Riverbrian

If this is Hicks... Take 3... (Smacking sound of that Clip Board Movie Thing-a-ma-job). So be it... I'm pulling for the kid to figure it out and become what we hoped!!! However... If it was me... I'd start Hicks in Rochester and make him tear up AAA first and then call him up. And then make him compete for the MLB CF Job with someone that I brought in to start opening day. I Don't Know... Someone like Mike Trout or Willie Mays... Nothing unreasonable but yet someone with a little game. The way it sits right now... I can only see one scenerio. Hicks or Schaefer starting opening day and if either or both don't work out... Santana returns to CF. But I'm still scratching my head on why the Twins would utility Escobar in order to play someone in CF who didn't perform at the plate like Escobar did in 2014. I understand wanting Santana to play SS but... CF is still a wing and prayer in it's current state. The attention paid to CF remains baffling and the calender has changed again.

I think I can rightfully claim that I have not been an overly critical poster toward the front office. However... I admit I have no idea what the Twins have been doing in CF since Span and Revere were dealt. I think most of us were OK with the trades. I was... but I think most of us would have thought CF to be solved by now. Since the trades: Terry Ryan announced that Mastroianni... Benson and Hicks would compete for the job for 2013. 2 years later... Benson is out of baseball and Mastro is just about out of baseball. Hicks has proven nothing at the MLB level and reported attitude problems swirl around him. We picked out 3 guys... 2 are done with baseball just two years later and the other... Well... Yeah... The other. After winning the job in ST... Hicks is so overmatched in 2013 that Clete Thomas and Alex Presley finish the year in CF. Thomas and Presley are so highly thought of that they are let go. Going into 2014... Despite Hicks clearly being miles from ready in 2013. He is handed the job again... Ok... Fine but surely there is a backup plan in case 2014 is like 2013. The backup plan in CF is... Jason Bartlett who is a Veteren SS. Hicks fails again and Bartlett retires himself after looking completely helpless in the outfield. SS prospect Danny Santana is quickly moved to CF out of desperation and he performed at the plate and made significant improvement in CF as the year goes on. Schaefer was signed off waivers and he looks like a decent pickup. Going into 2015... Molitor announces that Santana will move back to SS moving Escobar to the bench or trade bait and Hicks/Schaefer are announced as the CF plan. This will be year 3 since the trades... Can anyone explain what the Twins are thinking? Waiting for Buxton? Well... Buxton isn't here yet and he's been very injury prone thus far. CF just appears to be Under Assessed... Under Addressed... And under stressed for 3 years running now. Thank God we signed Schaefer is all I got to say... Thank God we got that guy off waivers... That's what I'm saying. I can't believe I'm saying that. But thank god for Schafer.

When he gets it together it will be as quick as flipping a light switch. Unfortunately some are not around long enough for them to find the light switch. Molitor and the Twins can talk about Hicks opening the season as our CF in 2015. That's fine... I'm more curious to see if he is playing CF for the Twins on May 1st. If it's not Hicks on May 1st... As it stands now... It could Santana back in CF.

Its quite possible... However... It all comes down to percentages and weighting of. If You misplay a ball that is coverted at 95% in a certain zone...The punishment is large. The majority of balls hit are handled in these high percentage zones. You only have a few chances to make a low percentage play when you get high Percentage plays by the boatload.and those low percentage plays converted are less and less uncommon. You simply can't catch up and when you consider how little low percentage data is available from week to week... Even month to month or year to year... It produces unstable swings in the result and therefore unreliable data. Yeah... I'm not a UZR fan. With that said... Torii may be what is being claimed. I don't know... I'm just not trusting of UZR at all.

LOL.. I'm not overlooking any facts... I'm just not digging for all of them. Torii may very well be what is being presented... I'm not equipped to argue. I just can't resist the chance to rail on UZR since the stat is thrown around frequently. Good work as always Parker. Ill be curious to watch Torii daily in 2015.

Yeah... Torii!!! That isn't even close to how you coach it. BTW... My iPad struggles to load video now and webpages constantly reload after the latest update. I'm pretty pissed at Apple right now.

Ok... That GIF is awfully damning. If I saw Hunter do that in a Twins uniform... I'd be pissed at him for a week... At least. Regardless... It's one play... He'd have to Delmon Young a few like that before I gave up and say he's a butcher. On the defensive metrics... Outfield metrics are dominated by the routine ball. Make one mistake on one routine ball and you are immediately put into a UZR hole that is impossible to climb out of. It's like ERA for a RP that's throws three or five innings a week. One bad day where you give up 8 runs in a third of an inning... it's going to take a bunch of scoreless innings to correct it and that will take a while if you only throw a couple of innings in a week. UZR is the same... One bad play... One botched ball in a high percentage zone is like giving up 8 runs in a third of an inning for a pitcher and your chances to correct it are overwhelmingly routine leaving you only a couple of non routine plays a week to make a dent in the bad UZR number, Shift to the wrong spot at the behest of coaches and have the shift cause a ball to land in a zone where the ball is normally caught and you are in a big UZR hole. Everybody is catching routine balls... catching the routine ball fixes nothing in the UZR world once one routine ball is misplayed. I've never consider Torii to be a range guy but I will not use UZR data to support my hypothesis. It's flawed... Half cooked uselessness at this point. The fluctuations from year to year is an obvious indicator of its flaws. To me... Defense is all about moments. Can you make the play when the pitcher and team needs it? Torii used to be pretty good at that... Let's see if he still is at age 57 or whatever.

I've never seen Torii Hunter deal with puppies or old people... I don't know if he's a jerk or not. I won't judge him based on media quotes... Just like I try not to judge any of you based on your quotes on TD. What you post on TD has very little to do with what kind of Accountant... Teacher... Mailman... you are. My judgement will be based on how he plays the game. If I see him layup on a catchable ball... Jog to first on a grounder... Go through the motions... I'll judge him on that and that alone.

I agree with this and this is the kind of leadership that I'm looking for. We haven't had this type of player since Torii left us. I have no idea what is happening in the clubhouse... So there is no way I know who leads what and who doesn't. On the field... I haven't seen a "I'm gonna plow you over... Bust a pitch inside... Spit nails" type player since he left. When it comes to defense.. I never thought Hunter was that rangy even when they used to call him Spider-Man in his youth. But... But... There is no way that I will pay an ounce of attention to the yearly pinball that is defensive metrics. The ball will come his way and Torii will catch it. Everyone should be praying for bat speed and continued possession of it. When that goes... That's when it gets ugly. I'm fine with Hunter for a year... Now get some pitching please!!!

I'm also surprised by the negativity. I'm also surprised by the level of knowledge of Korean Baseball and the confidence in such knowledge. I'm also surprised by the power of those fiber one bars.

Based on 2014... The Twins have some talented offensive players... If everything goes right... We have very little to worry about. However... When was the last time everything went right? 1965? I agree with Levi... I will add... That I understand the desire to bring up our young stars. I can't wait to see them myself. The anticipation is killing me. What I don't understand is the desire to bring them up with no safety net... I don't understand... The wish of some... To not sign talent over fear of blocking them. You can't BLOCK them... Players get hurt all the time... Someone is gonna suck... If Rosario is performing in Rochester... Or Buxton or Sano... You can't block them... Unless we are winning and everything goes right. Which hasn't happened since? 1947? And if everything goes right. Well... Block away... Who cares... We are playoff bound!!! Sano... Buxton... Rosario are safety nets... Some want to cut our safety nets to play the safety nets with no safety net. I can't support that.

Rios is my choice. If you can disinfect all the White Sox germs off of him.

Pitchers spend time on the DL. We used be constantly searching for arms. Would love to see the Twins grab a Scherzer or Lester...I just don't think they will. Therefore Masterson makes sense to me. Anderson doesn't stay healthy but he pitches pretty left handed good when he is. I'd sign them both and hope for the best. Let the pile of them compete for spots. Hughes should be the only lock in my mind. The other guys have stuff to prove and should be pushed to prove it. Nolasco simply has to pitch better or be sunk cost. Gibson needs to be more consistent. Pelfrey has to show something. Milone has to keep the team in games. May needs to put it together. Meyer needs to throw a MLB pitch. I understand the logjam... I won't predict a starting 5... Just gather them and compete for jobs!!! Let's not mess around.. The offense has pieces that could do something in 2015. Get some pitching and let's make 2015 better!!!

Masterson and Anderson would be my choices ... And... And... They both have good Minnesota names.

No brainer... Keep Escobar and the good problem to have that comes with him. Please... Please... Please... Dear Powers that be. Do not settle on starters and lock in. Embrace the flexibility that Santana, Escobar and maybe even Plouffe can bring and utilize that flexibility. While prepping for the arrival of Buxton and Sano. Have honest to god competition for each position... Insurance at all positions. Play Santana in CF and SS... It will sort itself out if you manage your lineuos creatively. Nobody on the 2015 roster should have to sit for extended periods of time. The entire roster should be able to produce and help win games. Bring in a LF who can also play CF and you are good to go with the Offense and Defense. Then you can focus on Pitching.

I went to Buffalo Wild Wings once. And to please my wife... I looked at the menu for awhile before finally ordering the Wings I always have. My wife worries about me and was probably hoping... I'd get something different. A salad maybe. Reflecting on it... There was no reason for me to look at the menu... I was getting Wings. Looking at the menu was a dog and pony show. Nothing wrong with knowing you want wings. If you find what you want. Stop looking.

Riverbrian: C'mon Bert... This Way Bert: Where are we going? Riverbrian: No place special... Nothing to worry about Bert: I didn't get any of the Crab Legs at the buffet.. Hold on... Riverbrian: Never mind the crab... C'mon... You are needed elsewhere. We gotta go now. (Ok... He's out now)

I brought Blyleven into this discussion... But I want to be clear that I'm not advocating the hiring of Bert. I'm not advocating anyone because I dint know enough about the horses racing. Just mentioning Bert because his Dutch squads lacked big names yet performed decently in the WBC's. Bert just maybe someone that nobody thought about it... And maybe they ain't thinking about him for good reason.

I've heard it said... Don't know if it's true... But I've heard it said... In a lot of cases... The best of the best can't explain to others how they did it... It just came natural to them. They never had to think about how they did it... They just fell out of bed doing it.

Yeah... But he can circle things!!!

First off... I don't have an opinion and I won't have an opinion... Other than hoping that Molly hires a guy who can get the most of our staff. I have no idea who that guy could possibly be. With that said... I wonder if Bert Be Home By Eleven is drawing any consideration. It may seem like an odd choice to some... But... The Dutch pitching staffs performed well in the WBC's under Bert. And... And... Bert would be able to CIRCLE mechanical trouble spots when going over video. Ricky Nolasco... Your release point is too high.. This is causing your pitch to sail up in the zone.... You are hereby circled. Trevor May... Your strike foot is landing inconsistently... This is giving you your control problems... You are hereby circled.

Ok... Molitor is the Manager. Now let's put a team together for Molly to work with.

I'm also under the impression... Based upon how long Gardy held his job and the relationship he seemed to have with Terry Ryan.... It gives me the impression that any managerial candidate would love to work for the stability that Terry Ryan and the Pohlads provide. I agree... I hope Money isn't an issue. This is one of those guys you go get and pay what it takes if you are serious about getting better.

I'm rarely comfortable expressing strong opinions on Manager Candidates because I just don't have enough information on their philosophy. However... I've stated that I'd like a Joe Maddon type. So... When hoping for a Joe Maddon type. Why not hope for Thee Joe Maddon. Joe would rank #1 on my list and so much so that he would also be choice #2 3 4 5 and 6. #7 would be the guy who worked for him Martinez. Joe would be the perfect match for our Roster next year and beyond. Because we will have a roster full of players who can play a little and offer position flexibility just like Joe is the best at managing. Joe will know how to handle Plouffe when Sano arrives. Please Please Please make this happen... Pay him 10 Million a year... It ain't my money... I don't care. Get this one.

In my opinion... If Hicks is on the opening day roster. A viable safety net with talent will be required.