bean5302

If you're absolutely desperate to try to defend a bad position, sure.

I was responding to Fire Dan Gladden's comment about the Pohlad's commitment. You jumped in.

Feel free to tell me the specific amount of money the Pohlads should have demanded Falvey spend. I created a Dodgers-like payroll for you... I'd imagine you're not a huge fan of it.

I don't know as I consider it disrespectful. Not sure how to rank the Japanese leagues vs. MiLB. If you consider it AAA level, I think it's fair to consider those guys to be rookies. There's a pretty significant shift in competition level between Japan and Korean leagues to MLB, and many of the players can't make it work. For every Imanaga, there's a Nishioka. Most players take 3-5 professional years to make it through the minor leagues, and Japanese players don't make much more than high end draft picks/prospects in the minors. For example, last year's #30 pick made 8x more money than the average Japanese league player's yearly salary. Skenes' signing bonus was double the highest paid position player in Japan. I think Japanese league players are fair to call "rookies" when they first come to MLB, even if they are very high end "prospects" before that.

Jose Miranda is a solid every day starting position player. The kind of 2.0-3.0 WAR guy who forms the backbone of a team depending on whether or not you have him at 1B or 3B. Unfortunately, the Twins brought in Carlos Santana and he's solidly entrenched at 1B. I expect Kirilloff to be demoted, and Miranda to take over at DH even though I'd prefer to see Santana moved to a DH/bench role while Miranda gets every day time at 1B.

An average, every day position player should produce 2.5 WAR for a good team. Gomez was 2.7 fWAR vs 2.1 bWAR. Fangraphs had Gomez's defense better than Baseball Reference. Offensively, terrible. Defensively, exceptional in an premium defensive position. The difference between a 5-6 WAR full season Buxton and a 2-3 WAR full season Gomez is all bat.

Yeah! Stupid Pohlads spending less than the Dodgers! It's all their fault. If only we could have signed more big names like Blake Snell (11.98 ERA), Jordan Montgomery (4.98 ERA) and Eduardo Rodriguez (hasn't pitched)! We could have shored up our outfield with Cody Bellinger, and made a trade for a big money guy like Kris Bryant! Yeahhhh!!!! Now that's a $275MM roster we could be proud of!

They are ineligible. This was covered on MLBTradeRumors Podcast this morning. 28:05 in. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/05/mlbtr-podcast-the-likelihood-of-a-juan-soto-extension-whats-in-store-for-pete-alonso-and-corbin-carrolls-struggles.html

The implication being Baldelli is trying to win playoff games because they're important, but he's not trying to win regular season games because they're not important. Baldelli has a methodology he and the front office follows. There might be a little wiggle room for an injured pinch hitter in an emergency situation in a must-win playoff game, but for position players, it doesn't change much. Platooning will still take place, just like it did last year in the playoffs. I don't care. That's what they do. What I'm addressing is the assumption it's somehow valuable to play negative value players because it makes them smile or that there's some value in playing a -0.5 WAR player a bunch so they can get this year's Tim Anderson into a 0.0 WAR player or that a 0.0 WAR player with no options is somehow ever valuable.

Woods Richardson has never thrown 95 in his career. Not in high school. Not in the minors. Not in the majors. Not ever. He's never even been close to throwing 95 (average), and I don't know as he's ever thrown a single pitch in his professional career which has hit 95.0mph. It's well established Woods Richardson is throwing harder right now than he's ever thrown, and his average velocity is 93.1 on the season; peaking at 93.7 in the game vs. Toronto where his fastest fastball thrown was 94.7mph (he threw two at 94.7 and two at 94.6). Woods-Richardson worked in the 93.0-94.0mph range pretty consistently that game. Historically, Woods Richardson has struggled with repeating his mechanics, and when he's been sloppy, his velocity has been in the 88-89mph range where his stuff doesn't play. When he's been on target, he's sat at 90-91mph with an occasional pitch flirting with 92mph, and he's been serviceable in the minors like that. We're in new territory for Woods Richardson right now. The original post, which was two weeks ago, was a hot take after a game against Toronto. As a back end starter, Woods Richardson will probably be okay if he keeps his velocity up so I don't see any reason to be concerned about him as the #5 rookie rotation piece. He doesn't generate a ton of grounders and he doesn't generate many swinging strikes right now so expecting him to be better than back end is probably optimistic, but he is figuring out how to pitch at the moment now that he's added 5mph to his fastball out of the blue.

So you're saying Baldelli is not trying to win in the regular season? There is utterly no value in trying to get Margot to replacement level while the team loses games because of Margot's existence on the 26 man.

Fire Gary!!!!

You realize you just jinxed us to a 10 year contract with 9 player opt outs, right?

I knew Patrick Corbin should have been DFA'd all along!

I remember back with Buxton GIDP was basically impossible. That was a lot of fun, haha. All I have to say is thank goodness for Patrick Corbin. When you give up hits to Margot, Farmer, Santana and Vazquez in the same game, you know your legit MLB days are over.

Hate to interject happiness into a thread and spoil the news, but... Royce Lewis was running the bases today. Paparesta's comments from other sources suggest Lewis could start a rehab assignment Friday.

It seems like bakeries are blossoming a bit these days? https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bakery-product-market-promises-reach-133000231.html In any case, I do like doughnuts and it's a rarity I'm as disappointed in a raised glaze as I am the Twins' hitters.

From "The Board" currently. Walker Jenkins (29) Emmanuel Rodriguez (36) Brooks Lee (48) David Festa (91) https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board?sortcol=0&sortdir=asc

Pretty much exactly how I feel about it. 3.53 FIP this year, 3.65 career FIP. Career ERA 3.92 is 0.28 higher than career FIP. Pablo Lopez is prone to giving up home runs when more runners are on base than expected. Primarily, I think what's eating at Pablo Lopez is the declarations of "Cy Young Favorite!!!!!" on Twins sites before 2024 began despite Lopez really not fitting that mold.

Nah... Seems like a lot of work, and I generally don't like spewing a company line I don't believe in.

Heck no! I'll let your business fold, but I won't join an internet site and post about how bad your doughnuts are every day or demand your doughnuts be free or eat them even for free. I won't be enraged if your doughnuts don't win awards or get voted the best doughnuts in the country, etc. Basically. I won't care... Ironically, btw, I grew up on Hans' Bakery doughnuts as a kid and still believe the original recipes and ownership group were the best ever. The realtor who took it over as some reality TV game recently ran the business into the ground and sold it to Wuollett bakery, who was also just bought out by somebody else or something, but is withholding the doughnut recipes. I certainly won't go out of my way to get them today, even if they were free. If the greedy and incompetent previous owner never allows the bakery's original recipes to see the light of day or Hans' Bakery folds up forever, that'll be a bummer, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

Is going to continue considering how many people spend $0 on the team, yet feel "entitled" to the team being run as a charity.

Just an obvious satirical response (weather control machine, etc) based on the kinds of comments I see from a lot of "fans" on this site. It's not a personal attack or challenge to you or anybody else. Complaining about ownership from the 90s, explaining why they don't like to be at the ballpark because of x, y, z reasons from years ago, etc. The Pohlads are not remotely close to the bottom of the barrel for MLB owners.

Right-size probably means something like not projecting losses if the team doesn't advance in the playoffs. The Twins look to have made money last year based on Forbes projections so seeing them cut payroll burns, and he debacle with Diamond Sports/Bally Sports North deserves a lengthy apology and explanation to fans from ownership, along with a plan for how that can never happen again. The Twins are still running a cumulative loss since 2019, and the fans aren't attending with various excuses, er "reasons" while the ownership still spends more on payroll than their rank in attendance. What many Twins fans "expect" is not possible to achieve. It's a generally moving target of a $1B payroll made up of a 75 man active roster in violation of MLB rules, consisting of the top 25 free agents, 25 sure fire favorite prospects, and the 25 best players currently in the organization. Also, it requires free tickets, plus free private limo transportation to/from the games, a personal game day maid/butler (whichever you prefer) who delivers free gourmet food and beverages to wherever you're walking/sitting in the stadium. A weather control machine to make sure the game is always played under ideal weather conditions is a given. The owners should also be at every game, greeting fans on their hands and knees groveling for forgiveness for being wealthy and successful, and if that's not enough to get fans at the game, the fans at home should be able to watch the game for free with free Door Dash/Uber Eats or free food/alcohol at the bar where the game is broadcast. The Twins should also win every game by no less than 20 runs and the World Series every year. If the Pohlads are willing to do this for 10 straight years, some people on this forum MIGHT be willing to attend a game, though it's probably not enough because of how the Twins played back in the mid-90s so the ownership must still be taught a lesson.

I think it's easy enough to put some positive spins out there most of the time, and that's their job. Take Manuel Margot. First guy: That brings the young veteran Margot to the plate. Rocco's got him playing today against a left handed pitcher and that's been an easy call for the last several years as he's really hit lefties well over the course of his career and full seasons. This year hasn't clicked right out of the gate, but you have to believe the bat will come around, and he's certainly shown life over the past 3 games. Other guy: Yeah, and you know, guys like Margot are under appreciated. They come in and play wherever you want them in the outfield, and that's something they need to back up Byron Buxton in center. I know a lot of fans were hoping see Taylor back this year, but between the two, Margot's been the better hitter over his career, and Taylor's had a real rough start to this season as well. First guy: That's true! Look at Kepler last year. Sometimes things just don't go your way, but you have to believe it'll balance out over time, and Margot certainly looks like he's putting it together over these past couple games right when the Twins need it most!