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halfchest

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Everything posted by halfchest

  1. halfchest
    Latest report said he was going to be playing outfield and some 2B it sounds like. Yes, Chance, you are correct because he was assigned to the AA roster he has to wait for them to complete 50 games so likely he'll debut later this week. I am guessing the plan is New Britain. He really doesn't have much to prove after tearing up High A and holding his own in New Britain last year. That and the fact that as jorgenswest pointed out, theres' not a lot of room for a middle infielder right now at High A. I'm still hoping they keep him at 2B even with the emergence of Dozier. Even if he does end up in the outfield for the Twins it would be a nice asset to have a guy that can play 2B and start in the outfield. Plus he is worth a heck of a lot more in a trade if he stays at 2B.
  2. halfchest
    AT this point, I just want to see him say up and play every day. His minor league track record suggests he'll improve. As far as defense my understanding of defensive metrics is that you need at least 2-3 years of innings for those to mean anything. It seemed pretty reliable sources pegged him as a plus defender in the minors as well. He's also flashed the leather at times so I guess I still think he's got a shot to be a solid everyday contributor. Let's not forget about this time last year Dozier was looking like a bust and now he may very well be one of the top 2B in the league. Hicks has a similar story and similar rushed timeline/getting sent down. Dozier was playing awesome defense at least. Let's let this one play out til the end of the year, no real other options to send out there anyhow.
  3. halfchest
    I haven't gotten to watch him enough but given his minor league track record I still have faith that he can continue to improve. The comparison to Span and Revere is great as well. I remember running numbers last year and post his awful start where he went like 1 for 40 or something awful like that he actually put up better OPS or right in line with those two for the rest of the year. Again, not that he was good but offensively those two wouldn't have added much more than him. The defense is troubling, in no way am I a scout and I honestly don't watch games as often as I did a few years ago prior to having children. The reports from reputable sources had him pegged as a plus defender though during his minor league career. My understanding of advanced metrics is that you really don't know much until a player has at least 2-3 years of numbers to look at right? He definitely flashes the leather from time to time with stealing home runs last year. Again, the guy is still young so I'm holding out hope he'll start putting up better numbers. Maybe he becomes a nice 4th outfielder once Buxton gets up here if his bat doesn't play in the corners. I'm hoping he can get up to a .750-.800 OPS and add in plus defense in a corner spot. I love the idea of having Buxton and Hicks out there together to cover 3/4s of the field and allow for a guy like Parmelee or Arcia to be playing the other corner.
  4. halfchest
    Good article, makes a person feel warm inside to know we have some talent waiting and looking ready for the big leagues. Glad that when one of our pitchers goes down, and they will at some point we don't have to rely on AAAA filler to replace them like last year. Don't sleep on Gilmartin either, He's been looking good at AA, part of what I'm looking forward to in a May/Meyer/Darnell callup is the chance for Gilmartin to move up to AAA.
  5. halfchest
    The lack of K's concerns me as well but it is a small sample. He was over a k per inning last year as well. Still about a 3/1 K/BB which is great. No one can get a hit on him opponents batting average was .169 last year and is .184 this year. There's a lot to like so far with our new prospect but like some I'll feel much better if his K rate starts creeping back up close to a K per inning as the year goes on.
  6. halfchest
    I stepped away for a minute last inning. What happened between Deduno and Hernandez? Did Deduno argue a call? or just start walking off when he thought he had a strikeout>
  7. halfchest
    There will always be outliers in these formula but it is fascinating as I believe overall they are pretty accurate. When looking at individuals there will be a decent amount of error but if you look at an entire team the predictions are more likely to be on. There will be some players that out hit and then others the under hit the projections to equal it out. That said, I was at least somewhat skeptical of Dozier and there almost has to be some regression coming soon. If not, holy crap, he's on pace for what? 35-40 homeruns? That would shock me. That said, I think some of his homers will be replaced by doubles and he'll still end up 750 - 800 OPS.
  8. halfchest
    The combo of his play last year at AAA and this year at MLB are at least encouraging. Can't say I'm hyped that our SS woes are behind us but at the very least he can hopefully be a stopgap that either sticks or becomes a good utility guy for us.
  9. halfchest
    I really don't think any of these comments are out of line by Antony or Gardy. They say the kid needs to fire it up a little bit and would benefit from more studying of the opposing pitcher and having a better gameplan. It's odd because a lot of times patience at the plate is a good thing but he seems to take pitches anytime he gets that count in hopes of a walk rather than working a walk. Does that make sense? Sounds like he needs a little better eye so he can stop taking those third strikes as often, make the pitcher work a bit more.
  10. halfchest
    Not to defend the front office, but they also were planning on Buxton starting at AA this year and many of us wouldn't have been shocked for him to be pressing for the big leagues by sometime in June if he continued to progress like last year. To me, he was part of the backup plan. The injuries to Hicks and Buxton were tough to foresee. However, once they knew Buxton was hurt it's almost unforgiveable to cut Pressley/Mastroianni knowing we lack depth behind Hicks and that Hicks isn't proven himself. I was ok with what we brought into training camp MLB(Hicks/Pressley) AAA(Maistro) AA(Buxton) but keeping Bartlett over Pressley seemed dumb then and now it's come back to bite them.
  11. halfchest
    I'm mostly joking with this . . . mostly.
  12. halfchest
    I struggle to really defend Aaron Hicks but look at Dozier, he struggled quite a bit beginning of his second year in the bigs and then turned it around in June. As long as we don't really have a better viable option at AA or AAA to take over for Hicks, I say let it ride. That said, I would not cry foul if he was demoted and was fully in favor of starting the year with Pressley/Mastroianni as our CF combo and Hicks playing everyday in AAA. Also, at what point do you send Hicks down to High A and tell him to loosen up his arm, he's about to become a pitcher.
  13. halfchest
    This has just been a much more entertaining team to watch this year. Last year was just awful. Consider we've only used 6 starters (not counting Kris Johnson's double header start). The arms have stayed relatively healthy and even the ones with higher ERA's have had enough good starts mixed in to make them useful. I'm confident that Nolasco and Hughes will keep it up and anchor this rotation. Still hopeful that Gibson can get that K rate up at some point here. If he does that he could really settle into a nice groove. If not, he may be the return of Nick Blackburn. (hopefully the 4.00 ERA version, not the I can't handle AA bats one). I like that we have young guys that are hopefully more than just AAAA arms at AAA in Meyer, May and Darnell this year. Makes me more confident that we can replace guys.
  14. halfchest
    That should read Friday and Sunday. . . My edit feature never works.
  15. halfchest
    not to get off topic but just glancing at boxscores. Dang Casey Fien got a couple impressive holds on Friday facing Hunter, Cabrera, Martinez. Any word on his injury?
  16. halfchest
    Even his bad starts at the beginning of the year were somewhat encouraging. He wasn't getting knocked out after 2 innings and he would put together 4-5 innings of good pitching and things just went south. One of his poor but most encouraging starts was like 2nd or 3rd where he gave up 4 runs in the first and a lot of pitches but came back out to pitch 4 shutout innings. Nothing great, but good to see a guy come back out after a rough first inning and help his team out a bit, give them a shot to get back in it and save the bullpen. Kinda wish they woulda let him go one more on Friday. Maybe had to do with the heart of the order coming in and wanting to come at them with a fresh arm.
  17. halfchest
    I'm pretty sure Bailey signed an extension with the Reds . . . otherwise I would agree with the plan to go sign Bailey. As Kab21 said too, decent chance one or two of these guys get extended prior to free agency. The longer those teams wait though the better chance we see more of them hit free agency. I wouldn't even advocate for going after one of them if not for the fact thatwe have the money to spare and none of our big time guys is going to get expensive anytime soon. Most of our big time guys are still in the minors. Dozier is about the only guy currently on this team that could start costing us more soon. Even he won't get crazy expensive. I think most of us agree thought that it's not the right time, nor is he the right player to go after at this time. Now, next year . . . David Price anyone? Let's say he stays with Tampa all year. He's awesome and only has one year left of control. Would he be attainable for Kohl Stewart + Eddie Rosario in a year? THis is assuming Stewart has a big year and Rosario comes back strong. Would the Twins even do that? It would obviously have to be like the Santana trade where he gets a huge extension as well. Depending on how things shake out the rest of this year, the Twins very well could be in a position to make a huge move like that this offseason. Any other top of the rotation types that may be on the trade block soon?
  18. halfchest
    I hate how right you are here. Although we keep trending towards spending a bit more so we can always hope. I kinda feel Shields might be our best bet. Due to his age I dont' think anyone gives him a 7 year deal but I could totally see him getting 20-25 over 4 years. It's a risk but I would be ok with it.
  19. halfchest
    Ubaldo, Ervin, Garza, and Nolasco were the top guys this year. Next year the top guys at this point are Sherzer, Masterson, Shields and Lester, oh and Ervin. I guess we can argue about the lower tier guys being better or not and I don't have a strong opinion on them but there's no doubt just looking at top 4 that this years is better. If you include Tanaka I suppose they get closer but still I'll take Scherzer, Masterson, Shields, Lester, and Ervin over Tanaka, Ubaldo, Garza, Ervin, Nolasco 10 out of 10 times.
  20. halfchest
    I think he's going to cost too much. This could be the type of move we make in 2015 or 2016 for a similar pitcher. Right now I hold and with all our excess money hopefully we can throw enough at one of the guys scheduled to be a free agent next year that has similar top of the rotation ability without giving up prospects. Twins still should not have a very expensive roster next year. Willingham, Correia, and Burton will all be off the books (15.5 million). I'm assuming Dozier will get more expensive, Plouffe may as well but nothing inhibiting. My guess is those three guys leaving can be easily replaced from within by Arcia, Meyer/May/Darnell, and one of a number of our relief prospects. This leaves a lot of money to play with and again go after a starter. This also assumes we cut bait on Pelfrey in the offseason or move him to the pen. Lots of time left on that decision. Right now, Masterson, Scherzer, Shields, Lester, Ervin Santana, Liriano!, McCarthy. I know it's early and some of these guys might extend but it's looking like a much better FA class next year and the Twins have the money to spend on one of the above guys. A 2015 rotation headed by one of these guys Nolasco, Hughes, Gibson, Meyer doesn't seem so bad huh? So no, I don't spend the prospects on a guy at this point with what looks to be a stellar starting pitcher free agent class next year.
  21. halfchest
    I didn't look back at game logs but Guerrier was doing really well in AA and I think he just had one really awful appearance in AAA which happens to a lot of pitchers. I don't have a problem bringing him up, he's a proven major league reliever, might come in handy. So I don't blame them for bringing him up. I don't think it's a bad idea to get Darnell back starting games again either. He's still a young guy, could be a starter, if they don't feel they have a spot for him currently, the best plan is to get him back to starting. That said, I'd like to see some other moves to improve this roster and get back to 12 pitchers ASAP.
  22. halfchest
    Ummmm . . . the Redwings are in Rochester, NY not Rochester, MN. Maybe I missed some sarcasm or wit in this comment. That or you just didn't realize it, which I won't fault you. Prior to following minor leagues I thought the Redwings were in Rochester, MN as well. . . . the more you know.
  23. halfchest
    Brett Lee did he get injured? Called up a level? What did I miss?
  24. halfchest
    Secrets to Gibsons success: 17% Infield Fly ball percentage. That's crazy high compared to his history and in this small sample that's a lot of outs. .273 BABIP. While not insanely low it's 30 - 50 points lower than projections and last year his was .350. No homeruns - mentioned it above just reiterating it. Reason for optimism? His k-rate is awful at 10% - I'm optimistic this will improve as it's a small sample and his career minor league K-rate in the minors was between 20 and 30%, even last year he put up better strikeout numbers. His BB- rate also seems a bit out of whack, I expect that to go down. His GB rate seems for real and could even improve given his history. I don't think they track groundball rates in the minors but he's been known for that as long as I can remember. I'm a big Kyle Gibson fan so until he implodes, I'll have faith he'll keep it up and the peripherals will start to back up his performance.
  25. halfchest
    That's got me concerned too. It's nice to see his shiny ERA, 6.0 IP average and positive win/loss but that lack of K's is scaring me. I worry about him blowing up at any time here. Hopefully the K's are coming soon and the BB's will go down again. I think he's capable of putting up a 2/1 K/B ratio with 6.0 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9. Nothing amazing but that coupled with his groundball abilities will help him continue to put up around a 3.5-4.0 ERA I would think. The numbers I worry about trending the other way is HR's (only pitcher with 30+ innings in the majors to not allow a homer yet) and BABIP (.270 . . . last year was .350, guessing it'll end up somewhere in the middle of that eventually)
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