Dantes929

Like the entire Twins roster. I am entirely in a different camp than most here because whenever I see players struggling it looks like they are over swinging and trying to pull balls that cannot be pulled. If the twins are teaching guys to be complete hitters it is not showing up as OBP which is kind of what small ball is dedicated to.

The way baseball goes is that Nolasco will start the season in the rotation and everyone will hate it but then he will be a contender for :Cy Young and everyone will talk about how they always liked this guy. Ok, probably won't happen but it did to some extent with Perkins and May. I would like to see a rotation of Santana, Gibson, May, Duffey and Milone with Hughes the 8th inning guy and Nolasco long relief and Barrios the first guy on deck for the rotation with Nolasco the 2nd guy. Liriano was sent down when struggling and so was Jesse Crain. They both earned their way back. Its a gut check to be ready when the team needs you rather than just feeling entitled for the spot. It could happen. Nolasco should just work hard and he will get his opportunity. Earn the respect. Being paid a lot doesn't entitle you to a spot. It imposes a responsibility to earn the money.

Again, is it more likely to pull a muscle running full sprints 2 or three times a game as a DH that is only standing or sitting most of the other 3 hours or for a guy that sprints several times a game along with light jogging and coasting over to back up throws. As far as big guys sprinting numerous times pounding on the joints there are much bigger and taller guys playing in the NBA as well as the NFL.

Ok, Sano pulled a hammy running the bases so it is reasonable he will get hurt playing the outfield. My counter to that would be that if he was active during the game rather than just going up to the plate 4 times a game and sprinting after doing nothing for 45 minutes he is LESS likely to get this kind of injury playing the outfield. Sano is too big to play the outfield just like Mauer as too tall to catch and certainly too tall to win Gold Gloves. Sano is too big to play outfield like Pedroia and Dozier are too small to be power hitters. My point is that prejudging based on size is just as bad as judging based on race or sex or age. Maybe some generalizations can be made and in this case I would say most guys Sano's size cannot handle the outfield but most guys his size are not fast or athletic. For example I would say Ortiz in the outfield would MOST LIKELY be a mistake. I will only allow that Sano in the outfield MIGHT be a mistake. Infielder to outfielder has succeeded in the past. I personally thought Santana was pretty good out there and so was Cuddyer while Escobar and Nunez not so much. You may quibble that Santana and Cuddyer were not all that good either but the bar just gets set lower when you hit enough to make up for it and in Sano's case it also allows for Park, Mauer and Plouffe to be in the lineup at the same time. Big men have not played the outfield therefore Sano cannot is as wrong as if he succeeds and the conclusion is Sano played the outfield so big men should play the outfield. I think my logic teacher would call it the fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc.

"Josh Willingham hit 35 home runs and drove in 100 runs for the 2012 Twins, and people spent more time whining about his fielding deficiencies than saluting his power display." I think I will go ahead and dispute this. I whined very little in 2012 because the offensive offset was so great. The 14 homers and the .210 batting average made his defense much less tolerable. I don't think the bar is set very high for Sano defensively since we have had Young, Arcia and Willingham out there in the past without the benefit of Buxton and Rosario covering large amounts of the field. If he just defends as well as D. Young but hits 35 homers and allows Park to hit 30 homers and Plouffe another 25 then I will not be focusing on his defense. If he can't play it as well as D. Young then I don't think he will be out there long anyway.

Wow, how is this thread still alive? I love your binary quote.

Cuddyer didn't have much time in the outfield before he was moved. Danny Santana worked out quite well. I don't think Bartlett was a fair example of it not working out because he wasn't gooing to work out no matter where they put him but Escobar and Nunez didn't look too good out there so I guess in my book they are running about 50% in this.

I don't buy it. There is anecdotal evidence for and against just about anything. First of all I am not convinced that Ramirez is more athletic than Sano and Sano is certainly younger which matters and by Ortiz' logic no one should be playing outfield because they will be too tired by the end of the game. Ramirez not being good in the outfield has no bearing on whether or not Sano will be any good. If Sano in the outfield is a huge success then the next time a big guy is considered for the outfield that decision maker will point out that Sano was successful so his guy will be too and he will be just as wrong. On a different but somewhat related note does anyone think that maybe Park and Milone could be sold high right now in exchange for two good relievers opening the door for May to go back to the rotation, Sano to DH and Arcia to right field until Kepler is ready. Ok, maybe there is no chance of that but if Park and Milone or Nolasco start out the regular season hot maybe this would be a solution to a lot of problems.

I hope most of us. Averages out to 32,500 per year for 40 years. Of course May will make many times this so I agree that I don't feel sorry for him but agree also that it might influence his decision to stay when the time comes.

Prune colored glasses IMO. I don't know why Oakland gave him up for so little but I know he wasn't happy with being demoted after a 3.55 ERA and 6 quality starts in a row. Oakland had a staff full of #1-3 and were able to acquire another one so Milone was odd guy out. Kind of a unique case. I think he is solid. I know I am optimistic but also find it odd you rate our staff on average as a weak 3 or worse and are happy with it. 3 is average and I think we can be a strong 3.

I don't think people here know what that is. I have read for 15 years how the Twins have had Santana and for a short time Liriano as aces of the staff and every single other pitcher has been a #4/5 type. I think for a short while Radke was considered a #3. How they won division titles or competed last year with all back of the rotation guys is beyond me. Ok, yeah that was snarky but for example I have read often of Milone being considered a AAA guy or a #5 guy but at least based on ERA his last year and career he would be considered solidly in the #3 spot. I think we have a rotation full of solid #3 guys and May had potential to be more and maybe Duffey and Berrios do as well.

Are you gong to say Hughes has a walk rate miles below his career average or do you just say he now has excellent command? its the same with May. His walk rate in the minors in 2014 very good. Yes, I completely disregard his major league stint as jitters. His command was excellent the whole season before that and its been great since then. I look at him as a front line guy because he doesn't walk guys and has at least three very good pitches. I think he can be a very good starter. 6 of his last 9 starts were quality and I think we would have seen good progression as he went along. Very good stuff with great command = a strong likelihood of being a front line starter.

Should have been obvious but was not until after I responded. Being a Twins fan and wishing a guy who is not a Twin to have success are not mutually exclusive but I was just curious about what motivated it. Of course I am going to come across as cold and unfeeling but he really is just another millionaire playing for some other team to me and I literally wish you well just as much as I do Hicks. I am more of a baseball and Twins fan than I am of any individual player and there was noting all that compelling to me about Hicks, either as a player or as a person to favor him over any other player that has left. I wish Murphy well because he plays for the Twins and while I have no animosity toward Hicks and in fact often defended him I don't want him to fail but have no desire to see him do fantastic and see more irrational criticism of Twins management in these posts. Maybe I am cold.

His exact words were "I'm hoping Aaron Hicks has a fantastic career as a starting player." so yes, Hicks was mentioned and in fact the focus of the entire post. As a world view I guess I want everyone to be happy and productive but if Hicks is a full time player it just means someone else is not and I am not really more attached to that unnamed player than I am to Hicks now that he is no longer a Twin. I honestly would be just as happy if you were the starting outfielder for the Yankees and Hicks never played another inning in the majors. Its not wishing Hicks to fail but rather not caring if he does or does not now that he is not a Twin. I am way more of a Twins fan than individual player fan so if we trade Hicks for Murphy it is Murphy that I want to succeed and Hicks is as irrelevant to my life as Luke Hughes. That's nothing against Luke Hughes but I don't spend my time hoping he has a fantastic career as a starting player. . I don't know why a Twins fan would want a not Twins player to have a fantastic career as a starting player unless there is more than just the connection that he used to play for the Twins. Am I cold and unfeeling? I did give you an endorsement for being the Yankees starting outfielder.

Of course I might be missing something but a bench should serve these purposes. 1. Give regulars occasional days off, 2. Provide late inning pinch running. 3. Provide late inning power or R/L matchups. 4. Provide late inning defense 5. Guard against injury. 1. Arcia or Park can give Mauer or the Sano breaks and you will then have Mauer and Sano as bench players plus two other guys for other positions not counting catcher. 2. Plouffe is the only obvious guy here for pinch running replacement along with the DH's and you have Santana and Nunez for this. Shouldn't happen more than twice a game. 3. Late inning power is still provided by whoever didn't start at DH and this isn't the light hitting Twins of old. There are no obvious guys like Punto or Butera that beg for late inning pinch hitting replacements but again you have the sitting DH and Nunez. 4. Late inning defense will be limited to right field. Santana is plenty adequate for that. 5. Insurance against injury is not really that big a deal. Any injury is likely to happen before all the bench has been used up and in that case the makeup of the bench is irrelevant anyway. All of these things pale when considering cases like Hicks and Arcia who have splits of .800 plus OPS from one side and .600 or less from the other side. Since the non platooning player becomes a bench player little is lost. If we had the personnel such that the splits were that different but complemented each other I would be just fine with up to 3 spots being on a platoon basis. A daily improvement of .200 OPS in three different spots more than makes up for any perceived loss of utility of the bench. I know I am simplifying and missing stuff but again a difference of .200 OPS in a platoon is pretty huge.

I wonder why. Not in a judging way but curiosity. I was hoping he would have a fantastic career as a starting player for the Twins . Or as a fantastic platoon player for the Twins. Now I hope Murphy has a fantastic career as a starting player.

I always thought Hicks and Arcia would make the perfect platoon for right field. Arcia would play the most but Hicks would come in the late innings defense and Hicks was probably major league ready from the right side a while ago and may never be ready from the left side. Basically , the platoon player (Hick) would fill the role of 4th outfielder. He could spell the other outfielders occasionally quite adequately. I I

I just can't wrap my mind around it. While Nolasco was in the NL I believe there was a gap between the AL and NL in ERA likely influenced by the pitcher batting in the NL. Even without that Milone has given up more than half a run less than Nolasco. This gap would widen given that Milone has done it in the AL and Nolasco has done it in the NL and the maybe narrowed back to account for the park differences but still its a pretty large gap. After over 100 starts by each I think you have to start considering that it is more than bad luck that Nolasco's run prevention lags behind his advanced metrics and consider that it is more than good luck that Milone has done better at run prevention than his numbers would suggest. Does Milone hold runners on better? Does he induce more ground balls for double plays? Maybe its more than just luck. Nothing scientific here but I also believe Milone got squeezed by the umps on the zone more than any other pitcher last year but overcame that as well. I would rather have Milone than Nolasco. I am ok if Nolasco proves me wrong but if he puts up another 5 ERA while Milone goes sub 4.00 I am not going to buy that Nolasco is better but just unlucky.

So you have total disdain for ERA as a stat but think FIP and K/9 are proper measures of pitching? How about ERA+ or WHIP which are decidedly in favor of Milone while with the Twins? After a 100 starts I will accept run prevention as the deciding stat and Milone has done that better than Nolasco in his career, in his career in the AL, and in his career with the Twins. Do you really think the AL is the same as the NL when comparing stats when on average Noalsco faced the pitcher more than twice a game? There have been studies that show they are not the same. IMO, Milone has earned a spot in the rotation. Not only has Ricky not earned anything, he should feel indebted to the Twins and willing to do anything he can to make up for it. That is what Perkins did and why he went from goat to favored player.

Perkins had a very good 1st half whether or not you measure it by saves or any of your other stats. He had a very bad second half and I for one did not let him off the hook for it, injuries or no. I think his poor pitching in the 2nd half was the number one reason we didn't make the playoffs and the number one reason our bullpen is so poorly regarded this year. I do agree with the idea that Nolasco shouldn't be held responsible for comments his agents make but disagree with the comparison to Perkins. Perkins was lit up pretty severely when he tried to get more money back in the day ironically at the same time everyone was defending Mauer's right to make as much as the market allowed. . What makes them different now it that Perkins has had a fair amount of success for the Twins for long stretches and Nolasco has been very bad his entire time here. I have never advocated giving up on guys like this but the idea that he has somehow earned a spot in the rotation is absurd..

I remember a pretty fair amount of vitriol against Perkins several years back. A little bit different situation but still in the same ball park. Maybe in 6 months we are all loving him. I doubt it but no reason to give up on him either. I just think all the other guys have earned their way to being above him in the pecking order. I also don't see why paying him a lot of money makes it the Twins obligation to rank him any higher. I wouldn't be indignant about not being given front runner status. I would be embarrassed about what I gave them in return for their money to this point.

No problem putting guys where you did but Polanco or Gordon could have gone to 2nd and third and there are probably other prospects on other teams that could be put in those spots as well. That comment was just to underscore your point about the difference between quantity and quality. Wow, does catcher look uninspiring.

Maybe rather than overvaluing Murphy we are undervaluing Suzuki. He is capable of playing well and if you value leadership and toughness he appears to have it in spades. I am not saying he should be the #1 but what if he comes out the gates hitting like in 2014? I am fine if they start with Suzuki and if he plays well keep him until he slumps at which time you flip flop. Ideally they both have long productive streaks.

I think the swing looks timid and unsure because of pitch recognition and adjusting to the new level so confidence weighs in there a little as well. The no load swing reminds me a lot of Paul Molitor and I think it will eventually pay off. He just needs a few hundred more at bats. I think if he goes to triple A and does well there is still a decent chance of struggles at the major league level. I would prefer he gets his struggling over with now. If he is still striking out half the time at the end of the month then the demotion will be obvious. No on should read too much into the first couple weeks of ST.

Best case scenario is that he pitches well and is called up in June. I say best case because that would mean the 5 guys in the rotation are throwing too well to be moved out and Berrios goes to the pen to go with May, Jepsen and Perkins. I am excited to see Berrios and am not concerned about his height. From the videos I have seen I wonder if his release point isn't similar to Alex Meyer. With a career minor league ERA around 3.00 I don't know that I expect front line numbers from him. At least not elite front line numbers. In fact, given 25 starts I am guessing his stats will end up comparable to Duffey. I am high on Duffey because I have seen him pitch and think his fast ball is decent and his curve ball is elite so that is not a knock on Berrios. I temper my enthusiasm on Berrios until I actually see him.pitch a few games in the majors. He is the 4th ranked RHP minor league prospect. He ain't Klayton Kershaw. At least not yet.