ThePuck

I buy Honeycrisp apples too...bought some Sunday...totally worth the extra money needed to get them

I would count this report from LEN3rd as an indication that the Twins think he is close to ready: "Twins General Manager Terry Ryan didn't sound interested in bringing Meyer along slowly. "We'll let the pitcher dictate his ability to go through a system," Ryan said. "This guy is a power-type pitcher who throws it over. That equates to someone who should be able to do some things in the minor leagues and get up here."" http://m.startribune.com/?id=181628701 Sounds like you have it all figured out

There's no guarantees he even starts this season in AA. Ryan hasn't committed to where he'll be placed yet. We won't see him with the Twins this regular season But come that 1 game playoff series he'll be ready! He'll be ready. That was funny! I guess I made a point of saying regular season because if, for some reason, he's with them in Spring Training someone inevitably says something like, 'well, technically, he wore a Twins jersey during a game.' You know how things go :-)

There's no guarantees he even starts this season in AA. Ryan hasn't committed to where he'll be placed yet. We won't see him with the Twins this regular season

Nope

I'm all for getting Marcum. He's a good pitcher.

We still don't quite know what we have with Revere yet...at least from an offensive side...like his OBP potential. He's still a kid himself, what, a year older than Hicks? Not even arbitration eligible yet? I mean, I'm all for trading him, don't get me wrong... but it's not like he's part of the old guard that we need to push aside for the new guard. That wouldn't be the reason. The reason would be a team wanting a young, inexpensive CF who covers a lot of ground who has potential...but also some major league experience already.

Yes, I was speaking strictly in the sense of a traditional left/right platoon. Gardenhire's desire for everyday lineup coherence in the infield is exceeded only by his desire to play the guys whose defense he feels least likely to give him a coronary on any given day. I like when one post is quoted and seemingly agreed with by someone saying something nearly the opposite...and both takes seem invented! For the record, I've heard a lot of times how Gardenhire moves everyone around too much. Compared to what? This year... Justin Morneau played only one position. Alexi Casilla played one game plus a couple spare innings at 3B and otherwise played only one position. Danny Valencia played only one position, and once he was moved on down the road and Plouffe was given the job...he played only that position. Dozier played only one position, and once he was demoted and Florimon took over HE played only one position. Josh Willingham played only one position. Denard Span...guess how many! And Revere played exclusively RF except when Span was out and then he played that position instead. Carroll moved around because he was, you know, the utility infielder. Mastro played a lot around the outfield because he was the utility outfielder. So who was playing Russian roulette around the diamond? Mauer played two spots for reasons well known and discussed. Parmalee played a couple spots. The rest of the guys who came up and down didn't play significantly anywhere. 18, 19 different lineups to start the season this past season when everyone was healthy. In 2011 Plouffe started three different positions in three different games between the IF and OF. Gardy put Cuddy, a OF at 2B while putting Plouffe, an middle IF in RF (Plouffe having played OF, at the time, once in his whole professional career...so let's put him out there in a major league game). Doumit, catcher, DH, OF...even though he's a disaster out there and Gardy had plenty of OF options. Alexi, a 2B who was also given the starting shortstop job coming into 2011...having had less than 30 starts at the major league level at shortstop. Heck lets put him at 3B some too this year. Punto given the starting shortstop job, but heck, we'll put our starting shortstop over at 3B or 2B so we can give a backup some time. Mauer, our catcher, let's play him at 1B...and heck, throw him in RF too.

Funny article about how HOF hats are chosen... http://www.sbnation.com/2010/7/24/1586171/baseball-hall-of-fame-which-hat-cap-plaque-wear

I only argue it because it means I have trouble with calling him "frontline" I'm pretty liberal with #2/#3 rankings. To me, a number #3 is a guy who often pitches like a #2 but can't be relied upon to be well above average every year (say, Brad Radke). I think Sanchez is a little better than that (but not by much). Hard for us to recognize, seeing as how we haven't had any in so long :-)

+10. It doesn't cost Ryan anything to send a message to Plouffe that he's still closer to a Danny Valencia than a Gary Gaetti in the eyes of the organization at the moment. He's finally shown signs of living up to the potential they saw when they used a first round pick on him waaaayyyy back in 2004, and Ryan doesn't want it going to his head. On the other hand, it wouldn't be terribly strange to bring in a guy like Hannahan. Like most managers today, Gardy doesn't care much for platooning, especially in the infield. But 250 AB's from JH to spell Plouffe, especially against tough righties, wouldn't be a bad thing. He can also fill in at first and either outfield corner, and can even play second in a pinch. And the Twins have historically loved to bring back local boys in the twilight of their careers, especially in down years. 'Like most managers today, Gardy doesn't care much for platooning, especially in the infield?' He constantly moves his players all over the diamond...which, I guess, isn't actually a platoon...more like pick the position you'll be playing today out of a hat...

We have no infielders (3B, SS, 2Bs) on our roster that have proven they are capable major league starters. That includes Carroll, the best of the bunch, who I like but is more suited to super utility. Can any other team in baseball say that?

This is a somewhat circular argument. Part of the reason Mauer batted well with runners on base last year is that the guys in front of him were speedy. Mauer had a .288 BABIP on ground balls, in part because the mere threat of having Span or Revere standing on 1st created a nice hole for him on the 2nd base side. Then there is the fact that Span and Revere both run 1st to 3rd, 1st to home, 2nd to home at a rate higher than league average. Mauer has always batted well with RISP. .343/.460/.498 for his career. And a runner on 1st base isn't considered a batting opportunity with RISP

Oh and Mauer bats way too well with RISP to bat leadoff...

What is acceptable? Revere's .333 OBP was .014 points higher than average. but, my argument all along is that Revere should be extended, and paid, as a 9 hitter, not as a replacement for Span in the order at leadoff. Mauer or Hicks might be the better choice for that. I wanna see how he does upon his return to the leadoff spot...where he'll likely see less fastballs. Again, his power is non-existent, so his OBP needs to be significantly higher than average. If he becomes a #9 hitter, and he won't yet, might not for awhile, that makes it even less important to extend him

What was it last year, 18, 19 different lineups in the first 20 games of the season?

Haren is off the board now. 1 year, 13M...by a team loaded with pitching

I imagine they make sure everyone on the team has multiple gloves available....with Gardy's constant need to move people around all over the diamond. :-) I'll share a post by someone else I found funny: 'Well IMO, keeping Buttera indicates a good chance that Morneau will be traded. Parmalee will be platooned with Mauer at 1B. Mauer will be platooned with Doumit at C. Buttera will be main backup at C. Dozier and Carroll will be platooed at 2B, Florimon, Dozier and Carroll will be platooned at SS. Poofe and Carroll will be platooned at 3B. Willingham, Doumit, and Mauer will be platooned at DH. Willingham and Doumit will be platooed in LF. Revere and Mastroanni will be platooned in CF. Mastroanni and Parmalee will be platooned in RF. Tardy will be so overjoyed that he'll be able to have a different lineup for all 162 games of the season that he'll have the Hap, Hap, Happiest Christmas since Danny Fnnn Kaye!'

I have now. Its a good read but James is hung up on the stat itself and ignoring the broader skill of good baserunning that good basestealers tend to be. First to third, first to home, 2nd to home, tagging on short pop flies, etc. These are all peanut skills in an of themselves but when you can do all of them, and steal 50-60 bases when given full playing time, the peanuts add up quickly. There is also the fact that the Twins are among the worst teams at hitting home runs in an era when homeruns are trending down leaguewide. I'm not sure Revere is quite the good baserunner yet, even with his speed. Saw him take a good lead at 1B, the batter had two strikes and there were two outs (so, he should have know he was off at the crack of the bat), the ball was a clear, no doubt double bouncing all the way to the LF wall (so he would have seen that on his way to 2B). The batter/runner glided into 2B and Revere ended up on 3rd. With his speed he should have cruised into home. He has some work to do and he needs to work on getting on-base at a better clip.

Have you read Bill James' 1982 article entitled 'So What's All the Fuss?'?

' But he has to realize he has to play both sides of the game. I think he's capable."' Is it my imagination that the above comment made by Ryan about Plouffe only seems to apply for this team when it's defensive side that's lacking? How many completely worthless offensive players have we thrown out there over the years and given significant time to because they had a good glove? How many players have we held in the minors due to 'defensive issues'?

'Puck's comment was flat out false and it just piles on the Ben Revere negative stereotype being built and I didn't want it to just let it get left there... Like it was remotely true. His arm is sub par but any impression that runners are flying around the bases on that arm is wrong. There have been times and there will be more times when the arm will give up a base or a run. However... Sub par arm does not mean he would do better running the ball into the infield and trying to tag the advancing runner. Ben can still throw it faster then even players of his speed can run and if he has the ball in his hand. The runner ain't going. I have also seen Ben catch the ball at the wall and throw it to first base on a hop. Granted... more air on it than most but let's not give the impression that players are heading to third at a disturbing percentage. No evidence to support that claim and its a false generalization.' You make it sound like I'm purposely throwing false info out there to dog him. I watched the games too and that's what it seemed like to me. If there's evidence to support that my impression is wrong, and it seems there is from what you've posted, that's fine. But don't act as if I threw stuff out there knowing it was wrong just to dog him. I don't have any agenda when it comes to him. I want them all to be good players. I was just pointing out what it looked like to me. I'm not the first or last guy whose eyes have deceived him. His arm seems to me to be the weakest in baseball...from what I've seen. Whether that's true or not who knows, but it's damn weak I appreciate the info you posted. It's good to see. Makes me feel better about him out there.

'I think Revere's arm is overplayed. Does it hurt the team? Sure, any weak arm in RF/CF is going to hurt the team. Is it significant enough to matter enough to use as an argument to discount his range?' Probably not. I agree

Ben Revere has spent parts of just three seasons in the major leagues, played in a mere 13 games in the first of those three seasons, and qualified for the batting title for the first time in 2012. Yet, he is not only the active career leader among all major leaguers in a specific department, but has a huge lead in that particular area. Ben Revere has had 1,064 major league plate appearances but has not hit a single major league home run. To put that in context, among players who came to the plate in the majors in 2012 yet finished the year with a career home run total of zero, the next 22 highest career plate appearances totals all belong to pitchers (led by Ryan Dempster at 688). After Revere, the next non-pitcher on that list is former Twin Tsuyoshi Nishioka, whose major league career appears to have come to an end after just 254 plate appearances. The next non-pitcher who is expected to appear in the majors in 2013 is Brewers shortstop Jean Segura, a rookie in 2012 who has just 166 major league plate appearances. Ben Revere has not only never hit a home run in the major leagues, he has never flown out to the warning track.

10th best hitter's park in baseball last year.