The Twins announced Wednesday that LaTroy Hawkins and Torii Hunter would be splitting time in the TV booth as analysts along side play-by-play man Dick Bremer. It's a five-man rotation: Bert Blyleven, Roy Smalley, Jack Morris and now Hunter and Hawkins.
Anything that reduces the exposure we fans get of Blyleven's "analysis"is probably a plus at this stage, but this seems to undermine the idea that Hawkins and Hunter, who were hired earlier in the offseason as special assistants (as was Michael Cuddyer) are to be given serious assignments in player development and scouting.
We'll see how all this plays out, of course. Maybe the broadcasting assignments will be sparse and focused. What I do know if that if Hawkins is doing TV work on a major league road trip through Cleveland and Toronto, he's not going to be in Chattanooga working with prospects or at a college game evaluating a potential draft pick.
It's also possible that some exposure to the broadcast operations is seen as an important part of grooming these two for more significant front office responsibilities.
Showing posts with label Torii Hunter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Torii Hunter. Show all posts
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Hunter, Cuddyer, Hawkins in the the front office
The Twins announced on Monday the hirings of Torii Hunter, Michael Cuddyer and LaTroy Hawkins as special assistants.
The trio will be in uniform at spring training and be involved in minor league instruction and scouting. Cherry-picking some intriguing tweets from Mike Berandino of Pioneer Press about their intended roles:
Falvey, of course, is Derek Falvey, the new head of baseball operations and in a sense an example of the lack of diversity, racial and otherwise, on major league front offices. Increasingly, the men at the top -- and they are and have been all men -- have similar backgrounds, rooted in academics. The selection of Falvey to run the Twins operation may have been the last straw for consultant/headhunting firm Korn Ferry, which was bounced by the commissioners office shortly afterwards.
Hawkins, Hunter and Cuddyer are not of the Falvey-Thad Levine mold. They played 55 years in the majors, and any college they've had came in the offseasons. Hunter in particular has spoken of wanting to become a general manager; that kind of ambition is hardly out of place, but unlikely to be met without some form of apprenticeship even if the pendulum swings back toward the ex-jock at the head of the organization.
From all appearances, Falvey and Levine intend to give these three real jobs with real responsibilities, not just ceremonial appearances. And we'll see what they do with those chores.
The trio will be in uniform at spring training and be involved in minor league instruction and scouting. Cherry-picking some intriguing tweets from Mike Berandino of Pioneer Press about their intended roles:
Hawkins: "I'm going to be doing whatever Derek and Thad ask me to do. I want to learn everything about the organization from bottom to top"— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) November 28, 2016
Falvey plans to use all three in draft preparations, from pick one all the way through.— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) November 28, 2016
Falvey: "Diversity is important to us. This is one step in that direction. It won't be the last step."— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) November 28, 2016
Falvey, of course, is Derek Falvey, the new head of baseball operations and in a sense an example of the lack of diversity, racial and otherwise, on major league front offices. Increasingly, the men at the top -- and they are and have been all men -- have similar backgrounds, rooted in academics. The selection of Falvey to run the Twins operation may have been the last straw for consultant/headhunting firm Korn Ferry, which was bounced by the commissioners office shortly afterwards.
Hawkins, Hunter and Cuddyer are not of the Falvey-Thad Levine mold. They played 55 years in the majors, and any college they've had came in the offseasons. Hunter in particular has spoken of wanting to become a general manager; that kind of ambition is hardly out of place, but unlikely to be met without some form of apprenticeship even if the pendulum swings back toward the ex-jock at the head of the organization.
From all appearances, Falvey and Levine intend to give these three real jobs with real responsibilities, not just ceremonial appearances. And we'll see what they do with those chores.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Torii Hunter hangs 'em up
The big baseball news of the eve of the World Series:
Which is, frankly, a relief. The Twins had been signaling for weeks, if not months, that Hunter was welcome to return, and it was not easy to see how they could justify him as a full-time, or nearly so, outfielder in 2016.
And maybe that's what led to this earlier than anticipated announcement. Late in the season, remember, Hunter had said he'd decide after the college football season (two of his sons are collegiate players). It may be that after or during the Twins organizational meetings this month Terry Ryan called Hunter and said: We'd love to have you back, but you have to understand that you're behind Hicks, Buxton and Rosario. Your playing time is going to be limited. And Hunter made the understandable decision that he's not willing to sacrifice another year to baseball if he's going to be a bit player.
I'd like to think that the Twins took an honest, objective look at their talent and recognized that it was time to move on to the next generation. It's also possible that they were willing to have Buxton open the 2016 season at Triple A, keep Hunter as the primary right fielder and wait for an injury or failure to open a spot. If that was the case, Hunter just saved the Twins from themselves.
I wrote a lot about Torii Hunter in 2015, maybe too much, but he was certainly a key piece of the season for the Twins. 2016 will have a different focal point, for good or ill.
CONFIRMED: Torii Hunter has decided to retire from playing baseball. Thanks for the memories Torii! #MNTwins
— Dustin Morse (@Twins_morsecode) October 27, 2015
Which is, frankly, a relief. The Twins had been signaling for weeks, if not months, that Hunter was welcome to return, and it was not easy to see how they could justify him as a full-time, or nearly so, outfielder in 2016.
And maybe that's what led to this earlier than anticipated announcement. Late in the season, remember, Hunter had said he'd decide after the college football season (two of his sons are collegiate players). It may be that after or during the Twins organizational meetings this month Terry Ryan called Hunter and said: We'd love to have you back, but you have to understand that you're behind Hicks, Buxton and Rosario. Your playing time is going to be limited. And Hunter made the understandable decision that he's not willing to sacrifice another year to baseball if he's going to be a bit player.
I'd like to think that the Twins took an honest, objective look at their talent and recognized that it was time to move on to the next generation. It's also possible that they were willing to have Buxton open the 2016 season at Triple A, keep Hunter as the primary right fielder and wait for an injury or failure to open a spot. If that was the case, Hunter just saved the Twins from themselves.
I wrote a lot about Torii Hunter in 2015, maybe too much, but he was certainly a key piece of the season for the Twins. 2016 will have a different focal point, for good or ill.
Monday, October 5, 2015
The end, or at least an end
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| Torii Hunter poses at home plate with the youngster who won his jersey after Sunday's finale. |
So another Twins season is dead, and another will be born next February in Fort Myers, Florida, and transplanted in April. The 2015 version will be remembered in the long run not so much for the failure of the team to reach the playoffs as for launching the big league careers of Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton and Eddie Rosario and maybe Tyler Duffey.
And maybe as the end for Torii Hunter. Or maybe not. Hunter was coy Saturday and Sunday about his immediate plans, He'll decide after seeing his sons play out their college football seasons in November. Or he'll decide in January after ramping up his workouts. I take him at his word when he says he doesn't know if he'll play next year, and when he says that if he does, it will be nowhere but Minnesota.
He's 40, and he knows it. In April he tried a straight steal of home; by September he was being pinch-run for on a regular basis. He sees Buxton and Rosario and Aaron Hicks and Max Kepler, all young enough to be his sons, all dripping with talent and all crowding for outfield playing time. Hunter hit 22 homers this year, but in all other aspects, it was his worst season at the plate since 2000.
I have said this many times about many other players: I don't begrudge a player for wanting to squeeze one more year out of his career. The Jason Bartlett fiasco of 2014 wasn't Bartlett's fault, it was the fault of a manager and front office that couldn't, or refused to, see in spring training what everybody else did -- Bartlett couldn't play major league ball any more.
Should Hunter return? There seems to be a consensus among the writers that he will do so only if he's promised that he will still be a lineup fixture. That would be a foolish promise for the Twins to make, but they might make it anyway. It wouldn't be the first time they let sentiment get in their way.
Monday, September 21, 2015
More on Hunter and the outfield choices
The Monday print column examined Paul Molitor's September reliance on Torii Hunter and the possibility that the veteran's resurgence would result in his return in 2016.
On Sunday, the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo's notes column contained this paragraph:
I would dispute the last sentence, but the rest is plausible -- especially if Molitor, Terry Ryan and the other evaluators doubt that Bryon Buxton is ready to hit major league pitching. Plausible but essentially self-defeating, unless (as I said in the column) there is an explicit understanding that Hunter is not expected to be a regular.
It's a numbers game. Leaving Hunter out of the 2016 equation for now, the Twins have Buxton, Aaron Hicks and Eddie Rosario as presumptive regulars, plus Southern League MVP Max Kepler pounding on the door. The four young guys have their flaws, but so does Hunter -- and the foursome have futures. I want them to play. Hunter, if he expects to be in the lineup six days a week, is in the way.
It may well be that Hunter's two-month slump in July and August was connected to a shoulder injury, and some may argue that his season stats should be discounted as a result. I would say otherwise. Injuries happen, and they happen more often to, and persist longer for, 40-year-olds than for 25-year olds. (I would also suggest that if Hunter hit .130 in August because of an injury, playing with the ailment hurt the club.)
On Sunday, the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo's notes column contained this paragraph:
7. Torii Hunter, RF, Twins — He has said he’s going year to year, but the Twins want him back for at least one more season, according to a team official. The impact Hunter has made in the clubhouse and leading a team featuring some younger players has been off the charts. Hunter, 40, is hitting .242 with 20 homers and 74 RBIs. He also has played a good right field.
I would dispute the last sentence, but the rest is plausible -- especially if Molitor, Terry Ryan and the other evaluators doubt that Bryon Buxton is ready to hit major league pitching. Plausible but essentially self-defeating, unless (as I said in the column) there is an explicit understanding that Hunter is not expected to be a regular.
It's a numbers game. Leaving Hunter out of the 2016 equation for now, the Twins have Buxton, Aaron Hicks and Eddie Rosario as presumptive regulars, plus Southern League MVP Max Kepler pounding on the door. The four young guys have their flaws, but so does Hunter -- and the foursome have futures. I want them to play. Hunter, if he expects to be in the lineup six days a week, is in the way.
It may well be that Hunter's two-month slump in July and August was connected to a shoulder injury, and some may argue that his season stats should be discounted as a result. I would say otherwise. Injuries happen, and they happen more often to, and persist longer for, 40-year-olds than for 25-year olds. (I would also suggest that if Hunter hit .130 in August because of an injury, playing with the ailment hurt the club.)
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
A night at Target Field
My wife and I scooted up to Minneapolis Tuesday night for the game, in part so I could add Chris Sale to my mental checklist of great pitchers I've seen in person. Sale didn't have one of his better games -- he suffered through a four-run inning -- but he's still mighty impressive.
For some reason, the Twins have done well against Sale this year (his ERA against the Twins in five starts is well over 6 runs per nine innings). I'll take it, but I wouldn't count on that continuing.
Some other observations:
* For a good while I thought I'd be raving over Tyler Duffey's performance. When he got the first two hitters of the fifth inning, he had faced the minimum through 4.2 innings. But then he never got another out. Single, walk, walk, walk, single and gone.
I saw some chatter on social media that he was getting squeezed by home plate umpire C.B, Bucknor, and Bucknor doesn't have a great reputation. But from my perch -- front of the upper deck behind home plate -- Duffey in that bad stretch wasn't throwing strikes.
Still, in the main, Duffey was impressive. I can't criticize Paul Molitor for getting him out of there when he did, but I certainly liked what I saw from him for the first 14 hitters.
* Miguel Sano is some kind of special hitter. Watching him "run" worried me, though. And I'll bet it worries Molitor, too.
* Six of Sale's strikeouts came at the expense of Trevor Plouffe and Torii Hunter. Plouffe's at-bats didn't look that bad to me, but Hunter certainly appeared to be, in Reggie Jackson's phrase about hitting against Nolan Ryan, eating soup with a fork. And the White Sox fan next to me thought the two doubles the Sox got off Neal Cotts and Casey Fien in the sixth inning, one a blopper down the right field line and the other more to right center, were catchable balls.
Aaron Hicks is to come off the disabled list later this week, and once he's back, every at-bat and every inning afield Hunter gets at the expense of the Byron Buxton-Hicks-Eddie Rosario trio hurt the cause. But, of course, Hunter is still very much at the emotional center of the team. It's not going to be an easy line to draw.
* Buxton didn't look good at the plate against Sale either (two strikeouts), but his speed was very much a factor in the three-run eighth. That he got to second on the third baseman's error was impressive enough; that he scored standing up on a fly ball that I doubt anybody else on the team would try to score on, even more so.
* Eduardo Escobar: 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored and one RBI, plus a couple of nice defensive plays at shortstop. Yeah, I'll take that.
* Kramarczuk's brats are still the bestest.
For some reason, the Twins have done well against Sale this year (his ERA against the Twins in five starts is well over 6 runs per nine innings). I'll take it, but I wouldn't count on that continuing.
Some other observations:
* For a good while I thought I'd be raving over Tyler Duffey's performance. When he got the first two hitters of the fifth inning, he had faced the minimum through 4.2 innings. But then he never got another out. Single, walk, walk, walk, single and gone.
I saw some chatter on social media that he was getting squeezed by home plate umpire C.B, Bucknor, and Bucknor doesn't have a great reputation. But from my perch -- front of the upper deck behind home plate -- Duffey in that bad stretch wasn't throwing strikes.
Still, in the main, Duffey was impressive. I can't criticize Paul Molitor for getting him out of there when he did, but I certainly liked what I saw from him for the first 14 hitters.
* Miguel Sano is some kind of special hitter. Watching him "run" worried me, though. And I'll bet it worries Molitor, too.
* Six of Sale's strikeouts came at the expense of Trevor Plouffe and Torii Hunter. Plouffe's at-bats didn't look that bad to me, but Hunter certainly appeared to be, in Reggie Jackson's phrase about hitting against Nolan Ryan, eating soup with a fork. And the White Sox fan next to me thought the two doubles the Sox got off Neal Cotts and Casey Fien in the sixth inning, one a blopper down the right field line and the other more to right center, were catchable balls.
Aaron Hicks is to come off the disabled list later this week, and once he's back, every at-bat and every inning afield Hunter gets at the expense of the Byron Buxton-Hicks-Eddie Rosario trio hurt the cause. But, of course, Hunter is still very much at the emotional center of the team. It's not going to be an easy line to draw.
* Buxton didn't look good at the plate against Sale either (two strikeouts), but his speed was very much a factor in the three-run eighth. That he got to second on the third baseman's error was impressive enough; that he scored standing up on a fly ball that I doubt anybody else on the team would try to score on, even more so.
* Eduardo Escobar: 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored and one RBI, plus a couple of nice defensive plays at shortstop. Yeah, I'll take that.
* Kramarczuk's brats are still the bestest.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
On Byron Buxton's demotion
Byron Buxton hit .417 in three games with Triple A Rochester during the weekend on a rehab assignment. Now that he's established he's healthy, the Twins on Monday officially optioned him to Rochester.
I wish they hadn't done that. I understand the reasoning behind the move, but I don't agree with it.
Start with this: A healthy Buxton plays. You don't have Buxton in the majors to sit on the bench. I agree fully with that.
Which means that to justify having Buxton in the majors, one of the current three regular outfielders needs to sit in any given game: Eddie Rosario, Aaron Hicks and Torii Hunter. (One could DH one of them, but then you get into the Miguel Sano-Joe Mauer-Trevor Plouffe trio splitting first base, third base and designated hitter.) Presumably the Twins brain trust is loathe to tamper with the outfield setup.
There is also the service time factor, but that is counterbalanced by the fact that the Twins have now burned the first of Buxton's three option years. Ideally they'll never use all three option seasons, but the first is now gone. Buxton's call-up came late enough that service time shouldn't be a genuine factor anyway.
No, the real reason they shipped Buxton back to the minors is that Rosario and Hicks also need to play to develop, and they have committed too much (financially and emotionally) to the return of Hunter. This is why I disliked the Hunter signing last winter. Sooner or later, he was going to get in the way.
It took into August for that to happen, which is later than I expected, but it's official now. Today, he's in the way.
It's bad enough to let a 40-year-old who is hitting at a league average level block a prime prospect. But I fear that the Twins will double down on that bet and bring Hunter back for 2016.
I wish they hadn't done that. I understand the reasoning behind the move, but I don't agree with it.
Start with this: A healthy Buxton plays. You don't have Buxton in the majors to sit on the bench. I agree fully with that.
Which means that to justify having Buxton in the majors, one of the current three regular outfielders needs to sit in any given game: Eddie Rosario, Aaron Hicks and Torii Hunter. (One could DH one of them, but then you get into the Miguel Sano-Joe Mauer-Trevor Plouffe trio splitting first base, third base and designated hitter.) Presumably the Twins brain trust is loathe to tamper with the outfield setup.
There is also the service time factor, but that is counterbalanced by the fact that the Twins have now burned the first of Buxton's three option years. Ideally they'll never use all three option seasons, but the first is now gone. Buxton's call-up came late enough that service time shouldn't be a genuine factor anyway.
No, the real reason they shipped Buxton back to the minors is that Rosario and Hicks also need to play to develop, and they have committed too much (financially and emotionally) to the return of Hunter. This is why I disliked the Hunter signing last winter. Sooner or later, he was going to get in the way.
It took into August for that to happen, which is later than I expected, but it's official now. Today, he's in the way.
It's bad enough to let a 40-year-old who is hitting at a league average level block a prime prospect. But I fear that the Twins will double down on that bet and bring Hunter back for 2016.
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Contemplating the right field situation
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| Torii Hunter has started 67 games in right field and 11 at designated hitter. |
He entered the break with 14 homers, second on the club -- this after hitting 17 in each of the past two seasons and 16 the year before that. His batting average is markedly lower, however, so his on-base and slugging percentages are essentially in line with last season. Merely maintaining production at his age is remarkable, but Hunter has for years defied the decline that typically accompanies aging.
His defense is another matter. The eight-time Gold Glove winner still looks good in the outfield, but the metrics continue to say that he doesn't get to a lot of balls in right field. Baseball Reference's version of wins above replacement (bWAR) says he's a replacement-level player overall.
It's theoretically possible that the Twins could improve on Hunter as a right fielder. But we know they aren't going to remake the roster that drastically. The stat sheet doesn't quantify clubhouse chemistry. Hunter is very much at the center of this team, and any attempts to upgrade the roster will not involve the players at the center of the roster.
The realistic question is: Will the Twins bring him back for his age-40 season in 2016? Imagine for a moment that something took Hunter off the roster now. The most likely response by the Twins would be to recall Oswaldo Arcia and reinstall him in an outfield corner, with Eddie Rosario filling the other. With the passage of time, the now-sidelined Byron Buxton and Max Kepler would figure to be factors as well.
If the Twins bring Hunter back for 2016, he would block at least one young outfielder. Which, if that is their intent, makes it easier to trade one (or more) away this summer.
Monday, June 29, 2015
More on Torii Hunter as a Hall of Fame candidate
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| Torii Hunter watches one of his two homers on Saturday leave the yard in Milwaukee. |
Too much is not enough for me, I guess. Here's a tangent I left out.
Hunter moved from center to right in midseason 2010. This, in my view, not only does not hurt his Hall of Fame case, it enhances it.
Center field is a premium defensive position. The ability to cover ground is essential, and teams will put up with a certain lack of offense to have a good defensive center fielder. This is why Aaron Hicks keeps getting playing time despite his anemic hitting.
Most center fielders, when they lose a step or two in the outfield, quickly fade out of the majors. They don't hit well enough to fill a corner outfield role, and if they aren't good enough defensively for the middle garden, they're done.
The ones who can hit move to a less demanding position. Mickey Mantle played first base the last few years of his career. Ty Cobb moved to right field for the last two seasons of his career. Kirby Puckett, of course, ended his career as a right fielder. Andre Dawson would be an example more comparable to Hunter, although in his 20s he hit for better averages than Hunter did.
Hunter, in his first go-around with the Twins, was an exemplar of a center field type: Defense and power, but with a relatively low batting averages and high strikeout rates. This isn't as common as the speedy slap-hitting leadoff types, but there have been other examples: Vince DiMaggio (older brother of Joe). Mike Cameron. Paul Blair. Andruw Jones.
Those four were all quality center fielders, All Stars and (if the awards existed during their time) Gold Glove winners. But when they stopped being regular center fielders, they stopped being regulars. They hung on a bit as part-time players, but their days of 500-plus at-bats were gone.
Hunter turned out differently. He somehow hit better with age. Only now, approaching age 40, are his numbers receding back toward league average (and his three home runs this weekend have spiked his OPS+ sharply, so that he's now well above average for the season). His batting decline, such as it is, is coming about a decade behind schedule.
The point is: It's exceedingly rare for somebody to play center field into his late 30s. Only the best of the best get to do that. It's a real indication of quality for an aging center fielder to move to an easier defensive position and extend his career that way.
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
A Torii Hunter rant
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| Torii Hunter before a recent road game. |
I have refrained this season from criticizing Hunter for specific fielding plays, in large part because I doubt my own objectivity on the matter and don't want to damage my credibility. Some readers accept the analytics, some don't. I figure the analytic scores this season will tell their story (which is, at this point, somewhat better than last years but still not good) without me.
But this business of picking up balls in right field and casually flipping them into short center field has provoked me. Hunter did it earlier in the month, when a ball careened off shortstop Jorge Polanco. And he did it again Tuesday night in the ninth inning, when struggling reliever Aaron Thompson gave up his second single to as many hitters.
In both cases, the toss came as a game was getting away. And maybe I'm reading too much into this, but in both cases the play came off as more a mental error than a physical one. The body language speaks of frustration, contempt, even surrender.
These are not useful things to display on the field, period. To the degree that Hunter's presence on the roster and in the lineup is justified as a role model, they're even worse. Polanco commits an error, Thompson gives up a couple of singles, and Hunter responds with a sloppy play that telegraphs: I don't care about this one anymore. That's not the example one wants set for the Byron Buxtons and Eddie Rosarios.
Again, maybe I'm reading too much into this. Errors happen. But these came on sloppy technique at a time when the specific game was going poorly, and they irritate me. One of them, OK, mistakes happen. Two of them begins to establish a pattern.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Ranking the Twins outfield priorities
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| Byron Buxton was 0-for-4 in his debut Sunday with a pair of strikeouts and a failed sac bunt attempt. |
Hicks, of course, wasn't available Sunday; the Twins put him on the disabled list as the move to get Buxton on the active roster. With Torii Hunter serving Game Two of his suspension, Paul Molitor deployed an outfield of Shane Robinson in left, Buxton in center and Eddie Rosario in right, and that is a pretty close to optimal defensive alignment.
The Twins have a bunch of outfielders now -- on the active roster, on the disabled list, and in the minors but still seen as significant pieces. Let's sort through the priorities.
1) Buxton. Yes, he has all of one game in the majors. He's still the single most important piece of this team's puzzle, the cornerstone player for the anticipated success ahead. He's here; he's playing.
2) Hunter. He's 39, but the team didn't commit $12 million to him to sit on the bench. I'd prefer to see him DHing than playing right.
3) Rosario. Debuted May 6 and has played in all but a handful of games since. Has so far lived up to his minor league billing, with arguably more power (three homers in his first 100 at-bats) than should be expected. Between his youth/developmental needs, his bat and his defensive skills, he should be in the outfield on a near-daily basis. Despite being in the running in training camp for the center field job, he has been strictly in the corners since his call-up, which is proper.
4) Oswaldo Arcia. Spluttering with a .167/.189/.229 slash line in Triple A, he appears to have been eclipsed by Rosario in the corner outfield plans. He's a better hitter than that .418 Rochester OPS suggests, but so what? His fielding woes negate the hitting, and between Hunter and Kennys Vargas, there's not much room available at DH. He's still only 24, but he's out of options after this season. A trade seems inevitable, and right now his value is probably as low as it's ever been.
5) Hicks. Buxton pushes him out of the center field job. His bat pushes him out of a regular corner outfield role. That makes him a fourth outfielder, which is not what he was drafted in the first round to be. Is the organization willing to accept that, or will they dump him? He's also out of options after this season.
6) Shane Robinson. Too flawed to be an outfield regular, but he does enough things well to use him. A prototype reserve outfielder.
7) Jordan Schafer. Rosario has already garnered 40 more plate appearances than the Opening Day center fielder. Schafer wasn't anywhere near the player this year that he was in August-September last year, and I don't see a role for him after he comes off the disabled list. Hicks and Robinson rank ahead of him as reserve outfielders, and nobody needs four center fielders on the roster.
8) Eduardo Escobar. I'll list him here because Baseball Reference has him as the regular left fielder so far. If he's still so listed after the All-Star break, Molitor is doing it wrong. Even if the Twins decide to turn to Jorge Polanco or Danny Santana at short, Escobar shouldn't get outfield time ahead of the first five on this list. He's an infielder. Use him as such.
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Pic of the Week
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| Torii Hunter made a better throw with his jersey Wednesday night than he did when he returned the ball to the infield after a Jorge Polanco error. |
Unlike Ron Gardenhire, Paul Molitor is not particularly prone to histrionic confrontations with the umpires. It's possible that Gardy would have gotten out there faster and gotten himself ejected rather than Hunter. Or it's possible that all that Gardy would have accomplished is getting himself tossed out as well as Hunter. (Which happened with Molitor).
Hunter immediately appealed the suspension, then dropped the appeal Saturday.
Since we're on the subject, let's delve into another aspect of the Torii Tantrum:
The umpire, in his first year as a full-time major league ump, is Mark Ripperger. As detailed by the Pioneer Press' Mike Berardino, Ripperger has racked up a pretty impressive list of ejectees in his young career, including two Hall of Fame players-turned managers, a former Cy Young winner and a couple of big-name outfielders.
Which suggests two possibilities:
1) Stars and managers are trying to bully a young ump (hardly unusual);
2) Ripperger is weak on balls-and-strikes (also hardly unusual).
The technological tools are available to improve the umpiring on those calls. If Ripperger is weak on them, he can, and should, get better. (For all the Internet demands for "#RobotUmpsNow", I don't think there's a way to get a ball or strike called mechanically fast enough for use on a 3-2 pitch with the runner going. The catcher can't wait for a PitchFx ruling before throwing or holding.)
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Notes, quotes and comment
I have a long-standing theory that the steal of home is too infrequently attempted, and therefore I will not be critical of Torii Hunter for going for it Wednesday night. It was a good opportunity, and I have little doubt that even the 35-year-old Hunter would have made it safely. The 39-year-old Hunter is a bit slower, and did not.
Good idea, inadequate execution.
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The Twins sold minor-league utility catcher Dan Rohlfing to the Mets. Rohlfing has been in the Twins organization since 2007, when he was drafted in the 14th round, and it seems that every spring he's one of the last players sent out from major league camp.
He catches, he plays some outfield, he holds down first base on occasion, and he probably carries the ball bag when asked. What he hasn't done on any level is hit well enough to be considered a bona fide prospect, much less force his way onto the 40-man roster.
The Mets have had some catching injuries this year, and the Twins had three backstops in Triple A before sending Rohlfing on his way (the others being Josmil Pinto and Eric Fryer). I don't know if Rohlfing is going to be any closer to reaching the majors with New York, but it seemed unlikely to happen for him with the Twins.
Rohlfing -- and to a lesser extent Chris Herrmann, who is on the major league roster -- illustrate the flaw in the utility catcher. If a player who can catch competently hits well enough to play a corner position, he's going to be a regular catcher. If a player who can catch competently merely hits well enough to be a backup catcher, he's not worth playing at a corner. Versatility is nice; hitting is better.
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I am not at all surprised by the reversal Wednesday of the Barry Bonds conviction for obstruction of justice. Which leaves the federal government with a big O-fer in their prosecutions of Bonds and Roger Clemens.
I will merely link to this 2012 post featuring my Free Press edit on the Clemens trial. One thing I should perhaps update on that post: I am now, as I was not then, a member of the edit board. (If I recall correctly, the edit ran as written.)
Good idea, inadequate execution.
---
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| Dan Rohlfing hasn't appeared in a game yet for Rochester because of a sprained ankle. |
He catches, he plays some outfield, he holds down first base on occasion, and he probably carries the ball bag when asked. What he hasn't done on any level is hit well enough to be considered a bona fide prospect, much less force his way onto the 40-man roster.
The Mets have had some catching injuries this year, and the Twins had three backstops in Triple A before sending Rohlfing on his way (the others being Josmil Pinto and Eric Fryer). I don't know if Rohlfing is going to be any closer to reaching the majors with New York, but it seemed unlikely to happen for him with the Twins.
Rohlfing -- and to a lesser extent Chris Herrmann, who is on the major league roster -- illustrate the flaw in the utility catcher. If a player who can catch competently hits well enough to play a corner position, he's going to be a regular catcher. If a player who can catch competently merely hits well enough to be a backup catcher, he's not worth playing at a corner. Versatility is nice; hitting is better.
---
I am not at all surprised by the reversal Wednesday of the Barry Bonds conviction for obstruction of justice. Which leaves the federal government with a big O-fer in their prosecutions of Bonds and Roger Clemens.
I will merely link to this 2012 post featuring my Free Press edit on the Clemens trial. One thing I should perhaps update on that post: I am now, as I was not then, a member of the edit board. (If I recall correctly, the edit ran as written.)
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
The check swing
There were various howls of outrage Monday afternoon when veteran umpire Joe West called veteran hitter Torii Hunter out on a check swing against veteran closer Joe Nathan.
My thoughts:
If you're familiar with this corner of the Interwebs, you know that I'm not invested, as much of the metro sports opinion makers are, in the notion that Hunter is still an outstanding player. My investment is to the contrary, that Hunter should not have been signed. So take this as coming from one who may be seeing what he wants to see.
If Torii Hunter has to, in baseball parlance, "cheat" against the 2015 version of Joe Nathan -- by which I mean start his swing prematurely -- we're going to see a lot of check swing strikeouts from him. Nathan doesn't have the velocity he had in his glory days with the Twins, but all those check swings from Hunter suggest that Hunter has to cheat to get to the fastball.
Or they might suggest that he's seeing slider and starting the swing in hopes it's a hanger. But I never had the notion that Hunter was in command of that at-bat, just as I never had the notion that the Twins were going to get to David Price.
Wow. Cowboy Joe West, everybody. What an embarrassment.
— Phil Mackey (@PhilMackey) April 6, 2015
Torii Hunter on Joe West ending the game on the check swing: "I think he had a dinner reservation or a concert to go play at"
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) April 6, 2015
Would love to have seen Vargas/Nathan in the 9th with lead on line. Joe West deprived me. Just ask, ok? That's why we have 4 umps!
— Dick Bremer (@dbremer_pxp) April 6, 2015
My thoughts:
- Hunter probably should have gotten another pitch;
- Nathan would have thrown another slider out of the zone;
- Hunter would have been starting his swing early again;
- Sooner or later, we would have gotten to the same result, strike three on a check swing.
If you're familiar with this corner of the Interwebs, you know that I'm not invested, as much of the metro sports opinion makers are, in the notion that Hunter is still an outstanding player. My investment is to the contrary, that Hunter should not have been signed. So take this as coming from one who may be seeing what he wants to see.
If Torii Hunter has to, in baseball parlance, "cheat" against the 2015 version of Joe Nathan -- by which I mean start his swing prematurely -- we're going to see a lot of check swing strikeouts from him. Nathan doesn't have the velocity he had in his glory days with the Twins, but all those check swings from Hunter suggest that Hunter has to cheat to get to the fastball.
Or they might suggest that he's seeing slider and starting the swing in hopes it's a hanger. But I never had the notion that Hunter was in command of that at-bat, just as I never had the notion that the Twins were going to get to David Price.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
"... out of the reach of an outstretched Torii Hunter"
From Wednesday's exhibition game, Twins vs Rays:
I suspect we'll be seeing and hearing a lot of that second sentence this year.
To be sure, that sentence is open to interpretation. I bring my expectations to it, you bring yours. I am quite certain that Hunter's range isn't good any more, a belief I hold in large part because of the defensive metrics; at least one of my readers thinks I'm nuts to put any weight on the objective measurements. He and I are never going to convince each other, and I'm fine with that. I didn't see this play, and I haven't seen or heard anybody describe it in detail.
Maybe it was a ball that reasonably should have been caught but Hunter couldn't get there. Maybe it wasn't catchable. Maybe Hunter came closer to it than right field predecessor Oswaldo Arcia would have -- which isn't necessarily saying much. I don't know.
I expect that there will be an above-average number of extra-base hits against the Twins outfield (at least until Byron Buxton is installed in center). Some will say that's on the pitchers. I think the outfielders will share a big part of the blame. Arcia, by either the metrics or the eye test, is a poor outfielder; Hunter, by the metrics, is now worse than Arcia; and none of the likely center fielders is good enough to make up the difference.
Trevor May gives up a triple to Alexi Casilla to open the fifth. Just out of the reach of an outstretched Torii Hunter in RF.
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) March 11, 2015
I suspect we'll be seeing and hearing a lot of that second sentence this year.
To be sure, that sentence is open to interpretation. I bring my expectations to it, you bring yours. I am quite certain that Hunter's range isn't good any more, a belief I hold in large part because of the defensive metrics; at least one of my readers thinks I'm nuts to put any weight on the objective measurements. He and I are never going to convince each other, and I'm fine with that. I didn't see this play, and I haven't seen or heard anybody describe it in detail.
Maybe it was a ball that reasonably should have been caught but Hunter couldn't get there. Maybe it wasn't catchable. Maybe Hunter came closer to it than right field predecessor Oswaldo Arcia would have -- which isn't necessarily saying much. I don't know.
I expect that there will be an above-average number of extra-base hits against the Twins outfield (at least until Byron Buxton is installed in center). Some will say that's on the pitchers. I think the outfielders will share a big part of the blame. Arcia, by either the metrics or the eye test, is a poor outfielder; Hunter, by the metrics, is now worse than Arcia; and none of the likely center fielders is good enough to make up the difference.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Front office wanna bes
There are 30 teams in baseball and 30 general manager jobs. Well, some of the teams call the job something else -- Tampa Bay's org chart calls it "president of baseball operations" -- but each team has somebody at the top of the heap delegating, supervising, making the final call on moves (and getting the praise or heat on same).
Terry Ryan followed a essentially traditional route to the job: He pitched in the minor leagues, got hurt, went into scouting, moved up the ladder into the front office and eventually into the top job. But many organizations, maybe most, now have GMs -- and future GMs in the pipeline -- with no professional playing background whatsoever. Jed Hoyer (or if you prefer, Theo Epstein) of the Cubs. Jeff Ludnow of the Astros. Michael Silverman of the aforementioned Rays. Ben Cherington of the Red Sox. Sandy Alderson of the Mets, the man who built the Bash Brothers dynasty of the Oakland A's, was the pioneer of the type -- outsiders with academic acumen instead of athletic accomplishment.
Few men at the top of organizations today played in the majors. There are Billy Beane of Oakland, Ruben Amaro of Philadelphia and Dave Stewart of Arizona, and it's unclear to me how much authority Stewart actually has. I don't think there are any other former major leaguers now serving as general managers.
Beane is famous for his embrace of the sabermetric approach and Amaro notorious for his rejection of same -- from which we should draw afresh the caution that humans don't come out of cookie cutters. But in the main, front offices are becoming the domain of the non-athlete because the academics have the better grasp of the analytics.
Let us, with that background established, consider the front office ambitions put forth in recent days by a pair of Twins veterans, Glen Perkins and Torii Hunter. Perkins -- white and a college man who is, at least by player standards, knowledgeable about sabermetrics -- specifically talked about going into the player development side and merging traditional scouting with the new-age numbers. Hunter -- black and a high-school signee who this winter disparaged defensive metrics and those who consider them -- talks of wanting to someday be a general manager.
From USA Today:
It is my hope that Ryan's successor, whoever it is and whenever that occurs, will be more attuned to to analytics than Ryan himself is. Off his commentary on the subject during the winter, that's not Hunter. Perkins has the more palatable mindset for a modern front office.
Terry Ryan followed a essentially traditional route to the job: He pitched in the minor leagues, got hurt, went into scouting, moved up the ladder into the front office and eventually into the top job. But many organizations, maybe most, now have GMs -- and future GMs in the pipeline -- with no professional playing background whatsoever. Jed Hoyer (or if you prefer, Theo Epstein) of the Cubs. Jeff Ludnow of the Astros. Michael Silverman of the aforementioned Rays. Ben Cherington of the Red Sox. Sandy Alderson of the Mets, the man who built the Bash Brothers dynasty of the Oakland A's, was the pioneer of the type -- outsiders with academic acumen instead of athletic accomplishment.
Few men at the top of organizations today played in the majors. There are Billy Beane of Oakland, Ruben Amaro of Philadelphia and Dave Stewart of Arizona, and it's unclear to me how much authority Stewart actually has. I don't think there are any other former major leaguers now serving as general managers.
Beane is famous for his embrace of the sabermetric approach and Amaro notorious for his rejection of same -- from which we should draw afresh the caution that humans don't come out of cookie cutters. But in the main, front offices are becoming the domain of the non-athlete because the academics have the better grasp of the analytics.
Let us, with that background established, consider the front office ambitions put forth in recent days by a pair of Twins veterans, Glen Perkins and Torii Hunter. Perkins -- white and a college man who is, at least by player standards, knowledgeable about sabermetrics -- specifically talked about going into the player development side and merging traditional scouting with the new-age numbers. Hunter -- black and a high-school signee who this winter disparaged defensive metrics and those who consider them -- talks of wanting to someday be a general manager.
From USA Today:
"I really want to get into that front office, make some changes, and build a team that I want to build,'' Hunter says. "I'd love to learn everything from Terry. He'll be a mentor. One day, that's my goal, to be GM of the Twins.''Watching this team from the outside, I see few signs that the front office takes the analytics seriously, even if Ryan insists he never makes a move without out consulting Jack Goin, the team's in-house numbers guy.
It is my hope that Ryan's successor, whoever it is and whenever that occurs, will be more attuned to to analytics than Ryan himself is. Off his commentary on the subject during the winter, that's not Hunter. Perkins has the more palatable mindset for a modern front office.
Friday, February 20, 2015
At the margins
Commenter Jim H writes of yesterday's post:
Which is, simply, wrong. Let's take those four sentences in reverse.
Target Field is one of the more spacious outfields in the majors, particularly in the gaps. It does demand range from the corner outfielders.
If he's talking about the best and the worst rating, he's just wrong. That's where the action is.
There is a margin of error in all this. Let's say, just for the sake of argument, that the margin of error is three runs per 1,200 innings. A dead-average outfielder scores at 0. So he might be as good as +3, he might be as poor as -3, but he's in the middle.
Hunter's not there. Hunter's at -18. Maybe that overstates how bad he is by 3 runs. So he's minus 15 instead, Big whoop. He's still awful. There's just as good a change that he's really minus 21, which is even worse.
Hunter's metrics are, or should be, compelling precisely because he's on the outer edge.
Defensive metrics are often very misleading especially at the margins. There are of important defensive attributes that either not measured by defensive metrics or not measured very well by them. Throwing, positioning, taking good routes, just making the plays you should make, are all things Hunter can still do. Playing half of his games in a park that doesn't require great range will help as well.
Which is, simply, wrong. Let's take those four sentences in reverse.
Playing half of his games in a park that doesn't require great range will help as well.
Target Field is one of the more spacious outfields in the majors, particularly in the gaps. It does demand range from the corner outfielders.
Throwing, positioning, taking good routes, just making the plays you should make, are all things Hunter can still do.
If he is still doing them, where are the plays? They are going unmade. That's the conclusion of plus-minus (Hunter was -28 in 2014, -38 for 2012-14); of runs saved (-18 in 2014, -13 for 2012-14); of total zone fielding runs (-17 in 2014, -22 for 2014-14); ultimate zone rating (-18.3 in 2014, -11.2 for 2012-14) ... all different systems, all coming to the same conclusion. He's bad, and he's getting worse.
There are of important defensive attributes that either not measured by defensive metrics or not measured very well by them.If he's positioning himself better than other right fielders, he's still not making the plays. If he's throwing better than other right fielders, he's still not nailing base runners or making them hold their base. These are things the metrics include, perhaps imperfectly, but more accurately and objectively than the eyetest.
Defensive metrics are often very misleading especially at the margins.If Jim H is talking about playing time margins, he's right on one end (the lack of playing time, as exampled in Thursday's post by Danny Santana and Eduardo Escobar.) The more playing time, the more accurate the metrics figure to be. That's the playing time margin Hunter occupies.
If he's talking about the best and the worst rating, he's just wrong. That's where the action is.
There is a margin of error in all this. Let's say, just for the sake of argument, that the margin of error is three runs per 1,200 innings. A dead-average outfielder scores at 0. So he might be as good as +3, he might be as poor as -3, but he's in the middle.
Hunter's not there. Hunter's at -18. Maybe that overstates how bad he is by 3 runs. So he's minus 15 instead, Big whoop. He's still awful. There's just as good a change that he's really minus 21, which is even worse.
Hunter's metrics are, or should be, compelling precisely because he's on the outer edge.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Twins by position: Right field
 |
| Torri Hunter's hitting improved after he left the Twins as a free agent after the 2007 season. |
Hunter, of course, was a perennial Gold Glove center fielder in his first go-around with the Twins. Now he's 39 and has played strictly right field since 2011, when he was with the Angels. The Twins will move Oswaldo Arcia to left to make room for the veteran.
Both Terry Ryan and Paul Molitor, during the press conference at which they paraded the signing, dismissed the defensive metrics that rank Hunter at the very bottom of regular outfielders. And they did so in a manner that suggests that they don't get it.
I am not claiming that the new-age measurements of defensive range and effectiveness are perfect. They aren't. But the flaws in the various systems are, if anything, minimized in the case of Hunter.
The metrics won't tell us much about the Twins shortstop contenders. The most devoted adherents of the metrics say the numbers need time -- three years of regular play. Neither Eduardo Escobar nor Danny Santana have enough time to make the numbers meaningful as an evaluation tool. In their cases, the eyeball test remains necessary.
Hunter is a different case. He has had three years of regular play -- three years of steadily declining proficiency. In 2012, (this is Baseball Info System's runs saved measurement) he was four runs to the good; in 2013, he gave away nine runs; last season, he was 17 runs worse than the average right fielder.
Ryan and Molitor don't care what the numbers say. We watched him play 30 or so games, the new manager said at the press conference, and he made the plays.
What the new manager is saying, in effect, is: We trust our subjective judgement in a fraction of the games more than an objective measurement over the full season. That makes little sense to me.
Nor does Ryan's insistence that the Twins outfield defense last year was acceptable or even good. It wasn't. The objective numbers tell us that, of course, but so did the eyeball test. It makes me wonder if the Twins have gone so long playing slow and awkward corner outfielders -- Delmon Young, Jason Kubel, Michael Cuddyer, Josh Willingham, Chris Parmelee, Arcia, Chris Colabello -- that they've lost track of what a good corner outfielder looks like.
Outfield defense was, emphatically, part of the problem last year (and the year before that). The day is long past when Hunter could repair that. He may not look as misplaced in the field as Willingham did, but he will still be part of the problem.
And the problem won't be solved until the general manager and manager acknowledge that there's a problem.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
The Hunter presser
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| Torii Hunter's three-piece suit is a sharper look than the new Twins jersey Terry Ryan is holding. |
(For the record, 48 was worn last year by Lester Oliveros during his September callup. He'll get a new number for spring training; it will be his third since joining the Twins in the 2011 Delmon Young trade.)
And kudos to the Pioneer Press' Mike Berardino, the "prick" (Hunter's description) who dared ask the prodigal Twin about his lousy showings in the defensive metrics and about whether his foray into politics hurt him in the free agent market. Two tough questions, both worth asking about, and two more tough questions than the rest of the assemblage mustered combined.
To be sure, the question about the metrics would have been better directed to Terry Ryan and Paul Molitor. I don't care if a player knows his runs saved numbers or his UZR (ultimate zone rating.) I do care if the people responsible for evaluating talent know those figures. And I'm not satisfied with Ryan's dismissal of Hunter's low -- and declining -- ratings.
As for the question about Hunter's views on gays: He injected himself into the Arkansas governor's race by appearing in an ad endorsing the Republican incumbent on the basis of his opposition to gay marriage. Last summer he was quoted as saying he would have trouble with a gay teammate, then backtracked. Meanwhile, the Pohlad brothers are significant donors to Democratic candidates and causes, they gave heavily to the 2012 campaign against Minnesota's marriage amendment, and Bill Pohlad was one of the producers of the movie "Brokeback Mountain." There is a gap between Hunter and his new employers on this topic.
The split between the media folk who rely on access and the bloggers who don't on this signing is intriguing. The BBWAA guys love having Hunter back. He's glib, quotable, accessible. For a writer on deadline or a broadcaster in need of a soundbite, that's gold. And most of them will suck up to a guy like that. Berardino didn't. Good for him.
The blogosphere -- me included, even if I work for an actual dead-tree newspaper -- basically doesn't care if a player talks or not. We're interested in what he can do on the field.
And as a whole, we're not impressed with the signing. Yes, it's only for one year. And the $10.5 million price tag really isn't a factor. We see a 39-year-old (40 in July) whose numbers, despite his talk Wednesday of how consistent his production is, are in notable decline. We see a 2014 regular with a WAR (wins above replacement) roughly equal to that of part-timer Jordan Schafer. We see, in short, a signing that doesn't figure to make the 2015 Twins better.
A couple piece of real news out of the presser:
- It is indeed the plan to move Oswaldo Arcia to left field so Hunter can play right. Arcia in 2013 looked even more uncomfortable in left than in right, but really, no alignment with both in an outfield corner figures to be good defensively.
- Hunter has a full no-trade clause, so the speculation that the Twins can/will flip him to a contender in midseason is empty.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
The return of Torii Hunter
The news Tuesday night that the Twins and Torii Hunter had agreed on a one-year contract ($10.5 million, pending the physical) pretty much cemented this theory:
When Terry Ryan and (presumably) Paul Molitor look at this team, they see a different set of problems than I do.
I see a lineup that scores enough runs but has difficulty making enough plays in the field to help the pitching staff.
I'm not sure what they see that Hunter is going to fix.
I know this: Torii Hunter won't help the problems I see. He just gets in the way.
We can be sure of this: Signing Hunter is a strong indication that the Twins don't buy into the defensive metrics. Baseball Info System's Runs Saved metric says Hunter was the worst regular defensive right fielder in baseball last year. Not merely below average. The worst.
Those same numbers said Oswaldo Arcia was the third worst defensive right fielder in the majors. Now, presumably, Arcia will move to left field (where he looked even worse than in right in 2013), and the pitchers will continue to get blamed for all the balls that get to the gaps.
Everybody knew last year that Arcia and fellow corner outfielders Josh Willingham, Jason Kubel, Chris Parmelee and Chris Colabello had limited range, but we blamed the pitchers anyway. We're going to see the same stuff next summer, and we'll be even more inclined to blame the pitchers because we all remember Hunter as the most decorated defensive outfielder of his time.
I don't know what Hunter gets out of playing 2015 for a bad team. I don't know what the Twins get out of playing a 39/40 year-old outfielder. Hunter would be better off chasing his elusive ring with a team that has a real chance at it. The Twins would be better off playing the kids.
Both parties to this contract seem disconnected from reality.
When Terry Ryan and (presumably) Paul Molitor look at this team, they see a different set of problems than I do.
I see a lineup that scores enough runs but has difficulty making enough plays in the field to help the pitching staff.
I'm not sure what they see that Hunter is going to fix.
I know this: Torii Hunter won't help the problems I see. He just gets in the way.
We can be sure of this: Signing Hunter is a strong indication that the Twins don't buy into the defensive metrics. Baseball Info System's Runs Saved metric says Hunter was the worst regular defensive right fielder in baseball last year. Not merely below average. The worst.
Those same numbers said Oswaldo Arcia was the third worst defensive right fielder in the majors. Now, presumably, Arcia will move to left field (where he looked even worse than in right in 2013), and the pitchers will continue to get blamed for all the balls that get to the gaps.
Everybody knew last year that Arcia and fellow corner outfielders Josh Willingham, Jason Kubel, Chris Parmelee and Chris Colabello had limited range, but we blamed the pitchers anyway. We're going to see the same stuff next summer, and we'll be even more inclined to blame the pitchers because we all remember Hunter as the most decorated defensive outfielder of his time.
I don't know what Hunter gets out of playing 2015 for a bad team. I don't know what the Twins get out of playing a 39/40 year-old outfielder. Hunter would be better off chasing his elusive ring with a team that has a real chance at it. The Twins would be better off playing the kids.
Both parties to this contract seem disconnected from reality.
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