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LaBombo

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Everything posted by LaBombo

  1. LaBombo
    Beyond parody, yet part of what makes ST interesting for a non-contender like the Twins. Almost nothing is too crazy to contemplate, not even a '30 year old non-prospect vs. 106 year old retired HOF'er' cage match for a roster spot that may or may not exist. Can Hrbek referee, please? On the other hand, there's maybe a glimmer of hope for the Twins in this. Their interest in Boggs and his lone possible skill of getting on base may represent a quantum leap ahead 20 years in talent valuation philosophy, all the way into the late 1980's. Suck it, baby steps! Next stop, the 21st century!
  2. LaBombo
    As for the "paragon" snark about the Rays, well, they certainly are a paragon of both competitiveness and payroll efficiency compared to the Billy Smith-era Twins. In the past 5 seasons the Rays have averaged 91+ wins and made the playoffs three times despite playing in the same division as a team against which the Twins have managed nothing but a decade-long collective pants-wetting.
  3. LaBombo
    Uh, dude, you know that actually happened, right? Before we get to that, Hicks/Upton is an apples-to-atom bombs comparison. Upton was an unbelievable phenom who had exactly one season of minor league experience when he mastered AA and then mashed AAA pitching for a half season (.311/.411/.519). At the ripe old age of 19. Playing shortstop. Until 2012, the perennial debate about Hicks every spring was whether that would be the year the organization would give up on his switch hitting and go righty-only after he struggled constantly from the left. And at age 20, he was repeating Beloit. Bad comp. Where was Upton in his age 20 season? Despite acquitting himself very nicely for a 19 year old in the majors, posting a .258/.324/.409 line there in 159 AB's, he spent the entire following year in AAA and didn't play the majority of a season in the majors until three years later, when his service time started. So the "unprimed" Upton who mashed in the playoffs had over 1000 AAA at bats despite being a much more promising prospect than Hicks in the minors, and the Rays delayed his service time clock two years until age 22 despite his having hit AAA well and holding his own in the majors at 19.
  4. LaBombo
    Dozier seems to epitomize the kind of player most fans DO like, but who seems like a bit of a long shot to be an everyday player for a contender. And yes, he's only one guy, but so far part of a lengthy cautionary tale about skipping AAA in a year where the two most exciting Twins prospects are apparently being considered for...skipping AAA. At any rate, it's nice to hear that Kelly, who is a merciless evaluator of rookie fundamentals, thinks he's made progress. Lord knows there's not much else to be excited about with the other middle infield suspects.
  5. LaBombo
    Agree to disagree on the effect on cost. But how does the timing itself not have the potential to impact payroll in a big way? Would you rather have had the Twins determine whether or not to give Nick Blackburn $13 million for 2011-13 before his stinkbomb 2010 campaign, or after? How is this even possible? He was hardly lights out in AAA (though better than his ERA) before the injury, and after it he's thrown a total of six innings against hitters higher than A ball. The Twins may bring him up out of self-inflicted necessity at the rate they're going, but I can't imagine how Gibson being "clearly ready", or even completely healthy for that matter, can be determined by a handful of spring training innings.
  6. LaBombo
    So in effect you're saying that even if less team control were to make an extension more expensive, it won't matter because they can afford it, but would never use the saved money on a worthwhile FA or other means to improve?
  7. LaBombo
    Good, now I know that you get how I feel about reading your repeated, misinformed ravings over this same topic. Yes, let's magically wave away the concept of team control with An Extention! That's it! The enchanted kind signed with a pen fashioned from the horn of a unicorn, and that is totally and utterly unaffected by the length of team control. That's the irrelevant concept which necessitates a player living with a series of one year deals whose value is decided by a stranger with a limited knowledge of the player's actual value. Team control affects the cost of an extension. The end.
  8. LaBombo
    The cost of that extension is directly related to the length of team control, so you've spent an entire thread arguing that a team with a decidedly finite payroll should disregard money. That sounds foolish to me. As for the reputation of the organization, I'd like to see it bolstered by not gambling on disco demolition night stunts like bringing up kids who aren't ready, with the goal of profiting from the hopes of the few fans who are knowledgeable to know who guys like Hicks and Gibson are but not knowledgeable enough to know they're not ready.
  9. LaBombo
    Another reason to respect the Rays' approach to the game...
  10. LaBombo
    Anagram generator doesn't like these guys very much: AA beckons Mini's tinhorns.
  11. LaBombo
    It would be nice just to have a middle infielder whose offensive numbers mumble "competence", given the Twins' track record of developing offense-free middle infielders.
  12. LaBombo
    The Twins have gone from 90+ game winners to 90+ game losers despite going from bottom 10 payrolls to top 10 payrolls. Yes, they lost a ton of games from Mauer, Morneau, and Span in 2011, but they lost about as many in 2012 with all of them healthy, or at least in the lineup. I have no idea who you're talking about when you cite "aging stars" as a reason for the losing seasons. None. The lower draft positions are a good point, right up until you consider the fact that just as the drought of prized prospects should be hitting the big club, they had a massive infusion of payroll that should easily make up for the absence of a couple of fast-rising prospects due to low draft picks. On the other hand, your description of the potential Twins pitchers as "A Tommy John encounter group" was one of the best quips I've read on this forum or any other, and would like your permission to use it in offline Twins conversations, with my assurance that I will fully credit you for coining it.
  13. LaBombo
    Yes, but he's averaged 85 wins a year in the toughest division in baseball. He's managed one of the two cheapest rosters in four of his seven seasons, and bottom ten in the other three. AL manager of the year twice to Gardy's once despite four fewer years as manager, and a playoff record that, while below .500, dwarfs Gardy's. If you were just pointing out an anomaly with the pythag disparity, good find. It's certainly interesting, especially since Tampa has usually had an excellent bullpen during his tenure, and I don't have a theory why they've undershot their expected wins under Maddon. On the other hand, if you were citing it as evidence that he's overrated, agree to disagree. He'll probably always be a polarizing figure as a proponent of sabermetrics in a job where his peers have mostly either downplayed their significance or, in cases like Dusty "walks clog the base" Baker, have just plain gone flat earth on them.
  14. LaBombo
    I would say that the outcome of Smith's tenure was virtually indistinguishable from sabotage, but I don't want to incur the wrath of a weepy demand for apology like the one in another thread questioning the competence of the front office. Instead, let's just say that Seth's praising of Smith with faint damns reminded me of Simpsons creator Matt Groening's Life in Hell classic: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/Mistakes2.jpg
  15. LaBombo
    Liked the Zumaya signing, but even a year later it's still hard to believe that the difference between the real Zumaya and the Onion parody Zumaya was 12 pitches. Nice to hear that Harden has felt good so far, but he's the classic hope-for-the-best, expect-the-worst type of signing.
  16. LaBombo
    A possibility I acknowledged in my next post. But their winter ball league ended in mid-January. Also, Dozier played a little in the Venezuelan winter league. As I said, I don't place much stock in who shows up early, or really any other story from week one of spring training other than injuries. But since the middle infield is basically an open casting call this year, it's a little surprising that they weren't there early to collect some easy brownie points. This has zero meaning to me about their motivation, preparation or anything else.
  17. LaBombo
    I'm all for having Herrmann start in AAA rather than catch one game a week with the Twins. But the idea that 18 at bats shows anything about a player sounds pretty far-fetched to me. I'd rather trust 1500 minor league AB's that say Herrmann has a good chance to put up an OPS at least 100 points higher than Butera's in the majors.
  18. LaBombo
    100 losses has seemed a little more attainable each day this week...
  19. LaBombo
    Improves in the second half and becomes Tapani Lite in 2014.
  20. LaBombo
    No, more like salvaging a laugh from yet another grain of sand on the endless beach of sports BSOML articles. He's still got a realistic shot at sticking, although utility man seems more in his stars than regular.
  21. LaBombo
    Funny that I haven't seen that derivation of his name until now. My brain will automatically be appending that from now on. in all fairness to Floribar and Escomon, for all I know they may have risked life and limb in some godforsaken south of the border league, trying to add some semblance of offense to their game. On the other hand, I have it on remarkably poor authority that Byooty has taken the unconventional offseason measure of working on only his head first slides into first with Little Nicky, a process certain to push his OPS north of the .500 mark that will ensure, along with his defensive rep, a decade of one year backup gigs, or at least ST invites.
  22. LaBombo
    After its decade of near-epic failure to either develop or acquire (with one quickly rectified exception) a quality middle infielder, I'm inclined to regard this organization's tests, eye or otherwise, of talent in that position with skepticism, if not outright scorn.
  23. LaBombo
    Winning is not important to the Twins (nor should it be, imo); the offseason moves made that clear. Money, and therefore service time, obviously are. And it's absurd to think that spending two months at triple A is a bigger risk than skipping a level, especially for a guy who has needed a full season at every level and who until last season has had a consistent, gaping hole in his game.
  24. LaBombo
    Showing up early doesn't necessarily correlate straight up with motivation or effort. That being said, I think I'd still feel like dog poo if I showed up at camp later than Dozier and my last name rhymed with 'Blorimon' or 'Blescoblar'.
  25. LaBombo
    Service time and not ready yet, so that's at least two reasons...
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