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Winston Smith

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Everything posted by Winston Smith

  1. Winston Smith
    This is why the Twins are bad now but I think some have too high of expectations of player development. It's pretty common for teams to have several seasons of the draft not produce much. I think the FO noticed this started getting more aggressive internationally which has resulted in some pretty good prospects in the Twins system. which is why they wiated for the salary cap of 2.9 million before they signed any this last june....codo Hold it. They really had to outbid at least a couple of clubs to get Sano and they paid him big time. And, for all Smith's shortfalls that have been exposed here and there, unfortunately nobody mentions that he is the one who re-turned the franchise into the latin american market big time. And this franchise has historically been a leader there from the 1910s till right about the Bay of Pigs era when they moved to Minny. Last important Latin American signee from that time was Tony O. Before Smith doing what he did signing Sano (about 50 years later - to put things into perspective,) the Twins were just non-players. Back in the day every Cuban wanted to come and play for the Senators (and Griffith's uncle/dad Clark) because they knew they will get a fair deal. I've often wondered why we were not in on the Cuban players. With Tony O still a hero there it would seem like we would have a great inside track. But yet I don't recall us ever signing a Cuban player and there have been a lot of them.
  2. Winston Smith
    The last time a "Twins" prospect came up and stuck with the team, and I'll set the bar at 2 productive seasons is Span and he came up in 2008. Maybe I'm missing someone but isn't Garza the last starting pitcher to come up from our system to stick in the majors? He first came up in 06. We have some guys now, Plouffe, Parmalee, Revere, Dozier and Diamond that might stick but they still have a small sample size (see Valencia). Isn't this the real problem we have right now, 4 full seasons without 1 of our position prospects and 6 yrs for a starting pitcher sticking for the long haul and helping the team? Until this team proves it can again produce good quality major league players in their farm system I'll remain skeptical of all these guys. If I missed somebody I apologize.
  3. Winston Smith
    Likely they just didn't mention the 2014 All Star game being played at Target Field, get seating priority by renewing your season tickets now, enough times! They really should have an ad on this site for the 2014 All Star game played at Target Field with ticket priority if you renew or purchase season tickets. Utter failure on their part.
  4. Winston Smith
    They seem to be going after the people that have the least to do with the poor team on the field.
  5. Winston Smith
    Imo, it's not a crap shoot at all. The teams that win nearly always have the best pitching. Pitching for the most part doesn't slump. Like we saw with the Yankees even very good hitting teams can slump in a short series. Unless you have very good pitching getting to the world series takes a lot of luck. With 3 series instead of two now I think luck will have a much harder time holding up. In 87 the Twins were lucky. They got the Tigers after they had a draining season ending run to make it. Then they got the Cards with several injuries to key guys. 91 they were a very good team and had very good starting pitching in Morris, Erickson and Tapani.
  6. Winston Smith
    Not a lot of quality in any of these guys. Looks very thin for another year or 2. How many of the 30+ remaining players could be or might be called quality major leaguers? Maybe half? As for Baker don't you want to see him pitch at least a little before you give him any money?
  7. Winston Smith
    There may be a time when Mauer would agree to be traded. Not sure how long the losing will take for that to happen but it likely will. He already spends his winters in Florida so leaving home to play for a winner, sure could happen at some point. Don't forget we have Butera to dangle out there. Maybe a Butera for Andrus trade would be ok, Gardy may not like it but who cares.
  8. Winston Smith
    Pitching, pitching, pitching I don't care what saber says. What do the Giants and Tigers share very good pitching staffs! What do the Twins, Astros, Cubs, Indians, Royals, Rockies all share really bad pitching.
  9. Winston Smith
    I'll miss them all! When do Pavano and Baker fall off after the WS?
  10. Winston Smith
    Time to move on!
  11. Winston Smith
    Let's see Baker will be ready to pitch come spring training? Gibson had the same surgery 9 months before Baker, Gibson started throwing about a yr after his surgery. He has now been pitching limited innings to build arm strength. They are talking about him starting in the pen to limit his innings next yr. Unless Baker is a super healer you'd think his rehab would be about the same time line as Gibson. That would have him build arm strength until about June and added to the rotation mid season. Nathan had his surgery in the spring like Baker and really wasn't back until mid season. I'd expect about the same from Baker.
  12. Winston Smith
    7.5 mill left on his contract will buy a lot of cocktails and Cuban cigars!! Should be a nice retirement! Please stay off TV.
  13. Winston Smith
    If the Rangers lose Hamilton and need a CF would a Span for Andrus trade work?
  14. Winston Smith
    Isn't it a supply and demand thing? Nearly ever team needs pitching. When nearly every team needs pitching the demand is high. The number of "quality" available pitchers is finite so those pitchers will be in a higher demand and likely demand a higher cost. When Ryan says we need 3 pitchers and the market has maybe 15 or so pitchers that may be above replacement level and maybe 20 teams are looking to add pitchers that seems to make the demand much higher than the supply. Of course in the past we've done the "trickle down" free agent signing pitchers that were left over after everyone else has picked the bones. Getting 2-3 starters out of whatever list you want to use will be very hard considering that we have maybe 25m to do it, imo. What do we really have of value to trade for a starting pitcher of any quality? Span is the most likely, Willingham would leave a big hole in the lineup and nobody else has much value. Do you want to start shopping Sano or Hicks types? What teams need a center fielder and have excess pitching? List is very short, Rays, Mets, Braves and maybe the Reds? So can you get Shields from the Rays? Maybe Bailey from the Reds, or Niese from the Mets would that do it? Trading for or signing 3 solid starting pitchers this winter will be very hard.
  15. Winston Smith
    This is the crop of FA starters. Some others may have options declined or released or just wouldn't likely fit, rumored trouble makers or injured. When nearly every team needs pitching this is a very thin list. [TABLE] 2012 war based on 80+ innings Erik Bedard (34) 1.3 Joe Blanton (32) 2.4 Kevin Correia (32) .8 Ryan Dempster (36) 3.3 Zack Greinke (28) 5.1 Dan Haren (32) 1.8 Edwin Jackson (29) 2.7 Hiroki Kuroda (38) 3.9 Kyle Lohse (34) 3.6 Paul Maholm (31) 2.5 Shaun Marcum (31) 1.4 Brandon McCarthy (29) 1.8 Kevin Millwood (38) 2.0 Anibal Sanchez (29) 3.8 Ervin Santana (30) -.9 Joe Saunders (32) 2.5 [/TABLE]
  16. Winston Smith
    The pitching market is probably thin because we are a last place team. Quality players like to win. Or if they can't win get paid really really well. After the last two years what pitcher would look at the Twins and say here is my chance to win it all? My guess is that in order to get quality pitching they will have to over pay, history has shown that bad teams have had to over pay for any free agents. That makes most of these guys look less attractive because they cost much more than they are worth. With half or more of the teams (15-20) looking for pitching and maybe 8-10 guys that are decent starters thin seems like a good word for what is out there.
  17. Winston Smith
    Well Jerry White got fired he must have screwed something up.
  18. Winston Smith
    Doesn't Ullger always take over when Gardy gets tossed? Logic would say if Gardy got the ax Ullger would step in. After all he failed as a hitting coach, 3B coach, bench coach now he's a 1B coach next logical step is managing. Mad skills he can coach anywhere. Wonder how it will work for Bruno with 2 ex hitting coaches looking over his shoulders?
  19. Winston Smith
    "For me, it's similar to the MVP debate this year.........." the debate is over the Most Valuable Player award not the best all around player award. You take Cabrera out of the Tigers lineup and they are dead in the water. Take Trout out of the Angels lineup and they are still not in the playoffs. The fact remains that over the years the winner isn't always the best player or the most valuable because there is no set of criteria for the vote. Some years it's more about which way the wind is blowing the last couple weeks of the season. Imo, Cabrera is no doubt the most valuable, is he the best all around player probably not.
  20. Winston Smith
    There isn't one single player alive that could turn the Twins around for next year. The Tigers made 3 solid trades bringing in Scherzer, Fister and Sanchez. Put those three on the Twins and it's a new ball game. This team won't get rebuilt over one off season, imo.
  21. Winston Smith
    Tigers have won 20 playoff games with 2 trips to the world series since the last Twins playoff game win.
  22. Winston Smith
    Amen!!
  23. Winston Smith
    I'd like to know what qualifications Vavra has to be an infield coach?
  24. Winston Smith
    If he is one of the best 5 starters and it's hard to believe he wouldn't be he should start with the Twins. They could limit his innings by skipping his start once a month, that's easy to do with days off. That would limit his innings to what they want. I think the norm is about 150-160 innings.
  25. Winston Smith
    "The Twins didn't need to evaluate Arcia or Hicks yet in September. They did need to see Parmelee and some of those infielders. " What does Arcia getting those 45 ab's Carson had have to do with Parmalee or the infielders? Arcia is on the 40 man give him a taste of the big leagues it might make him work that much harder to get back. Wasting those ab's on Carson makes no sense.
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