JB_Iowa
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Everything posted by JB_Iowa
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It is great to see, JC. And even though his bat hasn't really come alive with the Pirates, he looks great on defense (as do the rest of the Pirates).
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But then hits into a DP with 2 on and only 1 out in the 6th. Ah, well, Pirates still up 5-1.
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Having a good day today. Stand-up Double in the 5th, brought home on a ground rule double by Byrd.
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While I think this is true for the front office and staff, it certainly wasn't true this year when it came to the players as far as fans go. Unless you are someone who really follows the minor leagues, when the players didn't have names on their jerseys, you really had to pay attention to where they were in the line-up or most fans wouldn't recognize them. My concern over "quality outsiders" is as much about bringing fresh perspectives to the front office and coaching staffs as it is to bringing in players from other organizations or countries.
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Article: Message to Twins: Accountability Means Change
JB_Iowa replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
I didn't say this in my first comment but I do thank you, Nick, for the article and the message it expresses. -
Article: Message to Twins: Accountability Means Change
JB_Iowa replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
While I agree with the need for accountability, I still question whether an organization can be "flexible and receptive to change" if they are never bringing in new voices to champion those changes. It wasn't the failure to change managers that was the big problem, it was the fact the failure was representative of the insular old boys club that exists within this organization. St. Peter made the comment that they had Gardenhire's back. There should be loyalty in an organization but loyalty can't replace accountability. On another front, did you hear the conference call? Howard Sinker had a tweet that related to leadership in the clubhouse with an indication that Gardenhire didn't think it was there. Can you expand upon that portion of the call? (Sorry if I misremembered or misinterpreted the tweet). -
The problem on free agents should not be the money but it will be the years. Even in Sid Hartman's column this morning there was the following sentence: Don’t expect the Twins CEO to sign off on pricey long-term deals, but he realizes personnel needs upgrading. I'm not going to go back through all the Pohlad interviews but there has been a consistent pattern of making it clear that short-term dollars are okay but there is a definite unwillingness to commit to long-term deals. The number of years will be a huge factor in whether the Twins are able to sign quality free agents.
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I'm not going to address this here because I just wrote a reply to your initial thread on the whole idea of TR's "plan" as you call it. Unfortunately I fear you are right about his plan, more's the pity.
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As I re-read your post, I realize that this last paragraph is what is a huge concern to me. I DON'T WANT the "same old winning Twins we all know and love." Those "old winning Twins", at least under Terry Ryan and Ron Gardenhire, were LOSERS once they got out of the AL Central (except for the 2002 team which did manage to beat the A's in the ALDS). My dissatisfaction with the direction of this team significantly pre-dates the last 3 losing seasons. I cannot stomach the idea that we could go through the depths of the last 3 years without a good plan for taking this team BEYOND where they were in the 2000's. That's part of what TF was supposed to be about. I sometimes wonder if the last 3 disastrous years were just a way to get us to forget about the "something more" of actually contending in the playoffs. Well, I won't forget. And, if you are correct about TR's "plan" as stated in your first post, IT'S JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH for me. I want that elusive "more". I'm willing to take the lows but I want the highs too. I don't want some dull, vanilla world where competing in the Central Division, putting butts in the seat and making a healthy profit, is good enough. I want the full flavor of a team that is competitive in the post-season. I'm willing to take some bitter regular seasons to get that but I need to know that OWNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT are committed to more than vanilla.
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The following is an excerpt from a Danny Knobler story on cbssports.com about last night's Ray's win. To me, it encapsulates the reason why you can't substitute 5 mid-level pitchers (which the Twins don't even approach anyway) for at least one ace (or near Ace): "Cobb stayed calm, even when the Indians loaded the bases with one out in the fourth inning, even when the first two batters reached in the fifth. Pitching coach Jim Hickey came to the mound, not so much to settle him as to just allow him to reset. 'He doesn't need to slow him down,' second baseman Ben Zobrist said. '[Cobb] never seems fazed by anything.' Cobb said he learned from watching Price, just as Price once learned from James Shields. Cobb watched Price handle the playoff-like atmosphere Monday in Texas, and figured he could do the same." Noise is nice, but pitching is better, and Rays beat the Indians - CBSSports.com There is significant value to having a great leader on your pitching staff. We've seen it with the Rays per this post and with how Scherzer and Fister, et. al. have learned from Verlander. They are the stopper. They also take responsibility and put the team on their shoulders -- and they are teachers, more so than any pitching coach could be. The Twins had a hint of it with the 2010 Pavano although that was soon derailed by age and injuries. Cliche or not, good pitching does seem to breed good pitching.
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I don't really care which is the worst. Lived through all of the bad years given above. Survived them but also saw my interest in the Twins ebb and flow. Frankly if I was busy in my own life and if they were bad, it "ebbed" quite a bit. I don't know that this year is the worst year but there is a cumulative effect -- 3 years of 96 or more losses is a little numbing but when I think about it, it's pretty much enough to make me vomit so obviously it doesn't numb me enough. The fact that I have 0 faith in any of the potential starting pitchers is another concern. The fact that there is only one really reliable hitter -- and that he just missed more than a month due to a concussion -- is another one. It's pretty bad right now. Perspective always changes as History goes on but this era we're in may well top the charts (in a bad way) before all is said and done.
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But hey, he's playing in October and just gave the Rays a 1-0 lead. There's just a lot of "what could have beens" with DY
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Article: Can Ron Gardenhire Develop Young Players?
JB_Iowa replied to John Bonnes's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Actually it sounds like he is czar for as long as he chooses. From the PP interview with Jim Pohlad: Q: Does Terry Ryan's status change at all with this extension? A: As long as Terry wants to be the GM, he's our GM. He knows that. He's in agreement with that. We have no reason to believe there's any feeling other than long-term continuity. http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_24214163/minnesota-twins-owner-ron-gardenhire-was-terry-ryans -
Maybe for you. And maybe for me in the days when there were only 2 participants in the post-season, the CHAMPION of each league. Yes, then the regular season was meaningful. But the regular season is devalued when you have an unbalanced schedule, interleague play, 3 division champions plus 2 wild cards. With all of that in play, the 162 regular season games don't mean much unless you ALSO go in and win enough series to at least be the champion of your league on occasion. People don't remember who had the best regular season record (not that the Twins usually had that anyway), they remember who won the World Series. There's nothing wrong with enjoying the journey but I want to enjoy the destination, too.
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Gotta love that super sleuth technology that let RB bug Ryan's office.
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Happy for the Pirates. Not a lot of drama in this game but a nice solid win. Thanks to all for the thread.
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A little off the subject but Howard Sinker was tweeting about the Season Ticket Holder phone call with Ryan, Gardenhire, St. Peter (I think) and others. Someone apparently asked about this article by Mackey and here's what Howard tweeted: "Ryan asked about excellent (my opinion) @PMac21 column on innovation and ends reply with, "sometimes I think he wants a job here." Anybody know what Ryan's entire response was?
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... unless you think of all the knock-out punches they took.
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I actually think it was that the dog woke me up at 4:30 this morning but why not blame it on the Twins .... what's another punch to them?
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Well, duh ... Presley. My brain is not engaged.
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Beats me but some of the writers (Morosi et al) seem to think so.
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I was thinking earlier how fast he was. And with power, too. Pretty obvious why the MVP voe should go his way.
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They may already have a gentleman's agreement for him (Gardy) to step aside if next year is another disaster although he does seem pretty stubborn about staying the course.
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I was thinking more along the lines of vacuuming up the hitters but it could go the other way too
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I've watched the Pirates quite a bit -- mostly against the Cards, Cubs & Brewers but haven't paid much attention to the Reds. Somehow J J Hoover seems like a great name for a reliever.
