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Old Twins Cap

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Everything posted by Old Twins Cap

  1. Old Twins Cap
    Not a fan of this. Baseball, and its history in America, has nothing to do with National Defense or any of the armed forces. They are trying, very hard and spending a lot of tax money, to create this alliance between baseball, the national anthem and political decisions that throw our enlisted men into war in far-flung regions of the world. It begs the question: Why? Why does the US Defense establishment seek to wrap itself in the legitimacy of American baseball clubs? Is it because they fear the fact Americans might object to or resist their adventures abroad? Do these wars need baseball in order to ensure their support? Baseball belongs to everyone and anyone and does not choose sides in political entanglements nor belong to any particular branch of the US government. Raise the flag, stand for the National Anthem. And do so for whatever reason or rationale you believe in as an American.
  2. Old Twins Cap
    Hey, wake up. If Nolasco pitches well, it's YUGE for the Twins. They got a contract with this guy. We bought stock in Nolasco. If that stock is valued, then its great for the Twins. End of story. What they do with that Nolasco stock is a different question. But for now, let us all kneel at night and ask God for one basic favor: please make Ricky Nolasco a highly effective and desirable pitcher so that we can off-load him for some decent AA reliever. Amen.
  3. Old Twins Cap
    You need to link to the Chicago broadcast of that Thome home run. Hawk Harrelson "blah, blah, blah". Pitch. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Hawk? Hawk?
  4. Old Twins Cap
    If Park can't hit MLB pitching, Vargas gets traded, Mauer is injured, Plouffe goes to a funeral, Sano pulls a hammy, Kepler isn't ready and they don't like the looks of their AAA 1B, Quentin gets the call.
  5. Old Twins Cap
    Recall that they tried EE in the outfield for a number of games -- he looked terrible out there, waiting to play the balls after they hit the ground or the wall. So, there's that in terms of super-utility. Compact body, compact swing, plenty of pop. Nothing flashy. We used to call that a ball-player when I was a kid.
  6. Old Twins Cap
    The Twins tanked alright. They hired Bill Smith.
  7. Old Twins Cap
    Not a shot at Mauer. It's Twins management that negotiated, signed and refuses to deal with the impact of that contract.
  8. Old Twins Cap
    This kid will be playing 1B in the not too distant future, and I'll bet he will be a good defender. But, for the next couple years, he will be messing around in RF. Hope that he can play well out there. He is 22 years old and a hell of an athlete. Is that mismanagement? No, it's about having Joe Mauer on a $23MM annual commitment.
  9. Old Twins Cap
    Sano to RF for now. All else will happen as exigencies arise. My bet: He plays outfield and DH until the Twins need a 1B. Then he plays 1B and DH from then on. He was a big man to play 3B. He's a big man to play RF. He is the Goldilocks size for 1B. But, we got Mauer.
  10. Old Twins Cap
    Man, thanks for the history. I lived through it, all those names, dancing on the tables at Liquor Lyles in '87, won another series in '91. People forget, the Twins has a great regular season in '92, that was very fun season to be a Twins fan. Just didn't make it because of a great Toronto team which the Twins had surprised in '91. Knoblauch turned out to be a head case in the end, of course. (Read on the internet.) But, he was a key player in those early '90s teams and a good little hitter especially. These are like family trees, only made up of baseball players. Very fun to look back on.
  11. Old Twins Cap
    Twins are not contenders in 2016, unless they prove they are on the field. I would not make any of these moves now. Wait until the season is two months in, see what you got, try some of the kids in MiLB, especially in the bullpen, add, subtract, deal with injuries and positional depth. Make any changes in June or July. Yeah, I know, maybe June or July the Twins are out of it. But, you know what, if that's true, they were never contenders to begin with. In MLB, you don't win on paper, or in projections, or in theory. You win it on grass. And when you sense you have a chance, you build in what you need through trades.
  12. Old Twins Cap
    This idea that somehow GMs play a multi-level chess match through the press, pretending to move players to the outfield when they are really just trying to increase the trade potential for an infielder -- that's just crazy online thinking. GMs don't casually jerk players around. They don't make fake moves hoping some other GM will give them more for a league-average player. No team is going to give more or less for a player based on the other team's situation. GMs job is to put together his team. They are judged on how their team performs. If they make a move, they better get quality back. It's straight forward. Plouffe stays. He's a piece of the puzzle. The Twins have pieces they can field a team with, trade from, and replace injuries with. For once.
  13. Old Twins Cap
    "Gotta keep that pop" is the quote from Sano. Does he mean soda?
  14. Old Twins Cap
    All of this, in baseball, face it, it's about Jersey sales to fans. Now you need to go get another jersey, with another name, just like your other one. Twins make money on this. Meanwhile, I don't "see" any improvement of the actual product inside the jersey. Yawn. I'm sure I'll say to myself watching Friday highlights, "There's those ugly red jerseys again." Just give us a winner.
  15. Old Twins Cap
    Bad idea. Bad for the Mets -- did you watch the World Series last year? -- bad for the Twins -- we got Buxton. Next.
  16. Old Twins Cap
    I'm not an expert on GMs and what they look at, but Plouffe is going to Arb this week and will likely settle with the Twins at @7M. I'm not sure, if you are the GM, you trade for Plouffe until after his contract is settled. After this week, it will be. Who wants him? Sure, he's injury protection for the Twins lineup, a nice luxury to have. But, he's also a league average player at a position the Twins have a potential game changing all-star. So, lots of cringing to this point that the Twins haven't made a move, but maybe you don't make a move like this until after the Arb contract is settled.
  17. Old Twins Cap
    For the record, everyone coming to the Twins camp is in "the best shape of their career", whether ripped, jacked, humbled or swollen. That's the way spring goes: optimism, hope, glory and gumption. Gotta love it. And take it with a mountain sized grain of salt.
  18. Old Twins Cap
    Watching Arcia, he has terrible body language when he himself is not doing well. Not something you want on a team. He sulks, he walks slowly on and off the field, he looks at the ground. Then, when he hits a home run, he becomes animated and happy. He's a young man that needs to stop thinking so much of himself and his own performance and start figuring out how he can help the team -- then enjoy it when the team does well. He will have opportunities to contribute but it is about Team and not Him.
  19. Old Twins Cap
    I hear that if Chapman's suspension is 30 games or so, he still qualifies as a Free Agent after 2016 and the Yanks have to rebid on his services. So, for any team, this is a partial season rental. The Yanks of course, can throw millions at him after this year if it works out. Thus, four players of middling potential is not a great haul, but, given the circumstances, if you are Cincy, what are you going to do? He's still likely a free agent after the season, and he's shot up a neighborhood. And, he might come out flat after being suspended till May. Yeah, it seems like the Yanks mopped the floor with this deal, but, at the end of the day, the Reds held a poor hand and bailed. Remember, the value of a closer on a rebuilding team is limited.
  20. Old Twins Cap
    One thing for sure: the young players are playing a lot more baseball at a young age than in the '70s,'80s and 90s. Every level of baseball, youth leagues, development leagues, extended Spring training, -- in the US, in Latin America, in Asia. Kids are coming to Professional Baseball having so many more games under their belt. Video, coaching, weight lifting, endless training, year around camps -- the real issue, IMO, is that single sport athletes are focusing in and developing skills in young people, quicker -- there is a tremendous incentive to get really good, really young. There are millions of dollars on the table if you can be really good at a young age, the market is driving this on several levels.
  21. Old Twins Cap
    I reached out to my garage but it did not want to sign on to have me clean it. Minnesota is a hard place and many garages don't want to spend their careers here.
  22. Old Twins Cap
    A guy like Mauer, who at 18 struck out only once his senior-year in high school, has more than likely peaked early. He was a talented three-sport athlete, matured early, reached unprecedented heights as a young man -- HOFer, three-time batting champ, many year All-Star -- and is now on the down-side of this career. Concussions don't help, and who can be sure that isn't a contributing factor? But, swing and miss rates, solid contact rates -- these are tangible things that can't be pushed aside or attributed to some outside force. Joe is what he is at this point, and it ain't what he used to be. But, he is taking up first base, where MLB teams stash their best power hitters. The worst thing is that Mauer went from the most valuable defensive position on the field -- catcher, to the most valuable offensive position on the field -- 1B, while losing his ability to make contact with the baseball. Along with Morneau, Mauer's decline is a sad fact of how fickle a baseball career can be. I thought the Twins had a good eight to ten years of middle lineup production coming between Mauer and Morneau and it turns out: just one of those desert oasis mirages. The whole M and M thing is just a sad piece of fate. Cuddyer hits a ground ball to short in Toronto and the Twins end up losing a decade in the standings.
  23. Old Twins Cap
    It's good to have an optimist on this site, where criticality is the norm. So, I really like this article, as I believe that actual fans, their energy, their positivity, their informedness -- that contributes to the performance of the team on the field. Bring that excitement to Target Field, it's contagious. All that said, the big caveat about this analysis: the Twins don't play against themselves. They play other teams. If the other teams are better, make better pitches, play better defense, run faster, hit better -- that's the governing factor in performance. The Twins players may be better on paper than in years past, but they play baseball on the field and by that measure, one needs to consider the quality of their competition. The Twins, better on paper, could still end up with a worse record on the field.
  24. Old Twins Cap
    It's good to know that Nathan always had those goofy ticks in the face and neck jerks. All this time, I figured he was getting old and jumpy.
  25. Old Twins Cap
    In terms of the Pohlads, one has to understand that owning the Twins is just one of many things that occupy their attention over the course of an average day. And likely, because it is somewhat self-contained, in a league with other teams, the Twins are not a demanding or complex operation compared to other business or personal interests that they are involved with. As such, particularly if they are not sports-crazy or even validated by their peers for their inner drive to make the Twins successful, there just is not any "push" for the Pohlads to try harder. Thus, a "winning culture" is not really driving their decision-making. They want credibility, they want a well-managed organization, they want to stay within accepted parameters of financial commitment, they want to be good corporate contributors to this region -- they want and ask for many things, but it would be a stretch to say they are single-minded about a winning culture. That may be a down side to having a diversified "billionaire" family own your city's baseball franchise -- it's just another nice card in their hand. Someone like Ilitch in Detroit, for whatever reason, is an example of an owner that wants to win championships and will go all in to do that -- even wandering off the financial reservation at times to try to get it done.
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