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Brandon

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Everything posted by Brandon

  1. Brandon
    I like this prediction / observation. I think the Twins pitching staff has the depth definitely and maybe the talent to be what is needed for a contending team. With the pitchers I can see the rotation being the 4 free agents (Nolasco, Hughes, Corriea, and Pelfry) any one of these guys can get hurt or be ineffective at the start of the season which is why we want all of the depth possible. I see us keeping Deduno as either the 5th starter likely or in the bullpen and the other pitcher is likely to be Worely or Diamond but it could also be neither. Neither one has overly impressed so far. Worely came in camp in shape but.... I can also see Guerrier making the team out of spring training. I guess the 3 bullpen arms to watch out for include Fien, Theilbar, and Pressly lets see who has a bad spring. Again the looser of the rotation battle is not guaranteed a bullpen spot. On offense it comes down to can Willingham step up and hit .830 OPS? Can we find a solid leadoff hitter (Presley's to loose) who can at least get on base .340 or preferably .350 so Mauer can drive them in. can Dozier repeat last year? can Plouffe hit .750 OPS? Can RF and DH produce? (from Arcia, Colabello, Parmelee, Kubel, Hicks) If so we could have potentially enough offense to compete this year especially if we signed Drew for SS. there are probably too many ifs at this point since we lost Sano and the ability to redeploy Plouffe and Kubel is looking done so far. Anyway you slice it we are close to being a .500 team and that is a huge improvement from last year.
  2. Brandon
    The more competition the better. on a cheap deal he could unseat Pelfry or Correia should they not be any good or if they can get something for Correia. If Dedunno starts the year on the DL then you have the 5th starter either Worely or Diamond and Saunders is just another option if he signs with a low base and incentives to maybe 2 million or so. I think Meyer starts in the minors regardless due to service time and this could keep him down till the trade deadline or even next year which isn't so bad now that we are loosing Sano for the year. We want to bring up the new core quickly and I get that but I also want them to be together for as long as possible once they are up.
  3. Brandon
    I would like the Twins to sign him to a 2 or 3 year deal but not a 1 year deal. I see Cruz just signed a 1 year 8 million contract with Baltimore. They are all of a sudden having a good offseason. I bet more players will take the Qualifying offer next year.
  4. Brandon
    Stephen Drew is my Dark Horse. But is all seriousness I too will go with Willingham with 30
  5. Brandon
    Well, we have lots of rotation options to ensure the best 5 are going north and that's a good thing. We may be able to flip some of these pitchers for other assets and that's good. and we may loose a player or 2 for nothing and that's ok too because the pitchers replacing them were acquired for the same cost...nothing in terms of talent. so we net out with more talent what's the problem here if we loose someone on waivers?
  6. Brandon
    I think there is plenty of room in the budget for him. If he can hit 25+ HRs a season he is valuable. He can slide over to DH and then to a bench roll when younger players can push him there. I wouldn't be too concerned about cost as I do not think he will cost too much next season. And the extentions and rolls he fills on the team can change from season to season. 2015 and 2016 he could DH and 2017 he can be a bench bat reserve. 0r 2016 he can make the move during the season after a super 2 status is surpassed for the young player coming up. as that is a salary we should be more concerned about as there will be lots of younger players making more money at that time. I think the best idea is to be flexible and open minded.
  7. Brandon
    When I see the type of numbers Florimon ended up with last year I can't help but hope for a replacement. when I dig deeper I see he is not that far off from another long term SS who was at the time considered the fastest Twin and was near gold glove caliber. That SS was Greg Gagne. Gagne has a career batting average of .254 with averaging close to 10 HRs per season and 10-15 SBs too. while Florimon hit .221 with 9 HR and 15 SB. With just a little bit of improvement he could be a fine SS for the next 3-5 seasons as we can live with less offense in exchange for more defense which he does provide, just there is no margin for regression as we can not have a black hole hitting at SS since the rest of our lineup is not as strong. He could also end up like another Twin who is his 7th best comp through his current age on baseball-reference.com Ron Gardenhire...
  8. Brandon
    Plus we have Kubel back in the fold too. The question is how many of our young players going to stay status quo or move forward? (Pinto, Dozier, Plouffe, Hicks, and Arcia) I expect a return to normal career numbers for Willingham, Mauer may improve a little, Florimon if we get a .250 average with 10HR and 10SB I am content. There are holes but there are also more reasonable remedies for the short term (Bartlett, Presley, Plouffe, Suzuki) then last year. I expect our offense to be ranked around 8th - 10th in the league with the potential to hit 6th or 7th if everything breaks right.
  9. Brandon
    The Twins have put themselves in position to decide if signing Cruz and Drew would be enough to put them into contention this year. If they decide the answer is yes they may still go after them and possibly one of the other remaining pitchers as the Twins can always trade starters for the prospects they will loose in the draft. If the Twins decide to sit it out and they have a better record next year and in a weaker draft they may decide to go after 1 of the 3-5 SS on the market then (after the Yankees sign Jeter's replacement of course) There will also be other hitters available should we want one too. I'm fine either way as long as next offseason we continue to improve.
  10. Brandon
    I figured we would get either Corriea or Buxton. I figured Appel would go 1rst to local team. I figured either one was fine for me. I did want Corriea though because he was a SS. I don't worry too much about pitching. I expected the Twins would deal with it soon enough and they did with their next pick in Berrios, trade for Meyer, May and Subulban and Gilmartin.., International league Thorpe, next draft Stewart.... and then major league free agent signings. we actually almost have an embarrassment of pitching riches. Our bullpen is overloaded with pitchers. You can never have too much pitching though as i'm sure we will continue to collect pitching prospects. All said I was happy with the Buxton pick. I just didn't want to see the Twins draft a player that was rated 9th best across the board by scouts and writers and such to save money
  11. Brandon
    Plouffe, Parmalee or Colabello could have a break out season as a DH, bench or at 3B. Sano could come up and add to the offense too. I expect several of these things to happen, but will there be enough improvement on the offense to put us into contention.
  12. Brandon
    If Sano continues to have arm problems Drew could be a good backup option at 3rd too should the Twins get tired of Plouffe not hitting should Plouffe continue to hit .700 OPS or less.
  13. Brandon
    I'm all for signing one more pitcher. Garza or Arroyo will give the Twins more pitching depth and a better starter towards the top of the rotation. The Twins can always move Pelfry to the pen as his contract has 3.5 million tied up in incentives or they could trade Corriea. There is a lot of flexibility the Twins have should they go out and get another starter. The Twins were in on Davis earlier a speedy OF. would they be in on another one such as Pierre to be a 4th OF/ week armed CF?
  14. Brandon
    The draft pick loss could just be a negotiating ploy. If Drew has no one looking to sign him the Twins could swoop in with a 2 year 14 -18 million offer with an option come 2nd week of February
  15. Brandon
    I am beginning to wonder if the Twins would be better off signing Drew and foregoing the draft pick. If we sign Garza or Arroyo we should absolutely consider it as we are a lot closer to being competitive with him. Though there are a few good SS on the market next year.
  16. Brandon
    What was the Twins bullpen ERA last September? as I recall it was pretty high and that was attributed to a tired bullpen. That would have increased the team bullpen era enough to go from say 8th in the leagues to 14th....
  17. Brandon
    The Twins rotation will have around a league average ERA...Not necessarily for a rotation but for a pitching staff as a whole. the bullpen will be above average netting the Twins a slightly better than average pitching staff. So the Question of contention rests solely on the offense to be able to put up slightly better than average numbers. For that to happen several things need to go the Twins way. The article also leans heavily on Sano coming up and producing right away. a return to health and form for Wilingham and Kubel, Hicks to rebound and develop, Arcia to continue developing and Pinto to come in hitting solid similar to what he did in AA although probably with a little less results maybe something closer to a .770-.800 OPS. That's 6 questions that need to be answered along with will Dozier at least remain status quo and the likely improvement from Mauer no longer Catching. I can see 3 or 4 of those questions going in the Twins favor but will that be enough to make them competitive. At least at this point we can legitimately belive they could be close to a .500 team with the possibility of contending.
  18. Brandon
    Instead of Morales we could sign Cruz. or if we continue the path that Terry Ryan was on earlier....finding a speedy OF like Davis then Juan Pierre is the answer. I am neither Pro or against a Drew signing though I would like to see a signing or trade that would have that kind of improvement for our lineup to go along with Aria developing and maybe Plouffe or Sano and a return to form for Willingham and full season from Mauer. With that on the table our lineup is only a few pieces away from being solid.
  19. Brandon
    To play devils advocate.... Here is the list of SS for next free agent market when we will have a lower spot in the draft order and have our prospects with 1 more year experience. That list has comparable SS to Drew and are FA when we are still looking to upgrade the team. Shortstops Mike Aviles (34) - club option Asdrubal Cabrera (29) Yunel Escobar (32) - $5MM club option Rafael Furcal (37) J.J. Hardy (32) Derek Jeter (41) Jed Lowrie (31) Hiroyuki Nakajima (32) - $5.5MM club option with a $500K buyout Nick Punto (37) - club/vesting option Hanley Ramirez (31) Jimmy Rollins (36) - vesting/club/player option http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/02/2015-mlb-free-agents.html
  20. Brandon
    Deduno has succeeded twice now and he is dominant when he pitches his issue is with control so losing a little probably won't hurt his effectiveness as much as not being able to control where he throws it. If healthy he will be the 5th starter if not he'll be on the DL.
  21. Brandon
    I know draft picks are valuable especially the first round draft picks but if you can get a serious upgrade for your team and you have the money to do it we should. If we signed Cruz and Drew we would probably be contenders next year if not in 2015 when the last 2 offensive holes get filled by Buxton and Sano.
  22. Brandon
    If he's healthy its Deduno. He has filthy stuff with just a little wildness. His era was actually 3.18 or so till he pitched his last 3 starts of the year injured. I think the Twins expect to lose Worely or/ and Diamond as evidenced by the Johnson and Gilmartin trades. they have options remaining and should be included in the 5th starter hunt.
  23. Brandon
    What I want the Twins to do and what they will do are 2 different things. I want them to sign Cruz and Drew or at least Drew. with Cruz in the fold, DH can be alternated by Arcia, Willingham, Cruz, and Kubel as there would now be 4 players for 3 spots in the line up. Willingham and Kubel are most likely the odd men out in most cases. I just read that the Twins have the money for both players but are hiding behind the need for the draft picks.
  24. Brandon
    The thing about Gilmartin is he is not out of options come spring so if he gets sent down big deal. He will likely replace Worely or Diamond after springtraining when they get DFA'd because they have no remaining options. good move to pre-emptively replace the depth.
  25. Brandon
    this was just posted on mlbtraderumors.com lets discuss. who are they gonna get?
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