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cmathewson

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Everything posted by cmathewson

  1. cmathewson
    I didn't mean to imply that he is terrible. But he will never be a plus defender in the infield because he has a slow first step. So his bat must carry him. And it didn't as much as many of us (me included) thought it would this year. With Sano looming large in his rear-view mirror, he needed a breakout year this year to solidify his position. He had a mediocre year. So other positions are in his immediate future. To me the outfield is the most likely.
  2. cmathewson
    Yes. Much worse. .500 OPS. Never played the position. Still in single A. Dumb idea. You'd go from 1.4 WAR to - 4 WAR, a net less of 5.4 WAR. I could get behind giving Romero a limited try until Sano is ready. If it wasn't for his Visa issue, he'd probably be a September call-up.
  3. cmathewson
    I still don't get why he's OK at first and not third. First is arguably a tougher position than third. You have to have the reactions of a third baseman and field throws and pick-offs. You do get slack on grounders in the hole when you hold guys on. But the better first basemen have range in the hole. If you're not going to hit like a first baseman (and Plouffe struggles to hit even like a third baseman--which is about 50 OPS points below the typical first baseman), and you are not a plus defender over there, you have no business playing there in the majors. Put him in the outfield where his slow-twitch muscles won't be as big of an issue.
  4. cmathewson
    OK, then move Plouffe to LF and make the Hammer the full-time DH. I just don't like Plouffe in the infield. He doesn't have the quickness to be even middle of the pack.
  5. cmathewson
    I think he'll be near the bottom of the arbitration spread you post Seth--closer to $1.4 million, which is not a bad investment for 1.4 WAR. But I don't expect him to be the third baseman in June. I wonder if they could try him in RF again. Arcia's best position is LF. Willingham's is DH. Doumit's is backup C and PH. Mauer's probably 1B going forward. If so, Hermann is your starting catcher. So the only corner job available next year once Sano comes up is RF. He has the arm for it. Maybe he'd have a similar transition to Cuddyer. If not, nontender him after the year.
  6. cmathewson
    I hope this gives him a chance to take an early break and collect himself before going to winter ball. I doubt he'll make the team out of spring training next year because he had about as good a spring as you could hope for this year and he still struggled to start the year. The Twins will be hard pressed to make that mistake again. But if he has a good month or two in Rochester, he'll get the call. It would be great if his sophomore season is as good as Dozier's has been.
  7. cmathewson
    Hrbek.
  8. cmathewson
    I don't like the deal, but there is one thing no one is considering: Ryan traded him to the Pirates so he that he has a chance at a ring. Otherwise, the guy will help the Wings playoff chase and maybe gt a September call-up. He'll be roster filler next year.
  9. cmathewson
    Because he was on the disabled list. He's only been healthy for a couple of weeks. Maybe Ryan wanted to wait until Hammer was healthy to try it.
  10. cmathewson
    You must be, because Willingham has been claimed, according to Phil Miller
  11. cmathewson
    Makes sense considering that he is not going to the AFL. Trade Willy. Move Arcia to left and Plouffe to right.
  12. cmathewson
    How about we pay $1 million of Justin's salary and take their competitive balance pick for 2014?
  13. cmathewson
    Hendriks is no Slowey, not that Slowey ever was any great shakes. But at least he had a couple of good years in the majors. Hendriks has had a couple of good starts in the majors out of 24. In the other 22 starts, he just hasn't had the consistent secondary stuff or the consistent command to get major league hitters out. The difference between AAA hitters and good major league hitters is huge. Major league hitters take close pitches and wait for mistakes. And he doesn't have the focus or something to avoid mistakes. Yeah, he's 24, but I subscribe to the notion that a guy gets three or four chances to succeed, then you give another guy a chance. If he becomes a late bloomer for some other org (a la Paul Abbott), fine. Don't block another guy with a guy who might become something useful. Now, in our case, I don't know who that guy is. So you might as well run him out there. But it's a sad state of affairs when we have to rely on a guy who has maybe a 5% chance of ever being a useful pitcher.
  14. cmathewson
    Buxton, Kepler, Meyer, May, Rosario, Achter, Jones
  15. cmathewson
    This. TR was a good GM for the Dome. With TF (and other new) revenues, he needs to change his mindset on free agents if he wants to win before he retires. If he doesn't do it this offseason, and we suffer another 90-loss season as a result, I hope they show him the door. On the whole point about long-term commitments, we do make very long-term commitments where I work (M&As). We know there will be a certain amount of waste involved. We know some of these M&As will not work out. But if we don't take the risks, we will fail. It's similar to venture capitalists: They plan on one out of five failures. That still gives them four good investments to more than make up for the one failed investment. The MLB has become a much more difficult game than it was when Risk-Averse Ryan could succeed against the big boys. You can't just rely on the farm system anymore. You have to use all the resources available to you. That includes bargain basement FAs (Burton), international signings (Sano), and the draft (Buxton), and high-end FAs (no one).
  16. cmathewson
    Mauer belongs at first. He could win a gold glove over there.
  17. cmathewson
    You might be the only person in Twins Territory who holds those two propositions together. Most of us want to see Mauer get a ring in a Twins uniform. We don't want four or five consecutive 90-loss seasons with the vain hope of future glory.
  18. cmathewson
    I want to believe you. Really I do. I have defended his thriftiness over the years. And it worked when he didn't have much budget. But now that he's flush with cash, I don't understand being overly frugal. I think of my own business decisions. If I have budget, I spend it lest I lose it next year. The only way I can make my company money is by wisely spending my budget. I consider myself a failure if I leave money on the table. So I just don't get leaving $40 million on the table when there were good places to spend it. I will take some risks with the money I have, cause I know it is the only way to produce value for my company. Nobody wins by playing it safe. You can be mediocre. But you can't win. I have yet to see him take risks with money, and that covers almost 20 years of decisions. He sometimes spends what it takes to keep the best players produced by the system. But he never has spent what it took to get a really excellent free agent from outside the organization. And his bargain basement free agents are legendary failures, real embarrassments for the organization. I don't have to name them. Most can say 10 off the top of their heads. The definition of insanity is keep doing the same things and expect different results. I have stopped expecting different results from him. I hope he surprises me. But I am not holding my breath.
  19. cmathewson
    I don't think Ryan and Pohlad are on the same page money wise. Ryan used to share a hotel room with Smith to save Old Man Pohlad a buck. Not 'cause it was required. Just ;cause Ryan's a cheap SOB. And rumor has it, Smith snores and is a serial flatulator. And he still roomed with him. So that's how cheap Ryan is. To the core. Willingham is the only decent FA he's ever signed, and that was a discount after losing Cuddyer. So he probably still counts those pennies in the big jar and smiles.
  20. cmathewson
    Do you do that if he is one foul tip from ending his career and forcing us to eat the rest of his contract? Moving him to 1B is risk management.
  21. cmathewson
    And cows could have wings.
  22. cmathewson
    Buxton isn't Hicks because Buxton is the Adrian Peterson of prospects and Hicks is not. I still like Hicks, but having seen him for a half season, i can say he has a problem that neither work nor coaching can fix. He struggles to make solid contact. If anthing, he has maximized his ability given this usually tagic flaw for a baseball layer by being patient and hitting the ball hard when he does make contact. That takes effort. Hicks is very hard working. he just doesn't have the skills that Buxton has. Few players do.
  23. cmathewson
    I would not have thought it possible prior to the season for him to make the AFL (or the Futures Game, for that matter). But he seems ready to me. The AFL is like AA without the oldsters. There are plenty of raw guys with huge upside there, and he certainly would hold his own. The only other concern is fatigue/injuries. Again, any other player I would say, go home and rest. But something tells me he can handle it. I recall an interview with TR in ST when he said (to paraphrase), he looks like he put on 20 pounds of muscle in the offseason and could run a marathon. He certainly isn't showing signs of fatigue. Far from it. So I would not be averse to challenging him. It could be a stepping stone experience that he can draw upon in AA next year. Worst case, he struggles and learns from it.
  24. cmathewson
    They didn't have the pitching they expected to. If Meyer had stayed healthy, they'd be looking at playoffs.
  25. cmathewson
    It's situational. If he's on second with less than 2 outs, stealing third is a good option. Otherwise, not. One reason he hasn't stolen third much is he has almost as many triples as doubles. Why steal third when you can take it on hits that would otherwise be doubles?
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