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Dodecahedron

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Everything posted by Dodecahedron

  1. Dodecahedron
    I think everyone liked the Nolasco signing. He had a nice W-L record and a nice FIP. At that time, it was strongly believed that FIP was an indicator of what was to come for a pitcher. Now we have a better understanding that FIP and its variants are just one part of the story, and for some players the stat is simply junk. This is normal, many players have some "advanced" stat that doesn't quite reflect reality. His ERA+ was never fantastic and was often not good at all. ERA+ and OPS+ are my starting points when looking at a player, and I admit if I'm not impressed there I don't look any further. Thus, I thought everyone was smoking large amounts of grass at the time. ? I used to joke that, because of the Twins luck, Nolasco was sure to have a no-hitter once he left the team....
  2. Dodecahedron
    To be fair, I don't think many people around these parts base a player's value on his batting average. Most people around here use WAR, which has not looked good for him since 2018. The Twins likely knew Simmons was not going to be a star for them. Last year his OPS+ was 94, and I'm sure they understood given his OPS+ in 2019 being even lower that his likely ceiling in 2021 was in the 88-90 range. That's not good, but it's acceptable for a good defender. His current OPS+ of 58 is probably a mild surprise for them, but I'm betting they understood this was a possibility. The Twins still seem to think this is good enough to have him starting, so I'm sure they're not shocked by his play. I imagine anyone who finds his personality revolting would dislike him even if he were playing well. Visceral reactions to a person are difficult to control. This is not "grade school" stuff, it's normal. You could even say that wanting to stay away from people who make you feel uncomfortable is a survival skill.
  3. Dodecahedron
    Nishioka had a rude awakening just six games into his major league career, when a certain Yankees player essentially did a hit job on him. One good thing that came out of that, eventually, was this play contributed to rule changes for sliding into second base. From that day on, I suspect Nishioka just wanted to go home. The only person he had to talk to was his interpreter. Eventually, he cut his contract short, leaving money on the table, and went home. In any case, it's not completely fair to pile it on Nishi. He played extremely well in the minors before the injury, and he only played 5 games before his New York Welcome™ to the major leagues. I don't think he was having fun or getting the support he needed after that. I would call Byungho Park a bigger failure free agent signing, if we are counting international players. The Twins signed him because he was smacking impressive home runs off of 86-88 mph fastballs and he was known to be a poor defender. There was no chance he was going to do well in the majors.
  4. Dodecahedron
    Bill Evers for President.
  5. Dodecahedron
    Most of you know that I was baffled by the Simmons signing, but I'm certain he is not the worst signing of all time, especially since he won't be around very long. Simmons has a career to be proud of, but it doesn't take much analysis to see he has not been good since 2018. For being a dice roll/leap of faith, the Twins sure are sticking to him. Even if the Twins love what he is doing for them, which if true seems a bit out of touch with reality, he is not the future and the Twins should be giving his roster spot to somebody else.
  6. Dodecahedron
    I was trying to find a word to describe the sheer terror of knowing we will all be subjected to this same conversation for the next several years. I'm not sure I found the exact word, but I at least found an evocative word.
  7. Dodecahedron
    He started the season as a starter in St. Louis and he did a decent job. He was later moved into the bullpen after a couple of bad starts in a row, but his bottom line stats as a starter were still good. He has been in the pen in recent years, so I am assuming he was starting only as a necessity. I am guessing the Twins brought him in with Plan A being that he would be a starter, given his decent numbers in the role earlier in the year.
  8. Dodecahedron
    I always felt that if Gordon ever made the major league team, this was a bad sign that the team had tanked. I suppose that proved to be prophetic. However, if he is here, he should be playing where the Twins spent years training him to play. Now that he is on the team, he deserves the same chance every other player deserves when they come up. Simmons is pointless. Let's look at the future and see if Gordon can be a part of it.
  9. Dodecahedron
    I think a lot of people are stuck on the fact that he has different "stuff" than most pitchers. It would take multiple years of him being an ace pitcher for some people to appreciate the good things he brings to the table. Since he's not likely to ever be an ace pitcher, we are doomed to repeating the same conversation every time he loses a game. The only solace we have to counter the banal abstrusity of witnessing the same commentary repeatedly over the next few years is the fact that he is probably going to have a few more good games than bad ones -- just like any other decent major league pitcher.
  10. Dodecahedron
    Dobnak seemed OK in previous years, so that would not have been the basis of the decision.
  11. Dodecahedron
    Too many walks for Gant, but otherwise a great performance by everybody on the pitching staff. Can Bill Evers just manage the team for the rest of the year? As far as I can see, the Twins have never lost a game with him in charge.
  12. Dodecahedron
    So much has happened this year around Dobnak, it's just impossible to know for sure what happened. I think it was a combination of things, many of which were beyond his control. All Dobnak can do at this point is get through the season and do his best to put this season behind him.
  13. Dodecahedron
    If it is true that the Twins moved Gordon for a good reason, then it's good that the Twins are starting to "stop the madness," at least with one person. Although, it would have potentially been a better story if they had moved Gordon elsewhere earlier in his minor league career.
  14. Dodecahedron
    In spite of Gordon playing the majority of his time in the middle infield in the minors, the rumor is the Twins decided he can't play that position after he got to the majors. Unfortunately, fans have bought into that, in spite of most of us never having seen him play that position. I still contend the Twins simply believed Gordon was not ready this year, so they signed a rental. Later, they were forced to call him up, but now he's blocked from playing his natural position. I think the reality of the situation is a lot less dramatic than the rumors. Being how unique the 2020 season was, I can 100% buy into the Twins wanting to give Gordon a bit more time. I have no clue why Simmons is still playing, nor do I see why he is still on this team. Note I don't expect Gordon to be a star infielder, but I agree that he deserves a shot. He's done a hell of a lot of work for it. If the Twins don't want to crown him the next SS, fine, but as Baldelli said, "Experience is important." Give him reps at the position. Let's see what he can do. I find it hard to believe he could be any worse than Polanco was at SS. If memory serves, Polanco was only put at SS because he was blocked at 2B. At some point, the Twins have to stop the madness and stop playing people out of position.
  15. Dodecahedron
    This is the right approach.
  16. Dodecahedron
    The box score clearly states he left two guys on base.
  17. Dodecahedron
    Pinch hitting Gordon for Buxton in a high leverage situation. Cool, cool. Would any of us ever do this, even when Buxton's bat has been cold? If you were going to leave Albers in to put the game out of reach of the offense, why would you pinch hit later? Why would you pull your best defender in a game like this one?
  18. Dodecahedron
    There were conversations around here at the time about Dobnak in the bullpen and Shoemaker being here at all. Happ as well. It gives me hope that the Twins will get the message now that we are hearing others speak up about it. Choosing how to use Dobnak and Shoemaker was probably a Baldelli decision. Signing Shoemaker and Happ was probably a consensus among several people, including Baldelli. After seeing so many, "What were they thinking?" moments this year, Baldelli has a lot to prove in the future as far as I am concerned. There is a 0% chance that the team is signing players without Baldelli's consent/approval/input, in spite of what some may choose to believe.
  19. Dodecahedron
    Not much to say about this one. Very predictable game given the players on the field and the tendencies Baldelli has been showing this year.
  20. Dodecahedron
    Sure, WAR one way to look at it, and is probably the most predictable way. I would prefer to look at how the teams actually changed due to the trade. Neither team changed. Sure, the Twins had to make this trade to tread water and stay the same. I'm not sure that's a win. Don't forget this piece of the "trade": Beeter might end up being better than both Maeda and Graterol.
  21. Dodecahedron
    In 1978, a couple of second graders walked into the Boondocks bar on Lamar St. in Cottage Grove to buy some candy bars. There was a jukebox which proved far too tempting. Neither of the kids recognized any song on the jukebox, so they just put a quarter in and pushed some buttons. Nothing happened, so they tried again. They were not even sure which songs they were choosing, but they kept on trying, a countless number of times. After a few minutes, they resigned themselves that the machine was broken and were about to leave. Then "Cold as Ice" began blasting, turned up to 11. Then it played again. And again. The kids were not sure what this song was, so they looked closely at the song titles until they recognized the title of what they were hearing. The locals in the bar did not seem to mind that there were two kids in the bar blasting this one song over and over. They were all probably just grateful it wasn't the Bee Gees, who were played constantly everywhere. After that, whenever those kids passed the Boondocks bar, they always stepped in to punch up Cold as Ice.
  22. Dodecahedron
    This is a fairly even trade, really. No one won, no one lost. Yet. Ultimately, nothing changed with either team by this trade. The Twins still laid an egg in the playoffs, the Dodgers still barreled over everybody. Thus, no winners, no losers. I suppose you could say the Twins "won" by making a move that allowed them to stay in the same position, if you wanted to go that way. But then, the Dodgers "won" by the same token..... With Maeda riding the pine for 2022 and the other players continuing to improve, it's unlikely the trade remains even for much longer.
  23. Dodecahedron
    Trey Cabbage of course reminds me of Mike Cubbage, so he's already a Twin in my eyes.
  24. Dodecahedron
    We can agree to disagree here.
  25. Dodecahedron
    Hm, not sure. Let me double-check. *looks up* Yes, that appears to be what I wrote for my two examples. It is Baldelli's responsibility to speak up. I'm sure if he did speak up, he'd have Larnach instead of Larry, Moe, Curly, and Shemp. Larnach may not be great at the moment, but "experience matters" as Baldelli said a day or two ago. Larnach is the future, those other guys....... Are you saying my suggestions are not good suggestions, or is this more meta?
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