Twins sign 3B Mike Lamb December 14th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
The Twins signed their second former Houston Astro infielder of week, offering Mike Lamb a 2-year deal worth $6.6 million with a club option for 2010. Lamb has not surpassed 400 AB since his rookie season of 2000 with the Texas Rangers. He spent his years in Houston playing behind third baseman Morgan Ensberg.
The move likely gives the Twins their best offensive 3rd baseman since the Corey Koskie era. His lines for the past 4 seasons are:
2007: .289/.366/.453 2006: .307/.361/.475 2005: .236/.284/.419 2004: .288/.356/.511
Even in his down year of 2005 he was far more productive than Nick Punto’s .210/.291/.271 line. Nick Punto, a switch-hitter, is far more valuable as a pinch hitter and utility infielder and this move allows Punto to move back into that role.
Bill Smith hasn’t brought in any huge names this year, but he’s added a lot of depth to the lineup. While last year they relied on guys like Jeff Cirillo and Luis Rodriguez for depth, this year they’ll have Punto and Craig Monroe anchoring the bench. There’s still a gaping hole in CF that needs to be addressed, but assuming that can get done, this should be an improved lineup over last year.
C: Joe Mauer returns, hopefully in better health 1B: Justin Morneau returns 2B: The favorite appears to be Brendan Harris which is likely a downgrade from Luis Castillo, but possibly an upgrade over Alexi Casilla’s late season play 3B: Lamb is a major improvement over Punto or Brian Buscher SS: Adam Everett is an offensive downgrade, but not drastically LF: Delmon Young is an upgrade over Jason Kubel, Rondell White or Jason Tyner CF: ???? RF: Michael Cuddyer returns DH: Kubel should be healthy and be able to stay healthy as an everyday DH, a position that was often filled by Mike Redmond and even Tyner. Much like Cuddyer needed to break out in 2006, 2008 will be Kubel’s year to show what he can do. Monroe will see some time as DH too.
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