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Riverbrian

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Everything posted by Riverbrian

  1. Riverbrian
    I didn't see the game because I was driving in the car listening to it so any thoughts I have wouldn't be fair comment as far as the game goes. However... on this point, I have been watching. I want to state that I'm absolutely happy with the way things are being handled... I don't have complaint... however... It appears that players are locked into batting slots in the order and I don't understand the reason why. I know that they are trying to separate rights and lefts to give the opposing manager something to think about when trying to decide between a lefty or righty out of the pen and that is sensible but I've been watching and it is rather obvious that Baldelli has locked in players to similar slots in the batting order. I honestly don't care about batting order... go ahead and put Dave Kingman in the lead off spot... I really don't care... I'm also not a psychologist but I do strongly believe that players will not be emotionally damaged and unable to perform if they are moved around in the lineup. If he wants to put Astudillo in the lead off spot... I'm fine with it... But if he did it because Garver usually hits in that spot against lefties and Astudillo is replacing Garver... then I'm not fine with it... because that is auto-pilot managing and I don't care much for that.
  2. Riverbrian
    I was going to say that his cutter looks a lot like a slider. Same football grip and release.
  3. Riverbrian
    Surrender!
  4. Riverbrian
    Meeting rooms during staff meetings work just fine for me.
  5. Riverbrian
    (Raises Hand)
  6. Riverbrian
    It's like I've been saying over and over again. Flexibility is a natural by-product of having depth and is something that a team should strive for. Once you got 12 guys who can all produce... that's awesome. But, Manager will have to start getting creative or absolutely burn talent and value by not playing the extra players. And they should never say... well we got 12 guys... I can now trade three of them to get back down to a manageable 9. If the manager can't be creative to get every one decent playing time.... they shouldn't be managing.
  7. Riverbrian
    You should never be that systemic with anything and as long as you feel that Stringer meant "Absolutely Equal" playing time for all 12... you will prevent yourself from seeing the sensible reasoning behind what he is saying. Cruz, Garver, Castro, Astudillo, Cron, Sano, Schoop, Polanco, Marwin, Rosario, Buxton, Kepler. 12 Players listed above... Who is our worst player and who is our best player? You may have an opinion and I may have an opinion... but If I open up that question to Twins Daily and do a little survey on the subject... I doubt the responses will be unanimous and I imagine the responses will be varied. This should show everyone that the differences between our worst player and our 8th best player is going to be pretty razor thin. Does it makes sense to play Kepler 162 games ranked 8th and Astudillo 0 games ranked 12th... Because maybe Kepler is a hair better at the moment. First off... Is Kepler a hair better? 2nd... You have just killed Astudillo for absolutely no reason at all. When you have a chance of him continuing to produce at a .300 mark and establishing Marwin Gonzalez type value... or a .300 hitter at the catcher position which is as rare as Mike Trout. If Astudillo establishes that type of value... He could be traded for something of value in return. If you don't play Astudillo, he doesn't establish value and you get nothing back when you eventually release him. All 12 of the above names don't deserve consistent bench time, they have value to the team currently regarding wins and losses and can increase in value for future acquisitions via trade. However... a player can only increase in value unless he gets playing time. Having a hard cap(this player is a smidge better than this player) just throws 3 potential (25%) future and current value slots into the garbage. This is why you need a roster of 25 players who the manager will play. Not playing someone on your roster is a waste.
  8. Riverbrian
    I only suggested Gordon as the option based upon criteria set by Jokin. Personally... I will never roster a guy with the intention of him not getting decent playing time. I'll never roster a guy for getaway day play only. So, If I'm calling up Gordon to be the 13th guy. He goes into the mix and he plays... if he can't produce with the bat, feet, glove and arm... Back down to AAA he goes. So, I agree with you that calling Gordon up for less than full time play would be a mistake. I also 100% agree with you on 12 guys sharing 9 positions.
  9. Riverbrian
    I think this is a great point that we all need to consider. Whatever, we (some) feel about Adrianza. He is the very definition of disposable but yet... the front office made a point to pick him up and give him a roster spot in 2018 and did so once again for 2019. They had similiar production options to choose from and chose Adrianza at more money then they could have paid. This tells me... that somebody in the front office likes him and believes in him. Although... I will always counter this thought with: You can tell how much a club likes a player based upon how often the club plays the player.
  10. Riverbrian
    In consideration of the potential 12 position players. Garver, Castro, Astudillo, Cron, Sano, Cruz, Schoop, Polanco, Marwin, Rosario, Buxton, Kepler. From the 12 players above, I don't see anybody who will be pinch hit for... Castro maybe... but he's hitting well enough to hold his own and we will have 3 of the above 12 to pinch hit for anyone who needs to be pinch hit for. The only player needing a late inning defensive replacement would be? Astudillo? I'm just throwing out a name because Astudillo doesn't appear to be a defensive issue and neither does anyone else. I include Garver because he looks like he has made tremendous defensive strides and I want to tip my cap to him. We got flexibility to cover in-game injuries wherever they may happen. So... The need for a 13th player for the late inning strategy would be... Speed. A late inning pinch runner... when you need to make something happen. So from your original list... I assume Gordon is the speed guy because his brother is pretty fast. But... If Gordon is called up... I'm going to insist that he play and if he plays... he won't be available for that role. So, in that case... leave Gordon in Rochester and bring back Ben Revere and let him sit on the bench waiting for that moment. As for the separate issue. As long as Baldelli protects the back end of his bullpen in low leverage 8-0 games. We got a potential problem. He needs to find other bullpen guys who he can trust. That means giving Morin and Magill more opportunity before you toss them off the roster and therefore exposing them to other clubs. If nobody cares about losing Morin and Magill... then get rid of them now and sign someone else or call up the next options for audition... Jake Reed or Tom Hackimer on anyone in-between. This is what I mean by getting bullpen serious. I don't want any roster space wasted. I don't want anyone on the roster that the manager needs to protect or avoid playing. They roster'd these guys... they need to trust the guys they put on the roster or get new guys to put on the roster that they trust. This club should be thinking contender and World Series, not 1st pick overall in the draft. It isn't time to mess around. Baldelli seems to have faith in Rogers, Parker, Hildenberger and May. Baldelli seems to be a little guarded in his usage of Harper, Romero, Magill and Morin. Reed and Moya will be back and decisions will have to be made... so I'm using the extra roster space in the bullpen to figure out who else can hang a zero when you need a zero hung.
  11. Riverbrian
    The Stringer/Jokin plan is fine with me. I just feel that the same argument for not needing 13 pitchers could also be made for not needing 13 position players. If I have a concern... a slight concern... it'll be the back end of the bullpen and I'd like to audtion some guys and see who can step up because it's a long season. I'm willing to grant the extra roster space to the bullpen in the name of discovery.
  12. Riverbrian
    If it was me. I'm rotating the 12 position players and getting all of them consistent playing time. I'm keeping the 13 pitchers because the back end of that bullpen has to be sorted out. Harper, Romero, Magill, Morin, Reed and Moya for 4 spots. And... I'm not opposed to a little starting rotation conservation... not going 8 innings if they don't have to against the A.L. Central. Answering your question directly. I don't want anybody on the bench for an extended time so I'd take Gordon because they will have to play him. He's too young to watch others play.
  13. Riverbrian
    Sano has an option remaining so if HE goes all 2018 on us... that could be a consideration. However... right now... I'm personally not thinking that way. I'm reading 5-11 with 2 home runs and 7 RBI's in 4 games, I'm reading that he lost 25 pounds and he will be joining a team that is collectively stroking the ball. I think he's going to come up and blow the roof off. I've been wrong before. If Sano and Astudillo come back with no one else getting injured for awhile. I can see a roster of: Castro Garver Cron Sano Astudillo Schoop Polanco Marwin Rosario Buxton Kepler Cruz Not one of those 12 deserve to be on the bench. Baldelli will have platoon options, match up options, hot/cold options. I can't wait!
  14. Riverbrian
    Cave has options and... and... he hasn't played in the Month of May. He's gathering dust on the bench so send him down to Rochester yesterday. Whoever comes back first between Sano and Astudillo should send Cave down to Rochester. When the 2nd guy between Sano and Astudillo returns... Adrianza or a bullpen arm as Chief suggested. We also need to keep in mind that Addison Reed is starting to ramp up and Mejia won't be on the D.L. forever. Neither Reed or Mejia can be sent to Rochester without waivers getting involved. So the bullpen guys who have options (Harper and Romero) have to do some proving of themselves quick... and I mean quickly. As players start to return... Only future players going on the D.L. will save Adrianza. So yeah... they might as well showcase him now.
  15. Riverbrian
    I don’t care much for HOF debates but as far as the Twins. He was big part of every summer I’ve had for the entire length of his career. Minnesota Born and bred and the Twins were the only team he played for. Add in some batting titles and it doesn’t get much more special. He is one of us and will always be. #7 should be retired and a statue should also be placed in the plaza. The statue should capture him taking a strike.
  16. Riverbrian
    It's easy to focus on the surprising bad defense from Buxton and Cron because it clearly played a role in last night's result. Three unearned runs as the result of those two hard to explain errors. Not to mention how the errors kept a struggling Gibson on the mound longer than he should have been on the mound. However... I'd like to talk about the positive... Marwin defensively. For those who watched the game last night, I know you saw what I was talking about in an earlier thread. Marwin doesn't just play OF... He can play OF at Rosario/Kepler level... This is why I posed the question earlier... Why Astudillo in RF and Marwin at 3B if they are both in the lineup. There's another thread for that discussion... so for this thread... Hey Marwin made a couple of nice plays out in LF!!!
  17. Riverbrian
    We will not get 180 innings out of all 5 over the course of the season. We will be lucky to get 180 innings out of 3 of the 5. The season will depend on the AAA replacements keeping us in games and the same for all of our pitchers. Then Letting the offense do their thing. Stay in contention and high quality rentals should be available that don’t cost us Lewis or Kiriloff. We just need the pitching staff to keep us in ball games.
  18. Riverbrian
    It’s up to Sano. The organization shouldn’t cut him... shouldn’t trade. He develops for us or he signs a minor league contract for someone else when he hits free agency. If he doesn’t produce during the time between now and free agency. The last option is used and he gets little playing time. A lot of the money is on the line for him. It’s up to him to get that big contract for himself. This isn’t on the Twins. It’s on him. It has nothing to do with playing RF ruining him. He’s been given more opportunity that most others get. It’s about hitting his pitch and playing baseball as a professional. It’s all up to Sano. I wish him the best because we could use what he was promised to be.
  19. Riverbrian
    That's a pretty apt description of what happened with me last year. I'm not opposed to coming back but I can't return to what the game threads became. I just can't... It isn't me. I'm too happy a guy to sift through page after page of "this sucks". In the end... it changed me... it changed my mood, my happiness and I had to put it down so I could stay me. I was going to bed angry and I am rarely angry and don't like being angry... ever. The whole thing became a load of bricks to carry that I had no choice but to set down immediately. I was simply over-run, the usual band of characters who could find the humor in bad baseball had either departed entirely over the years or slowed their contributions to the point where there were nights that I felt like Kevin Bacon in Animal House, trampled by the riot. I could not moderate it, I could not change it, it could not be stopped without the band getting back together to push the tide back. It reached the point where the most prolific posters were now negatively inclined. Nobody was doing anything wrong according to the rules... most of the negative reactions were actually understandable in consideration to what was happening on the field but the collective tone had changed drastically. There's a cycle to everything and what the game threads became was just the bad side of a cycle I assume. Kind of like the Carpenters, John Denver, and Anne Murray had to come around after Led Zeppelin and the Beatles. I don't know if the owners and mods of this site totally understood my decision but I do know that they gave me respect enough to give me the space I needed and for that I am grateful. It was hard work, leg irons attached type hard work, not just by me, but Carole who set time aside in her busy schedule each day to edit my nonsense when she didn't have to, Chief was working over time to keep the trains running on time with the scheduling. There was a team working together and I bailed on the team but I really had no choice. It was bail or let the people around me suffer my self inflicted mood change. It was like a dog you loved that all of sudden started biting you. Eventually, you got to get rid of the dog. Speaking for myself, there was an enjoyment in the work that justified it but, the key word is "Was". There was simply no longer justification for the effort while you are sifting through page after page of "this sucks". I haven't been back and I have no idea what the current state of the game threads are. I'd love to put down the depth/flexibility kick I've been on and go back to having serious, important, critical discussions on "How a Giraffe would make a great pet, if you had the right kind of house". But I can't go back to what it was last year. I just can't. In other words... I can't jump back in with both feet, it would have to be a toe dip and I would require the assistance of anyone who would like to see the game threads back to what they were before to turn the tide back. If it can be turned back? Anyway, I treasure this website. There is simply no website on earth that suits me, like this one.
  20. Riverbrian
    It is a crazy game. That’s why I never pencil in losses.
  21. Riverbrian
    "You may think you hate it now but wait until you drive it".
  22. Riverbrian
    Spot On! Spot On!
  23. Riverbrian
    That's what I'm talking about! I went ahead and reserved a room at the Marriott for October 22nd to October 30th. I was forced to reserve the entire 8 days because I wasn't sure if we would have 4 games at home or 3 games at home for the World Series and what dates. I'll ask Glunn if I can stay at his house for the other games in L.A. Now I hope that the front office starts preparing for the World Series as well by getting Nelson Cruz some reps in the outfield when they can't use the DH.
  24. Riverbrian
    Marwin needed that for BABIP improvement. Looks like a line drive in the box score.
  25. Riverbrian
    Agreed And this is coming from the guy who was more than willing to banish either Astudillo or Garver to Rochester to start the season to preserve that depth knowing they were a phone call away. I just never saw all 3 of them on the roster and especially not this long. And I really didn't see Garver improving so much defensively and hitting two home runs every AB.
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