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ashbury

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Everything posted by ashbury

  1. ashbury
    I looked him up on b-r.com but stopped reading when I saw his nickname listed as Big Fudge.
  2. ashbury
    Brice perhaps? https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=brice-001aus
  3. ashbury
    Larnach is not ideal as a bench player, in consideration of the others on the roster, but I do want to find out if he can contribute in the majors. His numbers last season weren't too good, but we know there were injuries as part of the picture, and he finished strong, from late July on. He fits a pattern of someone ready to become a starter, and I'd hate to see him do that with another team if we give him up for pennies on the dollar. Can he stay on the field in top physical condition, though?
  4. ashbury
    Not to threadjack, but where does Buxton figure into your season-changing ranking?
  5. ashbury
    Dad?
  6. ashbury
    This is quite a relief. The commute time from Cincy to Brewtown was getting on my nerves.
  7. ashbury
  8. ashbury
    Not just a sidekick. A Close Personal Friend! Does Stringer have talent like Munson, Rivers, Randolph, and Nettles to work with? The turnaround could be quick! Who know,s, they might meet my Reds in the World Series sometime soon!
  9. ashbury
    Countless? The promotion didn't convert them to repeat customers at regular prices, at all? Then shhhhhhh, don't tell Dave St. Peter, because this is the best way to make sure they never run another promotion again.
  10. ashbury
    C"mon, man. Charlie Hustle was earning more than $100K a year! What's a GM supposed to do? Thank goodness Chief is made of money and can afford him, and I wish Rose well. I bet you anything that he becomes a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Great update. Is there a word for Nostalgia about things that you sort of remember but not quite the same way?
  11. ashbury
    I've also heard you don't know the meaning of fear.
  12. ashbury
    If the Twins do surprise us all and sign Cody, the short item in the Strib yesterday that "the Twins haven't ruled out a reunion with free-agent center fielder Michael A. Taylor" could indicate a bit of negotiation in public that went on.
  13. ashbury
    Twins were second from the bottom in the majors in 2023, lefty/lefty. The small samples added up. Disturbing that the four who put up the putrid splits were all the young guys - Kirilloff, Larnach, Wallner and Julien. Is current coaching a factor? Brian's focus seemed to be on just Julien, but improvement is needed across the board. I'm actually confident that some of this will correct itself (BABIP, SSS, whatever), and that coaching isn't blind to this and will direct appropriate instruction to the matter. This will let each of us claim credit for our POV having carried the day. 😀
  14. ashbury
    I just assumed Tanner Hall was the college dorm he lived in.
  15. ashbury
    We like to think that we pay someone above major league minimum for their baseball abilities, but the truth is that the FO calculates that salary to some degree against ticket sales. Normally if a player's abilities project to increase the win total, the assumption is pretty simple that the salary will pay for itself by maintaining or increasing revenue. For some players with extremely high salaries, the calculation must be more detailed - jersey and memorabilia sales, for instance. But in the case where you have reason to think signing a player might cause ticket sales to go down, the calculation gets even more complicated. I think that's the case with Bauer, to a potentially rather extreme degree.
  16. ashbury
    It's all interesting but I think merely serves to limit how good of a comp Kelenic is for Julien. The Twins had a problem with lefty hitters against lefty pitchers in 2023. Second worst OPS among all major league teams - Kepler was acceptable, as was Gallo (!) and Gordon (!!), all the others were below .500 (!!!). It may not be simply a matter of lack of opportunity, but somehow they're not being coached to succeed, in which case force-feeding isn't the answer and better technique (whatever that may be) is. Wallner for instance appears to be a fearless batter - he gets a lot of HBP which I assume means he won't back down, and I frequently bring up the AFL game Chief and I watched where he took a pitch off his jaw and he was back in the lineup a few games later and hit like nothing had happened. A tough guy. I don't believe he's flinching when the ball comes from that direction. And yet in his short MLB career his Right/Left split on OPS is .949/.442. That's almost an inconceivable split. It's still small sample size, and he didn't exhibit this problem coming up in the minors, so I don't claim to know the answers. But improvement is mandatory, Priority #1, Wallner and all the other lefties, because 13-man rosters aren't enough to platoon everybody. I don't think Rocco substituting or not substituting is the root cause.
  17. ashbury
    He hit better against lefties than righties in 2023. Doesn't seem like such a gamble as all that. Seattle already paid the price of the learning curve.
  18. ashbury
    Cross the bridge when you actually come to it.
  19. ashbury
    I did check. Against lefty starters b-r.com show a .760 OPS for his career. That counts everything in that game including the righty relievers who then come in. It's a problem with the short-side of a platoon.
  20. ashbury
    This.
  21. ashbury
    I'm not Seth and he hasn't asked me to play him on TV 😀 but MLBTR answered this question in the affirmative today (first paragraph): https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/02/twins-sign-jeff-brigham-brian-okeefe-to-minor-league-deals.html
  22. ashbury
    The Twins preferred Carlos Santana to Bubba. The Reds preferred Bubba to Balazovic. That's gotta sting a little, to our pitcher.
  23. ashbury
    No need to guess; they pay someone to keep track of these things. 😀 Polanco started 54 games at 2B in 2023. Which of course only strengthens your point. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIN/2023-fielding.shtml#all_players_standard_fielding_2b
  24. ashbury
    These thoughts pertain more to FalVine than to Nick Gordon himself, so I'm separating this from the trade discussion involving Okert. The front office plays hardball regarding salary arbitration. Once the player didn't see the wisdom of coming to terms before the arbitrator's decision, win or lose, Gordon was probably gone with a tentative deal with Miami in place, and the timing was only to determine what Miami would return in trade (or whether the Twins would include a bit of cash to cover Gordon's salary if he won arbitration). I know I'm reading more between the lines than some here will stand for, but I look at this as a move the FO finds necessary once in a while, to send a message for later years. Or, maybe they felt Gordon was a bit disgruntled after losing, and might be a clubhouse distraction. Either way, message delivered, if you ask me. If it were roster-balance alone, the trade could have happened long ago or later on. Somehow, bridges got burned. The 40-man roster is now 22 pitchers and 18 position players, if I counted correctly. Some view this as a signal a new batter is going to be acquired, such as a right-handed hitting outfielder. I think the numbers are actually what the FO is comfortable with. If anything, since we're now a bit heavy on relief arms there is still room for an additional starting pitcher, with recent waiver-wire pickup Zack Weiss as the final roster casualty.
  25. ashbury
    Great trade! Who'd we get? 😀 Wait, we got someone who might be useful? Even better. Lefty in the pen with 3 years of control, I'll take it. That's in exchange for someone we would not use. Fine trade. I hold no ill will to Nick Gordon. But his skills never developed the way a first-rounder should have, and maybe Miami will unlock something. As things stood, a left fielder with only a so-so bat, or an infielder without elite defensive skills, doesn't have a place on most major league rosters. Good luck, Nick, you may need it.
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