Grossman is, emphatically, a poor defensive outfielder, But he's getting considerable playing time in the field right now in the absence of Byron Buxton, who last played on April 12.
This weakens the Twins at two outfield slots, as Max Kepler is not nearly as good in center as Buxton and Grossman is nowhere near Kepler as a right fielder.
This is overly simplistic, but the Twins are 4-12 this year when Grossman starts in the outfield. They are 7-4 when Buxton is in the lineup.
And, not to pick on Dick Bremer too much, but the TV play-by-play guy has been assuring us for quite a while that Grossman is hitting well now after a horrid start. Over the past six games, Grossman is 2-for-20 with two walks, a slash line of .100/.167/.150. Yes, Dick-and-Bert's-stand-ins are paid to sell the team to the audience, but they also need a decent regard for the truth.
And the truth is that Grossman isn't hitting, and if he isn't hitting, there's nothing else he does well enough to help a team.
This was an overlooked drawback to the signing of Logan Morrison. Adding Morrison's power bat pushed Grossman out of the DH role and into the fourth outfielder slot of the roster. (Morrison hasn't hit all that well either -- .184/.283/.322 -- but his slash line is still slightly better than Grossman's.) And Grossman doesn't fit that role well.
Agreed. I'm thinking about the old 5 tool way of evaluating a player. Try applying it to Grossman: Can he run? No. Can he catch the ball? No. Can he throw the ball? No. Can he hit for average? Well he was supposed to be able to do that somewhat (or at least draw walks) but so far no. Can hit for power? No. He's a player with 0 tools playing a position where you traditionally have a player who hits for power.
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