jokin
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Everything posted by jokin
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Fuld yes, but Beresford? If he was truly the answer at SS, why wouldn't he have been given a better shot at gaining the position when it was obvious that Florimon was ailing in Spring Training?.....and why hasn't he already been called up when Florimon was setting new records for hitting futility in April?.....why is he 4th in line behind Santana, Bernier and Nunez to play SS?..... and why would the organization go to all the trouble of trading for Nunez in the first place? Color me skeptical on Beresford as anything but a Util guy at the major league level.
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Sounds plausible, but let's not pretend that shady things aren't happening elsewhere in the Caribean, as well. Locking down Sano might very well have been Bill Smith's heroic, unsung effort on behalf of the Twins future fortunes, who knows how much he had to get his hands dirty in linking Sano.
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I would wager that the marketing department already has multiple publicity campaigns set up for Cola, making a trade impossible any time soon.
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The White Sox are clearly campaigning for Abreu for ROY: Scary how good he can become with more Cuban-like weather conditions, indeed. http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/white-sox/post/_/id/19305/jose-abreus-achievements-multiplying-fast (Check out the fan comments in reaction to the article, very rarely in the last few years do you see Sox fans this giddy)
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Article: Is the Twins' Kurt Suzuki for Real?
jokin replied to Parker Hageman's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
I'm not sure you can say Pinto's done a "nice job" receiving. "OK" for a rookie, probably. Obviously, the results indicate that he hasn't passed the framing test. Stopping and controlling errant low pitches is also an area for improvement. FWIW...,.of 56 Catchers rated defensively by Fangraphs, Pinto ranks 51st, down there in John Buck, Derek Norris territory: http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=c&stats=fld&lg=all&qual=40&type=1&season=2014&month=0&season1=2014&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0 -
It sounds like Oxtung's 4 scouts were clueless, or (more likely), there was an awful lot of sandbagging going on. I go with the latter, his comp numbers to current major league ex-cuban league players were too good. I posted that this one really hurt at the time of the White Sox signing. It still hurts, knowing you'd have him for the next 6 years batting right behind Sano.....
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The Mets. The Astros. The Orioles. The Rays. The list goes on and on. And Sano was a bad example to compare to Stanton. Stanton played in Hi-A FSL in his 3rd pro year, Sano in his 4th year, with Sano shattering virtually every hitting number and making a mockery out of Stanton's numbers, which were the previous standard for the league. Sano spun his wheels in low A the year previous, when a mid-season promotion to Ft Myers was more than warranted. There's no doubt the Twins have slow-played their prospects, even some of their best ones.
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You listed Polanco's batting average, "as if that's the" only evidence. The .360 by itself in one month of play is meaningless by itself, and I've stated the underlying case for him previously is far more convincing. Like being one of the top hitting performers in the Dominican Winter League- which is full of mature players. Regarding his first month in the FSL, it's especially the underlying quality of his batting performance that is so encouraging. First off, it's a tough pitcher's league and Polanco is dominating it at an age nearly 3 years younger than league average. Secondly, Polanco has reversed his K/BB ratio, from 1.50 previous to this year, to 0.75 in Ft Myers. Third, this has led to dropping his K% from 12% to 9.8%, and his BB% going up from 8% to 13% this season. Fourth, up until this year, his LD% has hovered in the 17% range- this year he sits at 27.1%. Fifth, despite lowering his K% significantly, and his swinging KOs by 33%, he's actually increased his ISO power from .144 to .178, with commensurate increases in his SLG %. Finally, he's accomplished all of this with no plate protection behind him from the slumping Hicks and Walker. Taken as a whole, this indicates that he's made a huge jump in his understanding of what it takes to be a very successful hitter at this level. Time to move him up, where there is a huge need for him in New Britain, and he would have the chance to join in playing with the core group that will make up the bulk of the next wave of impact players with the Twins- including his potential MI partner, Eddie Rosario.
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Oh yeah, I'll take 3 out of 4 of this "not sharp-ness" every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Especially when you consider who Meyer would be replacing. But Kab's essentially right....the Twins needed to make a harder run at one more high-ceiling pitcher like Santana over Pelfrey, AND a premier bat, along with Alex Meyer coming in at his 2014 ZiPS projection numbers in order to make this team contender-worthy.
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Article: The Big Switch: Trevor Plouffe
jokin replied to John Bonnes's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
I got derisive chuckles when I proposed trading Plouffe for C Jason Castro as Houston needs a 1st baseman and have their prized Catching prospect on the doorstep of the majors. This would have opened up a trade to Arizona to get Didi Gregorius for Josmil Pinto. Now I'm not so sure if what Plouffe's doing is sustainable or another mirage, ala 2012. It does look different this time, perhaps Plouffe can fulfill his ideal destiny as a Super-Util..... and Pinto is looking impressive at the plate, as well. As the saying goes, "Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make." -
The ball bounces the same at both levels. And his current struggles in the field are making no difference to his hitting success. If he's going to master playing SS, once the weather gets more summer-like, it matters little whether he works on mastering it at A+ or AA. But if you hold him back on his hitting development- as all the evidence suggests would be the case in this instance, you retard his potential development at the plate and his early readiness in reaching the big club by next mid-season. Finding a position for a middle infield masher would be a wonderful "problem" to have. AFter seeing him play in Cedar Rapids, I am more than willing to put up with a Jhonny Peralta level of defense, I think Polanco can eventually pass that low-bar level, and possibly SUR-pass Peralta's offensive prowess. Move him on up!
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Shelby Grad ✔ @shelbygrad Follow This will be an interesting banquet. Donald Sterling, leftist Democrat.
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Well-stated.
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Are you kidding? We'd still be having an ongoing debate about whether they need to wait until June to make sure they hit the Florida State and Eastern League All-Star games. Actually, I jest on Stanton, he would have been on the Buxton/Arcia track and debuted at 22 instead of age 20 (two years ago). With pitchers though- it's a different story, we would all be fretting right now about Fernandez going through 2 levels in one year, as it "doesn't hurt to make sure he masters each level" before even considering in "rushing him before he's truly ready". Probably would have made his debut in September, 2015, at the very risky and tender age of 23.
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Other than obtaining the extra year of control, I hope and sense that the Twins are currently operating under this presumption. The management vibe seems much more results-oriented-now than it has been in a long, long time.
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Escobar has been the "emergency catcher" ever since he was acquired.
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I am thinking that with Ryan out of the picture temporarily, that Gardy gained an inordinate measure of additional power in the decision-making process (fastest ever move to 13 pitchers and 3 catcher- comfort-zone....). While it's logical that non-baseball, former marketing intern Antony would need to defer to Gardy a little bit, the return of Ryan full-time can't come soon enough IMO- and hopefully, Ryan has been digesting daily briefings from Jack Goin during his treatment sessions and convalescence.
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No matter what happens to him in terms of success on the field, Cola is my guy. As I've shared before, I sent out the link to Parker's story to all the guys I've coached and played with, I'm doing the same with this article, as well.
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Hey! It wasn't the Twins who deserve the credit for believing in Colabello, it was former Red Sox Catcher and Scout, Rich Gedman and 2 other Red Sox scouts, as well! Shocking that Gammons might be so Red Sox-Centric. Maybe this is the start of yet another campaign by Peter Gammons to get the BoSox to make a trade offer for a MN Twins player? Gammons is a great writer and highly intelligent, at least Colabello continues to shine in the interview process, even when queried by some of the best in the business. If there was something phony or cynical in his make-up, it certainly would have come out by now.
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This scenario contradicts what team spokespeople have been saying and what the media talking heads have parroted ever since. Until Terry Ryan comes out with his "(in)famous" need for "consistency" quote, I'm going to operate on the assumption that Brooks Raley, Kenny What's-his-AA-Name have "expendable" practically written into their contracts, plus they can 60-day, trade or DFA someone. Darnell and May clearly aren't ready, they appear to have lost all faith with Deduno as a starter (never even considered the possibility in ST), and while Johnson would be the logical call-up in an emergency double-header scenario, I think that once they have established that someone is coming out of the rotation, Meyer is going to get his shot.
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Righto....but......Barring something unprecedentedly calamitous, Mauer is never going to play at the position again. But certainly Escobar can catch for an inning or 2 should the slightly less "unprecedentedly calamitous" occur. (It still grates me on that interview that Ryan and Gardy participated in a year ago when they belittled Goin's efforts at doing his job the right way).
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Yep. Hence the "horns of a dilemma" for the Twins and the quandry of the "proper" playing ratios for Suzuki and Pinto. Also, don't forget that Gardy feels you can never use your 2nd catcher to pinch hit in a 2-catcher roster alignment.
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No, Bruno needs to be with the 12 guys on the current roster directly in his charge. Meanwhile, Arcia needs to be rehabbing his injury and getting his wrist back to 100% playing condition and getting his timing back at a lower level of play.
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Amen to all of the above.....And in this instance, the bolded word is worthy of double quotation marks.... "'prowess'"....Yeesh.
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Whoa, did I miss something here? Hermann should have been gone yesterday, no, scratch that, he never should have been called up in the first place. And the myth about him being an "excellent corner OFer" was pretty much shattered this time around, as well. Regarding Arcia, I'm actually optimistic and hopeful that his stint in Roc. can be less than 20 games, and that all of his struggles thus far are wrist-injury-related. But that's not to say that as much potential that Arcia has, he doesn't still have a ways to go to prove himself worthy of the mantle, "major league hitter", not while he's carrying that 31% K-rate and going through his well-expected youthful crises at the plate. And AAA has always been a good answer as a place to work on things in a low-stress-environment, even good hitters use this option to get their timing down and stamp out bad habits. Now if only Jack Goin can just sit Gardy down and explain the statistical likelihood of being forced to bat a pitcher one time this season due to 2 catcher injuries in the same game.....is less than the likelihood of being struck by lightning....