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cmathewson

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Everything posted by cmathewson

  1. cmathewson
    Maybe I should revise my definition of a good at bat. Maybe I should say he's taking long at bats. Because, you know, the outcome does matter. By my definition, Drew Butera took good at bats. But when he did finally make contact, the ball came off his bat like a Christian Ponder pass in the flat. The difference is, Florimon has a chance to drive the ball after taking several pitches and fouling off others. Drew rarely had that chance. And I should have clarified: I think last year's SS offensive output constitutes failure. But I also think the defense made up for it quite a bit. And clearly the Twins thought the combination was adequate. In any event, my comments about it being the floor reflect the Twins position rather than my own. Of course I'd rather have offense approaching that of Stephen Drew. But it is clear the Twins are indifferent at best about it because they continue to pass up an opportunity to sign him.
  2. cmathewson
    Florimon is taking good at bats. He'll start getting his hits. Give him a few more weeks before giving the job to someone else. Escobar is next in line and then Bartlett. Bartlett belongs on the bench primarily. If he's starting at short at some time this year, things have not gone well. I'd rather call up Santana mid season if both Florimon and Escobar fail. I suppose it depends on how you define failure. To me, what Florimon did last year is the floor. Anything below that for a sustained period constitutes failure in my book. But you have to give him a chance to fail. One week does not constitute a chance.
  3. cmathewson
    He's not good offensively, but he is putting together good at bats. Taking pitches, fouling pitches off, etc. He'll get a few hits here or there. If the rest of the offense keeps hitting like today, it won't matter that much.
  4. cmathewson
    Look at the picture. You have an extra '0' in there.
  5. cmathewson
  6. cmathewson
    Let's not get ahead of ourselves. 1000 wins is one thing, but 10,000?
  7. cmathewson
    Did these pitchers not get enough work in Spring Training? To a man, they have run out of gas in the 6th inning. I blame Worley. Don't give guys innings in the spring if they have zero chance of making the team. You should know that going into the spring.
  8. cmathewson
    Berardino is reporting that Rob Antony said Buxton should resume baseball activities on Wednesday.
  9. cmathewson
    It's a long season. It's never a good idea to draw conclusions from the first week of play. Teams go from playing in 70-degree weather to playing in 30-degree weather. Guys react in varying ways to that. I have maintained that we don't know what we have until June. Feel free to draw sweeping conclusions. Until then, I am content to watch them play and try to figure out what we have.
  10. cmathewson
    Even if Capps was a top closer, I would hesitate to make that move. Relievers are the easiest pieces on a team to replace. Catchers are the hardest. I would consider trading a catcher for a starter, especially a 1-2. But not a closer. In Capps, case, he was not even that good of a closer--more in the Eddie Guardado mold than Joe Nathan. All guts. Those guys are a easy to find. We had a guy like that on the team (Crain) but they refused to consider him for that role.
  11. cmathewson
    OK, let me revise my statement. You only trade catchers when: A. They are not top prospects B. You have a catching surplus C. You get a lot in return I liked the Butera trade because he's a career back-up at best and we had Fryer. I also think Sulbaran is a much better prospect than we could reasonably expect. Similar story with Doumit, who wasn't really a catcher (more of a DH). But I would not like trading Pinto because he's every bit as good as Ramos was (in my book anyway--less power, better hit tool, similar defense) and we don't have any starting catching prospects above single A. I wouldn't jump all over a Pinto for Cole trade. It is a better trade than Ramos for Capps. Cole is a good looking prospect. He'd be behind Meyer and ahead of May. But we have more catching scarcity than pitching scarcity right now, especially in the high minors. So I probably wouldn't do that deal.
  12. cmathewson
    Catchers get hurt. Mauer was the most durable catcher outside of Pierzinski and everybody complained that he was injury prone. One of the reasons you don't trade catchers is because they get hurt. It's a tough job that is only tougher now that every hitter takes five pitches before swinging the bat. Also, pitchers throw a lot harder and guys swing a lot harder than they did just 20 years ago. So foul tips do a lot more damage. It's a war zone back there.
  13. cmathewson
    This. All speculation of what might have been if we had not made that trade becomes counter-factual. Maybe he stays helathy and becomes a fixture behind the plate allowing Mauer to move to third base two years ago. Who knows? You have to evaluate the merits of the trade at the time. You never trade a top catching prospect for a reliever. Ever. Unfortunately, the Twins have done it twice (Wynager for Davis).
  14. cmathewson
    I was watching Gameday and had the same thought on Nolasco. He'd be ahead in the count and he'd throw one belt-high down the middle. He was lucky more guys didn't take him deep. I was also disturbed by his positive assessment of his performance in the post-game interviews. It was bad.
  15. cmathewson
    I'd like to see Wimmers join Buxton on the New Britain train when his time comes. He could finish in Rochester, if all goes well.
  16. cmathewson
    I think it's actually Parmelee, who isn't that far behind Arcia. Arcia had about 50 more PAs than Parmelee last year. Even if Arcia gets hurt for a month, he'll get more PAs than he did last year. I am more worried about a sophomore slump from Arcia than an injury. He has some holes in his swing and every pitcher in the league has seen video of them. So he will need to make adjustments to be even as successful as he was last year, which was good but not great. Worst case, he slumps and hurts the team even more than an injury. I am not a fan of Doumit, so I can't say Fryer or Hermann are all that big a drop from him (all things considered), for a short DL stint. Doumit is a better hitter. But he's such a poor catcher, he is a net negative in my book. (Of course, he isn't even catching anymore, so we unloaded him at the right point.)
  17. cmathewson
    I would have gone with Pinto to hit and Esco to field in the bottom of the inning. But, Gardy has nightmares about needing to go with an emergency catcher, like his current first baseman.
  18. cmathewson
    Byron Buxton
  19. cmathewson
    Hicks.
  20. cmathewson
    I get it. Everything could go wrong. But that is extremely unlikely. More likely, some guys will have two-week stints on the DL in which their understudies replace them. Fryer could replace Suzuki. Mastro could replace Hicks. Romero could replace Plouffe. Beresford could replace Dozier. Those are not catastrophes. They make it less likely that the team will win during those periods. But they don't portend inevitable doom.
  21. cmathewson
    Stay classy San Diego.
  22. cmathewson
    That's reasonable. On the plus side, none of the guys you have questions about is all that great to begin with. So it's not like injuries will do too much damage, with the exception of Hicks.
  23. cmathewson
    Perhaps I did misinterpret the post. It read like a litany of stuff that could go wrong as though it was all expected to go wrong, which is what I objected to. Of course, some stuff is going to happen. I haven't said anything about what I expect. I'm particularly concerned about CF depth in that regard, as I've posted elsewhere. I'm concerned about Willingham's and Kubel's bats. I'm concerned that Plouffe might never become the guy we all hoped he would be when he had those two magical months in 2012. I think Florimon could regress, and not in a good way. Arcia seems a bit too prone to striking out for my taste. Suzuki is not much of a hitter. Even Mauer and Dozier seem vunerable to regression. On the plus side, it's hard for me to imagine Willingham and Kubel being as bad as they were last year. Hicks is also bound to be better. Arcia should benefit from a more consistent venue. Pinto should get more at bats as the year goes along. Mauer should hit better and certainly get more plate appearences than he ever has. Dozier seemed to turn a corner last year. And Florimon still has some offensive upside. The trick is balancing the negative against the positive and coming up with a reasonable projection. I'm not saying I have that figured out yet. But I think the offense will actually be a little better this year.
  24. cmathewson
    I believe it's two years in a row they tanked in September, though not as badly in 2012.
  25. cmathewson
    Well, the reasons they might cite is that Bartlett can pinch run and play center field. I'm not sure how well he can do either relative to Hermann. Somewhat better for sure.
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