Saturday, January 13, 2007

Bring Back Nevin?

Phil Nevin wasn't the most popular player on the Twins during his September stint with the team, and he didn't perform particularly well (.190 with 15 strikeouts in 42 at bats). Though he didn't have much success, Nevin enjoyed his stay with the team, and has publicly stated that he'd like to come back. However, with the Twins signing of 1B/DH Ken Harvey in December, it seems very unlikely that he'll be re-signed. I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I'd like to make a case for Nevin's return to the Twins.

Nevin only hit .190 in his 16 games with the Twins, but posted a respectable OBP of .340. The Twins actually went 13-3 in games that Nevin appeared in, and he reached base in all but one of the games he started. Nevin also provides a power threat off the bench that the Twins have lacked. Last season, the Twins often played batters with no power in the 7th-2nd spots in the order. These are all from a very small sample, and Ken Harvey or others could probably fill those needs, but the biggest reason for bringing Nevin back is that I believe it would make Joe Mauer even better.

Through July 24, Mauer was batting .380. From that point on, Mauer batted .294. While .294 is still a very good batting average, it seemed clear that catching almost every day was taking a toll on Mauer. The Twins have a great backup in Mike Redmond, and it is possible to use him to give Mauer a rest without taking Mauer's offensive production out of the lineup. Ron Gardenhire, however, has an irrational fear of putting both catchers in the linup at the same time.

The logic is that if the starting catcher would get hurt, the catcher at DH would have to move behind the plate, and the Twins would have to forfeit the DH for the remainder of the game and send the pitcher up in his place. Now, the odds that any player will get hurt and need to be taken out of the game are slim enough. Now think of the odds that the starting catcher would get hurt early enough in a game that a pitcher would be sent to the plate for a significant number of at bats. And even if he were, who says it would cost us the game? Gardy, of all managers, should know it wouldn't. He started Juan Castro in 48 games last year, which is just like sending a pitcher to the plate for 156 at-bats.

All joking aside, could you imagine the spike Mauer's late-season production would have if he and Redmond split time behind the plate, with Mauer DH'ing the other half of the time? Enter Phil Nevin. Nevin has some catching experience, making him the emergency catcher if the starter were to go down. Just like that, Gardy's irrational fear of losing the DH would be put to rest.

I'm sure its not something we'll ever actually see from the Twins, but doesn't it seem worth giving it a look?

NOTE: As I've been trying to start up the next great Twins blog, I've noticed quite a few that are already great. One more that I suggest you check out: Twins Junkie

3 comments:

SBG said...

Good luck with your blogging and have fun!

Barbara said...
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