SB Nation User Blog: Alexi Casilla All-Star

Twins should get Freddy Sanchez

Alexi Casilla All-Star — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:54:18 -0000

In their years in Minnesota, the Twins have seldom been big players at the trade deadline. When they have been players it has been as a seller. This year should be different

The Twins have a fine top two-thirds of their order. The order also is overloaded with good left handed bats. There has been a "black hole" at second base. Alexi Casilla and Matt Tolbert have been tried and found wanting. Adding a .300 hitter with a little pop who hits from the right side would give the Twins the best lineup they have had since 1991. There's power, there's some speed, there are a couple of aggressive hitters and a couple of very selective hitters.

Freddie Sanchez can help the Twins greatly. He is well paid, and might be a free agent next year or the year after. There is a club option which vests with 635 plate appearances. Barring injury, Sanchez would probably make the 635 PAs. Because of the relatively expensive contract and the fact that he is not a power hitter and doesn't have great speed, the Twins shouldn't have to break the bank to acquire him. Sanchez is 31, and pretty good with the glove. He has proven to be an excellent percentage hitter. Hitting between Span and Mauer should give him plenty of good pitches to hit and, as mentioned, would really fortify the lineup. It also would put Punto where he is most valuable, as a utility player.

The question alway is, what will it cost in terms of talent? I think if the Twins sent Casilla, who showed last year he could perform well in the big leagues, a ready AAA arm (Mulvey or Swarzak) and perhaps another player, that should be enough. I think this would set the Twins up well for the remainder of the '09 campaign and would most likely take away a question mark for the following season.

Here's the lineup I would foresee:

Span lf

Sanchez 2b

Mauer c

Morneau 1b

Cuddyer rf

Kubel dh

Crede 3b

Harris ss

Gomez cf

Returning to Earth

Alexi Casilla All-Star — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:15:26 -0000

My man, Alexi (note my moniker), has returned to earth. His batting average has fallen about 20 points since his return from the DL and the magic of driving in runs has reversed. He is still having a good first (almost) full season and has shown he belongs in the majors as a regular. Will it happen to Span? Denard has over 200 at-bats and hasn't had a lengthy slump. He also continues to draw walks at a good pace.

There is reason for optimism for both players. Both have shown much improved batting eyes so even if they go through a hit drought, they get on base and both have speed and know how to use it--getting bunt singles and beating out rollers in the hole are what keeps the o-fers away. Hitting looks like the only questionable skill for either player. Both run well and have impressed with the glove. Span has been heads up, smart and intense without looking or acting nervous. Casilla has displayed 10X the focus and presence that he showed last year. Actually, it is crucial that both Span and Casilla hit a lot in the last month if the Twins want to make the post-season. They are the top two hitters in the lineup and set the table for the team's stars.

August hitting stats

Alexi Casilla All-Star — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:04:29 -0000

I believe the Twins are 15-11 for the month of August with four to play in Oakland. I thought I would check August numbers and compare them with my general feeling about their performance of late: Name Avg. OBP SLG OPS Morneau .258 .363 .419 .782 Gomez .246 .307 .304 .611 Young .229 .283 .398 .681 Mauer .304 .400 .405 .805 Harris .283 .322 .491 .813 Kubel .312 .354 .506 .860 Casilla .200 .250 .300 .550 Punto .291 .348 .417 .765 Span .308 .381 .471 .852 Buscher .304 .328 .393 .721 Everett .270 .356 .351 .707 Ruiz .340 .392 .447 .839 What does it all say? Well, the reinforcements have been terrific. Span has easily been the Twins best outfielder since his second recall. Buscher has been a very decent LH bat and Ruiz has so far done what he is supposed to. Harris is having his best month despite diminished playing time, Punto has had a very decent month and Kubelhas been very good. The team's two All-Stars have faded this month. Morneau has been below average while Mauer has been good, not great. The two 22-year olds have been bad. Young's power has somewhat offset his dreadful .283 OBP and Gomez is a great defender and a threat on the base paths, but that doesn't really offset his offense. I read a posting somewhere questioning whether the team missed Cuddyer. That is what started me to check August numbers. They do miss Cuddy, not because of Span, but in spite of the terrific play that Span has provided. The other outfielders have been well below average overall. Cuddyer would be an improvement over either and probably would have helped to win a game or two more.

Twins-White Sox to the wire?

Alexi Casilla All-Star — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:46:34 -0000

The Twins remain tied with the White Sox after sweeping the pitiful Seattle Mariners. The Mariners put up a fight, but it is tough for a bad team to beat a contending team in their park in late August or in September. The Twins and Sox have been in a flatfooted tie at the conclusion of play for the last three days. ESPN has the Twins as a very slight favorite to win the division 51.9% to the Sox 47.3%. I don't know how they figure those percentages, but I feel that the Sox have a slight edge in their remaining schedule. They have played 61 home games and 62 road games. The Twins have played 66 at home and only 57 on the road. That doesn't bode well for a team with a losing record on the road. I have a little system I use to break down wins. Wins at home against non-contenders are expected, wins on the road against non-contenders are less likely, as are wins at home against contenders. The least likely win is playing a contender on the road. For the next 17 games, the Twins will not be playing a series where they are more expected to win than the White Sox are. They play three at home against Oakland, while the Sox are entertaining the Mariners, then they go on the road for 14 games, including series against the Angels and the Blue Jays. If the Twins return from that road trip still in contact (< 3 games behind) with Chicago, I think their chances are very good. I think Chicago will win a lot of games in the next two plus weeks. This is their opportunity to "run away and hide" and if they don't, I expect it will be a dogfight until the end. Tomorrow, both the Twins and Sox draw the ace from a bad team. Duchscherer for the A's and King Felix for the M's. Fair enough, both teams dodged the other's aces in their current series.

First Half 2008--Some things have gone well

Alexi Casilla All-Star — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:09:07 -0000

The Twins have played 95 games and won 53 of them. That is excellent for a club with six new starters and a reworked starting rotation. In order for this kind of winning record, some things have gone very well. 1) The offense is not offensive. The Twins offense was terrible again this April, shades of both '05 and '07, but has really picked up since. Much has been made of terrific numbers with runners in scoring position and RISP with two outs, and it is legitimate that they have produced beyond what other number say they should. Beyond that, right now the Twins have pretty good hitters manning all the positions except center field. Mauer and Morneau are deserved all-stars, Young and Kubel have improved from poor starts, Harris is hitting decently and had a nice series against the Tigers. 2) The replacements have been stellar. Alexi Casilla has become the Twins second sacker. Despite a couple of bobbles in the last two games, he has been good in the field. Offensively, he is producing at a poor man's Robbie Alomar level. Though he hasn't run much, he has hit, worked counts, and driven in runs at a prodigious rate. He seldom strikes out and handles the bat well for bunts and hit-and-runs. This from a guy who failed when called up in August. Punto has been great since returning from the DL and becoming basically the regular SS, Buscher (and Macri when he was up) have been decent defensively and offensive upgrades at third. Span has been great in a short stint as a replacement for Cuddyer. 3) The rotation has been pretty good. When the Twins win, their starter usually pitches pretty well. The Twins have gotten enough well-pitched starts to be competitive. Only one original starter has washed out--Bonser--and there is something positive to be said for each of the five guys that have stayed in the rotation. There isn't really an ace, but there is a chance for a decent game from any of the starters at any time. 4) Thank goodness they signed Joe Nathan. Nathan has been an absolute rock in the 'pen. He has blown two saves and the Twins won both of those games. One of them was flukey, he came in after the inning starter and Delmon played a single/double into a game-tying inside the parker. Nathan has saved a lot of one and two run games. Not too many easy ones. The bullpen's focus then, is to get the game to the ninth with the lead. They have been pretty good, with a few notable exceptions, doing this, although sometimes it hasn't been pretty. Holding em close when behind has been another story. Juan Rincon is gone, but his stats survive and still look bad. Both Bass and Bonser have "gas-canned" a few games, which makes the Twins' run differential look pretty weak, but I guess that doesn't win any games. 5) The defense is improving, and it is strongest up the middle. After starting the season with Harris and Everett at 2B and SS respectively, the Twins have got players with better range there now. Mauer is a gold glove caliber catcher (although he's made a few more defensive mistakes this year--more innings?) and while Gomez has six errors, he has great range and a good arm in center. Third base is still a bit of a problem--Lamb has limited range and a suspect arm. Buscher has replaced Lamb and while he has gloved most everything, his arm is not that accurate. Despite having good speed, Young doesn't show great range in the outfield and he has dropped, boxed, or bobbled more balls than any left fielder I have ever seen. Numbers like team ERA, team OPS, team Fielding Average and run differential say the Twins should be closer to .500, perhaps below it, but they have done very well in the first half and promise to make 2008 more than a rebuilding year.