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jokin

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Everything posted by jokin

  1. Let's not pretend that established relationships between the media and the players aren't an important part of the process. Today was not the day for the off-the-field, confrontational questions. Hunter didn't handle it very adroitly, but I would be interested if he got any questions like this at his introductory press conferences in either LA or Detroit.
  2. I remember that same look when Nolasco was signed...
  3. Yep. Questions about baseball at an introductory press conference- All. Good. There's only one press conference when you're introduced. As Chitown stated, for the non-baseball stuff, there's plenty of time left between now and season-end for letting Torii be Torii.
  4. Well-stated.. There's a time and place for everything. This wasn't that time or place. Berardino compounded on the bad week he had in doing his job- his sources were proven wrong in multiple instances- so now he just shut himself off from multiple alternative sources- both players and team insiders.
  5. Does the league have a 48-hour Lemon Law?
  6. $10.5/6 = $1.75M $3.5M for a two month rental for a guy with an OPS+ of 111 (if he maintains his 2014 level) isn't going to deter anyone desperately looking for a bat and a veteran of multiple pennant runs.
  7. Don't bother calling Terry Ryan for help, Chief. Has he even publicly addressed the OF defense specifically as an issue of priority for the offseason? When he mentioned the OF, he said he "needed a veteran RH bat." Nothing about a glove. As Parker intimated about the Twins OF defense, he's "not that concerned" and "he doesn't trust the advanced stats." If he's that detatched from the reality of the situation, I'm wondering if Jack Goin even bothers to present a case in this regard any longer. I know he let it out that he sees Sano as possibly debuting in the majors in the OF- HIS RECORD SHOWS HE HASN'T PLAYED A SINGLE GAME IN THE OF IN THE MINORS! (puzzling, to say the least). And we're now looking at the very possible reality of Ryan counting on the third Opening Day attempt being the charm, by possibly starting out, yet again, with Aaron Hicks and his rather "adventuresome" CF defense.
  8. Gotta think big, like the big leaguers do (from Mackey's article that I just found):
  9. Both are extreme FB/ P2C pitchers and benefited greatly from the Braves solid defense. I suspect Milone could sustain his good numbers in Oakland to Atlanta.
  10. I just don't think the guy was born with the instincts for the OF, I'm not sure more reps will help to improve significantly in RF, but changing positions and starting all over again likely won't really help, either.
  11. I'm trying to wrap my head around that image, as I've posted elsewhere, could it be that he's going to be a part-time DH/part-time OF, with some more OF help coming in? Would Hunter and Arcia share both of those duties in RF with another veteran being brought in for either CF or LF?
  12. I'm not disagreeing with you overall. As far as Molitor goes, I would suspect that he's looking for guys to fill his former role, as he now must delegate some of the mentor role. I also suspect that Molitor told Ryan that his biggest takeaway on 2014 as a coach was that there's a big lack of a clubhouse leadership presence from the veteran contingent. Thus, this signing became Priority #1 for the offseason.
  13. Ryan and Molitor obviously are diametrically opposed to your opinion.
  14. It's indeed perplexing, Ryan and Molitor are the ones who have put their big money, and first-move-as-manager signature and reputation on how they perceive the value of Hunter- the man, fan favorite and mentor figure valued at least as much, if not more, than for what he brings to the team in terms of production.
  15. Adding to the disappointment, Paul Molitor, he supposedly of the refrshingly new stat-inclined approach to managing a baseball team, owns this signing as much as the GM. I'm still thinking (hoping?) that they saw more than enough last year of Arcia in the OF, and are considering DHing him full-time.... which would mean that the Twins are maybe not done adding to the OF, and have a Winter Meeting deal already lined up
  16. It's important to note, the Twins were always going to bring in a veteran OFer. And it's now all too obvious, in Hunter's case, they weren't going to accept "no" for an answer, if at all possible (the last few public quotes from the Hunter camp indicate they played some tough negotiating hard ball with the Twins to up the final number).... somewhat inexplicably, there are other, younger, better veteran OFers who would have signed for less, maybe even on a one-year deal (Rios). The Molitor and Guardado stuff put it over the top for me, the Twins have been linked with exactly nobody else in the OF all fall. You ask about Hunter's plate protection, it's pretty clear to start out anyway, that's going to be Mauer. On the "money being the only thing" you mentioned, I'm starting to buy the theory of an "arrangement" as part of the deal- ie, that the Twins pledge to send him to a prime contender in July. It makes sense, in that rather than guessing on which team has the best shot now, market himself to the top 3 or 4 most likely best-shot teams in July.
  17. Glad to see you coming over to the dark side...., but really, how can you (or anyone, for that matter) be surprised by this move? Don't worry, I've been out and about at night during this offseason, the cliffs in Twinsland are roped off for your protection...
  18. And I'm most certainly not saying that it is... just Ryan holding up the Twins Way candle.
  19. Not necessarily true. They can still trade for Bourjos or Fowler, or draft Deshields. And also, Rosario could come up as the CF if he gets off to a good start in the minors.
  20. To be fair to Ryan, he has stayed on message since season's end... he said he needed a veteran RH bat for the outfield, and he has made it very public that Hunter has always been his guy, even employing two members of the new field-level staff(and former teammates) to recruit him. But in signing Hunter, he's gone down an all-too-familiar path (DHs everywhere!), and gone after more intangible "needs" and less of the tangible needs from the data that Jack Goin could have provided. I echo the previously-stated sentiment, including my own, now more than ever, they have to trade for Bourjos or draft Deshields or Ramos in Rule V for whom Hunter could add value as a mentor.
  21. "Every other club", except for, in multiple recent and glaring cases in both the outfield and starting pitching for three years running, the Twins.
  22. 1) I'm still confounded that Ryan doesn't grasp this basic concept after 20-some years. 2) The general trend in baseball is getting your best pitchers and their live arms up to the majors and established before age 25 (the reasonable gamble being not wasting their best finite innings and years while they are in their 20s and before their arms possibly blow out).
  23. ***Most organizations call that "Plan B" contingency management. The Twins, as exemplified in the cases of Hicks and Santana, have been wrong on either end of the "evaluation of readiness" spectrum, and positing Jason Bartlett as a Plan B solution.
  24. 1) To possibly save upwards of ~$25M in payroll over six years to utilize more productively elsewhere. 2) To smooth out payroll growth more predictably for future anticipated needs (through frontloading, backloading or steadyloading). 3) To make the possible acquisition of Dozier by another team more attractive and/or affordable than said team going out on the ever-increasing costs in the FA market- thus yielding a higher level return in talent to the Twins. In the case of Dozier, it's a close call, to be sure, but very bright minds are making just these kinds of deals, even for the likes of Gyorko, let alone Seager. They must know something about the financial trends in baseball revenues that makes these deals justifiable. For the Twins not to at least consider a move like this, would mean that they forsee that a Blackburn-esque outcome for Dozier is still a possibility- or that they're convinced that, in fairly short order, Polanco and Santana are going to take both of the MI jobs away from any and all comers, including Dozier. If that's the case, then this entire thread is moot.
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