2005

Two unfair but true rules of baseball: 1) What you do in April gets scrutinized a lot more than what you do in June or July; 2) hard-nosed players who produced are called gamers—hard-nose players who don't are thrown under the bus. After a brutal April in which he hit .246/.267/.250, one teammate said: "He's the cancer in here. The pitchers aren't happy with him. If they can trade him, that would be fine with me." Pierzynski played at his career norms the rest of the season, but when an arbitration decision came due at season's end, the Giants decided they didn't need his personality anymore. You could forgive the Giants for not wanting to pay the $5 million or so it would have cost to retain him. Pierzynski's a better player than half the starting catchers in baseball, and he's a great short-term fix for the White Sox's continual catching problems. Meanwhile the Giants will pay $10.5 million over three years to a more genial and helpless Mike Matheny.

2003

One of the game’s great carmine kiesters, A. J. Pierzynski is never going to win a popularity contest around the league, but he doesn’t need to. Nobody liked Clint Courtney either, but 50 years later, everybody still talks about him. Pierzynski is a good catcher—his percentages throwing out runners aren’t amazing, but the Twins control the running game as well as anybody—and as a guy who can make contact and drive the ball, he’s a pest at the bottom of the order. As the man who holds the job until/if/when Joe Mauer is ready, he’s the best placeholder in the game.

2002

He was presented with an opportunity, and he seized it. Pierzynski is essentially the same ballplayer as Shea Hillenbrand in Boston. He will hit for a reasonable average, show some line-drive power, but draw only three walks a month, so he will have to hit .300 or close to it to help the team and keep his job. Depending on the skew of the new management regime, even that might not be enough. Pierzynski had a nice 2001 season, though, and it moved him into the column of MLB-approved catchers. Ask the next guy how much money that's worth.

2001

A.J. Pierzynski has the Greg Myers skill set: he’s a left-handed-hitting line-drive machine with a strong arm. He’d make a nice caddy for LeCroy if LeCroy wins the job and a nice platoon mate for Ardoin if LeCroy doesn’t. If the Twins keep Moeller, Pierzyski could get 400 plate appearances. The Twins are divided into a group of left-handed hitters who get on base, left-handed hitters who hit for good averages, and Ron Coomer. Pierzynski just adds another body to group two.

2000

He’s a young catcher with a reputation for good glove work. Pierzynski would make an ideal caddy for LeCroy if the Twins trade Javier Valentin. He will end up catching somewhere in the major leagues someday.

1999

Big guy, but he hits like Joel Skinner. Pierzynski could be the Twins' starting catcher on Opening Day, but he's just keeping the seat warm for Matt LeCroy. If it was me, I'd push Chad Moeller to the majors, get a veteran caddy for him, keep Pierzynski at Triple-A to back up LeCroy, and plan for LeCroy to be my catcher in 2000.

1998

Pierzynski continues to show improvement. The consensus is that Javier Valentin is the Twins’ catcher of the future, but Pierzynski is a year younger and ready to step up if Valentin falters.

1997

A good catching prospect with the misfortune of being in an organization with a better one (Jose Valentin). He’s a good prospect in his own right, having shown good power at an early age.