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Dantes929

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Everything posted by Dantes929

  1. Dantes929
    I agree completely. To be fair, I have very little sympathy for the owners either.
  2. Dantes929
    I think the underlined sentence is a bit unfair. It may be true but I wouldn't just assume its true. I am guessing he could have made as much or more in the other markets especially with endorsements. While I have never liked being on teams that had very little chance of winning I also didn't like being on the teams that were supposed to win. I always preferred being the slight underdogs in any contest. It just makes winning more satisfying. If I was a superstar there is no way I would sign with the usual top 4 regardless of the money. I would want to be George Brett of the Royals or Kirby Puckett of the Twins rather than Alex Rodriquez of the Yankees. If I were him I would consider family, community, environment, people, and prospects. Knowing the money would be the silly outrageous kind no matter where I signed it wouldn't even be much of a factor. I don't know the guy but will give him the benefit of the doubt.
  3. Dantes929
    Isn't that preferable to turning a pitcher with positive value into a pitcher with negative value through over use? Fans used to get on Gardy for playing Butera to give Mauer rest but through 2010 Mauer was strong in the final 6 weeks. On the other hand Morneau had an MVP season going but played all 163 games along with the all star game and home run derby and his poor showing in the final month was probably what kept us out of the playoffs. Guerrier used to get dead arm from over use. Not an exact science but 5 appearances in 7 games after heavy use in the rest of the first two months is probably too much. Molitor should have been reading Tom Froemming;'s game logs to analyze his bullpen usage.
  4. Dantes929
    If it was a sure thing I wouldn't even bother watching. The story on your list of prospects is hardly complete. In fact, its not even to the mid point. Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, Kubel were a pretty good core. Puckett, Hrbek, Viola, Gaetti, Gladden were all 27 or older in 1987. Before that ( and a few after that) they were losing teams. Current guys are all 25 or less. Not all prospects pan out but everyone that pans out was once a prospect.
  5. Dantes929
    I think his stuff would play just fine. In 2017 he was sitting at 2.4 BB/9. In 2018 it was 4.8 in the minors and 8.00 in the majors. Sandy Koufax couldn't succeed at 8 walks per 9. I thought his arm was live with decent stuff (granted I was just judging by the TV screen) but he was all over the place. I still have hopes that he will be better than just back of rotation but that walk rate has to get below 3.
  6. Dantes929
    I was looking at his game logs and thought " A lot of strikeouts, few walks but a lot of pitches to get through 5 or 6 innings, so there must be a lot of pitches good enough for batters to not be able to put in play but not quite good enough to put them away. Must be a lot of foul balls. Sounds like Scott Baker. Scott Baker was good. I would take that." That is what I was going to post independently but then saw your post. I always thought of Baker as a decent #2 or a great #3. Baker had a nice fastball and a nice curve ball but I don't know if either could be called a signature pitch. It is worthwhile to point out that the league averages less than 50% quality starts so having a few clunkers is just par for the course. Also worth noting that Thorpe is only 23 and missed two seasons. I don't think he is a finished product.
  7. Dantes929
    I don't think it is real easy but Buxton has already shown he can do it fairly well and lets face it, he doesn;t have to be as good as Carew. He is just so fast the bunts that get everyone else out he turns into singles. The only time I remember him bunting last year was a sacrifice try right back to the pitcher and Buxton still beat it out.
  8. Dantes929
    My two favorite twins to watch were Mauer and Buxton. To me, Buxton was the most exciting player in baseball the 2nd half of 2017. What you say about standing on 3rd is true. Its not like he had a very good 80% stolen base average. It was 100% and the only time caught was an over slide. Bunting for hits is also a huge confidence booster. When he doesn't have to worry so much about average and contributing it loosens him up to play more like the 5 tool guy. Even when he was hitting great and for power I thought he should keep bunting. It had to drive the other team nuts.
  9. Dantes929
    Seems like we are always wondering why minor league success doesn't translate into big league success and Polanco feels like one of the rare ones that has done that. I would be just fine with Polanco at 2nd or 3rd once Lewis comes up. Definitely Polanco over Gordon or Schoop.
  10. Dantes929
    His strikeouts per nine in the minors is very good so he must be missing some bats. His walks per nine more than doubled in the majors. Major league hitters are better but I don't think they are 8BB/9 better. Guessing most of it is jitters and not trusting his stuff. Most of it. He absolutely needs to get better command even when comfortable. Not down on him at all but was hoping for a better debut.
  11. Dantes929
    Are you new? JK Yes and no. Yes, we are so desperate for good news we are reporting rumors. NO in the sense that it is not a now thing. We have always been desperate for good news. and have always obsessed over rumors.
  12. Dantes929
    I agree. Lets move on already. We need a good utility man and I hear Nick Punto has been working out hard lately..
  13. Dantes929
    He DID have Gregorius struck out but the umpire didn't agree. Who knows what would have happened but from where I sat he was throwing way to hard. His fast ball was at 97 but he wasn't controlling it and he was throwing too hard to get his breaking balls to work. He was plenty capable of pitching a good game. Maybe just too amped. One of those things.
  14. Dantes929
    They have not done a good job but they have tried really really hard. Pitch and innings limits reflect the clubs bending over backwards trying to protect arms but with little science to back it up. I might be off my rocker here but bear with me. I am in my mid 50's and when I golf, if I sit down for a while or if I am following a slow group and I don't stretch, my swing and muscles rebel. Wasn't like that in my 20's but maybe it was to a certain extent. On tv I would constantly see Gibson stretching and moving doing exercises but most of the time when they show the pitchers they are just sitting there. Some wear a jacket with the idea that it keeps the muscles warm which may help. However, I would think doing what Gibson does would be worth more than the innings or pitch counts in keeping an arm healthy and working smoothly. The wear a jacket and rest between innings practice might seem like a logical thing much like the innings and pitch counts but I wonder how much science backs it up.
  15. Dantes929
    Thats a good thing right? If we have a reliever that can throw the other 80 innings at 4.5 ERA we have just reduced the total runs scored against. I mentioned this in a different post but the Twins have assets that are perfect for this kind of thing. Mejia, Romero and May along with Stewart and Gonsalves should all be able to go more than 25 pitches and more than 1 or two innings. Fewer pitching changes will let pitcherts throw the same innings or more innings but over fewer appearances and I think this is a good thing. Pair up Odorizzi, Pineda and one other with May, Mejia and Romero and you will still have at least 4 other pitchers and maybe 5 to support Gibson and Berrios. Who knows the best approach but I like the idea of blowing up prior conceptions including pitch and inning limits. Very little science supports either.
  16. Dantes929
    Yeah, I get your point but I would view "the system" to be short for the minor league system and the "organization" to include the Twins. Useful distinction because if any of these guys have tools that are better than any of the major leaguers as well I would find it interesting, even if it is an article about the minor leagues. Also, Buxton was in the minors since May 29 and didn't get a call up so at what point is he considered not a minor leaguer. Can't be if he has seen major league playing time since Granite was listed twice. Mostly though I just want to know how Lewis and Buxton compare.
  17. Dantes929
    Have we given up on May as a starter then? We have May Romero and Mejia that all are capable of pitching multiple quality innings at a time so why not tailor their use accordingly. Let them all go through the order once rather than one inning or one batter and done. How about 70 inning in 30 appearances rather than 70 innings in 70 appearances.
  18. Dantes929
    "As mentioned above, any time he can get on base is a good thing because he has the best run tool of any player in the organization" Can't imagine that would include Buxton. How would they do in a race?
  19. Dantes929
    Good news is he will take a one year deal with the Twins. Bad news is the one year will be 2029.
  20. Dantes929
    Injuries and bad play are related but separate. Dodgers had injuries but most of their guys played as expected. 1990 Twins had a losing record. They added an aging veteran coming off two mediocre seasons, counted on an unproven rookie and added a DH that had a decent but not great track record. All three had great years and enough of the other guys had good to great years that they went from 78 wins to 94..... In contrast the 2017 Twins had a winning record. They added two starters with good track records, two relievers with good track records and added a DH with a decent track record. This should have been a better team both for depth and for quality. If they had added Darvish they probably would have been dark horse for a lot of experts to win it all. Look at that link on my previous post. They weren't all optimists predicting 90 wins. The naysayers were pretty high on the Twins outlook as well. If we don't tolerate sub par play then we get rid of everyone except Berrios, Gibson, Rogers, Rosario and maybe Polanco and Garver. I don't know what the answer is. If they stand pat I can easily see them winning 90 or winning 70. If they make big moves I could still see them inning 90 or 70. Its why GM's get the big bucks but also why any decent fantasy baseball owner might do a better job of it.
  21. Dantes929
    Not sure what your point is here. The three guys you named were three high end guys that played better than they ever have before. Twins have two high end guys that were horrible. Switch that around and you have different results. Plus the middling guys aren't the ones you count on to "lead" the team but they are also really, really important. 2010 Twins had two superstars having superstar seasons but were 46-43 at one point and lost Morneau. It was the middling players who actually started playing to a middling level or better that got the team to a 94 win finish. You count on the middling guys also and you just can't have so many of them under perform. You talk about the Sox training and pushing prospects hard and getting results. As far as I can see the Twins promoted Sano and Buxton pretty quickly. If it is that training part you have an issue with I am ok with that. None of this is saying the Twins had as much talent as the Red Sox but for the Red Sox guys they counted on to play well played well or great. The Twins had guys they reasonably counted on to play well or great and too many of them just didn't .
  22. Dantes929
    While I certainly agree depth is important I don't buy into the idea that the really good teams have so much quality depth that they can lose half their team in a year and not break stride. Twins very reasonably banked on Sano, Buxton, Lynn, Odorizzi, Reed, Hilgenberger, Dozier and Morrison to have quality years. Sometimes it is just up to the players. You can't have 8 of the top dozen players you bank on to completely tank. Where is Boston without Betts and Sales being healthy and having by far career best years and Bogarts suspended for half the year and 5 others having below average years? Twins were active in trades and free agency and were very reasonably expected to be better than 2017. IPPWS. Its Players Playing Well Stupid. Don't believe the Twins had talent through FA, trades and ingrown talent to start the year? Let this refresh your memory. http://twinsdaily.com/topic/29089-article-twins-daily-2018-twins-predictions/page-2
  23. Dantes929
    Jim Thome was the only superstar free agent I wanted. We got him and he was great but it was about 10 years later than I wanted.
  24. Dantes929
    Twins lineup was so much better with him in it. Mauer and Buxton were my favorite players to watch hit. Time for Buxton to step up.
  25. Dantes929
    Every way works if you do it well. KC broke two huge trends when they won it. Last in the league in homers but tough to strike out and mediocre starters with lights out bull pen. San Fran in their every other season WS streak embraced pitch to contact but did it very well. Boston gave up over 4 runs per game to Houston and nearly that to the Dodgers. Many years that is not enough to get the job done but Boston also had a great offense. In fact, statistically, Price was 26th in the league in ERA and Porcello was 45th. Sale did not do great in the Division or World Series. Boston maybe doesn't win if Price doesn't pitch way beyond his past playoff performances. Home field advantage helps but basically, make the playoffs and get hot is the best formula. Of course, this is aided by having great starting pitchers. Every method works if you have good players playing well.
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