Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

LaBombo

Old-Timey Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    9,171

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    49

 Content Type 

Profiles

Minnesota Twins News, Rumors & Analysis

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospect Rankings

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Minnesota Twins Trade & Free Agent Rumors

Minnesota Twins Fan Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by LaBombo

  1. LaBombo
    So Hoey did have one above-average ability, at least. Possible use as warmup intimidation tool... http://ronroenickestolemybaseball.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/vaugh-behead.png
  2. LaBombo
    Does 'Sporty Spice' count? No, but neighbors recently named theirs 'Kirby'. Felt awful that it wasn't considered in naming ours until remembering she's a girl dog. But spoiled, yes.
  3. LaBombo
    Yeah, read it, and am a fan of his work. My point was that the 'It's not a hot streak, Player X totally changed stuff and improved at an age where most players don't' thing is as obligatory and infused with useful information and objectivity as a State of the Union address. That's not a knock on Parker and his nice writeup, that's just how they almost always turn out. Happy for Zukes that he's off to a great start. But if he sustains anything like this level as the primary catcher until the trade deadline or beyond, it should create more questions about what's up with Pinto and the rebuild as it does about what to do with Suzie.
  4. LaBombo
    I also answered to 'Killjoy' until acquiring a mother-in-law named Joy.
  5. LaBombo
    A little more perspective from two Twins catcher slash lines, with BABIPs Player A: .335/.384/.388 .386 BABIP Player B: .209/.293/.261 .230 BABIP If you chose to extend Player A, 30 year old Junior Ortiz, well, you just locked up Player B, who is Junior Ortiz the following season. His career slash was .256/.305/.305. Zukesie's career line: .255/.312/.377, with the advantage of over a thousand more PA's in his prime than Junior. So offensively, Suzuki is very likely still just Junior Ortiz with a little power. Ortiz was a career backup who averaged about 200 PA's per season, like most backup catchers. The message is that small samples are especially deadly when it comes time to consider contracts. If Zukes and the Twins are both happy with him as a backup for a couple of years and the contract reflects that role, it wouldn't be a terrible thing. But if the deal pays him like a .300 hitter instead of a guy batting .300 in May, huge mistake.
  6. LaBombo
    Whenever a thirty year old .255 career hitter bats 50 points over that for a month or two to start the season, there has to be an interview question that explains what changes he made to cause real, sustainable improvement at an age where most hitters begin to decline, and many below-average ones fall off a cliff. The answer to 'whaddaya doin' different?' has a list of usual suspects. Stance more open or closed, leg kick higher or lower, hand positioning, distance from the plate, various other 'adjustment' and 'approach' and 'stuff Bruno told me' generic fixes, offseason workout changes, higher fiber, brightly-colored batting gloves... What you can't attribute it to is a current BABIP that, like his batting average, is about 50 points over his career norm, and that he is enjoying it while it lasts. That answer isn't as entertaining, and lends doubt to the theory that a backup catcher has suddenly morphed into a borderline All Star at an age where most of his peers begin to regress.
  7. LaBombo
    Agreed that playing Hicks every day is good, even if we disagree with them on which level he should be playing at. But Escobar for Florimon was probably as much or more about getting a guy who can't hit his golden retriever's weight out of the lineup as it was about getting a younger guy like Escobar some experience. And Santana seems to be Plan C in case Hicks tanks again and Fuld's concussion lingers. Would rather see him at short every day in Rochester.
  8. LaBombo
    Tonkin has out-pitched Guerrier and is 11 years younger. So the example thing is kind of a wash. You can never go wrong with the 'They're the professionals' argument, but it appears that Antony is running the show, and his experience with roster and personnel decisions is considerably less than 25 years' worth.
  9. LaBombo
    While it's been great to see the Twins play a better brand of baseball this year, it seems to me that being competitive (so far, anyway) has made the Twins even more reluctant to do what's best for the future. Unless the Tonkin demotion was purely based on performance (his xFip is a run lower than Guerrier, who has yet to record a strikeout), the decision to send him down makes no sense to me.
  10. LaBombo
    Yep. There is no contradiction in thinking Hicks should play every day and doubting that he'll turn the corner. Something I don't think has been mentioned is that Hicks' sole offensive skill, drawing walks, is the most dependent on how pitchers pitch to him. At some point it would seem that opposing pitchers will pitch him more aggressively if he can't push his average much above .200 and drive the ball more. It's amazed me that he's been able to sustain his walk rate this long with such a low average. Another factor in his development ceiling is that, going back to the pre-internet Bill James era, drawing walks has been known as an 'old man' skill, tending to develop later than other skills but lasting later into hitters' careers. So while it's great that Hicks has already shown that skill, it's one area that you'd normally expect improvement in a hitter in the second half of his 20's, but one in which Hicks may not improve much, unless a power surge forces pitchers to pitch him more carefully. With respect to Gomez, the Twins didn't give up on him, but based on what they got (a very good player, but a devalued one coming off of injuries and a bad season), it's likely that they gave up on him becoming what they thought they were getting for Santana. And that was apparently due to a choice of internal scouting over very basic statistical analysis. In 2009, Gomez made significant improvements to his K and BB rates, the two biggest concerns with his offense, yet saw his average fall 30 points off of a 45 point drop in BABIP. His 'reward' was demotion to the bench.
  11. LaBombo
    Me too. Fuld was nice damage control to make up for the loss of Mastro, but it should never have come to that.
  12. LaBombo
    Not yet. Shouldn't take much...
  13. LaBombo
    While nobody doubts that Hicks has the athletic ability to be a good center fielder, it hasn't happened yet. Ready for a Fuld/Mastro platoon with Hicks figuring out hitting and fielding in AAA.
  14. LaBombo
    Mauer? Done! Deduno on pace for 6 inning, 125-ish pitch quality start...
  15. LaBombo
    Know this one!... Punto?
  16. LaBombo
    Just made it back to .500, so might not be time for rehab yet... Good win and more encouraging signs about the future.
  17. LaBombo
    Perkins has been studying at the Eddie G. School of Drama...
  18. LaBombo
    Not really, but still a mean second, oddly enough. Resume Dozie to SS debate. Plus... snake guy! Let the free-agent-fueling flow of herpetocultural revenue commence... http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/1103/athletes.with.snakes/images/Julio-Franco.jpg
  19. LaBombo
    Agree about the Swisher slide. The rest, well, we'll never know, and neither will he, so that makes it a bigger deal for him than us.
  20. LaBombo
    Need to see some more head-first slides into the dugout after a strikeout, but yes, the current trend is positive. And congratulations with a wish for a great home stand to start your new life.
  21. LaBombo
    Ashamed to admit, had been wondering why he wasn't posting tonight. Thanks. http://galeri3.uludagsozluk.com/138/facepalm_227785.jpg
  22. LaBombo
    Dang! Late again! Knew I should've put the Christmas bonus money into an upgrade to a 56k modem instead of stockpiling Nishi rookie cards...
  23. LaBombo
    Use universal sign language if need be...http://10000mansteps.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/barfight-bmp.jpg
  24. LaBombo
    Yeah, but chicks dig the thick wallet... *successfully ducks thrown fry pan, unlike Ed Wood*
  25. LaBombo
    Kelly mentions that Houston leads the league in defensive shifts. Intro for Joe Morgan to jump in and mention where the Astros are in the standings? Please please please! http://deadhomersociety.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/cake3.png
×
×
  • Create New...