Jump to content
Join us for draft day two conversation, click here! ×
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

ashbury

Verified Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    41,468

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    465

 Content Type 

Profiles

News

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospects Ranking

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by ashbury

  1. ashbury
    Just looking at his monthly breakouts... Snyder started well then hit a slump at exactly the wrong time, otherwise I think he would have gotten a mid-season promotion to high-A. Then he turned it around, and produced the season he did. It all comes down to timing, sometimes. It's only his second year in the pros, so there are competing motivations how quickly to move him. He's both old (calendar) and young (pro experience).
  2. ashbury
    Ambiguous phrasing.
  3. ashbury
    Not to brag, but I give John Bonnes the cold shoulder every time he reaches out to contact me. Because I'm just that big a deal.
  4. ashbury
    Well, so, I guess we're not there yet. Masking agents like diuretics are banned, and thus suspension worthy, but they are banned because of their potential to be used to hide PEDs, not for their inherent harm or competitive edge. You're right that we haven't seen transcripts, leaving us only to infer, but the knowledge that an arbitrator reduced the suspension length suggests to me that he or she became convinced PEDs were not being masked. Because the default would have been to just let the suspension stand unchanged. Proof, no. It's only supposition, but I don't think far fetched.
  5. ashbury
    Agreed, and it may come down to purely philosophical views or even just semantics. I'm pretty adamantly anti-PED. But if the aim of the sport's drug policy is to reduce the harm that they perceive PEDs to bring, and if all that is being missed is PED usage infrequent enough to not be caught by periodic testing, maybe that suits my purposes. But then, I spent a large portion of my career in numerical computation, dealing at times with "what really constitutes 'zero'?", on a computer. So I'm not inclined toward absolutes.
  6. ashbury
    You been saving that up for one of those "why, I oughta" moments?
  7. ashbury
    The negotiated protocol involves a re-test, if a masking agent is found in the urine. I suppose the timing could be just perfect, so that the diuretic happened to flush out the last detectable bit of PED, but the odds are that the re-test will uncover something. If he's taking a diuretic even after the PEDs are long gone, well, now we're into angels dancing on the head of a pin territory, and are back to the diuretics themselves being rightfully banned and therefore a stupid risk for no competitive benefit.
  8. ashbury
    They did that? Now the numbers start to make some sense!
  9. ashbury
    You're going to feel pretty dumb tomorrow when you read on ESPN that they fired him, just to maintain this amazing stat.
  10. ashbury
    Yeah, I heard that somewhere. Source.
  11. ashbury
    All right, here's my question: given Javier's first season back, from surgery on the non-throwing shoulder, with rather poor results at the plate, are there grounds for optimism with Buxton for 2020?
  12. ashbury
    "Ensigns Wade, Miller, and LaMarre, I know that none of you were expecting this. I'm sorry. I'm gonna have to ask you to grow up a little sooner than you expected. Warp five." / edit - I know, I know, LaMarre is 30, Miller is 27, and even Wade is no spring chicken anymore at 25. Humor me.
  13. ashbury
    What are you talking about? I've been here as a participant since almost Day One.
  14. ashbury
    My interactions with Tom Froemming have always been great, and I'm blissfully unaware of most of the work that he puts in, besides just his own writing/blogging/videoing, so I'm glad to see that highlighted. Thanks Tom!
  15. ashbury
    It's been a long thread and I've posted more than my share, but I don't recall defending Pineda, and I don't know what you think I'm "hoping" for. You didn't specify which posts you were thinking of, when you asked your question. Maybe someone else defended and hoped. It's late and it feels like a strawman to me. To want the record to be straight regarding PED, versus the banned masking agents (which have medical purposes other than masking), is not "defending" his suspension. The fact he didn't work with team doctors is so obvious, I didn't feel the need to address it until now.
  16. ashbury
    Has anyone stated that Big Mike shouldn't be suspended? He was caught with a banned substance in his body fluids, full stop. That's the part that's black and white. But he disputes the "intentionally" part, and the arbitrator (or whatever the person was) did reduce the length of the suspension from the normal length. Those two seem congruent with one another.
  17. ashbury
    The Twins currently have the third most wins in the AL. Assuming this holds up, validation of the regular season will have Houston and New York playing for the right to be in the World Series.
  18. ashbury
    I hope you're not asking why MLB bans PEDs. That's a rabbit hole for a different thread, probably. Opinions differ and no one's will be changed. PEDs and stimulants are taken by players to gain an edge on the playing field, and are banned substances for that reason. Diuretics and other masking agents may be taken by players for other reasons (blood pressure control, for one), and are banned because of the first group of banned substances. If not for PEDs and stimulants, MLB would not take an interest in diuretics. Is that what you were asking? I'm really not sure.
  19. ashbury
    Congratulations, Nick!
  20. ashbury
    That is a whopping level of skepticism in an era of random unannounced testing throughout the season. I doubt it's 0%, and have my suspicions about a few players, but not at that kind of level. It's been mentioned already, but you really should take a glance through the official document the league uses for defining it's processes. Section 2 ("PROHIBITED SUBSTANCES") lists everything they test for - PEDs and stimulants and masking agents alike. It seems pretty thorough, and if it were just a charade, you probably wouldn't see a suspension like this one at this time in a season. http://www.mlbplayers.com/pdf9/5450924.pdf
  21. ashbury
    Came here to post along these lines. It's hard reading (MLB doesn't hire the clearest of writers), but really necessary in order to speak definitively. I think people were looking at a Wikipedia page, where some misinformation exists.
  22. ashbury
    Pineda was suspended for 10 games for pine tar on his neck. Using that as innuendo for what is being treated as a first-offense of the drug policy, itself reduced by an arbitrator based on exculpatory evidence, is disingenuous. And my comment did not address the post-season, which obviously is affected the same with or without the reduction. Which leads me to... Moderator's Note: It should be obvious, this thread will be monitored for disrespectful posting and for trolling, according to the usual site policy.
  23. ashbury
    The arbitrator reduced the standard suspension, which suggests there was no evidence of other substances being masked.
  24. ashbury
    "Hydrochlorothiazide is a diuretic and masking agent prohibited under Section S5 of the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) Prohibited List. ... Diuretics can mask other prohibited substances by increasing urine volume, thereby diluting the presence of any other substances present in a urine sample." https://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/jockeys-ban-raises-questions-hydrochlorothiazide-sanctions/
  25. ashbury
    Gut punch. Thanks, Mike.
×
×
  • Create New...