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LaBombo

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Everything posted by LaBombo

  1. LaBombo
    Too bad the AA Portland Sea Dogs are visiting New Britain. Maybe the Twins could have had some guys stop there for BP before continuing on to Seattle. That appears to be the appropriate level for the boys today.
  2. LaBombo
    Was totally on board until step 3...
  3. LaBombo
    Just like almost everyone else, Mackey ignores the wooly mammoth in the room when discussing Morneau's value. Morneau has been dreadful against left-handed pitching since The Injury. And by ignoring that, he fails to note that Morneau has been good this year and great last year against right-handers. He's batted .285/.351/.427 against righties this season, and .290/.371/.531 last season. Contract aside, the former line has value as a bench bat and depth at 1b/DH, and the latter would be an upgrade for many teams over what they're currently starting at 1b or DH (or even both) against right-handed pitching.
  4. LaBombo
    Only if he's bringing Adrienne Barbeau with him... http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OQmEa5OKyOI/SkQ8GZFKDHI/AAAAAAAAPec/ScrNUfxaEHw/s400/02MaggieStand01.jpg
  5. LaBombo
    How did you recognize him? Did his pen keep missing the deposit slip?
  6. LaBombo
    Well said.
  7. LaBombo
    That's probably true. If it's not, then it seems like maybe the Twins have the wrong GM for a rebuild that has at least another year to go.
  8. LaBombo
    Yep, they were both very rare two-birds-one-stone guys. Hometown marketing bonanzas who also happened to be future HOF guys that aged remarkably well and contributed as players even more than they did as a big name draw for fans. And you're right, much like this team the past couple of seasons, they were essentially doomed by their pitching, and the pursuit of 3000th hits became almost the only reason to go see them.
  9. LaBombo
    Yeah, and also, in the case of Winfield and Molitor, the free PR and extra ticket sales from the pursuit of 3000 hits probably increased their appeal to the Twins.
  10. LaBombo
    Yeah, Steinbach being '96 or '97 was what made me look up the 96 roster. Had also forgotten that Steinbach managed an incredibly flukey but still impressive 35 HR's in his '96 walk year, yet signed with the Twins for a million and a half less than his last couple of seasons with the A's. Even though he was 35 when he signed, that was probably at least a little bit more of a home-town discount than I remembered.
  11. LaBombo
    My memory of that season is thankfully somewhat hazy, other than the tragedy of Puckett and the triumph of Molitor. But other than Molly and a bit of Dave Hollins before he was waiver-wire salary dumped to Seattle for failed slap hitter and future HOF member David Ortiz, which other significant free agents did Ryan go crazy on that year? Even if you count Aggie being brought back, that still looks like a pretty conservative shopping trip to the free agent mart. Edit: Adjusting for inflation, Molitor's 2 year/ 4-ish million a year contract was a big splash for a team coming off an 88 loss season. And Hollins was a 2 million per year guy before and after his Twins stint, and even at the lower 1.35 million the Twins gave him in '96, he was more a of a mid-tier Josh Willingham kind of guy in his day than he was the bargain-basement Rondell White kind of signing that I remembered him as.
  12. LaBombo
    @PMac21 i’m confused. @TwinsPrez has been clear about that since before season started. Is it that people forgot he said that? It's hard to understand why anybody would put a great deal of stock in anything that Terry Ryan says about the direction of the franchise at this point. Am a big fan of some of his work and not intending to impugn his integrity, but honestly, are people still not aware that his contact with the media is solely intended to further the goals of the franchise? Or that it's the same story with pretty much any other front office people for any other team, and in any other sport as well?
  13. LaBombo
    Doumit with the little league 'run until they tag you' base running gaffe. It's been a great game otherwise, but holy crap is he lucky they're beating up on the yanks for a change. Would say something positive about gibson's day but don't want to ji... Wait, did that count as a mention of...ok, I'll just stop.
  14. LaBombo
    Very good points about the Marlins, Loria and Redmond. The expansion standard for the manager position probably still applies down there, what with the feast-or-famine, win-or-lose, live-or-die extreme cyclical nature of their rebuild/compete/rinse/lather/repeat blueprint.
  15. LaBombo
    Gleeman mentioned Gardy in his last blog post. Boils down to pretty much two points. 1. Since 1945 only 4 non-expansion managers have kept their jobs after three straight 90-loss seasons. 2. One of the four who did, Tom Kelly, did so under the present ownership family. You have to go back to 1980 to find the last non-expansion guy before Kelly (Joe Torre) to hang on another year, and he was canned the following season. It looks to me that Gleeman is not suggesting whether Kelly should or even could be fired, just that he'd absolutely be gone if he worked for any other franchise in baseball.
  16. LaBombo
    Have been to both Fenway and old Tigers Stadium, and, for all its pre-World War I nostalgic charm, it was an even bigger dump and in a worse location to boot. But yeah, Fenway is cooler for being Fenway than it is for actually seeing a game there. Would still recommend the experience to anyone, more to say you've been there than to enjoy the accommodations.
  17. LaBombo
    Be sure you don't sit too close to Wally Joyner if he's at the game...
  18. LaBombo
    Pythagorean season projections: Twins: 69-93 Tigers: 93-69 Actually, that's not really fun, it's just odd and depressing symmetry.
  19. LaBombo
    It's in the Fun With Numbers thread. Just about to put some more fun in there.
  20. LaBombo
    He's a much better pitcher than Correia or Pelfrey. If you don't believe he's worth his contract or was a good fit for the Twins, that's fine, but you're grossly undervaluing his ability and therefore his worth relative to that contract.
  21. LaBombo
    Born here, but grew up in 'Joisey, home of The Sopranos.
  22. LaBombo
    Was at that game, and it seemed as if about a quarter of the Dollar Dogs sold that night ended up in a big circle around Knoblauch. Yankee talking head at Four Letter Network went on and on about it, and I wrote an email basically saying 'Dude, your team's stadium is still the only one in all of MLB, or pro sports for that matter, where a player has been struck by a knife during a game'.
  23. LaBombo
    A true 'outsider' would probably be the most interesting choice, but Molitor might be the closest thing to an outsider that the Twins would seriously consider. And he did play most of his pro ball in Milwaukee and has been only loosely affiliated with the Twins system over the past decade since he left the bench coach job.
  24. LaBombo
    Just looking at wins and ERA doesn't tell much about what kind of year, or career for that matter, that Jackson is having. With the exception of a slightly higher walk rate, Jackson is pitching just like he did last year, when he posted a 4.03 ERA. He's been pretty much the same pitcher for four seasons now, with FIPs starting in 2010 of 3.86, 3.55, 3.85, and 3.88. His xFIPs are also virtually identical to each other: 3.71, 3.73, 3.79 and 3.81. His other peripherals have also been very consistent over those four seasons. If he pitches like he has his ERA this year should end up much lower too, maybe around 4.50. Not great, but better than anything the Twins starters are likely to end up with. And his 2011-12 ERA's of 3.79 and 4.03 would stand a good chance to top any starter the Twins run out there next year.
  25. LaBombo
    The next time is next year at the very earliest, and doesn't that time frame seem a tad optimistic, what with the worst rotation in baseball and all? Perkins has 38 saves in the majors. If he's gone by the deadline, it wouldn't be terribly surprising if a reliever currently on the roster would have that many by the time the Twins might realistically contend in 2015. And the way to not get burned in a trade for a proven closer is to not trade for a proven closer. Nathan, Aguilera, and Guardado top the Twins' all-time leader board in saves, and they were all converted starters who didn't emerge as closers until their late 20's or early 30's. Replacing Perkins by 2015 wouldn't be the least of the Twins' worries, but it's hard to see it cracking the top five.
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