Comments on: Bust to building block? Trevor Plouffe slugs his way into Twins’ plans

By: Pedro Munoz

Pedro Munoz — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 20:11:18 +0000

After watching Scott Ullger get 8,000 runners thrown out at home, I’ll take Liddle any day.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 19:30:20 +0000

Why do the Twins stick with Little and his consevrative approach in the 3B coaching box. I was infuriated again last night when he holds up the fastest guy on the team on a hit to McCutchen in the OF. Force him to make a good throw! This is not the first time I have seen it this year and it seems like when something like this happens, the very next inning the opponent extends the lead and puts the game out of reach.

By: JeffNH

JeffNH — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 15:40:16 +0000

Maybe Plouffe is Jose Bautista 2.0?

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 22:14:42 +0000

@Dane, when did Span do terrible in the minors? His first season at AAA maybe. IMO the only indicator for Span is OBP and his OBP that season was .323 which was the lowest of his career but he was also only 23. They were sufficiently patient with the guy but I don’t see any time when he truly struggled.

Now, Span’s base running? That’s an ongoing problem.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 20:02:23 +0000

Some of this may be due to playing some really bad teams which tend to have poor pitching. I did see however, that he trained with Ryan Braun in the off season. It could be Braun may have some “special” training methods that help increase power.

By: Dane

Dane — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 17:43:02 +0000

This is why I love the Twins. They probably have the most patience with their prospects than anyone else. They could have given up on Denard Span when he was doing terrible in the minors, but they didn’t. Now he is a very valuable asset to this organization. This is why you have coaches.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:25:05 +0000

Re: target field being a pitchers park. Check the graph from ESPNs home run tracker for Target Field (http://hittrackeronline.com/detail.php?id=2012_1902&type=ballpark). It seems to be anyone who doesn’t pull the ball is going to have a problem hitting a HR at Target. Check past seasons and the pattern is even more stark.

The Twins teach hitters to go with a pitch, but those opposite field HRs are much harder to find. It looks like if you can pull the ball from either side, you should be able to hit a few (especially for righties). Check the graph, RC HRs are almost non-existent.

Maybe Twins lefties are trying to pull the ball now making the trend even more apparent or they’ve just given up on the idea altogether (Mauer?) and anything that does go out is a pleasant surprise.

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:46:26 +0000

Hard to believe this kind of power outburst is sustainable for Plouffe, but even with a significant regression he looks like he could be a solid asset for the team at 3B. The defense has been adequate (upgrade from Valencia, at least) and I can see Plouffe settling in as a 2-3 WAR player at 3B, which would be a nice asset. He’s not even arbitration eligible until 2014, and won’t hit free agency until 2018, so the Twins have time to work with him at a reasonable salary.

Nice to see him step up and respond after a horrid start.

By: Bradley

Bradley — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:41:41 +0000

Great article. Can you touch on the fact that there are many of us who are sick of hearing about how much of a pitchers park Target Field is? Parker brought it up on Sunday again and considering that it seems like every single one of the Twins opponents can hit home runs there it seems to me like it’s how the Twins approach hitting, not that we’re the Midwest’s version of Petco.

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 13:52:24 +0000

They need to bring back Boof Bonser, so they can have Plouffe and Boof.