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LaBombo

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Everything posted by LaBombo

  1. LaBombo
    Contact... Good to have Diamond back, even if it will be hard to walk the low-K, sub 4 era tightrope again. Good start on that today even with the solo moon shot.
  2. LaBombo
    Who are they being no-hit by? oh, okay, it's Harvey. That I can handle.
  3. LaBombo
    I thought about this after the KC sweep and decided not to look it up because it would be too depressing. And I was right.
  4. LaBombo
    So with Gardy's suspect speech and posture in KC, will he have to start the postgame interview by blowing into an interlock device?
  5. LaBombo
    Can't wait for that Willie/Boggs/Ramirez outfield on a day game after night game...
  6. LaBombo
    Depends. If Plouffe is playing third it's pretty close. Second or short, and Plouffsie is a speedy two-spot middle infielder who runs rings around 'Neausie.
  7. LaBombo
    Yes, but only if they make plenty of productive outs to move runners over.
  8. LaBombo
    ftfy, and yes, for both people and dogs.
  9. LaBombo
    Is it halftime yet? Also, Bert was muttering something about snow removal. Let me guess, fans paid 15 dollars to shovel, right?
  10. LaBombo
    There's the walk, now just get the 2.
  11. LaBombo
    2-4 and a walk for Hicksie tonight...
  12. LaBombo
    Good take on Hicks resembling more of a lite version of a 3 true outcome #5 hitter than a leadoff hitter in his approach. But you lost me when you sent Hicks down and left Mastro as the only CF on the 25 man. If you're thinking either Boggs or Benson would play even just twice a week as the 4th OF and only one able to spell Mastro, well, that could get brutal...
  13. LaBombo
    +1. The 'guilty' part applies for me a bit more than the pleasure. Thing I remember most about him (besides the tease of unrealized power potential, was that at the plate he reminded me of a hitter mirror image of Ricky 'Wild Thing' Vaughn up there. Squinting like he was looking for a lost contact on his hands and knees, and often reacting to pitches as if a deer had sprung in front of his car out of nowhere. That, and his occasionally Magellan-esque routes on fly balls. There's this really cool 'Forgotten Twin' article about Pedro by some internet dweeb, here's the link. Sorry, couldn't resist. Fun read, well done, and keep it up. How can a guy with a decent MLB career fall off the face of the earth so fast at age 28?
  14. LaBombo
    Why? It's certainly a stretch that it would hurt the team in the short term. And more importantly, at least to me, are we sure a "demotion" will be worse for him than what's happening now? To me, his body language is that of a young man who's been a gifted athlete his whole life, and suddenly feels like he's the kid who gets picked last for kickball. So promoting him to the level above where he played last year to work on his hitting looks like a win for him, and very likely for the franchise.
  15. LaBombo
    Get what you're saying, but disagree, brother. If the Twins intentionally rolled the dice and hoped Hicks would run with a chance at a job he may well not be ready for, well, then they should have seen enough. On the other hand, if they thought that despite his contact issues and lack of AAA experience that he absolutely would be ready, then he stays until they see enough evidence to contradict their belief.
  16. LaBombo
    All of those guys got at least some time in AAA before they moved up. The fact is that even though usually only the most talented Twins AA position players are considered for skipping AAA to start in the majors, they have almost all ended up needing to go back to AAA anyway. Also, if you're saying the Twins have Borbon's "equivalent" in Rochester, well, I can't imagine who you're talking about. Please explain.
  17. LaBombo
    If he did earn the job in spring training, then he did it while taking about as few AB's against quality MLB pitchers as he has so far in the regular season, making the sample size a wash. And if the Twins really didn't decide Hicks was ready until seeing him in ST, then that means their contingency plans if he were not ready for CF on opening day amounted to Mastro, who is fine as a placeholder, and Benson, who almost nobody wants to see in the majors again until he shows some signs of life in AAA. So the whole 'Hicksie won the job in ST' meme is the FO either being dishonest and negligent if they decided before ST, or merely negligent. Which do you think? Also, although I know this was touched in an earlier thread, how many non-HOF-caliber Twins position players have been promoted from AA to open the season in the majors, and succeeded, or even stuck? Anybody feel free to jump in. It would be encouraging to hear even a few good examples.
  18. LaBombo
    Thought it was clear I was only talking about sending him down, not benching him, which is obviously a bad idea. Not worried about how much he may have cost the team so far, and not worried a lot going forward unless virtually everything else breaks right for them. Couldn't disagree more that the thought process that lead to him being the opening day CF is now irrelevant to his situation. If the Twins were looking at a very solid, conflict-free body of evidence that Hicks was ready for the majors opening day, then a 'be patient' thread wouldn't, or at least shouldn't, exist. A strong season or even half season in AAA with improvement in his contact rate, and Hicks is a guy in a slump who probably gets at least a month or two before anyone is thinking demotion. Instead, you've got a guy who skipped a level rather than improving his contact rate in AAA, and a lot less to go on about how ready he is, and about what to do next. So I can't imagine how the two different evaluation/decision paths don't affect the odds or timing of demotion, unless the Twins decided before the season opener that he stays for X number of weeks, no matter what he does here. If that's the case, I don't see their line of reasoning.
  19. LaBombo
    Matt Lecroy. Rich Garces. Gaetti 2.0, in his seemingly ageless post-Twins career. Liriano when he was off, because of how crazy he made Gardy. Slama, the most controversial Twin ever to basically not have been a Twin. Not sure if he qualifies, but Brian Harper.
  20. LaBombo
    Nick, a well-written and interesting read, but it looks like you didn't address the possibility that the decision to give Hicks the CF job was a bad call before the first pitch on opening day. In my book, skipping AAA with a guy who has needed at least a full year at each level and who has consistently had an obvious concern in his game (contact rate) is a textbook example of impatience. Maybe that's only my book, and nobody else's. If the Twins impatiently rushed Hicks to the majors (and that possibility should finally be occurring to even them by now), isn't a prolonged refusal to address the ongoing failure of that poorly calculated risk just stubbornness, not patience? I'm not advocating some sort of weekly merrygoround of promotions and demotions based on tiny sample sizes, and I don't think anyone else is, with Hicks or anyone else. Many people seem to think either that he looks lost and his continued struggles aren't good for him, or that he shouldn't have been put in this position in the first place. Or both. My question is this: Suppose even the Twins braintrust were to admit to themselves that Hicks = opening day CF was a mistake. Are you saying that promoting him from AA to AAA after an ill-advised 10 or 15 game detour in the majors would still be worse than what's happening to him now? Thanks for taking my call. I'll hang up and listen.
  21. LaBombo
    Mauer leading off? Cold day/Hades in for an old-schooler like Gardy.
  22. LaBombo
    You're right, the stars will almost certainly align soon in a way that brings the ball in contact with Hicksie's bat at a higher rate, leading to the belief by the Twins that he suddenly 'gets it', thereby prolonging the inevitable to everyone's detriment. But hey, good defense in CF.
  23. LaBombo
    They will be improved enough in 2013 that there will be less shame in this one than in some of the other broomings the Twins are due for...
  24. LaBombo
    The Twins ran through the AAA stop sign and sent him to the home opener, so I'm sure they can ignore a 57 cent batting average and 50% K rate for several more series. After all, it's just cybermetrics.
  25. LaBombo
    Too subtle the first time. Welcome back, tanline!
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