Last year the Twins infield consisted of Justin Morneau, Luis Castillo, Jason Bartlett and Nick Punto when the season began. All four were coming off excellent seasons.
But Punto predictably went back to hitting like a utility infielder, Bartlett saw his offensive production drop considerably, and Castillo's primary skills (hitting for a good average and getting on base at a decent clip) were minimized by the failures of the rest of the lineup, and he was traded as the Twins fell out of the race.
That left the Twins with some work to do this off-season.
They included Bartlett in a trade with Tampa Bay to acquire OF Delmon Young and the strong-hitting, average-fieldeing Brendan Harris, and this weekend signed the left side of the Houston Astros 2006 IF; SS Adam Everett (1 year, $2.8 million) and 3B Mike Lamb (2 years, $6.6 million with a team option for 2010).
When Everett signed, I wrote that while his fielding is regarded as being superb, he was a lesser total package than Bartlett. That may prove to be the case, but in looking at the big picture, his signing makes a little more sense and starts to look a little better.
Harris has limited range at 2B, and Lamb is regarded as a well-below average defender. He played a lot of 1B in Houston, and other teams looking to sign him apparently pictured him as a DH/1B.
But Everett, who some defensive studies have proclaimed to be the premier defensive player of the current era, can certainly lessen the effects of Harris and Lamb's shortcomings, especially Lamb's.
What the Twins have essentially done is give themselves an infield that consists of three above average hitters, who are good (Morneau), average (Harris) and poor (Lamb) defensively, and one guy who is a terrible hitter and a world class defender, and that guy is playing the most important position.
3B is at the moment one of the weakest positions in baseball. After A-Rod and Mike Lowell re-upped with the Yanks and Sox, Lamb was probably the best 3B available. Seriously.
Lamb has never had more than 381 ABs in a season, and he's been playing in an extreme hitter friendly ballpark, but his career line of .281/.339/.427 is obviously much, much better than Punto, or Luis Rodriguez, Tony Batista, etc. In the last two years in particular, Lamb, who is 32 and lefthanded, has been very good at the plate.
In '06 he hit .307/.361/.475, and last year he hit .289/.366/.453.
He'll struggle defensively and he might not quite reproduce those numbers in the AL, but even a .270/.330/.440 line would make him a huge, huge upgrade at 3B.
The other good news is the move means Craig Monroe will not be an everyday player. The Twins lineup is almost set, and it actually looks pretty good (nowhere near as good as Detroit's obviously, but possibly as good as the one that won 96 games in 2006).
CF Jacoby Ellsbury/Melky Cabrera (still assuming Johan's gonna go)
2B Brendan Harris
C Joe Mauer
RF Michael Cuddyer
1B Justin Morneau
LF Delmon Young
DH Jason Kubel
3B Mike Lamb
SS Adam Everett
The 1 thru 8 spots will all be above league average, and several of them could be considerably better than that.
One thing seems kind of weird, though. Neither Everett or Young, or Monroe, are particularly young, so they would seem to be added with the goal of competing in 2008. If the Twins trade Santana, they won't have the pitching to compete. If they kept him, and Francisco Liriano actually came back strong, they suddenly might be good enough to have a shot at the playoffs in '08.
I just wonder what exactly the goal is. They won't be bad next year, even if they do trade Johan (and by the way, the trade of Dan Haren to the Diamondbacks significantly helps the Twins leverage, and the Yanks have confirmed they're still in the hunt).
But if they move Johan with an eye to the future, will Everett and Lamb be a part of it?
Either way, it's very encouraging that Bill Smith is giving his manager quality parts with which to build a lineup, rather than taking ill-advised fliers on washed up veterans, or asking too much of overmatched players.
4 comments:
I don't like it. What's going to be the real difference between last years infield, and this years infield. Last year, you had 1 legit guy (Morneau), and 3 average to below average players. this year, you'll have one legit guy (Morneau), and 3 average to below average players. Mike Lamb put up average numbers as a part time player in the NL. that will translate into hitting .235 to .245in the AL. The worst part is that Nick Punto is still in the starting lineup!!!!!!!!!
Punto is not in the starting lineup.
Brendan Harris is at 2B, Adam Everett is at SS, and Lamb is at 3B. Lamb's last two years in the NL his OPS+ was 113 and 112, so he was actually better than average.
The NL is not so much worse than the AL that .285-.300 translates to .245, but it's certainly possible that's where he could end up. And even then, if he hits .245 with 15 homers he's still a hell of a lot better than Punto (offensively).
What would you have preferred that they do? Make a play for A-Rod? Their only other decent alternative was moving Cuddyer back to 3B and trying to find another OF, and I would have been against that.
By getting Punto and Alexi Casilla out of starting IF spots, the IF is definitely better.
To me the biggest question mark is Harris. He had a great season last year, hitting .286 with 12 homers and 35 doubles, but he needs to do it again before I'm convinced he's for real.
I don't get Twins fans.
They bitch about players who are good (Kubel and Bartlett), complain that their team wont go out and get anyone, then bitch when the team trades for an elite young hitter (Delmon Young) and signs a couple cheap and useful players (Lamb, and to a lesser extent, Everett).
The Twins lineup was so pathetic last year that anything would be an improvement. Getting halfway decent guys like Lamb and Monroe, as well as a potential future-MVP like Young is even better.
I guess some fans just want the team to hold out hope that Matt Moses and Denard Span turn into all-stars.
I noticed that too, but as someone who's usually accused of being too negative, I don't have a problem with fans having high expectations. Going to the playoffs is more fun than not.
Having said that, I don't know what some people want. A trade for Miggy Cabrera was not going to happen. Pretty sure A-Rod didn't have much interest.
As long as their pitching remains top-notch (which it probably won't be this year), players like Lamb, Kubel, etc. are more than good enough to help the Twins win.
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