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ashbury

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Everything posted by ashbury

  1. ashbury
    It's a good first step. You want to find the strategery that has a chance of succeeding. But, it's incomplete. "What happens when you try the strategery? What are the odds that it actually works?" That's the necessary second step.
  2. ashbury
    Ford's a non-roster invite so he's even less of a likelihood than Gasper. Except for Keaschall who I don't think they will rush, none of the NRI position players look like should normally have much of a chance. Your analysis, which I mainly agree with, highlights how thin the 40-man actually is. Most years I don't like to put much weight on Spring Training hitting numbers, as it's inherently Small Sample Size and the level of competition is inconsistent, but this might be the year where someone has the right kind of success to earn a spot, including an NRI who might push someone like Gasper off the 40-man. Lee or Martin or Julien could do enough to make the FO decide that additional time at St Paul isn't actually necessary, and if all of them flop then it could be someone else getting the prize. I view Ty France as less of a lock than many here do. Falvey signed him with an escape clause for a reason. But if indeed France is let go, it just points up even more clearly how weak the 40-man is with batters, and someone with perhaps questionable credentials will make the club. Which in turn means... France has to be pretty bad in Spring not to make the club. Except... to me it's a strong possibility that it's how it plays out during March.
  3. ashbury
    Especially from the left-hand batter's box, lay down a bunt in your first PA of the season, and do it again late in the same game. Then every second game or so, for a while, do it your first or second time up, game situation permitting. Give the defense something to think about and maybe open up some real estate for your regular grounders to sneak through. Maybe not Wallner or Larnach though, LOL.
  4. ashbury
    Hoping for the best of course. But they could draft 100 Connor Prielipps and only about 3 would really pan out in a top of the rotation way, in my estimation.
  5. ashbury
    I was in attendance when Paul Castner was the featured guest at the Halsey Hall Chapter's Spring meeting, 1985. He was 88 years old and passed away less than a year later, so it was great to get a final chance to pick his brain for memories. He did tell the Cobb story, in response to a rather general question about memories of Cobb if I'm not mistaken. Sorry I don't recall the details of that story (and I reached out to a couple of fellow members who couldn't recall either), but what sticks out for me is that he prefaced the story with a quavering "Ohhhhh. He was a miserable fellow." Forty years later and the expression on his face is still clear for me, of the contempt this old-timer had for the Hall of Famer. A major leaguer is a major leaguer forever, and it was cool to interact with someone who was a contemporary of players so long before.
  6. ashbury
    ... In The Best Shape of His Life!â„¢
  7. ashbury
  8. ashbury
    Can the Sire actually be won by someone playing his Spring games on the back fields? 😀
  9. ashbury
    All other concerns having been addressed, the FO completed their off-season preparations with the signing of Ty France. What other meaning could this have? This Twins team is destined for 100+ wins, baby! Book it.
  10. ashbury
    It used to be that you'd bring up a youngster and let him get his bearings in the majors by pitching in relief. Not always, not every prospect, but it was respectable tactic, dating back to the old-timey days when rookies were downright hazed. In more modern times, Johan Santana is a classic example, though it was debated hotly at the time whether they took too long to convert him back to starter status, and one could waste time arguing that their decisions cost him a HoF plaque. Adam Wainwright is another, more clear-cut example, who came up to stay in 2006 and pitched exclusively in relief for the Cards, then converted back to starting and never looked back. By contrast, starter-prospect-turned-reliever Trevor May remarked early in his career that he understood his situation by embracing the bullpen, and that it was too hard for a pitcher to switch to starting once he got accustomed to relieving. There's a disconnect here. The game evolves, but what exactly about it has changed so that putting a guy in the bullpen in the interest of getting to the majors quicker constitutes a death knell for his opportunity as a starter down the road?
  11. ashbury
    I'd like to see Lee start the season at St Paul regardless of his hitting in camp this spring. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the 40-man roster has enough plausible candidates to staff the infield without him! If someone steps up, Lee goes down if I'm in charge.
  12. ashbury
    Didn't Dobber's downfall begin with a finger injury? Perhaps the knuckleball grip would aggravate it.
  13. ashbury
    I will, and I'll tell everyone You Stole My Meme!
  14. ashbury
    "The test results came back, Mr Lewis, and I'm afraid you've got a bad case of Tommy John of the Knee."
  15. ashbury
    I won't take the bet but will pray you're wrong.
  16. ashbury
    I suppose it's a sign of the times that anything I think of to say in regard to the Yankees trading him would earn me vitriol for "being political.". 😀
  17. ashbury
    Treize, s'il vous plaît.
  18. ashbury
    Are your questions as rhetorical as mine was? Santana met my low expectations for him. Castro has exceeded my even lower expectations. Stewart has been quite good, "when healthy." And the FO, perhaps in tandem with ownership, has under-achieved what I had hoped for 8 years ago. If a gentle bit of humor is "insulting," then Derek needs to grow thicker skin, but I'm pretty sure he'd take my highlighting a bad move from a year ago in stride. Perhaps by throwing Thad under the bus for constructing and advocating that particular Dodger trade, but in stride.
  19. ashbury
    (Checks calendar. It's mid-February.) He is!
  20. ashbury
    I'd be curious to know more of the context of those comments. Maybe Rocco was referring to the coming weeks before Opening Day? France's antipathy toward analytics is interesting. Hopefully the new batting coach and assistants are better at communicating than last year's seemed to be.
  21. ashbury
    I look forward to trying to lip-read his conversations in the dugout with Matt Wallner. "Well, sure, it's easy to get plunked from YOUR side of the plate." 😀
  22. ashbury
    .734 isn't all that great in the first place, for a 1Bman with minimal defensive prowess. Do the Twins' talent evaluators go any deeper than, "oh yeah, I've heard of him," like a fan? I sometimes wonder, when they bring us players like Manuel Margot.
  23. ashbury
    Mauer. With what they paid him, he still owes them something.
  24. ashbury
    Pick a lane. 😀
  25. ashbury
    His OPS with bases empty last year was .680 and was .706 with RISP. The one remaining situation, batter on first, he was an uncanny .768. Make of that what you will. 😀 The problem for me is that Willi's just not a very good hitter. Oh, he's a good hitter for a shortstop, except that he isn't a very good shortstop. He's fine in the utility role but should not be leading a team (with ideas of contention) in plate appearances.
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