Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Patience for the Wrong Reasons

In the second inning of a scoreless game last night, Tsuyoshi Nishioka came to the plate with no outs and runners on second and third. There are a lot of ways to push a run across in this situation, but Nishioka -- characteristically -- failed to come through.

On a 2-1 pitch, he hit a grounder directly to the drawn-in first baseman, allowing the Rangers to easily cut Delmon Young down at home plate. In spite of Roy Smalley's mysterious praise on the FSN telecast, this was one of the worst things Nishioka could have done.

In the top of the ninth, he came to the plate in a similar situation and managed to bounce a weak grounder past the pitcher's mound, plating the tying run and even landing Nishioka on first base thanks to a bobble by Elvis Andrus.

Better results, but same ugly approach. On the night, Nishioka went 1-for-5 (his only "hit" was a grounder straight at the third baseman that should have been scored an error) and can consider himself lucky to reach twice as he didn't hit the ball out of the infield.

It's been a season filled with bad offensive outcomes for the Japanese import, who is hitting .220/.276/.248 through 42 games. He's looked so utterly overmatched in this league that fans are increasingly beginning to wonder just how long his leash will be.

It's still too early to give up completely on Nishioka, and one can point to a significant leg injury suffered just six games into his MLB career as a possible explanation for his struggles, but there aren't really any promising signs to be drawn from his performance.

He was bad before the injury, he's been bad since the injury, and frankly he's only getting worse. In his past 12 games, he's collected seven singles in 41 at-bats (.171) with 10 strikeouts and zero walks.

The lack of other appealing options in the organization and the fact that games may soon lose relevance could be deemed reasons for letting Nishioka play through his struggles, but a demotion to Triple-A might be beneficial for both team and player.

At this point it's not at all clear that Nishioka is the shortstop of the future, so the Twins should take this opportunity to get a look at some other players at the position. It's hard to imagine the team being worse off by letting Trevor Plouffe try to play through his throwing yips, but if they're truly uncomfortable with his arm there they could let Alexi Casilla slide over to short and try Plouffe at second.

With the trade deadline approaching, there's been some debate about whether the Twins should be focusing on their present or their future. But whichever of the two they're focusing on, getting an extended glimpse at Plouffe in the middle infield -- where his offense is a whole lot more intriguing than at right field or first base -- should take precedence over continuing to trot the dreadfully overwhelmed Nishioka out day after day solely because of his contract.

46 comments:

USAFChief said...

It's hard to imagine the team being worse off by letting Trevor Plouffe try to play through his throwing yips, but if they're truly uncomfortable with his arm there they could let Alexi Casilla slide over to short and try Plouffe at second.

Pretty unappealing set of options Bill Smith has given us, no?

All three have had a shot, and one's worse than the next.

Don't forget, Casilla had the SS position handed to him to start the season and within a month had to be moved off it. Plouff-ee wasn't even playing SS every day at Rochester after his demotion. And Nishi...yeesh. I lived in Japan for 6.5 years and watched quite a bit of ball there. Infield play tends to be crisp and solid...how Nishioka could look this shaky and unorthodox is baffling.

To me there are no appealing options. Might as well let Nishioka get some innings and ABs under his belt and hope for the best. There's not much chance it costs the Twins importat wins anyway. Casilla has been at least passable at 2b, I'd hate to see them move him and end up without either a 2bman or SS.

Hell of a job by Smith this past offseason.

Anonymous said...

The really hard thing for me to swallow is the fact we replaced Hardy with this guy. Hardy has been incredible this year. Add to this the Ramos for Capps deal and it's fair to say I have little faith in our FO.

dirleton said...

"The really hard thing for me to swallow is the fact we replaced Hardy with this guy. Hardy has been incredible this year. Add to this the Ramos for Capps deal and it's fair to say I have little faith in our FO."

The 25,687,148th post saying the same thing. WE GOT IT!!!

Anonymous said...

Wait! Bill Smith has the solution! I bet you all heard by now the rumors of Span for Desmond and... you guessed, a reliever. Oh my!

cy1time said...

42 games is still a small sample size. If he'd not been injured and it was end of May instead of end of July, we'd be talking about being patient and it taking some time to adjust to hitting big league pitching. His hitting is affecting his fielding and vice versa and his struggles are magnified by the team struggles.

Earlier in the month, he went through a couple of weeks where he was taking much better at bats. I say let him play and see if he can prove that he's our SS going into next season.

While I like his bat, I can imagine the team being worse off with Plouffe at short.

Ed Bast said...

Similar to the Capps blockbuster last year, I'm not convinced anyone in the Twins organization actually saw Nishi play in person before acquiring him. Capps had a high save total, that was enough for Bill Smith to trade his top prospect for. Nishi had a high Japan League average - and Gold Gloves! Here's $15 mil, kiddo.

There's a reason nobody else wanted the guy. Many reasons, apparently. Dude makes Nick Punto look like Willie Mays.

Anonymous said...

continuing to trot the dreadfully overwhelmed Nishioka out day after day solely because of his contract

If by this you mean, "they keep having him play baseball because he's on the baseball team", that's some awesome insight. If you mean they'd like to send him down but won't because of his contract, how about some evidence?

There are potentially many reasons for him to stay on the major league roster, and your theory is pretty far down the list. Much more likely is that they hope he can contribute.

TT said...

I love this post. Plouffe, faced with a similar situation in the fifth, hit a ground ball getting Kubel cut down at the plate. Nishioka then drove in Valencia in. Then in the 7th, with Young on first an no one out, Plouffe failed to move the runner over by striking out.

For those not just interested in confirming their dislikes here is a video of Nishioka driving in Young:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_07_26_minmlb_texmlb_1&mode=wrap&c_id=min#/play?content_id=17328683

Looks to me like the shortstop rushed things. You don't suppose that had anything to do with Nishioka's speed do you?

Ed Bast said...

"Much more likely is that they hope he can contribute."

Oh, so they must have hoped that Plouffe, Hughes, Tolbert, et. al. would NOT contribute, and in fact harm the team (since they're all on the same 40-man roster as Nishi), so they had no problem sending those guys down at times this year?

What this really come down to though is the Twins are much more interested in (and successful at)PR than the product on the field. Demoting Nishi would basically be admitting failure, which would make the front office look bad, which would be bad PR. Ignoring the issue is much easier.

Nick N. said...

There are potentially many reasons for him to stay on the major league roster, and your theory is pretty far down the list.

Please, list these reasons. If Nishioka were any other rookie he'd have been sent down long ago after looking this bad in his first taste of MLB competition.

It's great that they "hope he can contribute," but it's also quite obvious that he's shown no signs of being able to do so at this point.

Anonymous said...

Thank you TT! Nishioka did drive in a run that was obviously needed. Plouffe did not and did not advance the runner. Why oh why would Casilla who has played well at 2B be moved to short for Plouffe? Casilla was horrible at Short.
At this point there is no reason to give Plouffe a shot over Nishioka. None. That's not saying Nishioka is the answer he may well not be. However, the Twins don't have a replacement at this point so why not let the guy you gave 15 million to play some more games?

Sean

Nick N. said...

Nishioka did drive in a run that was obviously needed. Plouffe did not and did not advance the runner.

You guys are focusing too much on the example from last night's game (in which, I'll remind you, Nishioka did not hit the ball out of the infield). Plouffe's OPS is more than 200 points higher than Nishi's.

At this point there is no reason to give Plouffe a shot over Nishioka. None.

Sure there is. It'd probably make the team better.

SadPanda said...

You guys are focusing too much on the example from last night's game

Well maybe you shouldn't have lead of this discussion with four paragraphs analyzing his performance in last nights game.

Just saying.

My only real issue with the Plouffe thing is that they haven't even been using him at SS for AAA. That doesn't seem like a good sign that he can play SS in the majors. I like Plouffe but don't see him at short as an option.

Anonymous said...

You guys are focusing too much on the example from last night's game (in which, I'll remind you, Nishioka did not hit the ball out of the infield).

"You guys are doing something wrong (let me do the exact same thing in the same sentence)."

If ever there was reason to show some patience with a player, this is it. He's a rookie coming from a different culture who started his time here with a serious injury. Let's wait a bit before we give him the Delmon Young/Nick Punto treatment.

Anonymous said...

Nishioka Minor League Numbers (Japan considered above AAA Ball) AVE 293 OBP 364 OPS 790 55HR 8 Seasons
Plouffe Minor League Numbers
AVE 258 OBP 320 OPS 726 79HR 8 Seasons -13 runs below average at short over 8 seasons.
You think that Plouffe should play even though he can't field at short which apparently the Twins scouts also concur with while hitting almost sub 200 in 25 games compared to Nishioka at 45 games as some sort of good basis for an argument. It's not.

Sean

Nick N. said...

Well maybe you shouldn't have lead of this discussion with four paragraphs analyzing his performance in last nights game.

The point was that his performance in last night's game was emblematic of what he's been doing all season. His grounder rate would rank second in all of baseball if he had enough AB's to qualify. He rarely hits the ball out of the infield -- especially as of late -- and that's not a recipe for success no matter how much time you give him.

My only real issue with the Plouffe thing is that they haven't even been using him at SS for AAA.

The Twins also bailed on Nishioka as a SS in spring training because he's not well suited to play the position, and only went back to using him there because they didn't trust him to stay healthy at 2B. I don't find him a more appealing defensive SS than Plouffe, and I'm not sure the Twins do (or should).

You think that Plouffe should play even though he can't field at short which apparently the Twins scouts also concur with while hitting almost sub 200 in 25 games compared to Nishioka at 45 games as some sort of good basis for an argument. It's not.

The numbers speak for themselves (Plouffe has been much better than Nishioka all year, zero question) but even going beyond them, I'm using my eyeballs. Plouffe looks like he belongs in the majors. Nishioka does not. I'd honestly be curious to see if Nishioka would hold his own in Triple-A.

USAFChief said...

Looks to me like the shortstop rushed things. You don't suppose that had anything to do with Nishioka's speed do you?

I love this post.

1. Wasn't it you who, just yesterday, told us to let the "season wash out?" Now you're using one ground ball--weakly hit at that--from Nishioka as your proof, and at the same time using one ground ball from Plouffe as counter proof.

2. The SS was rushing because the ball was poorly hit, and he had a possible chance at throwing out Young at the plate, not because he needed to rush to get the out at first.

Nick: Plouffe looks like he belongs in the majors. Nishioka does not.

To me neither one really looks like they belong playing SS in the major leagues. Nor does Casilla. What a brilliant offseason plan by the front office.

Nick N. said...

Preaching to the choir, Chief.

Ed Bast said...

Sean: "Japan considered above AAA Ball"

By who, you, for the sake of proving your point? How many players have made the jump to MLB from Japan? Maybe 20, ever? How about from AAA? Exactly 1 Japanese hitter has had sustained success in MLB: Ichiro. By this success rate, I'd place Japan League at about Northern League/St. Paul Saints level. There's little to no correlation, and your attempt to draw one to compare Plouffe and Nishioka is the pinnacle of grasping-at-straws desperation.

Anonymous said...

Must not be 20-20 vision. Plouffe can't play any position in the majors full-time. He has looked horrific at short and in right. His play in 25 games in the majors translate into demotion based on #s alone. The only reason he is up is he is a better hitting option than Tolbert or Hughes. Nishioka's numbers translate into demotion as well but he has past sucess (Japan) and a contract. Your point about the contract not mattering is poor because as I've stated there is nobody to replace Nishioka who would be an improvement. Plouffe is NOT. His numbers in 25 games are horrible but just barely better than Nishioka's in 40. That sample size is nothing nor is Plouffe's performance, especially when adding the fact he can't field. If you look at actual numbers from over 8 seasons Nishioka has been by far the better player. Again, to repeat - By far the better player. Your point is that in 45 games while acclimating to a different culture and coming off a broken leg that 45 games is enough and Plouffe should start due to his poor hitting performance since he has bene up combined with atrocious fielding. If that's what you want to believe I'm glad you run a blog and Bill Smith runs the Twins and with Smith's performance on small items that's not good.

Sean

Anonymous said...

Oh I dunno Ed just about anybody would tell you Japan relates either equally to AAA ball or is considered slightly better.
8 Japanese players have made an All-Star team. 12 players from Japan are currently on major league rosters. There are players from Japan in the minors as well.
Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, Takashi Saito, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jiroki Kuroda, Kosuke Fukudome, Koji Uehara & Tsuyoshi Nishioka would be pretty solid players to have.
I'll provide just some reference as well for you Ed. www.japanball.com - Quote - Major League Baseball scounts tend to categorize Japanese pro baseball as AAAA. Meaning it's a step above AAA and a step below the big leagues. It's extremely competitive play.

Anonymous said...

Also Ed 43 players from Japan have made the Majors.
Trey Hillman a former minor manager who has managed in Japan compares it as on par with the majors. I wouldn't go that far. That's on ESPN.om a column by Eric Neel. Keith Law has indicated it's way better than AAA ball but he thinks of AAA balls a scrap heap of washed up players.
I grow tired though of totally destroying your point as you know nothing about baseball thoguh Ed.

TT said...

For everyone who didn't bother to watch the video, the announcer says he had "no chance to get Young".

He also praises Nishioka for his play. He chopped the ball into the ground and past the pitcher, which is exactly what the Twins were looking for him to do. Apparently Nick was looking for a pop fly that at least reached the outfield. I suspect the Rangers would have been happy with that as well.

I thought we were discussing last night's game. Its over. You don't need to wait until the end of the season to evaluate it.

What is clear is that some people were looking for failure that confirmed their preconceived ideas about Nishioka and found it. They ignored the same failures by Plouffe since he was their preconceived alternative to Nishioka.

I don't agree with people who think Plouffe isn't a major league player. He no doubt will need big league at bats to adapt, but he seems to be demonstrating the power that was expected of him. He does need a position, but shortstop isn't it.

Matt said...

It's not really fair to judge any hitter until they've had 1000 PAs. Of course, they might not show you enough in the first 200 to stick around long enough for that...
But my point is that we're comparing two guys who haven't had enough big league PAs to make valid conclusions about their batting.
That being said, Plouffe deserves more PAs, and Nishi deserves a chance based on his contract ALONE. In a season that's basically over (anyone who thinks they should trade and spend to win the Central and get obliterated in the postseason is smokin something), both of them should be playing, who cares about positions at this point, lets see some bats!

Nick N. said...

I find it interesting that many of the folks claiming it's way too early to make any judgments about Nishioka are also summarily dismissing Plouffe as a middle infielder after watching him play 15 games there.

Anonymous said...

I find it interesting that many of the folks claiming it's way too early to make any judgments about Plouffe are also summarily dismissing Nishioka

Ed Bast said...

Anon, so you are saying that a league in which 43 players in its history have moved up to MLB is better than a league that has sent thousands? That makes no sense. I'll bet that number of players jump even from AA to the majors every year.

My point is that just because a guy hit .360 and won a Gold Glove in Japan League doesn't mean a damn thing when it comes to MLB, and you can't compare it to AAA or AA or anything else over here, for that matter. As for evidence of this, I cite Nishi, and every other hitter that's ever come here with the exception of Ichiro & I'll give you Matsui too.

You cite Nishi and someone called Jiroki Kurodi as your supporting evidence, as well as the trusty "some guy said it so it must be true" defense. Oh, and All-Star voting. Airtight!

I hope for your sake you aren't a defense attorney.

Matt said...

My point is that just because a guy hit .360 and won a Gold Glove in Japan League doesn't mean a damn thing when it comes to MLB
When I was in Japan, I took in a couple of games. While the players are skilled, it's a totally different style of baseball.
That being said, the way Nishi is playing right now would have landed him square on the pine over there (too many K's, too many brainless errors).
I had a helluva time adjusting to life over there, and I sucked at my job for the first few months as I adjusted to the way business is conducted.
All I can hope is that Nishi is dealing with the exact same thing.

I support both guys getting playing time moving forward this season. Plouffe can probably play short, but won't get that chance in all liklihood...

USAFChief said...

"He also praises Nishioka for his play. He chopped the ball into the ground and past the pitcher, which is exactly what the Twins were looking for him to do."

I think you're confused. That's "exactly" what the Twins wanted? One would think the Twins were looking for him to get the ball into the outfield, thereby maximizing the chance Young scores, and possibly resulting in a hit. Leaving the ball in the infield, or a K, was exactly what the Rangers were looking for.

Sheesh.

I thought we were discussing last night's game.

I thought we were discussing who should play SS.

Anonymous said...

My problem with that is that middle infielders are a defense first bats second type position. While Plouffe's Power may be intriguing I'd argue that he doesn't have the "yips" but the "I'm a mediocre fielder." Nishioka has been largely ineffective, agreed but he has shown terrific fielding abilities at times. While he has tons of errors, and he's good fielding is a minority, I think we could call that the "yips" because of his Japan stats, and some of the occasional outstanding plays he makes. That said, he needs to learn to put the ball in the air.

SS is a weak spot for the twins right now, but let's not start hoping Plouffe magically learns how to field, his range in the field is garbage and he's error prone as well, his bat is no where near enough.

Plus, one thing that is continually neglected, many/most of Yoshi's failed AB's are 5 plus pitches, wile he needs to get on base, at least he's making pitchers work a little.

Drew Madison said...

There's putting up bad numbers, and then there is looking so overmatched that you don't belong in the majors. The latter is Nishioka, the former is Plouffe.

Picking between Plouffe and Nishioka to play short is a no-win decision. It's scenarios like this that make me seriously question the competency of certain aspects of the front office, such as international scouting and player development. Can't they do any better than making Gardy have to choose the least-bad option time after time?

The only time to put Plouffe back at short is when the Twins are totally out of the race, otherwise he'd better hit so he can find a place to play, because his glove isn't getting him on the field. He's too erractic at short.

Nishioka is much more mystifing. Right now, it seems like the Twins made a huge mistake, but it is still early. He was an accomplished player in Japan, and despite what some of you seem to think about the level of play in Japan, it is generally regarded as slightly higher than AAA. Also, given the Twins lack of options internally, Nishi is going to play. But he is giving the Twins no other choice but to look to upgrade at the position in the offseason.

Anonymous said...

Aside from his horrible stats, anyone who's actually watched Nishioka play at the park can see he's just physically over-matched. I don't know how you get around it. When he's batting left handed he looks like he's hitting a backhand to leftfield ala Wimbledon. I don't think he's strong enough to pull a 90+ mile an hour fastball.
I read that Jason Bartlett might be available. He would be a nice upgrade. FO would have to admit another screwed up trade though.

jackie Childs said...

Revere, mauer, and tnish all of them are utterly and completely incapable of pulling the ball with athority. It wonder how many well hit balls the the three of them have pulled to the number of atbats? So balance they have when it comes to wet noodle sticks. It's Happening!

TT said...

The Twins had a contact play on. Young was on his way home. Nishioka's job was to put the ball in play, on the ground. Which is exactly what he did.

"My point is that just because a guy hit .360 and won a Gold Glove in Japan League doesn't mean a damn thing when it comes to MLB"

Just as hitting .360 at AAA doesn't mean a damn thing.

And 153 major league plate appearances doesn't mean a damn thing either.

"Hardy has been incredible this year."

Batting Last 28 days JJ Hardy:
.217/.245/.402

I am not sure how "incredible" that is, his batting average is 23 points lower than Nishioka's. But he did have those two home runs last night.

Hardy had one hot month. And he has had one hot game this week. That does not make him incredible. Its a lot like Wilson Ramos, who had a great April with the bat and has struggled ever since. His current averages look a lot better than his actual performance.

Or for that matter the Twins. Who struggled for two months and then got hot. They have cooled off some, but there is still a lot of baseball to play.

Nick N. said...

"If you take out all those times he's done good, Hardy has been really bad."

That's some fine analysis there.

Hardy has obviously done enough good to have an excellent overall line, with an OPS 300 points higher than Nishioka's. Every game counts, every at-bat counts. Discounting his performance this season by setting arbitrary parameters is asinine.

USAFChief said...

"The Twins had a contact play on. Young was on his way home.

It appears you do not know the definition of 'contact play' either. Young comes home on a contact play AFTER contact is made.

Nishioka's job was to put the ball in play, on the ground. Which is exactly what he did.

Nishioka's job is to get the run home.

The contact play is used to prevent something worse happening (typically a DP) and is, in effect, an admission by the manager that he has to gamble because he cannot count on the hitter (or the following hitters) to do something preferable to grounding to an infielder.

In every case, a medium deep fly ball is ALWAYS preferable in these situations to a ground ball, since it virtually guarantees a run scoring and eliminates the possibility of multiple outs from one hitter, while a ground ball does no such thing.

I'm surprised at your lack of simple baseball knowledge.

For the record, since we're discussing this, in a similar situation earlier in the game, Nishioka also hit a ground ball...and DIDN'T get the run home. The contact play was also on in that situation, and Young was thrown out at home. So if hitting a ground ball was "exactly what the Twins wanted" why didn't it work earlier?

Anonymous said...

Why does Plouffe deserve a shot? His 8 season's were medicore. He came up they saw he couldn't play short and sent him down. They do see that his bat might play somewhere and are trying him at other positions. I'd say that's his shot now. He hasn't produced yet but I'm fine with him playing some DH, 1B and OF for the rest of the year. Maybe he can fight for a bench spot next year if he continues to hit around 200.
Nishioka deserves a chance he has 8 years of prior play in the NPB and a 3 year contact. He has less than 45 games so far and has shown range at short.

Sean

Anonymous said...

As for Hardy he is an above average shortstop. Wilson Ramos is another story. He is probably a back up catcher in the majors. Since May 1st he has hit 203 with a 270 or so OBP. If you look at his minor league stats they were also medicore. The Nationals 2nd-3rd best prospect is a catcher - Derrek Norris. The Nats really traded for Ramos for a good defensive backup. Norris will probably be the starter in 1-2 years. The Twins fans and bloggers overvalue our prospects especially Ramos. He isn't a loss. The only prospects the Twins have that project to be better than average ML starters are Hicks, Arcia, Sano and Benson. That's not bad but it's not like our top 10 guys are untradeable. Hardy was only traded because of the payroll. So, they had to trade him. Obviously in hindsight it would have been good to keep Hardy over a combo of Pavano, Capps, Thome and Nishioka but they went with those guys. That's the tough mistake. They happen. It's not like trading Colby Rasmus for Edwin Jackson.

Sean

USAFChief said...

Hardy was only traded because of the payroll. So, they had to trade him. Obviously in hindsight it would have been good to keep Hardy over a combo of Pavano, Capps, Thome and Nishioka

Hardy: $5.85M

Pavano: $8M
Capps: $7M
Thome: $3M
Nishioka: $3M (plus posting fee)

Doesn't seem like they had to make the decision of Hardy or those four.

Keeping Hardy and not posting/signing Nishioka would have resulted in LESS money being spent in 2011.

Anonymous said...

Posting Fee's aren't part of the teams player payroll but that's fine if you want to say Nishioka. More realistically Nishioka, & Thome. Or Pavano or Capps. All sensible to me for Hardy but they wanted those guys more. At the time it seemed okay. Hardy only played in as many as 115 games the prior 3 years. Pavano, Capps and Thome all had terrific years and Nishioka had promise and would be way cheaper for more years. It could still be a good deal but as of right now it obviously is a mistake.

TT said...

"Hardy has obviously done enough good to have an excellent overall line,"

Right, in less than a full season. Lets see where he is if he stays healthy to the end of the year. A hot start will inflate your "overall line" for most of the season, just as a cold start will deflate it. The Twins current record probably doesn't reflect how good a team they will be this year when the season is over.

Nick N. said...

For the record, since we're discussing this, in a similar situation earlier in the game, Nishioka also hit a ground ball...and DIDN'T get the run home. The contact play was also on in that situation, and Young was thrown out at home. So if hitting a ground ball was "exactly what the Twins wanted" why didn't it work earlier?

This is exactly the point I was making in the post. Nice ownage all-around.

Why does Plouffe deserve a shot? His 8 season's were medicore. He came up they saw he couldn't play short and sent him down. They do see that his bat might play somewhere and are trying him at other positions. I'd say that's his shot now.

Switching Plouffe to a position that muffles his offensive contributions as much as right field or first base should be a last resort. He has started a total of 22 MLB games at shortstop. And who's to say he wouldn't make a fine second baseman?

Wilson Ramos is another story. He is probably a back up catcher in the majors.

Then what does that make Drew Butera?

Lets see where he is if he stays healthy to the end of the year. A hot start will inflate your "overall line" for most of the season, just as a cold start will deflate it.

Yeah, so basically, I'm supposed to believe that he's going to fall apart in the second half of the year... because you say so. Very compelling argument, except that this is nothing new for him. See: 2007 and 2008.

USAFChief said...

Right, in less than a full season. Lets see where he is if he stays healthy to the end of the year.

I should just let this go, but it's too much fun, and too easy.

Last 365 days (that would be one full season), JJ Hardy: .278/.335/.469

That's an .804 OPS. From a SS who plays above average defense.

For roughly $1M more per year than the Twins are paying Nishioka.

(As an aside, Hardy posted an .805 OPS for the Twins in the second half last year, and was one of the primary reasons the Twins pulled away from the rest of the division.)

Mike said...

"Hardy only played in as many as 115 games the prior 3 years."

Is it easier to support an argument when you get to make up "facts?" He played in 146 games in 2008, 115 in 2009, and 101 in 2010.

146 is normal, since every player has somewhat regular days off. 115 games in 2009 wasn't due to injury, like many of you implied. He was struggling and was demoted. He still played in around 146 games again that year. 2010 was his only year with injury issues. And he's on pace to play more than 115 games this season, even with his stint on the DL earlier.

And even if you don't want to include the posting fee as part of payroll, whatever. It's not like the Twins are working against a salary cap- it's money coming out of the team's pocket, so who cares if it's going to salary or to Nishi's old team? In the end, the Twins essentially decided to go with Nishioka over Hardy, with minimal financial savings.

Mike said...

Hardy had 18 games in AAA in his demotion in 2009, bringing his total games to 133. Throw in that he earned himself a few extra days off for performance reasons and missed at least two games due to travel between Nashville and Milwaukee, and arguing that he isn't durable because he "only" played in 115 MLB games that season is just dumb.

Anonymous said...

Nick,

Have you ever considered renaming your blog to Nick's Troll Town Twins Blog or something? You have a very ummmm... unique comments section.

If you said the sun will rise in the east tomorrow and most likely the next day, too, I have a feeling you'd have about 2 dozen comments from your regular readers nitpicking your statement.