Giants Acquire Pierzynski

[David Steele]

Excellent move by SF. We were thinking maybe try and get
Pudge but that is not possible so this is almost as good.

They were looking thin at catcher, with Santiago heading for the old age home, although Torrealba is very promising too.

D.

[andyfox]

[andyfox]

Twins GM Terry Ryan says he still doesn't know which of the free agents "It helps that we have some very good young players" said Ryan, "but we'd like to keep as much of the team together as possible." When asked if Joe Mauer is ready, Ryan deflects the conversation. "I don't like to talk about Mauer because we have an All-Star catcher named A.J. Pierzynski who's a huge part of the team and our success."

Not that huge, apparently.

[Dynasty]

Pierzynski is one of the better hitting catchers in baseball. I think he can be a 15-20 HR guy in the next couple years while batting .300 and catching a good game.

Pierzynski was valuable to the Twins but he was going to push their payroll up a couple million with his arbitration case coming up. The Twins are hoping that Joe Mauer is ready for the big leagues at a very early age. Mauer will be just 20 on opening day, 2004. Mauer was named Baseball America's minor league player of the year in 2003 and is protected to have hitting skills like Mike Piazza and better defensive skills than Ivan Rodriguez.

[Utah]

I am a Twins fan and I hate the fact that we have the cheapest frickin owner on the planet.

The guy is worth over $1 Billion and he wouldn't throw a few extra million to win a championship.

Note: Mauer shouldn't even be on the damn team. The only reason the Twins drafted him is so they didn't have to draft Prior and pay him the millions he was going cost.

[Sooga]

[ QUOTE ]
protected to have hitting skills like Mike Piazza and better defensive skills than Ivan Rodriguez.

[/ QUOTE ]

.... So Mauer is projected to be the greatest catcher in major league history?

[andyfox]

Pierzynski's hiting will suffer, IMO, in San Francisco. While he hits .300, he hardly ever walks, and thus has a low OBP. He hit a lot of doubles in Minnesota, but the turf helped there.

Mauer sure seems like a cant-miss, but sometimes when a catcher is rushed into big league service, he ends up being, well, Todd Zeile.

[WillMagic]

Good move for both sides.

Giants get a very good catcher at a reasonable price.

Twins open up space for Mauer AND get a very serviceable reliever in Nathan and two of the Giants' top ten arms.

When both teams deal from positions of strength, this is the kind of good deal you get.

Though I have the same concerns as Andy in regard to Pac Bell, I don't think there is a player in baseball who wouldn't be adversely affected it. Probably we're looking at:

.280 BA, .320 OBP, 10 HRS, 75 RBIs....etc...

You have to love Brian Sabean.

Will

[Dynasty]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
protected to have hitting skills like Mike Piazza and better defensive skills than Ivan Rodriguez.

[/ QUOTE ]

.... So Mauer is projected to be the greatest catcher in major league history?

[/ QUOTE ]

Just about.

[Sooga]

[ QUOTE ]
Pierzynski's hiting will suffer, IMO, in San Francisco. While he hits .300, he hardly ever walks, and thus has a low OBP. He hit a lot of doubles in Minnesota, but the turf helped there.

Mauer sure seems like a cant-miss, but sometimes when a catcher is rushed into big league service, he ends up being, well, Todd Zeile.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey man, lay off Zeile! He's got the most homers in major league history.... of all players whose last names start with Z. He also holds a major league home run record..... by homering with 10 different teams. First ballot hall of famer, no question.

[whiskeytown]

those NL players better be careful - I think A.J. has got a bit of a rep. here in Minnesota for irritating players running into home.

Put it to you this way, he's not just going to try to tag you out on your way into home plate, he's going to try to knock you on your ass...if there was an unnecessary roughness penalty in baseball, he'd have gotten a few.

[andyfox]

It was Joe Torre's idea, when he was managing St. Louis, to make T.Z. into a 3rd baseman. I guess Torre figured if they could make him (Torre) a 3rd baseman, any catcher could do it.

T.Z. went to my alma mater, but I think the Angel's current third baseman, also a UCLAer, is destined to end up with more lifetime home runs.

[Sooga]

[ QUOTE ]

T.Z. went to my alma mater, but I think the Angel's current third baseman, also a UCLAer, is destined to end up with more lifetime home runs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yea, but his name's not Troy Zlaus.