Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

Dantes929

Old-Timey Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    3,166

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    4

 Content Type 

Profiles

News

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospects Ranking

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Tracker: Picks & Bonuses

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by Dantes929

  1. Dantes929
    "Yes, but he is allowed in camp until the games start. The real issue is that he's been out of camp for "personal reasons". " Where is the source that says he is out of camp for personal reasons? Bad enough about the suspension but additional bad if he is not in great baseball shape by the time it is over.
  2. Dantes929
    "I agree with Jim above. The time to improve the offense was months ago" Not sure I agree. Unless you think we should have been in the running for Sano the best names months ago that I could see were Morales and Drew who are still available. I would have liked to see Drew. I also believe the best move down the line might be to put Dozier at shortstop if Rosario is all we hope he will be.
  3. Dantes929
    Just my prediction but the staff at the end of the year in terms of results 1. Meyer, 2. Hughes, 3. Pelfrey 4. Gibson 5. Norasco. Its really not so bad considering Deduno could be switched with any one of these and Correia could possible switch with one of the last 3. So there is a little depth there. Last year at this time I felt pretty good about Worley, not so great about Pelfrey because of surgery, ok but not excited about Diamond, less certain about Deduno and much less certain about Gibson. Pitching should be significantly better. Offense should be better just by young guys maturing or having more experience. Still not a good offense until we get some young guys up here but Hicks and Arcia should have much better years, Mauer should play more and room for improvement from Colabello and Dozier. Hoping Santana earns a promotion. They should be better than last year which means win a few more games and make more games close.
  4. Dantes929
    That's funny and you are probably right. Thing is if he has two good outings I don't think that should be enough for him to go north but it might be enough to keep him from passing through waivers. By the way, this is in response to a prior poster but I was completely kidding about asking him to tank his next game. Best result for the Twins is if he passes waivers and goes to the minors. That's the gut check. If he earns his way back then I tip my cap to him and hope he does well but that is the way it should be done. If he fails then we would rather him do it at the minor league level and that is just the nature of the game.
  5. Dantes929
    Maybe they should ask him to tank one more start so he will be more likely to pass through waivers. Other guys have gone through what he has and come back from it. In 2008 Liriano admitted he had no idea where his fast ball was going to go. He went down to the minors, found it and came back to the Twins and had an excellent 2nd half that propelled the Twins to game 163. In 2010 Jesse Crain completely lost confidence, went down to the minors, came back and had 20 some consecutive scoreless outings. I have no problem with guys going down to the minors and earning their way back. Its actually the way it should be. As has been pointed out before, the other top 7 pitchers have all made a pretty decent show of it. I wish we had the luxury of sending Hicks down as well to earn his way back but in this case I think he should stay up if for nothing other than his defense.
  6. Dantes929
    " Kubel said he was trying to go to left! " I don't recommend trying to go to left any more than trying to pull the ball. Hitting a baseball can be as counterintuitive as golf. A right hander does not hit a golf ball to the left by opening up his stance , hips and shoulders. That is actually the recipe for a big slice. In baseball its a recipe for weak ground balls pulled and short pop ups the other way because of the bat lagging behind. Hitters should be thinking hit up the middle and let their natural power swing pull the ball by meeting it slightly in front on a middle/in pitch. When Cuddyer, Kubel, Young, and Valencia tried to pull the ball they had terrible results. Curve balls and sliders on the outside made them look silly. My two cent theory on hitting.
  7. Dantes929
    "Do the Twins hold the SS position for him if he wasn't defensively elite? " I believe he is very good defensively. Elite might be going far. The Twins hold the position for him because he is very good defensively and there is little competition. Escobar isn't that much better offensively and Santana, at the moment, is not average defensively.
  8. Dantes929
    His K rate tells me he has some good stuff which makes me wonder why you already are putting a ceiling on him. Perhaps when he has 0-1 he gets too cautious and soon falls behind in the count. If he is aiming for corners on 1st pitch getting a high % might indicate a lack of control that day rather than otherwise. I would prefer he get 1st strike pitches but overall strike ratio is probably more relevant with him.
  9. Dantes929
    "First of all, it was very cool to meet Mr. Halsey Hall this afternoon. Just for a short time, so I'm hoping to see more of him through the week!" Huh? Hasn't he been dead for like 36 years?
  10. Dantes929
    Taking Hicks north last year was not a mistake in anything but hindsight. He was just as likely to succeed as fail. This should not be used as a reason to stop giving young players a shot. Its like pointing to Nishioka and concluding that Japanese players can't thrive in the majors, thus ignoring Ichiro or Matsui. If they think Santana can do the job then that is who they should go with. I don't believe the future is Florimon but never give up on anyone. I would rather Florimon go to the minors and succeed there and Santana get the chance rather than the other way around. Forimon has done nothing to guarantee a spot and will have missed training time. Of course, ask again in 2 weeks and Florimon and Worley might be doing great. Such is baseball.
  11. Dantes929
    "Couple of thoughts as I leave. I think Diamond over Worley if it's close. We'll see how Worley does today. I think they trust Diamond more. " Todays performance isn't going to help Worley any but it is still early. If Diamond and Worley are even at the end of camp it will be Worley and have nothing to do with trust but everything with giving the guy they traded Revere for another chance.
  12. Dantes929
    " To me if and when you put people like this on a MLB roster you are heading for another season of 90 plus losses". I think every roster has a guy like Colabello. A guy that earned his way to the majors by his performance in the minors and then has not succeeded as well as you would wish. Every roster has major league players on it that would not be MVP of AAA if that is where they happened to be playing. I like Colabello at this point just as much as I like Kubel. Whether nerves or happenstance a player may fail in his first stint and then thrive the next opportunity. I don't care if Chris makes the team out of spring training or not but if he plays at AAA and earns his way back to the majors then he deserves his shot whether it is for a 90 loss team or the world champs.
  13. Dantes929
    I think it is fair to say but I think it is just scratching the surface. I think you need to conquer your anxiety to perform in the clutch but that doesn't mean you will succeed because there is always the guy on the other side as well and what you do is largely determined by what they do. Also, is clutch determined by hitting the ball hard or by actually getting a hit which are two different things. Of course you also have the situation of two players facing each other who are not able to conquer their anxiety to allow them to play their best but one side always has to win and one loses. Colabello says he didn't conquer his anxiety but he still had 7 homers and some of them were in the "clutch". Kirk Gibson was considered clutch but he is still going to fail against Eckersly way more often than succeed. I think some of it is just happenstance.
  14. Dantes929
    Good article. I think athletes at the level generally have a pretty good ego but it is easy to understand a guy like Hicks being overmatched by Verlander and Scherzer early on and then start 2nd guessing himself. I think nerves and anxiety have probably derailed quite a few players careers, especially the marginal ones.
  15. Dantes929
    "Part of that is simply a pitch selection decision, since he threw his fastball three times more often in two strike counts. Is that because of lack of faith in his secondary pitch or just knowing his fastball is superior?" Just guessing here but even if his fastball is superior, the pitch selection in any count should be much closer to 50%. He would probably have ended up with more strikeouts. If a batter thinks there is a strong likelihood that an off speed pitch is coming it makes the fastball that much better. He should go back to whatever curveball it was that he had that made everyone drool back in 2007.
  16. Dantes929
    "Willingham is coming off a season where he was injured and ineffective (and getting older) it would be selling low on him at this point". I am one who advocated considering any offer after his great year in 2012 because generally that is the time to sell. In general I agree that you don't sell good players after bad years. However, if Seattle still considers him a legitimate power hitter then the only way we are selling low on him is if we actually accept a low offer. Its more the getting older part that concerns me but my hope is that he has a monster year and we can get something like a Miller or Seager straight up later in the year. I really like Willingham but don't see him in the mid to long range plan.
  17. Dantes929
    "I think selling Willingham low" The post said Seattle was looking for a power hitter. Who said anything about selling low? I like Ramirez as much as Mastro or Presley but the reactions and speculation here should probably be about Danny Santana. What scenario has him sticking with the team or getting him here quickly?
  18. Dantes929
    Good Lord, breaking down each pitchers performance followed by the disclaimer that it is early. "I'm not saying there should be any concern. It's March 2nd. I'm just saying there is clearly work to do." Ya think? This critique is as pointless as saying we are 2-0 against the world champs. It is all about getting in shape for the regular season. it never mattered that Slowey would go 5-0 in ST with a 0.50 ERA It won't matter if Nolasco goes 0-5 with a 7.0 ERA as long as he develops his pitches and command along the way
  19. Dantes929
    If Oliva doesn't get into the HOF for his baseball he should get in for his ambassadorship. Certainly he should get there for his baseball AND ambassadorship.
  20. Dantes929
    I guess in my vision if Kubel, Arcia, Plouffe and Sano are all on the team then Parmalee would not be. Not giving up on Parmalee but he has had two years to prove 2011 was not a fluke. Its just that the splits of Kubel and Plouffe scream platoon.
  21. Dantes929
    Once Sano is here it is pretty clear what should be done. Plouffe is a good hitter against lefties and Kubel is a good hitter against righties. Used that way the position will have a combined lifetime OPS near .830. A platoon makes a lot of sense either at DH or left field and when Willingham DH's. The odd guy out is a good late innings pinch hitting power threat.
  22. Dantes929
    "This lineup does not look like we will hit many HR's. Certainly guys like Buxton or Rosario could develop more power, but the lineup below looks a little HR challenged to me, save Sano and Arcia." Home runs were the closest offensive category the Twins got to league average last year. We were 18th but just 4 below the average. That lineup loses Morneau Willingham and Doumit which had a total of 45 homers. Those are the at bats that Sano, Buxton and Rosario would be replacing. Lets assume Sano doesn't hit 55 himself but can pick up 35. If Buxton and Rosario just hit 10 a piece we are still middle of the pack. I guess with the horrible OBP and strikeout stats of the last couple years as well as the fact that that this team would have good speed and great outfield coverage in a pitcher's park I place a little less emphasis on home runs. In fact, from my point of view, contrary to popular belief the 2013 team was swinging for the fences and trying to pull the ball way too much. That is a big reason the power numbers were ok but the rest of it was absolutely horrible. OBP is king with me and if Sano does hit 35 homers it will be the difference between him having 75 RBI to show for it or 100 RBI.
  23. Dantes929
    Hicks, Buxton and Rosario all project to have decent power but just as importantly good OBP. Arcia looks to be a decent power hitter and Sano will be the masher. I would expect Buxton, Arcia, Rosario, Dozier, Mauer, Pinto, and Hicks to hit at least 10 homers each in a full season with an average more like 15. Add Sano with 30, a shortstop with 10 and about 20 more from the bench. That is pretty decent power. The importance of outfield defense coverage is underrated in my opinion. If Buxton, Rosario and Hicks all pan out I would love to keep them. I will take good power, good OBP and great defense over very good power, ok OBP and mediocre defense any day at any position.
  24. Dantes929
    Why are we assuming Willingham goes to the NL? Only a few teams are really strong at DH. Marinez, Butler and Ortiz stand out. Others, not so much.
  25. Dantes929
    I agree that you should throw away the stats that say Willingham at DH is a bad idea just because his stats as DH haven't been as good. As pointed out earlier he only DHed full time when he was hurt. Blame the injury rather than the position. Personally, I would like to see Willingham DH, Arcia in right full time, Hicks in center and once Sano gets called up have Kubel and Plouffe platoon in left. Kubel and Plouffe have splits that scream platoon and whoever is left still provides a threat on the bench.
×
×
  • Create New...