Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

Brock Beauchamp

Site Manager
  • Posts

    32,662
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    328

 Content Type 

Profiles

Minnesota Twins News, Rumors & Analysis

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospect Rankings

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Minnesota Twins Trade & Free Agent Rumors

Minnesota Twins Fan Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by Brock Beauchamp

  1. Oh, I'm aware of the "flukey" nature of his ailments... Which is why I'm disappointed the Twins didn't push harder to get the guy, especially in light of what the Rockies gave up to get him. On the other hand, the guy hasn't been able to stay on the mound for three consecutive seasons. That's a red flag to an organization that perennially trots out the worst rotation in baseball. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Twins opting to go for reliable guys with lower upside over the guy who hasn't accumulated a full season of innings in the past three years combined. If the options were between another Kevin Correia signing and Brett Anderson, yeah, I'd be all over Anderson. But Nolasco and Hughes were perfectly reasonable signings given the Twins' current needs.
  2. The Twins have really run into some **** luck when you get right down to it. 2006 they were a stellar team... And then Liriano goes down. 2010 they were a stellar team... And then Morneau goes down, Ramos gets injured and hurts his trade value. Either one of those seasons, a healthy Twins team is a dominant force in the AL. It doesn't mean they would have won it all but it means they would have had a hell of a lot better shot at winning it all, that's for sure.
  3. I'm not really in love with Drew, either... But given the available SS options every year, it's usually slim pickings. Sometimes, you just have to take what you can get.
  4. I understand the thinking but Anderson is only above average if he's actually on the mound... A place he hasn't spent much time in the past three years. Given his inability to stay healthy, it makes all the sense in the world for the Twins to pursue "lesser" pitchers because the odds that they'll actually go to the mound 30+ times a season and help the team win offsets their marginally lower ceilings.
  5. If an organization was painting Smith to be the fall guy and patsy from the get-go, they wouldn't have kept him around after he was removed from the GM position. Why face ridicule for keeping a guy who the fan base thinks was a failure, a fan base whose main complaint is probably that the Twins are run like an Ol' Boys Club instead of a business? Following the logic breadcrumbs doesn't lead to a situation where Smith is still gainfully employed by this organization if they intentionally put him in the position of patsy. The Twins are not the Illuminati. You have to go pretty down the Conspiracy Theory rabbit hole to ignore all the contradictory evidence of him being set up to fail as some sort of high-level plot to... do something. I'm not quite clear on that part of the conspiracy.
  6. Ryan absolutely left Smith in an ugly position. There's no doubt about that. But given that bad situation, Smith went out and did just about the worst possible thing he could have done... Two or three times in a row. At the end of the day, I blame Ryan for punting on some important decisions but most of the blame falls on the guy who executed those trades in just about the worst way possible.
  7. The more I think about it, the more I want Drew. Shortstop is one of the only positions where the Twins have virtually no MiLB talent that is projectable. You can make the argument that the Twins shouldn't pick up an OF because of Arcia, Hicks, and Buxton. You can make the argument that the Twins shouldn't pick up a 3B because the ManBeastChild is coming. You can make the argument that the Twins shouldn't pick up a C because of Pinto. But SS, not so much. There's Florimon, a defensive specialist... And then Santana, who hasn't exactly lit the world on fire. He's a marginal prospect but not a guy you're going to build a franchise around. He hasn't posted an OPS of .750 since the Dominican Summer League in 2008. Outside of starting pitching, SS is the one position where the Twins can put a guy for 2-4 years and not have to worry about him blocking anyone. Given their payroll flexibility, this makes a hell of a lot of sense.
  8. Yeesh. The Rockies didn't have to give up much. Bummer that Ryan wasn't in on that action... Could have dished off any number of guys and beat that offer hands-down.
  9. I absolutely believe that other people are involved in negotiations, especially early in the process. But there's one guy who handles the final negotiations and puts pen to paper... The General Manager.
  10. Baseball's landscape changed quite a bit between 1991 and 2003, though.
  11. You're right. The guys whose job it was to negotiate trades did not negotiate trades.
  12. I'll chime in: 1994-2000: Eh, don't really remember, to be honest. I remember a few highs and lows but won't really commit to a decision. 2001-2007: Bad, but hamstrung by payroll considerations. He picked up a couple of good players like Rogers but mostly, it was retreads that made me want to drink. A lot. 2011-2012: Ugh. Just ugh. Willingham was nice. Should have done so much more and it burnses us just to think about it, it does. 2013: So far, so good. Not a single complaint.
  13. I'd love to have Drew, not so much at the expense of a draft pick. But hey, if it drives down his price to the point that it's a good deal, pull the trigger. The Twins have the advantage of not losing their first round pick for it, unlike most teams.
  14. That doesn't mean he was involved in MLB transactions. From the information we do have regarding Ryan's semi-retirement, he was working on scouting and MiLB. Which has absolutely nothing to do with most of Smith's failures in trading MLB players. Again, I don't know and neither do you.
  15. The article was sloppy but its general premise is accurate: Bill Smith was horrible at negotiating trades. Personally, I don't think he did a terrible job in the draft and international markets. He got a raw deal a couple of time with injuries, for sure... But his handling of the MLB roster in trades was atrocious, excepting the Hardy/Gomez trade, which he later negated by that awful Hoey trade.
  16. So now we're holding Ryan's 1994 season against him? Sorry, but that's way too far back for me to care.
  17. Yeah, it's a real shame he didn't turn around a 63 win team in 12 months. Theo Epstein would have... Oh, wait. Sigh. Ryan has not done everything right since he came back. He was too tentative with free agents, he didn't fully punt on 2012/2013 like he should have... But he's also turned around this farm system. He's made some good trades. His drafts have gone off like gangbusters. He's now spending money on free agency. This team is on the cusp of returning to respectability.
  18. You'll be hard pressed to find anybody around here who actually liked last offseason's free agency pickups so no, he didn't get a pass. Ryan inherited an awful team. Not just bad, awful. I'm the first to say that he didn't do enough to improve that team via free agency during his first two years... But he's done a bang-up job in almost every other avenue of player acquisition. On a rebuilding team, I'll take the guy who sucks at signing free agents and rocks the draft and trades than a guy who does the inverse.
  19. It could definitely wash out. Their offense didn't progress meaningfully but still has upside. On the other hand, their rotation is almost certainly worse without Santana.
  20. I have no idea... And neither do you. Smith's name was on the plaque. For good or bad, he's the guy who gets the accolades and blame for bad decisions.
  21. I'd say that Kansas City, without some of their young guys making real progress in 2014, actually took a step backward. It's going to be hard to replace Santana's 2013 campaign.
  22. A fair point. One thing about "next year's FA crop", though... It always looks better this time of year. A large chunk of those guys, particularly the appealing ones, will be extended before this time next year. But overall, I'm okay if the Twins roll with what they have already, really. Like I said, I'm pretty neutral on Arroyo.
  23. Unless you bump the payroll to $150m right now, Mauer will not be the cornerstone of the next "great" Twins team. And that's okay. Mauer is the type of hitter who *should* age gracefully if he can stay on the field. His salary will be offset by (hopefully) a core of very good players making under a million dollars a year. If Mauer was 34 right now, I might feel more of a need to push the timetable... But he's only 30 and the Twins don't need the MVP version of Mauer on the field. They simply need him to be "pretty good" while Sano and Buxton become the stars of the team.
  24. That's not even remotely fair and you know it. Smith inherited a mediocre, sometimes decent, ballclub. He had a two-time Cy Young winner. He had a very good young starter and a couple of promising young starters. Ryan inherited an abomination of an MLB club whose sole standout player was Joe Mauer.
×
×
  • Create New...