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arby58

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Everything posted by arby58

  1. arby58
    Why? He's 21 - if he had chosen to go the college route, he'd probably be in A+ ball this year, instead he's in AAA with strong performance in prior years. Yes, he's had some injuries, but none of them are of the ACL/MCL variety that might 'Tony Oliva' his career. He's still growing, he's barely drinking age, I see no reason for this pessimism.
  2. arby58
    Comparing Joe Mauer and Walker Jenkins' AA year (both were age 20): Player PA R 2B HRs BB K AVG OBP SLG OPS Mauer 310 48 17 4 25 25 .341 .400 .453 .853 Jenkins 235 38 11 7 34 44 .309 .426 .487 .912
  3. arby58
    So, if he moves up to 750, you'd be ok with that?
  4. arby58
    Vasquez OPS+ last three years: 64, 60, 52. Kreidler's OPS+ last three years: -38, 6, -14. Sometimes you can't make this stuff up.
  5. arby58
    Even if he only hits as well as Lee, his speed, athleticism, and defense would warrant a call up.
  6. arby58
    Abel does not have less time than Matthews at AAA. Plus, his 2025 at AAA was pretty good, combined between the Twins and Phillies: 7-2 record, 2.31 ERA, 98.1 Innings Pitched, 114 Ks, 40 walks, 1.108 WHIP.
  7. arby58
    The Duran trade's biggest return (in terms of upside potential at a position of great need) was Tait. Bradley has far more starting experience than either of them, and he's definitely had a better ST than Matthews.
  8. arby58
    I'm trying to think of the young player where the Twins set 'an unrealistic expectation for performance' leading to their demotion. I'm drawing a blank - legitimately curious as to the players this refers to.
  9. arby58
    Well, neither Bradley or Matthews was great last year. That said, Bradley's stats look better than Matthews so far this spring. The one that jumps out is Bradley 19 Ks and 5 BB in 14 innings, versus Matthews' 9 Ks and 4 BB in 11 innings. There was a nice piece on this site awhile back about Matthews' fastball being 'flat' and thus pretty hitable - he's not generating swings and misses.
  10. 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?
  11. 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).
  12. arby58
    I would take that bet.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. 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
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.'
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. 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.
  25. 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.
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