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SkyBlueWaters

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  1. SkyBlueWaters
    I like the sentiment. But I suppose it dates me that I don't recognize those names. Does it make that worse if I suggest some Clash or Dead Kennedys for the clubhouse playlist? Umm, Led Zeppelin? C'mon, if they're getting too New Age, what could be more old school?
  2. SkyBlueWaters
    DocBauer mentioned he wanted Odorizzi back, and I agree. I even understand that he might be past his prime. (Odo, not the Doc.) I just liked how Jake pitched for us. I wanted to see it more often. Last year was disappointing, and maybe his best is behind him. No, not an ace, but possibly a very good 4th starter. I know people can rain stats on this sentimental choice, but I wanted to see what he might have left while wearing a Twins uni. Also Rosario. Watching the sports highlights and seeing him homer for the Tribe gave me a pang. Also, I know the covid blip at present is short-term, not all season, etc. But what with our outfield decimated during this road trip, it would have been nice to see Rosario in LF. I might even have forgiven a bobble. A ball launched past the cut-off man. Especially if he'd driven in a run or 3 in Oakland ...
  3. SkyBlueWaters
    I have a friend who often carps about the high draft picks for his team that miss. Good guy, but has trouble realizing how deceptive 20-20 hindsight is. I found a list online of the Seattle Mariners first round picks throughout their history and sent it to him. Most are guys we never heard from again, or maybe had a cup of coffee, or rode the bench. Tito Nanni? Al Chambers? Darrel Akerfelds? Patrick Lennon? The thing is, the list also includes names like Griffey, Jr. and Alex Rodriguez. (A few others of note include Dave "Hendu" Henderson, Mike Moore ('89 World Series), Tino Martinez, and Jason Varitek.) It feels so perfectly reasonable for any hometown fan to ask, in hindsight, why did you pick the guy who bottomed out in double A rather than the future hall of famer *who now excels for our arch-rival?!* The media has a field day yammering about the players selected ahead of the GOAT. And why not? Fuel for the hot stove leagues.
  4. SkyBlueWaters
    I completely agree. I was trying to remember how highly Nick Gordon was ranked as as prospect--not just a Twins prospect, but I think in all of MLB he was once given high marks.
  5. SkyBlueWaters
    I gave the San Diego Padres an A right after I saw them add Darvish and Snell to their rotation. I guess you think I was hasty in that. I don't live anywhere near San Diego, but right now I think the Padres taking on *Los Yanquis West* in LA is one of the best stories in baseball. As a Twins fan since a tyke, yup, it has something to do with a game Jim Kaat and Sandy Koufax pitched on October 14, 1965. Maybe I'm just cursed with too long a memory, but there seems to be a difference between the recollections I have for Puckett, Hrbek & crew in '87 and '91 as opposed to, oh, let's say some Super Bowls played back in the 70's.
  6. SkyBlueWaters
    How about when George signed Catfish and Reggie? Was it too early for New Yorkers to be happy about those upgrades? Of course it isn't too early to look at the track records of free agents added to the team. It's what any good FO has to do in trying to find what a team lacks. If your goal is to watch the Twins contend all summer, then be happy with Happ and Shoemaker as additions. Given the good, bad, and mediocre lineups they will face over the course of 30 some starts, they'll have good days. But I notice when they were slotted into the rotation, it wasn't toward the front, which ought to tell us something. When the Padres added Darvish and Snell, did they tuck them in the back? NYY didn't let Happ start one more time because they didn't want to invoke the clause in his contract obligating them to pay him. He wasn't due the kind of money front line starters get. They needed pitching depth, they had Cole as their ace, and they cut him loose. Ask yourself why. Nothing would make me happier than to see Happ make the Yankees regret that move. But that's where my heart lies. When I look at his pitching, I don't see a guy who makes a difference in taking us deep into the playoffs. And yeah, I felt that way in January, too. Please, J.A., prove me wrong.
  7. SkyBlueWaters
    Agreed. The previous FO left this one pretty well stocked. All of these guys were in the system when Falvey & Levine signed on: Sano; Kepler; Berrios; Buxton Polanco; Duffey; Garver; Arraez Balazovic; Kiriloff; Rortvedt; Blankenhorn Thorpe; W. Javier When you think of how much turnover there can be, year to year, that's a pretty good nucleus. Also had some mature talent dealt for current talent/prospects such as Alcala, Smeltzer, Jhoan Duran, Celestino. Top prospect Brusdar Graterol was dealt for Maeda.
  8. SkyBlueWaters
    The Twins "did the Sox a solid today by signing JA Happ. The Sox tee off on LHP." Ouch. Ouch, ouch, ouch.
  9. SkyBlueWaters
    Bingo. This is spot on. If we make the playoffs, the point becomes competing with the best to win in short order. The playoffs are *all about* small sample size. For example, if I bring up Reggie Jackson, 3 swings of the bat, 3 home runs, are you unclear what's referenced? Do we need to clarify that it's the final game of the 1977 world series, and the Yankees beat the Dodgers? And is what Jackson did diminished for being a "small sample size"? The point is, the playoffs are all about win now or go home--and I'd think we Twins fans know that as well as anyone, at this point.
  10. SkyBlueWaters
    I will agree with you there, it is more about the regular season. I just think we have a lot of those guys already in house, capable of beating average to bottom-feeder MLB teams. While I think a lot of Twins fans would like to see solid improvement (ala the Chisox this winter, who finished only one game behind us), this feels like treading water. But honestly, I would pay good money if, come late October, the Twins were advancing in the playoffs and you had a chance to say I told you so. February approaches. Spring training is near. (Oh, thank god.) When I see the stellar rotations of other teams that look to be built to go deep into the playoffs, I'm a bit concerned--maybe I'm too skeptical.
  11. SkyBlueWaters
    Yes, and that was painful to watch, but it also was only two games. There were plenty more. Remember when the offense staked E. Santana and Berrios to a 3-0 first inning wild card lead at Yankee Stadium and we lost 8-4? How about getting swept 6-4, 5-2, and 6-1 in 2010?
  12. SkyBlueWaters
    I would agree with you that 15 appearances and 27.2 IP is a small *regular season* sample size. But playoff baseball is pretty different. The average to mediocre teams are gone. Managers are no longer using their roster to complete 162 games, the long season grind. It's all on the line, which makes it a different game. They're pulling out the stops. Pitchers are now facing the best hitters their opponent has. "One or two good performances" to flip those numbers? Pretend Happ has it in him to pitch at a 1.00 clip for his playoff WHIP moving forward. (Which would be sweet!) How many playoff innings would he have to pitch to "completely flip" those numbers? Just to take 1.880 down to nearly 1.660 would be a complete game, right? I'll agree with you that the purpose of this move is to win regular season games. What is frustrating is that that is the status quo for this team. We've got guys of this caliber. Yes, we need arms to eat innings during the regular season, but I would like to hear or read that someone in the FO takes that business of the longest playoff losing streak in North American sports history seriously.
  13. SkyBlueWaters
    I would agree with this if the goal were only to win the division during the regular season. Happ has 27.2 IP in 15 playoff games, with 4 starts. So plenty of those innings are in relief, without showing how many inherited runners scored. Which might be why his WHIP is a ghastly 1.880 (yes, over all those separate appearances) but his cumulative ERA is a far less horrifying ... 5.82. What is the goal? To add average to slightly better than average pitching to just win enough regular season games to be satisfied with a division title? Or to find pitching that can beat the best teams in MLB during the post-season? I really, really hope those who like this signing are saying I-told-you-so in nine months as the Twins dominate the playoffs. I really hope I'm wrong. But if we were to acquire pitching capable of dominating in the playoffs, it should *also* be able to dominate in the regular season, yeah?
  14. SkyBlueWaters
    I completely agree. Teams are desperate for pitching mid-season. Teams are desperate for pitching while they are trying to keep their arms healthy and their bullpen from getting worn out. Teams are desperate to deal when they want to put the best arm they can out on the mound to start games. I don't know that the Twins got the best package possible for Santana during the off-season.
  15. SkyBlueWaters
    Santana gave the Mets three pretty good years, finishing 3rd in the Cy Young voting his first year, '08, and making the all-star game in '09. None of the pitchers the Twins acquired did much. Car-Go scores 79 runs in his first year, steals 33 bases with 11 CS, and provided some entertaining baserunning. Yes, his best years came later, for the Brewers, when he adds some pop. The Twins dealt him for JJ Hardy, whom I liked, but was only a Twin for one year. Dealing Hardy for a pair of long-forgotten relievers was a bit odd, wasn't it?
  16. SkyBlueWaters
    Nick Nelson writes that Larnach is "the prime example of a player who'd have much more value to another team than to the Twins, making him a trade candidate." My concern with this is Buxton' inability to stay healthy. I agree with those above who see Larnach as insurance if Buxton gets hurt again. Kepler isn't as flashy as Buxton in center, but he can play the position and an outfield of Kiriloff, Kepler and Larnach could be pretty good--possibly very good at the plate.
  17. SkyBlueWaters
    Good point. In fact, you could look at how many good games Nettles had against the Twins, and how many good innings Tiant had against the Twins as another measure of how miserable that trade was for us. Ouch.
  18. SkyBlueWaters
    Trading the young Graig Nettles. Nettles, Dean Chance, Ted Uhlaender, and Bob Miller to the Indians for one year of Luis Tiant and Stan Miller. Then releasing Tiant the next spring. Then watching Nettles go on to play in 6 all-star games, start on 2 world champ Yankee teams, and have years where he finished 5th and 6th in MVP voting. And hit 390 HRs. Now I need some aspirin.
  19. SkyBlueWaters
    Nowhere near bold enough. How about this: Tony LaRussa coaches Chisox hitters to hit the other way, shredding defenses employing the shift. Chisox starters are given the green light to go longer than 5 innings. This and a slew of other "old school" approaches see the White Sox go 35-5 out of the gate. Stunned sabermetricians are left reeling. Michael Lewis announces he will follow up on his book Moneyball with a book on the enduring wisdoms of Casey Stengel, Leo Durocher, and Tom Kelly, while advocating the brilliance of slide rules in making in-game calculations. Slide rule sales explode, and they become the hip new app on campuses across the country. The Twins FO opts for boldness in response, and hires Bruce Bochy out of retirement, giving him free rein to run the team. Bochy leads the Twins to 105 wins, tying the White Sox for the best record in MLB. Sportswriters across the nation proclaim the Twins/Chisox rivalry the greatest the game has seen. Network ratings for their games exceed anything elitists in the northeast have seen for franchises playing in the Bronx and Boston. The networks bid high to nationally televise games in the AL Central, and fans across the country return to baseball, glad to no longer have NYY/Bosox games telecast constantly. And then, for real boldness, in the playoffs, the Twins ... Oh, perhaps best not to get carried away.
  20. SkyBlueWaters
    I don't fault the FO for dealing Lynn. You roll the di, you take your chances. But when I look at Lynn's numbers over the last two years, the low ERAs and WHIPs, and the fact that he has finished 5th in the Cy Young voting in '19 and 6th in '20, I ask myself, "Would those performances look good as part of the Twins rotation?" "Why yes," I answer myself. "Yes, I believe they would." Then the wife tells me I'm muttering to myself again ...
  21. SkyBlueWaters
    You don't include Brad Radke? In '97 he's 3rd in Cy Young voting, not too shabby. As late as '01 he leads the AL in SO/W at 5.37. Besides, he wins a playoff game for the Twins in the 21st century. Lately, for me, that's damn near heroic. Camilo Pascual, 5 years an all-star, repeatedly leading the league in K's, was definitely an ace. I also think a good case can be made for Johan. Yes, enough talent was evident to acquire him even when it meant having to keep him on the ML roster. His K stats in the minors with Houston certainly grab attention, but those MiLB ERA's and WHIP's indicate there was still a lot of work to be done. As does the 2000 season with the Twins. Yes, he had the stuff, but the improvement over 4 years between '00 and '03 happens with Twins coaching.
  22. SkyBlueWaters
    Amen. You can never have too much quality pitching.
  23. SkyBlueWaters
    If you could transfer Maeda's performance to that of an everyday player, maybe. But pitching excellence is notoriously prone to problems even with small injuries. Love Maeda, he was the highlight in a bleak season and arguably even bleaker year. Hope he hits all the performance bonuses through 2023! But I wouldn't talk re-signing him this off-season. Especially with all the present uncertainty.
  24. SkyBlueWaters
    LOL about Connie Mack! I've read that Mack figured out he didn't have to field a competitive team to make money, which explains how bad the A's were by the end of his tenure. Most interesting baseball story in bleak pandemic times for me is the hiring of LaRussa. I'll be rooting for the Twins to leave them in the dust, but with what LaRussa has said about it being easier to win now than it was in the past (presumably he meant the years he managed), seeing how this turns is much more intriguing than a lot of what has happened in baseball lately. I just hope he lasts through spring. Wouldn't mind seeing him bounced next summer. But baseball will be more interesting with LaRussa involved through the spring.
  25. SkyBlueWaters
    Oh, did a little more digging on the inter-web. His wikipedia page says he's pals with Bruce Hornsby and Bruce Springsteen, among others. And I did read that Glenn Beck charmed a bunch of Cardinals. From the StL Post-Dispatch in 2010: "Along with a number of staff members, coaches and players, La Russa met two months ago in the Cardinals clubhouse with Beck and fellow Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly. Pujols autographed a bat for Beck and the two struck a relationship that facilitated Saturday's appearance." LaRussa went to the "Restoring Honor" rally after Beck told him it wouldn't be political in nature. Maybe he's naïve for believing that?
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