The Phillies and flawed ex-Twins outfielders.

Clete Thomas struck
out 92 times in
322 trips to the plate.

The Phillies seem to have a fascination with flawed outfielders with Twins backgrounds.

Last offseason they traded for Ben Revere and signed free agent Delmon Young.

Young did what he does: Swing at first pitches and play immobile defense. This went so well the Phillies released him in midseason.

Revere did what he does: He hit singles and ran around a lot. The weak throwing arm, the lack of power, the sometimes odd routes ... they're all still problems. He played in just 88 games before breaking his foot.

And now they's signed Clete Thomas, who spent much of the second half of the season in the Twins lineup, to a minor league deal

If one could somehow fuse the respective strengths of Revere and Thomas, the result would be a very good center fielder indeed. Thomas has some power but struggles to make contact; Revere is the opposite. Revere is much faster than Thomas; Thomas makes fewer false starts in the field and has a stronger throwing arm.

But they are who they are.

Beginning the roster purge

Josh Roenicke:
3-1 with one save
in 62 innings.

The subtext to Monday's announcement that Ron Gardenhire would return as manager was: The Twins' lousy record was the result of a bad roster, not the result of subpar managing.

The first purge of that roster came Wednesday, as four players were outrighted from the 40-man major league roster (in a sense, 42-man roster, since the Twins have two players on the 60-day disabled list).

Getting the ax on Wednesday were outfielder Clete Thomas and pitchers Cole De Vries, Shairon Martis and Josh Roenicke. All will be minor league free agents; I suspect the Twins will re-sign at least one of De Vries and Martis as Triple A fodder, maybe both.

The closest thing to a surprise here was Roenicke, 31, who was on the big league roster all season and made 63 appearances out of the bullpen with a 4.35 ERA. He had a poor walk-to-strikeout ratio (36 walks, 45 strikeouts) and pretty much fell apart in September (ERA of 2.91 on Sept. 3, but he closed with 12 earned runs allowed, plus an unearned one, in his final 6.1 innings). The process was ugly all year, and it finally caught up with him.

These are, again, just the first loppings. There will probably be a couple dozen players out of the 42 removed from the major league roster over the next several weeks, as Terry Ryan works against the old adage that you fire the managers because you can't fire the players. We're about to see a lot of players fired.

Contemplating Aaron Hicks

Aaron Hicks in spring training: Despite
the grimace, he had a superb
spring. It was the regular season
that went sour on him.

I was trying Monday to puzzle out who the Twins might bring up when the rosters expand next month when my eye fell on Aaron Hicks' stat line since his demotion to Triple A Rochester at the the start of August.

.179/.276/.196? Yikes.

This is looking like a worst-case scenario. The argument against pushing a prospect up the ladder is that exposing the player to a more difficult level prematurely can be damaging.

That Hicks was pushed up the ladder this spring is undeniable. I cannot criticize the Twins for doing so; I would have been vocally disappointed had he opened 2013 in Triple A. He had played very well in Double A in 2012 and he had clearly outplayed his competition for the center field job in spring training.

But bringing Hicks from Double A to the majors clearly did not work for him, and this belated month in Triple A isn't going any better.

Where do the Twins, and Hicks, go from here?

A September return, which I figured was a given when the Twins demoted him, seems pointless now. Giving him some time away from the field is probably the better idea. Then a stint in winter ball seems likely.

There's still time to salvage Hicks. He has two option seasons left. He's only 23 (turns 24 in October). He had several impressive moments in the majors; the talent to be a good major league player is there.

But certainly the Twins cannot have him prominent in their plans for 2014.

Nor has Clete Thomas cemented his place on the roster, much less the lineup.

And for all the merited hype Byron Buxton has received (his slash line in Fort Myers is .328/.420/.495 and rising), I cannot imagine the Twins bringing him straight to the majors next spring. Well, that's putting it a bit too strongly; I can imagine it, but it's not going to happen. (Kent Hrbek went straight from high-A ball to the majors in 1981, as did Rod Carew in 1967, so it's not completely unprecedented, just exceedingly rare.)

Which all adds up to this: The Twins are likely this winter to look for a more established center fielder who would be an upgrade on what they've gotten out of the position in 2013 but is not going to be a roadblock on Buxton.

If Buxton is Mike Trout 2.0, he'll be playing center field in Minnesota by July.

Beating the Tigers with their rejected outfielders

Clete Thomas makes a diving catch in Wednesday's game.

This is one of those things that happen in baseball: The Twins — not a good team — won this week's series against the Detroit Tigers, who merely have the best record in the American League.

And they won the series while playing regularly two outfielders — Clete Thomas and Wilkin Ramirez — who were developed, tested and discarded by the Tigers.

In this series, Thomas was just 2-for-12 at the plate, but he did make several diving catches and cut down Prince Fielder, whose baserunning on that play Thursday probably cost the Tigers a run they could have used.

Thomas, 29, is getting his first sustained major league action since 2009, and his .224/.295/.332 slash line does not suggest that the Tigers erred in deciding they could do better without him. Nor has Thomas really established that he's better than the demoted (and currently hobbled) Aaron Hicks (.192/259/.338).

Ramirez, 27, made the opening roster as a bench bat but missed the majority of the season after sustaining a concussion on a play that signified the silliness of considering him a usable center fielder. He's hit better than Thomas (.279/.317/.382), but not in enough playing time to be significant (less than 100 plate appearances). He went 4-for-12 in the Detroit series with a double.

The Twins clearly have outfield questions to deal with during the offseason. I don't see either Thomas or Ramirez being serious answers to any of those questions.

The outfield without Willingham

Josh Willingham went on the disabled list Tuesday with a torn meniscus and a bone bruise in his knee. The problem really began, methinks, when he tried to steal second (on his own) in April and executed an awkward slide.

A bum knee goes a long way toward explaining his statistical downturn this season. Apparently he had hopes of returning soon after the 15 days, but after Tuesday's game it was announced that he will have the knee scoped..

It's now unlikely that there will be an trade market for Willingham this month. Not that one should have expected much of one anyway. He's a 34-year-old low-average slugger with limited defensive value (if any); I don't think he'd have fetched a prime pitching prospect even if he were duplicating last season's numbers.

Aaron Hicks was reinstated from the disabled list to fill Willingham's roster spot. Terry Ryan had been saying that Hicks had to produce on his rehab assignment to return to the majors, and Hicks hadn't. But here he is again anyway.

Hicks started Tuesday's game (and had a couple of hits), with Clete Thomas taking a seat. It bears watching how Ron Gardenhire handles this situation. Thomas has been more productive than Hicks, but Hicks is a more significant piece of the puzzle and needs to play. If Gardy would rather play Thomas, Hicks should be returned to the minors.

One silver lining to Willingham's injury is that it should make more playing time available for Chris Parmelee. Oswaldo Arcia has (as he should) one corner outfield job; like Hicks, there is no point to having Arcia in the majors if he's going to sit. Unlike Hicks, Arcia is producing. Center field belongs to Hicks and Thomas, of course. Parmelee came into Tuesday's game with unimpressive numbers on the season (.234/.318/.400) but he'd hit three homers in his last eight games -- eight games with a slash line of .320/.433/.800. (And then he went hitless Tuesday -- not just hitless, but with three strikeouts in his four at-bats.)

It's been a odd, frustrating season for Parmelee. He's been better defensively in right than anticipated, and he's pretty consistently going deep into at-bats. Both are pluses. But at least until the past week or so, he's come up empty too often in those at-bats. I believe that process leads to results, and based on that theory, I still have hopes for Parmelee. I don't want to see the Twins give up on him too soon.

When Hicks' rehab is over, what?

Hitting coach Tom Brunansky talks to Clete Thomas
during Wednesday's game in Miami.

Aaron Hicks played seven innings of center field Thursday night for Rochester, part of the progression as he tests his hamstring. He started with a game as designated hitter, then played five innings in the outfield, seven innings ... today he presumably plays nine innings in the field and then, assuming no issues emerge, he's ready to return.

And then what?

Clete Thomas went 1-for-4 Thursday with a run scored and is hitting .262/.333/.369 as the fill-in center fielder. This isn't great production, but it is better than the .179/.249/.326 Hicks had put up for the season before his injury.

Thomas has been a tolerable platoon leadoff hitter, and I doubt that Ron Gardenhire is eager to return Hicks to that lineup slot, especially as a left-handed hitter (the switch-hitting Hicks is a stronger hitter right-handed than left). And I doubt that Thomas is readily demoted; if he's out of options, and he probably is, he'll have to clear waivers to be sent to Rochester. He may well go unclaimed, but it's still a risk.

Of course, I've said all year that 2013 is (should be) a secondary concern. The Twins' primary concern with each decision should be: How does this make us better down the road? What will nudge us closer to contention in 2014 and 2015 and beyond?

Thomas is not going to play a key role on a Twins contender down the road. Hicks might. That next contending Twins team will have Byron Buxton in center, Oswaldo Arcia in one outfield corner and maybe Hicks in the other. Maybe Hicks, maybe somebody else; Hicks will certainly have to hit to be a corner outfield.

So the real question is: What is better for Hicks' development?

I think that, if the Twins could rewind back to spring training, they would find an excuse to send Hicks to Triple A. Such a move would have brought howls after Hicks' brilliant performance in the Grapefruit League, and considering the ineptitude displayed by Joe Benson and the injury sustained by Darin Mastroianni, the Twins didn't have a great set of alternatives in March.

Hicks has improved as the season continued, but even the improved Hicks of May and June was below major league standards as a hitter.

If the Twins send Hicks to Triple A, I won't complain. He might benefit from a month or more in Rochester, and (as a tiebreaker)Thomas fills a role on the 2013 Twins a bit better than Hicks has.

But I don't really expect the Twins to take that route. They threw Hicks into the deep end of the pool at the start of the season, and I think they'll have him keep splashing.

Notes, quotes and comment

Brian Dozier's home run tear this week — four homers
in five games — gives him seven on the year, while
Justin Morneau has just three long balls.

When the Twins reactivated Trevor Plouffe, I predicted here that Brian Dozier would return to the leadoff spot.

Instead, Ron Gardenhire gave Clete Thomas several games in that lineup position. Thomas didn't remind anybody of Shannon Stewart, much less Rickey Henderson, but he was more productive there than anybody else the Twins had deployed.

And then the Twins saw three straight left-handed pitchers — Chris Sale on Wednesday, John Danks on Thursday, Scott Kazmir on Friday — and the right-handed hitting Dozier was back atop the lineup, with the left-handed hitting Thomas dropping down to the eighth slot.

This is justifiable strictly on the general platoon rule. We're talking here about two marginal hitters. That Dozier entered Friday's game hitting .293/.388/.463 against lefties this year is nice but immaterial; those split stats came in a mere 50 plate appearances against southpaws.

Dozier homered in each of those three games, and it will be interesting to see if Gardenhire keeps him in the leadoff slot as the Twins start to see some right-handed pitchers again. Gardenhire has never been particularly interested in seeking the platoon advantage with his hitters (pitchers are another matter). I'd advocate getting Thomas the extra at-bats against right-handed starters; Gardenhire's habitual preference for a set lineup suggests Dozier will lead off for a while.

For what it's worth — which isn't much — Thomas has been a more productive hitter against lefties than righties over his major league time. It's not enough at-bats to establish that he's an exception to the platoon rule.

---

The Jose Valverde experiment ended Friday when the Detroit Tigers designated him for assignment. I never really understood what the big idea there was; Valverde went from unwanted to closer to unwanted again, with no intermediate stops.

Some 25 years ago, Jim Leyland won a string of divisional titles in Pittsburgh without a designated closer. Since then, he's become far more conventional in his bullpen use. Perhaps he's come to equate the October failings of those good Pirate teams — they never reached the World Series — with the lack of a closer.

Anyway, Leyland indicated Thursday that Joaquin Benoit was his closer, kinda sorta:

"I'm not naming anybody closer. I'm just saying if Benoit was available right now, I would try to close with him." 

I'm not sure why Leyland's hesitant to anoint Benoit, but it's worth noting that Benoit (who's 35 years old, same age as Valverde, which just astounds me) has pitched on back-to-back days just four times this year and has yet to work three days running. The reference in the above quote to the pitcher's availability may be significant.

Another possibility is that the manager is hoping for a trade for a established closer. Or even former Twin Jesse Crain, a notion floated this week by the Chicago Tribune's Phil Rogers. Rogers generates a lot of  trade ideas that don't go anywhere, but trading Crain makes a certain amount of sense for the White Sox; this is the last year of his contract with the Sox, and the Sox certainly aren't going anywhere with him.

Hicks, Arcia and Thomas

Clete Thomas dives unsuccessfully for a ball last week
in Kansas City.

The Twins on Monday put rookie center fielder Aaron Hicks on the disabled list and called up fellow rookie Oswaldo Arcia.

This breaks from the customary pattern of waiting five to seven days to make a roster move and suggests that Hicks' hamstring injury is rather significant. Or, alternatively, that somebody involved in the decision is eager to get Hicks and his .179 batting average out of the lineup.

Either way, the move opens two questions: Who plays center field? and What will the Twins do with Arcia?

Aaron Hicks is hitting
.280 in June. Of
course, that's just
25 at-bats.

These are, unfortunately, separate questions. Arcia is, or will be given sufficient exposure to major league pitching, a quality hitter, but he's of limited use in the outfield. In his earlier stint with the big league team, his defensive metric numbers were even worse that those of Josh Willingham. While those may not be a truly accurate assessment of Arcia in the field, the Twins certainly wouldn't be doing their pitchers any favors by playing Arcia in center.

Nor, I suspect, will they by playing Clete Thomas there. I grumbled here when the Twins called Thomas up for a reserve role, because I don't know what he does well enough that you'd want to put him in the game to do it. I like the idea of giving him regular play even less than I like the idea of him as a backup.

But, just as somebody has to hit leadoff, somebody has to be stationed in center. Thomas is the most likely candidate, even though I think he's a center fielder in the same way that Wilkin Ramirez (still sidelined with his concussion) is a center fielder. Thomas and Ramirez are more mobile than Chris Parmelee and Willingham, but that doesn't really make them center fielders. Center field isn't easy; that's why Hicks remained in the lineup through two-plus months of hitting under .180.

Personally, I'd rather see Chris Herrmann in center than Thomas, even though I doubt he's ever played center as a professional. He's probably faster than Thomas, and off what we saw from Thomas last year, he can't be a worse hitter.

Oswaldo Arcia
strained his throwing
shoulder soon after
his demotion last
month, but did
play right field on
Sunday for
Rochester.

But the Twins are as likely to play Parmelee or Arcia in center as they are to install Herrmann, which is to say it isn't going to happen.

How to fit Arcia in the lineup is another issue. The Twins took a great deal of Internet criticism for demoting him last month with better stats than most on the team, but the criticism ignored the current reality: Pitchers weren't throwing him fastball strikes anymore, and he was stringing together noncompetitive at-bats, swinging at fastballs well out of the zone and unable to cope with offspeed strikes.

Under the principle that 2013 is less the issue than 2014 and beyond is, Arcia (just 22) has to play if he's going to be in the majors. Since Willingham, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau aren't leaving the lineup, getting Arcia his playing time means cutting out either Ryan Doumit or Parmelee. Doumit has been productive in recent days, and Parmelee hasn't hit well all year, so the choice seems pretty cut-and-dried for immediate purposes.

Of course, that assumes Arcia will stop getting himself out this time around. Parmelee hasn't hit, but he has given good at-bats.

Notes, quotes and comment

Clete Thomas' slash
line with the Twins
in 2012: .143/.172/
.286, with 16 strikeouts
in 29 plate appearances.

The Twins will fill the 25-man roster spot they opened after Sunday's game with Clete Thomas, an outfielder who got some time with the Twins last year after the Tigers waived him. To make room on the 40 for Thomas, they designated Tyler Robertson for assignment.

I'm not impressed with this move. Remember, it is my belief that everything the Twins do should have 2014 (or even further out) as the primary concern. Thomas is 29 and nothing more than a marginal player. There is no long-term purpose to giving him playing time. The only immediate benefit to giving him PT would be from sitting Aaron Hicks against righties, and that would be counterproductive to the long term goals.

Thomas has had a very productive April and May for Rochester (.296/.385/.576), but there's nothing in his track record that says he's that good.

Not that the possibility of losing Robertson concerns me very much. He's left-handed and breathing, a combination that gives him a chance. He's also a LOOGY (Left-handed One Out GuY) who isn't consistent with his breaking ball, a combination that wrecks chances.

Tyler Robertson
opened the season
with the Twins but
was sent out after
two appearances.

He had a 3.05 ERA in Rochester, which looks OK, but he walked 16 men in 20.2 innings, which is definitely not OK.

The Twins now have 10 days to dispose of Robertson's contract. Somebody may claim him on waivers — he is, after all, left-handed and breathing — but I wouldn't be surprised if he clears waivers and remains in the Twins system.

---

Joe Mauer returned to the No. 2 spot in the batting order during the series with Seattle, and Ron Gardenhire indicated that he'll stay there because he gets more RBI chances as the No. 2 hitter.

Right decision, wrong reason.

Consider the three guys hitting in front of Mauer on Sunday: Hicks (on-base percentage .246); Pedro Florimon (.331, which is much better than I expected); and Eduardo Escobar (.274). Drop Mauer to the third hole, and the three hitters are probably going to be Florimon, Escobar and either Hicks or Brian Dozier (.276).

Not a lot of RBI opportunities either way.

No, the gain from hitting Mauer second is more plate appearances for Mauer, Josh Willingham, etc. as the middle of the lineup moves up, and fewer plate appearances for one of the outmakers.

---

Reports Sunday evening had two prominent collegiate pitching prospects in this week's draft field testing positive for a banned stimulant. One of them is Jonathan Gray, the Oklahoma right-hander generally seen as one of the top two prospects in the field; the other, Aaron Blair of Marshall, is No. 41 in Baseball America's draft list, which would put him high in the second round.

BA doesn't expect the test results to affect either man's draft status.

Late Night: Weaver no-hits Twins 9-0

Jered Weaver and Chris Iannetta celebrate after the
last out of Weaver's no-hitter.

Game story here

Box score here

And the season just gets worse for the Twins. They have an off day today, and I expect to see some changes.

Begin with Liam Hendriks. He couldn't make it out of the third inning on Wednesday. That's two straight poor starts for the rookie, and his ERA is an even 9.00.

The starting rotation is the single biggest problem on this team; none of the starters have been effective. Hendriks is the easiest to change out, and also the one with the best future. Let him learn in Triple A.

Potential replacements: Either Anthony Swarzak (moved out of the bullpen) or Scott Diamond (now in Triple A.)

Hendriks can be optioned. Matt Maloney cannot, but his ERA (after getting two outs and a bruise on his calf from a line drive) is 7.36, so there's a real good chance he'll clear waivers. I think the Twins will find out. I hope they can keep him; he may be a Quadruple A pitcher (good in the minors, not good enough to pitch in the majors), but I still believe he can be an asset in the majors. He isn't right now.

Another guy who'd have to be waived is Clete Thomas, who has now struck out 16 times in 28 plate appearances with Minnesota. The Twins are carrying him rather than Ben Revere as an outfield reserve because Revere can't throw and the use they have for an extra outfielder is in right, but Thomas isn't getting it done.

Chris Parmelee probably isn't going down just yet, if only because of the uncertainty about Justin Morneau, but Parmelee's average is down to .220 and he hasn't had a hit since his beaning. He hasn't had an extra base hit since April 19.

Most of these are minor moves. One starting pitcher, a position player who's been in the lineup about half the time, a bench guy and a long reliever. Changing them out isn't going to turn the Twins season around.

But something's got to give.

Clete Thomas vs. Ben Revere

New Twins outfielder Clete Thomas has hit
.253/.336/.391 in 391 at-bats spread over three seasons
with the Detroit Tigers.

Here's a player move that really illustrates how Ron Gardenhire uses, or doesn't use, his bench.

The Twins claimed Clete Thomas from the Detroit Tigers on waivers Saturday. They made room for him on the 40-man roster by putting Scott Baker on the 60-day disabled list, and made room for him on the 25-man roster by sending Ben Revere to the minors.

Revere does a few things very well — he runs, he fields, he makes contact. He doesn't throw well and he lacks power. Those failings make him a poor choice for regular duty in an outfield corner, but what he does do, he does well enough to justify using him to do those things.

Thomas, on the other hand, is pretty mediocre at everything. He's better than Revere at the things Revere doesn't do well, he's worse than Revere at the things Revere does do well. There is no one thing that you'd want to put him in the game to do.

Ben Revere got 11
at-bats in the first
eight games.

The Twins prefer Thomas on the bench to Revere. Why? Because Gardenhire isn't a manager who loves to make in-game moves. And Revere makes more sense for a manager who wants to use his bench in speciality roles.

Gardenhire has said he doesn't want to sub defensively for Josh Willingham or Ryan Doumit; he doesn't want to lose their bats and he fears not having a reserve catcher available. That makes Revere's glove relatively less useful. It also means that two of the most likely candidates to be pinch-run for are staying in the game.

Gardenhire prefers a bench of guys waiting to be put in the starting lineup. On this year's team, he plans to lock Willingham and Denard Span in left and center; right field will be a hydra-headed position. It's also the outfield spot Revere is least suited for.

Thomas fits the Gardenhire system better than Revere does. It doesn't make him a better player.