Pat Burrell, Anybody?

>but he is a right-handed
> power hitter that the Twins have lacked for, oh, about 10 years now.


Yeah, that Torii Hunter had no power at all. (rolling eyes as I typed that)



 >> Stay informed about: Pat Burrell, Anybody? 

On Dec 4, 3:08 am, "brink" wrote:
> powrwrap wrote:
> > The Phillies declined to offer Burrell arbitration. What would you
> > think if the Twins could sign Pat Burrell to DH?
>
> > I'd like to see it. Sure, Burrell's streaky but he is a right-handed
> > power hitter that the Twins have lacked for, oh, about 10 years now.
> > He'll hit 30 homers and have an OPS around .900 but he does strike out
> > a lot.
>
> > I wonder how much he'll want. He was paid $14M last year.
>
> > Thoughts?
>
> Are you kidding?  I'd love it.  What's not to like about getting a guy like
> him thru FA?  It's when you have to trade 3 prospects for him that it
> bothers me...
>
> brink

I pay very little attention to the National League, so I am not overly
familiar with Burrell, but one thing not to like about him is his
lifetime (9 year) BA of .257. In '08 it was .250. That is a lower
average than any Twin who played over half the season in '08. He gets
about 90 RBI per year and about 30 HR, which would put him at the top,
or close to it, of those lists in Minnesota. But he also strikes out
about 130 times a year. Only 2 Twins (guess who?) struck out more
than 100 times in '08 (they were D. Young: 105 and C. Gomez:142(!) and
of course, neither of them hit enough HR to justify that). Watching
guys strike out is pretty frustrating when things are on the line. On
the other hand, seeing a guy knock the ball over the wall in those
same situations is pretty fun.

So I don't know. It looks like he would be worth 10 more HR than J.
Kubel, but if you have to pay him what I think you will, those are
pretty expensive HR.

brianj
 >> Stay informed about: Pat Burrell, Anybody? 

On Dec 4, 4:40 am, "Likely Story" wrote:
> >but he is a right-handed
> > power hitter that the Twins have lacked for, oh, about 10 years now.
>
> Yeah, that Torii Hunter had no power at all. (rolling eyes as I typed that)
>
>

Burrell career SLG = .485, including 5 years above .500 (and last 4
yrs. in a row)
Hunter career SLG = .468, 2 years above .500

Burrell, average HR rate = 1 HR every 18.1 ABs
Hunter, average HR rate = 1 HR every 23.7 ABs
 >> Stay informed about: Pat Burrell, Anybody? 

> On Dec 4, 10:11�am, "Likely Story" wrote:
> Hunter still was a power hitter for your team.
> Burrell just hit with a little more power. Torii could have hit with more
> power if he chose to put up with an extra �25 to 30 strikeouts per year.

Yeah, Hunter had power, but you didn't have the feeling that he could
pop one out of there on any given at-bat. Morneau is the only guy on
the Twins that you get that feeling. The Tigers have a couple of guys.
 >> Stay informed about: Pat Burrell, Anybody? 

On Dec 4, 10:18 am, powrwrap wrote:
> > On Dec 4, 10:11 am, "Likely Story" wrote:
> > Hunter still was a power hitter for your team.
> > Burrell just hit with a little more power. Torii could have hit with more
> > power if he chose to put up with an extra 25 to 30 strikeouts per year.
>
> Yeah, Hunter had power, but you didn't have the feeling that he could
> pop one out of there on any given at-bat. Morneau is the only guy on
> the Twins that you get that feeling. The Tigers have a couple of guys.

All this talk of Burrell is probably moot. The Twins look pretty
intent on having Casey Blake return:

http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081203&content_i...701472&

Of course if it turns into a bidding war with the Dodgers, that might
not turn out so well for the Twins. The deal is (reportedly) 2 years
at $6 million per year, with a (team?) option for 2011.

But the whole story is strange, because it appears on the Twins
official web site, and it is written my Kelly Thesier (MLB.com), and
yet it says that the Twins are "reportedly" making this offer. Well,
if the Twins don't know, who does?

brianj
 >> Stay informed about: Pat Burrell, Anybody? 

"powrwrap" wrote in message

On Dec 4, 4:40 am, "Likely Story" wrote:
> >but he is a right-handed
> > power hitter that the Twins have lacked for, oh, about 10 years now.
>
> Yeah, that Torii Hunter had no power at all. (rolling eyes as I typed
> that)
>
>

>Burrell career SLG = .485, including 5 years above .500 (and last 4
yrs. in a row)
>Hunter career SLG = .468, 2 years above .500

>Burrell, average HR rate = 1 HR every 18.1 ABs
>Hunter, average HR rate = 1 HR every 23.7 ABs

Hunter still was a power hitter for your team.
Burrell just hit with a little more power. Torii could have hit with more
power if he chose to put up with an extra 25 to 30 strikeouts per year.
 >> Stay informed about: Pat Burrell, Anybody? 

> On Dec 4, 10:56 am, brianj wrote:

> All this talk of Burrell is probably moot.  

Speculation is fun!


> The Twins look pretty
> intent on having Casey Blake return:
>
> http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081203&content_....
>
> Of course if it turns into a bidding war with the Dodgers, that might
> not turn out so well for the Twins.  The deal is (reportedly) 2 years
> at $6 million per year, with a (team?) option for 2011.

The Twins have a lot of money to spend. Their payroll was at, what,
$56M last year? They've stated they like payroll to be around 50% -
55% of revenues. With the new ballpark opening in 2010 they estimate
they will have another $40M in revenues. The Twins could be a team
with $100M payroll in 2010. Burrell could be in the mix.

> But the whole story is strange, because it appears on the Twins
> official web site, and it is written my Kelly Thesier (MLB.com), and
> yet it says that the Twins are "reportedly" making this offer.  Well,
> if the Twins don't know, who does?

I don't think that Ms Thesier has any special inside track to the
Twins. I bet the Twins brass regard her as just another reporter. The
StarTribune said that Casey wants the third year guaranteed, so it
must be a team option for year three being proposed by the Twins.
> brianj
 >> Stay informed about: Pat Burrell, Anybody? 

On Dec 4, 10:56 am, brianj wrote:
>
> All this talk of Burrell is probably moot.  The Twins look pretty
> intent on having Casey Blake return:

Signing Burrell really only makes sense if you trade Young or one of
the outfielders. Otherwise you have no place for Kubel. Don't get me
wrong, I'd love the signing, but I don't see it as a real either/or.

As for Blake, I'm underwhelmed.

Matt
 >> Stay informed about: Pat Burrell, Anybody? 

I would rather have spent 8.5mil on Burrell than Punt0.

(Which has to be the dumass move of the year)
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On Dec 12, 6:47 pm, "MarkMN" wrote:
> I would rather have spent 8.5mil on Burrell than Punt0.
>
> (Which has to be the dumass move of the year)

Really? What do you so dislike about Punto?

brianj
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On Dec 13, 12:06 pm, brianj wrote:
>
> Really?  What do you so dislike about Punto?

Best guess is that the memory of 2007 is pretty fresh. Punto's 2007
was on the list for historic offensive futility.

Matt
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On Dec 15, 12:57 am, Matt wrote:
> On Dec 13, 12:06 pm, brianj wrote:
>
>
>
> > Really?  What do you so dislike about Punto?
>
> Best guess is that the memory of 2007 is pretty fresh. Punto's 2007
> was on the list for historic offensive futility.
>
> Matt

Really? I have no memory of that. Nope. I don't even think it
happened. And I'm not checking either. I am happy in my belief.
Never happened. Stop trying to ruin everybody's Christmas, Matt. ; )

Besides, even if it did happen (which I don't remember), if I recall,
he was pretty good the last two weeks of the season, so it's not like
he had a slump that lasted all year or anything.

brianj
 >> Stay informed about: Pat Burrell, Anybody? 

Matt's right. I'm right.
2006 playoffs.
Minn - Oakland
Santana - Zito
Twin's first inning = Castillo walked.
Good ol' Punto up.
Ball 1
Ball 2
Swings and misses at a pitch A FOOT OUT OF THE STRIKE ZONE!
With a 2-1 count, the next pitch is ball 3. SHOULD HAVE BEEN BALL 4.
Castillo is caught stealing. Punto flies out to right.
Should have been two runners on with no outs and Mauer at bat.
Any Idiot should have known that Zito has been wild in early innings all
season. Regardless, the pitch was waaaaaaay outside. Idiot.
Twins loose the game 3-2. Punto cost the Twins the game. And the World
Series.
$8million. Should have been 8 years in prison.
 >> Stay informed about: Pat Burrell, Anybody?