biggentleben
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Everything posted by biggentleben
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I may or may not have watched that Donaldson video about 1,000 times now. Pitching is an area that I can watch and just get, but hitting...well, I still need work on that in my scouting eye. His video was incredible. The change up stuff is more than just movement. The movement has to initially mimic the fastball. It can tail differently in the end or something to that effect, but the initial dip or rise or cut of the pitch should mimic the pitcher's primary fastball, and that is as much key as velocity separation.
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Yes, actually. Lindsey Berg went from Hawaii to Gopher to Olympian (2004, 2008, 2012). Nicole Branagh went to the beach side and made the 2008 games.
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Yeah, as mentioned, it's the libero. There are restrictions depending on the level on how the position can be used. Some levels say that position can never serve nor play on the front line, others allow serving but not front line, others allow front line, but not attacking (which, WTF?). The change in the college game came while I was working with the U of M's volleyball team in the early 2000s. It wasn't received well there, though the first one at the U of M (whose name I'm forgetting at the moment) was the sweetest girl you could ever meet who never would have played at that level without that position being created, so it was hard to really be too upset that she got a chance to play college volleyball. I am a huge fan of court volleyball. I was lucky to get to work with the Gophers when they went from a solid program to one of the elite programs in the nation and have remained one of the best in the nation for many years since. It was also the first sporting event at the U of M after 9/11. I was honored with being the person who sang the anthem that evening.
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Like get himself hurt in a way that causes him to never be able to realize his full potential. He's been showing pretty heavy fatigue at AA (nevermind struggling to even be the third-best offensive player on the team at any time since joining AA), and I have a bad feeling he's going to make a bad choice somewhere as he presses and end up hurt. I was worried about it for AA - moving him to the bigs makes it infinitely worse.
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I will too, even though I'm not a fan at all of the move.
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Moronic promotion. Absolutely terrible. Not a fan at all. He's going to be a Kubel if they aren't careful.
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PNC was by far my favorite in my stadium tour last summer. My wife and I will hit stadium #14 and game #15 in September when we go to Busch.
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Lofton should be there 10 times before Edmonds. Of course, I also think Andruw Jones would be more appropriate for the true heart of what the Hall of Fame is than Jim Edmonds.
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Woah there. He shouldn't have fallen off first ballot, but I'm not voting for him, and he'll not ever make any of my IBWAA ballots.
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That's another issue, though...the restriction on ballots is a farce. If there are 30 guys who legit deserve to be there, you should be able to vote for 30. Restricting vote to any number is BS.
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This! Garfield is not written to be highly functional for the adult crowd. It's aimed at the younger crowd 100%, and therefore it's like comparing paint by number with Picasso. I think you can have both and still enjoy both for what they are.
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No. Family friend is burying his second child today. He's not yet 60. That just shouldn't happen. Forgive me if I'm short with the world today.
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My feelings about Hrbek have never changed. His usage of oxygen on this planet is depriving someone actually worthy. And it has nothing to do with that play. Shall we talk about about Lucas Harrell instead?
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Once again, find another issue. You're wrong and incredibly biased here. I'm incredibly biased in the argument, but I've got the documentation to back up my end of things. Glavine we can argue, Maddux actually missed the zone on a called strike about as often as I miss a meal - and I played offensive line in college, so you know the answer to that. Bad camera angles do not equal the modern technology we have today, and in reviewing exactly those bad camera angle films, Maddux often hits the zone. So, please just stop. I've had a bad day, and I'm bound to go off on you for stupidity.
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Odd, seeing as he got less that 25% of his total outs in his career via strikeout. Crazy career he made there. You may want to reconsider your position, or choose a different area to prod me on. This isn't a wise one.
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The comments from fellow writers were made when certain guys left that "he needed to leave when he didn't vote for Maddux". Some admitted to it. Some made their ballots public. I believe the number was 13 of the 15 were confirmed and 8 of those 13 no longer have ballots.
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i'm not sure where his deal falls in that spectrum, but such insurance is no longer offered to teams. It was a loser for insurance agencies, no matter what their premium, so they just stopped offering it to the teams. An individual can insure himself, but the team can't insure their losses on him.
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Yeah, the "if Griffey can't get it" line falls short. Griffey had a really, really bad second half of his career. The final numbers look fine, but Craig Biggio's final numbers look good after he compiled for a while to get there. Griffey was a stud and then dropped completely from elite to average (if even that). Maddux is the guy that blew my mind. How anyone could ever vote against that man is beyond me. They deserve to lose their vote for that (and interestingly enough, over half that didn't vote for him were among the purge of voters who hadn't written about baseball in so long that they were removed from the voting BBWAA the next year.
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I have heard his name mentioned in a set up like I stated with him as the GM and another guy as the Exec/VP that has some experience/track record in a GM role. Basically the model that 70% of the league uses now. The Braves have John Hart as Exec/VP with Coppy as the GM, and it's not always Coppy at the forefront in trade/free agent discussions. Likewise the Cubs with Epstein and Hoyer.
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In all seriousness, the Andy MacPhail tree does have a lot of branches in major league baseball, and Antony is the only guy who hasn't been requested for interview since Smith was hired on the list of internal guys that I mentioned in my article. Deron is one who's a big name in the game right now and likely is gone in the offseason if the GM hire goes a direction he's not a fan of, and that'd be a shame for the Twins.
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But there are other internal options than Antony...some of whom will be climbing front office ladders elsewhere depending on how this opportunity plays out. MLBTR brought out a name I hadn't heard (and I just talked with a couple Braves front office guys last week, so it surprised me) in Billy Ryan, the current Braves director of baseball operations - a guy who has held positions in MLB's headquarters and with the Rangers, Indians, and Diamondbacks, including 4 years as assistant GM in Arizona. He'd be one of those "no name" guys for many that is very probably more qualified than 90% of the names you've heard of.
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He's incredibly intelligent on the game. Always has been, and I honestly hope he finds his way into the broadcast booth (anywhere but ESPN). I've spent pages upon pages discussing PEDs here, and I'll save that for elsewhere, but ARod is a guy who marched to the beat of his own drummer and was quite possibly the most talented player I've ever seen in person. The guy stood out on the field, and he had moments that people will always gloss over in their dislike for the guy, including his idea to have Cal Ripken spend his final All-Star game playing SS while he moved over to 3B, something he eventually did when he went to New York, letting his friend stay at the position while he moved to 3B. Nevermind that he was the better SS. I'm not sure that Derek Jeter makes the same move for Ripken, or at least he's certainly not the one who suggests it to the AS game manager...
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I wouldn't rule out an internal hire, though. In fact, Antony is the only guy that the Twins haven't denied an interview for a job elsewhere recently, only because he didn't take it when asked if he would like the interview. Deron is the guy that I'm very, very intrigued by, in a sort of role where they hire someone more "big name" to be the Exec/VP and then hire Deron to the actual title of General Manager.
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Yes, but he's also made it very clear that was an attempt to get control on the facility, hence why I mentioned the move to Target Field being a pull for him. Stakes in teams have been sold to make jobs work in pro sports before. It was a "way out there" idea regardless.
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So, I posted over on Call To The Pen about the GM search for the Twins, and while I don't "pimp" my Twins-related articles often, I've heard good comments about this one, so I thought I'd share. Linkage
