Farewell, Flounder

The Twins began their offseason housecleaning in earnest last week, cutting ties with Luis Rivas, Matt LeCroy, Michael Ryan, Brent Abernathy, Glenn Williams, Jason Tyner, and Joe Mays. Declining the $8.5m option on Mays was an expected move, and Rivas was a dead man walking since the club sent him down to AAA, and I danced on his grave, last July. Most of the rest are organizational filler, who may or may not be brought back to staff the Rochester roster next spring. I'm mildly surprised, and even more pleased, to see that Terry Ryan apparently does not have serious plans to rely on Jason Tyner as a fourth outfielder to give Gardenhire his desired increase of speed on the team.

Matt LeCroy is the one guy I'll miss next season. He's probably due for a raise, after arbitration, in the $1.5m range. Apparently the GM has other uses for that money in mind, rather than a platoon DH and clubhouse cut-up who doesn't mind eating bugs for money or doing silly dances if it makes the guys laugh. That's fine, although I wish Terry Ryan wouldn't pretend that LeCroy blew his spot because he's not versatile enough to make it as a 3rd string Catcher. Ryan told an AP reporter, "Unfortunately, I was concerned about the lack of catching ability. I wanted to think he had enough versatility.''

Frankly, that's silly. Paying $1.5m for a DH isn't out of line. A club that can pay Luis Rivas $1.65m, or $1m for Juan Castro, could find a way to pay $1.5m for a decent DH, even a good platoon bat in the role. His value as a 3rd string Catcher or backup 1st baseman would be negligible, even if he were good at those roles. The main questions should be: is his bat worth the money, or are there better ways to spend the dough?

LeCroy this season hit a solid .260/.354/.444 in 350 plate appearances, including a whopping .306/.404/.621 against lefty pitching. LeCroy's 5.56 RC/27 rate (Runs Created per 27 outs) was second amongst lineup regulars on the team, after only Joe Mauer. His 111 OPS+ was even better than Mauer (108 OPS+), better than any regular on the team. Yes, he's slow, he has marginal fielding skills, and he struggles with righty pitching. But his bat was an asset to the lineup, just the same. A 17.9 VORP for a part-time bat at less than $2 mil is a nice value.

Does the GM think he can bring in a free agent to upgrade the DH spot for that kind of money?

In the 1B/DH bargain bin this winter, he'll be looking at names like Mark Sweeney, John Olerud, Eduardo Perez, Daryle Ward, Robert Fick, Olmedo Saenz, J.T. Snow, Brad Fullmer, Greg Colbrunn, Ruben Sierra, and maybe Raffy Palmeiro if things get desperate for both Palmeiro and the Twins. Only Sweeney and Palmeiro had more value than LeCroy, measured by VORP, this season; and not by all that much. Sweeney was worth 23.2 VORP in 267 PA's this season, Palmeiro was worth 18.9 VORP in 442 PA's.

So if the Twins mean to upgrade on LeCroy's production next year, Ryan will probably have to swing a trade for someone like Lyle Overbay from Milwaukee (33.2 VORP, 2nd year arb., due to be forced out by Prince Fielder) or David Dellucci from Texas (35.5 VORP, due $950k next season, may be available for pitching), to name just two possibilities. Or, perhaps Ryan will apply LeCroy's money to a larger lump of dough to lure an even bigger fish to the Land O' Lakes.

Either way, this could work out fine. But it seems odd that Terry Ryan didn't see LeCroy as a trading chip to offer around this winter. A bench bat who crushes lefty pitching, and is still bound by arbitration, should have some trade value. Why outright him to AAA and just cut him loose? Is he just in such a hurry to clear his books so he can go right after other acquisition targets next month? Any ideas on that?

Meanwhile, farewell to you, Flounder. You didn't quite become the Big Stick we projected a few years ago, but you were an asset to the lineup, a fun character, and I always felt good rooting for you. Happy landings.