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TheLeviathan

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Everything posted by TheLeviathan

  1. TheLeviathan
    Um...it's happening in this thread? What are you talking about? Does every post have to list a pro-con for Ryan before pursuing the main point or can we stick on the topic of each thread and save this nonsense?
  2. TheLeviathan
    Also, I think the Correia fury would probably die down if we didn't have a weekly spin job by the organization trying to sell the fanbase on their offseason crown jewel.
  3. TheLeviathan
    Pitchforks and torches on a message board are a perfectly fine way to vent about a bad baseball player. There would be nothing to vent about if 10M wasn't wasted on his roster spot.
  4. TheLeviathan
    Right, regardless of what was available this offseason, I'm not sure it would have mattered. This team, under Ryan, has had a really awful approach to filling that position regardless of how they attempt to. Their vision for the position is the problem, not the availability of solutions.
  5. TheLeviathan
    I'm sorry drjim, but the more you go here the more you are definitionally making excuses. Whether through the draft, FA, trades, or whatever other means....the team has failed to get a shortstop of any competency for a decade and appear content to have the position waste away. It IS hurting the team and needs to be fixed.
  6. TheLeviathan
    Yeah, but first he has to make the team and get on base. I think anyone projecting rookies is just taking a wild guess, good or bad. I like Benson a lot, really looking forward to seeing his at-bats, even in ST.
  7. TheLeviathan
    First, this team has all but abandoned any speed in its game. Given the home ballpark plays best to right-handed slugging and gap-and-run players - the team has only two hitters that fit well into either of those categories. (One of which, in Plouffe, remains with question marks) Just position by position - LF is likely a dip, CF doesn't even have someone manning it at this point and at least had a quality player there last year, RF is probably a wash with different skill sets and a dramatic defensive drop-off, SS/2B is at least as bad with minimal hope to improve, Plouffe is a huge mystery, Doumit was unusually healthy, and we got a lot of ABs from Morneau and Mauer which could be seen as good fortune. I like Parmalee and I'd be a betting man Benson pulls a Span on us, but even then I have serious doubts about a slow-footed team in a big stadium.
  8. TheLeviathan
    So to back up your assumption you base Valencia's regression on attitude issues? Here's the deal, every year, across the league, we hear the "It's his first full season playing a position so no question he'll be better!" and we could come up with a multitude of examples to the contrary. Hell, just a few years ago we heard that Nishioka going back to his natural position would fix things. Plouffe couldn't make a simple throw to first just two seasons ago, I'm far from convinced about anything with him at this point. Or maybe they gave him the job because they have absolutely nothing else? Just throwing that out there. We could teach Mauer CF and he might "get better" and still not be any good. My point originally was that the OF defense is going to be worse....MUCH worse. And it is. How much "better" the infield is minimal at best and doesn't address the largest step back.
  9. TheLeviathan
    Twinsfest, and I'm sure it's like this all over the league, always gives great opportunities for writers to bust out their worst, most obvious headlines. Next up: "Twins expect hitters to get hits" and "Pitchers expected to utilize arms on regular basis"
  10. TheLeviathan
    That's an awfully big assumption. Shall I suggest Danny Valencia as reason to not be so sure that defense will improve with time. In any case, this isn't any "better" than last year considering we had Carrol/Plouffe (who I thought played it pretty well overall) there last year. I heard that about Florimon last year and from what I saw, he wasn't nearly the wizard we've heard about. Given the flashes we saw of the skillset I'm not ruling this out as an upgrade, but I need to see the hype matched first because a month of observations were not encouraging. Dozier was pretty terrible in his stretch so it's possible. Again, you argued it was "better" - to start sniping about honest takes and being glass half-empty is skewing the argument. Congrats on shifting the argument so you could take some sort of high ground, but that was never what I claimed. The OF has taken a massive downgrade and, as you said, the infield is probably a wash. (And it wasn't very good last year) It's worth noting that it could be a very big problem for our pitching staff, enough even to offset these meager upgrades.
  11. TheLeviathan
    How exactly are you arguing the infield defense improves? Plouffe is still a wild card, Florimon's rep is that he's good but I wasn't impressed at the end of last year, and second base is....Carrol? I guess he's ok, but there is a solid chance Dozier is in that spot at some point and he hardly wowed anyone either. I'd also suggest that "took a hit" is way too nicely phrased for comparing Span/Revere to Willingham/Parmalee. Hard to count Hicks until he's actually there and we see him play. I'm optimistic, but right now we have to look at things for what they are. I'm praying to whatever Baseball God has smote us with Drew Butera that they show mercy and have Benson ready to take over CF and stick in RF when it comes to Hicks, but that's hard to count on too. Also, replacing their OBP could be difficult from their replacements.
  12. TheLeviathan
    No one expects them to have Tulowitski. It'd be nice, but that isn't the expectation. How about .650 OPS as a starting point? Can't count Carroll either, guy doesn't have the range to be an everyday SS. So the bar being set is pretty damn low and the team is still failing to meet it.
  13. TheLeviathan
    How long do I have to wait for Luis Rivas so we can campaign for a knife-wielding statue on the plaza?
  14. TheLeviathan
    Improving this rotation wasn't exactly challenging, the problem is that the lineup and defense have been significantly downgraded. What will be interesting is to see how much the VERY modest improvements to the rotation offset the fact that we have a bunch of plodding oafs playing defense for them.
  15. TheLeviathan
    Yeah....this. Anyone who still had hopes about Ryan being more loose with a larger budget should be feeling dashed after this. Ugh.
  16. TheLeviathan
    That's all anyone is asking them to do. Show a willingness to do this. Adding talent now that could be around for that core or could be flipped for talent to add to it is incredibly important. The Nats have been adding guys like Laroche. Or, and I know this is salt in the wound, adding someone by the name of Matt Capps in FA for a one year deal and flipping him for Wilson Ramos. You're right....I want the Twins to emulate the Nationals in MANY ways. That's the whole problem!
  17. TheLeviathan
    They also went and signed Werth and Haren to name just two in FA. That comparison by Twerp was ridiculous.
  18. TheLeviathan
    I heard Gardy with Reusse yesterday say they were going to go with the same plan as last year. For what it's worth.
  19. TheLeviathan
    There are many things to like about Ryan, but if he's going to be this averse to utilizing FA to help improve his ballclub, then I think his time has come and gone for this franchise. I'll give him a little more time before I get frustrated enough to call for a change. But I am certainly concerned about being this awful at utilizing such an important part of building a team. I think the role Gardenhire has is pretty moot overall, I don't worry too much about his influence.
  20. TheLeviathan
    Um, you are aware of the Nationals' activity during FA right?
  21. TheLeviathan
    Your analogy is a really poor one, so I'm trying to avoid engaging it. I don't share a relationship with the Twins anything like parent-child. They are a business, one that hopes to keep as many fans happy as is humanly possible. Won't ever keep them all, but that's how it is. As Fro said, the ability for any one fan to radically shift an organization's policies is impossible. That you continue to set up every discussion around that idea is facetious. I hope Ryan's plan works, I'm sure many components of it will, he's a good GM. But he's leaving out a very important avenue of improving his club by his ridiculous expectations for what the team should and should not do in FA. As a paying customer, that lack of aggressiveness makes me less willing to continue to pay. As I said, that's my choice, but the more people that make that choice the worse the issue gets. (See late 90s) It should worry EVERY Twins fan when the fanbase gets apathetic or annoyed with the club and stops paying to see them play.
  22. TheLeviathan
    I'm not sure what the point here was. I'm going to let the Twins know how I feel the best way I can, with my money. (Already have by canceling season tickets) Unfortunately, I know that hurts the team and I know many others are making that same decision. You're right the Twins have been doing this for a long time, that's precisely the problem. Unless more people speak up with frustration about this tight-fisted approach they probably won't change their ways. I don't hold a lot of hope regardless because I think it's a Pohlad-driven idea. But it's nonetheless frustrating. It doesn't change my appreciation for what they do well (and they do many things well as an organization) but they are completely and utterly failing to use their added resources to improve their team in one critical avenue. As fans, we should be frustrated by that.
  23. TheLeviathan
    I'm not calling for his head, never did. Most aren't. The problem is, in FA, if you aren't at least willing to offer "as much" you won't even be in the conversation. That's all anyone is asking - be competitive in FA because financially they can afford to do so. Expressing frustration with their unwillingness to do so is perfectly fine.
  24. TheLeviathan
    At this point why waste half of his innings limit in AAA? I'm not sure that's what we need to see unless he flops in the bigs. I would imagine we want as much of a look at him as we can get, which probably means him starting the season with the team. Well, I guess that's what I'd prefer.
  25. TheLeviathan
    Meh, the like crowd is the 4-5 people holding this bizarre stance that no one should say anything negative. You keep saying I repeat myself, well, if it was sinking in the first time for some people perhaps I wouldn't have to. Hard to be snarky without being given ammo for it. Unless you're snepp. (Now THAT's fishing for a like!)
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