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cmathewson

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Everything posted by cmathewson

  1. cmathewson
    This. I'd say +8 is the floor. +12 is about the best we can reasonably expect, giver or take.
  2. cmathewson
    I like May a lot. I still have hope for Wimmers. I think Baxendale has a shot. I like Melotakis. Eades has a chance to move quickly. All of those guys are mid-to-back-of-the-rotation guys. But you need those guys too. The top prospects could move more quickly than young guys typically do. Berrios was supposed to be on the fast track. Thorpe could join him. Stewart is very advanced for his age. Gonsalves is a comer. Point is, they have more depth than they've had in a long time. They can afford to lose Worley and chalk it up as a failed experiment. When you can't find room for a guy in Rochester, it's no big loss.
  3. cmathewson
    This. I think his floor is no worse than Doumit. His ceiling is higher. Not embarrassing, unless you think he'll hit like he did at the start of spring training all year. If he hits like that, he'll be gone by June and we'll move Willingham to DH and call up Ortiz or somebody to play left field.
  4. cmathewson
    I don't know why they need to be so lefty dominant. Colabello at least can platoon with Kubel, who is historically mediocre against lefties, and worse the last few years. Parmelee doesn't really have a role now, except perhaps platooning with Willingham. But he's not a liability against righties. My guess is Parmelee is like Diamond. They will try to find a taker until the last day of spring. If they can't, DFA. Gardy has pushed for Bartlett's versatility, but he just doesn't hit enough. He's a little better the last week, yet still not good enough. And he never had much power. Bartlett might restructure again. Or he might go home. He has less than a week to decide. It's up to him.
  5. cmathewson
    Bartlett will probably opt out at the end of spring. They are actively shopping Diamond, who is not likely to be on the team even if they can't trade him. Suzuki will be a backup by the All Star break.
  6. cmathewson
    It's not as pitching starved as you might think. It was in 2011, when the best prospects in the system were recovering from TJ surgery. Since then, they've added several top 100 prospects while the others have recovered. It's now one of the best systems in baseball for pitching.
  7. cmathewson
    There's really no comparison between the two pitchers. Gibson has the best stuff in the rotation. Worley has very little stuff at all. Worley hasn't been successful at any level since 2011. We haven't seen a guy dominate AAA like Gibson did last year for as long as I can remember. And it's a bit unfair to blame him for TJ surgery. Worley learned a trick pitch and had a blip in his career until he lost the feel for it. Gibson is a former top prospect who would be in his third major league season but for TJ.
  8. cmathewson
    He's the sixth starter at Rochester, behind Meyer, May, Johnson, Gilmartin and Darnell. Also, if they had claimed him, they would have needed a roster spot. He gained value when he cleared waivers. And who knows, maybe it was a Terry Mulholland kind of amount.
  9. cmathewson
    I don't think it was ever a competition. They had a gentleman's agreement.
  10. cmathewson
    I would characterize it as glass-half-empty fans vs glass-with-a-mouthful-of-backwash fans. I have only seen one glass-half-full post.
  11. cmathewson
    I don't have a lot of faith in Parm. He has one very big hole in his swing: He can't hit the belt-high fastball. Not surprisingly, he gets a steady diet of them, and he makes a lot of outs. I hate to lose a former first rounder, but I think Kubel has the better chance to succeed, despite his slow start in spring training.
  12. cmathewson
    I'm not one to entertain highly unlikely scenarios. The odds of one of those players failing are decent. The odds of all those players failing in the same year are slim.
  13. cmathewson
    I've seen enough spring training a to be highly skeptical of drawing conclusions from practice games. We really won't know what we have until June. On the plus side, we start the season against the White Sox and Cleveland rather than rather than the Tigers and Red Sox. Maybe we'll get off on the right foot.
  14. cmathewson
    First of all, he'll catch more than that. Second, Suzuki will not DH. Beyond that, I did say it seemed silly. I'm just paraphrasing what Gardy said.
  15. cmathewson
    Gardy confirmed today that the Twins will go with 12 pitchers and two catchers. Also confirmed: Escobar, Presley, Kubel. So it's between Colabello and Parmelee for the bench bat.
  16. cmathewson
    That's the clincher. Guys will struggle. Guys will get hurt. But the 6-10 slots on the depth chart are significantly better: Deduno, Diamond, Meyer, Johnson, and May.
  17. cmathewson
    I agree that Pinto should ultimately be the starting catcher, some time this year. But there's no rush. When he is ready, he'll get his opportunity. Probably in June. As for the DH thing, it is silly. But it isn't just about losing the DH when he subs for Suzuki. It's also about wear and tear. He likes to give his catchers full days off. If he uses his catchers as the DH, he thinks they'll wear down faster, probably because he saw that with both Doumit and Mauer. I still thinks it's strange when we're talking about a 25 year old. But that's at least part of his rationale.
  18. cmathewson
    I think that's a fair assessment. Not sure how interested Bartlett is to play in AAA. When I was at the Twins Rays game last Tuesday, several Rays fans were talking about how he turned down a job to coach in the Rays organization to give the majors one more shot. He might prefer to stay home in SW Florida with his family and wait for the GCL season than go to the minors. But that can wait until the end of spring. If someone gets injured, he probably makes the team. Otherwise he goes home.
  19. cmathewson
    Guys like him can be valuable bench players in case of day-to-day injuries. You need depth in center and short.
  20. cmathewson
    Brian Dozier Josamil Pinto Aaron Hicks Oswaldo Arcia Kyle Gibson That's five players who have not had a full year of success and have decent odds of doing so in 2014. You are free to anticipate their collective failure. It is your unsubstantiated opinion. But you can't deny that it is three more than they had at this time last year.
  21. cmathewson
    Bartlett has played all of two innings in center field in Spring training. I would not want him out there on a regular basis.
  22. cmathewson
    Except Presley is out of options. It makes little sense to thin our CF depth in order to keep Bartlett around. As of today, they have just one roster spot open for Kubel. Maybe they could trade Diamond between now and the end of spring. If so, they could open a spot for Bartlett. But they still would lose Presley to a waiver claim, which would mean Mastro and then nobody until Buxton is ready. They need Presley in case of injury.
  23. cmathewson
    Most guys struggle when they first arrive in the majors. Some of them do better in their second chances, others do not. You never know if you don't give them a second chance.
  24. cmathewson
    The way I look at it, Nolasco, Hughes, Pelfrey and Gibson just need to be better than the likes of DeVreis, Hernandez, Worley, Diamond, etc. That seems practically certain. I think the analysis of the offense is also somewhat flawed. A healthier year from Willingham's, a full season of Arcia and Pinto, a better season form their center fielders, first baseman and third baseman will more than offset the losses of Doumit and Morneau, who both managed to hit about replacement level last year. It won't be a great offense, but it will be a bit better, not worse. I will take the over.
  25. cmathewson
    If Bartlett makes it, it's because of his versatility. As much as I like him, I hope they take the best right handed bat instead. And that is Colabello. With Hermann going down, the possibility of Pinto DHing diminishes (given Gardy's penchant). That means they need a good right handed stick to DH. Bartlett is not that guy. And I can't see him instead of Presley either. He's out of options, and they would likely lose him, further thinning their center field ranks. Two innings of spring training doesn't make you a center fielder. Ergo, Bartlett is toast. the interesting call is Kuble vs Parmelee. Berardino had a great interview with him today and it hints that Kubel is the guy, but he will have to play more in the field than he has all spring.
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