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Dantes929

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Everything posted by Dantes929

  1. Dantes929
    Vargas should not regress much if at all. His stat lines are below what he did in the minors. He got off to a fast start which many remember but then tailed off. I would expect him to have about the same stats lines if he went a whole year batting.
  2. Dantes929
    If everything goes right you can start printing WS tickets right now. Of course not everything has gone right for any team in the history of the game. I remember in the final few weeks of 2006 all the experts were asked what had to happen for the Twins to catch the Tigers and every one of them said it was absolutely essential that Santana run the table and win every game he pitched. Santana lost 2 our of his 3 starts but the twins went 13-7. In 2008 we were coming off a losing season and lost by far our best pitcher and our best outfielder but got to game 163 by having enough guys step up at other positions and that is what has to happen here. If we regress at 3 or 4 spots but improve, not even dramatically but just improve, 8 other spots it can make all the difference. On paper we just need more things to go right than the other teams. Our rotation will be Hughes, Santana, Nolasco and Gibson with at least 3 very viable candidates for the 5th spot. In a good way I am not so sure that May, Meyer, and Milone can't outpitch Santana, Nolasco and Gibson so one of the keys from my viewpoint is that we have the best guys pitching for most of the time. No way to really measure this but it just feels like we can't wait til August to see how things shake out.
  3. Dantes929
    Larry Hisle was 40 points below Mack in OPS, did not play as good defense, did not play on a world champion and did not have his best season cut short by strike.. Smalley has a decent resume at shortstop, longevity, all star, world champion. Castino was my favorite player at the time but falls short in a lot of categories. I really thought Wynegar had better stats. Two all star games helps. Again, Mack was won of the best in the game for 5 years. I prefer that to decent for 10 years.
  4. Dantes929
    Ok Stringer. What you said makes sense. No doubt the game was different. However Mack was there 5 years which did include a WS win and was cut short in his best season through no fault of his own. Yes, it was the start of the steroids era and Mack's OPS was still better than Hrbek, Puckett, Knoblach and Morneau. It was WAY better than Tovars or Allisons. I agree personality had a lot to do with it. Just not sure it should. I really would not object to Tovar being in. I saw him play and he was one of my favorites. I don't really think he was underappreciated . Just not sure he was quite good enough.
  5. Dantes929
    Lol glunn. I am old enough to have seen Tovar play and I liked him a lot. He just seemed to have a lot of energy and magnetism. You know, I just threw Shane Mack out there for discussion purposes because I always thought he was underrated and under appreciated. Then I started looking at stats and realized he was really under appreciated and grossly underrated.. His OPS as a Twins was better than Puckett', better than Hrbek, better than Oliva, better than Allison, better than Carew,better than Battey, better than Gaetti, better than Gagne. That's right! In 5 seasons for the Twins Mack had a better OPS than every Twin in the Twins HOF except for Killebrew. He also had a better OPS than Morneau. As far as I can tell, with a minimum of 5 seasons he trailed only Killebrew and Mauer in the history of the franchise. He was having a monster season in 1994 that was cut short by the strike and then Japan offered him a ton of money and he went with it. Hardly his fault the players and owners got greedy.
  6. Dantes929
    How is he more deserving? He played 8 seasons to Macks 5 but Mack's stats are way better and was key element to WS championship. Mack OPS .854 to Tovar's .714. Again, I was a big fan of Tovar's but playing all the different positions is just a novlety. Explain how Tovar was better than Mack. I am willing to be convinced.
  7. Dantes929
    I don't know. I really liked Tovar but most of his time was spent in the outfield and I don't know that that much emphasis should be placed on versatility. Shane Mack was a much better player and should go in before Tovar and definitely before Gladden.
  8. Dantes929
    May should be the frontrunner because out of the whole pack he had the best 2014 and I am not talking about the September call up at all. I am talking about the whole year.. That does not mean he should be given the job but the stats are not that important since Spring Training is a lot about training. If he has a 6 ERA but the coaches like what they see in terms of command and stuff that is ok with me if he goes North or if he has a 4 ERA and Meyer has a 3.5 ERA the edge should still go to May because the regular season should be weighted that heavily and ST should have some weight but not as much. Live action for the first time in 5 months,, variable quality of opponents, working on weak pitches or command of the fastball make a small sample size count even less than normal. Also, I think Pelfrey should be last on the depth charts going into spring training but should not be written off. He has had long stretches of success and actually has good stuff. Baseball is great for giving 2nd chances for people to succeed. I hope he never gets the chance because everyone ahead of him thrives but if it does get to him he probably wouldn't be the worst #5 in baseball.
  9. Dantes929
    dxpavelka, I mostly agree with you except about the part about March. Every year there are guys that are horrible in March that tighten things up for the regular season. Every year there are also guys that look like Ted Williams in March that can't hit there weight in May. 2014 performance should have the most weight. May might be working on his fastball command to the exclusion of everything else and have an inflated ERA as a result of giving up hits and home runs. Of course if he is working on his fastball command but still walking a to of guys then you reconsider. May should be the frontrunner and if by late March he is throwing hard with a sharp curveball and good control he should be the guy. As you pointed out, some one will falter giving other guys chances. If no one does falter then that is good in and of itself..
  10. Dantes929
    I still say his AL ERA of below 4 in the AL should trump Nolasco's 4.5 NL ERA. Even with a slow start he was 6-3 with a 3.55 ERA with the A's. That can't be all due to defense and ballpark. A's were loaded and decided to go get Jeff Samardzija. I don't know why Milone did so poorly once demoted but that likely decreased his trade value. Was Milone hurt or simply upset by the demotion? Maybe he isn't that good and been aided by park and defense but his career AL ERA is still better than Hughes, Gibson, Nolasco and Santana so putting him 7th in the depth department seems a tad unfair. I am not one of those that care whether he throws 99 or 89.
  11. 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.
  12. Dantes929
    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.
  13. Dantes929
    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.
  14. Dantes929
    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.
  15. Dantes929
    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.
  16. Dantes929
    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.
  17. Dantes929
    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.
  18. Dantes929
    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.
  19. Dantes929
    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.
  20. Dantes929
    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.
  21. Dantes929
    Another batting title wouldn't surprise me and would help his cause immensely.
  22. Dantes929
    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.
  23. Dantes929
    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..
  24. Dantes929
    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.
  25. Dantes929
    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.
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