Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

Riverbrian

Old-Timey Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    29,658

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    176

 Content Type 

Profiles

Minnesota Twins News, Rumors & Analysis

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospect Rankings

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Minnesota Twins Trade & Free Agent Rumors

Minnesota Twins Fan Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by Riverbrian

  1. Riverbrian
    Ghastly? Atrocious? Horrible-er? Tough question and I do better with Multiple choice
  2. Riverbrian
    In Summary the Leones del Escogido Team SS will end up playing 2B because of Lindor and the Leones del Escogido 2B will end up playing SS for the Twins. You gotta love Baseball
  3. Riverbrian
    Relievers!!!! He mentioned relievers!!!! Exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!
  4. Riverbrian
    I'd guess that the other GM's get more of the details on what was offered and turned down in their conversations. I'd also guess that they already have existing relationships with some and will be forging new relationships with the others that will carry much more weight. If being a GM is anything like every other relationship that we all have... they will have crappy relationships with some and great relationships with others and the shades in between. I think its more important that they establish precedence for themselves.
  5. Riverbrian
    Personally I don't care if Berrios starts with the big club or in AAA. I also don't have a strong opinion on which 5 should make up our rotation on opening day. I'd like to see everybody considered for the rotation and this includes not only May but Rogers and Duffey along with the prospects and pick your best and let's see what happens with the ole' short leash. Because... I do feel very strongly that there should be extreme intolerance for poor pitching performances. If we go through another year with Plus 5 ERA's in the rotation while the decision makers wait for them to straighten out.... That's when I will become very disappointed. We did that last year. This year... it's time to perform or get tossed into the bullpen or out the door. The starting pitchers have their framing catcher.... We have an emerging offense... It's time to show you belong in the bigs. I know it can be tricky roster management but it has to happen... the entire rotation besides Santana put in a full season of "I don't belong here numbers"... There shouldn't be another season of that. Pitch Well or Be Re-Assigned Elsewhere. That should be the 2017 team slogan. Who wants to make up T-Shirts?
  6. Riverbrian
    I walk with a permanent limp because of all the foot shooting I've self inflicted over my lifetime. However... in this case... I haven't heard or felt the gun go off yet. This isn't a defense only discussion. What I like about the Cards is the Metheny Creativity in the face of these defensive landmines. Let's assume that the entire Wainwright, Wacha, Garcia and Peake struggles were 100% caused by the Cards defense.... doubtful but let's assume this anyway. Metheny was still able to produce 86 wins and miss the playoffs by just one game because he was able to creatively lineup enough offense and keep the team in contention. I'm suggesting that Molitor could use a dose of this new way of thinking to deal with his defensive problems because it seems to work for Metheny. In a perfect world... I'd love to have Defensive talent 1 through 9 but we got Sano and you gotta keep his bat in the lineup. The easy answer is DH but now what do you do in NL Cities. I personally wish this didn't have to be introduced at the Major League Level but the Twins didn't have the foresight to do this type of thing down on the farm. Flexibility should be part of the minor league template. Hopefully this will be something that changes under Falvey/Levine.
  7. Riverbrian
    Quite Possible... Not to that degree but yes.. quite possible in my opinion.
  8. Riverbrian
    I don't think Zobrist is really good at any of the positions he plays. He's just steady at the positions he plays and his ability to be steady at multiple positions is what makes him really good. Why is he so very valuable for a guy who hits around .270 with Power in the Teens? If Zobrist was a great defensive SS... He'd still be a SS. It was only Brandon Harris who was in his way. Ben wasn't a great defensive SS in 2006 or 2007 so Maddon started to move him out of necessity in 2008. 35 Games at SS and 30 games at 2B,OF and elsewhere. By 2009 Zobrist was being plugged in wherever he was needed... excelling at none of the positions. Guys like Zobrist are movable because they are not defensive wizards at any particular position. I'm under the impression that Sano will not be a defensive wizard at any particular position so moving him around will not hurt us or him and possibly help us or him. But to be clear... I am not comparing Zobrist to Sano... And I also believe that Sano to RF was forced in a decision that clearly lacked basic foresight by having him play some OF in the minors prior and it lacked basic scouting assessment by thinking he had the instinct to play RF without prior experience because of that lack of foresight. I also believe that Sano demonstrated a clear lack of ability to play the position. I just believe the dream isn't dead because the Twins approached it wrong.
  9. Riverbrian
    Necessity is the mother of invention. Methany didn't have a lot of necessity in 2015. Last year... Diaz arrived with Gyorko... This created a lot of necessity. With Diaz... Peralta is suddenly a 3B when he comes off the DL. Gyorko is like Sano... you play him for his bat. His defense is sub-par wherever you play him yet there were times when Gyorko was the starting SS. Wong had to go get a crash course in CF. Carpenter has always been sub par defensively wherever you play him and he is always the guy who moves when a better defender comes along at the position. They still won 86 games while Wainwright, Wacha, Garcia and Leake pretty much sucked in the starting rotation. He made it work pretty well... unless of course you were talking about the Cubs. In that case... nevermind. BTW... We are still on topic since this pertains to Sano potentially playing some RF this year according to Levine and his conditioning may be factor as such.
  10. Riverbrian
    He was the best option to move to the bullpen... However... the Best Option would have been to actually improve the bullpen and moving someone else out of the rotation... Milone or Pelfrey I assume. I don't disagree with the move if you have no intention of supporting your contending team with much needed solid bullpen acquisitions at the deadline. However... I strongly disagree with Terry Ryan not supporting his contending team with those much needed solid bullpen acquisitions at the deadline. I remember it well... It was the moment that Terry Ryan started to lose me and I started to think that maybe he wasn't the right person for the job. Terry then totally lost me in the following off-season when he continued to not support his contending team with much needed solid bullpen acquisitions... and he did not acquire solid bullpen help despite stating in interviews that bullpen was the #1 need in the off season. May was fated to be in the bullpen once again in 2016 because: A: Terry Ryan never acquired a decent replacement for May in the Bullpen. B: He saved the front office's rear by pitching well out of the bullpen in 2015 in a pressure packed pennant race. Neither was Trevor May's Fault. I sincerely hope that Falvey/Levine was sincere when they told Trevor he will get a chance to start. And I sincerely hope that Falvey/Levine... go out and sign some FREAKING RELIEVERS BEFORE FEBRUARY!!! :
  11. Riverbrian
    Not sure who he is exactly but the Leones del Escogido squad that Polanco played for is managed by Luis Rojas. Looking over the roster... Polanco is only position player that is assumed to have a MLB starting job come opening day.
  12. Riverbrian
    To a certain degree you are right.... plus there is no guarantee that if you put Escobar or Polanco at 3B for defensive purposes that Escobar or Polanco won't airmail one into the stands at a key moment. If you employ a shift for example there is also no guarantee that the ball won't find that abandoned hole. But... you still shift to increase the odds regardless. If you have Arenado at 3B... you wouldn't put him in RF for the hell of it. A guy like that would stay at 3B because you can't improve upon it. A guy like Sano... you can improve upon his defensive play at 3B and if that's the case... Sano flexibility can help your team at times. However... if your manager believes that 3B is the only place Sano can play and won't consider moving him. You can't improve the defense unless you take out his bat or the DH bat to accommodate and weaken your offense in the process. Managers who think like this are stuck in a box and the Managers like Maddon, Metheny and Banister have a clear advantage. I think this will be a big year for Molitor to prove that he can change to a more modern way of thinking. Levine watched Banister do it and be successful. Falvey watched Tito show everybody a new way to use an asset like Andrew Miller in the bullpen very successfully.
  13. Riverbrian
    I agree with you... however... there is a difference between playing him everyday in RF and watching him make a brutal play every 3rd or 4th game and Paul Molitor being willing and able to go: OK... I've got a ground ball pitcher on the mound facing a team full of RH pull hitters... Escobar is a better fielder at 3B... Vargas is really hot right now and I'd like to keep Sano in the lineup to utilize his bat plus we are facing a left hander who will make it hard on Kepler and Rosario. A situation like that... could actually improve our defense. The big question is: Does Molitor have the ability to think like this and this is where I'm not sure. I know Maddon... Metheny... Roberts and Bannister have this type of ability.
  14. Riverbrian
    How hard they tried I assume would depend on how they felt the Dozier trade talks were going.
  15. Riverbrian
    Based on today there are some reasonable 25 man guesses However... I believe we have all recently received a promise of sorts from the front office that there will be some last minute activity in the next few weeks. Joe Smith? Mike Napoli? IDK... Papelbon... Blanton... Hernandez... Hochever... Jepsen... Valbuena... Aybar... Pagan????????
  16. Riverbrian
    It's extremely important no matter what industry but culture change comes at very slow painful increments. I have no way of knowing but I assume that Falvey/Levine are most likely in the assessment of the current culture phase. Providing new tools/ideas/change for the current culture to adjust to and evaluating the adjustment. I have no way of knowing but I assume that.signing Jason Castro with his pitch framing ability is one example of providing new tools for our pitchers... The new tool of pitch framing. Let's see how the pitchers adjust to the extra strike calls they get from Castro and I'm sure there are examples of similar change introduced in the offices as well. Change in the offices and on the field from the Janitors to Joe Mauer will take awhile and it's why I wish that Derek Falvey would have been brought in right away instead of waiting for the season to conclude. You'd be further along with less distraction this off-season. Go get Em Jack. I'm doing my part by supporting the Twins as hard as I can.
  17. Riverbrian
    • Miguel Sano is a third baseman, Levine said, but his days of playing the outfield aren’t necessarily over. “We view Miguel as having a chance to be an above-average third base defensively who’s going to be a force offensively. … We feel most logically, [third base is] where his home is going to be,” Levine said. “That being said, the more versatile a player is defensively, the more valuable he will be. … So the extent to which Miguel can still play the corner outfield spots only makes him that much more valuable and more of an asset.” I agree with Mr. Levine 100%. Last year... I never saw moving to Sano to RF as a mistake. Even after he appeared to be a disaster out there. The huge mistake was playing him there everyday and forcing it. Molitor made the statement that Sano was not going to play 3B at all before game one. He stuck him in RF and left him there to drown just like he said he would. That was the mistake. It took Plouffe getting hurt to move him back to third. You can make a wrong turn... wrong turns only hurt you if you keep going. My viewpoint... If he isn't going to be an above average defensive player at a position... average or below average play can happen anywhere and moving him around increases his value to the team and his value to other teams because it allows you to put better lineups together. Maybe a better defensive 3B can play when Kyle Gibson is throwing that sinker. Sano can move for a game to DH or RF or 1B or wherever. It's what Joe Maddon would do. It's good to see Sano looking good. Sano just might be ready for something special this season.
  18. Riverbrian
    Well deserved Are Our greatest manager ever!!!!
  19. Riverbrian
    OR http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/20000000/Ponch-chips-20034302-781-1000.jpg
  20. Riverbrian
    It's not my cup of tea. I'm more interested in the human element. Whoever the worst players are... they still accomplished more than most and getting far enough to be considered the worst is an amazing against the odds professional achievement. So to all of the worst players out there... I tip my hat to you. You can look back at what you did with pride.
  21. Riverbrian
    When I started looking over the transactions. I was specifically looking for examples of Friedman trading a prospect that turned into something. That context may have not been apparent.
  22. Riverbrian
    It's all pretty Robin Thicke to me. The lines are pretty blurry. Rumor from a reputable source or a rumor from a non reputable source. Which sources are reputable and which sources are not reputable. I think I've read the majority of them and I can say with full confidence that I have no idea what was offered.
  23. Riverbrian
    I did the same thing you did... I just started in 2016 and worked backwards. Jose Peraza might be something special with the Reds but he still hasn't been named a starter yet. Scott Schebler... Had some moments but we really can't declare him a big time prospect who blossomed into a star. Andrew Heaney was a highly ranked prospect. We won't know if he pans out until 2018 and beyond because he is doing the Tommy John thing. Will have to see how Holmes, Montas and Cotton turn out for the A's. There's Dee Gordon but he doesn't really count because Dee had around 1,000 AB's with the Dodgers so he was past prospect status. With Tampa... He didn't trade many prospects because they couldn't with that operational budget... but he did an amazing job acquiring young talent. Wil Myers was traded to San Diego but after he left.
  24. Riverbrian
    Last night... I was looking over Friedman deals over the years. You have to search for awhile to find a prospect traded that panned out or looks like they might pan out. Friedman is good at this
  25. Riverbrian
    I still can't help feeling that if DeLeon was near the top of the list. They could have stashed him in AAA and had that incredible important insurance policy that all teams need because a 5 man rotation almost never stays intact for an entire year. I get Kazmir and McCarthy and not wanting to eat the contracts but that arm waiting in AAA is a huge part of planning for the 162 game grind ahead. Unfortunately... The true way to know how the Dodgers ranked or felt about JDL is no longer possible. If JDL would have remained with the Dodgers... We could have simply waited to see who they called up first when the first opportunity arises. If they called up Stewart or anyone else first. We'd have our answer. Since that is no longer possible... I'm just going to continue to make stuff up out of my own head like I usually do. All was can do now... is watch what DeLeon does with the Rays when given the chance.
×
×
  • Create New...