Old Twins Cap

RPs are always a risk. They have up and down years. I wouldn't break the bank on anyone in early December. There will be cast-offs during Spring Training and, of course, if the Twins are "in it" in July, we can add some stud relievers then. If we are going with youth, let's see what our organization's got.

Sounds to me like the usual off-season debates and contests for positions. This is MLB. Even the Royals have their off-season question marks. There will be more: injuries, slow starts, clubhouse chemistry issues. What do you want? A completely decided upon roster and lineup on December 6th prior to Spring Training? This is the fun part, the hot stove cooking, the intrigue that makes a season something special.

On the radio, the announcers gushed about the "dangerous" Cesar Tovar for the Twins. All he did was win games. He could hit, hit for power, run, steal bases, catch the ball in the outfield -- Tovar is one of my fondest memories of what the Twins stood for. And his "elbows first" batting style was one I imitated in the sandlots for a decade. God Bless Pepe!

Thanks. I don't see anything terribly risky in his name, but, then I am not a moderator at this blog site. I was once cited for calling a Twins decision "stupid" so I don't know what level of paranoia grips the powers that be. May "Pak" hit a thousand long flies into the dying embers of night at Target Field.

Not to be crude, but, how do you pronounce his name correctly? Like, what is the phonetic rendering? And, by no means could it be as crude as the correct Spanish pronunciation of Yoenis Cespedes, which, I noticed, English speaking announcers butchered all through the playoffs, prolly at the behest of executives and sponsors.

I for one am glad that Ryan is not rushing into this. It's November still. The thing I did not like about Ryan the last few years, after he got burned by not signing a pitcher in 2013(?), he has rushed to the table with cash in his hand and FAs and GMs have taken advantage. Take your time. Get all the offers on the table. Take the best one.

Any scenario that has Sano or Plouffe in the outfield in 2016 is not a real thing. I skip over those posts. Sure, it's Hot Stove season, but there are limits. At my age, there need to be limits. Plouffe and Sano are infielders. You don't compete in MLB when power hitting infielders play the outfield. And you can't convince the Twins pitching staff that they are better off with a couple of mashers masquerading as ballerinas where flyballs become RBI triples. Ain't gonna happen. Ever. Ever.

I watch a lot of Yankees games on MLB dot com.Yankees are high on Murphy, and he did nothing to disappoint. The Yankee kingdom is large, and has critics, plus a long history in baseball, and their fans and hangers-ons, including MEDIA, are discriminating in the extreme. Ergo: You don't get to be the Yankees Number 2 catcher, unless Yankee Kingdom is willing to have you be their Number one catcher. Not to mention, their manager, Joe Girardi, a former Yankee catcher, and head chieftain of Yankee nation. Because, catchers get hurt, ALL THE TIME, and generally, need to be given a break, every week, if not one in five days. Kid Murphy is worth something. He can play. He's got make-up. He cares about doing his job.He's got training, watchful eyes have been on him ALL THE TIME.Every day. We do not know, nor can we, how a kid this young, who won the confidence of Yankee Kingdom, will develop. Will Hicks or Murphy develop themselves better over time?Whose character is in a better gear to advance? Twins have a front-row seat.They scouted Murphy as a teen and have had Hicks since he was 18. I like the odds that the Twins know what they are doing. I think Murphy is solid.I hate losing Hicks, but he is balding, at 26, and we do have Buxton, Kepler, Rosario, Arcia, Walker, and other options.

I watch a lot of Yankees games on MLB dot com. Yankees are high on Murphy, and he did nothing to disappoint. Folks, realize that the Yankee kingdom is large, and has its critics, plus a long history in baseball, and their fans and hangers-ons, including MEDIA, are discriminating in the extreme. Ergo: You don't get to be the Yankees Number 2 catcher, unless Yankee Kingdom is willing to have you be their Number one catcher. Not to mention, their manager, Joe Girardi, a former Yankee catcher, and head chieftain of Yankee nation. Because, catchers get hurt, ALL THE TIME, and generally, need to be given a break, every week, if not one in five days. Kid Murphy is worth something. He can play. He's got make-up. He cares about doing his job well. He's got training, watchful eyes have been on him ALL THE TIME. Every day. And he's young. We do not know, nor can we, how a kid this young, who won the confidence of Yankee Kingdom, will develop. Did I mention he is young? This trade is about the future. Not something that is easy to predict or control. Will Hicks or Murphy develop themselves better over time? Whose character is in a better gear to advance? Twins have a front-row seat here. They scouted Murphy as a teen and have had Hicks since he was 18. I like the odds that the Twins know what they are doing. I really do. And, to be fair, for the last three years of Hicks-hating on this site -- and no one has admitted it here, even though it was prevalent and out of all proportion to what Hicks had on offer -- I have, at times, been one of few standing up for him. I think Murphy is solid. I hate losing Hicks, but he is balding, at 26, and we do have Buxton, Kepler, Rosario, Arcia, Walker, and other options. Today we got a young catcher with good training and pedigree. I sleep well tonight.

Are you Shakespeare?

Ryan is doing what he has to do: not leave Plouffe out there as raw trade meat, exposed, naked, alone. But, at the end of the day, Plouffe will be traded and Sano will play third. It's just something you learn at GM finishing school: don't cut the legs out from under anyone in your own organization. Though, in a way, announcing that Sano was going to get reps in the outfield was a kind of knee-capping of Sano. It's just that it isn't true, and Sano and everyone knows it.

If the guys on this board were smart enough to be a GM, they likely would be one by now. GMs play chess, not poker. There is no leverage by saying or doing any particular thing. GMs don't care **** about how the OTHER TEAM's situation is taking shape. They look out for their own. They get judged on results, of their team. Not on how astutely they surmised what the Twins might be thinking.

Hey, WE are overrating Plouffe, not the Twins, and certainly not the rest of the league. WE are the ones who think Plouffe can bring a decent return. He is a below average hitter, and has made himself into a good infielder, moving one or two steps in either direction. Otherwise, he cannot make the plays, on bunts, on long throws, on pop-ups down the line. You can get him out on high outside fastballs. The only direction he is going to go from here is down. He's a veteran, can make the plays he needs to make, but, he ain't going to bring back much at $8M.

Loved watching Torii the early years, when he represented the Twins in being a gritty, high achieving, no holds barred outfielder. He had a high ceiling at a time the Twins had a low floor. And played the Yankees tough. There were some dark moments, breaking the ankle in Fenway in mid-August -- you knew the Twins were done at that point. And, of course, I still have a tombstone in the garage for the Mark Kotsay looper that went for an inside the park dinger against the A's in the playoffs -- man, that was a killer. You got emotion with Torii and what you saw was what he had, so there is no complaint really. He grew to be a man in front of our eyes, and a hell of a ballplayer. But those days were long ago. My favorite memory of him will always be the way he tossed his bat aside, in rhythmn, when he hit one square. You could kind of tell, just by his bat toss, if it was going out or not.

The only real leverage the Twins have with other teams interested in Plouffe is to say: "That's your best offer? We'll deal Plouffe to someone else because their offer is better." Of course, it helps to have more than one team interested in Plouffe. Sano is nothing more than a great problem to have for the Twins.

Wow, Halloween the new April's fools. I gotta look in my closet, I think I got a Barry Bonds mask. Big and square, with small testicles.

Nelson made two bad calls in a row on the same type of pitch. He missed an up and away fastball to Navarro, and then Revere. They weren't very close as these things go, so I can commiserate. Even battling your tail off doesn't erase a poor ninth inning strike zone.

What is at stake is the basic flow and integrity of the game. I agree with the writer of the article: if you examined every play, down to the millimeter, there would be calls and reversals that would make no sense to the naked eye or common sense. We can't allow baseball to go the way of football with endless replays and commenters and opinions and rules and still no consensus about right or wrong to any of it. I would bet within a year or two, MLB will clarify rules about having achieved a base and not violating any common sense rules of being out of control. And don't forget, the incentive to push, pull and apply the tag with excessive force is just going to overwhelm the game and make it like soccer.

Most expensive utility player in the history of baseball. And, the least expressive. Mauer's contract is going to loom over the Twins and overshadow everything until it goes away.

Gardy's best teams had good players, especially on offense and just enough pitching to make the playoffs. But, they were not particularly resilient when it came to the post-season and, in fact, played hand-maiden to the Yanks far more than I care to remember. Be great to somehow make it to Yankee Stadium next week and reverse a lot of bad baseball karma. Resilience = rising from the grave.

Twins did surprise this year, surprised everyone. And they won games with average pitching, below average bullpen, below average hitting, but above average defense and hitting with RISP. RISP is not a repeatable stat. They could easily pitch better next year and win fewer games just based on hitting in RISP. Hopefully they get more guys on base and can still win games through bulk opportunities to score. But, just to say, yes, 2015 has been a surprise and there are no guarantees about success going forward. So, let's win the next game and worry about the rest later.

Luckily the Twins don't have to win 7 or 6 or 5. They only have to win tonight. The rest takes care of itself.

May on the shelf. Need your best guys to step up. That's not Glen at this point. Bullpen will need to be rebuilt next year, from the bottom to the top. Remember people: relief pitcher reliability year to year is highly volatile. Accept it and move on to some new pitchers, preferably young, strong arms coming up from within.

Brantley out again. Hate to see that unless you really, really want the Twins to win. Liked the quotes and story from LaVelle about Tuesday's game. Here's Cleveland's ace pitcher, the fireballing Salazar, complaining about a 3-2 pitch in the third inning of a scoreless game to the Twins number 9 hitter, two out nobody on. And how the ump missed the call, and cheated him out of a strikeout, leading to the Twins two-out rally for three runs. I'm thinking to myself: the ump misses one strike call against the number nine hitter in the third inning of a scoreless duel and you completely let it ruin your game? Really? Salazar = head case.

People keep attributing Mauer's decline to brain injury, and maybe it is, who knows? But, just as likely I believe, is that Mauer peaked at a young age -- being a super athlete at age 18. That's 15 years ago now. Fifteen years is a lot of time to go by and still maintain a very high performance level. They say he only struck out once his senior year of high school. He was offered a full-ride to the best football college in the country. He also started and was a credible basketball player. That is a phenomenal level of skill at age 18. He's over 32 now. I have seen this in many people, in many different sports. Not everyone peaks at the same time, nor over the same time interval. Some people hit their peak early, some middle, some late. In Mauer's case, for whatever reason, he is in the decline phase at age 32. It may be brain injury, it may be laziness (thought that seems doubtful to me), or it may be he peaked at a younger age than most. In any case, the numbers are the numbers and Joe is in the twilight of his career. Between him and Morneau, who both showed such incredible prowess and promise in the early years, it is a sad and unfortunate truth that they came and went before we hardly knew them.