Crede to Twins?

[Dahitman44]

info from the twins HSOforum --

What makes Crede an intriguing option is the production he's had when healthy. He batted .283 with 30 home runs and 94 RBIs in 2006, his last fully healthy season. And despite playing in just 97 games for the White Sox last season, Crede hit 17 home runs -- more than double the number the Twins had for the entire season at third base.

Defensively, Crede has also been one of the top third basemen in the league. In three of the last four seasons, Crede has produced a revised zone rating of .737 or higher and is considered by many scouts to be a Gold Glove caliber fielder -- when healthy.

[zamboni]

Yeah when healthy. People don't get younger, they get older. If we sign him and he is productive- great. Or if we sign him like we did Rondell White and he sits on the bench for a season and a half. It is a possibility.

[greebs]

buscher would be in the minors if he were with any other team. if crede will take a one year incentive laden contract or maybe one with option for the second year sign him now before someone else does.

playing on the 3b dirt is different than playing of. he's not running on the hard turf all that much. the injury risk is still there with him but imo that's no more of a risk than the mediocre play risk you have by playing buscher instead provided crede can be signed at a decent price

[Drewski]

buscher would be in the minors if he were with any other team.

Boy you got that right. Buscher is horrible at 3rd. I like Harris, but if we got crede it would allow us to sit busher and have harris back him up.

[Cicada]

My comparison of Batista and Crede isn't so much how they got there, more like how I think it would end the same way.

If I remember correctly, the dome has a cutout for third base and most of the time the fielder plays beyond that cutout. He will be diving chest first on to the turf. Second thought; would it be really softer to dive on the dirt than the turf?

I'll stick to my guns on this one.

[fishyguy]

I can't see puting a guy with a bad back on artificial turf. Really, that would be stupid on Crede's part to even try it. The Twins have been trying to posture this team for the 2010 season with the new ballpark. Last year's successs was a bit unexpected. I can't see them altering their plan. Buscher will get another year to show improvement and earn the spot. So many guys on this site act like little kids just before Christmas. They want all the good stuff without asking where the money would come from to pay for it all. When you don't get what you want, you get all whiny and stuff.

I get the bad back on turf thing which is why I stated earlier that Crede must really believe he is healthy. He is taking as much or more of a risk than the Twins if he gets hurt.

I don't think I am acting like a kid before Christmas. We still have spent the 20+ million we saved when Torii and Johan left. I am acting like the kid whose Dad stole his lures out of his tackle box and just wants some of his stuff back.

If we don't get him we sure can hope Buscher improves. Don't fall in love with his .294 average from last year. His career minor league number is .280. His career fielding is .940. Everyone seems to think he has some pop in his bat also. Give him 500 AB's last year and he has a grand total of 9 HR's based on the whopping 4 he had in 200+ AB. So lets see what we have.....poor fielding, limited power and decent average if he continues to excede what his minor league numbers while facing major league pitching. Not what any team should have at 3rd contender or not.

You must of been great for your parents around Christmas. No whining and a couple of lumps of coal in the stocking and you were all good.

[fishyguy]

My comparison of Batista and Crede isn't so much how they got there, more like how I think it would end the same way.

If I remember correctly, the dome has a cutout for third base and most of the time the fielder plays beyond that cutout. He will be diving chest first on to the turf. Second thought; would it be really softer to dive on the dirt than the turf?

I'll stick to my guns on this one.

If you have proper technique it really doesn't matter although you do slide better on grass or dirt than turf which can add a little extra jolt. Your point on this is valid and worth considering but I am pretty sure the Twins and their team Docs will check out his health before they start writing checks.

[knoppers]

the twins need a 3B guy that can hit and field, and I think crede would be a great guy to play there. he also would make guys like morneau and kubel that much better with another power threat in the line up.

the only other 3B man out there would be wigginton, and I am not sure he is much of a upgrade over harris.

[SledNeck]

dont fall in love with his .294 avg?

[fishyguy]

dont fall in love with his .294 avg?

Just saying that those numbers far outdoes what his career minor league average is. I wouldn't count on him batting near .300. He may but even if he does bat .294, he still doesn't have any power (for that position), and can't field. His .938 fielding percentage last year ranked 49th for guys who played at least 30 games at 3B.

I am not saying he doesn't belong on the team but not as your everyday 3B. The Twins wouldn't be looking for someone if he was.

[genegodawa]

dude,

Re: early jobs interest/early crushes lack of interest --- I noticed that too a few days ago.

Great minds think alike!

[Willy]

Crede, sign me up. If we truly can get him for a one year deal for under 7-8 mil, do it now. If he is really healthy, his defense at third is excellent. Twins infield has been poor defesively the last few year. Not poor, but not the Twins type D we expect.

He will probably, hit around .250 and only get on base at a .300 clip or so. But the guy has pop and think he would help shore up the right side nicely. He is also one of those big game type guys. He was alot of the reason the Sox won the WS when they did.

[norwall]

This makes the most sense to me even though it didnt work in the past,but Crede sucks and were not gonna spend any $ so put Cuddy back to 3b and Span in lf GOGO in Center Delmon in right as reported in the Trib. today

[jigging-matt]

They tried Cuddy at 3rd. Didn't work that well. Leave cuddy at right, but span in left, gomez in center. Pick up a 3rd baseman. I think Crede, with harris giving him a rest is a good option.

[maros91]

1- Spahn RF

2- Casilla 2B

3- Mauer C

4- Crede 3B

5- Morneau 1B

6- Cuddyer DH

7- Young LF

8- Harris/Punto SS

9- Gomez CF

I can live with this.

[mrklean]

like they said before health is the factor, but the lineup is pretty good

[Willy]

Crede would bat behind Justin to give protection. And Cuddy to 3rd will likely not happen.

Twins will whiff on this one I'm sure. They are too afraid to spend the money. So far, Bill Smith has been the worst sports executive in Minnesota's history! He is now trigger shy. If they don't at least get bullpen help, then he should be fired immediately.

[Cicada" Dad]

Young Cicada was a fine son. Many a Christmas, he had to go without any "real" presents. Even though he had nothing, he still offered to help wrap the ones we could afford and still found time to go down to the church and volunteer to wrap for those less fortunate.

Good thing he had a lot of spare time, from not playing with gifts, so he could study the right way to play and build a baseball team.

I only with I had been blessed with more children like him. The rest of the kids were a little bit squirrely.

Please be kind to my dearest Cicada. He is wiser than many of you may know.

[Cicada]

Ahhh, shucks, thanks Dad...LOVE YA' MAN...and...ummm...the check's in the mail.

[SledNeck]

1- Spahn RF

2- Casilla 2B

3- Mauer C

4- Crede 3B

5- Morneau 1B

6- Cuddyer DH

7- Young LF

8- Harris/Punto SS

9- Gomez CF

I can live with this.

Id rather see Kubel hit than Cuddy..doesnt matter what hand the pitcher is

[Drewski]

1- Spahn RF

2- Casilla 2B

3- Mauer C

4- Crede 3B

5- Morneau 1B

6- Cuddyer DH

7- Young LF

8- Harris/Punto SS

9- Gomez CF

I can live with this.

I like that lineup. Switch cuddyer and kubel at the DH position depending on the pitching and it would be a solid lineup.

[mike morris]

Hey Drew. I'm back

[greebs]

I happened to run into mama cicada a while back. She spoke proudly of her young cicada and had fond memories of him as a young boy.

One of those memories was of how he dearly he loved to play monopoly as a youngster. "Young cicada just absolutely loved to play monopoly, but it was kind of unusual how he played the game. It was as if he never really wanted to ever win a game; he just was content to let others win and was completely satisfied to say that at least he got the chance to participate in the game and had a little bit of fun. He seldom purchases any real estate when he landed on a square even though he had generally had plenty of money. On a rare occasion he might buy one of those cheap pieces of real estate on the board that you get basically nothing for rent on when your opponent lands on that square. And on the rare occasion where he put multiple hotels on any particular spot, it seemed that he always ended up losing that piece of real estate to one of the other players without hardly any kind of a fight. This way of playing seemed boring and I questioned the strategy but he would just continue to take his turn of rolling the dice and moving his character around the gameboard and being perfectly content while the other game players would strategically buy better pieces of real estate at least once in a while."

She went on to say that whenever he landed on one of the 'chance' squares, he absolutely refused to draw one of the orange cards. "I'd always encourage him to draw a chance card once in a while because quite often that card can be a good thing but he always passed on that and said that he didn't want to take the chance. Seems he could never forget about games we had played last year and in prior years where he once in a while picked up the chance card and it cost him a little money and was afraid of drawing one of those cards again. Had he actually drawn a chance card at least once in a while, I think he may have had a decent shot of winning a game or two, but guess we'll never know."

She also mentioned that he had some friends that he played with that did tend to get a little greedy and purchased everthing that they could get their hands on when landing on a square. Sometimes it worked for them and they won but whenever they lost, it was funny how little cicada would always brag about those guys losing the game even though little cicada didn't win the game either using his strategy. He took great satisfaction in those times where he was in second place when the game ended and tell the winner that maybe next time they played again, the outcome might be different. Of course mama cicada knew that the chances of little cicada winning the next time they played would be slim if he continued to use the same strategy, but he was ever the optimist. She said that she eventually quit encouraging him to occasionally buy some some non-cheap real estate properties once in a while or try turning one of the "chance" cards over during the game because he'd actually get upset at her for even suggesting it.

Mama cicada then chuckled and said "I was talking with the boy just the other day about monopoly and he brought up the last time he won a monopoly game back in 1991. I reminded him how much fun it was to watch him win the game that time and it was especially fun watching how he changed his strategy that particular game by purchasing a few of the mid-range properties and occasionally drawing a 'chance' card when he landed on the square. I just wish that he'd at least try that strategy at least once in a while nowadays but sadly, he's kind of stubborn and thinks his way of playing monopoly will one day take him back to 1991."

(Just funnin' with ya)

[Cicada]

...and sometimes he would miss a turn, being so involved reading his Baseball Digest, you know, the one with Bump Wills on the cover...

[Cicada]

...and then...one time... at band camp...