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LaBombo

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Everything posted by LaBombo

  1. http://dahayden.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Titanic-Deck-Chairs.jpg
  2. Molina all the way. Let's get a guy who's the best in the game at manipulating the grossly inconsistent umpire strike zones to give the Twins' developing pitchers an edge they don't deserve and that pads their stats and egos, as well as further taxing the front office's already sketchy ability to evaluate pitching talent. Then in a couple of years, when his already 38-year-old butt is gone, and his Jedi umpire- mind-tricking skill with it, we can watch the whole staff collapse as they're forced to actually throw pitches inside the real, non-Jedi strike zone. Sarcasm aside, I'd rather see MLB fix the shameful state of strike zone consistency and accuracy than have the Twins buy into the one of the sleight-of-hand charlatans. Barring that, yeah, let's go after one of the guys who's best at exploiting a deeply flawed system. If he can teach the shell game to Pinto and add to the clubhouse quality of life as a bonus, I'm in.
  3. After three years of abject rotation failure, it's getting a little less likely to feel either excitement or frustration over possible FA starter signings. So "Talks with Bronson Arroyo heating up" sounds a tiny bit to me like an Onion story, along the lines of "Family's excitement over impending used minivan purchase approaching fever pitch with approval of car loan". Yes, 'heating up' refers to the increasing likelihood of a deal, not the desirability of it. Still, it's hard to see what Arroyo does on a two year deal other than maybe to help Gardenhire achieve the historical moral victory of becoming the first manager since WWII to avoid losing at least 93 games after three consecutive 90+ loss seasons.
  4. That, and Steinbach is coming back, right? Joe has caught most of the likely 2014 opening day pitchers, and I'm guessing Terry learned a thing or two in 1300+ games behind the plate As for the second part, entertainment value was also the reason to love The Great and Profaneful Oz during his tenure with the WS. But not too keen on bringing him in either.
  5. The first part is incredibly accurate. Doesn't that buy some slack on the credibility of the second part?
  6. Last year's visit to the solar system by Comet Bernier foretold the forthcoming Fryer Apocalypse. Remember... drinking water, canned foods, batteries, and '87 and '91 playoff runs on DVD.
  7. Not sure there's much cause for litigation here. The Twins have had a comprehensive, exhaustive acclimation/conditioning program in place over the past three seasons to minimize the danger and suffering fans are subjected to in the event of an apocalyptic disaster exactly like a potential Eric Fryer 2014 Opening Day start. If you've failed to adapt after three seasons of this, well, let's just say that if you're claiming damages, pain and suffering from seeing Fryer in the lineup after watching the 2013 Twins debuts of Worley, Gibson, Hicks, Colabello, etc, then you'd be facing an uphill battle convincing a jury of your peers if any of them are Twins fans.
  8. A day late but the thread is still up so I'll chip in my thanks as well.
  9. If you asked 10 people on the street who the Dodgers gave up for Drew Butera, you'd get 3 'I dunno's, 2 'The Twins traded Drew Butera?'s, and 5 'Who's Drew Butera?'s.
  10. First three google hits for AJ Pierzynski after his name: A.J. Pierzynski most hated A.J. Pierzynski stats A.J. Pierzynski fight Almost anything the club does to take away playing time from young players who have a chance to contribute is just shooting themselves in the foot. Signing AJ would be upgrading the foot-shooter from a .38 to a 9mm.
  11. Agreed. Puff piece can be construed to mean whitewashing or deliberately painting an overly rosy picture, but I don't think anyone was accusing Parker of that. It seemed to me that those comments were directed at Sosnick, and probably it was less an indictment of his honesty and more of a sense of resignation about the expectation for comments in such an interview to be limited to compliments and positives. That said, while I can see why Parker took umbrage at the puff piece comments, his resorting to amateur psychology to express his displeasure with one of those comments was out of character and left a sour taste after what was an interesting article.
  12. Molitor has apparently told his second wife the same thing... http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/HS-5WzcAnMA/maxresdefault.jpg Here's a link to a revealing article about Molitor, and it offers some credible speculation about the possibility that poor judgement in his personal life is at least partly to blame for diverting him from what appeared to be a potential fast track to managing in MLB.
  13. Yeah, missed the combo platter part about 2012-13 combined. Should have known better than to think that either Buster or tf34 would make a basic mistake like that. And yes, the scratching of heads about the deal is a head-scratcher to me too. He's a good pitcher still in his prime and a tremendously popular character in a huge media market. Can understand people saying the Twins couldn't have signed him, but never did see any really compelling argument for 'shouldn't'.
  14. What about 80 at catcher and 80 mostly at DH with some 1st mixed in? Gardenhire doesn't believe DH'ing is a day off. But even a man of Mauer's advancing years should be able to handle the exertion of running out two grounders and an opposite-field single, plus a walk to first, every other game between starts at catcher.
  15. Part of the problem is that the Twins front office continues to frequently act as if they have unusual ideas about what decade this actually is. Still optimistic, though, and hoping that Terry Ryan won't see his shadow at the winter meetings, thus bringing about a speedy end to his self-imposed offensive Dead Ball Era.
  16. His FIP and xFIP were well below 4, and his K rate is still hanging in there around 9. Yes, his ERA+ was a very sub-standard 76, and AT&T Park and the SF fans both helped to inflate his value, but he's still a good pitcher and a good candidate for a bounce-back season next year.
  17. Really nice work on the managerial debuts by age, interesting stuff. In the end, though, it's the Twins, so none of the normal rules apply. Gardenhire's return after 3 90-loss seasons is just shy of unprecedented, so it looks like nothing is off the table.
  18. The thread was already four pages long before I read it, and it was almost unbelievable that there were about twenty times more posts about the continued lack of a Spanish-speaking coach in the dugout as there were about the seemingly very high probability that the next manager of the Twins has been named. Start date TBD. And yes, the two year contract means nothing to anyone except Gardenhire, who gets paid for two years no matter when Molitor takes over, and at least some of the players, who are being told not to treat Gardy like a lame duck manager even though history tells us he unequivocally is. Completely understand and mostly agree with the take of nicks and others who want new blood from outside the organization. But with Ryan GM'ing (and perhaps even just the Pohlads owning) the Twins, a guy who spent the majority of his time both during and after his playing career away from the Twins might be the closest to an 'outsider' we see as the Twins' manager.
  19. Since it happened in an ALCS, we'll almost certainly never know...
  20. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/91/Snl89187.jpg "The bearded trick-or-treater's agony is delicious..."
  21. No offense to you or the Hockster, but it's pretty obvious the poster you were replying to was referring to treasured Twins franchise cornerstone Scottie Ullger...
  22. Will people really fork over thousands of dollars to see Glen Perkins throw an inning of middle relief in a meaningless (for the Twins, anyway) exhibition game? Could happen, I guess; sometimes I forget there are people who love baseball even more than I do. And only 85 losses would be a stunning victory for the front office, given that no team in over 70 years has lost fewer than 93 when bringing back a manager with a three-year record as bad as Gardy's. Probably better off hoping for the high draft pick anyway.
  23. Lead paragraph of espn insider article: Since taking over the reins of the Atlanta Braves from Bobby Cox in 2011, Fredi Gonzalez is 72 games over .500, and has led his team to two consecutive postseason appearances. But last season the Braves were bounced out of the playoffs in a wild-card loss to the Cardinals, and this year they were knocked out in four games by the Los Angeles Dodgers. In spite of his fine regular season record, given the team's postseason struggles, there must be at least some question as to whether the Braves will retain him. Italics are theirs. By comparison, Gardenhire entered his 10th season coming off three seasons that netted 50 wins over .500, two playoff sweeps and a tie-breaker loss.
  24. That's absolutely true when you don't sign any free agents. Few people expect free agency to "fix" the 2014 Twins. But quite a few still expect the front office to fill at least one rotation spot with a free agent pitcher who has at least a chance to be better than what they have.
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