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ashbury

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Everything posted by ashbury

  1. ashbury
    Do you think they mean the jump itself has become harder? Or is it that AAA batting stats are inflated* (my rule of thumb is that OPS is .050 higher at AAA than it was a few years ago and that might be understanding it), making major-league projections out of date or perhaps more tricky? I already take that latter POV into account when saying that Lee's hitting in the majors really doesn't reflect what his AAA numbers were suggesting. But I also can't equate the body language I saw with him in the majors to the .900 OPS he had at St. Paul - and things like BABIP don't do enough to account for it either. * The semi-automated strike zone is an easy first guess as to why.
  2. ashbury
    Very short term, probably. More than a day or three, probably bring Lee up and pray. But Lee's not really a finished product at SS either - Castro might be steadier, just less talent and upside with the glove. Fair question. There isn't anyone else in the organization and they're not bringing in anyone of note. Maybe Helman holds the fort at SS for some kind of medium-term stint, based only on his usage at St Paul where they apparently viewed him as viable, if barely? Really the only benefit to AAA for Lee is less urgency while he continues to "work on some things" he is assigned to work on in Ft. Myers in Feb/March. The plan is that he makes the case, himself, for promotion, rather than have it be due strictly to need at the major league level. If he doesn't, the cupboard is kinda bare - Ben Ross might have the glove but is far from ready with the bat. Rayne Doncon, Jose Salas? Hahaha. (😢)
  3. ashbury
    Small sample or not, the eye-test confirms the numbers he put up - not hopeless at the plate but far from a reliable bat. For what little it's worth, my own 40-man roster at the moment has him assigned to St Paul to begin the next season - he's not yet someone I rely on, much less count on to be a star in 2025.
  4. ashbury
    I don't really disagree, but consider that the two are not really that close in age (11+ years apart), and when Falvey was brought on board there seemed to be a view in the organization that he needed an older partner with more experience. It always seemed a bit odd that the two were jointly called Boy Wonders by their detractors. It could be that Levine had served his purpose and now it's time to take the training wheels off for Falvey. IOW the PBO/GM model evolved under their tenures. Falvey's still not as old as Levine was when he was hired.
  5. ashbury
  6. ashbury
    "He's fired, Derek."
  7. ashbury
    One solution to that conundrum would be to promote Rocco to the vacant GM chair. I think he'd have the aptitude for the job. And it's possible he'd hire someone as manager who was different from himself. This answer is mostly facetious (the commentariat here would go apesh*t), but I do think a FO role would eventually suit him. Working against that theory right now is that he probably is not ready to give up the on-field role. As for the actual question I'm responding to, others have said nearly the same, but it's my assumption that anyone hired as GM would accept the job on the understanding that removing Rocco from the dugout is off-limits until his present contract expires (whenever the hell that actually is). It's how things played out when FalVine themselves came on board in late 2016 and Paul Molitor remained manager until another losing season would give them cover for making a change. The idea mentioned in this thread that Falvey alone steers the ship now, without filling the vacancy per se, is one I hadn't considered. Certainly multiple shifts within the organization would need to occur, in effect promoting several to "assistant GM", with roles pertaining to contract negotiations and so forth.
  8. ashbury
    Are the Twins a baseball team? A railroad? A floor wax or a dessert topping? The Minnesota Twins surely are the Willi Castro of business enterprises.
  9. ashbury
    Joe Pohlad was born in approximately 1982. Those who think he's young and wet behind the ears, based on hearing of his awkward examples in the art of public relations, are mistaken. He's middle-aged and wet behind the ears.
  10. ashbury
    Flush him then, he'll never make it. 😀
  11. ashbury
    Small sample size, major league versus AAA, but Brooks Lee might be one of the reasons they moved on from Popkins as hitting coach - just never found a way to get the kid comfortable at the plate. The majors are harder than AAA, but not *this* much harder.
  12. ashbury
    I had a five-minute chat with him in a hotel/convention hallway in August, and he was personable and helpful with the specific question I asked, and basically generous with his time when he needn't have been, so that would be mine. 😀
  13. ashbury
    So Thad wasn't able to land a plum position in a few days, and now he'll pursue opportunities "inside and outside of baseball.". That's known as getting canned.
  14. ashbury
    I already replied once, but in the meantime I looked at the STrib* piece by Nightengale on the 29th, and there is this snippet: "Falvey declined to comment on the status of General Manager Thad Levine, whose last known contract extension expires this year." That's more than "conspicuously didn't mention." So the odds are really high that they are just waiting for the right moment, whatever that is. * they have a paywall up but I managed to trick it with my ninja-like stealth
  15. ashbury
    I dom't kmow. As for the OP's question, I don't know for that one either. Baseball is said to suffer from being too "regional," no longer a national sport, so maybe an ALC alliance that focuses on the competition and post-season run makes some tactical sense while making the strategic problem worse in the long run?
  16. ashbury
    For the other quote Brian was also thinking of either Oscar Mayer or Oscar the Grouch, both of which belong in a garbage can.
  17. ashbury
    For all his table setting, he tied for 39th in the majors in runs scored this year, playing for an above-average offense most of the year. Indeed the 88 he scored while still a Twin remains his high-water mark. After a while it stops being a fluke. And of course setting the table is only half the job of scoring runs. He does pretty much diddly squat at the other half, driving them in. I don't hate the guy - he was a lot of fun to have as a Twin - but as a run-scoring force he remains overrated.
  18. ashbury
    Everyone does that. Across the majors this year there were 3088 solo home runs. There were 616 home runs hit with two on base. You'd be hard pressed to find a team, or even an outlier player, who bucks that trend. Actually the Twins did better - a larger percent of their home 183 home runs were of the 3-run variety - than the majors as a whole.
  19. ashbury
    The ecosystem has been in place for many decades by now, and the present big-market owners paid a lot more for their franchises than folks like the Pohlads did. If the Pohlads now want even-steven revenues, they're going to have to do something to make those other owners whole. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth will ensue. Small markets giving an infusion of capital to big markets. I'm sure that will have no impact on payrolls. This Can Only End Well
  20. ashbury
    False. They would trade him to some other team for pitching, because you can always find someone who overvalues empty batting average. 😀
  21. ashbury
    Maybe it's just a spoof.
  22. ashbury
    Same, except I view a Levine departure as merely probable. You're exactly right about not knowing how they divide the work. If Falvey overruled Levine on something and insisted on negotiating with the Dodgers for Margot, for example, ditto the Polanco trade, then Falvey needs to fire himself. If they have separation of duties and Falvey merely said, "you're the GM, execute those trades if you believe in them," then it's time for him to put aside loyalty and the fact they joined the organization as a tandem. The delay may be due to letting Thad try and negotiate a landing spot in some other organization first, again as an act of loyaty - a deeper relationship exists than with Popkins for example. I trust that they won't let that drag on too long.
  23. ashbury
    Son Cashbury just informed me the Padres are his team this post-season.
  24. ashbury
    Your post wasn't harsh and there's no need to apologize. I was responding to just the first half and should have made that clearer, and the smiley face meant it's largely tongue in cheek. If anything, my making light of a life-changing concussion isn't a tack I might choose outside of this close circle of friends. Some stars can coach and some can't. Just like some players can be stars and some can't. Seems to be a different skill set and without a high correlation. Ted Williams was supposedly good at imparting advice and he had some success as manager; Frank Robinson likewise and probably more so. It's harder to get metrics for coaches than managers, so we're left with eye tests and reputations.
  25. ashbury
    DFA'd and selected off waivers each time is still arguably more promising than the dreck we DFA'd and no one took off our hands and we added again later on anyway. You pay a premium for that kind of desirability. 😀
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