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Dantes929

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Everything posted by Dantes929

  1. Dantes929
    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.
  2. Dantes929
    Stringer, with no evidence but my gut feeling I think the decision to have him continue as a switch hitter out of high school will end up costing Hicks millions of dollars. I applauded his change to right only last year and wish he had given it more of a chance though the odds were probably long at that point. I guess I am trying to envision the path that you have for him. His best year in the minors was .286 and that was far and away ( I mean really far and away) the best he has demonstrated from the left side. I believe he would have to replicate that for at least 300 and probably more at bats in the minors for anyone to believe he can be serviceable from that side in the majors. Certainly not impossible but I believe the odds of him doing so are less than Rosario and Buxton doing the same thing. Essentially if he is sent down to the minors to actually prove he can hit from the left side the odds are that Rosario and Buxton are promoted ahead of him and if they stick, then what? The most likely role for him is 4th outfielder anyway or trade bait that will net little. In the meantime we will have lost a season of platoon value for him. I have been wrong before and maybe it works out as you envision and Rosario or Buxton get hurt or underperform and Hicks does great. For his sake I hope it does though at this point I don't see his potential being greater than Rosario or Buxton. I really wish he had stuck to right handed out of high school.
  3. Dantes929
    "Hicks does none of that. Maybe OBP is ok" A bit better than ok. Even with a BA 80 points below Revere his OBP was actually higher. Hicks is ideal for platooning but the best team probably is with Santana in center and Escobar at short. If Santana is at short then the Hicks/Schaefer platoon is statistically.quite adequate. Hicks against lefties had a fantastic .410 OBP. and .279 average. .302 OBP with .179 average from the left side. These stats scream platoon and so does Schaefers splits
  4. Dantes929
    Mauer was 5th in dp one year and tied for 6th another year. He hit into 12 (half as many as the league leader) last year and 7 (one fourth) the year before that. I am not going to defend Mauer's 2014. I look forward to him hitting the ball hard enough and consistently enough to hit into a lot of double plays. If he gets back to career norms he is a very good #2 guy. Fans often remember the double plays but don't notice the base hits and walks that put guys into scoring position. I am guessing over his career he leads the league in runs produced that don't involve him getting credit for an rbi or run scored. I notice when his walks move up runners that then score and when he gets a hit that moves a guy to third that then scores on sac flies or infield grounders or sharp hits that wouldn't score a guy from second. If he hits .270 again then yes his spot shoujld be lower. If he hits .320 with a lot of doubles then 2nd is ideal for him even if it comes with more double plays.
  5. Dantes929
    Except Hicks had an OPS+ of 120 against lefties last year so a platoon of Hicks and Schaefer makes perfect sense. I never liked the idea of Hicks as a switch hitter since it always seemed the absolute best outcome would have been for him to have the same splits as a switch hitter as most batters do just from one side. The worst outcome of being a switch hitter is what we are currently left with which has some value if used properly. He plays decent defense and can hit lefties. Even if in 3 years it is a platoon of Hicks and Schaefer with Buxton and Rosario and Arcia as a DH it is not such a bad thought. Currently they have even more value as the non starter for any given game can be a pretty big defensive late inning upgrade over Arcia or Hunter.
  6. Dantes929
    Parker, sometimes when on the golf course swinging harder and harder for worse and worse results someone will mention my head is swaying which of course means other parts of my body are swaying also. I do just that one fix of keeping my head still and now I am hitting effortless bombs. That's with a ball just sitting there. How much tougher to have your head moving while the ball is moving 90mph and changing both vertical and horizontal planes. It doesn't seem like the fixes for Arcia should be that hard to make. I still think with his bulking up he just fell in love with power at the expense of average and think that needs to be reversed since I don't think the power will leave him if he does.
  7. Dantes929
    I am generally a fan and defender of Mauer and think he does have a great swing but don't think I am doing him any disservice by saying Arcia has a great swing also. Mauer has a fantastic eye and great discipline. Put those same qualities on Arcia and maybe Arcia outhits Mauer. You are talking skill and I am talking talent. Arcia is not a great hitter. If he keeps his head still, strides toward the pitcher, stops trying to pull everything and only swings at pitches he can handle and he will be a great hitter rather than just having a great swing.
  8. Dantes929
    .917 career OPS in the minors on the back of a .314 average. His power has developed as a result of his physique. I am guessing his average has regressed as a result of his psyche. A beautiful swing and having flaws in mechanics or weak zones are not necessarily mutually exclusive. I believe the productive swing of the minors is still in there and the flaws have been a result of falling too much in love with distance. " but Arcia’s previous swing seems to give him more balance, which could translate to handling being pitched away better, and greater opportunity for pitch recognition." quote from your article tells me the skill needs honing but just the eye test tells me the talent is there.. I stand by "great swing".
  9. Dantes929
    Arcia has a great swing that is powerful but does not need to be violent. Trying to pull 500 foot home runs is counterproductive. Step toward the pitcher and take a good controlled swing. Much like when Koufax dialed back the effort on his fastball in order to control it Arcia needs to dial back his swing. It is just too sweet not to hit for average as well as power and quite possibly it doesn't need the effort that causes back problems. Objective should be better and more frequent contact and he will hit more homers with less effort even if they are not the tape measure variety. Maybe Ernie Els is the guy he should emulate. I honestly think he can bat .300 and hit 30 homers.
  10. Dantes929
    There is nothing easy about this rotation business. Twins probably wanted to go with young guys but are afraid of failure and having plan B of the Walters DeVries of the world. No team commits 10's of millions as a plan B backup and there are no alternatives that would satisfy most fans so you get the cart leading the horse. If they are both healthy and aside from the contracts I see no rational argument for placing Nolasco above Milone so my rotation would be Hughes, Santana, Gibson, Milone and May with Meyer, Nolasco and Pelfrey in the pen and in that order. Even with Seth's projected rotation it is not too hard to compare it favorably to the 2010 division champs rotation. Hughes beats Liriano, Pavano probably edges out Santana. Gibson and Baker are a push and Meyer, May, Milone, Nolasco should be able to outperform Blackburn and Slowey. Not sexy but solid which would be a welcome result after the last several years.
  11. Dantes929
    Not 100 mph but I get more excited when I hear about nasty stuff than just pure heat. In the early to mid 2000 decade we had Romero, Rincon, Santana, Hawkins, Guardado, Crain, Guerrier and Nathan which was pretty exciting and if you look at some of their ERA's in that time you will understand why. I remember in that time period Konerko getting mad at the White Sox for their lack of urgency in early innings because the Twins were lights out in the later innings and that the bullpen was the difference between the two teams. High velocity can reduce the margin of error but not if you can't control it and not if you don't have a quality secondary or third pitch. Like I said 100mph doesn't excite me. Give me a guy with great control, a good fastball, a knee bending curveball or changeup and a nasty slider. If the fastball is 100 mph then all the better but not mandatory. Runs allowed is still the yardstick.
  12. Dantes929
    Responding to your post from bottom up without really disagreeing with too much of it. Mindset is certainly an evolving thing. I have seen Joe Nathan looking scared in New York and invisible elsewhere and who knows maybe on a different day he would have looked better in New York as well. Crain looked great for 20 appearances in a row and then just lost it. Likewise with Perkins last year. Baseball is lends itself to chaos. Extra innngs, maybe several days in a row of 1 run leads going into the 7th and then several days in a row of behind by 1 in the 7th creates chaos especially when using 5 or 6 pitchers per game.. I don't think any system eliminates back door politicking if that is the makeup of the individuals. Having defined roles can be helpful but the definition doesn't have to be the traditional or the currently popular. No one is suggesting that Perkins close a game today and then pitch long relief in two days but facing two tough lefties in the 8th might make more sense than waiting to face bottom of the order righties in the 9th and that kind of scenario can be defined ahead of time. He doesn't have to be the closer. I would also like to see guys stretched out more. If a guy is "on" in the 7th why not throw him out there in the 8th instead of a guy that might be off? In the long term it would likely save the pen for guys to throw 80 innings in 40 appearances rather than 70 innings in 70 appearances but there again I have no proof that that can be a blanket statement for everyone. Not every pitcher or team have the same abilities and mindsets so maybe the formulas and role definitions should not be the same for everyone.
  13. Dantes929
    Very true in all you say which is why I say there is no way Blyleven would have made the HOF in today's game. Its evolving but it is also reactionary. Someone has success limiting starters to 100 pitches per start and soon everyone does it. If someone had success stretching relievers out to two innings everyone would do it. If someone had a gas thrower for the 7th and then a soft tosser in the 8th followed by gas in the 9th teams would start looking for a good soft tosser for their setup guy. Yes, the argument for defined role for relievers is that most top bullpens are built that way. Of course most of the worst bullpens are built that way also. Makes baseball fascinating but also frustrating. Every time a game is lost in the 8th because a team didn't have their best pitcher facing 2,3, and 4 guys can be countered with the times the top guy does pitch the high intensity 8th inning only for the game to be lost in the 9th. Its the same thing with every manager pulling a starter only to have the reliever blow it vs the times the manager leaves the starter in only to have the starter blow it. Only answers are in alternate universes.
  14. Dantes929
    Generally I would say it is best when last year's performance is weighted about 80-20 vs spring training performance. This gives May an edge over Meyer. Should give Milone and Meyer and edge over Nolasco but it won't.
  15. Dantes929
    I have asked this before and apologize if I missed the answer but Milone has the best career resume of all the starters including Hughes, Santana and Nolasco. Does he actually have arm problems? Why does he get no love? What is the non contract rational argument for Nolasco over Milone?
  16. Dantes929
    Like Gardy did with Santana and Vargas?
  17. Dantes929
    Though the Twins have a rep for slow promotion to the bigs I still think Meyer is the only real example of that in my memory. I want to see him with the Twins but I would like to see May get the first shot for the rotation. The great thing about the last few years is that guys getting promoted have deserved it. Rosario's chance of making the club out of Spring Training probably took about a 50% hit with the signing of Hunter. If Hunter and Rosario both do well I see Hunter traded at the deadline and Rosario promoted at that time.
  18. Dantes929
    I am sure someone at some point in his minor league career compared Killebrew to Hank Greenberg and fans of Greenberg thought it was sacrilege. I don't think anyone here was thinking "Can you believe Jeremy thinks Sano will be a Hall of Famer?" after commenting about their differences in autographs. Comparing their raw power is hardly an insult to Killebrew either. In fact even if this article was about their comparative baseball skills I doubt Killebrew would be offended by it so why should anyone else?
  19. Dantes929
    SD Buhr. Your comment reminded me of Jim Bouton in Ball Four where Bouton tried to fool the batter by throwing a fastball instead of a knuckler and the batter hit the ball over 500 feet. Some one said "I'd hate to think how far he would have hit it if you hadn't fooled him so badly."
  20. Dantes929
    He will make a good gauge. If takes Swarzak's role and does well but ends up starting once or twice it will probably be a good sign. If he gets more than 5 starts no matter how well he pitches its probably a sign that the season hasn't gone well. The title said slight improvement and if that what we get then great.
  21. Dantes929
    Will be kind of interesting to see how we feel at the end of the year about Hughes, Santana, Nolasco and Gibson vs. Meyer, May, Milone and Staufer. One would think the 5 best could make a good rotation but it always seems such a long drawn out process to find the right 5.
  22. Dantes929
    I am excited about May. Its ok if he starts by replacing Swarzak. I will be disappointed if that is where he ends up.
  23. Dantes929
    My only point was in responding to the post about these guys not finding spots on any other roster. Even the 13 pens that averaged 3.33 ERA or less probably had at least one and probably more guys with ERA's higher than that. Perhaps I should have said staffs full of guys with sub 3.33 ERA's. Plus comment was still about these guys finding spots on any other roster, not just the top 13. All but maybe Pelfrey would find a roster spot somewhere if not with the Twins. I never said or intimated that their roles should be as top high leverage guys. I thought the Twins pen was pretty good last year until the last month or so when they really tanked. IMO, the tanking part kept the Twins from being a 75 win team.
  24. Dantes929
    Hicks splits as a right hander against lefties and Schaefer's splits against righties make for a very good argument for a platoon in center with the non starter available for late inning, pinch hitting, pinch running or defense. I am just fine with Santana out there also and to protect a lead the best defense would have all three of them out there with Escobar at short.
  25. Dantes929
    Reasonably sure you would be one of those that claimed Punto and Butera could not make any other roster much less contending ones. I can pretty much guarantee Fien, Duensing and Stauffer could make a lot of rosters. Few if any teams have staffs loaded with sub 3.3 ERA guys.
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