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stringer bell

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Everything posted by stringer bell

  1. stringer bell
    Milone is a better pitcher than Happ, 88 mph fastball and all. The World Champions gave 24 starts to Jeremy Guthrie, 18 to Chris Young and nine more to Jason Vargas. I would take Milone over all of them. He has value. Too much to let go for nothing.
  2. stringer bell
    That's a .288 OBP, .302 Slugging and .590 OPS.
  3. stringer bell
    Just a clarification--Benson signed with Miami and played for their AA team where he hit .264. Joe's only major league experience was the "cup of coffee" that he got with the Twins. Further, his success has been only as high as AA--his AAA numbers are a slash line of .288/.302/.590 in over 400 PAs. I think the chances of him making the Twins are pretty slight. That said, maybe just maybe, what he needs is to be fully healthy and fully comfortable and he could reach his considerable potential. I always liked Benson and wish him the best.
  4. stringer bell
    I spent Thanksgiving in New York City, visiting my son and his fiancée and seeing some sites. No, I didn't find Dave W, I guess I didn't look. Anyway, I did attend my first, and probably only, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We arrived early and found a place to stand across from Fox News. We saw the parades, floats, minor celebrities and Santa. A women standing next to me asked me if I was from Minnesota, since I was wearing a coat that said "Mayo Clinic" on it. She said that she had grown up in Hinckley and then moved to Scottsdale. We chatted for awhile and finally starting talking about children. She said that her son played for the Twins. I said "oh really" and shared with her that i was a Twins fan for life and that I often contributed to Twins Daily. She said her son was Aaron Slegers and that he was the tallest player in the Twins system--6'10". I remembered Slegers, but couldn't recall which Big Ten school he attended. She said he went to Indiana and that his catcher was Kyle Schwarber, who has made a name for himself. Aaron made it to AA in 2015, after having a nice season at High A Fort Myers. I really don't know if how highly regarded he is, but it does highlight the many players in the minors--how hard they work and the odds against any but the premium prospects to make it to the majors. After a 160 inning regular season, Aaron Slegers works out every day, but hasn't done any throwing and won't for a while. There were more events and a great turkey dinner put on by my son and his fiancée, but it is cool to have met someone with a connection to the Twins a long way from home.
  5. stringer bell
    Thanks to all-contributors, owners, even lurkers.
  6. stringer bell
    The way I see it is that the starting rotation without Trevor May still has depth and that May wouldn't improve that rotation that much. OTOH, May working in a late-inning role markedly improves the bullpen. Fair to the young player? Probably not, but the idea here is to help the club. In addition, May was dominant on several of his relief appearances, as his stuff played up in relief appearances. Much like the much-anticipated outfield of Rosario-Buxton-Hicks, I like to see a healthy combo of Perkins, Jepsen and May to close out games. I think it could border on elite. Add in hard throwers like Tonkin and Alex Meyer and another capable lefty and the bullpen looks improved and much more capable of strikeouts.
  7. stringer bell
    Gilmartin had a good year in a new role and the Twins could have used his production in 2015, but I doubt he'll be a significant performer going forward. I don't think the Twins would trade either Graham or Pressly for Gilmartin today.
  8. stringer bell
    Trying to post from my iPhone, it figures that he wasn't protected because of his age and past.
  9. stringer bell
    I'd like to see Wimmers make it after the hardships he had to endure. Just glancing at boxscores, he seemed very inconsistent--sometimes dominating, sometimes batting practice.
  10. stringer bell
    If the Twins sign Park and add a major league free agent plus make a pick in the Rule V, they have to designate someone other than the seven guys they just promoted, is that right? Who would then be designated? Darnell? O'Rourke?
  11. stringer bell
    Of the current options, I like May in the bullpen and Milone in the rotation. Milone was quite effective and also is the only left handed candidate for the rotation. We all know that Milone doesn't throw hard and I would like to see velocity in the Twins' relievers. As a starter, Milone struggled often for the first inning or two before settling down, not optimum for a reliever. May has good stuff as a starter, but devastating stuff as a reliever. He would figure as a late-inning, high leverage guy, exactly what the Twins need. Some guys stuff really "play up" in the bullpen, and that is what I see in Trevor May. I'd like to see the Twins add one good arm through free agency or a trade and go with Perkins, Jepsen, May for the late innings, plus Pressly and Tonkin and a starter refugee to fill out the bullpen.
  12. stringer bell
    So to summarize, the Twins added a power bat and power arms and........Pat Dean(?). Curious, but maybe they think he's found something. Not convinced. Regarding Gilmartin, he was older for a Rule V guy, left-handed, and doesn't have the big fastball, so there was some resemblance to Pat Dean. It's real easy to second-guess, but I don't feel real bad that Gilmartin didn't stay with the Twins.
  13. stringer bell
    Dozier was elite at the break despite a BA in the .250s, but by season's end his OPS+ was 101, barely above average, with the OBP falling from .345 to .307, less than his OBP in either '13 or '14. He had an overall better year in 2014, so to me that is less than satisfactory.
  14. stringer bell
    They won't lose that many. Once one of their players is selected they can pull back a number of players IIRC. They could lose one or perhaps two at the worst.
  15. stringer bell
    I would combine both All-Stars second half decline. Dozier and Perkins were great 'til the All-Star Game, but bad enough in the last 70 games to make their overall seasons less than satisfactory.
  16. stringer bell
    If the main point of being added to the 40-man roster is avoiding Rule V losses, I think the Twins should protect Melotakis and Niko Goodrum. I think Melotakis is going to be a fine pitcher for someone, but next year his innings and effectiveness will be limited. Goodrum is versatile, fast, and athletic. Hitting has been his big problem, but I can see a team claiming him and using him as a 25th man.
  17. stringer bell
    Remember that Arcia had a similar situation in 2014--injury rehab followed by an option--and perhaps the Twins were looking for some specific improvement that didn't show even during his two-week hot streak. I think Arcia will at least be a LH platoon partner in right field to start the season--a fair last chance--and I think there's a good chance that he will do well. There is no doubt that Arcia is an emotional player and maybe emotion is working against him. Something went dreadfully wrong with Arcia last season but he has a chance to wipe the slate clean. Vargas has long odds against him. First base is blocked by Mauer and if Joe were to be injured, Vargas is behind probably one of Plouffe or Sano and Max Kepler. His only way out of the box is to hit like an All-Star.
  18. stringer bell
    Agree, this is both an excellent article and quite depressing. It summarizes what is wrong with the Twins going forward. There is a huge amout of money invested in Hughes, Santana and Nolasco with no real prospect of ridding themselves of those contracts. Except for the truly elite arms, it is a losing bet to invest in 30 (year-old)+ starters and the Twins have three on their hands. IMHO, this is the big challenge for Terry Ryan the rest of this offseason--somehow make the rotation competitive with top teams and improve the bullpen. I have advocated May to the bullpen because he could break out to be a real force in the bully, where there is a real need for a power arm.
  19. stringer bell
    It's not as important as defense in center. Arcia isn't good, but the others could be more than OK.
  20. stringer bell
    You're right to a degree, but what changes if Hicks is considered a corner OF is that there will be different people who are capable of playing the outfield corners competing for playing time there. On the Twins, it would be Arcia, AB Walker and probably Kepler. None of those guys are projected as center fielders, but all could man left or right (maybe not Arcia). If Hicks were moved to a corner, he would have to better than those guys and I don't think he would be.
  21. stringer bell
    Agee that the sample size is too small to make conclusions about Murphy. Hicks isn't a starting center fielder for the Twins by midseason at the latest.
  22. stringer bell
    From the OP, I don't agree with Logan Darnell being on the Opening Day roster, many better options including Rogers. I think Plouffe will be traded, otherwise pretty much what was laid out there.
  23. stringer bell
    Here's my take: Aaron Hicks was a different player last year. He hit and fielded like a major league center fielder, but his overall numbers were not quite league average. As noted by many, his LH numbers were below average and every year hitter will face between 2/3 and 3/4 right handed pitchers. If one thinks Aaron Hicks is a top 15 center fielder (offense and defense) the Twins got fleeced. I think Hicks is a marginal starter and would have been replaced by Byron Buxton early in the 2016 season. If Hicks isn't a regular in center, he just doesn't hit enough (especially left handed) to be a regular on an outfield corner. Hicks had more value than a year ago, so Ryan didn't sell low. I'd much rather see Buxton, Rosario, Kepler in the future. For now, the window is open for Arcia to get another shot as a corner outfielder and when his trial is done, perhaps Kepler or maybe even ABW will get a shot. I think that is better than going with Hicks in right or left field. John Ryan Murphy: He's young, he's cheap, and he's a catcher. Probably the most disturbing thing about Murphy is that he doesn't have All-Star upside. There are no 80 tools, but he profiles to at least get more plate appearances than Herrmann/Fryer and perhaps will be sharing the job or more by midseason. It won't be fair to look at Murphy's numbers compared to Hicks. Look at Murphy's numbers compared to Herrmann/Fryer and Buxton's compared to Hicks.
  24. stringer bell
    Welcome to the board. Solid first post!
  25. stringer bell
    It looks like all of the Twins farmhands are doing pretty well. I'm especially pulling for two who I think could help the club in 2016--no not ABW, but Rogers and Turner. Rogers has pitched pretty well as a starter, but I hope the Twins consider him for the bullpen. Turner is getting on base, with a really high percentage of walks and earlier reports have highlighted his throwing. It would be nice to have a catcher (even a backup) who can get on base more than 30% of the time and can throw out more than 20% of attempted base stealers.
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