Too many outfielders: A good problem for the Twins

Denard Span has created a nice problem for the Minnesota Twins. He’s played so well since last being called up to the majors that when Michael Cuddyer get's off the disabled list the Twins will have some tough decisions to make on who get’s to play in the outfield.

Span has easily been one of the biggest reasons for the teams recent success. He’s been an on base machine and has really been taking good at bats now at the top of the line up. Additionally he’s played spectacular defense taking away plenty of hits and saving some big runs. Watching a game with Detroit announcers a few weeks back they raved on and on about how much ground the Twins cover in the outfield between Span and Carlos Gomez. On one ball hit to the gap they actually declared it a double and then Span ended up catching it. Needless to say only a fool would send him back down to the minors and it’s becoming very apparent that he needs to be in the starting lineup.

The problem is that the lineup could really use another good right-handed bat with some pop and Cuddyer fits that bill nicely when he’s healthy. He’ll definitely be starting again which means somebody is out of a starting job. Some have suggested that Delmon Young should be the odd man out but he has actually been hitting well now despite a rough start to the season and like Cuddyer provides a right handed bat that can drive the ball. The more realistic option that has been discussed would be demoting Gomez in center field. He’s struggled big time lately and could use more work in the minors. The issue is that he’s arguably can have the biggest impact on the team if he works through his offensive slump and as stated above having him and Sapn in the outfield means not much hits the ground. Of course the other option is to use Cuddyer at DH but there’s not much time for him there as Jason Kubel and Craig Monroe are already splitting time there.

Some people have also suggested that the Twins try to trade one of their outfielders but I don’t see that as likely. All of the them are young and don’t have much of a track record so I doubt they’d get much back. Cuddyer is the exception but having been injured most of the year he’s not going anywhere either. The truth is I think they are better off with all of them anyway.

So what’s my solution? It’s actually pretty simple. Shift Cuddyer back to third base for the rest of the season. Contrary to popular opinion he never was quite that bad over there when they played him there previously and I can’t imagine he’ll be any worse defensively then Mike Lamb. This would solve a lot of problems as it would give the Twins an upgrade offensively at third with a canon of an arm and in my opinion fields the best possible lineup. Cuddyer probably prefers to play right field but he seems like a team player who would do what’s necessary for the betterment of team. Of course injuries happen and if someone get’s hurt then he’s ready to step in. It’s not like Brian Buscher has done that bad of job at third but somebody has to go to the bench. It’s definitely a good problem to have and with all these guys being so young sure makes the future exciting to think about.

A Game to Remember

I don’t get to go to many Twins games but Friday night my mother-in-law got my wife and me tickets to watch the Minnesota Twins host the Boston Redsox at the Metrodome and what a game it turned out to be. It was special to us since we are expecting our first child so this was technically our baby’s first Twins’ game. I think it’s safe to say our baby is a Twins fan and a good luck charm. At first things looked pretty good for the Twins as they got out to an early lead. Boof Bonser couldn’t hold it though and ended up giving the lead back. He didn’t pitch as bad as his line of 6 runs in 4 plus innings would indicated but in the end it just wasn’t good enough. It seemed like there were plenty of little things (like batter reaching on a strikeout that Joe Mauer couldn’t find) that prolonged innings for him so that was too bad. Good teams like Boston usually take advantage of things like that and they did.

“Oh well,” I figured. At least it had been an exciting game. Plus we had decent seats down the first base line except for the incredible number of people who don’t understand the idea of only leaving or returning to their seats between innings. One gal in front of us apologized at least 4 or 5 times for having to stand up to let people by her during the game. It really wasn’t her fault of course but was nice of her to say. Things did get exciting in our area as the t-shirt the mascot shoots into the stands between innings landed just out of my reach a row behind me. Then I had an even better shot at catching a foul ball a couple innings later. Matt Tolbert lined one our way and I stood up and reached out both hands to pull it in. Instead of the ball I got the person’s hand who was sitting in front of me. He had stuck his hand up at the last minute otherwise I would have had a nice souvenir for our baby’s first game.

Once the seventh inning stretch came we decided to go get some food before they closed up the vending stands and we ended up walking around the concourse all the way to centerfield. We figured we might as well watch the last couple of innings from out there so spread out in what seemed to be our own personal section which was really kind of nice. Then came the bottom of the ninth with the Twins still down by a run. Delmon Young led off the inning. He had nearly scored to tie the game a few innings prior only to get thrown out at the plate on a close play. Once again he got on base with a sharp single to center. Next up was Matt Tolbert. I knew we weren’t going to get ball from him where we were sitting now but still felt a little uneasy when I saw him lay down a sacrifice bunt. He did it well but next up was Adam Evertt who even with a couple of nice hits early seemed unlikely to get a hit off of Redsox closer Jonathan Papelbon. Sure enough he popped out almost immediately leaving the fate of the game in the hands of the exciting yet young Carlos Gomez. Young stole third meaning all we needed was a base hit to tie the game up and Gomez took some tough pitches that early this year he would have swung at and ended up walking. Then he stole second putting us into position to win the game on a base hit. Mike Lamb came to the plate and looked overmatched on the first two pitches. My wife was unfamiliar with Lamb since he’s a new player on the team and asked if he was good. My look told her otherwise but after fowling off a couple of pitches he dumped a 1-2 pitch down the left field line for a walk of base hit. The dome went pretty crazy for a couple of minute and we gave each other a big high five and hug as the Twins celebrated on the field.

This was easily the most memorable Twins game I’ve seen in person and one I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. It was interesting to me that the come back and even most of the earlier runs came from the bats of the new Twins’ players. Tonight as Minnesota fans made some memories with the new Twins’ players we made some of our own with our newest addition. Definitely will make for some good memories to tell our child down the road who I’m sure will be a Twins’ fan as well.

Opening night for the Twins

Boy it's fun to have baseball back. The Minnesota Twins didn't disappoint last night as they started the 2008 season out on the right foot...that being the foot of Carlos Gomez. He sure looks like an exciting player to watch this year. My wife already proclaimed to me that he is her new favorite player. She really hasn't had a favorite since Jacque Jones left. Of course I don't expect Gomez to get on base three times every night, steal two bases and score two runs, but some nights his speed is going to single handedly be the difference maker and tonight was a prime example.

Overall I thought the team looked pretty good for the first game. Adam Everett's near grand slam got me pretty excited even though it went foul. The thought occurred to me that everyone in the starting lineup can at least line the ball into the gap this year which is refreshing after watching the piranhas try to string together seeing eye basehits the last couple of years. We'll see how the starting pitching shakes out but regardless I think it's going to be a fun year.

On a side note, I'm less then impressed with the new Silverlight MLB.TV player. The video seams much more pixelated and choppy then the old Windows Media Player format. For some reason I couldn't revert to the old format last night like I could in Spring Training games so that was frustrating and I hope they get it fixed. I also had a look at the new gameday and didn't really care for that either. It seemed messier and having to scroll to get past adds and large tabs is no fun. Lucky for me the game was on ESPN so I didn't have to use MLB.TV. Maybe it will be better tonight.

Centerfield Stat Analysis (Part 3) - Gomez wins job

La Velle E Neal III is reporting that the Carlos Gomez has won the starting centerfield job so this short series of comparing meaningless Spring Training stats will now come to an end. Did the Minnesota Twins make the right decision though? It's tough to say and in my mind the starting centerfield job could really have gone either way to Span or Gomez. Perhaps the Twins giving it to Gomez signals a little more that this is primarily a rebuilding year. There is no doubt that Gomez is the centerfielder of the future and has the makings of a real special player but if the Twins were simply looking for the best leadoff hitter right now I think Span would have to be declared the winner. Looking one more time at the stats, Span's on base percentage has remained steady even climbing a few points to 404 which is 100 points better then Gomez who did manage to get his on base percentage up to 300. Span showed modest improvements in his slugging and batting average as well and even took another couple walks which is usually a good thing for a leadoff hitter. Gomez has kept improving in all of his stats as well though and really has caught up to Span in batting average and continues to really outperform him in slugging. His downfall really has been his lack of walks and higher number of strikeouts. Maybe he makes up for that though with his blazing speed (10 stolen bases this spring) and his extra base power. In a game I was following the box score last week, Span got a hit or a walk to lead off the game (can't remember which one), then Gomez hit into a fielders choice. He stole second and third however and appeared to be brought home by a sac fly. A quick glance shows that Span had a better at bat, yet Gomez really manufactured that run mostly on his own. I think that kind of excitement that game changing potential that helped him beat out Span. For whatever reason we'll soon find out if it was the right decision as the season is set to begin. Play ball!

Centerfield Stat Analysis (Part 2)

Our three starting centerfield candidates all have had another ten plus at bats and the difference in these numbers from the ones in my last post just goes to show how meaningless stats are at this time of the year. That being said I still continue to look at them in an attempt to understand who is winning the battle and will be wearing a Minnesota Twins' uniform in centerfield on opening day. Let's run through our three candidates and see which direction their numbers are moving.

Denard Span -- His numbers are slightly lower then my last analysis but overall he's remained very consistent as he still is hitting 276 with an on base percentage of 400. That on base percentage would look pretty good in the lead off spot if he can keep it up all year.

Jason Pridie -- His numbers have actually slightly improved though like Span he is staying fairly consistent. His batting average has dropped a few points to 297 but his on base percentage and slugging are both up a bit. He did finally get an extra base hit but still has a very empty batting average. The biggest problem I see is that he has stuck out 7 times to only on walk. Yikes!

Carlos Gomez -- Here is where we see the biggest improvement as Gomez raised his batting average almost 100 points to 263 as well as his on base percentage to 286. Not great numbers by any means but considering where those numbers were a few days ago, that's a huge step in the right direction. His slugging went up even more drastically from 292 to 500 as continues to make his hit's count in big ways. In that sense he's the exact opposite of Jason Pridie. Gomez has been exciting once he's gotten on base as well as he stole 3 more bases in the last few days doubling his total.

I got to watch these guys play on TV this weekend and I'm definitely pulling for Gomez. Span still continues to look consistent and is probably better suited for the lead off spot but Gomez is going to be a pretty exciting player and should continue to improve. That is probably the most valuable thing from looking at these meaningless statistics again. None of these players are putting up jaw dropping stats but one of them looks like he could. And who knows, in another week maybe he will.

Looking at the Twins Centerfield Candidates' Stats

It’s still Spring Training so we can’t really put much stock in player stats but since I have no way to watch most of the games I find myself keeping a close eye on the stats being put up by the Minnesota Twins' three centerfield candidates. As of Wednesday morning a few things are standing out to me so I figured I’d share them.

The first thing I noticed was that Carlos Gomez leads the team in at bats with 24 (not surprisingly) and yet he only has a 167 batting average. Compare that with Jason Pridie who is hitting 304 so far and Denard Span who is hitting 278 and Gomez appears to be less than impressive. This got me a little more excited about Pridie though and my initial reaction was to think that he probably has the best chance to win the centerfield job. Looking closer at his numbers though reveal that his batting average is extremely empty as he has no extra base hits and no walks to go along with four strike outs. Then I looked at Denard Span’s stats and found that he is currently the doing the best of the three and it isn’t even close. Spans 278 average is nothing special but he has backed it up with a couple of doubles, four walks and no strike outs giving him a 435 on base percentage which is head and shoulders better then the other two. Of course it’s early but the winner after the first couple weeks based on the stats alone is clearly Span. Of course stats this time of the year mean next to nothing but it’s still surprising to me to see Span leading the charge.

First Impressions of our 2008 Minnesota Twins

Got to see the first part of the Twins preseason game against New York Yankees yesterday. Of course it's just one meaningless game but it was my first chance to see some of our new players and overall my first impressions were mixed.

Delmon Young really impressed me. Not only did he show some strength on a home run to center field but he also was taking some pitches and using the whole field (in particular he a hard single to the opposite field in his last at bat). If first impressions hold true then he's going to be our MVP this year.

On the other hand Carlos Gomez did absolutely nothing to impress me or make me think that he's ready for the big leagues. He did take a couple pitches in his first at bat and laid down a nice looking bunt but after that he didn't seem very disciplined nor at the plate. What really disturbed me about him though was how he looked on defense. To me it looked like he misplayed a couple balls hit to center and then he had not one but two horrendous throws to home plate that made memories of Jacque Jones not seem so bad. Of course it's just one game but based on my first impression he's going to be starting at triple A this year which might be best.

My impressions of Brendan Harris were more of a mixed bag. The most exciting thing to see for me is that he looked very comfortable at the plate and had some good at bats working the count and putting some good swings on the ball. Defensively he looked below average, not charging a ground ball and missing one that looked to have gone off or just beneath his glove. Those things can be improved on though so if he continues swinging the bat well, he should be our starting second baseman with Nick Punto replacing him defensive reasons at the end of the game.

Kevin Slowey got the start and didn't do half bad. He was aggressive with his pitches throwing strikes early in the count but he did leave some balls up. Overall I think he showed that he can be a very good fifth starter if they need him but he's not going to blow anyone away.

A couple other nice things to see were watching Alexi Casilla make a strong throw from deep in the whole at short and watching Garrett Jones absolutely smash a pitch that was left up and out over the plate for a long home run. That's exactly what you're suppose to do to a pitch like that and being that he's got a good chance of being a bench player this year, it was good to see. Overall it's just fun to be able to watch baseball again. I'll paste all my notes in here now so you can see my thoughts on the individual at bats.


My Twins game notes from March 5, 2008:
#) denotes at bat

Defense Notes:
First Inning
P Kevin Slowey
1) Looks to be attacking the strike zone.
2) Leave a pitch up and it gets lined to center
3) Still seams to be up in the zone…finally gets a pitch down and gets a weak grounder to Second ,,, Harris seams a bit timid in fielding as he doesn’t charge the ball
4) Keeping the ball down better…Fools Arod on a great breaking pitch off the plate. Almost got him on good looking pitch inside (ump doesn’t give it to him)
5) Nice strikeout of Giambi

Second Inning
6) Still attacking the strike zone. Gets a pop fly to left
7) Left a pitch up that is lined to center…Gomez misjudges it and looks a bit foolish
8) Leaves another pitch up that gets smashed to the center field wall…Gomez looks timid again to me …maybe he wasn’t sure where the wall was
9) Nice strikeout
10) hard smash up the middle…Harris makes a nice effort but comes up short on a dive
11) Walk
12) Lined to center…Gomez throws to the plate and makes a terrible throw to the plate that’s about 12 feet wide of Joe Mauer
13) Arod strikes out

Third Inning
P Julio Depaula
1) First pitch single to left
2) Throwing some nice looking pitches…pop fly to right
3) Ground ball up the middle…Gomez is way of the mark again on a throw to the plate but it is cut off and they get an out on hitter going to second
4) Nice looking strikeout

Forth Inning
P Randy Keasler
1) Strikeout
2) Ground out to second
3) Ground ball that goes under Harris’ glove…was moving to his right but I think he should have had it
4) Pop fly to center

Fifth Inning
5) Fly ball to center
6) Grounder deep in the hole to short…Casila makes nice strong throw and gets him out…nice pick by Morneau
7) Grounder to first

Offesive Notes:
CF Carlos Gomez
1) Nice bunt…good to see him take a few pitches
2) Chopper to short
3) Skies first pitch to short center

2B Brendan Harris
1) Looks like a patient hitter taking a few tough pitches….does a nice job hitting a single on a pitch up in the zone.
2) Showing patience again going 3-0…grounds to second
3) Takes the first pitch again….chopper up the middle for force out

C Joe Mauer
1) Still patient as ever up there waiting for his pitch…picked the wrong pitch to swing at as he got on top of a curveball grounding into a DP.
2) Chops ball to first
3) Loops a ball into the gap for a double

1B Justin Morneau
1) Takes a few pitches that look like balls but get called strikes…Works count full and flies out to center
2) Holds up on tough breaking pitch…ends up walking
3) Lines out to center…Mauer gets gunned down easily trying to advance to third

LF Delmon Young
1) Nice looking swing…definitely shows some power with a tall homerun to center
2) Takes a few pitches…lines a one hopper to third
3) Smashes a single to the opposite field. Nice swing

3B Brian Buscher
1) Works the count and then lines a bullet to the first baseman’s glove.
2) Line drive over first baseman’s head
3) [Matt Marcri] pinch hits and strikes out

DH Jon Knott
1) Grounds out to third
2) Misses a fastball that’s left up and over the plate…fouls of some pitches then gets wrung up

RF Garrett Jones
1) tapper to the pitcher
2) hits a fastball left up and out over the plate way out of the park…that’s what you’re spouse to do with that pitch

SS Matt Tolbert
1) Strikeout
2) First pitch hits his foot…look like it was probably intentional?