The Twins knocked the magic number down to eight on Monday. One digit was all that was available Monday, as the Indians didn't play. One digit might be all we can expect the next few days, since the Tribe is finishing up their seasons allotment of games with the Tigers who ... are not good.
Plenty of good things to be seen Monday anyway:
* Marwin Gonzalez, sidelined for weeks by a strained oblique, returned to the lineup. He hadn't played since Aug. 27.
He was at first base Monday, but we should expect him to be wandering around the field. Dick Bremer sounded most interested in seeing him back in right field as Max Kepler rests his shoulder. Of course, C.J. Cron needs to rest his thumb.
* Jose Berrios had his second straight strong start. He had a awful August -- a Boeing ERA, 7.57 -- but now he's overwhelmed the Nationals and White Sox. The Chisox aren't a particularly good team, but they have some hitters, and certainly the Nats have an outstanding lineup.
Having La Maquina back in form is important.
* The Twins used three relievers to get five outs, which seems a bit excessive even for September and expanded rosters.
I saw a Twitter complaint about bringing Taylor Rogers in for the six and seven hitters, but I'm not concerned. Yeah, somebody else could probably have wrapped up that one; had Sergio Romo kept Eloy Jiminez in the park, he might have gotten the entire ninth inning.
But I understand, and applaud, Rocco Baldelli's urgency. They might, or might not, need Rogers tonight. But there was a game to be secured on Monday, and Baldelli went for it. As he as all season.
Showing posts with label Marwin Gonzalez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marwin Gonzalez. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Contemplating Mitch Garver
We might have a better idea later today of how badly damaged Mitch Garver's ankle is after Tuesday's plate collision, but the immediate diagnosis -- a high ankle sprain -- suggests a few weeks on the injured list.
At the start of the season, losing Garver for a month (or whatever it turns out to be) wouldn't have seemed as daunting as it does today. As it is, we might rather have had Byron Buxton's throw -- which only cut down the tying run -- be off line and pull Garver out of harm's way.
That's not a choice anyone gets to make. Buxton made a remarkable throw -- Statcast puts the throw at 253 feet and 98.6 miles per hour -- from a dead stop, and both Garver and baserunner Shohei Ohtani did what the rules regarding plays at the plate say they are supposed to do, and Garver got hurt anyway.
Garver, of course, has been a major part of the remarkable production the Twins have gotten from their catchers (he hit a two-run bomb on Tuesday before the injury). They still have Jason Castro and Willians Astudillo, the latter of whom just came off the injured list himself. Both figure to get more playing time while Garver is out, and presumably Astudillo will play less third base-outfield-first base.
Meanwhile, Nelson Cruz nurses a sore wrist -- Rocco Baldelli has shuffled Garver and Astudillo through the DH role the last two games -- and Miguel Sano is nearly ready to come off the injured list. I rather expect that will be the move, Garver on the IL and Sano activated.
We're already seeing Marwin Gonzalez start to move around the field some after a more than a month of being pretty much locked into third base. His multiposition versatility is a big part of his value, and we haven't seen it in action much because of Sano's absence. Garver's injury figures to reduce Astudillo's use at other positions, so even though Gonzalez isn't a catcher, Garver's injury makes it more necessary to move Gonzalez around.
At the start of the season, losing Garver for a month (or whatever it turns out to be) wouldn't have seemed as daunting as it does today. As it is, we might rather have had Byron Buxton's throw -- which only cut down the tying run -- be off line and pull Garver out of harm's way.
That's not a choice anyone gets to make. Buxton made a remarkable throw -- Statcast puts the throw at 253 feet and 98.6 miles per hour -- from a dead stop, and both Garver and baserunner Shohei Ohtani did what the rules regarding plays at the plate say they are supposed to do, and Garver got hurt anyway.
Garver, of course, has been a major part of the remarkable production the Twins have gotten from their catchers (he hit a two-run bomb on Tuesday before the injury). They still have Jason Castro and Willians Astudillo, the latter of whom just came off the injured list himself. Both figure to get more playing time while Garver is out, and presumably Astudillo will play less third base-outfield-first base.
Meanwhile, Nelson Cruz nurses a sore wrist -- Rocco Baldelli has shuffled Garver and Astudillo through the DH role the last two games -- and Miguel Sano is nearly ready to come off the injured list. I rather expect that will be the move, Garver on the IL and Sano activated.
We're already seeing Marwin Gonzalez start to move around the field some after a more than a month of being pretty much locked into third base. His multiposition versatility is a big part of his value, and we haven't seen it in action much because of Sano's absence. Garver's injury figures to reduce Astudillo's use at other positions, so even though Gonzalez isn't a catcher, Garver's injury makes it more necessary to move Gonzalez around.
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
deGrom, De Jong and de manager
The prospect of facing Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard in a two-game series in Queens was rather daunting; I would have been quite satisfied with a split. Now that the Twins have not only won the first game but battered the defending NL Cy Young winner -- well, rationally the split is still sufficient, but a sweep sounds a lot better.
If you were paying attention Tuesday night, you know how rare that game was. DeGrom had had 26 consecutive quality starts, tied with the 1968 version of Bob Gibson for most ever. His ERA last year was 1.70. And the Twins scored six earned runs in four innings off him. From the New York Post's Joel Sherman:
---
Chase De Jong, handed the ninth inning mop-up duties, was awful. He walked three, gave up four earned runs and basically looked like he had no business back in the major leagues.
To be fair, he hadn't pitched in a while; he was supposed to have started the opener for the Rochester Red Wings, but they got weathered out, and then he was called up to provide length in the Minnesota bullpen after Jake Odorizzi stunk things up last Friday.
I said on Twitter that De Jong was pitching his way off the roster. But ... the Twins bullpen is still in pretty good shape. De Jong shouldn't be available after throwing more than 45 pitches in that ugly inning, but the rest of the bullpenners worked short stints. Taylor Rogers didn't pitch at all, and Trevor Hildenberger and Blake Parker faced just one man each.
And Rocco Baldelli apparently intends to get Martin Perez some innings in this series. My guess is that even if Odorizzi throws six scoreless innings today, Perez gets the ball for the seventh. After all, there's yet another offday on Thursday, and who knows what the weather holds for the homestand to follow.
So De Jong, who is out of options, might stick around after all. His lousy outing -- and it was lousy -- didn't stress the rest of the bullpen.
---
Baldelli could have gone for the length from Perez after Hildenberger got the Twins out of the fifth inning. In fact, that's what I expected. Instead, he pieced the rest of the game together with a pitcher use reminiscent of Ron Gardenhire's -- one inning from Trevor May, split an inning between Aldaberto Mejia and Parker, an inning from Ryne Harper, an inning from De Jong. Nobody but DeJong was used hard, and all should be available today.
But I suspect that Baldelli would prefer not to use any relievers today other than Perez and Rogers. He's not often used anybody on consecutive days so far, although there have been so many off days that we probably shouldn't draw any conclusions about his bullpen use patterns.
Assuming that he does go for length from Perez today, he will have handled the 'pen in this series as if we were still in spring training -- give everybody a little work to stay sharp, give Perez some length to stay stretched out for his eventual entry into the starting rotation. Doing those things and winning the games is ideal.
---
Multi-position man Marwin Gonzalez played a lot of first base with the Astros -- more than twice as many games, starts and innings at first than at third in his seven seasons with Houston.
Multi-position man Willians Astudillo entered Tuesday having played more third base in the majors than anywhere other than catcher and with just two innings at first in his brief big-league tenure.
But Baldelli on Tuesday started Gonzalez at third and Astudillo at first, La Tortuga's first big league start at that position. (Baldelli later took Gonzalez out in a double-switch, but Astudillo played the full game at first base.)
My interpretation of that: As long as Miguel Sano remains off the active roster, Gonzalez is primarily a third baseman. He has played four innings at first. He hasn't seen the outfield yet, and he hasn't been in the middle infield either.
If you were paying attention Tuesday night, you know how rare that game was. DeGrom had had 26 consecutive quality starts, tied with the 1968 version of Bob Gibson for most ever. His ERA last year was 1.70. And the Twins scored six earned runs in four innings off him. From the New York Post's Joel Sherman:
That was as many as he had permitted last July. Don’t look for the date — the whole month of July. That was as many as he allowed last August. That was one fewer than he let in last September. And it was six more than he had yielded in two starts to open 2019 ...The Twins didn't pick on a punching bag Tuesday night. At least not until they got into the Mets bullpen.
---
Chase De Jong, handed the ninth inning mop-up duties, was awful. He walked three, gave up four earned runs and basically looked like he had no business back in the major leagues.
To be fair, he hadn't pitched in a while; he was supposed to have started the opener for the Rochester Red Wings, but they got weathered out, and then he was called up to provide length in the Minnesota bullpen after Jake Odorizzi stunk things up last Friday.
I said on Twitter that De Jong was pitching his way off the roster. But ... the Twins bullpen is still in pretty good shape. De Jong shouldn't be available after throwing more than 45 pitches in that ugly inning, but the rest of the bullpenners worked short stints. Taylor Rogers didn't pitch at all, and Trevor Hildenberger and Blake Parker faced just one man each.
And Rocco Baldelli apparently intends to get Martin Perez some innings in this series. My guess is that even if Odorizzi throws six scoreless innings today, Perez gets the ball for the seventh. After all, there's yet another offday on Thursday, and who knows what the weather holds for the homestand to follow.
So De Jong, who is out of options, might stick around after all. His lousy outing -- and it was lousy -- didn't stress the rest of the bullpen.
---
Baldelli could have gone for the length from Perez after Hildenberger got the Twins out of the fifth inning. In fact, that's what I expected. Instead, he pieced the rest of the game together with a pitcher use reminiscent of Ron Gardenhire's -- one inning from Trevor May, split an inning between Aldaberto Mejia and Parker, an inning from Ryne Harper, an inning from De Jong. Nobody but DeJong was used hard, and all should be available today.
But I suspect that Baldelli would prefer not to use any relievers today other than Perez and Rogers. He's not often used anybody on consecutive days so far, although there have been so many off days that we probably shouldn't draw any conclusions about his bullpen use patterns.
Assuming that he does go for length from Perez today, he will have handled the 'pen in this series as if we were still in spring training -- give everybody a little work to stay sharp, give Perez some length to stay stretched out for his eventual entry into the starting rotation. Doing those things and winning the games is ideal.
---
Multi-position man Marwin Gonzalez played a lot of first base with the Astros -- more than twice as many games, starts and innings at first than at third in his seven seasons with Houston.
Multi-position man Willians Astudillo entered Tuesday having played more third base in the majors than anywhere other than catcher and with just two innings at first in his brief big-league tenure.
But Baldelli on Tuesday started Gonzalez at third and Astudillo at first, La Tortuga's first big league start at that position. (Baldelli later took Gonzalez out in a double-switch, but Astudillo played the full game at first base.)
My interpretation of that: As long as Miguel Sano remains off the active roster, Gonzalez is primarily a third baseman. He has played four innings at first. He hasn't seen the outfield yet, and he hasn't been in the middle infield either.
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Oh no, Sano (Part whatever)
So ... the big news Tuesday about the Twins was that Miguel Sano's cut heel is going to keep him out into May.
The Twins rather emphatically avoid blaming Sano, who, as they see it, spent the winter doing what they wanted him doing. He lost weight, he played winter ball -- and then he got hurt in the celebration, and the wound got infected. He reported to spring training with the infection, and the wound wasn't healing as it should, so now comes a more aggressive treatment.
I'm not a medical professional, so I am in no position to second-guess what was done (or not done) when Sano reported to Fort Myers. You probably aren't either, and if you are, you probably didn't examine his specific injury. But there is an irrational contigent of media and fandom that, having lost its favorite target in Joe Mauer, will now almost certainly turn its scorn on Sano. Blaming the athlete for the injury is a longstanding if unattractive tradition.
As a practical matter, this probably means, at least for the first five or six weeks of the season, a lot more time at third base for Marwin Gonzalez than the Twins expected or intended. Which, in turn, means less time for him at any of the other positions.
Another possibility is a steady dose of Willians Astudillo at third, with Gonzalez rotating among positions as originally envisioned.
I don't think this is a case where the injury creates an opening for La Tortuga (Astudillo) to make the opening roster. I think this creates an opportunity for him to get significant playing time. The guys whose chances of coming north out of camp have improved are Ehire Adrianza and Jake Cave.
The Twins rather emphatically avoid blaming Sano, who, as they see it, spent the winter doing what they wanted him doing. He lost weight, he played winter ball -- and then he got hurt in the celebration, and the wound got infected. He reported to spring training with the infection, and the wound wasn't healing as it should, so now comes a more aggressive treatment.
I'm not a medical professional, so I am in no position to second-guess what was done (or not done) when Sano reported to Fort Myers. You probably aren't either, and if you are, you probably didn't examine his specific injury. But there is an irrational contigent of media and fandom that, having lost its favorite target in Joe Mauer, will now almost certainly turn its scorn on Sano. Blaming the athlete for the injury is a longstanding if unattractive tradition.
As a practical matter, this probably means, at least for the first five or six weeks of the season, a lot more time at third base for Marwin Gonzalez than the Twins expected or intended. Which, in turn, means less time for him at any of the other positions.
Another possibility is a steady dose of Willians Astudillo at third, with Gonzalez rotating among positions as originally envisioned.
I don't think this is a case where the injury creates an opening for La Tortuga (Astudillo) to make the opening roster. I think this creates an opportunity for him to get significant playing time. The guys whose chances of coming north out of camp have improved are Ehire Adrianza and Jake Cave.
Monday, March 4, 2019
Hail Cesar: Remembering Cesar Tovar, multi-position regular
The Monday print column concerns Marwin Gonzalez, the Twins new multi-position regular, and how he's fit into the lineup.
Twins fans of a certain age have seen this act, or something like it, before. Cesar Tovar in the late 1960s played pretty much every day while splitting starts between second base, third base and the outfield.
He may be remembered for the 1968 gimmick game in which he played all nine positions, but he was truly a multi-position regular:
1966: 73 starts at second base, 27 at shortstop, 16 in center.
1967: 60 starts in center, 56 at third, 31 at second. (Tovar that year played 164 games in a 162-game schedule, an iron-man feat made possible by two ties.)
1968: 67 at third, 29 in center, 15 in left, 20 at short, 12 at second.
1969: 65 in center, 33 at second, 14 at third.
And those are just the positions at which he had at least a dozen starts in a season.
Tovar was essentially locked in as the center fielder for 1970, and he was predominately an outfielder the rest of his career. The Phillies did shuffle him around in 1973 in a part time role.
Twins fans of a certain age have seen this act, or something like it, before. Cesar Tovar in the late 1960s played pretty much every day while splitting starts between second base, third base and the outfield.
He may be remembered for the 1968 gimmick game in which he played all nine positions, but he was truly a multi-position regular:
1966: 73 starts at second base, 27 at shortstop, 16 in center.
1967: 60 starts in center, 56 at third, 31 at second. (Tovar that year played 164 games in a 162-game schedule, an iron-man feat made possible by two ties.)
1968: 67 at third, 29 in center, 15 in left, 20 at short, 12 at second.
1969: 65 in center, 33 at second, 14 at third.
And those are just the positions at which he had at least a dozen starts in a season.
Tovar was essentially locked in as the center fielder for 1970, and he was predominately an outfielder the rest of his career. The Phillies did shuffle him around in 1973 in a part time role.
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Marwin the Twin
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| Marwin Gonzalez had a big year at the plate in 2017 but regressed last season. |
The question I got repeatedly from colleagues at work Friday afternoon was: What position will he play? My answer: All of them.
The Twins will use him as the Astros have the past three years. They'll get him more than 500 trips to the plate without making him the regular at any one position.
That, at least, is the ideal. More likely, somebody will get hurt, or somebody will fail. The Twins "default" lineup has plenty of upside, but also plenty of risk. I assume you already know the questions, but if we need to delve in to the details:
- Neither Byron Buxton nor Miguel Sano has made it though a full season in the majors without injury
- Jonathan Schoop's on-base percentage last season was a woeful .266
- C.J. Cron has one season with more than 500 plate appearances in his career, and he's not noted for his defensive skills
- Nelson Cruz is 38
- Max Kepler hasn't established himself as a productive middle-of-the-order bat
- Eddie Rosario's power falls off sharply against southpaws
- Jorge Polanco was suspended for half of last season
Gonzalez is a nice Plan B for all these guys, just as Eduardo Escobar was in the infield for the past few years.
LaVelle Neal suggested Friday afternoon that Gonzalez frees up the Twins to trade a regular. That would be a mistake. The value of Gonzalez' versatility may be obscure, but it is genuine. Trading, let us say, Rosario to make Gonzalez the full-time left fielder actually makes Gonzalez less valuable.
LaVelle Neal suggested Friday afternoon that Gonzalez frees up the Twins to trade a regular. That would be a mistake. The value of Gonzalez' versatility may be obscure, but it is genuine. Trading, let us say, Rosario to make Gonzalez the full-time left fielder actually makes Gonzalez less valuable.
There's room to use him even in the unlikely event that nobody goes on the DL or fails. Even if we discount his 2017 as a fluke season, Gonzalez has been a slightly better than league average hitter -- and does that with quality defense at all four infield slots and in an outfield corner.
He's going to play, a lot, on his own merits, even if it's not always at the same position.
He's going to play, a lot, on his own merits, even if it's not always at the same position.
Friday, February 22, 2019
On Marwin Gonzalez
There's been some chatter in recent days connecting the Twins to free-agent multi-position guy Marwin Gonzalez. I don't know what to make of that.
Gonzalez is a good, if complicated, player. Versatile is understating it. He is:
The Twins don't have a specific position they would give Gonzalez. And that's quite OK, because playing Gonzalez at one place all season is a waste of a significant part of his value. The Astros found him more than 500 at-bats in each of the past three seasons without making him a regular at any one spot. Last season he started games in left field and all four infield spots, plus he picked up a few random innings in center and right
His 2017 season -- .303 batting average, 90 RBIs, 24 homers -- overstates his true hitting level. He's not that good a hitter. But he's good enough to deepen a lineup, good enough to look for reasons to play his bat. He's not going to win a Gold Glove anywhere, but he's not an embarrassment afield anywhere either.
He's Ben Zobrist with less acclaim, which is kind of funny to say because Zobrist has been underrated and overlooked pretty much his entire career, and for the same reason. These superutility guys are camouflaged. Camouflage works by breaking up the image. You make three dozen starts at one position, two dozen at a couple more, a dozen at a couple more, your image as a player is broken up.
I don't know how seriously the Twins and Scott Boras (Gonzalez' agent) are talking. The spring training games are about to get started, Gonzalez is unemployed, and Boras is a master at generating rumors to try to drum up a market. There may be a lot more smoke than fire here.
I do like the player. I like him a lot -- certainly more than C.J. Cron, who figures to be Minnesota's first baseman right now, probably more than Jonathan Schoop, who figures to be the second baseman. And Rocco Baldelli, coming as he does out of the Tampa Bay organization, has certainly seen how to juggle a superutility guy. I'd like to see this happen.
Gonzalez is a good, if complicated, player. Versatile is understating it. He is:
- a switch-hitter who led the Astros in RBIs two years ago, when they won the World Series. Leading a good lineup in RBIs suggests that he can thrive in the middle of the lineup.
- a shortstop in the minors who has seldom played the position in the majors because that's Carlos Correa's job
- going to turn the dreaded 30 in mid-March
The Twins don't have a specific position they would give Gonzalez. And that's quite OK, because playing Gonzalez at one place all season is a waste of a significant part of his value. The Astros found him more than 500 at-bats in each of the past three seasons without making him a regular at any one spot. Last season he started games in left field and all four infield spots, plus he picked up a few random innings in center and right
His 2017 season -- .303 batting average, 90 RBIs, 24 homers -- overstates his true hitting level. He's not that good a hitter. But he's good enough to deepen a lineup, good enough to look for reasons to play his bat. He's not going to win a Gold Glove anywhere, but he's not an embarrassment afield anywhere either.
He's Ben Zobrist with less acclaim, which is kind of funny to say because Zobrist has been underrated and overlooked pretty much his entire career, and for the same reason. These superutility guys are camouflaged. Camouflage works by breaking up the image. You make three dozen starts at one position, two dozen at a couple more, a dozen at a couple more, your image as a player is broken up.
I don't know how seriously the Twins and Scott Boras (Gonzalez' agent) are talking. The spring training games are about to get started, Gonzalez is unemployed, and Boras is a master at generating rumors to try to drum up a market. There may be a lot more smoke than fire here.
I do like the player. I like him a lot -- certainly more than C.J. Cron, who figures to be Minnesota's first baseman right now, probably more than Jonathan Schoop, who figures to be the second baseman. And Rocco Baldelli, coming as he does out of the Tampa Bay organization, has certainly seen how to juggle a superutility guy. I'd like to see this happen.
Sunday, October 29, 2017
Pic of the Week
 |
| Marwin Gonzalez (9) is greeted by Carlos Correa after Gonzalez tied Game 2 with a homer in the top of the ninth off Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen. |
Dick Bremer, and a lot of others, use it to describe just about any bench player. Danny Santana was a super utility player to Bremer. He plays short! He plays center! He sits on the bench a lot!
That last rules him out in my opinion. I use the term to describe somebody who
- is in the lineup on a regular basis
- but not at the same position.
Marwin Gonzalez, who hit the game-tying homer Wednesday night in the ninth inning for Houston, fits that definition perfectly.
Gonzalez led the Astros in RBIs, hit .303, slugged .530. He played 134 games and started at least a dozen games at each of five different positions -- shortstop (26 times, mostly during a Carlos Correa injury that sent the star to the disabled list), left field (23), first base (17), third base (12) and second base (12).
He can handle up-the-middle positions, but not so well that you'd be better off keeping him there. He hits well enough to fill a key lineup slot.
That's a super utility guy.
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