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JB_Iowa

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Everything posted by JB_Iowa

  1. JB_Iowa
    Thanks for the Reusse link, Nick. He makes some good points. It also reminds me of the whole Miguel Cabrera saga. I was so glad he wasn't a Twin when he had the whole meltdown the final weekend in 2009 and again when he had the drunk driving incident in early 2011. But I also began to watch him more closely on the baseball field ... and began appreciating how very special he was as a player -- he became a favorite of mine before the 2012 MVP season. While I'm not equating Miggy's alcohol problems with all Latin players, Miggy's story also highlights some of the cultural differences. The Twins took a great step into the international market. They need to have personnel in place all along the way to nurture that talent and those personalities .... not to think that they can turn them into clones of the Minnesota white boys.
  2. JB_Iowa
    How you respond to "bad luck" is also part of growing as a ballplayer. And frankly, so is how you respond to being benched for a few days. This episode and the resulting benching of Sano may very well tell us (and the Twins) a lot more about Sano than we know now. I don't want them to take away all of his attitude. But there are players with a lot of attitude who don't showboat. Learning where that line lies is part of his maturation as a ballplayer. And I want to reiterate my point from the end of my 2nd post. Modern media magnifies all of this in ways that we just wouldn't have seen in the past.
  3. JB_Iowa
    It's a learning experience for him. I'm sure it is a fine line between making sure players respect the "rules of the game" (even the unwritten ones) and crushing their spirit. I, too, would prefer that Twins players should a little more liveliness in general but there are times to do that and times not to do that. I think TRex is correct about his struggles at AA weighing on him. So a break may be good for him. This points out one of the concerns I have with the abundance of minor league coverage. It's great that people are interested in prospects but we all need to remember that many of them are pretty young kids. Everything tends to get blown out of proportion by the blogosphere, commenters and yes, now the mainstream media too. Not sure that benching Sano (or a similar high end prospect) would have been even a blip 20 years ago.
  4. JB_Iowa
    Minnesota Twins: Top prospect Miguel Sano disciplined, benched - TwinCities.com A few interesting comments at the end of Berardino's piece about "mental exhaustion"
  5. JB_Iowa
    The answer is obvious: baseball players and their wives need to figure out a way to ensure that they get pregnant during Spring Training. That way neither conception nor birth is likely to interfere with the season.
  6. JB_Iowa
    Now that I've gone and looked at the Pirates list (should have done that first), the discrepancy in the number of personnel may well be due to the way they list people on the website more than a true difference -- it is really hard to sort through the position differences. I'm not sure where Parker gets 37. The list I see on mlb.com has a lot more names than that and includes positions like minor league hitting coordinator. They also list the names of their scouts and the Twins don't. We all know that the Twins have similar positions, they just don't list them all. But the Pirates do have positions called: Director, Baseball Systems Development; Data Architect; and Quantitative Analysis. I assume one of those may be the equivalent of Jack Goin whose position is Manager, Major League Administration and Baseball Research. But the Twins do look "thin" on the baseball operations side.
  7. JB_Iowa
    It does suck. And it WILL be a blot on Selig's legacy. He is working to remove that dark mark but his term as baseball commissioner will always be judged by the PEDs mess. The only way to change the entire PEDs situation is with a culture change and I hope it is happening. I hope that the union failing to defend players in the Biogenesis mess is a reflection of player attitudes. I hope when we see players deriding Braun, they represent a majority of players (even if a silent majority). I hope that he (and others) are not immediately welcomed warmly after their suspensions. For me, they have to show that they have reformed -- and that means frequent tests that all come out clean. As for A-Rod, he has been irrelevant to my baseball watching for a long time. I just don't waste any energy on him.
  8. JB_Iowa
    Congrats to them. Had a feeling it might be girls since Joe only has brothers -- just seems to run that way sometimes. (I know Joe has nieces but does he have nephews?)
  9. JB_Iowa
    Really great article, Parker. I appreciate the access that Jack Goin has given you both for this article and in the past. I still have questions about how much importance is assigned to statistical analysis vs. scouting and as pointed out above, the discrepancy in the number of people assigned to baseball operations is troublesome. If someone has the time at some point, it would be interesting to compare baseball operations among teams -- not just by number of staff members but also by job title. We've always been led to believe that the Twins scouting department is their strength. Is it a lot larger than other departments? Are they just longer term and supposedly better at their jobs? Is their "strength" just a long-held myth? And obviously it would be interesting to see how other teams compare when it comes to stats and analysis and other operational positions. The Twins have always prided themselves in the "Twins Way" when it comes to the fundamentals of baseball. I know some of us question whether they still adhere to that but obviously they did have a lot of success in the 2000's. Have the Pirates and other small market teams now developed their own ways that will put them on the cutting edge of developing and maintaining their success while the Twins lag behind?
  10. JB_Iowa
    I don't disagree with that but we've never heard reports of that type of clause in an mlb contract. Have to wonder if the MLBPA would previously not allow it or if the teams thought testing was protection enough or if agents would never agree. I kind of think there must be more to that part of the story.
  11. JB_Iowa
    I guess I never thought it would be an automatic void -- unless there is a permanent ban from baseball due to repeated offenses. I always thought it should be that the team would have the option of voiding the contract. Other choice would be to keep the contract in place. Third option would be for both parties to renegotiate. But I really do think that the teams deserve some protection on the long term contracts. There is something fundamentally wrong about being stuck with a long-term contract obtained by a player under false pretenses. (I'm not naive enough to think that team management doesn't have some suspicions at times but that's different than a violation of the policy). And I would also guess that peer pressure is going to be the best regulatory device there is. There will always be cheaters but peer pressure is a powerful thing. After all, isn't that the reason so many cheat in the first place (a/k/a everybody is doing it)?
  12. JB_Iowa
    Record since AS Break 3-1 and keeping the fans entertained with thrillers.
  13. JB_Iowa
    The more I read and think about what he said, it looks to me like he set up his statement so that at some point in the future he can back away. I am very bothered by the fact that he did not admit PEDs use: ''I am not perfect. I realize now that I have made some mistakes. I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions,'' he said in a statement. I hope mlb got him to admit to usage not just to "mistakes". Player rep Weiner might call it a "bold step" but it looks like a lot of weasel words to me.
  14. JB_Iowa
    Can't wait to read what all the MVP apologists et. al. have to say about all of this. Geez, maybe he could pass the award along to the drug tester.
  15. JB_Iowa
    In all honesty, I wasn't being snotty. I found your post interesting and though I may not agree with all of it, I also strongly believe that TR is in the 3rd camp. I'm not sure I want him to throw big dollars away in a deliberate fashion to convince me he's not but I sure would like more reassurance than we've gotten so far.
  16. JB_Iowa
    I found this blog post by Gabe Kapler to be really interesting: Full Count » Stats 101: Why it?s time to re-educate players in meaningful statistics If, as a player, you know your FO is very much into advanced metrics, does that mean you view your performance differently? What happens with someone like Perkins who is into advanced stats -- seemingly more than the team he plays for. I also liked the comment about wanting more stats during games since that's something we've discussed elsewhere in these forums. Overall I thought it was an interesting read and that it also threw a bit of light on what players go through during "bad" streaks.
  17. JB_Iowa
    Out of curiosity, is there a 4th one or did you just come up with 3??
  18. JB_Iowa
    We've had TK in the booth as a 3rd person at times. I'm annoyed enough with the lack of silence when there are only 2 broadcasters. Adding the 3rd makes me mute BEFORE the 4th inning (I can usually endure Dick-Bert that long). I'd really like to see them switch out Bremer and Provus for a number of games each year. (yeah, I know they are probably technically employed by different entities but something could probably be arranged.) I enjoy some TK. I just don't want 3 people in the booth. It makes my ears ring just thinking about it.
  19. JB_Iowa
    The grass stays green, the beer stays cold, the young guys continue to mature, the minor league players make steady progress and no one requires TJ surgery.
  20. JB_Iowa
    To me, it doesn't look like he is where he once was on some of the intangibles either. He is obviously a good citizen, loves the state of Minnesota and the Twins and is involved in a number of charitable endeavors. But all of his struggles over the past years (plus aging, marriage and children) seem to have changed him. He just doesn't seem to be the smiling, intense leader that he was (despite the recent helmet incident). It just all seems to have worn on him and I have to think that a change of scenery might be beneficial to him so that he is also not living in the shadow of himself in the minds of the fans. And if I'm Terry Ryan, I'm doing a little shopping for a veteran who is light-hearted and a bit of a prankster. Someone in the mold of the irrepressible (and irreplaceable) Mike Redmond. Someone who can keep them from getting too bogged down in all this losing.
  21. JB_Iowa
    I like the Perkins quote, too; and as much as he and his family are Minnesotans, there has to be some attraction for him in the possibility of going to a contender. And there's a chance to come home again later in his career -- 34 is still young enough to be an effective reliever.
  22. JB_Iowa
    Glad they had this in the works.
  23. JB_Iowa
    When those of you who make suggestions about possibilities do so, it would be very helpful if you would use AND or OR so we can tell exactly what you are talking about. (e.g. top 30 starting pitching prospect OR x shortstop, etc.) It gets really hard to tell what type of return people think the Twins could actually expect. Thank you.
  24. JB_Iowa
    I felt much more comfortable when Ryan had the "interim" tag in front of his position. While I wasn't in favor of the "back to the future" move of installing Ryan as the interim GM after firing Smith, I at least understood it. (I still think the Twins need some "new blood" from outside the organization and I don't mean a re-tread like Wayne Krivsky). And I love to dream about what may be when some of the prospects mature. But when Ryan stepped down, he said: "The game has changed since I've entered," Ryan said. "It's for bright, energetic negotiators, moreso than anything I possess." Twins: Ryan steps down, Smith will take over | StarTribune.com That's the part that makes me really uncomfortable. And that's why I liked the "interim" tag. And, yes, I know it was just a label and being an interim anything isn't particularly easy (been there, done that) but it really made sense to me. I hope that he still considers himself to be "interim" even if the tag has been removed because I sincerely doubt that negotiations, free agent signings, buying out arbitration years, contract extensions and all the other minutiae on the business side have gotten any easier since he resigned the last time. Maybe he's grooming Radcliffe. I thought it was curious when they didn't even permit him to interview last year so maybe there is a plan in place for a year or two down the road. I guess we'll see.
  25. JB_Iowa
    Lying and Deception. Little Boy/Wolf. At some point it comes back to bite you in the butt.
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