Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

bird

Verified Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,413

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Profiles

Minnesota Twins News, Rumors & Analysis

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospect Rankings

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Minnesota Twins Trade & Free Agent Rumors

Minnesota Twins Fan Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by bird

  1. bird
    Gordon hasn't even done his first load of laundry as a minor league ballplayer. He'll likely get everything he can handle in Etown and fall instructionals.
  2. bird
    This is a factual and fair-minded assessment.
  3. bird
    I've been hearing the argument repeatedly for years that Bill Smith gets direct credit for what he accomplished in the absence of Ryan. And also that Ryan is responsible for previous poor drafts with zero, and I mean zero mention of their draft order. And now, Ryan isn't to be credited too much and the primo position in the draft order accounts for much of the organization's recent success. So finally, maybe we're getting it right. Having a top 10 choice is huge. Absent this, you get Plouffe, Gibson, and Parmelee types. The better systems generally have those top choices anchoring the ranking.
  4. bird
    This is an amazingly tough crowd! So Anderson didn't get Worley to make the adjustments. Maybe, but not certainly, Anderson missed "the" mechanical flaw that resulted in him stinking, consistently, for many many months. The two questions I have are: 1. Is it possible that Worley is accountable for most of the problem and that it took a (welcome for him) change of scenery for him to step up on his end perhaps? 2. How do you account for the numerous cases where pitchers come here and have better years? Is this in SPITE of Anderson's incompetence? Or is it possible that one of the many variables to success is the meshing of personalities? I mean, why don't we hear of more complaints from pitchers who leave, and why aren't there overwhelmingly more examples like Worley's than there are examples like Deduno's or Fien's?
  5. bird
    In my opinion, Chief, if more people took the proper ethical stance and complained about it, perhaps something gets accomplished.
  6. bird
    I would doubt that Detroit, Cleveland and Chicago combined have 5 prospects in the top 50. KC will likely be a force, but the future looks pretty bright in the division for the Twins.
  7. bird
    I don't know many wealthy people who look at the legal system like that, but when they do, it's inherently wrong. When, for example, stock traders find a way to front run others on trades, it's morally reprehensible despite the fact that they break no rules or laws The Yankees are breaking the rules. It cheats others. They're dishonest, immoral, cheating wealthy people.
  8. bird
    I'd suggest that the fans may end up as the most aggrieved victims if a whole slew of the Yankee's new prospects pan out in a few years and the competitive balance fans so desperately want takes a step back by a decade. Not predicting this of course, but it could happen.
  9. bird
    I would hope the reason you don't walk out with a turkey is because it's wrong. And the rule does NOT say you can overspend in exchange for a fee. It says you shall limit your spending, period. Then it describes the penalties. Which we all agree was an insufficient financial deterrent. I contend it should be a deterrent strictly because it's wrong to cheat the fans, and the other teams too. Competitive balance is a worthy goal, and the Yankkess are shoving it in all of our faces.
  10. bird
    I'm hoping you're not serious about this analogy. Paying for an upgrade is a benefit, and earned privilege. The rule we're discussing, contrary to a couple of expressed opinions here, states that teams shall limit their spending, not that they may have the privilege of circumventing the rule if they simply pay for an eligible upgrade.
  11. bird
    I respectfully disagree, diehard. The Yankees are breaking the rules because they're willing to incur the puny penalty. If the action cheats others, it's cheating. And the argument that we should cheat too? No! I pay about 15% more at retail stores to cover employee pilfering and shoplifting. So, should I just occasionally walk out of the grocery store with a frozen turkey under my jacket?
  12. bird
    I'd suggest a couple of distinctions here. First, the "tax" is a penalty. Its intent is to deter cheaters. There is no law-breaking going on, unlike the jerk on the St. Croix. But this distinction is meaningless from an ethical standpoint. They're both cheaters. We can't live in a world where people make choices to cheat or not based upon the consequences to THEM rather than the consequences the law or rule was meant to avoid. It's not more complicated than that. In my last business, the consequences for using company time and resources, in any amount, for personal use was immediate discharge, no warning. Guess what? It worked. Stiffen the penalties or change the rules, or both, but just because the rule and penalties are impotent doesn't excuse the dishonesty.
  13. bird
    Because it's cheating, mike. Pure and simple. And there's massively better odds of success when you cheat to procure HALF of the "top 10" versus one two, because the rankings have at least a modicum of validity. Some years back, I was responsible for drafting ethics and code of conduct policies and have consulted with some of our most highly-regarded experts. I'm 100% confident that, were you to survey every professor of ethics within our universities, almost every one of them would opine that what the Yankees are doing is unethical and results in the other teams being cheated. Rules are NOT meant to be broken, mike.
  14. bird
    Precisely. Their approach is balanced. It cannot fairly be described as unaggressive. It can fairly be described as strategic, especially when one keeps in mind that the outcomes, based on these BA and MLB rankings, is pretty dismal. I'm glad the Twins are playing within the system instead of cheating. It's unfortunate that the Yankees, in particular, may alter the competitive landscape in baseball for a ni=umber of years by virtue of unethical and dishonest practices.
  15. bird
    How would you describe their approach?
  16. bird
    This makes total sense to me. And yet I think we should take a bit of solace from the fact that they're taking some bigger financial risks too. Sano is our poster boy, but last year Diaz Lewin was ranked #10, the year before Amaurys Minier was #7 on some lists and Argenis Silva #22, then add Thorpe as the highest-ranked Aussie pitcher, Barrie this year as the highest ranked Aussie hitter, and both were half-mil investments. Kepler at $800, Polanco at $700, so again, this feels like a nice balance between taking some serious risks to hit the jackpot and spreading some dollars out to improve the odds.
  17. bird
    Another fact about quality and quantity: there are 30 teams, so by definition there will be teams that don't sign a "Top 25" guy. The Twins have signed one or more such high-ceiling prospect in each of the past several years, so no one can legitimately complain that they don't get their share of "quality". The record clearly shows that they get both quality AND quantity. You might put Arcia and Santana in the "quantity" category, and Polanco and Thorpe in the "quality" category, for example. Nice to see the Twins continue to be aggressive in the international market. They're getting terrific results.
  18. bird
    Don't you think this has all been debated among the field staff? It could be something as simple as Berrios and his current pitching coach working on something. Why the angst about this on June 24th? It's not like he's incapable of getting better there.
  19. bird
    Exactly.
  20. bird
    And I hope the Twins sign Ynoa too, but more importantly, I hope they're ethical enough to be one of the teams that's courageous enough to get screwed by the cheaters. We should all be outraged b the cheaters instead of encouraging more dishonesty in our own community.
  21. bird
    tell that to the moderators...
  22. bird
    Geez, mike, if Seth is your apocalypse warning, then what the hell am I?
  23. bird
    Had them at 74 preseason and I'll stick with it. There's always a high probability of two or more injuries to starters over the course of a season, and we've had one go down. I don't have as much faith as many of you that any of the AAA starters are going to come up here and perform as well as the pitchers currently in the rotation, Pino excepted.
  24. bird
    I apologize then. I misunderstood the limits imposed on the discussion. I was being unreasonable in discussing the trade itself and Worley's contribution to his abysmal showing with the Twins.
  25. bird
    Yes, I maintain that the Yanks are changing tactics to at least some extent, although this may reverse itself if they cheat on the international rules as expected by many. But I think you're wrong about the Twins, and I'll ask the question again: aside from Nolasco and Hughes, name even one veteran who has been brought in who figures into the plans long-term. The follow-on question: exactly which minor leaguers are so clearly MLB ready that they're wasting away in AAA? I get your point about wanting youth versus vets. There are some future pieces to the puzzle in AAA that could arguably be on the MLB roster without hurting the team much or hurting their own future development. But aside from a starter or two, who is down there that adds a win or two?
×
×
  • Create New...