Jason Leblebijian Interview

Today's interview is with Jason Leblebijian.  Leb, as we know him as at Bradley University (or "Lebby" to one special guy), is a shortstop in the Toronto Blue Jays organization.  Currently he is playing on the Advanced-A FSL Dunedin Blue Jays.  He took time to answer some questions about his career.  Here is a link to his MiLB player page:

This week on Pitcher's Duel

Coming up this week on the Duel:

This week is full of fun interviews with players inside professional basebal

Tuesday will feature an interview with Jason Leblebijian who is shortstop in the Toronto Blue Jays organization.  Wednesday will be an interview with Joe Bircher who is a left-handed pitcher with the Houston Astros.

Thursday will feature an interview with Tom Quinlan who spend years with the Blue Jays, Phillies and Twins.  Friday’s interview will finish up with Terry Steinbach who was an All-Star catcher with the Oakland A’s and Minnesota Twins and is the current bench coach for the Minnesota Twins.  

Follow us on Twitter @Pitchers_Duel to keep up with the articles.  Your comments and thoughts are welcomed!

What To Do With Aaron Hicks?

Two hits in thirty-two plate appearances.

That's Aaron Hicks production in his first week as a major leaguer. That's also good for a .067/.125/.067 batting line.

Consequently, a lot of questions have been asked around the Twin Cities if Hicks should still be in the majors, let alone the starting lineup. Many celebrated when the lineup for yesterday's game had Darin Mastroianni penciled in Hicks' place.

But is Hicks really this bad? Does he just need some AAA seasoning?

Twins Minor League Primer

For some organizations, the most interesting games lie in the minor leagues. Minnesota is one of these organizations. The major league team won't offer much hope to hope-starved fans. That's not to say they'll be unwatchable or Joe Mauer won't hit .400 (cross your fingers), but this is not remotely a playoff club.

The minor league system offers hope. Ranked #4 in all of baseball, the organization is stacked with hope, projection, power, speed and velocity. Ergo, Twins fans like myself have something to get excited about even if it won't add any wins to the 2013 ledger.

Here's a Twins primer on what to look for in 2013.

Contributors

I know I just spent two paragraphs bashing the major league club, but along with Aaron Hicks, these guys should offer a glimpse into the future at some point this season.


Kyle Gibson -- Gibson could be the best pitcher, major or minor league, in the organization today. I'd be surprised if he's not facing major league competition by the end of May.

Alex Meyer -- The highest ceiling of any pitcher in the system, he could see the majors in September.

Michael Tonkin -- I'm not sure I'm sold on Tonkin, but people close to the team love him as a future closer. We'll see his debut in September

Oswaldo Arcia -- Of all the players we will see in 2013, I'm most excited about Arcia. He has absolutely raked at every level and is reminiscent, to me, of a pre-injury Jason Kubel who can hit for average, power and run a little bit.

Chris Herrmann -- Does the term "back-up catcher of the future" get you aroused? Me too. He'll be playing in Rochester with a likely call-up as soon as the Twins are fed up with Doumit behind the plate. This is especially the case since Drew Butera was recently sidelined by a broken hand.

Blue Chips

Byron Buxton -- In my mind, Buxton is the top prospect in the system. He has the potential to not just be a five-tool player, but a player with five top-of-the-line tools. Think Mike Trout. Of course, that's what dreams are made of and there's barely a 1% chance it all works out. He's already 4-10 with a home run and two steals in Low-A. He'll be there all year.

Miguel Sano -- Not many teams have a 1-2 punch like Buxton and Sano. He doesn't have the speed or defensive utility, but the power is present. He'll shoot for 30 bombs and hopefully raise the batting average into the .280-.290 range, which, based on what I've read, is likely. He'll start the season in Fort Meyers, but could follow the Arcia path to AA mid-season if he hits well enough.

Others of Interest

Danny Santana -- Interesting shortstop prospect at a high level. Will play in AA.

Trevor May -- He throws fire but doesn't know where it's going. I'm not overly excited about his future, but if he puts it all together it's going to be massive.

Max Kepler -- The German born outfielder gets his first taste of full season ball. Crazy athletic, he could be a force in left or right field.

J.O Berrios -- Small package but huge talent, he's put up numbers everywhere he's been and will try to keep it going on a stacked Cedar Rapids team.

Kennys Vargas -- Great name and huge power. He could be a future DH in the majors and will be serving that role in Fort Meyers this season. Not to mention, if I left him off the list Andy would not be pleased.

Jorge Polanco and Niko Goodrum -- A couple middle infielders with big potential. I didn't really want to put them on the list, but there's a chance I'd regret their omission. Both are very far away.

2012 Draft Class -- There's a lot of college pitchers (Luke Bard, Mason Melotakis, Zack Jones, DJ Baxendale and J.T. Chartgois) that will be playing full-season ball this year. Adam Walker has HUGE power, we'll see how the rest goes.

It's Papa Grande Time

The role of closer is something that is debated heavily in baseball circles.  The “stats nerds” claim the best bullpen arm should be the guy first out of the pen to pitch in the highest leverage situation and the “traditional” (aka Tony LaRussa) type, believe teams need a pitcher to come in to start the ninth inning when their team is winning by three runs or less.

Whatever your personal belief, you can’t deny that watching some guys close out games is exciting.  Seeing Jonathan Papelbon’s mean stare, Mariano Rivera’s calm demeanor or Fernando Rodney’s bow and arrow makes the game that much more fun to watch.

Carlos Gomez Extension

Earlier Wednesday, news came out that Carlos Gomez signed a four year, $28.3 million deal to stay in Milwaukee. Andy and Nils disagree on the merits of the deal. Here ya go:

Andy’s take:

Earlier today I tweeted that I am not a fan of the Carlos Gomez signing.  He will make $28.3 million through the 2016 season.  

The reason I think Car-Go is not worthy of this extension is because he’s likely to regress from the .260/.305/.463 line he showed in 2012 (along with 19 home runs).  In 2012 he had a 2.0 WARP and BP projects him to have a 1.6 in 2013.

The tools are there.  They always have been.  But the lack of plate discipline he shows will never result in a high OBP and it doesn’t help with his grip-and-rip approach.  Swinging at so many balls out of the zone won’t lead to a lot of good contact which is probable cause for BP to predict that he will hit for a .245 average.  

The Brewers have a less-than-stellar rotation after Yovani Gallardo and nobody in the minors that standout as a future top-of-the-rotation arm.  They did draft Jed Bradley and Taylor Jungmann in the first round of the draft in 2011 but they are both a couple of years away from MLB production.

This money could have been saved (as I don’t believe they will be contenders in the NL Central this season) for a future free agent (as long as it isn’t another Jeff Suppan or Randy Wolf) or as extra money if they make a deal for a pitcher.

Nils take:

My initial reaction to today's Carlos Gomez extension was that it was a bad deal. Four years for a guy who doesn't hit or walk and is a massive headache for Brewers' fans? Seems excessive; I mean, he's not terrible but there are plenty of center fielders who can't hit that are available for much less.

However, once you look past what he can't do, this deal actually makes a lot of sense. Starting with Gomez' largest asset (there had to be a better way to phrase that...) - he's one of the premier defensive center fielders in the league. He's always had the tools - tremendous range and a huge arm - but regularly took the worst possible routes and sailed the ball over the cutoff man. Well, by his sixth season in the majors, he's a much more refined product than before: finally parlaying those tools into skills. John Dewan, author of The Fielding Bible, ranks Gomez as one of the best five center fielders of the last decade and attributes him roughly ten runs per season. At about $7 million a year, the Brewers will be paying for slightly under two wins per season. Ten runs are generally equated to one win, so half of their investment is taken care of by just one aspect of his game. Granted, as players age their defense diminishes. But being 27-31 for the contract, this shouldn't be a significant problem.

A legitimate issue relates to his bat. He'll never be the .300 hitter we love to see out of speedy guys. But with that said, he's not the .229 hitter that Twins fans saw in 2009. I would peg his future batting averages in the .250-.265 range. His strikeout rate, 21.7% last season, isn't pretty but it's acceptable. Especially for a guy with his speed who should be able make the most out of the balls he puts in play. For example, last year's babip of .296 (that led to a .260 batting average) is completely reasonable to expect going forward. When compared with the league's mean batting average of .255, that actually looks pretty good. Gomez rarely walks, leading to a subpar on base average. But nobody's perfect and he should be counted on as more of a bottom of the order spark more than a top of the order table setter.  Gomez also has the power to pop out 50+ extra base hits and wreak havoc on the base paths; a very solid secondary skill set. That being said, he's not a 20 homer guy like we saw in 2012. More likely he'll hit 30 doubles, a dozen triples and a dozen homer runs.

All that was a barely coherent attempt to paint a picture of Gomez diverse, unconventional (the only comparison I can make is Peter Bourjos) skill set. I believe he will be worth the $28 million investment and in the end the Brew Crew will look smart for making it.

Side note: Gomez and Nori Aoki make up one of the most underrated outfield duo in the league. Neither has a skill that pops out to the average baseball fan (average, homers, RBI, etc.) but they can really play. It also doesn't help they're playing alongside Ryan Braun.

USA WBC Roster: Where Did They Come From?

When I thought about the U.S. World Baseball Classic roster, I thought that these must be the best players from the United States.  This must mean they all have been drafted and they were likely high picks.  

So here is a breakdown of the roster in the round the player was picked along with the team and draft year.