January 24, 2010

Changing a common approach

With the burdensome thought of Jason Pridie making the roster, many believe that the Twins are in need of another outfielder. So when oft-injured outfielder Eric Byrnes was released by the Arizona Diamondbacks last week, John Bonnes of Twins Geek immediately made his sales pitch for Byrnes to come to Minnesota.

Bonnes puts forward that Pridie is not someone we want to see batting a lot. I agree. But I believe that the Twins still consider Jason Kubel their fourth outfielder, which means Pridie will only see action when Denard Span needs a rest or late in games as a defensive replacement. Byrnes will receive $11 million this season from the Diamondbacks and it's assumed that he'll sign for the veteran minimum in order to latch on with a team in hopes of signing a multi-year contract in free agency next year. So low-risk, high-reward? Right? Maybe not.

The biggest (and only) quarrel I have with the proposal of bringing in Byrnes is Bonnes' belief that the Twins need to bring in someone who can continue to push and challenge Delmon Young. Have we forgotten all of the enormous pressure Young has had on him since coming to Minnesota? When dealing with young players, it's common for people to buy into the belief that they need to be pushed. But at the same time, we need to keep in mind that everyone responds differently to pressure. It's been noted in the past that Young is a fairly sensitive person. Pushing him hasn't worked up to this point. so lets try giving him a little room to breathe and allow him to feel comfortable and even instill a little faith in him.

The Rays showed faith in Young when they took him as the first overall pick in the 2003 draft. Throughout his time with the organization, Young's playing time was never in question and it was up him to motivate himself and to perform well, it was expected of him, but he knew there weren't going to be ramifications if he went on an 0-20 skid. When he came over to the Twins, he was a young and immature 22-year-old who had little discipline throughout his time with the Rays.

Immediately, both the Twins and media put a lot of pressure on him. That carried into last season when trade rumors and quotes from manager Ron Gardenhire were circulating the internet. Gardenhire indirectly said that his preferred outfield was Carlos Gomez, Michael Cuddyer and Span. It appeared evident that the Twins grew sour of Young in just a year's time.

Young went on to split time with Gomez for the majority of the season. He had a great second-half, hitting .300/.322/.502 with 21 extra-base hits (including nine home runs). He stepped-up and was one of our best hitters following Justin Morneau's season-ending back injury. At that time, the Twins went with a steady dose of Young, Span and Kubel in the outfield.

Maybe it was comforting to Young that the Twins felt that they'd rather have Jose Morales in the lineup instead of Gomez. Who knows? Over his last 21 games of the season he added 23 points to his batting average, 24 points to his on-base percentage and 46 points to his slugging percentage.

Following the season, rumblings of Young being non-tendered were quickly shot down by the front office. The Twins eventually traded Gomez to Milwaukee for shortstop J.J. Hardy, all but guaranteeing Young a starting role in 2010. Could this be Young's year to finally take that step forward? Maybe. But the front office certainly looks as though they have faith in Young.

I'm not saying this method is right or that Bonnes' ideas are wrong. I would just like to see the Twins change their approach with Young. Pushing him hasn't worked up to this point so instead, give him comfort and maybe something good will come of it.

And with all of that said, I'd rather see the Twins sign a bench bat who can DH when Kubel is needed in the outfield.

Who could that bench bat be?

The Twins are reportedly interested in signing Jim Thome. The fact that they are interested in him shouldn't have surprised me, but it did. Up to this point, I haven't really thought about the Twins adding a bench bat, despite having a feeble bench. Thome would allow Kubel to move to the outfield when necessary and the Twins wouldn't have to settle for a poor replacement DH.

14 comments:

Ben said...

Josh;

This is one of the best pieces of insight/analysis you have written to date.

Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

i don't know whose dumber, you or nick nelson.

Bryz said...

i don't know whose dumber, you or nick nelson.

Seriously? I thought Josh made a very good point. Besides, Nick is a pretty good writer himself.

By the way, can't we argue that part of Delmon's sensitivity is due to the fact that he hasn't been challenged?

Anonymous said...

You sully the name Anonymous!

I like Young to eventually be an impact player with the Twins, but I think there are better things to attribute his second half to than fuzzy feelings. Parker has done some analysis of adjustments he made with his leg kick and stance.

Also, I think Gardy was very welcoming of Young early on, and the coaching staff seemed to walk on egg shells to protect his ego. At the same time, Young has been a perfect citizen.

Anonymous said...

"i don't know whose dumber, you or nick nelson."

way to disgrace the "anonymous" name, jackhole.

but seriously josh, great read. i still think we need someone other than pridie, but this is a logical explanation of what's bothering young.

you need to write more insightful pieces...

sean said...

Wow. The youngster took the master to task.

Great insight, Josh.

writerjoel said...

When Kubel is assigned to the outfield, you have Delmon or Cuddy DHing. Or Morneau DHing and Cuddy at first.

Maybe Pridie could be the second-coming of.... But you have to always ask the question, "If such-and-such player went down, who repalces him." Do we want Pridie playing everyday in center if Span goes down? Is there a clear alternative that will give us mroe than Pridie but still be happy to be on the bench? If Kubel moves to the outfield, who is the regular DH...Harris, Morales, Casilla, Punto, Tolbert. Whew! I'm shakin'.

Your bench is near everyday backups. Your AAA club is possible bench backups, or guys on the verge of getting a shot and can possibly run with it if the opportunity arrives (i.e. Valencia, can step in and sink or swim at third base...but probably not on opening day of the season).

Thome would be interesting. He could play first if you needed to rest Justin. He could DH fulltime if Kubel needs to play right when Cuddyer wrecks his hand again...or play for Delmon if Delmon is...well, Delmon.

It ain't easy being a general manager, finding the right pieces, looking ahead to future seasons, not losing guys, yet keeping guys too long. Whew, again.

rghrbek said...

The Thome idea is awful. We don't know that he can even perform off the bench. Plus he is a lefty.

Classic Twins though. If they sign him and Washburn, because Gardy likes vets, I will be sick.

You could use the money for both of those guys and get an all star caliper player at 2nd base.

Makes too much sense, so the FO won't do it.

Win Twins

Josh Johnson said...

i don't know whose dumber, you or nick nelson.

You know what, I'll take that as a compliment. Nick has one of the best baseball minds in the Twins blogosphere.

Josh Johnson said...

By the way, can't we argue that part of Delmon's sensitivity is due to the fact that he hasn't been challenged?

Yes, we very well could. This is obviously just one side of what could be a whole bunch of issues regarding Young.

Josh Johnson said...

I like Young to eventually be an impact player with the Twins, but I think there are better things to attribute his second half to than fuzzy feelings. Parker has done some analysis of adjustments he made with his leg kick and stance.

Yes, Parker has done great analysis on Young over at his site. I highly recommend everyone to read it...

http://overthebaggy.blogspot.com/2009/12/evolution-of-delmon-young.html

Josh Johnson said...

If Kubel moves to the outfield, who is the regular DH...Harris, Morales, Casilla, Punto, Tolbert. Whew! I'm shakin'.

Which is why I said that the Twins should focus more on adding a better bench option (which you also wrote about later).

It ain't easy being a general manager, finding the right pieces, looking ahead to future seasons, not losing guys, yet keeping guys too long. Whew, again.

No disagreements there.

Josh Johnson said...

The Thome idea is awful. We don't know that he can even perform off the bench. Plus he is a lefty.

I'll take my chances on Thome being able to fill in at DH.

Classic Twins though.

In a way, this is very uncharacteristic of the Twins. When have they ever had a bat of Thome's caliber off the bench?

You could use the money for both of those guys and get an all star caliper player at 2nd base.

Not that I disagree with you, but if you think Thome is going to command enough to hinder the Twins' chances of signing a second baseman, then I'd argue that they were never interested in signing one in the first place. I agree though that we would be better off by signing a second baseman.

SethSpeaks said...

"i don't know whose dumber, you or nick nelson."

Or Anonymous since it should should WHO'S, not WHOSE...