A day late on this news, but the Oakland Athletics added infielder Trevor Plouffe on a one year deal.
Plouffe was a first round draft pick of the Twins aaaaallll the way back in 2004, and made his MLB debut in 2010.
Plouffe was a Pitcher and Shortstop in High School. He spent the last half of 2004 in Single A, 2 years in Double A, and
3 years at Triple A before getting the call up to the bigs.
Plouffe has a reputation as a bit of a throwback player - and certainly he works hard. He ultimately wasn't the answer at Short, but he showed versatility and a willingness to play anywhere on the diamond. He found some consistent playing time at the hot corner, and worked diligently to improve as a defender. He has a little bit of pop in his bat, and he's going to be missed in Minnesota.
I'm not quite sure what the A's are doing. I thought they were going to play all the young guys and now they are signing guys like Plouffe. What happens with Park/Vargas this year?
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that Park and Vargas will be competing in Spring Training for the DH role, with the loser starting at AAA and probably released or traded away by 2018. Since Park has the big contract, I think it is his job to lose.
DeleteThere are rumors that the Twins want to add a veteran bat, which includes names like Napoli and Bautista, both of which are real head scratchers to me...