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bird

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Everything posted by bird

  1. bird
    I can "accept" that: 1. The outfield defense was bad, really really bad, last year. 2. The outfield defense, when Arcia and Hunter both play, will be bad this year. 3. All the other teams in the AL Central are better on paper today than the Twins are on paper today. 4. The starting rotation will be better this year, with a ceiling probably of being MLB average. 5. The team will win more games this year than last, and be more fun to watch in the process. 6. The roster will be different, about 20% different at least, by year-end. And better too.
  2. bird
    I'm sorry, I'm not looking for a squabble with you, jokin. But you wrote two paragraphs in response to my comments and didn't address any of it. You're an intelligent guy, and we get it that you have a wonderful command of the language. But is it really persuasive to throw out a few rather incendiary rhetorical statements while ignoring the comment to which you're responding? You make some great points on here, and I for one look forward to and often respect your contributions to discussions on here, so all I respectfully ask of you is that when you reply to one of my comments, please address the topic in specific terms instead of generalizing in such a highly opinionated fashion. So let's try again. The questions were these: 1. Weren't we all made aware of the fact that, during the period of time last year when we were all hoping to see Meyer, he was recovering from an injury, was close to his innings limit, and was struggling with his mechanics? 2. Does anyone believe that Ryan makes promotion decisions without consulting and relying on the opinions of the coaches and trainers in closest contact with the player? Dear moderators: the Meyer thing is off-topic, but serves as a good example of how the GM might make a promotion decision. And we'll be seeing a few of them!!
  3. bird
    The Cards would have said, "Terry, do what you've always done, which is the same thing we've always done. Ask the people coaching the guy in AAA for their opinion and trust it." The notion that Ryan is making promotion decisions about any player in a vacuum is close to farcical. Why do we keep ignoring the clearly expressed concerns they had about Meyer's health and readiness? Did he have a combination of an injury, innings limits, and performance problems at the time, or did he not, yes or no? Why do we keep thinking we know everything that went into the decision? I sure wish we could let this one go once and for all.
  4. bird
    What gives me a bit of solace about the dudes I mentioned: Burdi and Reed were new last year. Jones and Peterson are on a decent track, even a fast one. Chargois, Bard, and Williams were injured all year. There's a slew of dudes I didn't mention that the pundits like, guys like Melotakis, Romero, Cedaroth, Booser, Baxendale, Slegers, Duffey, all of whom are ranked in various top 25 lists. Meyer, if switched to the bullpen, is a potential shutdown guy. As hard as it is to stomach, we're still waiting on the most meaningful phase of the youth movement, and I know I'm on far far spectrum of the optimism meter, maybe breaking the needle.
  5. bird
    This bullpen is leaving a bad taste in my mouth for sure. Primarily because I'm disappointed that none of the in-house candidates stepped up their game. Tonkin, Pressley, Olivaros, Thompson, Thielbar, Pryor...every one of them would elicit no greater confidence right now than this collection of veterans for me. Also, we have these ominous signs to contend with: Duensing and Stauffer being eminently hittable, Perkins not being his dominating old self, etc. Totally uninspiring. J.R. Graham is the only new guy that intrigues me a bit. The only consolation for me, but not reliably for 2015, is that we have a boatload of bullpen candidates that might be a year or less away and some tradable assets with value in that same timeframe from among the position players and rotation. Nick Burdi, Jake Reed, JT Chargois, Zack Jones, Corey Williams, Brandon Peterson, Luke Bard, Michael Tonkin.....let's hope for a couple of these guys to break out early this season.
  6. bird
    Not sure I'm understanding this Baseball America report for 2014. Maybe I'm wrong, but the 2014 allotment is for international players signed between July 2, 2014 and July 1, 2015. I'm aware that a vast majority of bonuses are handed out to prospects immediately following the initial July 2 signing date, but not all. And even if the number is accurate, help me with the math please. So, IF in fact the Twins spent the entire allocation, meaning an extra $450k, would they then have ranked as the 5th most prolific spender? Or are we crediting the cheaters for having screwed the compliant teams by breaking the agreed-upon rules and over-spending their allocations? I won't accept an argument that we should have joined the cheaters. If some critics want to use this "5th in budget, 10th in spending" fact without any caveat, I'm sure they will. But I'll view that as a form of dishonesty personally. Right now, unless someone clarifies it, I'm questioning the spending number for starters and will remain very skeptical about this 5th in budget 10th in spending thing. Also, can someone confirm that Australian prospect signings are included in these numbers? If not, the $1M spent on Barrie and Thorpe would not be counted.
  7. bird
    Indians and Braves. Should re-name themselves the Rock Cats and Yard Goats.
  8. bird
    No loss. He's way too young for our bullpen.
  9. bird
    The problem with this argument is that you've put things into an accurate historical context.
  10. bird
    You should post more often, paulblair715. Oh, and you were a great player, fun to watch, so thank you for your service. We ALL want to see what Meyer and May can do. We will too, probably within a month or two. My question is, what did people see or not see here in the past few weeks regarding those two? Meyer was awful mechanically in his last start, by his own admission. May tiered in the 3rd inning in his last start I believe, and hadn't been stretched out. And it's not like Milone was looking terrible too. We're all tired of scrap heap guys, but I don't view any of our starting five as being in that category (for once). The problem with starting May and Meyer is you have to jettison Milone and Pelfrey BEFORE you know what you have instead of after. And it's a risky assumption to say you can replace them immediately with someone else from the minors with "potential". So I don't see much wrong with the temporary decision they made, despite my passionate yearning to see the young guys in action.
  11. bird
    nater's point was May, Meyer, Berrios, and Wheeler. Not Pelfrey and Stauffer.
  12. bird
    It's hardly confusing. Nick Burdi, Jake Reed, and Zach Jones are at AA, all may be less than a year away, Chargois, Bard, Romero, and Melotakis were injured all of last year. These guys could all end up being fast-tracked through the system, all as relievers. Of course, many of them will fail. As for relievers turned starters, Duffey made it to AAA last year. Many consider him a top 20 prospect in a loaded system. Same goes for Cedaroth, who throws 95mph and who Sickles for example views as our 17th best prospect. That's for starters.
  13. bird
    Molitor: "I was forthright and transparent."
  14. bird
    Joe Benson is a career minor-leaguer, an AAAA player who is 27. Why would you block younger prospects by putting Benson on your roster? Well, unless you don't have a prospect that's quite ready, who maybe needs just a little more time in the minors. Guys like Rosario and Buxton perhaps. I'm sure the Atlanta fans are fully accepting of that. Come to think of it, this Joe Benson guy might be almost as good as Shane Robinson or Jordan Schaefer.
  15. bird
    Not being snarky, but it's because some of us believe that Meyer, May, Buxton, Sano, Polanco, and Rosario are close but not ready, and that in any case a player on the final roster will likely perform better than they would have to start the year. The use of the term "competition" is an oversimplification of the decision-making process. A lot of things go into it, dating back to well before spring training, and it's not all about a few spring training games either.
  16. bird
    First of all, where are we getting the "couple more years stuff? Not a single one of the players you mentioned was sent down because they are too young. The fact that May, or anyone else, is either young or old is irrelevant. Great, a whole bunch of people believe May would help us win more than Milone would in April. Maybe all those people are wrong. We're still in a fluid stage of this rebuild. Yeah, it's easy to say let's just go with the young guy over the old guy. The trouble is, maybe the "young/old" guys, including May and Meyer, would stink up the joint right now. Or maybe not. But it's not like any irreversible decisions are being made on a single one of the more promising prospects mentioned. So let's not get too sold on the thought that Robinson, Milone and Pelfrey are "washed up" and May and Meyer are saviors with expiration stamps and under quarantine for two years. It's a fluid situation and every one of these prospects needs to be thought of separately.
  17. bird
    You're probably right. Not sure what benefit any of us gain by pointing that out though.
  18. bird
    What about minimal impact is escaping you? May began his MLB career last year, and actually began to show some promise. He was minimally impactful. Not sure what your second paragraph here is about, sorry.
  19. bird
    Most everyone has thought the Cubs were progressing at a fast pace and were on a schedule advanced by better than a year or three.
  20. bird
    The way you're looking at the trade is fine. Based on results to-date, sure the trade hasn't benefitted the big club. And sure, it may never even up in terms of results. None of us are so obtuse as to not see that. But isn't it a bit obtuse to say you fail to see a way to look at the trade differently? Meyer>Span, May>Revere in terms of current trade value? A lot of us who have experienced life in the business world know that a board of directors judges a CEO on the quality of his/her decisions separately from the results, because the CEO controls 100% of the former but not the latter. Ultimately, the two are inextricably linked, and if the results aren't there, the CEO gets canned even if the majority of his calls are of high quality. And usually, there is a correlation of course, between the two things. So, at the time of the trades, more of us than not here on TD IIRC lauded the quality of the decisions. Depending on how you look at it, it's entirely reasonable to still not only view the decisions as good ones, but to view the current status of the trade favorably despite there being minimal impact so far for the big club.
  21. bird
    In the present tense, as in right now, the Twins wouldn't trade Meyer back for Span, and would refuse a straight-up trade between May and Revere in the opinion of many. In any language, it's all about how you look at the trades.
  22. bird
    Yes, I do. And no, not really in his case. I truly believe that, if Meyer hadn't looked out of whack for much of the spring, if May had followed up with a better final showing, if Milone had faltered instead of shown something, if Pelfrey and even Nolasco had not inspired more confidence than they did....but that's not the way things went. So, big deal, Meyer and May have a chance to dominate AAA for a couple of months, waiting for one of five guys to suffer an injury or otherwise falter, which is practically an inevitability. My hope (not expectation) is that all eight of these guys pitches lights out, and teams desperate for pitching at the deadline come calling. Not saying Super2 stuff doesn't periodically enter into decisions, just not in the case. If people want to talk about scholarships, then talk about how neither May or Meyer were granted one and tell me why they earned a rotation spot to start the year over Milone, Pelfrey, or Nolasco.
  23. bird
    You DO realize, thrylos, that the one opposing view you evidenced is your own, right? Lots of people with equal expertise to your own thought that Gibson needed to work on some things. I'm perplexed as to how people can conclude that the Twins mishandled Gibson's path. The team is not the second worst in baseball in 2015, at least not yet. Citing four past years of losses and saying something like that doesn't lend anything to an assessment. It's like having the school nurse tell you your kid is the shortest pupil in fifth grade by averaging the kid's heights since kindergarten.
  24. bird
    How much better is Revere than Robinson and Schaefer? Would it really shock anyone if those three put up similar numbers? Would the Phillies trade Revere straight up for May right now? Would the Twins give up Meyer for Span right now?
  25. bird
    Here's hoping that the Schaefer/Robinson platoon is better than we expect, that Hunter and Arcia aren't as bad out there as we dread, that Buxton is MLB-ready sooner than we think he might be, that Rosario makes more progress, that Hunter announces that this will be his final year, and that we can get a decent low-level prospect for Hicks.
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