Twins Bring Back Jim Thome for 2011

Regardless of the lens through which you choose to view the game of baseball, or how you chose to evaluate performance, Jim Thome's production in 2010 was big. All by itself with no perspective given, a .283 average, with 25 home runs would be good - and if you're someone who prefers your baseball analysis as simple as possible, you're going to like that production. Indeed just 20 players other players posted an average as good with as many home runs.

Prefer your statistics to be more advanced? His 1.039 OPS would've been third to just Josh Hamilton and Miguel Cabrera. His .437 wOBA third to Hamilton and Joey Votto.  How about player value? Thome's 3.6 WAR was the best of any designated hitter, while former Twin David Ortiz (3.3) came in second.

The kicker to all that of course is that the Twins were able to sign him for the heinous base salary of 1.6m - but don't worry, he earned another 200k in incentives for reaching 300 plate appearances - for a grand total of 1.8m

If the voices in your head are saying something along the lines of, "Hold on... what?" you're not alone.

How exactly did we get to a point where Thome, a near certain Hall Of Famer, and one of baseball's most beloved characters could barely get 1.5m guaranteed? I mean, the White Sox gave Mark Teahan (yeah, the Mark Teahan who was supposed to replace Thome) three years and 14m. But picking on the White Sox alone isn't fair. This isn't the case of one team making a bad decision, this is a situation where 29 other teams legitimately sat down and said, "no, we're not interested in Jim Thome even at just two million."

The Royals, who dug up 2.75m for Rick Ankiel and another 1.7m for Willie Bloomquist apparently couldn't dig enough change out of the couch for Thome. I guess paying Jose Guillen 12m to clog up the DH spot was a better play. Neither could the Indians, who instead signed Russell Branyan for 1.5m to be a left handed option off the bench before trading him to the Mariners where he replaced their other DH, perennial Citizen Of The Year Award Winner Milton Bradley.

He'd have been the best hitter on any of those teams - by a vast margin - and could've been had for the baseball equivalent of loose change. How the hell did this happen?

The most likely explanation is that executives saw his declining performance - his OPS in 2009 was JUST .847, combined it with his advancing age and thought he was done for. I guess that makes some sense. Not nearly enough sense mind you, but some. Even when you consider that his market was limited to the 14 AL teams where he could serve as a DH, there are a lot of teams (all of them) that could've used Thome's bat in a bench role - which is precisely the roll for which the Twins signed Thome.

I say all of that to say this: how the hell did we wind up back at the EXACT SAME PLACE????

It's now 2010 instead of 2009 and still no one could make an offer that topped the reported 4m the Rangers offered? Really? It would appear that Thome considered more things than just money - there is speculation he chose the Twins slightly smaller 3m + incentives deal to be closer to his family in Chiacgo, and obviously the Twins are a more competitive club than, say, the Mariners. But... seriously?

Perhaps the only thing more criminal than the Twins being able to sign Thome for 1.5m in 2010 off his .847 OPS in the year before is them signing him for 3.0m in 2011 off his 1.037 OPS.

But let's add some important perspective - I'm not by any means under the impression that Thome is going to repeat his 2010 season, not by a long shot. Other than Albert Pujols, I don't expect anyone to post back-to-back 1.000 OPS seasons. But as Thome showed in 2010 he can still demolish right-handed pitching, and while it's unlikely that he'll do so to the same extent in 2011, I'm guessing he'll still hit them plenty hard. Certainly projecting him to a .850 OPS isn't exactly going out on any kind of a limb.

Further, Thome doesn't fill an obvious hole. Jason Kubel came into 2010 as the Twins every-day designated hitter and he'll likely enter 2011 with the same role. What the Twins really could've used was a right-handed hitter to platoon with Kubel who, like Thome, struggles mightily with left-handed pitching. Personally, I think they'd have been better served by signing either Manny Ramirez or Vlad Guerrero who could platoon in the DH role and provide the Twins with some desperately needed pop from the right side. Clearly the Twins felt otherwise.

Beyond what Thome brings on the field, and beyond the immeasurable intangibles he brings to the clubhouse - he provides something else to the Twins - insurance on Justin Morneau's concussion.

Free agency is a mixed bag. Sometimes you know from the start that a deal is going to implode. Sometimes you know it'll work out. And yes, sometimes there are steals. But they should never be this obvious.

Twins Notes

Justin Morneau remains out of the Twins lineup and there is still no evidence that he's going to return any time soon. Though I suppose this can be taken as a positive. Morneau has pretty much reached the point where it's become unlikely that he'll have enough time to rehab and find his swing prior to the playoffs. That said, it's good to see that the Twins front office realizes that Morneau's long-term health and ability to contribute is vastly more important than his ability to do so now. Always nice to know that not every team is run like the Mets.

That's unfortunate for the Twins. So is this...

The Twins will likely be Mauerless in Minnesota for at least the next few games after Joe Mauer strained his knee. Thankfully for the Twins this seems like a minimal issue. They're going to simply give Mauer all the time he needs to rest. Of course, this makes last weeks sweep in Chicago all the more important as it affords the team the luxury of playing this as safe as they like.

Should make for some interesting lineups however with center fielder Denard Span battling a hurt shoulder, and regular DH Jason Kubel out with a sore wrist. The Twins will be without their opening day leadoff man, #3/4/5 hitters. Can anyone imagine the outcry if the Yankees were without Jeter, Tiexiera, A-Rod, and Posada? Oh the humanity!

Up and Coming Catchers, Pt. 3

Wilson Ramos

The Twins are blessed with a pretty good catcher already, you might have heard of him, he's the reigning AL MVP and just came off an absurdly good season where he hit .365 with 28 home runs and won a Gold Glove. The fact that they have ultra toolsy prospect Wilson Ramos nipping at his heels at a position where most teams can't find one good catcher almost seems unfair.

Behind the plate Ramos boasts a strong arm, consistently throwing out over 40% of runners throughout his minor league career. Though during spring training Twins coaches noted that they'd like to have the youngster work on his overall receiving skills. That's not terribly surprising given Ramos' age, he's just 22, but Gardenhire has also praised his strong work ethic and ability to make corrections on the fly.

Offensively Ramos' ceiling is much higher than his minor league track record might suggest. Ramos has consistently hit for solid average, posting a .317 mark last year at AA (as a 21 year old) with a career .294 average. While his power hasn't really manifested itself yet - his ISO last year was just .137 - everyone is in agreement that he can hit the ball a long ways. To that end, he's impressed the organization this spring by hitting .400 in 30 at-bats with four doubles (two off the very top of the wall) and two annihilated home runs, the last of which was hit well OVER the batters eye at the Twins spring training facility in Ft. Myers.

If his arm and his power are his two greatest strengths, Ramos still has some holes to his game. Besides needing to improve some facets of his defensive game, he also struggles as most kids his age do, with command of the strike zone. While Ramos took a major leap forward last year by slashing his K rate in half from the year before, and all the way down to a very good 11.2%, his walk rate also tumbled to a nearly non-existent 2.8%. While the low walk rate wont keep him from being a very good Major Leaguer as long as his average continues to stay where it is and he can develop his power some more, it can't hurt. He's also not the fleetest of foot, though that's hardly uncommon at the position.

Ramos' spring had Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire pleading with GM Bill Smith to let him take the kid north. Smith wisely declined, likely realizing that he still needed plenty of work at AAA to polish off his game. As it stands the Twins will open the season with Drew Butera as Mauer's backup until Mauer's regular caddy, Jose Morales (another solid young catcher for the Twins) returns from off-season wrist surgery. Morales should be back by the time the calendar turns over at the end of April.

The problem for the Twins - if this can really be described as a problem - is that they don't really have anywhere to put Ramos once he is ready. They're pretty set at catcher with Mauer who just re-upped for another eight years in his hometown, and they have a pretty good first baseman as well in Justin Morneau, and at DH they have Jason Kubel. All three are very good hitters who have long-term contracts.

So the question Twins fans are asking is, "where does Ramos fit in?" It's a tough question. Clearly there is no spot for him right now, and despite the main stream media pushing the 'move Mauer to a different position,' meme, there are few ideas that could be more absurd than that, and the Twins front office agrees. Mauer isn't moving anywhere for a long time.

So with the Twins roster as currently constructed, one must believe that a trade will eventually happen. But when and to where and for what kind of return? I can't say for certain where, but generally speaking, players of Ramos' caliber are the kind that can headline all-star trades. There has been some speculation that the Twins might trade him for a closer - Heath Bell is the most common name bandied about - but I believe the Twins would be foolish to trade a prospect of Ramos' caliber for just a closer.