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ORIGINAL: Mr. Ed

Still only 28...

The Yankees have apparently reached an agreement with Chris Parmelee, as per his own Instagram page. As a left-handed hitting first baseman/outfielder, Parmelee will essentially fill the spot left on the Yankees’ depth chart once Greg Bird was lost for the season after shoulder surgery.

Parmelee, who turns 28 on Wednesday, opted to become a free agent following a season that saw him hit only .216/.255/.433 over 102 plate appearances with the Orioles but a much more impressive .314/.386/.444 slash line in 272 PA at Triple-A Norfolk. Parmelee has a modest .707 OPS over 1003 Major League PA with virtually the same splits against right-handed pitching as he does against lefties.

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ORIGINAL: sixthwi

I can't believe that Matt didn't post this already:

•The Angels have hired Brendan Harris and Ben Francisco as pro scouts, Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times reports (via Twitter). The hirings would suggest that Harris and Francisco are retiring after lengthy professional careers that saw both men play for six different franchises and play their last big league games in 2013. Harris spent eight seasons in the majors, with 390 of his 529 career games coming as a regular with the Rays and Twins from 2007-09. The versatile Harris saw lots of time at shortstop, third base and second base over his career and he hit .256/.314/.381 over 1876 plate appearances with six different franchises.

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ORIGINAL: SoMnFan

Who's Brendan?

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ORIGINAL: Black 47

Just an observation on the 2004 team and wondering about other's thoughts at the time. Looking back at the Mientkiewicz/Morneau situation. Mient was having an unproductive, injury plagued season, and Morneau was the hot prospect waiting in the wings. Kid was a beast. To this day I don't know why he chose to slim down rather than stay bulked up.

But to my point.........Morneau was ready be called up. And Lew Ford had a great first half of the season. Rather than keep Mientkiewicz at 1B and DH Morneau, Gardy chose to put Morneau at 1st base and keep Ford at DH. This created tension. Mient was pissed. Even remember a shouting match between him and Ford. Then Mient requested a trade.

So my question........did Mient have a right to expect he'd get one more shot to make a playoff run as the everyday 1st baseman with the group he came up with? And Morneau move from DH to 1B the following season? I did feel bad for Mient that Gardy essentially chose a scrub like Ford over him. And as fate would have it, Ford sucked the last two months of the season.

In the end it turned out good for Mient. He got a ring. But at the time, I did kind of feel like he got the shaft. Thoughts?

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ORIGINAL: Black 47

Thanks for the responses TF and SMF. You're right. Mient had his chances, and he blew it. He was always hurt, and when he wasn't hurt, he was sucking. We think Mauer is fragile, Mient was twice as fragile. Had he been a good citizen and been professional, he probably would have played alot down the stretch when Ford struggled. But he wanted out. I believe Mient did apologize sometime after the trade because he didn't want bridges burned. That's the only reason they let him back in the organization.

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ORIGINAL: Black 47

Koskie was a good guy. Had a couple nice years. Still wonder "what if" his double hadn't bounced over the fence for a ground rule double in game 2. We might have won that series.

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ORIGINAL: Mr. Ed

Similar to the Ortiz situation: Twins constantly focused on the negatives...


MESA, Ariz. — Most players labeled “platoon” seldom shake that tag, and if they do so, it’s maybe after their first year or two as they get adjusted to the major leagues.

Seldom does a big-leaguer break out of the platoon category in his 30s, but third baseman Danny Valencia was not going to simply accept the role.

“He’s a competitive guy,” Oakland hitting coach Darren Bush said. “When you believe you should be playing every day and you’re not, some guys can fold and some guys can rise. With Danny’s competitiveness and his confidence, he rose.”

Valencia, 31, has homered in four of his past five games this spring, including a two-out, two-run blast on an 0-2 pitch Saturday in the A’s 7-6 win over the Reds. He also doubled and he’s batting .385 this spring.

Two of his homers have come off right-handers — and last year, after Oakland claimed him on waivers from Toronto, Valencia belted eight of his 11 homers off right-handed pitchers. He hit .289 with a .903 OPS against righties, .273 with an .843 OPS versus left-handers.

He went straight into Oakland’s cleanup spot and stayed there. So much for being a platoon guy.

“Sometimes you’re a little combative about the fact someone is labeling you,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “I called him after we made the deal off waivers and I told him our expectations and he told me right away, ‘I hit righties just as well as I hit lefties.’ “I said, ‘Well, if you stay in there and get the opportunity to do that, I’d like to see that.’ And he did that from Day One.”

Out of nowhere, essentially, the A’s found a middle-of-the-order hitter who isn’t a free agent until after next season, a player who hit 18 homers combined between Toronto and Oakland last year despite his part-time status with the Blue Jays.

What might he do playing every day?

“I don’t put numbers on anything, but I think he’s going to give you a competitive at-bat every day and you know he’s going to be prepared,” Bush said. “You’re not going to find anyone more prepared. Danny puts his work in.”

Valencia is dedicated to his craft, and that maybe goes a little unseen, especially for a player who has played for six organizations in the past four years — but the A’s took note. And when they had choice to make this offseason between moving him or Brett Lawrie, they traded Lawrie.As it turns out, all that moving around was a major plus for Valencia. He learned a lot at every stop — especially from watching Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion last year in Toronto.

“It was watching those guys drive the ball against righties, staying on the ball,” Valencia said. “When you have power, it’s easy to pull the ball, but it’s a gift and a curse. If you can hit the ball the other way, it keeps you on the ball longer. Up until last year, I struggled with being able to hit the ball out to opposite field, and once I was able to do that I was able to have more success.”

Bush said that one thing that stands out about Valencia is that “his bat is in the zone for a very long time. When that happens, you give yourself a really good chance to succeed.”

“I remember Joe Mauer used to talk about that — being quick in and out of the zone, you really give yourself one chance, but if you’re in the zone a long time, balls that beat you can bloop in,” said Valencia, naming Miguel Cabrera as one player he studies on video. “Great players who hit for average, the bat is in the zone, so I watched guys with success doing it and I try to emulate them, but it’s so hard, I haven’t been consistent with it.”

Billy Butler played with Valencia in Kansas City in 2014, so he’s seen the transformation from bit player to cleanup man.

‘You don’t see guys too often doing what he’s doing later in his career,” Butler said. “You’ve got to give him credit for what he’s doing, obviously: He’s in his 30s and playing the best baseball of his career.”

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ORIGINAL: TJSweens

I'll believe it for Valencia when I see it for a full season. He has had scattered success in Baltimore in 2013 and went back in the tank in 2014. He had a nice year again last year, but 384 PA is kind of a limited sample. At any rate when the guy bounces to 6 teams over 4 years, I have a hard time blaming his woes on the Twins.

As for Ortiz, his boo hoo the Twins prevented me from hitting more home runs and done me wrong schtick is wearing a little thin. I didn't agree the decision to release him, but let's not forget that nobody was interested until Boston signed him half way through ST. He hit one or two HR before the AS break with them. He started juicing and the balls started flying out of the park. The Twins have a long laundry list of f*** ups, but Ortiz's story is more a case that it sounds better to say the Twins philosophy held him back than it does to admit that his career took off when he started roiding.

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ORIGINAL: SoMnFan

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ORIGINAL: TJSweens

I'll believe it for Valencia when I see it for a full season. He has had scattered success in Baltimore in 2013 and went back in the tank in 2014. He had a nice year again last year, but 384 PA is kind of a limited sample. At any rate when the guy bounces to 6 teams over 4 years, I have a hard time blaming his woes on the Twins.

As for Ortiz, his boo hoo the Twins prevented me from hitting more home runs and done me wrong schtick is wearing a little thin. I didn't agree the decision to release him, but let's not forget that nobody was interested until Boston signed him half way through ST. He hit one or two HR before the AS break with them. He started juicing and the balls started flying out of the park. The Twins have a long laundry list of f*** ups, but Ortiz's story is more a case that it sounds better to say the Twins philosophy held him back than it does to admit that his career took off when he started roiding.

I can't tell, anyone ITold You So about Papi.
I was fine with his jettison.
He was a dog here, IMO, a dog.

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ORIGINAL: TJSweens

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ORIGINAL: SoMnFan

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ORIGINAL: TJSweens

I'll believe it for Valencia when I see it for a full season. He has had scattered success in Baltimore in 2013 and went back in the tank in 2014. He had a nice year again last year, but 384 PA is kind of a limited sample. At any rate when the guy bounces to 6 teams over 4 years, I have a hard time blaming his woes on the Twins.

As for Ortiz, his boo hoo the Twins prevented me from hitting more home runs and done me wrong schtick is wearing a little thin. I didn't agree the decision to release him, but let's not forget that nobody was interested until Boston signed him half way through ST. He hit one or two HR before the AS break with them. He started juicing and the balls started flying out of the park. The Twins have a long laundry list of f*** ups, but Ortiz's story is more a case that it sounds better to say the Twins philosophy held him back than it does to admit that his career took off when he started roiding.

I can't tell, anyone ITold You So about Papi.
I was fine with his jettison.
He was a dog here, IMO, a dog.

My issue with the release at the time was Ryan thinking he had better options in house and he clearly didn't. One of the rare occasions where I will give Ryan credit is that he manned up about that one. But to me, Big Papi is just another cheaten ass bastard. I think his stories about the "Twins Way" holding him back is more about a good cover story than any real merit. The Twins way was not the difference between a guy struggling to hit 20 HR and a guy who could suddenly hit 45 with ease.

I'm sure I will get ripped for saying this about the beloved Big Papi, but the man has zero credibility with me.