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Kirby_waved_at_me

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Everything posted by Kirby_waved_at_me

  1. Kirby_waved_at_me
    How bad is this rotation? Really bad! Even though I had low expectations, I expected some better results from Liriano and Pavano. Blackburn and Marquis are doing about what I thought they would do, and it's too bad about Baker's injury. The Twins have a repuation when it comes to FA starters, and that's to sign guys past their prime to short deals - Marcum, Sanchez, Dempster and Colby Lewis don't really fit that profile, it would be really nice if the Twins would break that mold. The questions will be A) can Terry Ryan find room in the budget for one of these guys and wil any of them be willing to come here at this point in their careers? It will be interesting to see what happens with Scott Baker this off-season. I wonder if he'd want to come back to the Twins after the way this off-season went for him (even though he said he didn't place blame on the Twins' medical staff, I imagine it is hard to block out all the folks saying that the medical staff is hurting players' careers).
  2. Kirby_waved_at_me
    Is this start for Parmelee out of sympathy? Will he get sent down after the game to make room for Morneau, or will they actually go down to 12 pitchers? Since they'll be in an NL park this weekend, you'd think that the Twins would want the bench flexibility, but then again ...
  3. Kirby_waved_at_me
    I think the tendency is to look at these guys (Brad Penny, Jorge Cantu, Hideki Matsui, Dan Wheeler, Doug Davis, etc) that are older and have had some major league success and assume that they could bring value to a team that is doing as poorly as the Twins are. But the team will have to be looking for players that will contribute next year and beyond.
  4. Kirby_waved_at_me
    Yes, and the Twins are 2 - 0 in games that Scott Diamond starts- maybe he should start every game? Sarcasm aside, I think it says more about how bad the starting rotation has been and less about Butera's presence behind the plate. He's certainly got a reputation as a good game caller, but I think 4 games is much too small a sample size to say that Butera needs more starts than he's already gotten. The team is still going to need production throughout the lineup to be successful. I'd credit Dozier's call-up and Valencia's demotion as well with their recent modest success. It looks like it will still be a really rough season for the Twins, but the recent moves seem to have at least re-kindled some optimism.
  5. Kirby_waved_at_me
    *Championship* Last night's win was great - it's not the end of bad games for the Twins, but it sure was nice. I'm optimistic that Pavano can out-pitch Ervin Santana and the Twins can win another series against the Angels tonight!
  6. Kirby_waved_at_me
    Harper did not seem the least bit intimidated by Hamels, so I imagine he's not going to be backing up his stance for anyone anytime soon.
  7. Kirby_waved_at_me
    Ok, fair enough - Throw at Harper because he's playing on a rival team and people think he's full of himself. I understand it, but I think it was a little premature to hit him in that situation. So, does anyone think that's end of it? Does Harper get hit again on the 21st when the two teams play next?
  8. Kirby_waved_at_me
    Hamels also broke the unwritten rule of intentionally putting the tying or go-ahead run on base. Granted, it was only the first inning, so it's a minor infraction. It's probably also not the best old-school baseball move to talk about how old-school you are to the media. The whole thing is pretty funny (because no one was hurt). The part I'm missing is this - what's the unwritten rule is that you're supposed to hit a guy because he's a rookie? Did Harper take too long rounding the bases the day before or do something else to show up one of Philly's pitchers? That's a lot of HBP to go around if you have to hit every new guy to the show. If it's a rule, why didn't Weaver hit Dozier last night? Weaver is pretty old-school, right?
  9. Kirby_waved_at_me
    He was given a 5 game suspension - is that a fair number? He'll miss one start. Does it send a message to Hamels that he shouldn't hit people or just that he shouldn't say he did it on purpose?
  10. Kirby_waved_at_me
    If we're talking hypotheticals and things that are not all that likely to happen - I would put Ron Washington's name out there - former Twin, different style than the current coaching staff, a successful managing track record... of course, he'd have to want to leave the great situation in Texas or be fired, neither of which I see happening. Speaking of former Twin Catchers, I was going to suggest Matt Walbeck, because I recall him having a lot of success in the Tigers' and Pirates' minor league systems. But then I looked up his current status and he's been out of pro coaching for a couple years. He was fired from the AA Bucs affiliate and then a single A Braves Affiliate in the middle of the following season, both times for seeming to not follow the team philosophy for developing the players. No matter what happens, I hope that the Twins figure out a way to let Gardenhire go gracefully when he does leave. Tom Kelly had roughly the same success (but much better playoff results) and was allowed to leave on his own terms after several bad years. I imagine that Gardenhire will be hanging around at Spring Training every year just like TK.
  11. Kirby_waved_at_me
    The part that I find disappointing about this particular injury is that somehow having Morneau out = call up Drew Butera and dump Burroughs. The logic being that Mauer and Doumit will play more innings in the field and less behind the plate, so the Twins need a third catcher on the roster. Instead of having another utility player or at least another middle infielder, the bench becomes microscopic. Butera can only come in for one thing, that's defense at catcher. I didn't think that Burroughs was the ideal bench bat, but at the very least he's a pinch hitting option. The Twins don't have a lot of flexible position players on the 40-man, so on some level having Butera instead of Burroughs or Luke Hughes is no big deal, but on the other hand, doesn't it seem like Hughes would be the best guy to have at the end of the bench over Burroughs, Butera or another guy that only plays one position? The guys at the end of the bench are probably not going to win or lose games for the Twins- I just have the nightmare scenario in my head of a game with a couple injuries or an ejection and boom - there's Butera standing in Right Field picking dandelions. Sort of a reversed version of Gardenhire worrying about who's going to catch if Doumit and Mauer are both in the lineup...
  12. Kirby_waved_at_me
    When I saw that Komatsu was available, I thought "Why not?" At this point, he can't be any worse than Clete Thomas was.
  13. Kirby_waved_at_me
    see also: the Cubs, who lost their closer Carlos Marmol to being bad at closing. I don't see a Theo Epstein style club going for "A proven Closer" like Capps, though.
  14. Kirby_waved_at_me
    I read that Scott Diamond had his turn in the rotation moved up to today - who was bumped? Is it possible that that guy is being recalled?
  15. Kirby_waved_at_me
    The Yankees also have Rafael Soriano . . . I would agree that Perkins would be the only attractive option to New York (or possibly a guy like Slama). But maybe the Miami Marlins would take Matt Capps? A little insurance for the awful start from their closer Heath Bell? It's a bit too early for teams to be looking to trade anyone, though. Things might heat up after the June draft.
  16. Kirby_waved_at_me
    I think Gardenhire, Scott Ullger and Rick Anderson are more or less bulletproof for the regular season. The only guy that (I think) could potentially be fired in-season would be the hitting coach Joe Vavra, and I would be very very surprised if he was let go. I could imagine the Twins' front office firing Vavra to bring in Paul Molitor. But even that seems like a really big stretch.
  17. Kirby_waved_at_me
    What is the proper amount of rest of this? I read elsewhere that the timetable for Morneau coming back is Friday (there's an off day Thursday, so he should just be missing one more game), but is that too soon? Should they be more careful with Morneau's wrist or just get him in the lineup as soon as he can stand it? I just wonder given the track record with rest and rehab for this team if a DL stint would have been a bad choice in this case.
  18. Kirby_waved_at_me
    I agree that Span brings back the best package in a trade, but maybe it's better to try trading Willingham? He's got a fairly reasonable contract and has shown that he's probably worth it. Like CDog said, Span is the kind of player that you build around (still relatively young, plays a premium position, under team control with a good contract). Span's trade value will probably not be any higher than it will be this summer, so if he was traded it would probably benefit the team more than trading him later. The Twins would need to think hard about whether just keeping him for the length of his contract would be even better than trading him for prospects.
  19. Kirby_waved_at_me
    If the Vikings moved, would the NFL have to consider moving them to a different division? If the new Vikings team stayed in the NFC North, I would probably become a Lions fan to root against the Vikings franchise twice a year - I can't really bring myself to liking the Packers or Bears, but the Lions have been so irrelevant for so long (plus I really liked Barry Sanders growing up) . . . If they were in a different division after the move, I might pick a team from that division. Assuming they moved out west, I'd probably go for Seattle because I like the city and out of a kind of solidarity since Seattle lost the Supersonics for similar reasons.
  20. Kirby_waved_at_me
    It is probably not a stretch to say that Inge could be an emergency Catcher, but I can't see him being used there as a viable backup option. It's not reason enough to add him to the roster. I looked closer at Inge Vs. Valencia - in terms of hitting, Danny has been putrid this year, and was below average last year - while Inge seems to be in a bit of free fall. However, they are pretty similar at the moment. The questions would be - can Valencia improve? Will Inge stop getting worse and level off? I think Inge is probably better than Burroughs as the last man off the bench. The reason (I'm guessing) that Burroughs was on the 25 man was that he's a Left Handed bench bat. Doumit or Parmalee (whichever isn't starting that day) can take those at bats if Inge is on the team. I also see a fit, but it seems like a move just for the sake of looking like something is being done. I don't know if it sends a message to players. Last thing, would you rather have Inge or Luke Hughes?
  21. Kirby_waved_at_me
    When the Twins won in 87 and 91 I was old enough that I still remember watching the games, but I have more vivd memories of the really lean years in the mid 90's after Puckett and Hrbek retired and we were left cheering for some pretty terrible teams - last year and this year have almost (Almost!) felt nostalgic for me. I went to a lot of those games at the Dome where the Twins looked more like the Minnesota Gophers than an MLB team, but I still had a lot of fun. It makes the last year and a half easier to take for me - it feels familiar in some ways. I would only question my allegiance to the Twins if they decided to become openly racist or replace the 7th inning stetch with a ceremonial release of wasps in the outfield.
  22. Kirby_waved_at_me
    Pretty much every color commentator gets stale after a season or two because they start to recycle the same talking points over and over - at least it seems that way with former players like Bert and Dan Gladden on the radio. I haven't had the chance to hear Jack Morris on the radio broadcast, I have only read good things about him. But it does seem like the 2nd and 3rd person in the booth after the play-by-play announcer should probably be a rotating cast of people that can bring different perspectives and different insight to the games. I get sick of hearing Bert talk about keeping the ball down in the zone, about pitchers are the best athletes on the field, etc. all of the repeated stuff from him has gotten old.
  23. Kirby_waved_at_me
    This is a pretty funny thread. Inge is not a back-up option at Catcher. He hasn't been behind the plate since 2008, and probably lost his job with the Tigers in part because he wasn't able to be an option there. They had been trying him at 2B, and while his defense is above average (pretty good, actually), his bat is not. I think Dave Dombroski is trolling the Twins. Inge is much worse statistically compared to the existing 3B options on the Twins' Roster. As much as people want to hate on Valencia, Inge is not an improvement. At this point in his career, he's a light hitting Adam Everett. EDITED to add - of course, as soon as I say all that, I read that a "Twins' Source is saying that pursuit of Inge will begin in earnest today."
  24. Kirby_waved_at_me
    The A's just designated Rich for assignment - is the situation any different now? Any reason to think the Twins would consider claiming him this time?
  25. Kirby_waved_at_me
    Benny Distefano was the last Lefty Catcher. here's an interesting article that tried to figure out why: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/top-10-left-handed-catchers-for-2006/ I think the bit from Bill James at the end makes a lot of sense - a lefty with a strong arm is more than likely going to be asked to pitch when they are little.
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