YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES
twins/mlb
Startribune.com sports coordinator Howard Sinker used to cover the Twins and now shares season tickets with friends in Section 219 of Target Field. He blogs about baseball from the perspective of a long-time fan who loves the game, doesn’t always believe the hype and likes hearing what others think.
Casilla: Sometimes you go beyond numbers
Posted by: Howard Sinker under Twins game coverage Updated: August 6, 2010 - 9:37 AM
In Thursday's post, I noted that Joe Mauer's 13th-inning single barely made it through the infield because Tampa Bay's second baseman at the time, Reid Brignac, didn't make a play that I thought Alexi Casilla would have made.
A commenter pointed out that, according to data, Brignac is a superior defensive second baseman to Casilla.
I like numbers. I like many of the contemporary statistics that have come to augment the traditional ones.
I also stand by my contention, which was reinforced with the play Casilla made on Carl Crawford's grounder to end Thursday's game.
If you didn't see that one, take a look here and then tell me that your typical second baseman makes the play. (ESPN didn't bother showing that one Thursday night, but instead made Casilla's diving play on Crawford's eighth-inning grounder into a web gem.)
Numbers don't work when analyzing Casilla right now. The sample-size for this season is too small to be meaningful and his horrid play in 2009 -- when he came into spring training with a starting job and gave it away because of an unsightly combination of poor play and sloppy approach -- is a red flag rather than a black one.
A red flag because it should keep us skeptical about Casilla's ability to make long-term contributions to the Twins. The red flag, though, leaves open the possibility that Casilla has looked back on all that went wrong last season and, basically, vowed: "I'll never be that bad again."
If he reverts, get out the black flag and wave him into Twins history.
Casilla has always had a flair for the extraordinary play, but too often fell short on the ordinary ones and the ones that may have required a bit of extra effort or concentration. If he conquers that, Casilla's 2009 statistics become less significant. If he runs an on-base percentage in the .330-.340 range (He's at .343 right now) that should keep us satisfied.
Back to Brignac: His main position this season has been shortstop, and the number of innings he's played at second base -- while greater than Casilla's -- still don't give an adequate long-term picture. On Mauer's grounder, I saw a fielder who got a slow start and then didn't get his glove down.
Brignac's a good and versatile player who just didn't get that one done, and the Twins took advantage.
Casilla is a player of suspect history who, right now, is trying to get us to revise the way we think about him.
If he can keep doing that, the statistics in a few years may gave a much truer picture of his value.
If he doesn't, thank him for the shining moments and know that the Twins will need to keep looking elsewhere for their future needs at second base or as a three-position reserve.
As I said, I like statistics. But sometimes you need to watch what's going on to put them into context.
(For those of you who read this before about 9:30 a.m. Friday, this is an updated post. I hit the wrong button last night and published what was still a draft. )
ADVERTISEMENT
more twins blogs
-
Around the Majors
Twins cut Vasquez to make room for Mastroianni
The Twins added Darin Mastroianni, an outfielder comparable to Jason Repko, to their 40-man...
Post By Category
ADVERTISEMENT
- Twins cut Vasquez to make room for Mastroianni
- Ralph's career: It is what it is
- Hughes returning to Minnesota for shoulder exam
- TwinsCentric: So thirsty for relief
- Twins notes: Pascual, Hrbek, Pavano, Span
- TwinsCentric: Nick Nelson's top ten prospects for 2012
- Neal : Another attempt to rank farm systems
- Souhan blog: Wolves reach a milestone
Links
- Aaron Gleeman
- Babes Love Baseball
- Baseball Outsider
- Baseball-Reference.com
- Bleacher Report (Twins)
- For Love of the Game
- Hitting the Foul Pole
- Josh's Thoughts
- K-bro's baseball blog
- Knuckleballs
- Nick's Twins Blog
- Off the Mark
- Oh, it's THOSE girls
- Over the Baggy
- Pat Neshek's blog
- Stick and Ball Guy
- Seth Speaks
- Tenth Inning Stretch
- TwinsCentric
- Twinkietown
- Twins Geek
- Twins Nation
- Vegetarian Piranha
inside the StarTribune
-
425 Portland Av. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55488
(612) 673-4000
- Company
- Subscriber Services
- Website
- Buy Ads
- Store
- Connect with Us
© 2012 StarTribune. All rights reserved.
StarTribune.com is powered by Limelight Networks
Newspaper Subscriptions
eEdition
RSS
Newsletters