Dantes929

Last decade there was always talk about position battles in ST but my guess is that the Twins could have written out the roster for Opening Day on the first day of ST. Roster seems a little more fluid now but really, 2014 performance should be the deciding factor on who makes the team in 2015. Simply using that formula says May should get his shot before Meyer. Of course that also says Nolasco should probably not make the team and would put Mauer's position in jeopardy as well so there probably should be some career bias as well.

Actually, to be fair, the arguement can be made that Milone has proven more than any other starter in the rotation. His AL ERA over a fair sample (83 starts) should probably give him the nod over everyone. It was very unfair for the A's to demote him and it is only his performance (small sample) after demotion that makes me want May over Milone.

I think May has the stuff to be very good. He threw enough strikes. His misses were just too far off. He would get 0-2 and then throw 2 or 3 that didn't even tempt the batters. Just my opinion but if he can get more waste pitches inches from the zone rather than feet from the zone he will be much better. I think the calf injury hurt his momentum a little bit. He was out for a month and only had a couple rehab starts before being promoted. I agree that if he is any good at all in ST he should be the man. I am fine with Meyer out of the pen for a while and Milone as 6th starter.

I never had regrets about Hunter. What I wish had happened and suggested at the time is that we should have let Santana play out his contract. We had a Cy Young under contract for a season at about 10 mil. At worst we would have received two draft picks. Next worst, yes I know Santana had a no trade clause but if the Twins were out of it does anyone really think he would have blocked a trade to a contender. Best case is he gets us the division title where, I don't care what anyone says, anyone can catch fire in the playoffs and having Santana might have got us all the way.

We used to call him Buck Eighty cuz that's what he hit most of the 87 season but never really begrudged it of him because it was mostly a defense 1st position and even though he didn't hit a lot it always looked like he could and with power.

Jimmer, I took your comment lightly but the roster of 1990 and 1991 wasn't really that much different. I am optimistic about the talent on this team but I am in it for the long haul. I would never give up on a team before a season but I am guessing I will be even more optimistic for 2016. Worst thing about the 2011 and 2012 teams IMO is that we were promoting guys with little upside and that were not even doing well in the minors. Different story now even though recent results are similar.

Sorry, forgot Chili was added also but the post I was responding to made light of the idea that adding two pitchers and an aging outfielder could get us from 92 losses to 92 wins. Of course its never that simple. After the 2007 season there were plenty that questioned how in the world the Twins could expect any better results when every other team in the division was getting better (sound familiar?) and the Twins were losing Hunter and Santana? My response was that they could get better by getting better at the other 23 roster spots, not necessarily by change but by young guys maturing and simply playing better. Essentially they lost their two best players but went from losing to game 163 simply by improving at other positions. I'm saying it is quite possible for the Twins to turn into 92 win team just by guys presently on the roster playing better. I can easily see May and Meyer pitching a lot like Erickson and Tapani. I can easily see Mayer, Plouffe and Arcia having much better years. Change can come from within just as easily as from without and it is the way I prefer it.

What was it we added in 1991 to become worst to first? Aging pitcher and an untested rookie (with no plan B for 2nd base by the way unless you consider Newman to be a viable plan

The rare times LNP would hit a homer I would always cringe a little bit because he would spend the next couple weeks over swinging in hopes of doing it again. Likewise with Arcia when I read about his moonshot because in his case he can the ball a long way but I get a little leery about his tape measure home runs. In seeing the video though, it was the kind of home run I hope to see often in 2015. His head was still, his stride was toward the pitcher and the swing was solid without losing his balance.

What were Mauer's rankings because I thought he was excellent over there. Honestly, I thought if he was a perpetual GG winner there they would have given it to him again in 2014 but people just assume he wasn't that good because he wasn't that experienced. He makes a great target. Morneau was very good but he still did that hockey goalie swipe thing a little much. Mauer just keeps his glove where he thinks the ball will be which imo is a better fundamental. This is relevant because I believe a good 1st baseman makes a tremendous difference in how others are viewed. Hrbek for example saved many an error. He is my main argument that GGs aren't really earned every year.

I guess if you are saying the average was pretty bad which makes Trevor average or better than average I can live with that. I don't completely trust all the metrics especially over 226 chances. From what I could see and what was mentioned in the article is that his throws were better. That is improvement. I still see him let the ball play him and turn to his side rather than get in front of balls. If 10 balls played him last year and he managed to field 4 of them more by luck than skill and this year he only had 8 of that variety hit at him and he got lucky and caught 6 of them it can make a big difference without really being an improvement in his skill. Likewise speed of runners is not constant and having a great 1st baseman makes a big difference. Average at best is what I see but as you point out my point of reference for what is average might well be skewed.

In the 4th paragraph I saw rankings of 12th, 6th and 23rd. I used to not like Plouffe on offense and hated his defense but now like what he brings on offense. I think his defense has improved and the throws and positioning have a lot to do with it but his actual fielding leaves me unimpressed. When seeing him live his ready position was the worst out of all the 7 fielders. The pitch was being thrown and he was standing upright. He also still seems to be a little afraid of getting hit by the ball which is just not the mentality you want in a third baseman. I don't think he is anywhere near a top 4 3rd baseman. I think he is bottom half but much closer to the middle than he was 3 years ago and hope he can make a little more improvement to get to average or maybe a little better.

Mauer's strongest case is that he is the only catcher in AL history to win a batting title and he did it three times to go along with 3 gold gloves. If he did it in his first three seasons and then caught 1500 more games without winning a title or if he did it in his first three seasons and then never caught again really shouldn't matter that much.. Oh yeah, and Mauer finished 2nd once and third twice in BA.

I thought Oliva's strongest case was the three batting titles. As far as I can tell Madlock and Walker are the only guys that have that many and are not in. In my opinion they should be. Three titles is just impressive and in Oliva's case he was 2nd once and 3rd three times.

Another batting title wouldn't surprise me and would help his cause immensely.

Wow Jimmer, that was an eye opener. Draft since 1965 and the only other potential #1's are Chipper Jones, ARod and Mauer. Just as amazing is the lack of #'s 2-5.though I admit I may have missed one or two. 2nd pick of Reggie Jackson and possibly "Verlander 3rd pick ironically of Molitor and Yount 4th pick of Windfield and Larkin 5th pick none and really it was amazing flipping through the lists just how few guys I had even heard of.

Sometimes I think that the day after we draft and sign a pitcher we should give them shoulder and elbow surgery. It would just save a lot of time and I don't hear too often of guys having that same surgery twice. Saying Buxton was the best player in minor league baseball when he was in A ball might be taking in too much territory..

4.85 NL ERA in his last season which was 2012. I am fine with a minor league contract and actually starting him in the minors where he would have to do really well before being brought up. Of course that is the way I felt about Bartlett as well. There is no harm in making a guy like that go to the minors and prove that he belongs but the "Twins lost my faith in their ability to stick to that kind of deal. Cy Young a decade ago shouldn't reserve a roster spot for him.

I tend to agree that Suzuki is secure as long as he can hit his career numbers rather than his career year numbers. I also agree that he is not an elite defensive catcher so concerns over the difference between him and Pinot shouldn't be over dramatized. By the way, I do not consider Mauer to be much of a question mark. He is still by far the most likely guy on the team to hit over .300. Vargas did not really have a stellar year. He hit about what I would expect of him. Its not like he outperformed his minor league numbers. Santana is a different story.

Funny Bvana, I was kind of looking at Santana as Nolasco's replacement also. Maybe I don't delve into the metrics as much as I should but Nolasco's career just doesn't look that great to me. 4.5 career ERA mostly in the NL. How is he different than Pelfrey or Correia? Milone at least has a sub 4 ERA in the AL. I hope I am wrong and Nolasco does great for us but I would rather see Meyer or May even if they have a 5 ERA for a while.

How exactly do they prove they are good replacements when Pelfrey and Nolasco are getting the innings? If you are not a big fan of Pelfrey and Nolasco why do you want them around? Pelfrey and Nolasco both have 4.5 career ERA's mostly in the NL. Is this the good pitching you want to avoid trading? Actually I am just playing devil's advocate here but for the most part I want May in the rotation to start and I want Meyer to be the next guy up. I am hoping Pelfrey is not above them in the pecking order and I am hoping only one of Milone and Nolasco are above them. I am ok with waiting a bit but at some point you have to make room. Part of rebuilding is letting the young guys take their lumps.

Not really sure why anyone is down on Meyer or May and want to promote so conservatively. I get the impression people think they haven't earned it because they have not done much in the minors and haven't earned promotions. Actually May had an excellent year and considering the limitations the Twins put on Meyer for innings and pitch counts he did remarkably well also. He had a lot of really high quality starts that ended with the Twins pulling him after 80 pitches. His ERA was pretty good but could have been better if he was allowed to pitch more while pitching really well. May was fantastic before his calf muscle pull. These guys earned their shots and I don't know why they are being handled as if they are huge risks. They have very good stuff so its not like their minor league numbers was done with smoke and mirrors. Fans blame Twins for slow promotions and then advocate the same path. I don't get it. Baumgarter, Verlander, Greinke, etc. were all rookies at one time. I don't think they had a bunch of plan B's so back them up. I want a rotation of Santana, Hughes, Gibson, Nolasco or Milone, and May with Meyer the first one to replace any injured or ineffective. I would be ok with Nolasco or Milone gone. Berrios is coming soon and we always have Darnell or Johnson to give us at least what Nolasco gave us last year. May and Meyer represent the very real possibility of quality or quantity. I don't like the anticipating injury or failure just because we have seen so much of it the past 4 years. No team has enough to depth to insure against all their starters being hurt.

lol. Not distinguishable from hundred or thousands? 359th of all time distinguishes him from the 358 that did better than him and from the 17,723 that did worse than him.

I expect that in 4 years Mauer will be 9 years removed from his MVP but consider it a decent possibility that he will be less than 4 years removed from a batting title. In 2013 he hit .327 and it is reasonable to suspect the concussion to have helped derail his 2014. The last Twin with a concussion that fans wrote off as done or certain to never regain star stature just won the NL batting title with an average equal to Mauer's career average. Way to early to consider 2014 to be his new normal.

Three time all star and .291 lifetime batting average. I'm not saying he was a superstar but quite a bit more than a guy that was able to bounce around the majors. No need to denigrate his career because even if he was a super star hall of famer he should't be immune from second guessing any more than any other manager.