Minnesota Twins, MLB

Roster Is Set

32 Comments

From LEN3:

Here are your 2012 Minnesota Twins

Catchers: Joe Mauer. Ryan Doumit

Infielders: Justin Morneau, Chris Parmelee, Alexi Casilla, Jamey Carroll, Danny Valencia, Luke Hughes, Sean Burroughs

Outfielders: Josh Willingham, Denard Span, Trevor Plouffe, Ben Revere

Starters: Carl Pavano, Francisco Liriano, Liam Hendriks, Nick Blackburn

Relievers: Matt Capps, Glen Perkins, Jared Burton, Brian Duensing. Matt Maloney, Alex Burnett, Jeff Gray, Anthony Swarzak

32 thoughts on “Roster Is Set”

  1. Burton and Maloney are a couple of Reds castoffs....KRIVSKY *shake fist*
    Who is Jeff Gray? What does he bring to the table?
    Good for Sean Burroughs. Reading a couple stories about him this morning, it sounds like he is a good 'team player'.

    2. Maloney has pitched pretty well this spring- 14 innings in 8 games (one start), 16/3 K/BB, and only 9 hits. He got smacked around pretty good in Cincy last year, but his minor-league numbers all look pretty good to me. Not sure we need another lefty in the pen besides Dunce and Perk, but maybe he's more situational.

  3. This Hendriks fellow is intriguing. I've actually made it all of Spring Training without looking up his numbers. 8+ K/9 with 1.4 BB/9 while being a pretty young guy in the minors? He could be pretty good. His numbers are actually pretty similar to Scott Baker's in the minors. Big concern? Not many innings pitched so far in his career.

    1. Most of my opinion of him was based off Gleeman's prospect rankings. Gleeman seems to either focus too much on large samples while ignoring trends or on small samples while ignoring natural variation. He bemoans Hendrik's declining strikeout rate, but it seems overblown. His AA rate is in-line with his minor league average and while AAA is much less, it's over 49.1 innings and he walked three over those innings. Plus, he was just 22.

      His lack of innings is concerning, but he did toss over 160 innings last year over three levels. It seems he had a spinal cord injury(!!) in 2008 and appendicitis in 2010.

      Overall, I think the Baker comparison is good. Baker, however, didn't pitch over 100 innings in MLB until his age 25 season, meaning Hendriks is at least a year ahead of him.

      2. I'm definitely a big picture kind of guy when it comes to minor league pitchers. I think a lot of the reason that TINSAAP came to be is that 1) people looked at the wrong stats (ERA and such) and 2) people try to read too much into one year or another (sure he was good in AA, but he was soooo overmatched at AAA, etc.). Hendriks has a bunch of strikeouts and can throw strikes. Those are good skills to have, and there are a ton of reasons why he might not make it, but overall he seems pretty intriguing and if the scouts think he's ready to go, all the better.

  4. I'm a little bummed that Benson couldn't make it over Plouffe, but the Twins do have to decide whether to fish or cut bait on Plouffe at some point. This isn't likely to be a championship season, so it could be worth giving Plouffe some plate appearances to see how he does. His minor league numbers aren't exciting, but sometimes when you move a guy to a position with less defensive responsibility, he hits better. Plouffe hit for a pretty good ISOp in the minors with a lot of doubles. If he adds some home runs to that, he could hit something like .260/.340/.460. Is that likely? Not really, but stranger things have happened.

    1. I'm part-way with ubes SF101. I wanted to see Benson. Plouffe may have value as a utility guy, but given that we don't think the Twins really are competing for a playoff spot this year, now is the time to promote some kids to see if they can make the leap. Plouffe doesn't look like he'll ever be more than utility guy. Benson looks like he still has a shot to be a regular or even an impact player. I want to see him get 200-400 PA with the big club by the end of the season.

      Plouffe's career minor league slash line is a pretty sad 258/320/406 and his career AAA line (in over 1400 PA) is only 262/316/451. Benson's career slash line is 265/359/443, with a relatively encouraging 269/363/510 in 774 PA at AA. This is his age-24 season. It's time.

      1. Benson's line isn't that much different than Plouffe's:

        Benson/Plouffe:

        .265/.258 -- H/AB
        10.4%/7.8% -- BB%
        5.6%/5.6% -- 2B/AB
        7.2%/6.5% -- (2B+3B)/AB
        3.0%/2.5% -- HR/AB

        If you pro-rate to 500 AB, you have:

        133/129 hits
        28/28 2B
        8/4 3B
        15/13 HR

        Yes, Benson's been better, but what's the rush? Find out if Plouffe can develop some HR power (which should help his non-embarrassing BB%) and keep Benson's service clock from ticking until you call him up later in the season. Benson also has 0 PA in AAA, so it's not like it's going to stunt his development to move him up a level.

        Damning with faint praise and all that, but it's not hard to see Plouffe hitting better than Delmon Young did. If the Twins get a solid season out of Plouffe they could also use that to flip Plouffe like Kielty, Mohr, or Buchanan.

        1. I have a feeling that Plouffe and Revere might both be trade bait during this season, which makes me really happy that Terry Ryan is back.

            1. His name would work even better if he was traded to Boston, but I'd much rather he went to Texas if he does get moved.

                1. There's a pretty famous Revere already associated with Boston, was what I was going for. Not sure who "Ben Revere and the Rangers" were- enlighten me?

                  1. I'm guessing he's going for pseudo-alliteration with "Paul Revere and the Raiders"???

                    2. Now that shows up on Google- points to you for the extra layer of obscurity on your reference!

    2. Plouffe had a huge year at AAA last year. Benson has never hit anything close to that at the lower levels and has never played AAA. Benson is a far better defender, but he did not look close to being ready for AAA last year with a 21-3 K/BB rate. Plus, Plouffe seems much better suited to a bench role. With Parmelee making the team, that means Doumit or Parmelee needs to play a lot of RF with Willingham and Span playing the majority of the time in LF and CF. Benson just wouldn't have much playing time, which he needs right now. No reason to rush him. I'm more bummed that Dozier didn't make the team. I can't see Casilla hitting much better than what Dozier would do and Dozier is pretty clearly the best shortstop on the 40-man. He's had less time at AA than both Parmelee and Benson, so I understand that he should get some time at AAA first, but I think the Twins would still be better off with Dozier than Burroughs, Hughes or Plouffe.

      1. I agree that Plouffe! is better suited for a bench role than Benson, but I can see him playing quite a bit, and I can see me not being happy about that. I assume right field will be some combination of Plouffe!, Doumit, Revere and his noodle arm*, and maybe Parmelee when he's not at first base. I'd have preferred to just put Benson out there and see what he can do.

        I also agree on Dozier. I understand the desire to see him play at AAA, but we don't exactly have a couple of all-stars in the middle of the diamond. Again, I'd rather put him out there and see what he can do. If either he or Benson turns out to be overmatched, they can always be sent back to Rochester later.

        *This is not to say I don't like Revere, just that his arm is really not suited to play right. However, given Gardy's desire not to shuffle veterans around, I suspect we're going to see him out there unless he's giving Span or Willingham a day off.

        1. If either he or Benson turns out to be overmatched, they can always be sent back to Rochester later.

          The Twins tend to lean the other way in making sure the player is ready before he is called up, or at least making sure the player is as ready as he's going to be, so when he gets called up he is there to stay. It can be frustrating for fans, but the Twins have a pretty good track record of having young players succeed once they are brought up. Last year showed what can happen when a team is forced to promote players before they are ready.

          1. My feeling is that last year was less a matter of promoting players before they're ready, and more a matter of promoting players who aren't very good.

      2. Plouffe had a huge year220 plate appearances at AAA last year.

        FTFY, socal. Should that 220 PA really out-balance the 1194 AAA PA that preceded it?

        Prior to that stretch, the highest OPS he'd achieved at ANY level was .736 at AA in 2007.

        1. I'd take those 220 over the 0 that Benson had. My point is not that I think Plouffe is going to turn out to be that type of hitter, but that he's done enough to justify getting his shot now. Benson has not. In fact, he was given a demotion early last year before getting a quick promotion back to AA and then succeeding. It is not unheard of for players at Plouffe's age to develop their power and improve on what they did in the lower minors. The most encouraging thing though should be his improved walk rate. It may be SSS fluke, but it could be real improvement. Let him play and find out. Meanwhile, Benson can work on his issues in AAA.

          1. The only reason you notice those 220 PAs is because of the convenient cut-off from his time in AAA. Benson (or even Plouffe) could have had a 220 PA stretch in which he raked but no one noticed because it came after 100 PAs of mediocrity.

            1. I'd argue there is a difference between a convenient cut-off point where there was an actual change in circumstances, and an arbitrary cut-off point used to skew the stats, but you're right that we shouldn't expect Plouffe to keep hitting like that. If he does, great!
              Also, I think Plouffe is better suited to a utility role than Benson would be to the full-time role I think he should be in once he gets his shot at the majors again.

              1. Well, think of it as starting the season really well and not having a chance to do poorly versus doing poorly and then hitting really well. Now, hitting that well for 220 PAs it better than not at all, but we shouldn't think of this as the new baseline.

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