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ashbury

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Everything posted by ashbury

  1. ashbury
    Since we're reviving the small hall - big hall debate, I'll repeat my wish that we eventually have both.
  2. ashbury
    Good list. I don't see Lamont Wade as particularly similar to Granite. Much better power bat, not enough speed to be considered a CF for a good team.
  3. ashbury
    One advantage of a February signing, though, is that the 60-day DL becomes available when pitchers and catchers report. No need to free up a 40-man roster spot, since we have at least one player who will not be healthy at the start of the season. Not that I think a team would take a risk like that. Just a thought.
  4. ashbury
    Just a quibble, but it was set up by Dan Gladden's insane* dash to second base on a broken-bat single into short left-center. I was yelling at the TV screen, "no! No! NO! NO! Y....Yes!!!!! A by-the-book bunt, followed by two intentional walks, ensued. * Players do this now and then - pressure the defense to make the play. It still took huge cojones to go for it, in that situation.
  5. ashbury
    I hope it's just the scrubs thinking that. They need to be the "team of hard work, and top notch game plans", or the season will come to an abrupt end without even the opportunity for last-second heroics. The second-half defensive scheme against the Saints looked to be exploitable, for whatever reason.
  6. ashbury
    That comeback required two improbable plays both coming out the right way. If "greatest finish" isn't limited to the final play, I'm not even sure it's the runner-up.
  7. ashbury
    We've reached the inevitable gray areas of the subject. Given how difficult interactions can be among humans, it's impossible for there not to be any. None of the nuance, though, changes the essential message of the #metoo movement: make the default be to believe that the accuser has a story to tell. Notice that Ansari immediately confirmed the essence of the accusation. Actual false allegations appear to be very rare at this time; hopefully, that does not change. It's clear that many men need to change their behavior. I don't think it's off the table, such as in the responses like Caitlin Flanagan's and Ashleigh Banfield's, to ask whether women should consider some corresponding tweaks to their social conventions too. But again, introducing nuance into the discussion doesn't change the underlying determination to make widespread hurting stop.
  8. ashbury
    It could be that the Addison Reed signing was like one of those "bluebirds" the sales guys talk about - not on their radar at Rule-5 time because they figured he would get a 4-year deal that they would not want to compete for. It's OK to change plans when something good comes along. It doesn't inherently mean that the original plan was not "justified". Not that I claim to know what the FO sees in Kinley, myself. A low ceiling with not a very high floor wouldn't have been my cup of tea.
  9. ashbury
    Mod note: While Fernando Rodney is undoubtedly affected by the signing of Reed, ditto the chances of signing Darvish, and it's fair to delve here into those baseball ramifications, I'd like to ask everyone that we not go from one tangent into a further tangent about Rodney's character or reactions to it. It's a fair topic if someone wants to launch a new thread, either as a baseball topic in this Twins forum area, or as a sociological one in the Sports Bar forum if you're of that bent. The subject here is the signing of Addison Reed, broadly construed.
  10. ashbury
    Apart from specific names, 26 pitchers is a lot. I continue to wonder if the team really will enter the season with only 14 position players on the 40-man, as they currently have. I suppose they can stand pat in that department, and after pitchers and catchers report they will 60-day DL one or more pitchers, and then add some hitters. Or, they could just plan to use what they have, and supplement with non-roster players if injuries occur. That plan won't work seamlessly if the injuries are of the 10-day DL variety; but they could just plan to cross that bridge when they come to it, as regards which pitcher to DFA to make room. Anyway, my point is that the need to identify candidates for removal from the 40-man is even greater than current signings might suggest. I keep thinking a trade will occur, to clear up some of this roster congestion. There is time before Reed has to be added.
  11. ashbury
    It was the age of trades, it was the age of free-agent signings. It was the epoch of new relievers, it was the epoch of new starters. It was the season of single-A prospects, it was the season of win-now. It was the Spring of hope, it was the Autumn of pennants. We had everything before us --- full stop.
  12. ashbury
    Sir Rodney, Sir Duke and Sir Addison! Veddy veddy British feel to the new bullpen, plus a little bit of swing thrown in.
  13. ashbury
    I got him for Brian Duensing a few years back. Didn't even have to add a sweetener; Duensing WAS the sweetener.
  14. ashbury
  15. ashbury
    I just took a look in TD's Offseason Handbook and couldn't find even a mention of Addison Reed. Oopsie?
  16. ashbury
    Uffda! Deciding about Buxton based on two players, the older of whom just turned 19, panning out as hoped? As I said, you and I would take different routes, and in the end that's OK. I don't believe in even state-of-the-art forecasting skills quite strongly enough where extreme youngsters are concerned, apparently. I'd ink Buxton, if he's willing, and deal with the too-many-up-the-middle-stars problem later.
  17. ashbury
    How does a bigger-and-stronger Gordon impact his ability to remain at SS, do you suppose?
  18. ashbury
    What would that be? Gumption? ☺
  19. ashbury
    As long as we are putting the jinx on things, I would like to take credit for the nice 3-game winning streak with my awesome doom-and-gloom anti-jinx of a few days ago.
  20. ashbury
    1) Your take on Royce Lewis, while hardly crackpot, is a thread-the-needle combination of pessimism (over his glove at SS) and optimism (his glove in CF plus his bat) and exact timing. I wouldn't personally base contract decisions on someone two years away - we've seen the damage of decisions made under the assumption that guys like Aaron Hicks will arrive exactly on time as though riding the morning light rail into Target Field. 2) That is a more favorable view of Buxton than I recall seeing from you, and I am content to close by accepting your view of both players, and to agree to disagree on how you and I would both implement contract decisions based on that view.. I can think of holes to poke in my own 2017 season argument that you were too polite to mention, and I could work up a rebuttal to yours, to little value to anyone.
  21. ashbury
    Small Sample Size, sliced-and-diced stats, yadda yadda yadda, but... Didn't the team make a post-season push, sans Sano? His game log on b-r.com shows the team went 58-56 with him, marginally better at 27-21 without. Whereas with Buxton in the lineup, even with the horrific start at the plate, they went 77-63 with him, and a putrid 8-14 when he was out. Looks like the Twins managed to find players to fill in for Sano, while they struggled to find a way to replace Buxton. The data, insufficient though it may be, points in the other direction you suggest. Is Granite an obvious replacement for Buxton? Hardly. Who else we got knocking on the door?
  22. ashbury
    Perhaps a Billy Hamilton who somehow forgot his skills and played a below-average LF instead of above-average CF.
  23. ashbury
    The price of perfect information is quite high in a free market. This not being exactly a free market... the price is still quite high. The larger entity, namely the team, is always better placed to take on the risk, since they can spread it out over multiple players contracts. The player has only one life to live. If the team believes in its forecasts for their various players (or, more importantly, the various forecasts contain assumptions about risk), then they can save a lot of money that can be put to other uses. If they wait until the forecasts come true, there is not much scope for them to offer the trade-off of risk relief to the player for salary relief to the team.
  24. ashbury
    Blame the punitive system MLB has in place toward teams signing 16-year olds. You have to add the player to the 40-man so young. And the 40-man is your reservoir of replacements during a season, so Polanco was used the way he was because of the constraints on the team. Don't hate the player team, hate the game.
  25. ashbury
    I'd suggest "death by a thousand cuts" as a useful metaphor - if it were just one guy shouting words one time, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Also, when someone experiences harm, it's surely infuriating to be told it's not "true" enough. Remember the senate candidate not long ago who came to grief when he tried to parse exactly what kind of rape was "legitimate"? Bottom line, empathy is a good trait to have. PS, please don't shout via ALL CAPS.
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