins History:
Twins don’t find fit in potential trades – Unlike this season, Bill Smith was unable to do anything to improve the team at the non-waiver trade deadline last year. Maybe if they had gotten someone to help them win just one more game…
The Quiet Before the Storm?
Well, the Twins just lost out on another middle-infield candidate. With Sanchez being traded to the giants, the only two serious options left are Orlando Cabrera and Marco Scutaro. Though it depends on what the Jays end up doing with Halladay: if they don’t end up trading him, Scutaro might not go anywhere (I don’t see why not though. He’s going to be a free agent anyway and they aren’t exactly in contention). Let’s hope that Billy Smith has something big up his sleeve for today or Friday because I’m sure there will be an uproar from fans and players if nothing is done to improve the team.
On that note, I’m hoping they don’t go and get Cabrera. He is a good ballplayer but he’s only a slight improvement over Harris and I don’t trust Gardy to go with a Cabrera-Harris combo in the infield. I also think that the Twins will end up overpaying for him; he’s a 34 year old short stop with diminishing range and power and I just have a bad feeling that the Twins will overpay in prospects. If they were going to give up prospects of any worth, I would have preferred Freddy Sanchez.
If the Twins are still looking for infield and bullpen help, should they now also be looking for a starting pitcher? Liriano was scratched last night due to “forearm inflammation”. The team and Cisco say that it’s nothing serious, but I’m not sure I’m buying it. Is it just me or has “forearm inflammation/tightness”, more often then not, led to a visit to Dr. Andrews? Considering Cisco’s history, I’m worried about him and the fact that they are having him throw again this weekend. Check out this series of events from 2006:
Liriano scratched from start with pain – “The Minnesota Twins are scratching pitcher Francisco Liriano from Wednesday’s start against the Rangers because of discomfort in his left forearm.”
Liriano injured as Twins fall to Tigers – “But this time, the pain returned in what Liriano deemed a different spot and it seems to be worse than before. It’s something that has even caused Liriano to be a bit scared of what may be causing the pain.”
Liriano to land on disabled list – “On Tuesday they took another precaution, as the club decided to place the left-hander on the 15-day disabled list due to the pain he has been experiencing near his left elbow.”
Spooky, huh? Lets hope the Twins are extra special careful with him. They had better not send him out to pitch Wednesday if he’s not 110%. I guess it is a good sign that Liriano isn’t too concerned with the situation. After all, he’s already been through this and he’d be the one who could tell if it was the same kind of discomfort as 2006. If the Twins lose Liriano and don’t pick up any more starting pitching, they could be toast. Even if they do pull off a playoff appearance, there is no way a shaky top three of Baker-Blackbern-Perkins goes very far. I was still waiting for Liriano to get back into 2008 form to carry the team during the second half, but I think that is a forgone conclusion now. If he came around, and Slowey was healthy, Baker-Slowey-Liriano would have been much more formidable. Who knows, maybe all the pitching injuries has the front office throwing in the towel. I guess we’ll find out by Friday.
I had fun looking up those old articles, so lets see what was going on one year ago today for the Twins:
Gomez getting back into groove – Gogo!
Two Years Ago:
Luis Castillo traded to the Mets – Ah yes, this one went over well with the team.
Time for the Twins to Get Crazy
Up until today I applauded the Twins for refusing to blow their prospects on rent-a-players at the deadline; I didn’t want them to become a team that sacrificed the future to ‘win now’. Then I read LaVelle’s article this morning and I got scared. All Twins fans should be scared. Morneau, Nathan and Mauer all voiced their frustration with the front office for not getting them the “missing piece” at the trade deadline. What happens if these guys lose faith with the Twins and jump ship at the end of their contracts? Tell me, in this “future” we are protecting, who will be the next Joe Mauer? Justin Morneau? Joe Nathan? Sure, there are talented arms down on the farm that could develop into a dominant closer, and there are talented hitters down there, but there are no guaranteed successors to the Big Three. We do, however, have those guys playing for us right now and they need help. I also happen to think that this year is the perfect time to go all-in: Cuddyer, Kubel, Nathan, Mauer and Morneau are all having career years, yet the team still has some major holes to fill if they want to be a World Series caliber team. Can we guarantee that everyone performs like this next year? Remember 2006 when we had the same “perfect storm” of career-years but were knocked out in the first round by Oakland? The following season (2007) showed us we can’t count on something that special happening again, or for guys to stay healthy.
I’m going to get crazy here and propose a deadline move the Twins could make. Not only would it give the club a boost this season, but it would show our Core that management wants to win. Not to mention it will show the fans that the Twins will put a winning product on the field, encouraging them to brave the snow next season at the new stadium. This move is totally hypothetical, maybe even whimsical, but I don’t think it’s 100% impossible:
In my opinion (and don’t get me wrong, I am no expert) the Twins major holes are: Middle Infield, Relief Pitching, Starting Pitching. Perhaps even in that order, though the middle infield and bullpen have been equally atrocious at times. Actually, the Twins starting pitching had been pretty terrible lately as well. Here’s my idea: work out a trade with the Blue Jays. I know, I know: “Not another Halladay idea!” right? Hear me out though because I’m going to get much crazier than “Perkins and scrubs for Halladay”. Read more