good grief.

Repeated post:
Sounds to me like Nomar dropped TR a hint that he doesn't feel like freezing his gigantic nose off in the great white north. Not too sure about Batista, but he would be the second former All-Star added to the infield. Also, depending on countries of origin, we could be headed towards League of Nations 2: The Revenge.

I haven't played third base since college, and I wasn't very good then, but I think even I might be better than Batista. Now we have a plucky no-hit *corner* infielder to go with our middle infielders.

Gotta admit I didn't see this one coming.

On the plus side he should be able to replace Jacque Jones' homerun total for likely less money. He hit 32 in his last year in MLB, 27 last year in Japan.

Tony Batista. Unimaginative move, or uninspiring move? Discuss.

Hmmm. Not sure what to think about this. His stats sound ok, but why was he in Japan last year? I read his scouting report, and it sounds like the only thing he can hit is a pitch at the heart of the plate.

I hope the Twins will still give Batgirl her DH; she certainly deserves one.

k-bro

He was probably in Japan because they don't test for performance enhancing drugs over there. If anyone seems to be a product of the steroid era, this guy's stats sure scream it. Bet he doesn't hit double digit homers for the Twins. Three words: Remember Brett Boone!

One more thing: TR, you can do better. Please tell me the main course is still on it's way!

Or would it be "League of Nations 2: Electric Boogaloo"?

I'm guessing he'll hit about .255, 11 HR, and 68 RBI adjusted over a full season's stats (if he plays that long). I'm just doubting his ability to transition back to the bigs and some gut instinct in me that suggests he'll have a mammoth of a slump to start the year.

The sound that you hear is all too familiar for Twins fans: scrape, scrape.

I could barely remember who Batista was-never saw this coming at all. There is potential here, but this deal seemed to happen because Batista was a cheaper option than a Nomar and the fact TR couldn't get a Blalock deal done. Hopefully the Twins come up big with a DH.

Hey - one name comes to mind here: Cecil Fielder!

Wasn't he a rather mediocre player until he went to Japan? Cecil came back and played for the Tigers, and hit 51 home runs (back when that was actually a novelty)...

Maybe Batista will bring back a little of that Japanese lightning-in-a-bottle and give the Twins their first power threat in almost 20 years. At least I can only hope...

blah...bargain bin.

Watching the White Sox snag Rob Makowiak and Javier Vasquez...and we get Tony Batista?

blah

Fielder was much younger than Batista. And he already had good plate discipline before heading to Japan. Batista can't watch balls off the plate, and unless his average is above .300 or he hits 35-45 homers, he's worthless. If we're paying him anything more than one million, we (the fans) got ripped off.

Ug. How embarrassing. He's actually worse than Cudimples.

trying. to. stay. positive.

Sorry Batgirl, I can't say anything nice about this deal. So, all I'll say is, "I didn't see that one coming."

I'm sorry to disagree, but I like this deal better than any of the other options. Good things:

He's not Cuddyer, Mueller or Nomar
He's got a great first name and his last name ends in a vowel. Both names will sound great over the PA.
He has hit more than 30 home runs, something no other Twin can claim.
He's probably cheap compared to other options and didn't cost us anything other than cash.
Name me one third baseman who is available and a better hitter than To-B?

At the same time, I remember he has a reputation, he has been on 5 major league teams and I remember he insists on using a glove made of granite.

This reminds me of you guys getting bret boone

The "Lightning In A Bottle" that Fielder brought back actually came in a syringe.

Yep, this move will put us over the top.

But on the bright side were not the Royals!

Bautista's OPS is almost exactly the same as Cuddyer's. unless Bautista's glove is outstanding or he's signed for the minimum, TR just made me very confused.

Don't know much about Tony Batista except he has a really, really cool batting stance. So that's always fun.

You have got to be kidding me, Tony Batista?!?! Everyone's been hating on Cuddy b/c he made 15 errors last season and now we're supposed to swoon over a guy who made more than 15 in his last three years in the bigs. Honestly is this deal suppose to excite me as a fan? I've been waiting all winter for something to happen and if this is the best we can do we may as well concede the division. Even the headline "Twins lure Batista back from Japan" pisses me off, I mean how much luring did it really take. It's good to see while the Indians and the White Sox are stocking up, the Twins are getting ready to fight for the NL West....should I just kill me myself now, or wait untill May...

>This reminds me of you guys getting bret boone

Dude, that was COLD.

After reading all the above posts, I've just go the following to say:

I still don't understand. Can someone explain it to me? Because I'm confused.

This deal tastes like cardboard,
Chris

Yes, Me, this move puts us over the top, if by that you mean the WWI-charging-out-of-the-trenches-into-a-hail-of-Bosch-bullets-from-an-automatic-machine-gun-placement-only-50 yards away-so-finding-yourself-dying-a-painful-bloody-death-in-the-Belgian-mud sense of that phrase.

Hey, Batista is a pretty decent power hitter, especially for an infielder. There's a chance we could shuffle him over to DH, and if we put him behind Morneau then the Doctor should get some pitches to hit. As for luring him away from Japan, he still had a year left on his Japanese contract and was due to make $5 million this year from them. It might have been more significant luring than you think.

Chris, this move makes perfect sense. You just have to think like Terry Ryan.

We have four replacement-level third basemen in Juan Castro, Luis Rodriguez, Glenn Williams, and Michael Cuddyer, so what we need is a fifth. With enough competition, one of them surely will commend themselves in spring training by being just a bit more mediocre than the other four.

When I first glanced at the post, I thought why the hell did the Twins get Miguel Batista? Then came the oh wait duh, and the ooohhhh yeah I remember that guy moments. Then came the vomit...

Two words:

Out Machine.

So is this move suppose to excite me like last year's invatation of Eric "big whiff" Munson?
I hate to say it but this make more sense to me as a Twins fan than getting a FA like Nomah or making a trade for a player like Blalock.

And speaking of Hank:
White Sox not done dealing
Chicago Tribune (registration required)
Tribune columnist Phil Rogers thinks the White Sox will use their pitching depth to make one more big offseason move. The possible deals in descending order of likelihood include trading Joe Crede and one of their starters to Texas for slugger Hank Blalock, dealing Juan Uribe and a starter to Baltimore for Miguel Tejada or sending a starter to Baltimore for a bundle of prospects.

Great! (please note sarcasm)

I think TR is working on perfecting a machine that splices his now 5 subpar 3rd basemen into one giant mashing All-Star.

I hope.

He was in Japan because they gave him $15 million over three years while the best offer he got (from the Twins, BTW) was $5 million for one year.

I don't understand why everyone is so down about this. The last post Batgirl put up was about how the Twins have not had a 30 HR hitter since 1987. Terry Ryan signs a guy who's hit 30 three times in the last six years and 25+ each year over that span and everyone just grumbles.

People, there aren't a lot of options that don't cost huge dollars, several top prospects or both. Those that do carry some risks (Frank and Nomar=injuries; Mike=decline). At the very least this guy's better than anything we have now at the position. Heck he could be the first Twin since kent Hrbeck to hit 30 home runs. And he's a plus defender. I don't see what all the fuss is about.

Now we're the ones doing all the bitching?? There's a difference between sass and bitching, and we're too far on the bitchiness end of the continuum.

I think this is a pretty ingenious move. Rather than vastly overpay for Mueller (or Blalock - in pitching) why not give this guy a shot? You're all CLAMORING for a 30HR guy. This could be the guy. He's a righty with pop which is what our line-up needs. Unlike some of you, I actually remember seeing the guy play... a LOT. He was an all-star for a reason. He is a little sloppy in the field, but our spring training infield regimen should clean that up a little.

And... if you really analyze the stance, it's pretty ingenious. His swing is rarely off because of it.

I'm not saying the guy's without faults, but when you look at what he can do compared to all the ridiculously overpriced options out there, this is some pretty resourceful thinking from TR.

Think outside the box a little. Give 'em a chance. Have a little faith in TR, will ya? ;)

- Freez
P.S. - As I recall, Bret Boone sucked, but not any worse than anyone else playing 2B for us at the time. So it's hard to argue we even lost anything in opportunity costs by playing him.

:jinx:

;)

Did you know one of his teammates in Japan hit 46 bombs and didn't strike out 115 times. And somehow, he's not coming stateside but ToB is. Weird.

Also, I think his Japanese team may have released him. Paying 100M yen (or whatever) to a 3B who can't put up an OBP over .300 or a SLG over .500 in the freaking Japanese league... I don't think so.

Here's his line from Japan: 263/294/463. Ouch, it burns, it burns!

Sorry to get so stat heavy on you for a minute, I was just trying to drop some knowledge on y'all. Your new 3B, Tony "don't call me albatross" Batista.

I really don't think that this is that bad of a deal! Anyone with me??

I lived in Washington, D.C. for three years and watched Tony play third a lot for the Orioles. Has trouble making contact and pulls the ball ALL the time. Also, I don't mean to be too negative, but he was the worst everyday defensive third baseman I had ever seen. If he's going to play every day, I hope they plan to use him as DH.

Keep working TR.

How could anyone possibly be positive about this?

.298.

His career on-base percentage is .298.

TWO. NINETY. EIGHT.

I am not optimistic.

This just sticks in my craw.......TR is a good man and can do it with smoke and mirrors at times, but despite the world titles this is not a big league town or owner....name the only free agent signing in this town EVER? Think about it, any sport..the best I could come up with is the Vikings corner Winfield

A bit of perspective, folks...
power - comparable to Blalock.
glove - comparable.
Ks/walks - significantly less of both. (look it up if you like)
average - 20-30 points lower.

Not perfection, sure. But not nearly as bad as the majority seems to think.

-ex

"Now we're the ones doing all the bitching?? There's a difference between sass and bitching, and we're too far on the bitchiness end of the continuum."

I've been waiting for someone to say this. ;)

"I think this is a pretty ingenious move. Rather than vastly overpay for Mueller (or Blalock - in pitching) why not give this guy a shot? You're all CLAMORING for a 30HR guy. This could be the guy. He's a righty with pop which is what our line-up needs."

Once again, you have read my mind.

"He was an all-star for a reason. He is a little sloppy in the field, but our spring training infield regimen should clean that up a little."

Now for all the current TR disbeilievers, would you rather have a possible 30+ homerun, 90+ RBI guy who is at basically the same level as Cuddyer, or would you take Cuddles?

"I'm not saying the guy's without faults, but when you look at what he can do compared to all the ridiculously overpriced options out there, this is some pretty resourceful thinking from TR."

Exactly, 'nuff said.

I would also like to add that we will only be hanging onto this guy untill Matt Moses comes up in about two years.

Why did he leave the bigs in the first place? I think the move would be less criticized if the other names hadn't been mentioned....no matter how you slice it if TR would have been given the authority to spend some coin do you think he would have taken Batista..another case of doing the best he can with what he is given.

Twinsboy....you sound like all the rest of glass is half full people...you don't get something for nothing..when you are 2nd or 3rd in AL in pitching and next to last in runs scored you can afford to drop to 5th in pitching to score some runs...there is NO margin for error right now...and the defense is not what it once was...THEY NEED TO SCORE RUNS!

Isn't there also a WWE wrestler by that name? Because whenver I hear it...I think of that guy.

As an ammendum, and no offense intended...but

"prices were soaring higher than Minnesota was going to be able to pay. Battling a low payroll is a constant problem for the club..."

What happened to opening the pocketbook a little?

From the MLB.com article....

"You can use him a lot of different ways besides just at third -- first base, DH," Gardenhire said. "He can do a lot of things and he can hit. He's also a very nice man with great family so he fits the mold for us. We're not just after players but players with character and he fits that."

If Gardy's confident about the high level of potential "Twinness," I feel a little better.

People, people. Let's just wait, say, 6 months, and see how this pans out. Perhaps it will be another Bret Boone. Perhaps it will be another Cecil Fielder. Most likely, it will be somewhere in between.

As low as his career OBP apparently is, it would be nice to have a 25+ HR hitter in the lineup. 25+ HRs are much more fearsome to opposing pitchers than is a .375 OBP, so maybe it will scare pitchers into giving the M&M boys a few more pitches to hit.

But still... I'm not saying much more until, say, the All-Star break or so.

sacky has a good point. One that can't properly be captured with the "stats du jour" of the sabermatrician set. If I'm a pitcher and a guy with that much pop comes up and is worried about getting on base, I'm a happy pitcher (not quite to the level of having a boom-boom stick in my pocket, but I will go so far as to say metaphysically wrinkle-free).

With Castillo, Stewie and the Chairman, we've got guys who can get on base. What we need are GUYS WHO CAN DRIVE THEM IN. Batista can do that. He also balances out our line up, which is completely underrated in this day and age. A righty pull power hitter is perfect to drop in between Mauer and Morneau. It keeps the pitcher off-balance and forces him to be perfect on both sides of the plate.

Individual statistics are certainly valuable, but there's a tendency to get so obsessed with the stats of each individual player that the composition of the entire line-up gets almost completely overlooked. Line-ups are more than the sum of their parts and that needs to be accounted for before a full judgment is made on whether or not a particular player is the right one for your team.

Oh, and... if we traded away Lohse and Baker for some hitter we might only drop to 5th in pitching... this year. But what about 2 years from now? What about 5? Even if you conservatively project Scott Baker's development over the next 5 years, it would cost you at least 2 or 3 times as much to get a Free Agent pitcher that caliber 5 years from now.

The market for pitching changed drastically this off-season. I like Hank Blalock, and would love to have him, but it would be foolish and short-sighted to sacrifice young pitching talent of Baker's level, even for someone like Hank Blalock. It might be different if he wasn't such a Punchin' Judy on the road. ;)

- Freez
P.S. - TR's not done. Keep that in mind. =)

Strib has a few more details on the deal, link below.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/509/5784671.html

The detail that sticks out most for me is that he's only costing $1.25m for the season, about half of what we saved by trading JC. It goes on to say that TR is still looking for a primary DH, which is encouraging.

I'm taking a "wait and see" approach to this. He's not costing us much more than Juan Castro, if I remember correctly, and he should certainly hit better. Plus he's got right-handed power, which we can use.

Let's face it, this is a gamble. Batista isn't going to get to much from the Twins in terms of salary because he should still be under contract from his Japanese team (which according to ESPN let him go because he was 32 and they wanted to go younger). Also, he does have some pop to his bat. We already got Castillo and we have Stewart and Mauer to be top of the order on base guys, so why not put Morneau and Batista behind them to knock them in? As for defense, we only have to worry about Batista for the first few innings, then put in Castro as a defensive replacement in the 8th or 9th. We wouldn't be the first team to do that. And like I said it's not like we spent a lot of money on this deal so we can still sign a DH or aquire a 3b that is more spendy if Batista doesn't work out. But I think he will be fine after he readjusts to American ball again.

this is a wait and see deal. one of the spots was going to be filled by a guy like this. a take a chance on me type guy. remember that no one wanted David Ortiz three years ago and now we'd take half his production.

Put me down as skeptical. If this guy hits cleanup, there are going to be a lot of times when Stew, Castillo and/or Mauer are going to be left standing on the bases when he Ks or forced out when he grounds into a DP. Do you realize what a career OBP under .300 means? Eric put it best. He's an out machine. He's got a little power, but that's basically his only skill, and he's not even THAT good at it. I thought with Jones gone, the Twins might move away from this type of player, the guy who swings out of his shoes at everything and manages to hit one out of the park every once in a while. And, might I add, gets way too much credit because his HR total looks decent, even though he's subpar in most every other statistical category.

However, I'm still waiting to see what else Ryan has in store. So I'll hold off on declaring the offseason a failure. I might be able to stomach Bautista if he's hitting 7th and our new masher DH is handling cleanup.

He'll be great in the locker room! (Click on my name...then please translate the Korean for me!)

WARNING. WARNING. DANGER. DANGER.

I remember this guy allllll too well. He was a former Oriole, and he's the f--kin' *definition* of what you guys don't want.

He's a charming guy, but a terrible clubhouse presence -- the young guys all like him, and he tells them that the only way they can succeed is to swing away. He's extremely anti-plate discipline, and that belief of his *spreads* like wildfire. He more or less singlehandedly ruined Geronimo Gil (who was a great catcher with lots of potential, until he became fast buds with Batista and started swinging like a spaz-monkey). When he's on a team, especially with young players, expect the K ration to rise substantially. *And* he's been known to throw temper tantrums.

Not for a million dollars would I let this guy anywhere *near* Morneau and Mauer. I have no idea what TR is thinking.

Regrading Senor Batista's glove, yes, he made 15-20 errors per season, like Cuddles. In 150+ games, as opposed to Michael's 95. In seasons Cordel approached 150 games (he only got there once), he committed around 15 errors. Eric Chavez, regarded as the finest fielding 3rd baseman in the AL, generally has about 15 errors per season. Brooks Robinson, probably the finest fielding 3rd baseman ever, had about 15 errors per season. OK I'll stop now; the point is 15 errors are pretty normal for a full season 3rd baseman. That said, Toni's range isn't on par with Chavez, but it's about the same as Blalock and Koskie. And I don't understand the high strikeout rap. Leocadio's strikeout rate pales in comparison with Blalock's (and Koskie's), although it would be nice if he would walk once in a while. Bottom line: for $1.25 million, I'm cautiously optimistic. And I wouldn't be surprised if TR's done. He's generally tried to "find internal solutions" or "not wanted to spend to find external solutions" to our offensive offense.

The same week we lose Jacque, we replace his bat with someone with the same power (why are so many people assuming his old 30+ HR days will be back? There is NO evidence to suspect that), even LESS plate discipline (is that possible?), lower batting average, and lousy fielding at a position that requires at least competence. Unless you assume that Fo-bel will top Jacque's production in RF, this is a HUGE step back.

I wanted an Xbox 360, and ended up with a Playstation ... And not even a PS2.

To those who say Batista's power will cover up his shortcomings, remember how hopeless and ugly it was to watch Morneau hit last year. Then consider Morneau still made outs less frequently than Batista has in his career.

The problem with this signing is that all offseason we've been hearing about how we're going to go out and be aggressive, sign a big bat, make some trades. Yet when it comes time to act, we're once again taking chances on aging guys who "might" have something left. We're continually searching for lightning in a bottle with this team. Is it unfortunate that any and all proven entities are overpriced? Of course. But it's also unfortunate that this club is always frightened to even take a chance with one of those players. It's always some aging veteran on the cheap, who comes equipped with a hope and a prayer.

And for everyone who's standing by his pull hitting tendencies, just wait until our hitting coaches get ahold of him. It'll be beaten into his head that opposite field is where he needs to go with his swings. There's a reason why David Ortiz struggled with his power with the Twins (as well as why there hasn't been a 30 HR season since '87) - they wouldn't allow him to pull. And judging from his results in Boston, that was brilliant coaching! If there is to be a 30 HR hitter on this club in the near future, it's going to take a change in philosphy, not players.

I don't know if anybody else has seen this, but ESPNews is annoucing that the Royals have signed Dougie among other players.

Overall - confused, concerned, patiently waiting.

As far as age goes, 32 certainly isn't "going young," but I wouldn't say he's "aging" in the same sense we refer to other players that have cropped up on the Twins radar (Piazza, Thomas). Plus, this is a one-year thing, not some Johnny Damon-7yr asking price.

I hate to be a Grinch but can anyone tells how Bautista's all-star years corellates with the "juiced" years?

The Batista signing is a disaster. It is worse than just Batista himself. That fact that TR even pursued him pretty much proves that he has no idea how to construct an offense.

This is just sheer stupidity. To make things clear, Cuddyer is a much better 3b-man overall. Batista is probably somewhat better than Cuddyer defensively, but Cuddyer is WAY better offensively.

This guy has played in MLB long enough to know what we'll get from him...25-35 HR, and a **LOT** of outs. He has one of the lowest OBP's of any major league player over the last few years. He couldn't even get on base 30% of the time in Japan. An utter disaster.

Carl, you need a new GM.

Jlubby,

By aging I simply meant post-prime. And even though 32 might be the prime for some players, you cannot convince me that is the case for someone who couldn't get an MLB job a year ago and went to Japan instead. Anyone in their prime, as well as a former All-Star, does not go to Japan.

Besides, even Tom Selleck put up good numbers in Japan (Mr. Baseball)!

WARNING. WARNING. DANGER. DANGER.

I remember this guy allllll too well. He was a former Oriole, and he's the f--kin' *definition* of what you guys don't want.

I second that motion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just emailed my son (WAM-DC Orioles Fan) for his memories of Batista. OBP of under .300 scares me if he bats in the 4-6 spot--that means if Stewie, Mauer, Castillo get on--he will leave them on the pond!!! 110Ks per year--thats scary too. His defense (from what I saw with the Os) is worse than DJ Cuddles. He has no range and doesnt hit the ball the other way.

Maybe the poster who said--in spring training, Cuddles, Batista, Castro and Lil Rod will compete at 3B and one will win the job...is right.

I dont like this deal. I do like Shaun Wooton--good backup at C and 1B--some power--more speed that Matt--can take his spot.

Sad. Looks like TR has already given up on '06 and is aiming for the latter half of the decade. They really needed to do something smart and creative to win next year, and it looks like that's not going to happen. Will have to content myself with more of the same this year as last, because there's no way this team is improved other than maybe being a little bit healthier.

Well, I maintain this signing was better than nothing. And I refuse to question TR until at least a couple months into the season, as he knows a lot more about baseball than I do. As was said, this is really a low risk, high potential deal, whereas the Blalock deals that were being tossed around were terribly higher risk, slightly higher potential deals. My biggest problem with it is that it was portrayed as a headline deal when it really wasn't. I personally hope that L-Rod or Glenn Williams wins the starting job (he still is being invited, right?)

I must admit that my expectations for this team are lower than last years at this point, but that is mostly based on how we finished last season. And I hate to say this, but one bat (say, blalock's or Piazza's) is extremely unlikely to push us over the top. A year or two of additional experience may be more important for this team than anything else.

And so the sox added Vazquez and we respond with this. I'll take Baker or Liriano over him any day, and now by mideason, we could have both.

"The Batista signing is a disaster. It is worse than just Batista himself. That fact that TR even pursued him pretty much proves that he has no idea how to construct an offense."

Even if he hits .250 with 20 HR and 80 RBI, for 1.25M, that's a steal and a good increase over what we got from 3B last year.

Moneyball's a great book, but its concepts are so misunderstood and misapplied. This belief that OBP is the end-all, be-all of baseball existence is nonsense. If you're only looking at outs and OBP, your analysis is incomplete.

The oh-so-coveted (and now vastly overpaid) Bill Mueller hit .295/10/62 with 69 runs scored. His OBP was .369. What good is that average and OBP if it doesn't result in more runs scored or runs driven in? And that was hitting in Boston's line-up.

You need to balance that with how productive the player is as a whole. The fact is, in his career, he's been as productive as players with higher OBP because he's more productive than they are when he doesn't get out. We can afford to give away some extra outs if he's able to drive in runs at a higher rate overall throughout the season, because that's the kind of player we need to balance our line-up.

As for whether or not he can still hit, 27HR in 130 games in Japan - where hittable fastballs are as rare as purchased XBOX360s - is pretty good production. Over here where meatball fastballs come in bunches, he'll do fine.

As for Cuddy. I love the guy. He certainly has the POTENTIAL to be better offensively, but so far he hasn't done it. Honestly, I think they moved Cuddy to the OF to let him focus on his offense (to better reach that potential) moreso than because they were concerned about how many errors he was making. As others have said, in terms of errors, he was on par with most players at that position.

- Freez

I think the dollar signs add up to Ryan not having much faith in this acquisition.

What about Blalock?

Freez,
If there is any evidence that Batista is productive, I'm willing to hear it. All the stats I have say he isn't. OBP isn't everything, but on the other hand, it is very important, and when you basically have the *LOWEST* OBP of any regular player in the majors over a sustained period of time, you have a big problem.

I don't even know how he can make productive outs, when he's a righty hitter who can't hit the ball the other way. He only has 10 SF's in his CAREER...unless he is a god in the clutch, I can't see how he can be characterized as productive. Three of his last four years in MLB, his OBP's were at .280 or under. Four out of the last five years in MLB, he's struck out over 100 times.

Through 2002, he was in his peak years. At his peak, he was just good enough at getting on base to make his power worthwhile, but not since 2002 has he had a year that could be characterized as "decent" and not since 2000 has he had a year that could be called "good".

I wish the guy the best and all, but from where I sit, this move gives back about half the gains we made when we signed Castillo.

Everyone should read Aaron Gleeman's column at www.aarongleeman.com, and follow the links there too, especially the one that is linked with the words "this nightmare".

Nightmare pretty much sums up how I feel about this move too.

Tony B. was decent as a Dback...but that was awhile back...pre-Toronto big numbers. A fellow season ticket holder and I mildy rejoiced at his change of team though...because with his leaving, we were no longer subjected to the phrase "unorthodox batting stance" EVERY. SINGLE. AT. BAT.

I suggest Twins fans work it to its full advantage as a new drinking game.

Here were the clutch hitting #'s in 2003 of our new "power hitting" threat:

AVG OBP SLG
Runners On Base .243 .282 .417
Scoring Position .238 .286 .390
Men On w/ 2 Out .208 .261 .312
Scoring Position w/ 2 Out .213 .276 .325

I can't really imagine that Cuddyer could be any worse.

Batgirl,

How cool is it that you can put up a post that gets more than 70 comments on a Twins blog in DECEMBER!!! I hope you sometimes sit back and drink in what you've created for us here. Thanks for a great site and a great forum.

Love always,
Florida

Dave,

Thanks for the stats and the link. Now I have ammo to counter others who believe this was a good move.

Speedy

If we have to have a Bautista, could we have JP Batista (even with the different spelling)? I know he's still in college, and he's a basketball player not a thirdbaseman, but he plays defense and he looks like he could mash. DH, maybe?

:: Lets it go ::

=)

Who the hell wants to wait and see on guys like Batista? I want a player that is considered to be in the top 5 at his position. I don't want this pitching staff to loose it's marbles by thowing a bunch of 5 hit 2 run games and get beat 2-1 again. Carl...IMHO people should own pro sports teams to WIN....you know sports are games and games are played to win... if you want to be frugal and conservative go buy a cleaners....I am not suggesting Yankee type spending..just simply find out what you need and go out and pay the going price to get it. Is having a 70 million dolar payroll really that different than 60 million?

Sorry rant over..............

Here's what i think happened, They relized that blalock the powerful and mighting god's best season was the first one he started in and that his batting numbers away form the best hitters park in the AL were about .230 with 5 homers and that he wasn't even worth Baker much less "Fran the man" so they started looking else where for a 3b and this gets dumped by his japanese team they can get him cheap and he's a Aferican AMerican right handed Koskie for a 1.25mill so TR takes a quick look at JOE Randa and decides that he's not worth the extre 2.5 mill to sign him and inks this guy.

wait, african american Koskie???....

Wha?!?!

Wow...okay, I know everyone's long over this now, but seriously. Koskie? Batista is the polar opposite of Koskie in every way that matters, is bad for all the reasons that Koskie is good...but other than that, yeah, spot on.

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