SB Nation User Blog: cmathewson

What to do with second base?

cmathewson — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:30:24 -0000

More photos » by Orlin Wagner - AP

"What? Am I supposed to pick this up?" Minnesota Twins second baseman Nick Punto (8) watches a ground ball off the bat of Kansas City Royals' Mark Teahen during the fourth inning of a baseball game in Kansas City, Mo., Monday, June 29, 2009. Teahen was safe at first. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

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With Alexi Casilla's banishment to Upstate New York, the Twins are faced with a tough decision.

We all thought Casilla was the second baseman of the future until he caught Luis Rivas disease and Gardy, who suffered through years of Rivas, has no patience left for lackadaisical play. Add to that the last things Casilla said to Gardy on his way out the door. It's not published, but you can read something like this between the lines.

Gardy: You go down there and learn to play with more consistent focus and awareness. When the scouts say you're ready, I'll bring you back up.

Casiila: I don't need more tine in the minors Man. I'n ready right now to be the guy.

Gardy: No you're not.

Casilla: I'n the best second baseman in this system.

Gardy: Not right now you're not.

Casilla: You don't know jack.

Gardy: Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out of my office.

So Casilla might never be back with this team as long as Gardy is manager. What do the Twins do in the post-Casilla era?

Internal options

Nick Punto: Punto is the guy of the present. But he is no long-term solution. He's brutally inconsistent with the bat. One week he'll be right on the ball, taking pitchers pitches, hitting hitters pitches on a line. Then he'll get Nicked up and spend a week on the non-DL. When he returns, he's back to the strike-out prone, pop-up machine he's been through the majority of his career. And that's just with the bat. On the bases, he's a train wreck. In the field, he's nothing if his range is limited because his freewheeling ways make him very error prone. But his UZR/150 numbers this year (and in past years at second) are horrible (-17.4). The sooner this guy lands on the bench everyday, the better off the Twins will be. He might be going on the DL anyway with a back injury after Jose Guillen's dirty slide spilled him yesterday.

Matt Tolbert: I don't want to waste keystorkes on this guy.187/.279/.236/.514 -27.7 UZR/150.

Michael Cuddyer: Don't laugh. Gardy has actually brought his name up as a possibility. That indicates how desperate he is for a solution at second. Cuddyer at second would solve the outfield log jam. And he hits like a competent second baseman. But judging from his three errors in just four games at first base and -47.7 UZR/150 in the infield this year, he's not a serious option for second. At first, at least he has the line to constrain his range. At second, he'd be range challenged in two directions.

Luke Hughes: Scouts and numbers say his bat is ready now. But his defense is nowhere near ready. Second base is his best position by the numbers (just using errors by position in the minors). Still, the Twins have been trying to convert him to third base because of organizational need. With Danny Valencia passing him on the depth chart at third, he could move back to second, but he would need a half season of reps over there before he might be ready. The Twins don't have a half season.

Steven Tolleson: Tolleson is the best hitting second base prosect the Twins have had since Todd Walker. He's hitting .320/.385/.443/.828 for Rochester, splitting time between second base and left field. If he was anywhere near Knoblauch in the field, he'd be up here. He's always had high error totals throughout the minors. And his range is said to be average. Still, he's worth a 15-day tryout whle Punto rests his back and bruised ribs. If he shows promise in the field, he could be the guy.

The problem is, the Twins are reluctant to trust the position to a rookie during a pennant race. They might be forced to do it if Punto needs to go on the DL. But my sense is Punto will keep telling Gardy he's ready and Gardy will keep running him out there. And Punto will continue to go 0-fer with Ks, DPs and pop-ups. That would be a shame because, at 25, Tolleson deserves a shot sooner rather than later.

External Options

Freddy Sanchez: A career .302/.338/.424/.762 hitter in eight seasons at the majors, mostly for Pittsburgh, Sanchez is the kind of player the Twins need if they're to make a run for a pennant. The Twins are great at the top of the order and horrible at the bottom. Second base is the chief cause of the suckitude. Casilla (.467 OPS), Tolbert (.514), and Punto (.543) have combined to be the worst hitting second base position in the league.

If you upgrade to Sanchez, you could drop Brendan Harris down to the bottom of the order where he belongs. Harry's a good hitter, but he's not top-of-the-order material in a perfect world. Sanchez, on the other hand, is an ideal number two hitter. He has excellent contact skills and an inside-out approach that tends to confound defenses and move runners along.

In the field, Sanchez has average range by the numbers with an excellent arm and good footwork around the bag. He'd be an upgrade defensively over any of the players in the system.

What it would take to get him is an open question. The Pirates are rebuilding around speed, so it seems Casilla is one piece in a two- or three-piece move. If a two-piece move, I could see a pitcher such as Anthony Swarzak or Kevin Mulvey being the other piece. If a three-piece move, it could include a couple of fringe prospects such as Philip Humber and Jason Pridie. The contract is not really an issue for a team that is well under budget this year. He's set to make $6.1 million this year, $3 million prorated. And this is no one-year rental. There is an $8 million club option with a $600,000 buyout. Even if the Twins decided to buy him out, he's a likely Type A free agent.

Felipe Lopez: Lopez is another good contact hitter who could fit in nicely in the number 2 hole and at second base. He's currently hitting .304/.358/.413/.771 for Arizona. Those are career year numbers for him, so I wouldn't expect him to keep up this clip for the whole season. In the field, he would be an upgrade over every other bat in the system (4.4 UZR 150). From a contract perspective, He's strictly a one-year rental at about $1.75 million for the rest of the year, whereupon he should become a Type B free agent.

I think Lopez should be Plan B in case they can't work out a deal for Sanchez. He's having a career year, which indicates regression, especially at his age (29). For this reason, acquiring him would be easier than Sanchez. Perhaps Casilla and a fringe pitcher would do.

Poll

Who should be the Twins second baseman in the second half this year?

Twins outplay Royals

cmathewson — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:25:35 -0000

More photos » by Ed Zurga - AP

Minnesota Twins' Justin Morneau watches his majestic home run into the fountain at Kaufman stadium in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Tuesday, June 30, 2009, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

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Justin Morneau homered and five pitchers combined to hold the Royals in check for a 2-1 win at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City.

Even though Royals' starter Brian Bannister pitched better, Scott Baker managed to get the win, thanks to a little better defense behind him than Bannister had. Baker labored through five innings, throwing 111 pitches (several on two-strike fouls). But he only gave up one run and ended up evening his record at 6-6 with the help of his defense and the bullpen. Bobby Keppel came in to pitch 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief and bridge the game to the setup corps. Joe Nathan nailed it down in the ninth for his 20th save.

With the game tied at one apiece, the game turned on two plays in the sixth inning, one not made by the Royals and one made by the Twins:

After a Joe Mauer single, Justin Morneau hit a hard ground ball right at first baseman Billy Butler for a sure double play. But Butler's throw was over the head of shortstop Tony Pena and into left field, allowing Mauer to go to third and Morneau to reach. After a Jason Kubel strikeout, Michael Cuddyer hit a sacrifice fly to right field to put the Twins ahead 2-1.

The Royals threatened in the bottom of the inning but failed to tie it up thanks to good Twins defense. With Keppel pitching, two on and two outs, Brendan Harris dove up the middle to snare a hard ground ball off the bat of pinch hitter Jose Guillen. The only play he had was to shovel the ball to Nick Punto covering second for the inning-ending force out. From there, the bullpen held the Royals in check for the win.

Studs:

1. Morneau: That's three homers in as many days and a 2-3 night with a walk. He's really starting to heat up as the other M&M boy cools down.

2. Nathan: He has become Mr. Automatic. Despite the one-run lead on the road, there was no anxiety in the dugout.

3. Keppel: He is everything Luis Ayala was not. Most of all, he's been effective in his two outings.

Duds:

1. Punto: He's looked totally clueless since coming off the DL. You know it's bad when you stat to ask why Gardy doesn't use Tolbert.

2. Butler: If you can't play defense you have to hit. Mike Jacobs has to be better than this guy at first base.

3. Kubel: 0-4 with 2 Ks and 5 LOB. Ouch.

Pirates selling: Sanchez next?

cmathewson — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:25:07 -0000

Pirates selling: Sanchez next?

How about Delmon, Casilla and Ayala for Sanchez?

Game 79: Twins @ Royals

cmathewson — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:53:18 -0000

First Pitch: 7:10pm CDT
TV: Fox Sports North (HD where available)
Radio: Twins Radio Network
Know Thine Enemy: Royals Review

Starting Pitchers

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Scott Baker	5-6	14	14	2	0	0	0	87	82	51	50	17	16	73	5.17	1.13

Baker has pitched five consecutive quality starts since his rough season opening. In that period, his ERA has dropped a full run. But he's got a ways to go to be the pitcher the Twins expected him to be after dominating in the second half last year. His problems have been concentrated in a few innings this year. He'll be cruising along retiring a dozen batters in a row or so and all of a sudden, a walk a hit and a homer later and he's tagged with a loss. Hopefully, he'll continue to get incrementally better and return to the form he displayed in the second half last year. Tonight would be as good a time as any.

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Brian Bannister	5-5	13	13	0	0	0	0	77.2	78	44	36	7	25	47	4.17	1.33

Bannister is the kind of pitcher you expect to see in a Twins uniform. He pitches to contact, trying to get a lot of ground balls off of his sinker. Despite that, he's marginally a ground ball pitcher, inducing 51% of his outs on the ground. But the fly balls he does induce tend to stay in the park for whatever reason. Look for Twins hitters to hit enough to beat this guy tonight.

Lineups

Lineup

Minnesota Twins @ Kansas City Royals

06/30/09 8:10 PM EDT

Minnesota Twins	Kansas City Royals
Denard Span - LF	David DeJesus - LF
Brendan Harris - SS	Willie Bloomquist - RF
Joe Mauer - C	Billy Butler - 1B
Justin Morneau - 1B	Mike Jacobs - DH
Jason Kubel - DH	Mark Teahen - 3B
Michael Cuddyer - RF	Alberto Callaspo - 2B
Joe Crede 3B	Miguel Olivo - C
Carlos Gomez - CF	Mitch Maier - CF
Nick Punto - 2B	Tony Pena - SS

The SI story on Joe Mauer

cmathewson — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:50:05 -0000

The SI story on Joe Mauer

One of the best reads I've had this year. So good, it's worth posting twice.

Manship promoted to Rochester

cmathewson — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:57:17 -0000

Manship promoted to Rochester

Once again, Seth gets the scoop.

Gomez leads Twins past Brewers

cmathewson — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:05:24 -0000

More photos » by Jim Prisching - AP

12 days ago: Minnesota Twins' Carlos Gomez hits a double off the Milwaukee Brewers' Jeff Suppan during the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday June 23, 2009, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

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Carlos Gomez had three early hits to help lead the Twins to a comfortable win over the Brewers at Miller Park.

Gomez had hits in each of the first three innings, all on soft liners to right center. The hits resulted in two runs and two RBI. Joe Crede hit a three-run double and Delmon Young added an RBI double to contribute to a 7-3 win.

Francisco Liriano struggled to throw strikes, but still managed to get the win with a five-inning, 120-pitch outing. Liriano gave up three early runs but avoided further runs despite five walks and seven hits. Three relievers combined to hold the Brewers scoreless the rest of the way.

The Twins started the scoring in the first inning, taking advantage of a Brewer mistake to score three runs. With Brendan Harris and Gomez on first and second and two outs, Michael Cuddyer reached first on a strike out and wild pitch to load the bases. The pitch was a breaking ball in the dirt that bounced up and hit Brewer catcher Jason Kendall in a bad place--his glove--and bounded away. Crede then unloaded the bases with a double off the wall in left center.

The Twins were opportunistic all night when the Brewers made mistakes. With two outs in the second, Gomez took advantage of lackadaisical play by Brewers center fielder Mike Cameron to take an extra base and was rewarded with a run on Harris' single. In the third, JJ Hardy booted a double play grounder. Young then doubled in Cuddyer with Crede going to third. Apparently Crede is really laboring to run, as Scotty Ulger did not send him home despite Nick Punto and Liriano coming up. The Brewers predictably intentionally walked Punto (only in the NL). After a strikeout of Liriano, Gomez made them pay for Hardy's mistake again with a liner into center for two more runs.

Liriano looked frustrated with the strike zone all night, glaring in on close pitches and displaying a droopy body language. Brewer hitters were content to wait for their pitch rather than swing ahead in the count. The result was six strikeouts (three looking) to go along with the five walks. the Brewers managed just three runs against Liriano despite getting at least two base runners on base in each of Liriano's five innings. Inning after inning, Liriano stranded two runners on strikeouts.

The strike zone was tight for both starters, against whom all the runs in this game were scored. Brewer control artist Jeff Suppan threw 97 pitches in five innings, uncharacteristically walking three and going to three balls on many of the Twins hitters. Suppan stomped around the mound after several close pitches were called balls. With competent defense, he would have escaped those five innings without allowing a run. He would have been out of the first if Kendall had come up with the ball cleanly on Cuddyer's strikeout. Likewise, Cameron played a Gomez single into a double, leading to the fourth run. And the three runs surrendered in the third were the direct result of Hardy's error.

As soon as the relievers entered, home plate Umpire Doug Eddings seemed to open up the zone, with only one walk surrendered by either team over the next four innings. What looked like a four-hour game in the making after five was completed in a little over three hours.

Studs

1. Carlos Gomez: He took a lot of breaking pitches just off the plate and consciously tried to shorten his swing and shoot it the other way with encouraging results. Hopefully he turns the corner and starts realizing that he's pretty good when he plays under control.

2. R.A. Dickey: Nothing but strikes to clean up a messy game.

3. Joe Crede: That double was a huge lift for this team.

Duds

1. JJ Hardy: That was just a routine DP, buddy. You're better than what you're showing this year.

2. Jason Kendall: Suppan needs a guy who can catch sliders in the dirt.

3. Jeff Suppan: Yeah, your defense sucked. And the ump was squeezing you. But you threw some really bad pitches when you could have controlled the damage.

Joe Mauer's Second SI Cover

cmathewson — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:35:32 -0000

Joe Mauer's Second SI Cover

Next up: Time.

Valencia promoted to Rochester

cmathewson — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:22:51 -0000

Valencia promoted to Rochester

According to Seth, this blog's top prospect is one step away from the big leagues. This puts him in position to become Joe Crede's replacement in 2010.

Twins call up Keppel

cmathewson — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:49:00 -0000

Twins call up Keppel

No word on who's going down. The Twins probably have to wait to DFA a pitcher to make room. Alternatively, they could option Morales back.