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Willihammer

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Everything posted by Willihammer

  1. Willihammer
    Hypocrite warning, because I didn't like the signing at the time, but in retrospect a critical 4th reason that Hughes was a great signing was his good health. That doesn't apply to most of the players on your list. One could say Nolasco was "good when healthy" in 2014. Would he be on this list if he weren't already under contract? What about Pelfrey?
  2. Willihammer
    I appreciate that angle. I would counter with the majority of the Gardy years when middle infielders were health but getting production from them was a chronic problem. Part of that undoubtedly was that the talent just wasn't very good. Another part I think was in Gardy regularly rotating in the Alexi Casilla's, Brian Buschers, Matt Tolberts, and Brendan "Just Looking" Harris's in order to keep them "fresh." That's why they need to make a firm judgment about what kind of talent Escobar really is, IMO. If he's good enough to start, then he should start, and they can let a Doug Bernier or Ed Nunez backup the left side of the infield *only* if there's an injury. Those guys aren't hard to find. Likewise if he's a backup talent, then he should sit on the bench and shouldn't be rotated in ahead of better players just to keep him "fresh."
  3. Willihammer
    Escobar is a tough dilemma. He's sort of the poster child for needing everyday at-bats to get into a groove. From a purely asset-maximization perspective maybe the right thing is to exercise an option on Santana next season and start Esobar at SS. Give him a month to sink or swim. On the other hand, how can you option the best batter on your team? IMO trying to trade Escobar now, at age 25 with his mixed track record, would be like trying to trade Plouffe at age 25. Nobody is going to bite on an arb-eligible, no option guy unless / until he proves to be a starting talent. For that reason, maybe Plouffe is the release valve. He's had his late bloom. He's shown he's worth the arb-raises and can be a starter on a good team. He will have trade value. It comes down to making an accurate eval of Escobar's true talent IMO. Is he poised to take the next step or would he sink back into a .650 batter if the Twins rolled with him as the 3B option next year. They need to get this one right.
  4. Willihammer
    That's been the debate all along - what made Molitor the front runner? It certainly wasn't prior managerial success, or many other objective measures. In fact Molitor would seem to be at a disadvantage in many of those respects. On the GATG podcast, Bonnes tried to get McIntosh to answer the question "does being a good coach make for a good manager?" and McIntosh kind of skirted the question. That's really the $64,000 question nobody seems to have an answer for, and has lead some of us to conclude that maybe, Molitor's advantage isn't in his qualifications.
  5. Willihammer
    Seems like a pretty semantic distinction to me. Favoritism is not helpful to any process, like a personnel hire, where there are subjective judgments. Call it a dog and pony show or don't. If there is a "front runner" before the process even starts then it is by definition going to be unfair.
  6. Willihammer
    Like this post if you would have been upset with a Joe Maddon or Dave Martinez hiring
  7. Willihammer
    Not too worried about the finger. A break is a break. Its not hard to see the wrist and brain things recurring though.
  8. Willihammer
    Re: 25th man roster tweet. "No I don't regret that tweet. Its the 25th man on the roster. The Manager wanted Jason Bartlett, he got Jason Bartlett. And the fact that Jason came north with the team frankly did not have a significant impact on the success or lack of success of the 2014 Twins."
  9. Willihammer
    LOL Turn captions on @2:40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=JeogSBoMM8M#t=160
  10. Willihammer
    I mean, Madden's a Hall of Fame coach. What more is there to say. The guy had a 20 year series of video games made after him. http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081022035028/egamia/images/0/0d/Madden90SNES.jpg
  11. Willihammer
    Yikes, looks pretty barren once you get past the major leaguers.
  12. Willihammer
    What's the scoring environment like in the AFL? Is it a hitters league?
  13. Willihammer
    "Ananymous" is a good word for Thielbar.
  14. Willihammer
    Yeah. And if they wind up hiring internally then really, what's the rush? Molitor already knows the system, the major leaguers and personnel.. Any rush would be so an outside hire could field a staff and get acquainted with the Twins, no? The prospect of that must be diminishing by the day.
  15. Willihammer
    What prompted the move? Was it Harrison's play or the overabundance of 3B options (Goodrum, Meija, Michael, etc). Does he have the glove to move back if the spot opens up again?
  16. Willihammer
    If GM's projected Wil Myers to go down a borderline HoF career track then the fan perspective is much more grounded in reality. You're also making light of the fact that somehow, even without Wil Myers, the Royals have arguably the best defensive outfield of all time - and decent bats too. That's another reason why the Buxton = Myers equation doesn't work (but I understand why he's the only spec you can use for purposes of the hypothetical). The Twins aren't nearly as loaded with outfielders.
  17. Willihammer
    I'd make that trade. If, like the Royals trade, it puts the Twins in a position to improve by 15 games in year 1 - in contention through the last week of the season, followed by a wild card berth in year 2, and be left with a similarly strong core and strong farm system in place (and at least 1 comp pick coming)... yes, absolutely I make that trade.
  18. Willihammer
    That's not really the comparison I'm trying to make. I'm comparing the "core" prospects aka. Rule 4 draftees to the amateur free agents aka. Latins within each system. The Royals and Twins systems are similar in that to date, the Latins have matched, maybe exceeded, the domestic talents. At some point we have to move from "sometimes top prospects take time" to "we got our rankings wrong."
  19. Willihammer
    Maybe the industry is just biased. We all assumed Hosmer, Moustakas, Butler, and Gordon would emerge to form the Royals core. But only Gordon was worth more than 1 WAR this year. Instead, its been every bit as much the Latins - Perez, Escobar, Herrera, and Ventura who have brought that team to the promised land. Its not hard to see the Twins future playing out similarly. We've already seen top 10 guys - Hicks, Gibson, Wimmers, and Hendriks, stall if not bust. Meanwhile a crop of Latins has come up and produced pretty much from the word go.
  20. Willihammer
    Hicks 1-2 (single) with 2 walks yesterday. http://mlb.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2014_10_16_leowin_marwin_1&t=g_box&sid=l135
  21. Willihammer
    A few days old but Darren WolfsonVerified account ‏@DarrenWolfson The #MNTwins have spoken w/ Cuban FA OF Yasmany Tomas' camp as recently as Monday. Clear they like him. Problem: so do about 10 other teams.
  22. Willihammer
    Actually, by WAR, KC has more production from trade acquisitions than Rule 4 draftees
  23. Willihammer
    Sac flies. They count as a PA but not an AB.
  24. Willihammer
    Rosario currently batting .409 with a .391 OBP.
  25. Willihammer
    Anyone know if Hicks is going to Venezuela this winter?
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