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cmathewson

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Everything posted by cmathewson

  1. cmathewson
    When you offer a guy a contract, it is common to do medical due diligence. These can inlcude medical exams, MRIs, live tryouts, and sharing medical histories. For example, the Twins had better medical reports on Pelfrey than Baker, so they focused on Pelfrey.
  2. cmathewson
    The angst comes from just how highly regarded the individuals on the FA market were. Some of us relied solely on fielding-independent stats, others on innings or injury histories or relative age, or ballpark effects or the quality of the team catching the ball behind them or, etc. Contrary to popular belief, it is not an exact science. And there were a dozen pitchers that were close enough to make an argument. So we did. The gist of the other argument was about who would even listen to our offers. According to Antony, many had other reasons besides money to sign where they did, so there weren't as many viable options as there appeared to be. According to Antony again, they talked tot he agents of every free agent pitcher and offered a lot of contracts, most of which were turned down out of hand. Some of them were pulled back with medical reports and such. The end result was a smaller than a handful. Oh well. Ironically, TR got most of the flack because he spent less than his budget. I'm sure he would have received flack for wasting money if he had chosen some other pitcher with marginally better peripherals. He was in a no-win situation. He chose the guys his scouts told him were undervalued. I can't blame him too much for that because it wouldn't affect winning or losing this year in any significant way anyway.
  3. cmathewson
    That's why I was not upset about not signing Marcum. Not only were the Twins concerned about his health, nobody wanted to sign him. And the Mets' contract is structured as though they expected him to miss much of the season.
  4. cmathewson
    The article that formed the basis of this post even mentions that at the end, as a cautionary tale. Apparently, the poster didn't bother to read to the end.
  5. cmathewson
    Dare I say it, but they should consider making an arrangement with Boston for Pressly. He's really the only free cog out there right now.
  6. cmathewson
    It goes beyond immaturity. It's reckless endangerment. Todd Bertuzzi wasn't being immature when he tackled a guy from behind without the puck and drove his head into the ice. He was a trying to injure him. He was rightly suspended for the rest of the season and prosecuted for assault. I use an obvious case to prove a point. And this is not as severe. But it's the same principle. If you try to hurt someone, you should be ejected and suspended. If that was in the major leagues, the pitcher would have been ejected, fined and suspended. Instead, the hitter is ejected before he can touch home plate. Then his manager is ejected. Then his pitcher is ejected for retaliating. Meanwhile, the guy who caused the whole thing is still pitching. Bush league.
  7. cmathewson
    For this reason alone, I want Wood. Wait, that didn't come out right. Anyway, I hear he has a good fork ball, which starts at the waist and drops to the knees.
  8. cmathewson
    Here's a good article by Brandon Warne of ESPN1500: Warne: It's early but investment in Kevin Correia looks like a good one - Minnesota Twins news | 1500 ESPN Twin Cities ? Minnesota Sports News & Opinion (Twins, Vikings, Wolves, Wild, Gophers) | Sportswire: Minnesota Twins
  9. cmathewson
    This guy not only threw at Sano's head in retaliation for a prior homer against in (in a different game), the whole Cardinals bench proceeded to taunt Sano about the attempted beaning the entire at bat. When he homered, he gave them some smack back to the dugout and was ejected. The umpire should be fired.
  10. cmathewson
    I didn't comment on Santana or Dempster because I thought the point of this thread was just to post numbers. But since others are doing it... Dempster's true cost is in years, not dollars this year. As another poster said, he wasn't much of an option. I'm not sure we could have matched the Angels' offer for Santana. The closest thing we have to what the Royals gave up is Tonkin. I certainly would not have traded Tonkin for one year of Santana. We're going to need him when we have the horses to contend.
  11. cmathewson
    The Royals are getting their money's worth so far ($13M + a top lefty relief prospect). 2-1 4 starts, 29 innings, 2.48 ERA The Red Sox are too ($13.25M): 0-2 4 starts 24 innings, 3.38 ERA 12 K/9
  12. cmathewson
    No one made any conclusions I see what you did there: The nondenial-denial-nondenial = denial trick.
  13. cmathewson
    I don't see it that way. From where I sit, he got away from the guy he's been his whole career and was lost up there. How did this happen? It started right away, when he had five called third strikes in the first series on pitches he probably never had called on him. These pitches are not really hittable with his swing (being several inches off the plate), but he started swinging at them and either missing them or making easy outs. In the three-strikeout game that Nick mentions, he was expanding the strike zone all over the place. So he took the night off (the last game Mastro played) and spent extra time in the cage with Bruno instead, to get back to the hitter he had been last year and in spring training. So far so good. Even his outs have been well stroked. And he's taking his walks. Hopefully it translates into more success. One thing that is really odd about all his walks (he's second on the team in walks) is, normally when a guy is below the Mendoza line, pitchers don't bother to waste pitches on him. For example, when Butera was forced into everyday duty, pitchers just said "here it is, hit it" and he did, flying out at a prodigious rate. So why didn't they challenge Hicks more? Because advanced scouts noticed how he was swinging at balls out of the zone, so the pitchers kept throwing him those pitches. Now that he's taking them (and the umps aren't calling them anymore), pitchers will need to challenge him more. And he should have better pitches to hit.
  14. cmathewson
    They are both playing very well. FWIW, I think Florimon has better range. Escobar has steadier hands. They have similar arms. Their bats are similar to this point. Escobar should hit better over time because he has a shorter swing and surprising power. But until Florimon regresses offsnsively, I think you stay the course. Every argument to change is based on small samples and marginal issues like a two-year age difference. Range is the most important thing and Florimon has more. Neither is the shortstop of the future. Either would be a decent stop gap until that shortstop arrives. If it's Santana, that's two years tops. If it's Polanco or Goodrum, that's four years, tops. Neither will have regressed much due to age by then. Neither will be expensive by then.
  15. cmathewson
    blerp
  16. cmathewson
    No, it was a .756 OPS with 24 HRs and 19 doubles. And a significant wrist injury. And spending the first two months on the bench.
  17. cmathewson
    he botched a slow roller??!!! Dfa him. He's worthless!
  18. cmathewson
    Koskie did. He was very rough when he had his first full year in 1999 as a 26 year old. He eventually got very good at the position.
  19. cmathewson
    Why do the Pirates want the Hammer? I could see them having interest in Arcia, but I look for contenders to go after Willingham, and then only around the break.
  20. cmathewson
    Are you thinking of the Pujols grounder? I'm not sure Superman could have caught that one cleanly. I give him credit for getting in front of that missal and redirecting it to Florimon, who got the out. Plouffe made a couple of errors in the Angels series. Otherwise, he's been steady. He has not cut off as many balls as I would like in the hole. But he has cut off a few sure doubles down the line. I think he's playing closer to the line because Florimon is so good in the hole. He's also played the bunt well. It's not a bad team if the only thing we can complain about is Plouffe. How's that rotation doing again?
  21. cmathewson
    Fair enough. It's early. Not even a whole season of games. But he's got work to do. He doesn't have the softest hands. That's for sure. But he's pretty quick for a third baseman. One thing Sano has (according to both Mint and Molly) is soft hands. His problem is not catching the ball. It's getting to it and throwing it. He's got a rocket arm, which sometimes missfires. And he's really thick in the legs, so his first step is relatively slow. I'm not sure that will ever improve. But I hope he can be quick enough to stay there.
  22. cmathewson
    Last year was his first year of playing the position as a regular. In the interview, Mint basically said what I want to say here: Namely, it takes time to transition from short to third. And it takes practice. What's true of Sano is true of Plouffe. He is still learning the position. But he's much better this year than last. He had a chance to play exclusively at third this spring, and the extra work shows. He's no Beltre, but he's no Cabrera either. Besides, you can't draw many strong conclusions from a UZR/150 sample of roughly a half a season. He's improved. My eyes tell me he's about league average defensively. And he's above average offensively. He's not the third baseman of the future. But for the present, he can hold the position for a couple of years until Sano is ready. Let's not rush Sano. Let's make sure he's ready when he comes up. We don't want him merely holding his own. We want him to dominate.
  23. cmathewson
    I think he'll be up in September and in the rotation. I think he'll take Gibson's spot when Kyle is shut down with his innings load. I think he'll be in Rochester after the AA All-Star Game. With an asset like Meyer, you don't worry about the 40-man or starting the clock or any of that stuff.
  24. cmathewson
    Were you awake in the 90s? It seems all Ryan did was make waiver claims, dump the ones that didn't work and trade the ones that did. It got really old. I much prefer giving the kids a chance, even if it means more short-term losing, just as I preferred '99 to any year after 93.
  25. cmathewson
    Deal. For the semanticist in you, when I said he was "likely" I didn't say "more likely". Just that it was more than a mere possibility. Still, I'll take even odds and the stakes you specify. We can wake the moderator in 2020, if the Internets still exist. As for the tag: I'm sure you're aware that it refers to the gent in my avatar, when he said in the movie that he'd been planning to fake his own drowning for years in order to steal a kiss from the lifeguard.
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