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Rik19753

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Everything posted by Rik19753

  1. Rik19753
    While that is certainly true, this year could be an exception. Since it is already very slim pickings at this point, I think the FO would dish out a lot of money to any worthwhile player if it is on a 1 year contract, like they did with Gallo. Guys like Eovaldi and Drury are unlikely to take 1 year deals even if you give them a lot of money, but I think 1 year, high AAV deals are just what relievers like Kimbrel and Britton are looking for.
  2. Rik19753
    I really like Gordon and I think he needs to be more than a utility player. He hit the ball harder than everyone on the team besides Buxton last year and was 5th on the team in xwOBA. He is clearly one of their better hitters and the Twins do not have enough good hitters to have the luxury of having Gordon as a backup. The FO and some fans need to stop assuming that his power is a fluke just because he doesn't have a ton of muscle. I think you play Gordon/Garlick at LF to go along with Buxton and Gallo in the outfield(assuming Kepler is traded). Gordon's .793 OPS vs righties and Garlick's .839 OPS vs lefties would make for a great platoon. Just get him into the lineup as often as possible, he should be getting the same amount of hype and expectations as Miranda, Kirilloff, Larnach and Royce.
  3. Rik19753
    The season is all but over now. I'm disappointed, but not surprised. Great timing for the NFL to start though. These losses made my transition from baseball season to football season a lot easier.
  4. Rik19753
    Very interesting stuff. Gary really stands out to me in that he has already exceeded his average numbers of doubles, but needs 20 more HRs. Prior to this year, he had 78 career doubles and 138 HRs, and not a single season in which he hit more doubles than HRs, so I guess he is getting pretty unlucky in that his deep fly balls aren't going out as much as they did in previous years. His statcast numbers indicate that he is hitting the ball just as hard as in previous years, so it may just be luck, or it may be from changing home fields. I just want to point out that the OPS numbers probably aren't correct. Buxton has a .843 OPS so far this year, so he wouldn't need a .907 OPS the rest of the season to end up with a .770 OPS.
  5. Rik19753
    So thankful to have him. He's more or less hitting like Larnach was (with better contact) and the underlying stats back it up. If you add in the defensive flexibility and speed, he's one of the best utility men in the game. Not to mention he might even add a little more power as he gets even healthier. He could be the prime Marwin Gonzalez that we never got to see.
  6. Rik19753
    Exactly. I'd prefer them not to touch him for the time being. Most of our best pitchers are ones that have come from other organizations(Lopez, Gray, Ryan). I don't think that's a coincidence.
  7. Rik19753
    I think Fulmer moves the needle more for the Twins than for any other MLB team. We have Lopez, Duran, Jax and nobody else. Fulmer may be nothing more than a hair above average, but going from Pagan/Smith to Fulmer in mid-leverage situations is going to have a huge effect on the outcome of games.
  8. Rik19753
    His fastball velo is up about 3 mph from where it was when he was a SP, so I think it's safe to say that his performance isn't a fluke! Absolutely love this trade. Lopez alone makes the bullpen look much better. And he is controlled through 2024! Great to have Jax, Duran and Lopez locked in for the next couple of years. I'm honestly not expecting this team to do a whole lot this year, but this is a great investment for future years without completely punting this year.
  9. Rik19753
    I understand the frustration with the bullpen, but I don't think it's fair to blame them for this game. It certainly wasn't great, but 2 ER in 5 IP against a decent Milwaukee lineup is par for the course.
  10. Rik19753
    Honestly, as absurd as it is to suggest that a 1st place team should be in seller mode, I feel like it is a path that should strongly be considered. The worst way to go is to make a half-hearted attempt to win this year, like acquiring David Robertson and nobody else. And the more I look at it, the more I feel like that is the biggest possibility. We don't have the ammo or the willingness to pay for guys like Castillo and Montas, and given that we likely have to go through both the Astros and Yankees to even make the World Series, our chances of winning it all are slim to none as it stands. Even though it would hurt to sell Correa, we might get a haul for him that could help us next year.
  11. Rik19753
    These past 10 days have been some of the most unenjoyable regular season baseball that I've ever seen. It's just cruel how the team keeps us engaged for the whole game just to blow the lead in the end. This is just typical Minnesota sports and why we will never achieve anything when it matters most. Such a pathetic losing mentality. I need a break from watching this. Let me know when they actually build a decent bullpen. At least then I can keep being delusional about the team actually achieving something in the playoffs.
  12. Rik19753
    Two things. First, why is Garlick hitting 4th as the DH against a RHP? If you're going to insist on using him, at least bat him in the bottom third of the lineup. His OPS+ against RHP is somewhere in the 50s last I checked. Second, please, just please use Duran for the 8th and 9th innings. I understand you don't want to overwork him, but against your division rival in a doubleheader is a great time to make an exception.
  13. Rik19753
    I wonder when was the last time that a team scored 5+ runs with only solo HRs. That's got to be quite rare.
  14. Rik19753
    Fortunately, relievers are the easiest position to fill at the trade deadline. They probably won't have to part with any of their top prospects to pick up a decent bullpen arm or two, which the front office is probably thrilled about.
  15. Rik19753
    Great to see guys like Kepler, Jeffers and Larnach turning things around. Those guys are the biggest wildcards in the lineup, if they get things together this lineup is going to be great from 1 to 9. I don't think I've been this excited about Kepler since 2019. Also, gotta love Ryan's face on Correa's terrific play. Nice to see the team having fun on the field.
  16. Rik19753
    For those of you that are saying the Twins downgraded in 2022: Chris Paddack WAR 2019-2021: 4.5 WAR (2.4, 0.3, 1.8) Taylor Rogers WAR 2019-2021: 4.2 WAR (2.1, 0.5, 1.6) As good as Rogers is, the reality is that even elite RPs are not as valuable as decent SPs.
  17. Rik19753
    Exactly. The front office clearly doesn't believe in Gordon long-term, so why is he on the 40-man when Baddoo and Wells aren't? And I know it's impossible to predict who will turn out to be good, but if you are filling those fringe roster spots with veteran placeholders and low-upside prospects who are close to the majors in order to maximize your chances of winning, you shouldn't be getting any excuses if you aren't even able to compete.
  18. Rik19753
    Exactly. On one hand, you trade Gil, who turns out to be a pretty good pitching prospect, for a 4th OF. On the other hand, you trade Wade, who was at least going to be a serviceable 4th OF, for Shaun Anderson, who you end up releasing in a few months. So if you are comfortable giving up a decent pitching prospect for Cave, you at least have to get something similar in return for Wade, not a Shaun Anderson.
  19. Rik19753
    I would be shocked if they traded for a #2/3 type pitcher. They certainly aren't going to trade for a pitcher on a one-year contract because that wouldn't make any sense given that they traded Berrios. And I can't envision them trading for a pitcher with multiple years remaining because they have had a dozen better opportunities to do so when this team was in contention, yet they passed up all of those chances. I think it's pretty clear at this point that they aren't comfortable trading multiple quality prospects, which is what it will take to get a front-of-the rotation starter. I could certainly see them trading a low-level prospect for a back of the rotation pitcher though.
  20. Rik19753
    I understand the frustration, but out of the pitchers that are ready right now, Jax is one of the best and only options that we have. The reality is that most of our pitchers are still a year away or injured. There is nothing to lose by starting Jax for the rest of the season. We have to take the good with the bad with a pitcher like Jax. While he has been very bad the last 2 starts, he had a stretch of 5 games before that where he had a ERA under 3 against some very tough competition. We shouldn't be so quick to write him off when he's still so inexperienced. You can't expect everyone to start contributing immediately.
  21. Rik19753
    Give the guy a break, he had 3 walk-off hits in the last week and ranks near the top of the league in WPA. He's not going to come though for us every single time. Not to mention that he was up against one of the best pitchers in the league.
  22. Rik19753
    This team has so much potential with even an average pitching staff. I wonder how different our season would look if Happ, Shoemaker, Robles and Colome had league-average ERAs. I think an argument could be made that replacing Berrios, Happ, Shoemaker and Robles with Jax, Gant, Juan Minaya and Edgar Garcia is a net plus, which is laughable.
  23. Rik19753
    I feel like the negativity towards the front office is well-deserved. There is no denying that there have been plenty of head-scratching moves both before and during the season that raise serious questions about where this franchise is headed. While it is much too early to be calling for their heads, I think it is fair to criticize them for what has transpired this season, especially since the FO has gotten much of the praise for recent success when much of said success was driven by the core that the previous FO had assembled. The biggest problem I have with their roster management this season is letting players like LaMonte Wade and Akil Baddoo go in favor of Nick Gordon. I understand the reasoning behind leaving Baddoo unprotected and trading Wade; The Twins had a surplus of talent at OF, favored veteran players like Cave more than raw players like Baddoo and Wade, and in Baddoo's case, they thought the chances of him being selected were slim. What I don't understand is what did had to gain by keeping Gordon instead of these two players. I would understand this if they thought Gordon could contribute to this team this year or if they liked his long-term potential, but clearly the FO believes neither of those things. If Gordon is not even worth trying in the Majors in a season where we have absolutely nothing to lose, why keep him in the first place? Why are we content to let younger players with more upside like Baddoo and Wade go when you don't believe that the player you are keeping instead will amount to anything?
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