I think Batista's been hearing all of the complaints about his range, so he went for the most obvious solution--get a bigger glove.

Mickey needed that thing to steal home runs over the plexiglass.

Bwahahahahahahaha.

That is all.

You know what they say about a man with a big glove...

Word verification: fwmfzogt. What SBG will exclaim with a mouthfull of nachos after Batista pops up for the 21st straight AB.

The Strib story says Batista had "a respectable 2005 season that saw him hit .263 with 27 HR and 90 RBI."

For the record, his full line was .263/.294/.463, 29 doubles, 1 triple, 27 HR, 90 RBI, 115 strikeouts, 14 DP, in 586 PA's. That's in a league that typically inflates power numbers. Hideki Matsui had a .692 SLG his last year in Japan; he has a .484 SLG in 3 years in New York. Some big HR sluggers in Japan are just AAA players or bit reserves for major league clubs in the US. It's just hard to believe that Terry Ryan finds much encouragement in that statline.

Hilarious pictures, though. Nice find, SBG.

I actually have (or had) a copy of that Hatcher card back in the day. When I saw that glove, I had to post a picture of that.

To be fair, the Japanese season is shorter (136 games) so you could add to Batista's counting stats a bit. And even though his rate stats still don't look good, I don't necessarily see them as evidence of a decline -- I imagine that for some players, adapting to Japanese baseball, not to mention Japanese society, is a difficult transition.

In that light, Batista's Japanese season might actually be encouraging, in that he stayed healthy and maintained his usual production (or lack thereof, depending on your point of view). Which might further explain why they're handing him the 3B job sight unseen (although I still wish they'd take advantage of his non-guaranteed deal and give him some legit competition).

In response to spycake's remark:

Although the Japanese season is shorter, Batista still got 559 at-bats, which is about on par with a Major League player (no one on the Twins had more than 551 last year). Therefore, I don't think you can really inflate the numbers at all. That said, if he could reproduce the production he had in Japan last year (.263/.298/.463), I'd be fine with that. That's not that bad at the bottom of the order, and we could use the home runs and RBI.

Unfortunately, I have trouble believing he is going to put up the same type of performance. The pitching in Japan is significantly worse than it is here - there's a reason Japanese pitchers have struggled in adjusting to the Majors.

It really makes you wonder about the source of all the love for Batista in the Twins organization. I'm not as down on him as some, and am willing to give him a chance, but I don't get why they're so afraid to give him some competition. First we had Terry Ryan saying he wouldn't look at signing a third baseman because he had a commitment to Batista. Now we have Gardenhire, before any spring training games are played, saying that Batista already has third base locked up.

I just don't get it. It's not like the guy is A-Rod. If they want to give him a chance, fine. It might work. Stranger things have happened. But it's sounding like he's going to get 500 at bats at third even if he hits .086. Is he blackmailing them or something? Can anyone explain this?

Word verification: xjolccdx. What I'm saying trying to figure this out.

I think this is the first time I have ever heard of a club publicly guaranteeing someone a starting job before spring training starts, after signing him to a non-guaranteed deal. That's weird in its own right. Add in Batista's recent track record, both in Japan and his last couple seasons in the majors, and the situation becomes incomprehensibly bizarre. Even the GM's in Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and Colorado must be scratching their heads and wondering, what the hell?

Is he blackmailing them or something? Can anyone explain this?

Because I'm unable to explain it, I am going to attribute his sway over the organization as being a function of his big glove!