Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

Road trip

Verified Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    612

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Profiles

News

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospects Ranking

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by Road trip

  1. Road trip
    Steer and Encarnacian-Strand could hit before they were traded (probably, in the minors at least). But then you have to account for LaMont Wade. And Luke Raley. And Brent Rooker. None of them good enough to keep, and given away. All very good hitters now, assisted greatly one would assume by the coaches in their new organizations. I'll certainly place some blame on the current Twins players themselves, but it should be very apparent that the hitting coaches aren't succeeding.
  2. Road trip
    I was kinda thinking lineup spots 1 - 9 looked a little rough, but I'm slow to adjust to this new era of (non) offensive baseball. Let's go win 2 - 1.
  3. Road trip
    I'd add Balazovic's knee injury, which pretty much derailed him last season. He dropped from the Twin's top pitching prospect to a maybe prospect. It's not just the prospects either. The major league squad suffers from an alarming injury rate. I'm not saying the players aren't just as tough today as they were a generation or two ago, but I do wonder if something has changed with their training which has led to more muscular explosiveness, but less overall health.
  4. Road trip
    Gosh, I'll just strongly disagree with any takes on here that essentially say "Arraez isn't that good" as a way to justify a trade that the Marlins would make 10 times out of 10. Currently Arraez is #5 among all NL position players in bWAR. Don't like bWAR? He's #3 in OPS, which obviously includes slugging percentage. Don't like OPS? He's #2 in Adjusted OPS+. He's not only the best 2B in the NL, this year he's one of the NL's best players at any position! He even leads the NL in intentional walks received... so perhaps the opposition respects him even if some fans don't. Arraez likely won't win the MVP because Acuna is otherworldly awesome and plays on the best team in the NL, but if the season ended today Arraez would almost certainly finish in the top 5. Will he age badly? Sure, he might... but so might Lopez. I'll take the "aging badly/injury" odds on a position player over a pitcher any time (see: Mahle, Tyler)...plus Arraez is a year younger. Maybe the prospect sent along with Lopez will even things out, but right now the Marlins are laughing about the theft they pulled off.
  5. Road trip
    Um... Ryan Pressley says hello. LaMont Wade was given away. He'd be handy to have about now. The return on Jose Berrios may end up being a zero as well, although it is too soon to know.
  6. Road trip
    It's hard this year. My interest dropped in the off-season when Arraez was traded, as he was easily my favorite player to watch live. Interest dropped again when it was apparent that Buxton's body had betrayed him and he was no longer much fun to watch, at least this year, quite possibly forever. The starting pitching has been great, and that is welcome after years of struggle. However with the possible exception of Royce Lewis, there's hardly a batter that I look forward to watching. The lineup just turns over and over, a long sequence of sub-mediocrity. I'll give the FO some credit for the starting pitching staff, but beyond that I'm pretty much done with their approach to roster-building. At his point I'm not even considering a road trip to watch a game this year.
  7. Road trip
    Yeah, the Oliva comp is a little scary, and hopefully not accurate yet for the remainder of Buxton's career. Buxton gained/gains far more value from his legs and glove than Oliva did, and Oliva was a significantly better pure hitter. Add in the fact the Oliva was several years older when his knee injury effectively ended his career as an outfielder and... well, ouch. Sure hope Buxton can return to semi-regular outfield duty at some point in the future, even if it isn't this year.
  8. Road trip
    A mistake? No, more like a calculated risk that may or may not work out. You have to take calculated risks as a GM, understanding that not all will work out. The contract price was right, but Buxton has always been a high ceiling/low floor guy due to his injury history and the streaky nature of his hitting. We may still get the high ceiling: "All Star centerfielder who can do everything", although his age and injury history probably make this at best a 20% proposition. We may get the low floor, which would be (strangely) a "Miguel Sano with a little more speed" kind of player: Abundant power, low average, lots of strikeouts, no defensive position, hurt frequently. That's not what anyone dreamed about when evaluating Buxton's potential a few years ago, yet here we are. A realistic hope is probably that we end up somewhere in between the two.
  9. Road trip
    Well, I'll give ChatGPT a "B" on this assignment. Nishioka at #1 on the list seems an obvious call. David McCarty was perhaps the most disappointing Twins prospect in my memory. So much was expected, and it just didn't work out at all. Felton and Worely are deserving of spots, although I could also name a dozen other equally deserving pitchers (Ron Davis being the obvious omission). Drew Butera... as a hitter, for sure, but I don't believe anyone expected him to hit much. Teufel is a strange choice, as he was a fairly productive hitter for the mid 80's (and they got his playing dates wrong. He left in 1985). OPS+ of over 100. My recollection is that the Twins were not enamored with his defense. Ron Coomer... I remember him as being one of the better players of those late 90's Twins teams... which probably says a lot about how bad those teams were. 1.4 career WAR in over 3000 career at bats? Perhaps a better definition would be mediocre, rather than struggling.
  10. Road trip
    Bring on the robo umps. I HATE the human error element in officiating. HATE, HATE, HATE. If robo umps are wrong, they will be equally and blindly wrong for all, home and road, veterans and rookies, superstars and journeymen, all ethnicities, all uniforms (I will swear to my grave that the Yankee uniform is worth a few calls a year, if not per game). I've been watching egregiously bad calls ruin close games for nearly 50 years. We have the technology...fix it!
  11. Road trip
    I'm not certain this is the case, assuming Lewis has a full recovery and is physically sound. He will be 24 next year, and while he doesn't have a normal amount of game time above High A that is largely due to injuries and the lost Covid minor league season. He looked very capable this year at both AAA and the majors. Had he not gotten hurt, he very possibly would have been up for good this year. The Twins will likely be somewhat conservative and will start Lewis at AAA next year, but if he looks solid after 30 or so games I suspect they won't hesitate to bring him to the majors again. Whether he can stay at shortstop is unknown, especially after another knee injury. However is bat, glove, and arm will play somewhere.
  12. Road trip
    I'm a little shocked to see he was never selected for the All Star game while with the Twins, but Mike Marshall was an extraordinary reliever for them in the late 70's. His '79 numbers are unthinkable today: 90 games, 142 innings, 32 saves, 10 wins, 2.65 ERA. Finished 5th in Cy Young and 11th in the MVP. Likely need a 6th reliever anyway...although maybe not if Marshall is there to suck up the innings.
  13. Road trip
    Day 2 is almost always a crap shot if you look at history. Not many players make it to the majors after the first few rounds. Take a look at the 2015 draft. Most players taken in 2015 would have contributed at the major league level by now if they were going to....especially the college guys. What do we see? Round 5 - One player with more than 1 WAR - Ryan Helsley Round 6 - Two players with more than 1 WAR - Steven Duggar and David Fletcher Round 7 - Two players with more than 1 WAR - Dylan Moore and Jake Cronenworth (I'll even throw in Jovani Moran, who is at .5 and probably makes it over 1 eventually) Round 8 - One player, Chris Paddack...hopefully he makes it back from surgery. Round 9 - Nobody over 1 WAR, although LaMont Wade is getting close. Round 10 - Nobody over 1 WAR. Contrast that to round 1 of 2015. 19 of the players selected have accumulated more than 1 WAR. Many are already stars (Bregman, Tucker, Swanson, Buehler). Unfortunately the Twins drafted Tyler Jay. The lesson: Get the first couple of picks right, and after that you are just praying to hit a lottery number.
  14. Road trip
    Oh, yeah, I totally understand that Morgan > Puckett. The quotes were my attempt at sarcasm....should have found an emoji I guess. If Rodriguez had 1/4 of the career of either Morgan or Puckett we will call it a win..
  15. Road trip
    I was thinking the next Kirby Puckett, but I'll "settle" for a Joe Morgan. Actually, lots of great power hitters weren't all that tall, headlined by Aaron, Mays, and Mantle....all under 6 ft.
  16. Road trip
    Dobnak sent down? Seriously? I know he has had a couple of rough starts in a row, but this is a surprise to me. Fifteen days ago he was considered our 2nd most reliable starter.
  17. Road trip
    Oh, sure, I'll play. Joe "Emory Board" Niekro Doug Mientkwzrzchzwskch (I refuse to look up the proper spelling, but everyone knows who I mean and remembers his glove work) Jose Morales, pinch-hitter extraordinaire. Chip Hale, pinch-hitter extraordinaire, part 2. Butch Wynegar Mike Cubbage Shannon Stewart...saved a season...what a great trade that turned out to be. Bobby Kielty Don Baylor Christian Guzman. Never became as good as we hoped he would be, but boy it was fun to watch him run when he hit one into the gap.
  18. Road trip
    "His original contract gave him the right to wear #18. That’s currently worn by Silver Slugger catcher Mitch Garver." Garver has worn three different numbers in three seasons with the Twins (43, 23, and 18). Gave up 43 for Addison Reed in 2018. Gave up 23 for Nelson Cruz last year. So {shrugs}, it seems like Garver may not care much what number he wears.
  19. Road trip
    Tagging on to this, Kirby Pucket had little power in his early 20's. He was a pure slap hitter. At 22: 3 HRs in Rookie ball At 23: 9 HRs in single A At 24: 0 HRs in Minnesota, and 1 at AAA At 25: 4 HRs in Minnesota And then he got his man muscles, changed his swing a bit, and the rest is history. Arraez probably never hits 20 HRs, but he will get stronger as he gets older.
  20. Road trip
    Love having Dozier for 2018. Pretty certain I'd like having him for 2019, and probably for 2020. Take a look at the top Baseball Ref comps for Dozier though, and what they have done after their early 30's. It isn't pretty. Dan Uggla Kelly Johnson Damion Easley Rickie Weeks Neil Walker Bret Boone Jose Valentin With the exception of Jeff Kent, power hitting second basemen don't age well at all. Father Time is tough to beat. If Dozier is willing to take a 3 year deal (and he probably won't be) then sure, sign him. I think after 2021 you can't expect him to be better than replacement level on his offense, and his defense is unlikely to be adequate.
×
×
  • Create New...