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jokin

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Everything posted by jokin

  1. jokin
    If the Twins attempt to pull off anything close to your wish list, I will praise them from the rooftops. Because I'm in the real world and not up in a tree somewhere spotting chickadees, I am not holding my breath that it likely will occur. While you're up there in the sycamore, could you present current evidence that JPohlad is enthusiastically ready to make the changes needed in personnel and increasing the payroll commensurate to a team that has the demonstrated capability to draw 3M+ fans to his new ballpark that would make this team a legitimate World Series contender? Do we have to go through the history? This is the same family that tried their darndest to commit franchise suicide as recently as 2007.
  2. jokin
    Charlie Walters is a veteran Twins baseballer first and reporter second. Charlie wrote the number next to the quote, why didn't he attempt to pin Pohlad down on a specific amount???--- or at least a ballpark figure. A good reporter doesn't leave all this wiggle room w/o trying to get more specifics on the "plan", in terms of dollars, going forward- that is the point of the story and the amount wasn't anywhere near nailed down. I am admittedly taking the worst-case scenario and I think I have evidence to at least anticipate the worst, so I won't be as disappointed when we end up with a AAA starting pitching lineup next year. (I noticed you haven't responded to the evidence I listed in my previous post, I'd love to hear your take on that.)
  3. jokin
    Sorry to rain on the parade, this isn't an absurd conjecture at all. It is undeniable that there is already talk on background out there that the payroll might be cut further. The team itself has said they are committed to a set payroll based on a percentage of revenues. With the 20% or so drop in attendance this season (a trend that could easily grow worse after Labor Day), I believe that Twins managment could easily fulfill their own level of payroll commitment quite easily in that scenario- coupled with a likely drop in season ticket sales next year.
  4. jokin
    Caught up with you and your edit. More of the same perjorative attack. You don't even have a scintilla of understanding of the original point I was making. I'll try one more time, Pohlad likes the payroll the way it is- right now- today- the rate at what the players currently on the roster are making. In Pohlad-speak, that might be the amount he would feel comfortable with going forward...
  5. jokin
    As always, the guy calling names is the loser in any discussion. You don't even try to come down from your swinging-obtusivity-chair to try to have a civil discussion- all for the glory in your own mind of "winning" a meaningless argument.
  6. jokin
    Muddled indeed. And with an operator like Pohlad who makes a living creating wiggle-room in every single word he utters, you have to take the worst case scenario- which is he likes the "payroll" as it currently stands with the active players on the field.
  7. jokin
    Talk about jumping the gun with apples and oranges and outdated information, Marquis and Liriano are also cut off from your declarative statement. If you would have bothered to take the time to check the current ACTIVE PLAYER ESPN roster, not including the DLers, this is what I was referring to, and I am surmising that might be a number that would be appealing to Pohlad in 2013, who according to his quote, appeared to be talking in the "present tense" with who is actually on the field. You can add the cost of the current 25-man active roster and what they currently are earning and extrapolate who will be gone this year or at season's end, it's not that difficult. Regardless, if you check it, your printed Cot's list totals up to a current payroll of $90.0725M. Add $2M for the unlisted salaries of the bottom five, and that puts you at $92.0725M. Liriano gone (already tallied), Marquis gone (already tallied), Pavano, DL and gone, Baker, DL and gone, Capps DL and gone. This brings the payroll down to $72.825M with the Capps 2013 buyout included. Are the scheduled contract raises much more than $5M? I don't think so. That puts the projected payroll for a stand-pat team at ~$77.5M. Obviously, they will attempt to replace the pitching losses via trade or Free Agency. I don't see how they get there without another big salary dump trade or two.
  8. jokin
    Because that's what true competitors always say (oft-times against their own long-term best interests). They don't make excuses or equivocate, they just say, "give me the ball". You conveniently ignore the loads of evidence of mishandling by management in this situation. It's up to the professional coaches and medical staff to accurately assess the actual situation of such a valuable team asset as the Team Ace Starter. Every quote all spring from Ryan- up to, and practically including the day that they shut Baker down- was how Baker was just fine, definitely not injured, he just had to get the elbow loose. This was the public face put on, despite Baker's gross lack of velocity and control. In the meantime they were apparently back-channeling some bad-mouthing about Baker to certain scribes about Baker's willingness to tough it out.
  9. jokin
    I proposed just this earlier this spring. The Rays Matt Arnold would be a great young hire, highly educated with a demonstrated level of success finding talent, just add in a couple of seasoned vets to lend him a hand and the Twins could head in a fresh, new direction.
  10. jokin
    Get out your calculator. Add Nishi, subtract their overestimation of Morneau ($15M). http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/roster/_/name/min/minnesota-twins
  11. jokin
    Nishi has to be the longest of long-shots, I sincerely doubt that Gardy's cardiologist would allow Nishi back in a Twins uniform. The Twins business plan for years on end has been having no-pop baseball serfs in the MI (and sometimes even at 3B). They just traded for the next serf in line for UIF in a nifty deal for their best arm. They couldn't get rid of Hardy fast enough when the propsect of an unproven, low-cost, no-talent RP was dangled before them. On a more serious note, I am intrigued in taking a look at Mastroianni and Plouffe at 2B- and even Ben Revere for a couple years if the Twins opt to retain Span through the life of his contract.
  12. jokin
    Huh? Just 2 posts later you envision the possibility of $30M available to spend on FA pitchers. There are still a lot of hopes and ifs and gambles in your scenario to think there are high chances for success. Meanwhile, the Twins are caught in a Catch-22 position that invariably ends up badly- trying to be all things to all fans. If they go all-in and try to "reload" to remain competitive, their lip to service to "staying competitive" may mollify the ticket base for the short-term, but the self-imposed salary cap, the dearth of pitching and positional help on the farm, along with the existing anchor-contracts, severely limits any chances for short-term success. And, as a result, it actually ends up hurting the team in the long-term, ultimately disaffecting those same ticket buyers anyway. Going the other route, full-rebuild-now, would be a PR disaster for a team in a new park, an admission that the "master plan the Twins way" was a failure, with basically few ready, or even intriguing options to place on the field in 2013 from AA and AAA. Did you see who the Rangers just called up from AA to play 3B? Mike Olt, batting nearly .300, with 27 HRs. The Twins called back Valencia. Nuff said. Can you name anyone dynamic or interesting enough to be of immediate help this season or next in the Twins system?
  13. jokin
    Right. The Twins need low-risk, bridge-type deals. You put yourself in position to flip mid-season, tender or re-sign- Jackson, Maholm and Bedard were good examples this year. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any Willingham-type SPs out there, but it certainly is possible.
  14. jokin
    The payroll qualifier number is a bit deceiving, it never was "about $100 million", actually closer to $92-94M. As I posted previously, according to the current roster salary quotes on ESPN and assuming the DLers, Capps and Pavano are gone by season's end, Pohlad could mean he's happy "at the level of payroll we're at right now" - which (counting Nishioka) is NOT $100M, it is, in fact, $85M. I wouldn't put it past this organization to come in around this number. It would still leave some room for FAs, but not enough for a top pitcher, they would still have to trade another big salary or two to "afford some (ie, more than one) free agents".
  15. jokin
    Has anyone done a study on the Twins' nepotism rate relative to the rest of MLB?
  16. jokin
    I again, mostly agree with what you say and I'm not advocating the "Fire Everybody" solution. It's just that the clock has been ticking since last October, Ryan had an admittedly monumental job in front of him, given the state of the club; perhaps he could have brought in more outside consultancy help to more immediately address the broad range of issues facing the club. Clearly, in his initial press conference, he identified the injury problem and training/rehab techniques as representing a huge failure to the 2011 Twins. Thus far in 9 months, little seems to have changed.
  17. jokin
    I agree with everything up to the last phrase. The situation regarding personnel with the medical/training staff and the FO go "hand-in-hand" and demonstrate yet another blind eye to the developmental situation of a key prospect.
  18. jokin
    If you read between the lines at his first presser last fall, he was fed up then. What has changed in 9 months? "More fed up?" I don't recall the simple answer is to fire everyone involved. But this situation is akin to the signing of Nishioka. To this day, no one knows for sure who pushed for him and who greenlighted it to Smith's desk- let alone held anyone accountable for that particular $15M debacle.
  19. jokin
    I'm talking about the (mis)-timing of the latest quote from TR. The Baker event was when that bell should have been rung. And the Twins management had made the situation worse by letting it be known that they considered that Baker was "soft".
  20. jokin
    Especially the part about calling Baker "soft"? When a pitcher says he has pain when he pitches, it invaraibly mean there is a problem. Baker pitched with pain for years and was poorly served by management and medical staff, alike. It was a debacle.
  21. jokin
    Thanks Seth. Look forward to your reports too. Hopefully someone can get a quote or two out of Vargas, Rosario, Sano, etc.!
  22. jokin
    But Dave, it isn't like TR just parachuted in from Tasmania, he has been an arm's length consultant to the team during his hiatus from GM. These problems have been well documented, and as a previous poster noted, was addressed by TR as an immediate priority in his first press conference last fall. And then came the Baker debacle...
  23. jokin
    Welcome to the club on the first paragraph...Here! Here! on the second.
  24. jokin
    Wow, major news flash in Minnesota, TR has seemed to come around to being "fed up about poor outcomes from rehab". Last time I checked, the medical staff answers to the FO, so that one's a non-starter too. As I posted in the other thread, there was plenty of egg on the face for management from the Scott Baker fiasco last March. Do you have any grasp at how lame it sounds to start going public about being fed up about poor outcomes about the medical/training situation at this late date?
  25. jokin
    Wow, 50 game suspension for diet pills? Thanks Jeremy, I look forward to your reports.
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