Ex-Twins watch: Denard Span

My current Strat-o-Matic project -- don't fear, this is just a starting point -- involves the Negro League set of cards, and the other day I was contemplating the card of one Jimmie Crutchfield: left-handed hitting outfielder, fast, good defense, weak throwing arm, no power.

He's the Negro League Denard Span, I thought. And then: Where is Denard Span these days, anyway?

Apparently involuntarily retired appears to be the answer. The three-year guarantee on the free agent pact he signed with the Giants ran out last year, and the Mariners -- the third team he played for while on that contract and the fifth of his 11-year career -- bought out his option year.

There was, and is, no interest in Span's services despite a solid 2018 at the plate. That's not terribly surprising. He turned 35 in February and he pretty much convinced everybody while in San Francisco that he is no longer a quality defensive center fielder. So he's now an aging slap-hitting corner outfielder in an era in which power is preferred. The Twins have no roster spot for Jake Cave, and I'd rather have Cave than the 2019 version of Span.

Span started with an unseen role in the book Moneyball, cited by author Michael Lewis in the chapter on the 2002 draft as exactly the kind of athlete Athletics general manager and protagonist Billy Beane wanted to avoid -- a raw high school athlete with bonus expectations. The Twins took him with the 20th overall pick, one year after taking Joe Mauer with the first overall pick, and he didn't get to the majors until after Mauer had become a star.

The decision in spring training 2008 to go with Carlos Gomez as the regular center fielder that year and send Span back to the minors was one of two major decisions that cost the Twins the divisional title that year. Span outplayed Go-Go during camp, but Gomez was the big get in the Johan Santana trade, and he got the benefit of the doubt. (The other costly decision was Ron Gardenhire's decison to keep Craig Breslow in a secondary relief role as the rest of the bullpen frequently imploded, but let's not get sidetracked on that again, Eddie.) By midseason Span was in the lineup and hitting leadoff, but the gap probably cost the Twins a game or two in a season in which they ended in a Game 163.

Stardom wasn't in the cards for Span, although he did lead his league in triples twice and hits once. He never made an All-Star team, never won a Gold Glove, had a career high of 12 homers. He was a good regular outfielder and leadoff hitter, but short of greatness.

Jimmie Crutchfield's Baseball Reference page says his career ended at age 35 too.

Notes from the weekend

Ugly series all told against Tampa Bay for the Twins. They couldn't deal with the former Twins in the Rays outfield (Denard Span and Carlos Gomez) and the bullpen stuck so bad one assumes the trainer had to check the old guys for signs of decomposion.

Span went 5-for-14 with three runs and six RBIs. Gomez scored the winning run on Friday and hit a monster walk-off homer off the previously impregnable Addison Reed on Sunday.

Go-Go, by the way, is hitting third for Tampa Bay despite a .160 batting average. It's still early.

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Gabriel Moya, lefty reliever I really like even through his major league numbers to date aren't good, was optioned out Sunday to make room for Phil Hughes. Dick Bremer was claiming that Hughes showed improved velocity on his rehab assignment, but we certainly didn't see that in Sunday's start.

For the first time, I now consider it a genuine possibility that the Twins will give up on Hughes relatively soon. They're on the hook for not only this season but next on his contract, so that's a genuine consideration. But when Ervin Santana returns -- and my guess is end of May at the earliest for that -- there's no room for him in the rotation. And there may not be room for him in the bullpen either.

Gotta get outs. And Hughes needs to start getting them soon.

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Luke Bard, a hard-throwing relief prospect the Twins lost to the Angels in the Rule 5 draft, has now been designated for assignment. If he slips through waivers, I would assume the Twins will happily reclaim him.

Bard is said to have the highest spin rate on his four-seam fastball in the majors this year. That's nice. It obviously wasn't enough to keep him on the Angels roster.

If the Twins get him back, it may make it a bit easier for Minnesota to abandon the Tyler Kinley experiment. Kinley has pitched just three innings so far, and those innings haven't made Paul Molitor eager to increase his role. It's difficult for a contender to carry a Rule 5 guy.

Notes, quotes and comment

Pretty impressive game for Ervin Santana on Friday night in San Francisco: A 91-pitch complete game shutout (a "Maddux") plus three RBIs on a "double." A single, certainly, but Denard Span dove for, came up short and knocked it away from himself and right fielder Hunter Pence.

If Span were as good a defensive center fielder as some in Minnesota seem to think he is, he catches that ball. Byron Buxton probably catches that ball. But Span is 33, his defensive metrics are in decline, and he didn't get there.

Twins fans have been blessed with some truly great defensive centerfielders over the past 30-plus years -- Kirby Puckett, Torii Hunter, Buxton, Carlos Gomez. Span, even at his best, was never in their class.

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Paul Molitor said after the game that Nik Turley will get Sunday's start, filling in for Hector Santiago, who went on the disabled list after his Tuesday start.

Turley is a left-handed refugee of indy ball who entered the pros as a 50th-round draft pick back in 2008. The draft doesn't go that long anymore. He spent years in the Yankee system, then a year in the Giants organization. He split 2016 between a Red Sox farm club and an independent team.

He's 27 and didn't even get an invite to major league camp this spring, but he has put up a combined 2.05 ERA between AA Chattanooga and AAA Rochester (52.2 innings) this year. Perhaps more impressive, he's struck out 84 men in those 52.2 innings with just 15 walks.

I don't know what to expect from him. His stats for this year say he deserves the opportunity. His track record over the previous nine years doesn't necessarily agree.

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No corresponding move has been made yet; my assumption is that Randy Rosario will be demoted, but that remains to be seen. The Twins won't bring Jorge Polanco off the bereavement list until they return to Minnesota after the weekend; the shortstop is in his native Dominican after the death of his grandfather. Kennys Vargas is back with the team for now. So there are roster moves ahead.

Notes, quotes and comment

Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza joke about wearing their
caps backward during their Hall of Fame presser Thursday.

No surprise here: Ken Griffey Jr. said his Hall of Fame plaque will have a Mariners cap. Also not really a surprise: He says the cap will be worn in the traditional manner, brim forward. Junior, of course, was known for wearing his cap backwards during batting practice, and there was some chatter about having it backwards on his plaque.

Mike Piazza will have a Mets cap. There's a pretty good argument that it should be a Dodgers cap, but neither would be a mistake.

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The three naysayers on Griffey have yet to fess up, so the current assumption is that they weren't skipping him to game the ballot. Whatever their reason, I'm not particularly wound up by the mystery; they didn't keep Griffey from going in.

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A Ken Griffey factoid I love: Both he and his father, Ken Griffey -- the right fielder on the Big Red Machine of the 1970s and a darn good player himself -- were born in Donora, Pennsylvania. Which makes the elder Griffey the third best left-handed hitting outfielder born in Donora.

Who else hailed from there? Stan Musial. That's a pretty good outfield for a town best known for a killer smog.

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Former Twins outfielder Denard Span signed with the Giants: three years, $31 million. There were some Twins fans dreaming of him as the fourth outfielder, but he was looking for a starting job, and $10 million a year is not reserve outfielder money.

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Former Twins catcher Josmil Pinto got designated for assignment this week, this time by the Brewers. The Twins waived him early in the offseason, and the Padres claimed him, only to waive him themselves and see the Brewers claim him.

My guess is that his merry-go-round will end without a 40-man roster spot, but there are apparently a number of teams hoping to be the one that gets him through waivers and onto their Triple A roster. For his sake, I hope it's an American League team, because most of his value, if he has any, figures to be as a designated hitter.

Brandon goes Boom

Brandon Crawford unloads on this Edinson
Volquez pitch. He hit 10 homers in the regular
season, a career high.

Wednesday's wild card game wasn't up to the standard of Tuesday's, but that's a pretty high bar to set.

Brandon Crawford, former Mankato Moondog (2005) and current San Francisco Giant, put this one on ice with a grand slam in the fourth inning.

Of course, the Giants' Bay Area neighbors for Oakland were unable to sustain a four-run lead of their own in the AL wild card game. The difference: Jon Lester let the Kansas City Royals back into the game, and Madison Bumgarner did not.

So the National League team I was most interested in rooting for (Pittsburgh) is eliminated. Let's go down the list of division series match-ups:

AL: Anaheim versus Kansas City; Baltimore vs. Detroit.

The Angels had much the better record and do more things well than the Royals do, plus manager Mike Scoscia is far less likely to make a mess than is Ned Yost. But Anaheim's starting pitching has been thinned by injuries; Matt Shoemaker, who will start Game 2, hasn't pitched in more than two weeks. (I saw him against the Twins in early September and was not impressed.)

I'll almost always root for the Midwest team over one from Southern California, and this will be no exception. And while Anaheim is the better team, I'll go with K.C. to take this series. Hope so; the longer Yost is the Royals manager, the better for the Twins.

The other series is a genuine test of two postseason power theories. Theory one is that power arms win in October, and the Tigers have a genuine advantage in power arms. Theory two is that teams based on power hitters struggle in October; the weather is colder and the pitchers don't make as many mistakes. Baltimore's offense is based on the home run.

Both theories point to Detroit, so that's my pick. As far as rooting goes, I'm torn. I like the Orioles; they were my favorite non-Twins team in my formative years of fandom. I may well find as the series progress that I want the O's. I start without a preference.

NL: Washington-San Francisco; St. Louis-Los Angeles

I see no reason to pick against the Nationals. Deep rotation, solid lineup. Former Twin Denard Span had his best season since 2009 (led the National League in hits) and gives me a rooting interest. The Giants always seem to have enough pitching to be tough in October, but I gotta go with the Nats.

The Cardinals and Dodgers? I'd like them both to lose. Only one will, however. And I'll pick the Cardinals to win his one. As for rooting, I dislike both operations, so I'll refrain from making any emotional investment.

Carlos Gomez vs. Denard Span

Carlos Gomez tracks down a
deep fly off the bat of Trevor Plouffe
in the eighth inning Monday.

About 13 months ago I recounted the career path Carlos Gomez, once the Twins center fielder and now a centerpiece of the Brewers lineup. I concluded that Gomez was better than Denard Span, the man who took the center field job from Gomez, an assertion that was quickly disputed in the comments.

I don't think it's disputable now.

Span since leaving the Twins: .277/.325/.380.
Gomez since leaving the Twins: .267/.321/.463.

Ah, but that understates the current status of the two. Span's numbers are from 2013 and 2014 (entering Monday's game). Gomez' begin with the 2010 season, and the first two seasons were a continuation of the frustrations that accompanied his Minnesota tenure. He started getting his game together in 2012 and really emerged last season:

Span 2013-14: .277/.325/.380
Gomez 2013-14: .292/.353/.524

Go-Go made the All-Star team last year, won a Gold Glove, finished ninth in the MVP voting. He's been even better this year. Span has never made an All-Star team, never won a Gold Glove, never drawn even a 10th-place vote in the MVP balloting. And he's two years older than Gomez.

There's been speculation already that the Nationals will decline Span's $9 million option for 2015. The Brewers aren't letting Gomez get away.

Rethinking the center field trades

Ben Revere couldn't catch up to this Oswaldo Arcia
double during Tuesday's game in Target Field.

The Twins entered last offseason with two more-or-less established leadoff-type center fielders in Denard Span and Ben Revere. By the end of the winter meetings, they had none.

And today, 61 games into the 2013 season, center field has to be seen as a significant failing of this roster. Aaron Hicks, the designated successor to Span as the center fielder and leadoff hitter, is on the disabled list with a strained hamstring and bruised batting average (.180). Joe Benson, once seen as a key component of a future Minnesota outfielder, hit under .200 in Triple A and was waived. Darin Mastroianni, whose purpose figures to be as a fourth outfielder -- speed off the bench --sustained an ankle injury at the end of spring training that ultimately required surgery.

Which leaves the Twins limping along with Clete Thomas in center for the time being. And raises the question: If the Twins had it to do over, would they still make the same trades?

There were two trades involved, one with Washington, the other with Philadelphia. As it turns out, the Twins just finished a series in Washington and are playing the Phillies now. Let's review:

Span to Washington for Alex Meyer: Span is hitting .277/.327/.374 for the Nationals, which is slightly below his career slash line but well within the range of expectations. Washington manager Davy Johnson has raved about Span's defense all year; having seen the Nats afield for a few games, Johnson may be enthused about Span's glove because the rest of the team is indifferent to bad in the field.

Meyer, generally regarded as the Twins' top pitching prospect, just went on the disabled list with Double A New Britain with what is described as shoulder discomfort; he has a 3.69 ERA in the Eastern League with 73 strikeouts in 61 innings.

This is not a trade for the Twins to regret at this point. The Twins never expected a 2013 payoff from this deal. Meyer will someday, health permitting, provide a power arm at the front of the Minnesota rotation, and that promise made dealing Span -- a good but not great player -- worthwhile.

Revere to Philadelphia for Vance Worley and Trevor May: Ugh.

Revere and Worley have been disappointments. Revere is hitting .244/.287/.274 for the Phillies, which ain't getting it done; even Hicks has a higher OPS+ (a stat that attempts to take league and ballpark biases out of the hitting numbers.

At least Revere's still in the majors. Worley, who started on Opening Day for the Twins, is now in Triple A and not thriving there either (1-5, 7.21 with the Twins, 1-3, 4.74 with the Red Wings).

The wild card (with wild being the operative word) to this trade is May, a hard-thrower who is, like Meyer, pitching in Double A (3.92, 28 walks and 54 strikeouts in 64.1 innings). The ERA is down almost a run per game from 2012 in the same league, but the walk rate is a tick higher and the strikeout rate a bit lower. There's not a lot of real progress visible in the numbers.

This one's a harder call. Revere is a deeply flawed player (no power, no throwing arm), and the notion of exchanging him for a mid-rotation guy (Worley) and a prospect lottery ticket (May) was one the Twins really could not pass on last December.

But now ... well, it seems pretty obvious that Hicks would have benefited from a 2013 in Triple A, May isn't progressing as hoped, and Worley has regressed from previous levels. Of course, the Revere of 2013 isn't worth playing in the majors either.

Statistically, this trade has been an exchange of trash, not that I'm calling any of these players garbage. Right now, I think Revere has the best chance of being a worthwhile major leaguer, although I'm back to seeing him more as a fourth-outfielder type rather than a regular.

The Twins had good reason to make the trade when they did, and they can't undo it regardless. Maybe the possibility that May will figure out how to throw strikes, or that Worley can regain his ability to get outs, is high enough that the Twins will ultimately be happy they made the deal. I don't think the Twins crippled themselves by giving up Revere. I'm still unwilling to call it a mistake by the Twins.

Ex-Twins Watch: Carlos Gomez (and a radio tangent)

Carlos Gomez emerged as a regular center fielder last
season in Milwaukee and landed a multi-year contract.

With the Twins snowed out Monday night — and probably later in the evening than the Twins would have been playing even if the weather hadn't been a horror — I spent a little time listening to the Brewers-Padres game in San Diego.

Wandering off an a tangent: Listening to Bob Uecker, for a Twins fan, used to be an exercise in contrast to the babble of John Gordon. Now it's interesting for the obvious (to my ear, at least) influence Uecker had on Cory Provus — the cadence and phrasing, the pace of their words.

Uecker came up with a passing piece of impromptu poetry Monday during an at-bat pitting a pair of former Twins, outfielder Carlos Gomez of the Brewers and starter Jason Marquis of the Padres:

Marquis
Glove on knee
Takes the sign

I recall the Twins used to have a broadcaster — I don't think it was Herb Carneal, but it may have been — who used to make a similar rhyme out of Bobby Grich, a standout second baseman of the 1970s and 80s:

Here's the pitch
To Bobby Grich
Swing and a miss

Anyway, getting to the intended point of this post: Marquis wound up walking Gomez — for the second time in the game; at that point, Go-Go had two walks and a hit-by-pitch, three plate appearances without an official at-bat.

We know that kind of thing didn't happen with Gomez in Minnesota, and I wondered if he's truly become a more selective hitter — which, if so, would definitely explain/justify the Brewers giving Gomez a four-year, $28.3 million contract last winter.

Uh, no. Those were the first walks Gomez had drawn all season.

The Twins clearly gave up on Gomez in the middle of the 2009 season. I wrote a column at the time arguing for Gomez over Delmon Young; both outfielders were flawed hitters because of their lack of strike zone judgment, but Gomez was so clearly superior on defense that he should have been starting.

Ron Gardenhire clearly didn't see it that way. During that season's remarkable September comeback, Gardy plugged the lineup hole opened by Justin Morneau's injury by installing Michael Cuddyer at first base, shifting Jason Kubel to right field and platooning Brendan Harris and Jose Morales at DH. Gomez was merely a bit player.

Soon after the postseason, the Twins sent Gomez to Milwaukee for J.J. Hardy, a trade that looked good for the first year and worse with each passing season. Gomez immediately frustrated the Brewers decision makers as much as he did the Twins — he was a part-time player in 2010 and 2011 in Milwaukee. All that talent and no clue.

But last season Gomez took over the center field job and landed that new contract. The Brewers aren't forcing him into a top-of-the-lineup role (he hit sixth Monday), and that makes his too-low on-base percentages more tolerable. He gives the Brewers some pop and speed at the bottom of the lineup, and he still has great range in the outfield. I'm sure they would love to see Gomez become a good leadoff hitter, but they aren't forcing that fit.

There are three former Twins outfielders, all still in their 20s, playing center field regularly for three National League teams: Gomez (27) in Milwaukee, Denard Span (29) in Washington, Ben Revere (24) in Philadelphia. Other than the speed, they have different skill sets — and right now, I think Gomez is the best of the three. That's not something I would have thought possible a year ago.

Center field checkup

Ben Revere added a heartfelt message
to his glove's webbing this week after
the Boston Marathon bombings.

We all know that the Twins' center fielder, rookie Aaron Hicks, is having a very difficult time at the plate this young season — just 2-for-45, with 20 strikeouts. His slash line of .044/.157/.044 is ... well,  a lot of pitchers will have better numbers than that.

I don't believe Hicks is truly that bad, and neither does Twins management — and it's not like they have a good option to turn to in his stead anyway. Darin Mastroianni is on the disabled list, Joe Benson isn't hitting in Triple A and somebody in the outfield has to cover the ground that Jose Willingham and Chris Parmelee and Owaldo Arcia can't.

Hicks has the job, in a sense, because Denard Span is in Washington and Ben Revere is in Philadelphia after a pair of trades this winter. The Twins traded those two to get some young pitching — and because Hicks is seen as having a higher ceiling than either Span or Revere.

How are those two doing?

Revere is struggling at the plate in Philly: .221/.264/.250, which isn't quality performance in the leadoff spot either.

Span, on the other hand, has put up his usual kind of numbers: .308/.410/.346. Strong on-base percentage, low slugging percentage.

Wandering down a side note: Hicks has drawn six walks, Span nine, Revere just four. Ruben Amaro, the general manager of the Phillies, declared during the winter: "I don’t care about walks; I care about production.” This week, after the Phillies drew zero walks in four straight games, Amaro was beefing about the lack of walks.

Just think, Mr. Amaro — you haven't had Delmon Young in the lineup yet.

Clearing room on the 40-man roster (updated)

Thomas Field's 2012 Topps card.

Last week, the Twins had 40 players on their roster. After a week of subtraction, they're now down to 37 36.

Wednesday: IF Thomas Field was lost on waivers to Anaheim
Thursday: CF Denard Span was traded to Washington; Alex Meyer, the pitcher they got back, isn't on the 40-man roster and probably won't be put on the 40 until he's put on the 25-man active roster.
Friday: RHP Deolis Guerra was outrighted to Rochester; RHP Lester Oliveros was nontendered.

The Span trade, of course, has gotten plenty of commentary, here and elsewhere. The other moves, not so much.

The Twins claimed Field on waivers from Colorado early in November. As I predicted when the Twins acquired him, the Twins tried to slip him through waivers themselves. On Wednesday we learned that Anaheim claimed him. So he's gone.

Deolis Guerra has
been in the Twins
organization since
2008, but is only 23.

The Twins probably picked Field up with the intent of making him the shortstop at Rochester. Now the organization has a bit of a hole to plug there. Last year the Red Wings used Brian Dozier or Pedro Florimon at short (Dozier to open and close the season, Florimon while Dozier was in Minnesota), with Tsuyoshi Nishioka at second base. Nishi won't be back, of course, and Dozier, Florimon and Eduardo Escobar are all in the mix for jobs at the big league level. I expect another infield addition in the Twins future.

Guerra, the last remaining piece from the Johan Santana trade, cleared waivers, which means nobody else wanted to give him a spot on their 40-man roster. He remains in the organization and will be in major league camp this spring. He was out of options anyway, so had he not cleared waivers now and didn't make the team the Twins would have had to waive him in the spring. Guerra had had a good start to his 2012 season and seemed likely to get a call-up, but tailed off and missed a good bit of time to injury.

Oliveros' nontender took me by surprise. Friday's deadline for making "qualifying offers" generally focuses on the arbitration-eligible players -- in the Twins case, Drew Butera, Jared Burton and Brian Duensing. All three were retained. Oliveros, a hard-thrower acquired in 2011's Delmon Young trade, will miss 2013 after having Tommy John surgery, and the Twins apparently decided it wasn't worth keeping him on the 40-man roster. (Update: The Twins have re-signed him to a minor league deal.)

All this frees up plenty of space for either free agent signings or activity in the Rule V draft. The word from Twins execs after the Span trade was that their focus at the winter meetings next week would be on talking to agents rather than trades, so making room was necessary.

Further thoughts on the Denard Span trade

Denard Span's on-base percentages
the past three seasons:
.331, .328, .342.

I see in various Twins-oriented places on the Internet -- even from people who like Thursday's trade -- a misconception, or at least a miswording, about Denard Span.

Span is a good player. He is not a franchise cornerstone. He's not a guy you "build around."

The Washington Nationals aren't building their team around Span. The Nats are built around Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg and, to a lesser extent, Ryan Zimmerman. (They're paying Jayson Werth as if he's a cornerstone, but he's a complementary piece -- like Span, a quality complementary piece.) The Nats had the best regular season record in the National League in 2012, and Span should help them stay there in 2013. He allows them to get Harper out of center field and Werth out of the leadoff spot, both of which were ill fits.

Span turns 29 during spring training. He has not made an All-Star team, has not drawn even a 10th-place vote in the MVP balloting, has not won a Gold Glove. He did once lead the AL in triples; that's the only "black ink" on his stat sheet.

For a leadoff man/center fielder to be a true cornerstone, he needs to have an OBP of .400, not .350; he needs to hit .300+, not .270; he needs to win Gold Gloves and lead the league in runs scored occasionally. None of this is Span.

Again, Span is a good, useful player. It is not a condemnation to say he is not a star. The point is, we ought not value him as if he is.

He's a better player than Ben Revere, who figures to take the center field job in 2013. Span's flaws -- throwing arm and power -- are Revere's flaws as well, only more so. I fully expect that by the time Alex Meyer takes his intended place in the Twins rotation, Revere won't be the Twins center fielder either. He'll be supplanted by Aaron Hicks or maybe even Bryon Buxton.

Joe Mauer, Buxton, Meyer, Miguel Sano -- these are guys you can build a team around. Span and Revere, not so much.

The Denard Span trade

Alex Meyer pitched the seventh inning of the
Futures Game last July for Team USA. Note the grip;
he is said to use a knuckle-curve grip on his slider.

Start with the trade itself: Denard Span to Washington for Alex Meyer, a 6-foot-9 RHP who split 2012 -- his first season in pro ball -- between low A and High A.

Let's start interpreting.

* I've said this several times in different formats: It is common for a championship-caliber team to have one regular outfielder like Span or Ben Revere; it is almost unheard of for such a team to have two of them. Trading one of them was inevitable.

* Presumably Terry Ryan decided to trade one of his center fielders for the highest-upside arm he could obtain, regardless of how nearly major-league ready he is. Meyer is NOT major-league ready; even if he opens next year in Double A, he's probably not going to appear in Target Field until 2014 at the earliest. This trade does not make the Twins better in 2013. It's a rebuilding trade -- established major league talent for the possibility of a future ace.

*Meyer IS a high-quality arm. He throws very hard, occasionally touching 100 mph in college (Kentucky); as is typical of very tall pitchers, repeating his delivery was an issue in college. When his arm dropped, so did the velocity. Good slider, working on his change-up. Possible that he might end up in the bullpen, but that would probably be if he never gets his delivery solved. Up and down collegiate record. Scott Boras is his agent.

Meyer had good numbers in A ball last year -- good but not eye-popping. I don't know how well he did at maintaining his delivery, and anybody who's spent the past few years watching Francisco Liriano spin out of control a couple times an inning knows how important that is. I don't see any red flags in his 2012 numbers.

Here's John Sickels' take on Meyer, posted a few hours after the trade was announced.

* Presumably the 2013 outfield for the Twins now is Josh Willingham in left, Revere in center and Chris Parmelee in right. But I still wouldn't rule out another trade for a pitcher, this one involving one of the first basemen (Parmelee or Justin Morneau).

Summation: There's risk in trading for a Class A power arm; Meyer comes without guarantee. But he's exactly the kind of arm the Twins lack and need. If he stays healthy, masters his delivery, develops a change up, he's a front-of-the-rotation arm.

Span is a good center fielder and leadoff hitter. He's not great. And, at age 28, he's not likely to be better than he is. He wasn't going to fetch a polished front-line starter one-for-one.

It's a good gamble for the Twins.

Denard to the DL

The Twins put Denard Span on the disabled list Thursday. Really, the only issue I have with the move is that, in retrospect, it should have been done more than two weeks ago, when he injured his shoulder/collarbone in a tumbling attempt at a catch.

The DL move is an odd one for Aug. 30, because the rosters expand Sept. 1. But putting Span on the DL makes it possible to bring back Matt Carson, who would not be eligible to return this soon without a corresponding disabled-list move. (He would have had to remain on the Rochester roster for 10 days from his demotion.)

Carson or no, I would still expect the Twins to find considerable playing time for Chris Parmelee while Span is out. Parmelee has started the last two games in right field, with Ben Revere playing center.

Another possibility, come September and the arrivals of the call-ups, would be someone such as Oswaldo Arcia or Aaron Hicks. (The Twins haven't named their call-ups, but those outfielders, currently playing for New Britain in Double A, would seen likely candidates.)

Meanwhile, I (and others on the outside of the organization) marvel at what appears to be yet another mishandled injury. Span was hurt on Aug. 12. He remained sidelined but on the active roster for 11 days. Then he played three of four games, then sat for three more before finally being shelved.

I'm no doctor or athletic trainer, but this kind of thing keeps happening to this team, and it's baffling.

Notes, quotes and comment

Commissioner Bud Selig had a backdrop of former
All-Stars for the announcement Wednesday that
Target Field would be the site of the 2014 All-Star game.
Behind the commish: Tony Oliva, Rod Carew, Roy Smalley
and Paul Molitor.

 

This was the least-well-kept secret in sometime, but it's official: The 2014 All-Star Game will be played in Target Field.

Call me jaded, but in this era of interleague play and cable, the All-Star Game itself doesn't interest me as much as the Futures Game does. The All-Star Game is now a promotional vehicle for Fox; the Futures Game is a glimpse of, yeah, the future.

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Also not a surprise: Scott Diamond on Wednesday dropped his appeal and began serving his  suspension. By dragging the process out beyond his Tuesday start, he pushed the time of his next start into September, when the rosters are expanded.

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What is a surprise: San Deduno didn't walk a man in his seven shutout innings Wednesday. Ninety-eight pitches, 68 strikes — better than two strikes for every ball. I didn't think that kind of performance was possible from him.

Until he does it regularly, though, I'll consider this one a fluke — a fluke that had some help from the Seattle hitters.

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Jeff Gray was outrighted to Triple A on Wednesday, which opened a spot on the 25-man roster for Chris Parmelee, who promptly stepped into the lineup as the right fielder. (He went 1-for-5 with two runs scored.) With Denard Span again day-to-day with his shoulder/collarbone issue, I would expect Parmelee to get a lot of playing time in right field (with Ben Revere playing center).

The Twins now have three openings on their 40-man roster. One will certainly be filled come September by P.J. Walters, who is apparently about ready to come off the 60-day disabled list.

As with Nick Blackburn, I don't see the Twins outrighting Gray only to turn around and restore him to the 40-man roster so that they can have him in the majors in September. I would think they could find something else to try.

---

Lester Oliveros, the hard-throwing relief prospect acquired last year in the Delmon Young trade, had elbow surgery Wednesday that blew into something more than removing bone chips. It turned into Tommy John surgery, which pretty much wipes out his 2013 season.

Notes, quotes and comment

Nick Blackburn's
ERA since signing his
four-year contract:
5.56.

Catching up on a baseball weekend:

Outrighted: The Twins on Monday outrighted both Nick Blackburn and Tsuyoshi Nishioka to Rochester.

This move takes both men off the 40-man roster. At this point, no corresponding 25-man roster move for Blackburn has been announced, although I suspect Liam Hendriks is the likely call-up; he could make the start on Wednesday that Blackburn had been scheduled for.

Nishioka was already in the minors on option; Blackburn had been optioned out earlier this summer. So the purpose in outrighting them was to take them off the 40 -- which serves two purposes.

First, it makes it possible to return (if and when healthy and ready) P.J. Walters and/or Carl Pavano from the 60-day DL, or to call up a minor leaguer not now on the 40.

Second, it signals that neither is in the plans for at least the remainder of 2012.

For 2013? Well, Blackburn and Nishioka are owed a total of some $8.5 million next year, or (easy math here) about 8.5 percent of the current payroll budget. That's a lot to walk away from. This move signals that it just might happen.

Curdled Melk: The Melky Cabrera suspension has turned into something more than our standard athletic-corruption story.

Turns out the surprise star and his cronies set up a fake website peddling a non-existent product in a failed attempt to establish that he had tested positive inadvertently.

Now federal investigators are involved. This one isn't going away anytime soon.

Affiliation preserved: The Twins and the Rochester Red Wings extended their working agreement for two years.

Keeping their Triple-A affiliation with the Wings was an under-the-radar priority for the organization this year. Mission accomplished.

With top affiliates Rochester and New Britain retained, the only expiring minor league affiliation left for the Twins is with low-A Beloit. Beloit is said to have the worst facilities in the Midwest League, and I don't think the Twins are adverse to shifting locales in this case.

Back in the cellar again: On Aug. 8, the Twins were in position to pull into a tie for third place in the AL Central. All they had to to was beat Cleveland.

They lost. And they've kept on losing -- they've dropped nine of 10 starting with that game. In those 10 games, the Twins have scored 33 runs and allowed 58.

Cleveland has been passed in the standings, but by Kansas City.

Day-to-day to the power of infinity: Denard Span last played Aug. 12, when he injured his collarbone/shoulder in an outfield tumble.

As of Sunday, he was still unable to take batting practice, so a return to action is nowhere in sight. Yet the Twins have not seen fit to put him on the disabled list. Assistant GM Rob Antony's rationale for this doesn't satisfy me.

Span and the outfield alternatives

Denard Span did something to his shoulder diving for a ball Sunday, and the Minnesota center fielder/leadoff hitter is described as "day-to-day."

Which doesn't sound bad, until you remember that Trevor Plouffe was described as "day-to-day" for almost a week before he was finally put on the disabled list. He's been out three weeks now, and supposedly he's to reactivated today, although that's not official yet.

One difference in the Span and Plouffe cases: With Plouffe, the Twins had nobody they really wanted to call up to take his place. First they turned to Danny Valencia, who they then waived and traded to the Red Sox; then it was Tsuyoshi Nishioka, and we know how well that worked.

Plouffe is an infielder; Span an outfielder. And while the Twins don't have impressive infield prospect in the upper levels of the farm system, they do have a number of reasonable outfielders to pick from.

Start with Chris Parmelee. His best position is first base, but he has plenty of corner outfield experience. And he is absolutely raking in Triple A -- .351/.463/.661. He bashed two more home runs Sunday, giving him 11 in his last 17 games.

The only reason he's still in Rochester is that the Twins don't have a regular lineup spot available for him.

But if Span is out, then Ben Revere moves to center and Parmelee can play right.

Parmelee is so obviously the next in line that the serious discussion ends there. But there are a couple of outfielders in Double A New Britain -- Aaron Hicks and Oswaldo Arcia -- who deserve mention.

Hicks, a first-round pick in 2008 who had spluttered in the minors before this season, has had a breakout year. He's not on the 40-man roster now, but he has to be added this winter. Arcia, who is on the 40, is ripping through Eastern League pitching even more impressively than he did Florida State League pitching in the first half of the year.

I don't know that the Twins are eager to make room for either Hicks or Arcia yet; I'm not even sure how the Twins would use either or both if they get September callups, which would seem likely.

This is obviously grist for future columns and posts, but Hicks and Arcia (and Parmelee) provide the Twins, at the very least, with some tempting trade bait this winter.

Imagining the Twins outfield without Span

Denard Span is hitting .280/.344/.384 this year.

The metaphorical dam holding back the anticipated flood of pre-deadline trades appeared to break Monday afternoon. None, however, involved the Twins.

One of the names often bandied about -- last summer and this -- as trade bait is that of Denard Span, the Minnesota center fielder and leadoff hitter. I'm not going to argue that he should or shouldn't be traded -- the answer to that depends on who the Twins get in such a trade.

No, my thinking is along these lines: If Span is traded, and if the Twins don't get an outfielder who clearly should be playing as part of the deal (they probably wouldn't), what would the Twins outfield look like the rest of the way?

It's easy and obvious enough to say that Josh Willingham would remain in left field and that Ben Revere would shift over to center (and move into the leadoff spot as well). Right field is the question.

Option A: Chris Parmelee. He's spent most of his sporadic major league time at first base, but he's played almost as much right field in the minors as first.

As the roster is currently constructed, there's no real use for him; Justin Morneau/Joe Mauer/Ryan Doumit are splitting first base, DH and catcher, and Revere has taken over right field. But Parmelee has hit in Triple A (.302/.446/.510), and it makes sense to find some PT for him in the majors.


Drawback: Parmelee's not going to help the pitching staff much in right. Like Willingham, he'll have to hit to justify his lineup spot. 


Option B: Darin Mastroianni. The opposite of Parmelee: A right-handed hitter who is a good defensive outfielder, very fast, not a lot of power.


If Ron Gardenhire were so inclined, a Mastroianni-Parmelee platoon might make some sense. (It would also, as somebody -- I think Kirsten Brown -- said on Twitter a while back, sound like an Olive Garden entree.)


Drawback: Mastroianni is probably better suited to the fourth outfielder role than a regular's job.


Option C: Move Trevor Plouffe to right, with (most likely) Danny Valencia getting a fresh shot at third base.


Drawback: Valencia hasn't really earned a return. He entered Monday hitting .249/.287/.399 for Rochester.


Option D: Somebody now playing at Double A: Joe Benson, Oswaldo Arcia, Rene Tosoni.


Drawbacks: If Valencia hasn't earned a return, that goes double for Benson and Tosoni.  Arcia's been in New Britain about a month, and I can't see the Twins pushing him up two levels so quickly. If the Twins do go for one of these guys, however, I'd like to be Arcia.

For love of the glove: Denard Span, center fielder

Denard Span may be the best
defensive center fielder among the
American League's regulars, but
some of the part-timers have been
even better.

Earlier this week, I posted about what the metrics tell us about Ben Revere as a right fielder. There is no shortage of fans who believe that Revere ought to be the Twins center fielder, with Denard Span playing right field. Ron Gardenhire is obviously not among that crowd.

What about Span as a center fielder?

Turning again to the Baseball Info Systems' plus-minus and runs saved analytical stats:

Span is +13 in plus-minus, +9 in runs saved.

Good numbers, but not the best in the American League. The best numbers:

• Texas: Craig Gentry, who has about half the Rangers' innings, is +13, +9.
• Anaheim: Mike Trout, with less than half the Angels' innings, is +18, +10 -- and Peter Bourjos, who has 32 more innings in center than Trout and a little more than half of Span's time, is +9, +6.
• Toronto: Colby Rasmus is +11, +7. He's a bit shy of Span's numbers, and the only full-time center fielder in his class.

Trout was called up last month and is only leaving the Angels lineup if he gets crippled. I figure Gentry isn't a regular because his bat is perceived as a bit weak, although you can't really prove it by his limited major league playing time (334 career plate appearances, career slash line .285/.355/.356, with most of that production coming this season).

Span is a contender for best defensive CF in the league. Revere probably would be too if he were a full-time center fielder. But the Anaheim duo, at least by these measurements, is better still.

At any rate, I don't think the Twins are hurting themselves with the Span-in-center, Revere-in-right alignment.

The outfield plan: The alignment

Ben Revere had several memorable catches last season.

This is no real surprise: During the Twins Caravan/Twins Fest pre-spring training promotional period, manager Ron Gardenhire consistently said he wants to lock Denard Span into the center field job, with Josh Willingham in right and Ben Revere in left.

There are two potential points of contention to that plan:

• Assigning Span to center ahead of Revere;
• Making Revere a regular at all.

These are connected, but ... let's deal, today, with the alignment question. There are those -- such as Michael Rand of the Star Tribune -- who think it would be more effective to put Revere in center with Willingham in his accustomed left field and Span in right.

Examine the skill sets. None of the three has a true right field arm; Willingham, easily the slowest of the trio, is a converted catcher, which suggests he may have the strongest arm of the group. Revere has eye-popping range in center, but Span is quite good out there as well, and his arm is better than Revere's.

Gardenhire believes it's more important to keep his regulars comfortable. Willingham is used to playing left, but has agreed to shift to right -- and Gardenhire sees his part of the bargain as not moving him back and forth. Span prefers center to an outfield corner. And while Revere is the front runner for a regular position, his weaknesses could turn him into a part-timer.

That, I think, is a prime reason to go with Span in center.

It appears likely right now that the reserve outfielders will be Ryan Doumit (who'll also DH, catch and play first base) and Trevor Plouffe (converted infielder with little outfield experience). Neither is any sort of center field option. If Revere loses playing time -- if, for example, he winds up platooning with Plouffe --  Gardenhire doesn't want to move Span around.

Gardenhire is not a big platooner, but his outfield plan certainly makes it easier to go to a platoon arrangment in left. And it makes it easy to handle his RF/1B/C/DH set up, in which he has four regulars (Willingham, Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer and Doumit) for four positions and he can mix and match to rest his position players.

Most disappointing Twins

Joe Mauer's lost season was, at least in the eyes of USA Today,
not as disappointing as the seasons of Pedro Alvarez,
Jason Hayward or Brian Matusz. Really.

USA Today on Thursday printed a list of the 10 most disappointing players of the 2011 season. (The link is to a slideshow.) Incredibly, none of the paper's 10 are Twins, and I therefore regard the list as fatally flawed. None of the 10 had good seasons, none lived up to expectations, but ... I'm much closer to being a Joe Mauer apologist than critic, but he has to be one of the top two or three disappointments in all of MLB.

The Twins 2011 season -- only seven games to go -- has been so dismal that one can make a Top 10 disappointments list for the team that would stack up pretty well to the USA Today list.

10) Danny Valencia: Lower in every percentage from last season, and a brutal season in the field by the defensive metrics. He leads the team in RBIs, but WAR (Wins Above Replacement) says he's easily replaceable.

9) Denard Span: Was the team's best player until his concussion. Since then, he's either been out of action or completely ineffective -- so ineffective that he now has the lowest batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage of his career.

8) Brian Duensing: 5-1, 2.73 as a starter in 2009; 7-2, 3.05 as a starter in 2010; 9-13, 5.29 this year.

As difficult a season as Matt Capps
has had, he's not nearly the most
disappointing Twin of 2011.

7) Matt Capps: Didn't thrive in the closers role, and his strikeout rate dropped sharply this year.

6) Justin Morneau: He's not ranked higher because nobody was really sure what to expect from him in his return from 2010's concussion. As we wind up 2011, nobody can be sure what to expect from him in his return from 2011's concussiion.

5) Kevin Slowey: As a starter, he was always flawed by a lack of durability, but he was still generally effective. Shifting him to the bullpen this spring didn't work, and the failure brought on an avalanche of other problems. He's been in the rotation in September, and that isn't going well either.

4) Delmon Young: The Tigers apparently are delighted with Young, but he followed last season's 21 homers, 112 RBIs and .294 batting average with 4, 32 and .266 before the Twins dumped him -- and a lower slugging percentage than Alexi Casilla.

3) Tsuyoshi Nishioka: Even discounting his stellar 2010 season in Japan, it seemed reasonable to expect him to provide league-average play at second base. He broke a leg in the first week of the season, played shaky defense at both second and short, and didn't hit at all.

Far too many walks for Francisco
Liriano this season to maintain
2010's success.

2) Francisco Liriano: Yes, he had a no-hitter. He also went from 14-9, 3.63 to 9-9, 4.77 -- which understates how poorly he pitched.

1) Joe Mauer: Career lows in virtually every category, excluding his 2003 rookie season -- and even then he had better slash stats. His absence behind the plate, I believe, played some unmeasurable part in the decay of the pitching staff.