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Jim Hahn

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Everything posted by Jim Hahn

  1. Jim Hahn
    I agree with this statement. You are largely just changing the order in which you use your pitchers. The part I don't agree with is that you can change a 5 inning pitcher into a 6 inning pitcher by having him start his outing in the 2nd inning instead of the first. Nothing in the stats suggest that really happened for Tampa Bay. The hundred pitch limit is still there for one thing. The other is for the primary to get through thru the 7th inning (His 6th inning of pitching) he is going to, more than not, end up facing the top of the order a 3rd time anyway. Unless the opener only faces 3 batters, the odds get pretty high that the primary will face the top of order a 3rd time in order to get through the 7th inning. I believe that the opener strategy pretty near guarantees you will use 5 pitchers unless one of your pitchers besides the primary, goes multiple innings. Still, that probably happens most times with your 4th and 5th starters anyway. I don't really know if the opener is a bad strategy. I suspect that having good enough starters that you didn't have to consider using the opener would be a better situation. Getting to that point should be a goal for the Twins.
  2. Jim Hahn
    I don't think we will much of the opener used this year, by the Twins. In interviews both Baldelli and Falvey have avoided committing to it for this year. With veteran starters and questions about the depth of the bullpen, this strategy makes less sense for the Twins than perhaps other teams. We will see, but unless injuries intervene or the depth of the bullpen changes, using the opener may not be the best strategy for the Twins.
  3. Jim Hahn
    Birdwatcher, your above posts are thoughtful and insightful. I don't know that I quite agree with all your conclusions, mostly because it is too early early to be very sure about much of anything about this FO and their abilities, yet. Falvey and Levine are clearly very smart. The thing about smart people is that they have to be aware of what they don't know and what they don't do well. Good bosses hire people good at their jobs. Then they let them do their work without micromanaging their work. Right now FO's all through baseball are accessing more and more information about all sorts of minutiae relating to all parts of baseball. Trying to manage this information and separate the useful from the useless is becoming increasingly important. I believe this FO will be given time by ownership to find their way. I do believe it is pretty obvious that they are still finding that way. Eventually, we as fans should be able to see clear direction in how they are doing thing, and results. We really aren't seeing that, yet.
  4. Jim Hahn
    I actually find Cron, Austin, and Duda rather unappealing options for 1b. All are one dimensional sluggers. All will strike out, a lot. None will hit for average or walk much. None will provide provide much defense at first. None provide any positional flexibility. Austin is likely to worse than Grossman, probably similar to Astudillo in the outfield. You need to be able to run to be any good in the of. I would prefer a more complete hitter than any of these guys at first. It wouldn't hurt if the guy could catch the ball too, given the rest of the infield. Since we are not going to get what I want, I expect what we get is Cron. The other 2 get dfa'd with maybe 1 of them ending up at AAA. The backups at first are Kepler and Sano.
  5. Jim Hahn
    I agree with your sentence about Arraez and Gordon. Gordon has a higher ceiling, out performed Arraez at AA last year, has more pop, is better defensively, and probably has more versatility. I like Arraez, but I think Gordon is being undervalued by many.
  6. Jim Hahn
    I would rank Battey 2nd. He was a 5 time all star, several t8mes a gold glove winner. He was the best all around catcher next to Mauer. I think Harper and Pierzynski were pretty close, good offensive catchers, some weaknesses defensively. I like Harper a little better. He seemed pretty clutch, though he didn't walk much. Don't pay much attention to war.
  7. Jim Hahn
    The Twins sure didn't spend big in 1987. Berenguer was the biggest free agent signing. Joe Niekro won like 5 games. Everyone else was acquired thru trade or minor league signing. Morris was a FA signing in 91. Chili Davis was a FA too. He played 113 games for the Angels the year before with 265 ave and 12 hr. Morris got good money but was coming off a pretty poor year.
  8. Jim Hahn
    I suppose it depends on what stats you subscribe to. If you believe in single number stats like war or OPS he appears to be above average. Those stats are slanted to power. If you like ob% and batting average better, I don't think he looks so good. Just my opinion.
  9. Jim Hahn
    1. I tend to agree with this. Even power relievers should be able to get to their mid 30's as effective 1 inning pitcher. I doubt I he will sign for anything close to that, however. 2. I tend to agree with this, tho I like the old style unis best. 3. I have never been that impressed with Castro in a Twins uniform. His defense seems somewhat overrated and offense has been mostly bad. I like Garver, but the Twins have always seemed underwhelmed by his pitcher handling and his overall defense. Astudillo is fun, I would love it if he was at least a half time catcher. I am not to sure the Twins want that tho.
  10. Jim Hahn
    Those are right now at least, significantly different prospects, with significantly different perceived ceilings. One is considered by many as one of the top 20 best prospects in all of baseball. Larnach has only played a little at A ball, I am sure many think highly of him, but he is not now on or probably even close to any top 100 lists. Rooker isn't likely to headline any trade. With low defensive value and questionable on base skills, he will have to show more this year to headline any trade. Kiriloff could probably headline a trade, but you better get somebody pretty darn good and for more than 2 years.
  11. Jim Hahn
    I am not sure what you mean here. The Twins made a bunch trades at the trade deadline, most were prospects, are none good in your view? If you mean great prospects, what about the prospects the White Sox obtained last year? Or do you mean right now the winter of 2019?
  12. Jim Hahn
    And then what happens when your 7 inning pitcher can't get out of the 2nd inning or it takes 3 pitchers to get thru 1 inning. It sounds really good to have your best pitchers pitch as many innings as they can handle, but that is going to vary from appearance to appearance. That was also the philosophy of Billy Martin, Don Baylor, and Pete Rose, all of whom were famous for burning up pitchers. Maybe being flexible and creative will make pitching staffs more effective, there is an equally good chance that if you don't get it right, you will will ruin a bunch of arms. Which has largely happened before with new ideas in baseball. Organizations have always been more interested in what works, rather then looking at the long term health of their pitchers. Maybe that is changing, there is certainly lip service to that effect. Certainly, when you have a dominant arm like Romero, it is in the best interest of everybody to figure out a best usage situation that will keep him around for a long time. That type of thing might be pretty hard to figure out though. It might also mean other pitchers aren't put in their best usage situations.
  13. Jim Hahn
    I think I would like to see him developed as a starter, though he is probably much closer to being a dominant reliever, right now. If he goes into the bullpen now, the temptation would be to use him as a multi inning super reliever. You don't get 80 appearances out that kind of reliever. The issue can be that guys like that seem to get overused. Too close of appearances, too many warm ups, etc. That could be worrisome with a guy who has had arm problems.
  14. Jim Hahn
    It is indeed far too early to give up on Gordon. His AA numbers last year were good. I have no idea what the bad performance at AAA was caused by. Still development is rarely linear. I can remember Denard Span dropping way down on prospect lists because of his performance in the high minors. Gordon seems to be a high character guys, with plenty of talent and pretty well developed skills. I expect to see him succeeding in the majors, soon. I 2nd the thoughts on Rortvedt as well. I expect the hitting to get better and his catching skills are well respected. A long major league career seems likely.
  15. Jim Hahn
    My biggest problem with with Perez is the similarity to Mejia. Both are left handed. Both have control and health concerns. Both seem to have back of the rotation ceilings. Neither has spent much time in the bullpen. Both are use him or lose him situations, since neither can be sent to the minors without exposing them to waivers. I think the concerns that Perez may block more high ceiling starters is legimate. Both Perez and Mejia both seem to be guys who could succeed in the bullpen, but probably not as as high leverage guys. Two left handed mop up guys or even multi inning, multi purpose guys seems a little redundant. I guess you can't have too much pitching, and I get the idea that the higher ceiling back of the rotation candidates may need more time at AAA, but I would of rather seen a good reliever, or a roll of the dice on a higher ceiling bounce back starter.
  16. Jim Hahn
    I doubt if Baldelli is the key to much of anything. Since managers aren't allowed to make out lineups and analytics decide in game decisions, the role of the manager is conduit and cheerleader. While this is an overstatement, Brian is right about the intertwinement of FO and on field roles. What will be important is whether the young core steps up. If Schoop, Cron and Cruz are batting 1,2,3, in June, the Twins are in trouble. If Sano and Buxton can't stay healthy and produce, then I want to see somebody from the upper minors getting their chance. No Cave or Andrilanza getting 400 abs. The same thing on the pitching side. Since the FO was unwilling to go after a Kuechel or trade for a Gray, they must believe that they have quality reinforcements among the group that figures to start at AAA or AA. The FO needs to be right about that. The Twins really should be contenders this year. Cleveland wasn't great last year, and on paper, they have gotten worse. It is going to a surprise if any of the other 3 can make a run. I don't think Baldelli should need to motivate anybody or help anybody focus. If these young players can't see where they are in their careers and the need to prepare themselves to play everyday, we have the wrong players.
  17. Jim Hahn
    Stewart in the article is quoted as saying he wasn't ready before last spring for what was being presented to him. Leaving aside the question of whether the previous FO ever presented the "right" information, the question is when to present what information. Clearly with high school kids and international signings the low minors are for teaching mechanics, refining their pitches, adding pitches, striving pitching for consistency, and building strength and durability. Learning all the nuances of pitching may be acquired as you move thru the system, but it likely isn't or shouldn't the focus with young kids. Players who get to the majors at young age generally have dominant fastballs or great stuff, sometimes both. Usually to have a long career, you have to learn how to pitch, and usually sharpen your control. I think blaming the organization or the player for slow development kind of overlooks the fact that it is hard to pitch successfully in the big leagues.
  18. Jim Hahn
    I think a 5-7 year career should be a goal for just about any non elite minor leaguer. For Navaretto, he could easily be a Butera. With a little more bat, he could be a Jose Molina. Those kind of catchers are apparently pretty useful, if not highly valued. I think a career as a catcher who is some part of a platoon situation, is within reach for Navaretto. That isn't so bad.
  19. Jim Hahn
    I am not saying I am right about this. But signing Machado or Harper may not prevent keeping our own core as that becomes necessary, but it may very well prevent filling other unanticipated holes. The thing is Machado going to be so much better at short than Lewis or Javier that it is advisable to move them to another position ? Machado won't come here unless he gets serious guarantees that he gets to play shortstop. Whatever the truth about these observations, I'd rather have pitching. Getting as much top flight pitching as possible would be my choice over either Machado or Harper. I think there is enough talent here and coming shortly to give the Twins good and possibly considerably better than that, offense. Right now, I doubt if that is true about starting pitching.
  20. Jim Hahn
    Oh, I agree that Machado or Harper would make a difference if/when the core guys improve. That just isn't where I would spend my money. I think Lewis and Kiriloff have a very good chance of being able to provide at least close to what those two guys will. It should be soon and cheaper for awhile. If I am going to spend big bucks it would on pitching. Preferably starting pitching. That is unless you are sure the farm can provide that soon.
  21. Jim Hahn
    TOM FROEMMING, thank you for your response to my post. I am always interested in how the Twins view their own prospects. In general the FO gives us the platitudes you mimicked so well in your post. I figure the reason sometimes, that the FO doesn't do the things we as fans would like to see, is that they have very different views of their prospects than we as fans do. Even probably what prospect gurus have. Occasionally we get clues to what the FO might be thinking. How prospects are promoted, who is invited to spring training, certain things that aren't said about prospects. I think we have a pretty good idea about what the FO thinks about about their young major league players and even their near ready position players. I am very unsure about what they really think about guys like Gonsalves, Stewart, Littell, and Wells. They seem to like Romero, but if they really are moving him to the bullpen, what does that tell us? All the starters in the system farther away, we hardly ever get anything but platitudes about them. The thing is, what they think about these guys is pretty important. They aren't going to spend big bucks on a long term contract for a Kuechal, if they think they got one or two near ready in their system. There are a lot of reasons for them to not disclose their evaluations about their prospects, but i sure would like to know more.
  22. Jim Hahn
    If I had a question for Falvey it would be, Is there anybody or anybodys in the near ready group of starters that will be a top of the rotation starter( baring injury)? Depending on the answer, is there in that group a long term major league starter? Next question, how many pitchers in the next group (A, AA) project to be top line major league starters and how soon? If the answers to these questions are none or few or we're not sure, then the final question should be, are you pursuing top end starters?
  23. Jim Hahn
    This answer has nothing to do with what the poster said. Both teams were good during the early years when therespective players were there. The teams were less good at the end of their tenure. Personally, I think the real point is that one player no matter how good, can't make a team good by himself. Largely, neither Machado or Harper will make the Twins good unless the current players get better. It is possible also that different players(pitchers) would more likely make the Twins better than Machado or Harper. That would be my opinion anyway.
  24. Jim Hahn
    I am 67 and I agree that false hustle is silly. Still, if a catcher can jog down the base line to be in position for a possible overthrow, a hitter can do something similar. Putting yourself into position to take advantage of a possible mistake is not false hustle. Standing in the batter's box or taking 2 steps and peeling off to the dugout, I don't know. That feels like laziness or even a lack of respect for the game. I realize not everyone will agree, but still.
  25. Jim Hahn
    I think the Hall of Fame can be interesting and even a little bit funny. I consider it the Hall of the most famous, not necessarily the Hall of the very best players. There are all sort of inequities all over the place, in part because of the rather vague requirements and in part because of who does the selecting. One interesting example is Brooks Robinson and Ken Boyer. Brooks was a 1st ballot, Boyer has been snubbed for decades. They were contemporaries with their peaks years at the same time. Boyer played in the tougher league, was by far the better hitter ( Brooks had one year where his OPS was as good Boyer' s career ops), and was much more versatile, playing over a 100 games in cf one year. Defensively, Boyer was very good. I think he won 6 gold gloves. Brooks was a good hitter, considered maybe the best defensive 3b of all time, and played well in a number of post seasons. He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. I don't know if Boyer deserves to be in the Hall, but the stats say He was the better player. This is part why I don't worry about who's in the Hall. There are many other ways to celebrate the many great players in the game.
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