Friday, March 14, 2008

Twins Charity Work

Let’s all congratulate the Twins on their fabulous charity work over the past several years—especially including their work with the Make a Wish Foundation in allowing Nick Punto to see his dream as a major league baseball player.

In all seriousness, is there a more ridiculous team in the league when it comes to keeping terrible players on the roster way, way, way after they should get the axe?

Denny Hocking, Dougie Baseball, Tony Batista, Lew Ford, Matt LeCroy, Juan Rincon...it's like a comedy act.

****

Here’s a scenario for all of you baseball minds. Let’s say you’re a GM/Manager and are forced to make mid-Spring training cuts. Which infielder do you cut?

Player A: 20 AB, .250 BA, .423 OBP, 6 R, 3 RBI, 0 HR, 4 SB, 3 E

Player B: 17 AB, .118 BA, .211 OBP, 1 R, 2 RBI, 0 HR, 1 SB, 1 E

Player C: 17 AB, .118 BA, .250 OBP, 0 R, 0 RBI, 0 HR, 0 SB, 0 E

…Here’s some more info…let’s see if your decision changes:

Player A: 23-year-old, highly regarded prospect with major-league experience

Player B: 30-year-old, defensive master who shamed all of major league baseball with one of the most pathetic offensive seasons in history last year

Player C: 27-year-old, career minor leaguer that is really not impressive in any area.

What did the Twins do? The cut Player A (Casilla), and kept Players B & C (Nick Punto and Tommy Watkins).

I understand that Casilla wasn’t going to beat out Harris for the job and needs to play everyday and AAA Rochester is the best place for that. But, what a slap in the face to get cut this early in camp…especially considering the absurdity of the players around him.

No comments: