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Oldgoat_MN

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Everything posted by Oldgoat_MN

  1. Oldgoat_MN
    Well, in his meaningless 7.0 innings he has a ghastly 1.57 WHIP. I kinda feel for these coaches. Only 6 Twins pitchers have thrown more than 10 innings. Is Wimmers a 1.57 WHIP pitcher? Probably not. I think he's better, but I have neither the eyes nor the training to say Wimmers is better than his 1.57 WHIP, or to say that Mejia is better than/not as good as his 1.12 WHIP and 8.79 K/9. Tom Kelly used to say that Kirby Puckett needed all of Spring Training to get ready for the season. He also said Hrbek could come in, play 3 games and he was ready. Everybody is different. A tough job. Hope our coaches make good choices.
  2. Oldgoat_MN
    Hector Santiago is 29 years old and has posted an ERA+ of >100 3 years of his career. Alex Meyer is 27 years old and has yet to post a single year with an ERA+ of >=90. Not the same. It may happen that Meyer has a great year or 10, which would call into question our ability to develop young pitching. So far, based on data, the Twins have the better pitcher of the two.
  3. Oldgoat_MN
    So here’s the part that bothers me: Toward the end of Spring Training of 2011, Bill Smith said about the starting rotation that 4 of the 5 SP were determined and the last would go to Kevin Slowey or Scott Baker. Like it was some great showdown. No one anywhere thought that Slowey was going to beat out Baker for that position. It was insulting to the even slightly knowledgeable fan. In my book it spoke poorly of Bill Smith, treating us like children and trying to generate interest/excitement where there was none. Now we get this: Doogie: “There is zero doubt in anyone’s mind Tyler’s ability to make a major impact in the Twins rotation at some point down the road”. So is Doogie in disagreement with the FO? Are they schmoozing Tyler Jay? Are they just jacking us around? Is all the hype about our BP us just fooling ourselves? Duffey – alleged shutdown guy against LHB Boshers – best in 2016 by FIP, xFIP, 2nd in WHIP and SIERA O’Rourke – best WHIP on the team in 2016 Kintzler – healthy after a good year in 2016 Shaggy – high hopes for the young man (well, he’s 26) Pressly, Tonkin, Hildenberger, Burdi, Melotakis…. Yet we have to add Jay, Breslow, Haley, Belisle and Tepesch to the BP? Does our FO believe we have anything? Do we have anything?
  4. Oldgoat_MN
    1. I agree with Deduno Abides that if Haley weren't a Rule 5 pick he wouldn't even be in the conversation. Pitchers we had in AAA that had a lower WHIP than Haley in AAA last year include Sean Burnett, Jake Reed,Jose Berrios, Pat Light, Shaggy, Baxendale, Neil Ramirez, Nick Greenwood and Buddy Boshers. Keeping him would serve no other purpose other than to say, "we picked this guy so he must be good". 2. Vogelsong? You cannot be serious. The guy had a good MLB career. Congratulation! Goodbye. 3. I don't want to put words in Brock's mouth, so I'll just say I think Gibson and Santiago are practically the same pitcher. No telling which is going to be better this year. We will soon see, but I'm not going to cut one based on 1 good WAR year for one vs. better ERA+ years for the other. 4. That said, Santiago starting in the BP for Puerto Rico suggests Mejia only has to avoid getting lit up between now and April 3 to be in the starting rotation. Not sure who the other will be, but please, please please not Vogelsong. Even I'm tired of my whining now.
  5. Oldgoat_MN
    We have a pretty crowded bullpen. Hopefully he gets all the chance he deserves. Sometimes I read about the players and I'm glad I don't have to make these 'make it/not good enough' types of decisions.
  6. Oldgoat_MN
    As I said in my post, I wasn't really sure what he did in 2016. He had 2 strong years in a row in AAA. If he didn't get his break with someone then he probably isn't ever going to get it. I agree that Mauer, Vargas and Park are ahead of him. Not so sure about Palka.
  7. Oldgoat_MN
    I am a big fan of Romero. Possible #1 starter. Don't know if the 'stuff' Gonsalves has will play in MLB higher than a 4 or 5. Tyler Jay occurs as a long shot to hit his ceiling, but his ceiling is a 1 or 2. I'm starting to warm up to Nick Gordon. Fun list Cody. Thank you
  8. Oldgoat_MN
    Matt Hague in 2014 in AAA: .282/.371/.465 (.836) in 442 PA Matt Hague in 2015 in AAA: .338/.416/.468 (.884) in 596 PA He's had a total of 91 PA in MLB, most of which came in 2012. If we had a guy like that in AAA (we don’t) we’d all be screaming to have him get a shot at MLB. I’m not that adamant, as it’s not really clear what he did last year, but if he gets some at bats this year it’s likely not the end of the rebuild.
  9. Oldgoat_MN
    Really great to see Mejia have a good outing. Possibilities...
  10. Oldgoat_MN
    I have a great deal of respect for Bill James. I agree that Rod Carew should never have accumulated more at bats hitting 2nd or 3rd than 1st. Carew did so only because of old school thinking that did not take into account OBP or power (or lack thereof). In baseball you want high OBP guy batting early, but who anywhere would have had Ted Williams bat leadoff? The opportunity to generate RBI has to come into the mix at some point. All the factors have to come into play: OBP, power, speed. If Kennys Vargas has the highest OBP on the team I am still not going to bat him directly in front of Buxton. You are almost certainly giving up bases somewhere along the line if you do so. I also do not believe that if Buxton never again leads off he is a bust. Lineup construction is complex. The ‘perfect’ lineup for a team is debatable. I just don’t think you have one of your biggest power hitters batting first, insuring that they have at least one bat per game with no one on. Especially when they do not lead the team in OBP.
  11. Oldgoat_MN
    If Polanco is on first he has a 100+ foot head start on Buxton. I think he's fast enough to make that work. It's not like Kennys Vargas, who kept Buxton from a triple last year because he wasn't fast enough to score. Polanco has speed.
  12. Oldgoat_MN
    I think we are all rather counting on ESan to have a 'Santana-average' year. If he has a bad year things start to look even more bleak. We really need Gibson or Santiago to step up. I think we will see a lot of youth this year in and out of the starting rotation. Hopefully someone (or two, or more) takes the opportunity and compels the management to take them seriously. Because we seriously need starting pitching.
  13. Oldgoat_MN
    Buxton batting second is what occurs to me to make sense. I wouldn't start the season that way, but when Buxton shows that he has adapted then it is time, and his ability to hit the ball hard will sometimes score Polanco. I am not a fan of a medium to high HR guy batting leadoff. Try to put someone on base in front of them as often as possible.
  14. Oldgoat_MN
    I certainly hope we see Romero in AA and Melotakis in AAA. That would be nice to see the Twins be aggressive with these pitchers. Melotakis had a high WHIP in AA last year, so that will have to come down. The comment by Randy Rosario is really unusual. Perhaps his agent pointed out that the Twins tend to let starting pitchers hang out in MiLB and never see MLB even if their numbers are better than those of other pitchers (Baxendale and Wheeler vs Dean and Albers last season). Going full time into relief opens an avenue that maybe they see as more likely to result in MLB exposure. If so, smart kid.
  15. Oldgoat_MN
    True. The only one I suspect to be more than an extreme long shot to make a difference to the Twins someday is Rodriguez. As a reliever. Maybe.
  16. Oldgoat_MN
    Excellent summation. I remember reading an interview with Justin Morneau where he was talking about rolling his wrists when hitting the ball to gain 'lift'. Vavra (hitting coach at the time) is old school. You don't need to be a physics professor to read that part above in bold and say, "Well, yeah".
  17. Oldgoat_MN
    Exactly Thrylos. This is one of the main concerns I had last year about Terry Ryan. Both Baxendale and Wheeler had better numbers than Dean and Albers. I agree with DocBauer though. I think they've both been passed up now.
  18. Oldgoat_MN
    All these guys need to show something this year or I wouldn't protect any of them. Here's my take: Levi Michael is not going to hit MLB pitching. If taking a guy who hits .215 in AA and moving him to AAA is the answer then you are asking a very odd question. Travis Harrison hasn't hit for an OPS of >.730 since low A ball in 2013. This is not going to be acceptable for a corner OF. David Hurlbut is 27 years old. He had a WHIP >1.3 and 6.0 SO/9 in AA last year. How he got promoted to AAA (where he had a WHIP of 1.538) is a mystery to me. Baseball is cruel. It is a very demanding game and many great athletes (like, say, Michael Jordan) try it and find that they just can't do it. Rodriguez has really only pitched two years. His WHIP was too high but it was better when he moved to A+ in a small sample size. This might be promising. I believe they will want to give him enough rope to either hang himself or use it to climb to AA. He needs to get to at least AA this year, as he will be 25 years old in June. Jason Wheeler should be on the list of pitchers who are considered for MLB action this year. I've read several times that his pitches are not overpowering, but he has good control (1.197 WHIP & 3.05 SO/W in AAA in 2016) and manages to keep his ERA down. It will be interesting to see if he gets to the Show if he continues to pitch like 2016. Fun stuff to ponder. Thanks Seth!
  19. Oldgoat_MN
    Nice breakdown. Thank you. Our OF looks to be the best defensive OF the Twins have had in many years. Offensively there are still questions. None of the 3 have established themselves as someone the opposing team fears. Hopefully that will come. If not, OF are among the easiest to pick up in FA. I, too, am looking forward to see who of Romero, Berrios, May, Gonsalves, Mejia, Thorpe and Melotakis could pan out. If two of them do then you sign a FA pitcher and *poof*, you are competitive. Ah, baseball!
  20. Oldgoat_MN
    Plus: watching players make challenges is hilarious because they're always wrong. Every team will have at least two players that cannot believe that they are ever out, and will challenge every call and waste their team's replay challenges, and we will all get to laugh at them. This reminds me of a book written by a retired NBA basketball referee. I never read the book, but I remember a great quote from it when he was speaking about the players. "Charles Barkley has never committed a foul."
  21. Oldgoat_MN
  22. Oldgoat_MN
    I agree. I find Kepler's comments a concern. We are all pleased that Kepler did not fall flat on his face in 2016, but it's not like he tore up the league. Max Kepler compared to others with >=400 PA 162 of 203 players in WAR, bottom 5% (includes DEF) 154 of 203 in wRC+, bottom 25% 153 of 203 in wOBA, bottom 25% Take out his hot July and Kepler's numbers would be quite poor. This is not an All-Star. He should read and listen. Who knows that Wil Myers wouldn't hit better if he changed his swing? Lots of good articles linked from the comments. Took a long time to read them all. Thanks everyone!
  23. Oldgoat_MN
    A list that makes you think. Thanks Cody. You certainly have Felix Jorge higher than most. We need to see some dominance from him this year or he's going to become another Randy Rosario; a pitcher who hanks out on the 40-man but will probably never see any time in MLB. While his SO/9 is not terribly impressive, his WHIP stays down, so that's something. I like Wander Javier, but there's a lot of love for a guy whose highest level of play is the Dominican Summer League and only had 30 PA there. Hope it goes somewhere. Side note: While Javier had a .308 BA and the highest OPS on the team (1.054), a 16 year old, Victor Tademo (the youngest player on the team), had BA of .311 in 201 PA. Fun stuff.
  24. Oldgoat_MN
    Still don't understand why Butch Davis was let go. Wasn't he in charge of the OFs? Wasn't our OF defense one of our few strengths? If anyone has some ideas on the subject and could enlighten me I would appreciate it.
  25. Oldgoat_MN
    Thanks for posting that video. Of course it's a fluff piece to a certain extent, but I really was drawn in by the talk of the pitching specialist. It was also at that age that Hunter began working with Alan Jaeger, a pitching coach widely considered a pioneer of arm health and velocity development. Also, he seems unusually focused for a teenager. Very interesting.
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