ashbury

It's hawt.

I'll try this as a blog entry instead of a forum post. The Tigers continue to shop Rick Porcello to no avail. MLB Trade Rumors states that the Padres turned down a chance to trade either Huston Street or Luke Gregerson to get him. Other deals have failed to materialize. I suppose the equivalent from the Twins standpoint would be Glen Perkins, factoring in the NL and the Padres home park. Would you make that deal, if the Tigers also saw it that way (and were willing to trade intra-division)? Porcello was a hotshot coming out of HS who had a very promising major league season as a 20 year old, but has failed to progress (or regressed, actually), sporting an ultra-Twins-like K/9 in the 5's the last two years which actually lifts his lifetime average a bit. Few walks but very hittable (Pitch To Contact?), with not overly many HR. He's in his arbitration years but can't be a free agent until 2016, according to baseball-reference.com. Based on his track record he'd not be much of an improvement over what the Twins rotation already consists of, but at age 24 there is still seems the chance of a breakout, in which case you have him for three years, at increasing cost of course. My own take is that I'd be on the fence and would want my scouts to have a consensus that Porcello can still improve before I'd go for such a trade. (Which is hardly different from any proposed trade, but even more so than usual.) It's tempting, but you'd want to have a clear idea what it is you think you can fix, which is always a risky proposition when other people have already tried.

I'll try this as a blog entry instead of a forum post. The Tigers continue to shop Rick Porcello to no avail. MLB Trade Rumors states that the Padres turned down a chance to trade either Huston Street or Luke Gregerson to get him. Other deals have failed to materialize. I suppose the equivalent from the Twins standpoint would be Glen Perkins, factoring in the NL and the Padres home park. Would you make that deal, if the Tigers also saw it that way (and were willing to trade intra-division)? Porcello was a hotshot coming out of HS who had a very promising major league season as a 20 year old, but has failed to progress (or regressed, actually), sporting an ultra-Twins-like K/9 in the 5's the last two years which actually lifts his lifetime average a bit. Few walks but very hittable (Pitch To Contact?), with not overly many HR. He's in his arbitration years but can't be a free agent until 2016, according to baseball-reference.com. Based on his track record he'd not be much of an improvement over what the Twins rotation already consists of, but at age 24 there is still seems the chance of a breakout, in which case you have him for three years, at increasing cost of course. My own take is that I'd be on the fence and would want my scouts to have a consensus that Porcello can still improve before I'd go for such a trade. (Which is hardly different from any proposed trade, but even more so than usual.) It's tempting, but you'd want to have a clear idea what it is you think you can fix, which is always a risky proposition when other people have already tried.

Huh? That's how I read every post in these forums. / Especially my own.

The Twins dislike knuckleballers too.

> it is tough to draw a lot of conclusions from such a small sample size Without going back to check the scorebook, I believe the Canadian team faced a lot of left handed pitching. In the two games I got to watch, he went after a lot of first pitches, and just generally seemed confident in his approach (as much as a spectator down the third-base line can tell). I'm ready to say he's back. Which, usually, is the kiss of death.

I think Eric Johnson was the guy that sold me the sno-cone at my last Twins game.

> Which strategies will work? Only time will tell. Which do you think will work? Me, I like the Twins' approach best. Houston and Colorado seem to have problems with talent evaluation (I just reviewed the Astros' 2011 Bourn trade, P-U so far). Cleveland seems to be aggressive, probably in a good way, and the front office in Chicago is likely to stick with their plan and eventually succeed.

Special memo to [insert your "favorite" whipping boy here]: feel free to engage in skydiving, hanggliding, Russian roulette and other activities not specifically forbidden in this list.

It's folk, actually.

Chris the magic batsman, Plays for TC. And frolics in the right field mists As the fans shout "Parmelee!"....

I wanted to switch away from sabrmetrics but my wife won't let me.

I can't put my finger on it, but there is something wrong in the analysis leading to 102 wins.

Worley should be better than Esmerling. But that's it.

When do we get a feature article on Houston Jimenez?

Yes, he came in under inauspicious circumstances and managed to make matters worse. I just refreshed my memory and his OPS+ of 89 after the trade is a fair shorthand for a well-below par season from a player counted on for much more; to add insult to injury, Bruno put in a typical good season for the Cardinals; and then Herr added further insult to the insult to the injury by bouncing back to have a nice season for Philly in 1989. It's a very hazily defined concept of what "worst" player is, as Cody acknowledged - but for negative value delivered compared to what was needed, Herr holds a special place above many many less-talented players who were in less-pivotal roles. Do I really think Tommy Herr is the worst Twins player ever? No. I just like having his name in the discussion, since he brought so much angst to the fans.

Lenny Faedo and Terry Felton get some votes from this corner. If you want to expand to big letdowns, which is mainly what Huskey was, add Tommy Herr as well.

You have the right attitude for a road trip through the midwest. Enjoy all the off-the-beaten-path sights to see. I have a long and not very interesting story to tell regarding an ice storm and a cafe in LaSalle.

Team payrolls were about half of what they are now, so no, it was somewhat of a bargain-basement signing. Didn't work out, but it's hard to hate the guy.

Hey, Bobby, your mailbox here is full. Drop me a line sometime.

Capitalization.

I think I wrote unclearly. Very few if any FA would fit both. All transactions (not just FA) this off-season should be viewed in terms of the criteria, each individually satisfying one or the other, and not making one or the other uncorrectably worse. A few, such as a trade for Holland, have a potential to help both. Transactions will complement each other, more so than usual. No, I don't view a target date like 2015 as like turning on some light switch. If kids are ready to give it a try in the big show in 2014, they should be brought up, which hopefully makes them even more ready for 2015. If they are not ready, they should not be force-fed, as it just burns a year of arbitration eligibility. As in any other season, you make a plan for a few years down the road, and when the inevitable bumps in the road show up (TJ surgery, prospect plateauing at single-A) you adjust. I'm saying that 2015 for the Twins looks like when a real turning point could start in terms of competitiveness, and you should load up for then and beyond, while making short-term moves to get you through the coming two years without it being a revenue-killing drought and without mortgaging that more-promising future. I think it can be done, piece by piece.

They should not accept a 110-loss team for 2013-14. All transactions must be viewed in both of two positive lights: a) it helps a contending team in 2015, it helps bridge to 2015 by having a decent team in 2013-14. A 3-year contract to Dempster satisfies but violates a) assuming he is bad by then. A trade for Holland probably satisfies both. The trade of Span for a stud SP prospect satisfies a) and frees some salary for . Taking on salary for 2013-14 in a way that brings prospects, such as a large trade involving Alfonso Soriano, could accomplish both. Et cetera, et cetera.

Minnesota = State Twin Cities = Town, more or less I actually do remember the difference from when I lived there.