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ashbury

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Everything posted by ashbury

  1. ashbury
    Front office never had the courage to pull off the necessary transactions to push the team that last step. / ducking....
  2. ashbury
    John Bonnes needs to add an award of some kind, in his periodic State of the Website summaries, for sentences like this.
  3. ashbury
    There was also his stage whisper comment through gritted teeth during the press conference announcing his hiring. "Guys. I need some bullpen help."
  4. ashbury
    Ohhhhh... crudddddd... Just keep your thoughts to yourself until later tonight, please. No spoilers.
  5. ashbury
    "Two truths throughout baseball history. No team ever made any money, and you never have too much pitching." -- Donald Fehr, paraphrased
  6. ashbury
    It felt like a loss, but didn't the Twins win yesterday? How much of a time-zone lag are we dealing with here?
  7. ashbury
    While the thread is "what will it take," I do agree that questions surrounding the nebulous term "makeup" could reduce Stroman's trade value more than analytic tools would suggest. An extreme amount of due-diligence would be expected from my evaluation team, regarding this point. My manager unconsciously shaking his head while pondering how to answer my question might be enough of a veto. A corner outfielder should be the headliner of a trade if at all possible, and Larnach is a logical candidate. Almost certainly an arm has to be offered as well. Problem is that rebuilding teams want high-end pitching prospects, and if another contender is prepared to offer a top-rated arm, it may be necessary to follow suit, and in that case Larnach is almost too much to pair with that. I've been skeptical about loading up with corner position players in the draft as "safer" picks than pitchers, because when it comes time to trade... other teams will reply "we've got somebody of our own who is about that good." Luckily, Toronto might consider themselves a little thin in that department. I might try Larnach, Alcala, and Gordon, if my relationship with Toronto is cordial enough that it can withstand an offer being laughed at, and then try to go from there. I add Celestino instantly, which the tradevalues site then considers an overpay, and maybe ask for a lottery-pick prospect in return as well to rebalance things. Alcala may not be of interest to them, though - then we haggle over better arms and it starts getting painful. Or... that's where Giles comes into the conversation...
  8. ashbury
    We find out, perhaps, who the real Bombas are.
  9. ashbury
    Unless I have a good response lined up to the possible reply, "or, what?", I keep my tone different and more polite to my highers-up than to my direct-reports.
  10. ashbury
    If I'm Rocco Baldelli I still give the LOLLYGAGGERS!!! speech I had been saving up starting around the sixth inning, but I deliver it only to the pitching corps(e). Batters and press alike are barred from the clubhouse for this performance. I also send a politely worded text to my front office. Again.
  11. ashbury
    This article will look brilliant, when and if our front office does go big.
  12. ashbury
    Or, they decide that that IS the price of urgency. Sometimes, I comparison-shop the hell out of a product. Other times, I pay full retail at the most expensive shop that happens to be right around the corner, because I want a bandaid for the knee I just scraped when I unexpectedly tripped during my walk downtown, and the cost of waiting would affect me some other way than the direct cost. I'm not saying to trade Royce Lewis for a bullpen rental arm. But there is such a thing as false economy. I've been a stay the course, conserve the assets, guy for years. This is not the year.
  13. ashbury
    Look at 2018 and 2017 too. You won't be disappointed.
  14. ashbury
  15. ashbury
    Concur. When the window is open, as I believe it is, the road is not going to be smooth and even. There will be lumps and bumps, and those are not evidence by themselves of no window.* That said, I don't view this as probably 1987 again, quite yet. More like 1984 - we may look back someday and say that this team wasn't ready yet, but later on was. But, that's not to claim I have a crystal ball. No two rebuilds are alike. You compete, when you might have the horses. We've got equestrians, of some species TBD. Let's go, FalVine, this is the core that's going to win or lose, show us what you've got, while the players do likewise. * Heck of a mixed metaphor, eh?
  16. ashbury
    You already did the leg work here, so let me ask: What are the analogous numbers for low-leverage and other situations? Are they now just not hitting well, period?
  17. ashbury
    Indeed. Jake toed the line just short of insubordination, which I think is just fine in any athlete who lives to compete. Leave me in, Coach, I'm ready to play!
  18. ashbury
    I don't think that's a hawt taek, at all. Perhaps any move made will be even more tilted toward long-term controllable talent, and no rentals for a 2019 push at all. Or, if the FO is really pessimistic, only rentals, at minimal prospect cost. I think I can reverse-engineer any deadline outcome, after the fact.
  19. ashbury
    He's in his age-24 season, so he's not young-young, but he's hardly old for AAA - 3 guys who've pitched for Rochester this season are younger and four are roughly the same age. He hasn't had a bad season since he was 19, and I'm always inclined to assume some undisclosed physical problem when the numbers are anomalous like this. So, to me, there's no urgency to discard him, and I'd be happy to give him another year. It would take a bad 2020 to make me want to be "rid" of him. But, he may indeed choose not to accept a contract renewal if it's offered, and to try his luck in a different organization. And if he's not forecast to help the big club in 2019, then it's not terribly important whether he finishes his season at AAA, at AA, or simply on the shelf.
  20. ashbury
    Yeah, my brother was always full of statements that began, "no child of mine would ever...". Then he married a gal with a young daughter. I didn't hear any of those pronouncements anymore.
  21. ashbury
    I don't know whether the idea can be extended to lots of other pitchers or only a few. But I'm definitely in favor of taking advantage of each pitcher's individual strengths. If Rogers is reliably a two-inning pitcher, you can plan around that and use him for maximum benefit. The only problem is that ideal usage occurs irregularly, so that you may have three games in a row that would fit his profile, and then not any for a week.
  22. ashbury
    According to wire service reports, tonight's game for Cleveland is in jeopardy. The opponent's players are threatening a walkout crawlout if certain demands are not met. Apparently only apple juice is being provided during mid-inning nutrition breaks, and a radical faction of the young players' union is insisting grape juice be offered as an option as well. Also, a Designated Napper is being demanded by the babies, for both teams' lineups. The Indians are not totally averse to the idea, since third baseman Jose Ramirez has been caught napping several times on defense this season, but the league is not yet on board with this. Finally, the Sunshine Kidz are holding firm that all sliding be done on actual playground slides, to be installed at each base. In one concession, the babies are dropping their demand that Cleveland players change their diapers when needed. "I'm not taking **** from any team," second baseman Jason Kipnis stated, claiming to speak for others as well. At press time, agreement had been reached that brand-name Crayola crayons will be used by both teams in writing out the starting lineups, and not those waxy ones you find at the dollar store - observers were surprised that Manfred let the Indians cave, on this cost-be-damned initiative. These are no babes in the woods, at the negotiating table.
  23. ashbury
    It's no coincidence, to my eye. I mentioned elsewhere, that this year they are 43-23 when Byron plays the full game. Only 15-14 in their other games. Last year was a bad year for him and for the team. When he played a full game: 13-9. Other games: 65-75. 2017 was a good year for the Twins. They went 66-45 when he played the full game. 19-32 when he didn't. I actually could play further slice-and-dice tricks with his partial games, which are a mixed bag of early departures or late insertions in the lineup, but this is sufficient to convince me: there's a ripple effect when he's not in there. I haven't done a similar analysis for any other players, but I'm pretty confident that nobody except a starting pitcher has had the positive impact on the Twins these past few years that Byron Buxton does. Yeah, I realize I just got done saying I (like anyone else) don't know nothin'. Bear that in mind.
  24. ashbury
    I quoted Yogi Berra recently and I'll do it again by paraphrase: the truth of baseball and of our Twins is that you don't know nothin'.
  25. ashbury
    Venezuelan baseball is quite good. Welcome to the Slippery Slope to Excellence, folks!
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