With Orlando Hudson going to the 15 day DL recently, the Twins brought up catcher Jose Morales from AAA to fill the roster spot instead of bringing up another infielder.
Ron Gardenhire felt that he was okay with the infielding situation because of being able to use Cuddyer, Cassilla, Hardy, Punto, and Vanlencia, and (fingers crossed) hoping that soon Justin Morneau would be back to take his spot at first base as well.
Gardenhire commented that the reason he wants to carry 3 catchers for a while is so that he can put Joe Mauer as the DH from time to time, and have a pinch hitting option for Butera late in the game without having to move Joe to the catcher position.
I’m good with that. That explanation makes sense to me. But I’m still confused about one thing…
Let’s all play baseball manager for a moment.
If you have decided to bring up a catcher from the minors, why choose Jose Morales instead of Wilson Ramos? Ramos is one of the top rated minor league players out there. Why not bring him up for another stint in the bigs?
To be honest, I don’t have a solid answer for that myself.
In fact, I can’t really make it make sense in my mind.
Don’t get me wrong… I don’t expect it to be a big deal. I don’t expect Joe Mauer to miss too much time over the next couple of weeks. I imagine that the plan is to play Mauer during the night games, and during the day games let Drew Butera catch while Joe plays DH.
But the fact still remains that Wilson Ramos is one of the top baseball prospects in the country. Wouldn’t experience in the big leagues be helpful to him?
Some have said that Gardenhire wants Ramos to play every day to gain experience. That answer makes sense to me when you’re talking about a full time roster spot. I understand that that’s the reason that Butera is ultimately on the roster while Ramos stays in AAA. But would 15 days away from AAA really hurt his growth all that much? And wouldn’t getting a chance to face some big league pitchers a couple times in those 15 days actually be better experience for him?
Another reason I heard is that the Twins ultimately plan on trading Ramos, while Morales will end up as the backup catcher as soon as next year. Again, I understand trading Wilson Ramos when you have Joe Mauer locked up for the next 8 years. But wouldn’t bringing Ramos up help showcase him a bit? Wouldn’t it potentially help his trade value?
The only other option that I can think of is that the Twins look at Jose Morales as being a better baseball player than Wilson Ramos.
And that one I can’t buy at all.
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