Twins OF's

[rawaction]

I was thinking about what I would like to see for next year's OF. I'm on record saying that I'd like Lawton to come back and solidify the leadoff spot. And I'd like to go out and sign Giles, or obviously, trade for Dunn or maybe even Huff, Floyd, or Ramirez. But if Lawton is too expensive, I would like to see Hendry go after a cheaper alternative for the corner OF spot that one of the expensive acquisitions is NOT manning. Kearns comes to mind, as do players like Ryan Church, who seem like the odd men out.

 

Well, that led me to thinking about a couple of Twins OFs. Those 2 are Lew Ford and Jacque Jones. Ford is having a very down year. After looking like a solid player last year, Ford's BA, BB/PA, SBs, and power have all dipped, while his K rate has gone up. I admittedly called Jones, "Corey Patterson without the upside" this offseason, but JJ has quietly walked in 10% of his plate appearances.

 

Jones makes $5M this year and should price himself out of the Twins range. Ford could be expendable, because Jason Kubel could be back and is a pretty good OF prospect for the Twins. They also have several backups in place for the 4th OF/DH spots.

 

Has Jones turned the corner? If there's one thing he's never been it's consistent. Just 2 years ago his BB/PA was under .04. His numbers have no type of trend whatsoever. If he was hitting his career .282 this year, his OBP would be in the .360s. Has Ford come back to Earth? He's not the toolsiest or youngest guy around.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Jones is intriguing. If Patterson gets dealt this offseason, I think he would be a good stopgap in CF. Problem is, I doubt he would go for a reasonable 2 year deal. This would also require a manager that could phase Jones out of CF in 2007 while phasing Pie in.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

They also have guys in their farm system I think they underrate, Alex Romero and Denard Span.

[Sabermetrician]

They also have guys in their farm system I think they underrate, Alex Romero and Denard Span.

Has Jason Kubel completely fallen off the map, or is he still a top prospect? How close is he to the majors might play a big factor in the Twins deciding to shop one of their current outfielders.

 

BTW - Hendry was interested in Jacque Jones last offseason. Like I was saying then, I think Jones would be okay as a one-year fix...though his OBP in past years' scares me (I think he's got it up to around .340 this year, though I didn't check so I could be wrong).

[imb]

Kubel is still recovering from the knee surgery, I believe.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Kubel is still recovering from the knee surgery, I believe.

 

That's correct. If he hadn't injured his knee, he would have been a factor for the Twins this season.

 

It remains to be seen how well he'll recover, but if he does, he'll be an intriguing young player. The kid has talent.