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| To remain part of the Twins system. |
New Britain is the Double A affiliate in the Eastern League, and there was, at the time of the original post, speculation that the new owners of the franchise were interested in hooking up with the Mets.
Rochester (Triple A) and Beloit (Low A) are also expiring affiliations.
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As far as I know, Brian Dinkelman is the only Twins farmhand involved in this bracket. I don't think he's got a chance.
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Jonathan Sanchez was designated for assignment Tuesday by Kansas City -- a status that means We don't know what we're going to do with him, but he's not playing for us anymore. They have nine more days in which to dispose of him.
If there's any team in need of power arms for the starting rotation, it's the Twins. Of course, if there's another, it's Kansas City, and they've seen quite enough of Sanchez. Still, Sanchez' record with San Francisco was solid enough to start some Twitter chatter about whether the Twins should pursue him.
I don't know why his walk rate, never good, has ballooned, or (probably more important) why his strikeout rate has cratered. And without answers to those questions, I'd pass on him. Certainly the Twins ought not pick up the remains of his $5.6 million contract.
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Trevor Plouffe hasn't homered in two weeks, but he hasn't had a hitless game this month and has only struck out eight times. He hasn't had a lot of multi-hit games during the16-game hitting streak (Wednesday's was the fourth), and he's drawn only three walks, so the on-base percentage hasn't budged, the slugging percentage has actually dropped, and the batting average is only creeping up.
Still, the consistency is encouraging.
My guess about Plouffe is simply that pitchers are figuring him out and not throwing him the stuff he can crush. At least that's what I *hope* is happening. Because the alternative, regression, would be much more depressing.
ReplyDelete"during the16-game hitting streak (Wednesday's was the fourth), and he's drawn only three walks, so the on-base percentage hasn't budged, the slugging percentage has actually dropped, and the batting average is only creeping up."
ReplyDeleteNone of those are true.
Here are his slash numbers after the game on June 29th, the day before the streak started:
.238 .316 .519
Here are his slash numbers before today's game:
.262 .335 .532
And he has walked 5 times during the streak.
Pitchers probably are pitching Plouffe differently but he has been hitting the pitches they are throwing him. I doubt anyone expected him to maintain his previous pace for home runs. If he did, he would have hit close to 50 home runs. He has some pop, but I don't think he has that kind of power.