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arby58

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Everything posted by arby58

  1. arby58
    No, befeore Ober it is Jose Berrios, who accumulated 13.1 WAR between 2017-2021 (Ober is at 9.2). As it relates to Ryan, he was the Twins #4 prospect in 2022, according to MLB.com - don't know how you can 'undefine' him a 'not prospect.' It's pretty clear the Rays didn't think that highly of him, or they wouldn't have traded him for a couple months of Nelson Cruz. FWIW, how can you consider Chase Petty a Twins pitching prospect when he pitched a total of 5 minor league innings for them?
  2. arby58
    Well, I wouldn't consider Maeda more impactful than, say, Joe Ryan (who was the Twins #4 prospect according to MLB.com in 2022) or Jhoan Duran (#5 in both 2020 and 2021).
  3. arby58
    I would take that bet.
  4. arby58
    I'm old enough to remember the dark days of 1982, when the Twins went 60-1`02. If it is darkest before the dawn, they played the kids and took their lumps. Laudner (24), Hrbek (22), Gaetti (23), Brunansky (21), and Viola (22) were all classified as rookies that year. They improved to 70-92 the next year and 81-81 in 1984, when Kirby Puckett was a 24 year old rookie. That became the nucleus for two World Series winners.
  5. arby58
    It is an assertion without substantial proof that the root of the Twins defensive problems is players playing more than one position. Some players are not going to be good defensively at any position, and the Twins seem to have more of those than they should - that is not because 'anybody can play anywhere.' The claim that a player can become better defensively by sticking to one position is just that - a claim. Yes, there are stories about some player who fielded hundreds of balls and became better defensively. Interestingly, many of these stories are written about players switching positions. There are examples of players who handled switches quite well on pretty much any team - and for the Twins, it goes much further back than the current regime. Joe Mauer was a great athlete, and he made a very easy switch to 1B. Mookie Betts is a great athlete - he can play pretty much anywhere. The Cubs seem to believe that Matt Shaw has the ability to play pretty much everywhere (as did his Cubs predecessor Ben Zobrist). Luke Keaschall is fleet of foot and, prior to TJS, was thought to have a strong arm (one can hope that is again the case). Those are important traits for a centerfielder. I'd say it's worth a shot.
  6. arby58
    It is a silly complaint. If you break down the Twins HRs versus Wallner's, they are not that dissimilar: Minnesota Twins Matt Wallner 1 run HR 117 61.3% 13 65.0% 2 run HR 54 28.3% 6 30.0% 3 run HR 18 9.4% 1 5.0% Grand Slam 2 1.0% 0 0.0% Total 191 20
  7. arby58
    Look at what the Cubs are doing with Matt Shaw, who had a decent rookie year at 3B but now needs another 'home' after they signed Alex Bregman. So, in 12 spring training games, he has started in right field, center field, first base, second base and third base. I guess the Cubs don't know what they are doing with young, promising players either.
  8. arby58
    My guess is Bradley and Abel break camp along with Ryan, Ober, and SWR for the rotation. There are still Matthews and Prielipp waiting in the wings. I'm not expecting much in 2026, but 2027 with Culpepper, Emma, Jenkins, and (knock on wood) Lopez returning seems like more reason for optimism.
  9. arby58
    I agree with you on both why teams do it and what would be Keaschall's value to the Twins in the OF. My point, in the original post, is that teams other than the Twins do in fact do it, and not just with marginal utility-type players.
  10. arby58
    There are others, but Maddux is the obvious answer, since he's in the HOF. Here's ones I've seen pitch that rarely got above 90 mph but were still effective MLB starting pitchers: Mark Buerhle Bartolo Colon Randy Jones (way below 90) Jamie Moyer Kyle Hendricks Nestor Cortes For that matter, Logan Webb (he of the U.S. WBC starting pitcher) rarely gets above 92 mph.
  11. arby58
    Check out the top 7 non-pitching prospects at MLB.com. Here's the list and their 'position" 1. Connor Griffin, SS/OF 2. Kevin McGonigle, SS 3. Jesus Made, SS/2B 4. Leo DeVries, SS 5. JJ Wetherholt, INF 7. Sebastian Walcott, SS/3B 8. Samuel Bassallo, C/1B Only two of the top seven are listed at one posiiton (unless you think INF is one position). I doubt any of these players is being groomed to be 'just' a utility player. Sort of flies in the face of your 'norm in baseball.'
  12. arby58
    Assuming they get by Canada (maybe start your top players this game?), the Dominican Republic team has a scary offense to rival the U.S. - their batting order 1 through 7 against Venezuela was Tatis, Marte, Soto, Guerrero, Machado, Cominero, Rodriguez. That will test any pitching staff.
  13. arby58
    Trade Larnach, waive Outman, platoon Emma and Martin, stash Roden at AAA for now. Rodriguez has played plenty of CF - no reason he can't back up Buxton there, and he's certainly athletic enough.
  14. arby58
    Go back to 201`6, with ByongHo Park as the DH - there was an overhyped international player. Ended the season with an 82 OPS+. Never played in MLB again. Went back to Korea and resumed having decent results - which suggests more about the Korean league than anything else.
  15. arby58
    In fact, this IS a game where you can just move players around. Most teams have a player or two they can just 'move around' as needed. It isn't a brand new thing either. I remember the 1968 World Series, where Detroit manager Mayo Smith made the gutsy move of OF Mickey Stanley to SS - the criticism then sort of sounds this now. It worked out well, as it allowed Al Kaline (who had been injured) to return to RF and keep Jim Northrup in the lineup (he had a breakout year when Kaline went down). In the series, Stanley went 11-29, scored 4 runs, and had 8 RBIs. Kaline has said they probably wouldn't have won the series without that move by Stanley - who had played there in just 9 games that year. While he mostly played OF the rest of his career (and won 4 gold gloves), he did play 59 games at SS in 1969.
  16. arby58
    Both Plouffe and Smalley played at other positions with some frequency. There are plenty of examples from other teams as well - probably the most notable being Mookie Betts. Ben Zobritz also played multiple postions for many years in MLB.
  17. arby58
    Plouffe, Smalley, and Cuddyer weren't moved to get them to 'safer' defensive positions - they all moved around and were competent throughout the lineup. Tovar's 1966-1969 seasons found him playing the majority of his games at 2B and SS in 1966, 3B and CF in 1967, and 3B and LF in 1968 (albeit with plenty of games in both CF and SS). The first year where he played more games in CF than any other positioN was 1969, with 69 games there, but he still played 41 at 2B, 40 in LF, and 20 at 3B. It wasn't until 1970 that he became a more or less full time outfielder - but even then, when he played for Philadelphia in 1973, he played the most games at 3B and 2B.
  18. arby58
    Twins baseball is replete with examples of players who have successfully transitioned to other positions, and not just recently, This included Killebrew, who went LF-3B-1B. Cuddyer played OF-3B-1B basically his whole career. Polanco went SS-3B-2B. Plouffe started as a SS, played some 2B and OF, settled in as a regular at 3B but still saw occasional action at 1B and the OF. Smalley was primarily a SS but also played more than just a bit at every other infield position. Tover was famous for playing every position. There are other examples.
  19. arby58
    He's got speed that will play well in the outfield, and this isn't a new occurrence. In 2024, he played 20 games at 2B and 16 in CF.
  20. arby58
    I like to think I'm at least semi-optimistic, so I was looking forward to the 5 bold predictions. I don't have faith (even a little bit) in any of them. Ryan at 230 Ks is probably the best shot, but he started 30 games last year and didn't even get to 200.
  21. arby58
    If you read the article, the author only includes games played as a Minnesota Twin, so the answer is 'yes' to not including Rod Carew's 7 seasons with the Angels. It would be silly to include stats from other teams - if you are going to include them, Steve Carlton definitely belongs on this list. Chance played three years with the Twins, and the year of the 1.65 ERA was with the Angels, not the Twins.
  22. arby58
    This is about a player's time with the Twins - Dean Chance was only a Twin for three years. He doesn't belong in this discussion, other than his 2 no-hitters, which isn't really a statistic of much value in terms of pitching greatness (Greg Maddux being exhibit A).
  23. arby58
    FYI, it is life in prison, not jail. Jail is short-term (held until trial or offenses with a sentence of one year or less), and prison is for felony offenders, which means incarcerated for over one year.
  24. arby58
    Lee is more likely to be a passable third baseman than SS - although his hitting (or lack thereof) will be hard to accept there.
  25. arby58
    "For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'" That will always define Buxton's career, unless, at age 32, he discovers Ponce de Leon's fountain of youth - I'd short that. I've loved watching him play, and I'm old enough to have watched most everybody on these lists play. He is more a meteor than star, as the Twins baseball galaxy goes.
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