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StormJH1

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Everything posted by StormJH1

  1. StormJH1
    Interesting argument, but not entirely accurate. Yes, the Twins attendance figures were bad in the mid-90's, but they still had Puckett in '95 and Molitor did play until '98, but he was 41 years old by that point. They had the worst attendance in the AL in '98, '99, and 2000, and those were teams "led" by such stars as Ron Coomer and Matt Lawton. Then the whole contraction scare happened, the team got significantly better, and the Torii Hunter, etc. group of players came into power. Same terrible Dome, better on-field results and attendance. So, yeah, there were star players to come see in the mid-90's, and the fans still didn't show because the team was bad. But it can get worse. When you delete the recognizable faces from an already bad team, I really do believe it keeps the casual fan away. Similar to what happened to the T-Wolves between KG's departure and the emergence of Kevin Love. No, I'm not saying Willingham is necessarily a big ticket item who can sell seats on his own, but if he's not one of the guys in that conversation, who is? Mauer, obviously, has served that role for years...and then? Morneau has question marks about his future and we'll see if Span is even here in a few weeks.
  2. StormJH1
    I know Aaron Gleeman is all over trading him, and I can't argue with many of the reasons in favor of trading him. We are the worst team in the AL, and Willingham is an aging veteran in his mid-30's, whose value will never be higher. But I still don't know if I can do it. There are other factors at play here. This team down about 4,500 fans per game over last year, but as bad as they've been, I don't even want to think about where they'd be if we didn't have the Hammer. So what message does dumping him for a couple mid-level prospects send to the fans, and what happens then? He's having the type of season Thome had in 2010, except he's actually MORE valuable than Thome was that year because he can play every day and (kind of) take up a position in the field. He's the right handed power hitter Twins fans have coveted for YEARS, and the significance of that is only lost because the team is so damned awful. So I know when you have a terrible team with needs all over the place that you're supposed to sell vets like him for prospects, but I'm afraid to do that. I'm afraid of the message it sends to free agents (much like the reputation the A's and Rays have about turning over players), and afraid that we'll spend another decade chasing a bat like this, even if he can only play at a high level for another 1 or 2 seasons. I'm still planning on going to games, and the fans that do show up need something to watch. Unlike Mauer, you don't need sabermetrics to explain the the impact Willingham has had on dozens of games this year, you know it when you see it.
  3. StormJH1
    I don't think the Twins have used that excuse, and certainly not openly. First of all, how COULD they, given that they made the decision to commit 1/4 of the their payroll to him in the first place? What people are missing is that they HAVE added better guys "around Joe" in the past few years. Thome was a great find. Willingham is arguably more valuable than Cuddyer and Kubel combined to this team, not to mention the 3 draft picks we got for making that exchange. So yeah, you can beat up the front office for not adding Cliff Lee, C.J. Wilson or whatever high-priced free agent you can come up with, but the problem the Twins has been the guys that were already surrounding Joe. Fault Mauer all you want, but he's still a "building block", if not an elite one. But all of the reasons for our success in 2010 are either gone, hurt, or ineffective (Baker, Liriano, Pavano, Thome, Morneau). The simple truth is that Mauer hitting 29 home runs was great, but historically wasn't all that relevant to the Twins winning 85-90 games and making the Playoffs. The Twins had the same level of success they did in '09 in 2006, 2010, and almost in 2008 (Game 163 vs. Chicago) in years where Mauer hit for average and 10 HR's. That's not to say that I'm defending Mauer's style of play, per se, since it's clear in years where he falls of the face of the map (like 2007 and 2011) that the team struggles. He does matter. But the core of the team is broken, and they've had success with Mauer doing what he usually does...so I don't believe in openly booing Mauer for what he is.
  4. StormJH1
    Mauer is not being booed for being a singles hitter. And he's not being booed specifically because of his 2012 performance. He's being booed because what happened in 2011 between the string of minor ailments, the perception that Joe doesn't want to play unless he's at or close to 100%, and the disappearing act he pulled for months at a time from fans and the media, when all people wanted was a legitimate answer as to why he couldn't show up prepared to play baseball for the first year of a $184 million contract, while he appeared just fine in every Kemps commerical and Jimmy Fallon appearance days earlier. Comparing his OBP to the reaction of fans is kind of silly because it isn't about that. Most of the fans in the ballpark come to only one or a handful of games each season - they're booing is a residual of Mauer as an overall disappointment, and that includes all of last year. Is it unfair/counter-productive? Sure, but it's about more than what's on the field at this moment. Also keep in mind that when you're celebrated and paid as the face of franchise that his been among the 2 or 3 worst in baseball for two consecutive seasons, you get blamed for that too, whether or not it's realistic to expect 1/9 of the lineup to do anything about it.
  5. StormJH1
    He's been largely awful, and he's essentially NEVER been good at the end of the year (either due to injury, or in the case of 2010 because he just wasn't any good). It's already mid-July, so the chance to move him as a rental might be soon or never. If we can get any type of B-level prospect for him, you have to think about it. I know we are desperate for SP's, but we had Liriano this year, and he's as big a reason as anyone that we're in the hole we're in.
  6. StormJH1
    This is fascinating to me. Didn't they turn down preliminary offers from Houston of around $6 million? What exactly was the point of driving a hard bargain with the teams at the top of the draft board, if the teams further down below CAN'T offer more money by the rules? Also, doesn't PIT have the option of exceeding the signing bonus cap this year and forfeiting their pick next year? Might it even make sense for them to do so, if they got a pitcher who is Top 3 talent this year, and could end up picking 8th, 12th, 15th, or whatever next year? If they can't sign Appel, they basically "forfeit" this pick anyway, though I assume there's some type of compensatory pick for them next year if that happens.
  7. StormJH1
    An interesting thought with the Yankees, except I think New York has probably learned by now to stay away from guys who exhibit any signs of being a headcase or having confidence problems. For example, there were some questions about how Zack Greinke would respond if he gave up 8 earned runs in a start and got destroyed by a Daily cover the next morning. Liriano, even in his GOOD years, was never an effective starter in September for AL Central pennant races, let along Yankees/Red Sox/Rays. Plus, if the Yankees really wanted him, there probably would have been other times they could have pursued him, and apparently haven't to any large degree. I keep hearing about all these teams that need a center-fielder, and how Span is the top guy, but is he really? What about Peter Bourjos on the Angels? They have a terrible log-jam in the outfield, and Bourjos is the odd man out. He also just turned 25, is probably a better defensive center fielder than Span, and also a more reliable stolen base threat (Span looks like he's going to get picked off every time he's on base). True, Span is more of a ready-made leadoff hitter, but I think Bourjos fills a lot of those defensive concerns at what would likely be a more reasonable price, and he's younger and doesn't have the concussion issues.
  8. StormJH1
    Totally agree with every thing you wrote. So would anybody associated with sabermetrics, and many educated fans. But I don't know it will "never" change (on the Twins or elsewhere). Gardy's decision to use either Perkins or Burton could be interpreted as labeling the the LH or RH "bullpen ace", respectively. Of course, your point is that they'll still only be used in the 8th or 9th, and by then it may be too late. In that way, the Twins are unlikely to change anytime soon. If they brought out Perkins to put out a fire in the 5th inning after one of the starters melts down, I feel like the broadcast crew and a lot of fans would beat Gardy up if the score remained close and Perkins wasn't available later. That makes no sense, of course, but that would be a popular sentiment. I think a lot of it, too, has to do with making managers (and certain relievers) look good by putting them in situations where they succeed, even if that's not best for the team. It's much easier to start the 9th inning with the bases empty and a 1-3 run lead than to enter the middle of an inning with a runner on 3rd and fewer than 2 outs. Even if you give up a garbage bloop hit or sacrifice fly, the relief pitcher will be perceived as "failing" (even if the earned run is charged against the replaced pitcher). It's much safer for a manager to follow the script and throw their hands up when the players don't execute. Nevermind that it was overkill watching Joe Nathan blow away the 6-7-8 hitters of the Royals over and over again because that was who happened to be up in "his inning".
  9. StormJH1
    Swarzak isn't the point of this thread, but I have no problem with his performance this year (or last year). He's valuable as a mop-up guy and occasional spot starter. He doesn't strike out many, and he can get hit hard, but he throws strikes. He may not have a future in the rotation, but that doesn't mean I want him off the team, either. Manship just hasn't shown anything to warrant an opportunity to stay in the bigs. Despite having an awesome last name (and only 6 starts in the majors), he's been nothing short of awful. I can't even point to a good Jeff Manship "moment" in any of the four seasons he's pitched, and he's 27 now. 4 home runs in 10 innings pitched is worse than some Home Run Derby pitchers...
  10. StormJH1
    About 2 months ago, this question seemed absurd because Liriano's ERA was in the neighborhood of 10.00. Now he looks like a Top 25 starter again. I don't get it. I think Twins fans have accepted the fact that he'll have some degree of success wherever he ends up. The guy is in his 5th season after returning from Tommy John, and in only one of those seasons (2010) has he put together "front of the rotation" numbers. Even worse (and this sticks in my head more than the numbers), he completely fell apart in September in both 2008 and 2010 against mediocre AL Central opponents, in critical games down the stretch when the rest of the rotation seemed to be doing well. He's a total headcase, and while there's clearly something there, I would much rather have the budget flexibility for signing other starters or improving positional players. Ironically (and one of the reasons some are tempted to keep him), if there was a type of free agent pitcher the Twins should target this offseason, it would be a slightly younger version of Liriano: A post-hype guy who seems to have something left in the tank, but has been marred by inconsistency to go with his considerable upside.
  11. StormJH1
    Huh? Why, because you like Morneau better? I think the Twins' have spent too MUCH time worrying about "rewarding the nice guys" in their clubhouse. That being said, it's not like Valencia has any kind of track record to declare that he "deserves" a platoon shot. Now, if Parmelee were right-handed, or if we had another "4-A" minor leaguer that could mash lefties and actually plays 1B...
  12. StormJH1
    Can somebody help me out here - is this a quad injury or a thigh bruise? Honestly, I hadn't seen any of the Twins/Pirates games because of work/other stuff, and just assumed he was playing by now. Now he's "not sure when" he can play again, and that quote was THURSDAY. Unbelievable. (From RotoWorld) Mauer was making solid progress earlier this week in his recovery from a right quad injury, but he's stalled lately. The Twins were hoping he'd be able to catch in the bullpen Thursday, but he wasn't feeling up for it. "It's not much better than yesterday," Mauer said Thursday. "I thought I'd be able to do a little bit more. It's real frustrating." Mauer seems unlikely to be ready to play Friday, with his status for the entire weekend series in Cincinnati up in the air.
  13. StormJH1
    Hmmm, I dunno. Not much of a Saunders guy. The results recently look pretty good (and Arizona is somewhat of a hitter's park), but he's the definition of "pitch to contact", and he can get hit pretty hard. His WHIP is average at best for a guy who doesn't walk guys often. Move him to the AL and his ERA jumps back to the mid-4.00's, as it did when he was with the Angels. Not that that's bad, but he's not a #1 or #2 starter on any team. Plus I just don't know how wise it is to give up any type of prospect for a 31-year-old middle of the rotation guy. Making $6 million this year, but I think he's still arbitration eligible next year. Tosoni has not value to me (or Arizona), but I wouldn't completely sell low on Benson right now, and Deolis Guerra is only 23 years old and may be reinventing himself as a reliever. His strikeout rate is decent, even if he's a bit inconsistent. I just don't want us to get any older unless we're talking about an impact player will a few years of his prime left in return. You could put Joe Saunders on THIS team every 5th day for $6 million, and I don't think we'd be any appreciably better.
  14. StormJH1
    Thanks to jokin for posting the full quote. I am not a "Mauer defender" by ANY means, but if he was asked about this play and gave that type of response, that's entirely fair. It's absolutely true that Weeks was looking for contact when he probably didn't need to be. I think some baserunners in that situation make up in their head that they're going to collide and if they can knock the ball out, they'll be safe. That doesn't mean he was trying to hurt Mauer, but it didn't look great when he did that leg sweep thing after Mauer didn't full-on shoulder charge him.
  15. StormJH1
    Sorry to beat a dead horse, but I hate that pick, plus the two Rice relievers. Chances are decent that maybe one of those picks becomes a serviceable MLB reliever (or even closer-type), but Bard is like a lower-velocity version of his brother, and we're already seeing that his brother is struggling to find success as a starter. I hope he does sign, because the only thing I can think they were doing with this unprecedented "reliever-to-starter" strategy is to load up on college "power arms" that were (a) still available after the 1st round; and ( would actually agree to sign, as opposed to high school starters, who would be less likely to sign due to the signing bonus cap limiting how much the Twins could throw at them.
  16. StormJH1
    I would buy that, to a degree, if it weren't the case that the payroll amount is also strongly dictated by revenues and the success of the team. If the team is awful and struggling to get 20,000 to 25,000 into the park for large chunks of the season, ownership isn't going to be super-thrilled about hiking up the budget 10 million dollars next year. They might actually go in the opposite direction, or hold steady. If you have a glaring need at starting pitching, and don't address it, there are going to be consequences. By "address it", I don't mean signing Jason Marquis. Even though some bad luck was also involved (Pavano's woes, Baker's surprise or undetected season-ending injury), they should have viewed the loss of Kyle Gibson the same as if Baker, Liriano or any other starter had gone down, since he was supposed to contend for the rotation. I don't want to criticize their off season too much because I think it was successful in a lot of ways (signing Willingham, stockpiling draft picks in lieu of retaining Kubel and Cuddy). The seeds of failure were planted long before the 2011-12 offseason. And I'm afraid for the future of the starting pitching because the GM has repeatedly said that he does not believe in signing outside free agents, and they just drafted a bunch of relief pitchers (except for Barrios, who is very raw).
  17. StormJH1
    Nothing against the flag pole, which was awesome...that was so perfect for a hitter who grew up modeling his swing after Robert Redford in "The Natural", and then he hits a magical home run of his own (analogous to the one from the movie that busted the light tower). But IIRC, it was in the middle of a Sunday afternoon game and wasn't nearly as clutch as that walk-off. The walk-off was immortalized by a Sports Illustrated photo (not the cover, but the lead photo to the article) where the whole team met him at home, and Joe Mauer was about the most excited I've ever seen him: That photo encapsulated how fun that entire season was. I was talking to a Milwaukee fan at Saturday's game, and I made the point that it was very fortunate we got that 2010 year to open the park because it completely changed the way we viewed that place. Otherwise, we'd already be whining about our old "home field advantage in the Dome". Thome was a huge part of that season, and that walk-off was my favorite memory.
  18. StormJH1
    I just watched it for the first time on several different angles (MLB At-Bat app). I don't think it was "dirty" per se, but I'm not sure what Weeks was doing on that play either. There's a great angle that shows Weeks was taking an angle inside the foul line, and Mauer was slightly off to the side, with only his foot "blocking" the plate. It was not like the Posey play where he was trying to block the plate - I don't see how Mauer could be faulted on that play. If he stood completely off to the side and did the "ole!" tag and missed Weeks, the fans would've murdered him. It looks like Weeks just expected that there was going to be a collision of some kind, and got into that mindset. Really, though, he had a pretty good chance of scoring if he did a hook slide to the right side of the plate. Mauer might have even missed the tag had he done that. Of course, this is happening very fast, so it's easy to play Monday Morning QB. The play looks ugly because Weeks threw his legs out to the left as if he was initiating contact, but it didn't look like intent to injure. Keep in mind that Mauer is 6'5" and about 230...I think the throw beat him and Weeks was just expecting a huge collision, and (understandably) didn't want to get the worst of it.
  19. StormJH1
    I loved that response. Anyone ripping him for it (Jersey Shore references, etc) is being silly - the dude is 19 years old. He handles himself pretty damn well for that age.
  20. StormJH1
    Guys, the answer is obvious. Mauer needs to learn to switch hit and become the starting first baseman. C'mon, for what he's paid, it's the LEAST he could do for us.
  21. StormJH1
    From Rotoworld, via CBS Sports. This is the first "real" rumor of this kind I had heard: Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com reports that the Blue Jays are "particularly interested" in Justin Morneau, but so far the Twins don't seem interested in trading him. Knobler also notes that teams are wondering whether the Twins would be willing to deal Josh Willingham, but at this point it doesn't appear they're ready to part with either player. Morneau has hit 10 homers and driven in 33 this season, and he holds extra appeal to the Jays because he's Canadian. But, he's also batting just .241 with a .313 OBP, and teams still have his previous concussion issues in the back of their minds. The Twins might just be better off keeping him and his $14 million salary for next season. Jun 15 Man, I don't know. They certainly don't have to trade Willingham NOW. It's too early to move either guy, and the fanbase would probably murder them for trading either in this position. But at what point does that change? I have 100% faith that Morneau still has value to give. I have closer to 0% faith that he's ever going to play a 130-game season without hiding significant injuries that destroy his productivity. He wasn't really capable of that in the seasons leading up to 2010.
  22. StormJH1
    Excited to see Oliveros. We don't have much to lose by trying, and he's young enough that it's conceivable he could still correct his control issues.
  23. StormJH1
    Just saw that! Wow, how did this guy never get a cup of tea in the majors? I know he didn't strike that guys out, but he was improving those numbers this year. Greg Maddux had a 5.7 K/9 in his minor league career. Obviously, Maddux was one of a kind, but how do you know if these pitchers can work in the bigs if they never get a shot?
  24. StormJH1
    The longer this plays out, the more I'm of the mindset that we just keep Span. The Nationals are not going to give up a quality arm for Span. They just got through the scare of having Strasburg go down with TJ surgery, and luckily he came back strong because...he's Stephen Strasburg. They drafted Lucas Giolito at Pick 16. I think they recognize that a stockpile of quality starting pitchers is a good way to insure themselves against future injuries and to stay competitive. Plus, they're probably fully aware of many of Span's shortcomings.
  25. StormJH1
    I watched Rob Deer growing up in Detroit. I just looked it up, and Deer hit .217 in Double-A and .227 in Triple-A in the two seasons before his callup. In other words, he was always that type of hitter. There were points in those seasons I remember he had more HR's than singles! Plouffe was in Triple-A from 2008-11 and while his BA wasn't good (.262), neither were his strikeout rates so absurdly bad that he should be compared to guys like Deer, Reynolds, or Chris Davis. Plouffe also doesn't have the raw power of those guys. But I think he has bulked up, and the guy who mentioned Joe Crede above (Crede from the mid-2000's, not the year we had him) was dead on. Crede also did not strike out at an absurdly high rate. But I would absolutely take that type of hitter, given how little hope we had for Plouffe coming into the year.
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