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Dantes929

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Everything posted by Dantes929

  1. Dantes929
    While I sometimes wish the Twins would promote guys at different rates than others Gaddoo isn't proof of anything. He was a .249 hitter in the minors. He is 5-11. Pretty much any hitter A ball and above are capable of a 5-11 stint. I might be wrong but I know there are lots of minor league players capable of hitting well for a SSS in the majors. More power to him and maybe he never looks back. You are right that he would not be on the Twins nor should he be. He did nothing with the Twins to deserve such a shot.
  2. Dantes929
    Colume didn't really even pitch that poorly on Opening Day. A bad decision along with a bad throw to 2nd and then a very catchable ball that Kepler dropped made what probably should have been a relatively stress free save into extra innings. I'm sure Detroit is kicking themselves a little today for getting thrown out at home with no outs but that was a really nice relay. The mistake was probably the way he approached 2nd base while Cave was diving. Jerking to a halt rather than timing it so he can accelerate or go back probably made the difference. Its what makes the game interesting. Good decisions can turn out badly and bad decisions can become golden and there is always a team on the other side doing the same thing.
  3. Dantes929
    I thought this issue was subjective with everyone's opinions having validity but then you say that Strib commenters agree with you which leads me to conclude you are just wrong.
  4. Dantes929
    I agree. I like Morneau. I think he is funny but its just a little drier, which I like. Honestly, I think those that think he is humorless probably just don't get it, or maybe prefer the 3 stooges type.
  5. Dantes929
    I think I explained it in many ways in prior posts. There is a big distinction between being a pull hitter and being a hitter that tries to pull the ball. Morneau talks about it a lot also. He said he knew he was on when he he hit pitches middle in to right field but the pitches on the outer corner to left of center. He knew he was too pull happy when those outside pitches constantly got him out. I never suggested Ortiz should have changed his approach in Boston. Like you said he was a HOF hitter there. We know his development years were with the Twins and that he was HOF with Boston. We don't know if his training with Minnesota helped him develop as a hitter or if it held him back. We don't know what he would have been if his first half dozen years were with Boston and we don't know what he would have done with MN if he stayed with them. I thought he was a good hitter with MN but every time it seemed he was getting on a good streak he got hurt. I think that as much as anything had to do with why they let him go. If he had stayed healthy and they don't try to save money maybe he ends up being HOF with Mn. https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/04/04/former-twins-still-regrets-releasing-david-ortiz/x9aJz1CgCePxODxQqnZH4I/story.html
  6. Dantes929
    He was a good hitter for the Twins and at the time I thought they gave up on him too soon though of course I didn't expect him to be the hitter he became.. I did some analysis several years ago that showed his spray chart was very similar with Boston to what it was with the Twins. Of course a guy like him shouldn't be TRYING to go the other way but he went with the pitch really well and whose to say his training with the Twins didn't help his career though I know he was critical at the time also. I think it just as likely that if he started with Boston and they just said we want you hitting homeruns to right field that he would not have ended up the hitter he was. . He murdered the ball to all fields but as I have pointed out he was a natural pull hitter. He always had great balance and you rarely saw him stepping in the bucket or wildly overswinging. That is different that what Kepler has been doing. Here is Ortiz spray chart. Like I said, he went with the pitch quite well but with a natural pull swing. https://www.fangraphs.com/players/david-ortiz/745/spray-charts?position=DH&type=battedball&pid2=745&ss1=2012&se1=2016&ss2=2016&se2=2016&cht1=hangtime&cht2=battedball&vs1=ALL&vs2=ALL
  7. Dantes929
    Thats what I was looking at in the first place. Good to know it wasn't loading for you also. I also thought the spray charts would be more obvious but I still go with the eye test and like Jkcarew's explanation since it does dovetail with mine. Back in the day Josh Willingham's spray chart probably looked similar from one year to the next but one year I was impressed with his balance and how he was striding toward the pitcher and the next year I was disgusted with how he looked like he was trying to pull every pitch. Nothing wrong with being a pull hitter. Trying to pull as well as swinging too hard is different. I compare it to my golf swing. When I try to hit it 250 I hit it 220. When I try to hit it 210 with good balance and tempo it often goes 250. Like Kepler, too often its the former rather than the latter.
  8. Dantes929
    I was able to find a spray chart on Kepler from 2019 which was his best year. Obviously a pull hitter but there was definitely color all over the field. Can't find the 2020 one. Anyone know how it looks?
  9. Dantes929
    its a never ending story with the Twins. Cuddyer, Kubel, Valencia, Morneau, Buxton Young, Dozier. The problem isn't being a pull hitter. The problem is trying to pull the ball. All these guys and more I can't think of off the top of my head do better when they go with the pitch and hit to all fields. Ortiez used to complain about the Twins wanting him to go the opposite way but that training might very well have been a big boost to his career. Again. No problem being a pull hitter but you need to step toward the pitcher, rather than toward 1st base and I saw plenty of the latter from Kepler last year.
  10. Dantes929
    .317 BA in the minors with an .863 OPS. Spring Training rarely is and rarely should be considered tryouts. Its training and its small sample size. I'm not saying he should make the team immediately or automatically but you don't earn your spot in ST.
  11. Dantes929
    I think it should be noted that Dobnak in his horrible year was 6-4 with a 4.05 ERA. Getting shelled in 3 of his last 4 games might have been the league "figuring him out". On the other hand , like Duffey and Scott Diamond, the figuring out part might have been, for whatever reasons, the ball wasn't breaking as much or wasn't located like it was when they were having success. I think Dobnak has the stuff to be good. Probably not all star good. .
  12. Dantes929
    I feel better about our opening guy than anyone since Johan. To the extent I've often thought for Opening Day and for playoffs we should invert the order of our pitchers. I feel good about Maeda though.
  13. Dantes929
    If you gave me a #5 starter that was guaranteed to have a 4.5 ERA for the entire season I would jump on it. Dobnak and Shoemaker are capable of that and have shown better. Possibly a good signing for depth.
  14. Dantes929
    if Dobnak is obviously one of your top 3 pitchers you probably should be concerned. If he is obviously not one of your top 4, you should probably be pretty happy to have him as your #5 as I think he is at least league average. The wheels fell off and he still had a FIP of 3.96
  15. Dantes929
    Muncy was pretty lousy in 2021 and if Turner doesn't resign then a Polanco, Sano package might be enough to get Gonsolin or May. A lot depends on Turner. Had a great year but is 36 years old. Hernandez wasn't any great shakes at 2nd either. Polanco and Sano could have great value to the Dodgers.
  16. Dantes929
    One year deal at a pretty hefty price but I am always ok with that for our own guy. In this case Cruz has pretty much already earned it by outperforming my expectations in prior years so kind of playing with banked money. Glad it wasn't for two years. I hope he has a monster year and they do the same next year.
  17. Dantes929
    Exactly what I was thinking. Basically saying Kiriiloff will be the equivalent of Morneau and since many would say Morneau was as valuable or more so than Mauer it equates to Kirioloff being as good as Morneau and Lewis will be better than Mauer. I hope Seth is right but at this stage it looks like too much sunshine blowing out his ....
  18. Dantes929
    Here is some interesting stuff. I only spent 5 minutes on it cuz that is all I have time for but I think too much credit is given for old timey guys and too much credit for longevity. I looked at MVP winners and runner ups totals and I think you end up with Bonds, Williams and Trout with Mantle right in the mix. If you want to take Bonds out of the mix fine but the guy was MVP of his league 7 times. I know there was only one league but Ruth only had 1 MVP and one other year in the top 5. Not sure how that is possible but Cobb didn't do much better and contemporary Lou Gehrig did very well. Any opinions on how that can be? Ok, never mind. Apparently there was a period where you could only win one MVP for some reason. Now you've got Ruth back in the mix with the 4 mentioned above. I know MVP is rather arbitrary and Mays and Aaron have tons of years in the top 20 but I still take quality over quantity even in such rarified air.
  19. Dantes929
    That is important and though Santana made it clear he would not consent to a trade mid season I would have called his bluff. If the Twins were out of it and he could have been traded to a contender I am guessing he would have jumped at it. I would have gone for the Lester trade even up but what I remember was arguing for keeping him for the year if they didn't get an amazing deal. So often fans balk at the idea of paying gigantic amounts for multiple years to free agent pitchers because of the risk and I am one of them so the idea that we had to get rid of him because we couldn't keep him long term was just silly to me. If Santana was on the free market for 11mil for one year anyone would jump at it but because we already had him the idea of keeping for that year at that price wasn't appealing? Just seemed silly to me. Very likely cost us a playoff spot. Conceivably cost us a shot at a WS.
  20. Dantes929
    Never a big fan of Bruno. Seemed to be a guy that hit great when the Twins were leading or losing by a lot. I liked him ok but I remember liking the deal at the time. Herr should have been a bigger improvement over Lombo than Bruno was over Bush. As it turned out, Bush had a better year than all but two of Brunanski's years so that part actually worked out all right. The other part didn't work out at all but I blame Herr's attitude more than anything. I was ready to really like him and ended up hating him. I remember disliking trading away JJ Hardy way more.
  21. Dantes929
    Edit 1 Morris, Erickson and Tapani rather than Aguilera. Edit 2 Darvish rather than Garver. I'm with the others here. Find talent that played down last year with upside rather than career years which would take premium cost. If Bauer was healthy but had a so so year I would be all for him. Coming off Cy Young in a shortened year is just gonna be too costly.
  22. Dantes929
    I guess I would put Mauer, Morneau, Oliva, Kaat, maybe Nathan and maybe even Hrbek ahead of Hunter. I only brought it up originally because Mikelink post vaguely implied it might be Hunter. The best case for Hunter is still Baines.
  23. Dantes929
    Who was the Twins best player not in Cooperstown?
  24. Dantes929
    I was pretty excited about Erickson because he had gone 5-0 the previous September. My memory was that some time in the middle of the 1991 season Erickson developed some arm problems. Not enough to keep him from pitching but very obviously enough to affect his performance. In his first 15 games he had 14 quality starts with a 12-2 record and a 1.39 ERA. So if you included the 1990 September he had a stretch of 17-2 and had 19 of 21 quality starts. We are talking Bert Blyleven quality starts here. In fact the 2 non qualifiers he had were 7 innings giving up 4 runs. It was insane. Liriano was spectacular in 2006 but was only for about 12 games. Santana had a 21 game run that was very similar to finish 2004. That's it unless Blyleven had a streak like that way back when. Erickson was by far the best pitcher before the injury. Tapani was the best for the regular season and Morris was good in the season and great in the playoffs. Aguilara was great throughout.
  25. Dantes929
    What's funny about this post is I am not even sure what side you are taking. No brainer to sign him to two years or no brainer not to sign him for two years, seeing how the board is pretty split on the subject the fact that you say it is a no brainer without declaring a side kind of by definition makes it the opposite of a no brainer. Remember extensions to Thome, Willingham, Hughes, Dozier, etc were all considered no brainers at one point. If Cruz had put those numbers up for someone else at that age and was asking for two years I would say it was a no brainer to turn him down. The fact that he did it for us I would have no problem with overpaying him for one season with an option.
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