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ericchri

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Everything posted by ericchri

  1. ericchri
    I'm assuming Liriano being at the Major League level meant Gibson's wasn't being compared against it?
  2. ericchri
    I read through stuff like this and I always wonder, "do fans in other cities hate the Yankees as much as Twins fans do?" I mean, I know they hate the Yankees everywhere outside of New York in a general sense, but does the average fan hate them as much as the average Twins fan? Have our recent playoff (and really, regular season much of the time, too) failures against the Yankees caused our hatred of them to grow beyond the general "they're the Yankees, @#$% 'em" attitude of most fans?
  3. ericchri
    I think a better question might be, "do you boo any specific players on the Yankees more than others?" Cause asking why Twins fans boo anyone from the Yankees seems silly. I've never been to a Yankees game honestly, are the boos for Jeter really that much worse than anyone else? I would assume that almost always being the leadoff hitter is a contributing factor, as he'd then be the first candidate to bear the boos meant for the Yankees in general.
  4. ericchri
    "Everybody" assumed after last season he was going to get a 3 year deal for around $30 million. And obviously all the baseball GM's disagreed with "everybody." If you can get him for 1 or 2 years at a reasonable price, do it. He's the kind of pitcher who isn't all that exciting, but for the Twins to really be a contender next year they're going to need to get lucky signing someone like this who then has a good year. Not saying Jackson is my first choice, but there's probably going to have to be somebody of this nature.
  5. ericchri
    There's always the same names mentioned, Sano, Buxton, Hicks, Arcia, Rosario, Gibson. Those are pretty much the consensus top 6 for the Twins. Who's next? (Yeah, yeah, I've already pre-ordered the GM Handbook, don't need to point me at that). I guess Berrios? Is Kepler next? How close is he, good enough to work his way onto the list with another good year?
  6. ericchri
    Why would you want to trade Eddie Rosario to get him? A high-rated prospect who plays middle infield, and he's the one you want to trade? Really? If you're building a trade around one of our top prospects you go with Arcia or Hicks. We need to clear outfielders from our system, and those guys are higher rated players than Rosario (plus closer to big-league ready), so maybe you get a little more back in return or have to throw in less of the down-level prospects as a result. A healthy Josh Johnson signed to an extension would be awesome, and worth prospects to do it. Josh Johnson with only one year left on his contract is a tough call, and I'm not sure I'd want to offer up a lot. They need pitching for next year badly, though, or attendance is going to plummet. How does the free agent thing work now? If he was on our roster before the season started, we would then be eligible for the extra pick if he left as a free agent? But we would have to offer him arbitration also, to be eligible for that pick?
  7. ericchri
    Too much to hope for that the Twins non-tender Drew Butera and he signs elsewhere, taking the possibility of using him away from Gardy?
  8. ericchri
    It's an interesting year, no doubt. Cabrera's trying to accomplish something with historical significance that hasn't happened in 45 years, while Trout's already put up a season which hasn't happened ever (depending on which stats you pick at what level, and you can use a bunch pretty high). I think Trout deserves MVP, but I won't get upset if Cabrera wins it. He's been a monster the last couple weeks when Detroit was playing their way into (or Chicago was playing their way out of) the playoffs. For a baseball lover, those two have certainly made the last few weeks of a miserable Twins season more interesting to pay attention to, along with the playoff races.
  9. ericchri
    A's or Orioles (looking like it'll be the wildcard playoff) from the AL, that's easy, just because of their poor recent history. Probably Atlanta in the NL, though I can live with Cincinnati or Washington. Honestly just about anything besides the Yanks and Cardinals is OK.
  10. ericchri
    Half-full. I'll be disappointed if we don't make any trades this offseason, but I can certainly see how keeping that lineup intact might offer the best hope for a good season. But with our ridiculous need for SP, I think whatever of Span, Revere, Morneau, Willingham, and Parmelee you can get the best SP (or MI) return from you go with. I'll hate to see any of them go, but our best players are kinda bunched at the same positions, and we need to start distributing the talent around a little better.
  11. ericchri
    Article can be found here: http://mlb.si.com/2012/09/20/wait-til-next-year-minnesota-twins/?sct=mlb_bf2_a3 While I don't really expect next year to be impressive, I was a little taken aback by how dismissive they were of their chances to compete again anytime soon. But the realist in me acknowledges that it's pretty possible that will end up being the case.
  12. ericchri
    Sorry, but can't see any way that happens. They have too many internal options to fill an outfield spot, unless Josh Hamilton wants to sign for $5 million a year. I actually agree with your thinking, another RH power hitter would be great, but it would be an immense surprise for it to come by way of a FA outfielder.
  13. ericchri
    You have to be a little leary of any NL pitchers who would be moving over to the AL. The numbers over time back up the fact that pitchers tend to struggle making that move. Smaller ballparks on average, DH instead of pitchers in the lineup. Guys who look pretty good in the NL often don't look so good in the AL. That doesn't just mean an increase in ERA, which is understandable, but also in things that try and account for differences like ERA+, it's common to see pitchers revert some when making that move. Obviously you can find individual cases that made the move successfully, but the trend is well-established to not have as much success. I'll be curious to see the trend for Target Field long-term as far as hitter-friendliness. First couple years it played big, but it seems it's normalizing a bit this year. But we probably won't really know until another half-dozen years how it's really going to play over time.
  14. ericchri
    His .350 OBP is what makes him a good-not-great leadoff hitter. Don't mistake the tone of my post to mean I don't like him, I have about a half-dozen Twins shirts and the only one with a name on the back says "Span". I really like his approach at the plate, and he's above league average, but he's just not quite good enough for me to call him great. His base stealing probably doesn't help. I'll split the difference with you and agree to call him very good, though.
  15. ericchri
    Here's one of those situations where lack of knowledge about defensive prowess of most of these guys makes choosing more difficult. Arcia was arguably the best hitter this year, but I have no idea how good his actual defense is. Reports are that Hicks plays excellent defense, but how good is it? Enough to make him player of the year, vaulting past players who had a better hitting line? How atrocious is Sano's defense at a really tough defensive position, is Rosario at least competent in the MI? Is there any place to look at scouting reports on defense (even if it's just a grade on Speed and Arm, it still tells you a little bit)?
  16. ericchri
    Ugh, three of the most active threads on the forums simultaneously are essentially about Denard Span. Span's WAR is high because he's played good defense this year at a prime defensive position. Hamilton mostly plays LF which is not considered a prime position, thus his defensive WAR is much lower. Span's WAR is probably a bit high leading to where he ends up being ranked overall, but by the same token he's a good (not great) leadoff hitter who plays good defense at a position where defense is held at a premium, and has a relatively affordable contract. He's a good player who has some obvious value. Whether that turns into a return in trade or more time spent hitting for the Twins is yet to be determined, but it doesn't change the fact that he's had a really good season this year.
  17. ericchri
    The Twins have gotten to my ultimate nightmare of having just enough good players and "players with potential" to look like they could compete if "things go right." So you kind of have to try and compete even though you need an awful lot of things to break right for it to happen. Any chance? Sure. I'm not sure I expect it, but it's definitely possible. To deny the possibility of competing is to ignore the obvious potential. To unflinchingly expect to compete is also to ignore the obvious flaws. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this situation is their best chance to compete next year probably comes from standing pat with their entire hitting lineup and getting lucky signing a couple FA pitchers. After seasons like these last couple, the desire to rip up the team and start over again is pretty high. Trading Span and/or Morneau seem logical, but also make that lineup really thin, there's no depth left to account for prolonged injuries or slumps/underperformance from the remaining members. It's hard to feel confident the team will be good next year no matter what they do. There's too much hoping for luck no matter what decision you make. But then again, as the A's and Orioles show, "that's why they play the games."
  18. ericchri
    Trade both. One this offseason and one at next year's deadline. Hicks just profiles as a more complete player than either of those two if he continues to live up to his potential, such that I think he makes a better CF than either. Leave the corners for the guys who can flat-out hit (Willingham, Arcia). Hicks looks to be a better base-stealer with more pop than Span, more plate discipline and a better arm than Revere. Not really inferior in anything to either of them. Again, assuming he continues the play he finally showed this year. Of course he's still only played at AA, so he could flame out, but then we just wait for Buxton while filling in with Benson/Mastroianni.
  19. ericchri
    I realize his injury history is going to depress his value somewhat, but I still can't help wondering about his quite high WAR value this season. GM's look at all sorts of stuff, and WAR might not be on that list, but it'd be pretty hard to rack up a high WAR value without actually being a good player. His baseball-reference WAR puts him as the 13th best player in the AL currently (well ahead of any other Twins players, including the presumed best trade piece availabe in Josh Willingham), though now that he's on the DL he'll gradually slide from that. I don't know what he's worth, we won't know until he should actually get traded, but the comments in this thread make me wonder if he isn't being sold a little short. If we can get a pitching prospect with upside, regardless of level, I'll be happy, cause at some point we need to move outfielders, it's going to be a cluttered mess really quickly.
  20. ericchri

    Strasburg

    ericchri replied to DaveW's topic in Other Baseball

    I have to say I agree with this. Not that I wish reduced health on anyone, but opportunities to compete are generally pretty limited, with no guarantee of future success (see Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox now after fairly recent success). Stuff happens. Somebody gets hurt, somebody suddenly forgets how to hit a curveball, beer & fried chicken become the norm for the pitching staff during games, and suddenly you're not playing in October any more. I would love to be able to read the minds of the other players on that team to see what they really think of this whole idea.
  21. ericchri
    I always think back to articles I've read in the past about some topics (you'll likely notice that trend in my posts), and this one comes to mind when talking about someone like Berrios. It looks into some of the less obvious factors in what makes a pitcher's stuff look better than it might be at first glance. Things like "projecting out his frame" are nice, but there's a lot more to pitching, as everybody knows. Who was a better pitcher, Randy Johnson or Pedro Martinez? Pointless debate, but you can't get much different bodies on two stud pitchers than those two. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/tom_verducci/04/12/fastballs.trackman/index.html Essentially, with fastballs, the extension forward before release lends the illusion of "hop", or maybe more simply just seeming faster than it is by having to travel less distance in the air after release. With curveballs (and sliders to some extent), spin speed has a huge impact. There's more information in there (and probably more in-depth studies I'm unaware of), but in essence what it comes down to is some pitchers just do little things differently (i.e. better) than others, and maybe with Berrios we'll have one of those, regardless of what size he may be.
  22. ericchri
    "Hey look, a pleasant surprise. Let's make sure nobody gets excited about it."
  23. ericchri
    I was curious about something in regards to Span, in large part because I happen to have on my shirt with his name on the back today, and due to the frequent discussions about trading him (and how much value he actually has). I don't offer this statistic up as anything other than a statistic that surprised me. According to baseball-reference, Denard Span is currently #13 among position players in the AL in WAR at 3.5. Josh Willingham is the next highest Twin at 3.0 (#21), with Joe Mauer at 2.6 (#28). Please commence arguments about how good a statistic WAR actually is... :-)
  24. ericchri
    I can't help wondering what it might take to get Elvis Andrus away from Texas, since their hotshot prospect, Jurickson Profar, is a SS possibly (probably?) ready to play at the Major-league level next season. Andrus is only 23, and add his .295/.367/.399 slash line into our lineup from the SS position (plus he can steal a few bases) and things get really interesting. And his numbers are surprisingly a little better away from Texas stadium, .299/.369/.416 away versus .290/.364/.382 at home. So he's not exactly a product of that park. He plays pretty good defense as well, from what I recall. Then you move Dozier over to 2B where he hopefully stops throwing the ball over Morneau's head, and you're in pretty good shape.
  25. ericchri
    Noticed some of the talk about "peak" seasons due to age difference between Span and Revere, and it made me remember an interesting article Joe Posnanski from SI did to take a cursory look at the question. He set the bar fairly high for a "good" season, and you can argue every which way from Sunday how to define a more reasonable criteria to judge those good seasons by age, but for a quick glance at the issue it was definitely surprising to see the approximate "peak" age. http://joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2012/02/aging-with-chart.html
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