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bird

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Everything posted by bird

  1. bird
    Leviathan, you make sense to me. Except, I think a lot of fans are fine with the notion of six-year contracts to decline-phase players, since they can "afford" to think only about now. Ryan isn't going to make this mistake, especially with pitching. Hell, the chances of one rotation member having a career-ender during the season is about 100%. Detroit's rotation is formidable today, but with injuries, it could be pedestrian by 2014.
  2. bird
    Why can't they: 1) get a little younger right away, 2) solve the starting pitching problem to a large extent right now, 3) be "competitive" (.500) in 2013, and 4) start the youth movement in late 2013 with Hendriks, Gibson, Hicks, Arcia, etc.? How? Trade for one #2-3 starter (Span, Morneau, Willingham as chips), sign another #2-3 FA starter, pull a "Ryan" for a third starter in the #4-5 category. Fill the rotation out with Diamond, Gibson, Hendriks (who is going to be pretty good IMO), Deduno, etc. Not embarrassing in 2013, fun to watch by 2014, and in contention with the Royals by 2015 when Detroit, which REALLY has no farm system, Chicago, which REALLY has no farm system, and Cleveland, which has a much much thinner farm system than the Twins, all fade behind.
  3. bird
    NO NO NO NO NO! The LAST thing we need is another #5-6 starter to go alon with DeVries, Walters, Deduno, Blackburn....who did I miss? We have ONE #3-4 starter in Diamond. We have maybe...maybe a couple others, in Hendriks and Gibson, that MIGHT contribute at #4-5 levels this year. We need two #2-3 starters, minmum. We can afford them, and we have trade chips. Anything short of that is failure, and everything outside of that is a waste of time. No more damn #4-5-6 guys. Jeez.
  4. bird
    And Jorge Polanco.
  5. bird
    Actually, Mr. Crikket, I believe Cody Christie, our NoDakTwinsFan, beat both you and BPRO to the punch on picking Buxton as the top prospect. So, if you want to be a pioneer, go with someone like Amaurys Minier. Although seven of their picks are three years away or so, the overall list is SO much more hopeful than past year's. I've been tracking various top whatevers for awhile now. These twenty-two prospects still make someone's top ten: Kyle Gibson Liam Hendriks Chris Parmelee Brian Dozier Alex Wimmers Oswaldo Arcia Joe Benson Aaron Hicks Chris Herrmann Adrian Salcedo Madison Boer Levi Michael Angel Morales Miguel Sano Eddie Rosario Kennys Vargas J.O. Berrios Hudson Boyd Byron Buxton Travis Harrison Max Kepler Mason Melotakis Not a bad list.
  6. bird
    C'mon, readers! Where's your sense of humor? Please please please don't scare thrylos away! He's part of the fun. And kudos to the TD leadership. You guys are terrific! One suggestion, though: you don't tolerate readers bashing each other, and that's good. However, you have loads of tolerance for readers who bash the hell out of Twins management and ownership, and the occasional player. I mean, really harsh name-calling and character assasinations. You might want to tighten up that part of things a wee bit. There are so many intelligent, informed, rational, and civil contributors. The mean-spirited name-callers, if not called out by you guys, should be fair game. I call thrylos and others out on their inappropriate stuff, and so do others. But I still like his bizzare thoughts when he is simply arrogant but not hateful. So, come on back, thrylos. And Jim Rantz did a spectacular job even though he's never seen a laptop according to you....
  7. bird
    Hey, don't scare thrylos off! He's an absolute hoot!
  8. bird
    Hey, relax. It's only November. There you go, Chief.
  9. bird
    People are not in denial. The system has failed to deliver premium talent for years. Winston's facts vback that up. Where some of us differ is in your extrapolation of the past into the future. It's OK to remain skeptical. Your choice. But some of us look at the pipeline and see hope for a year or two from now. Gibson, Hendriks, Parmelee, Dozier, Wimmers, Arcia, Hicks, Benson, Herrmann, Hermsen, Bromberg, Guerra, Florimon, Hauser, Darnell, Tosoni, Oliveros, Robertson, Hauser, Watss, Pugh, Bigley. These players reached AA and AAA. Some of them will become good players, and a couple may be stars. Now, this may not seem to be an impressive list if your expectation is several All-Star caliber players at thes levels, but it isn't all that bad. ANd then, another couple years away are Salcedo, Sano, Rosario, Boer, Michael, Roberts, Soliman, Kepler, Boyd, Goodrum, Harrison, Polanco, Santana, Summers, Morales, and a whole slew of 2012 draftees that performed exceptionally well this year, including Buxton and Berrios. So, I don't mind Winston's appraisal of the past at all, but the insistence that future prospects are dreadful and that the organization is clueless gets pretty old.
  10. bird
    Ryan has indicated a dissappointment with the organization's Dominican player pipeline. What's being done to improve the results?
  11. bird
    jokin, no doubt you're befuddled. Is it possible that some of us just see things differently? How often do you get accused of "blindly attacking" the "status quo"? Not often. I don't observe commenters here advocating to maintain the status quo, but I do observe that some people believe the organization is operating fundamentally well. Of course, it's easy to point to a short-term record as evidence of the need for wholesale change. You could be right. However, some of us carefully regard a number of contributing factors to the current record. We see evidence of change, and believe the organization is directionally on track. Time will tell. No reason for befuddledment, because people are not advocting for and blindly defending maintenance of the statuis quo. People just differ with you about what changes are necessary, so cut them a little slack, OK?. They may actually have a point. The thing is this: right now, the Twins are holding their annual organizational meetings, attended by roughly 85 employees. According to some of you, this group will be entirely bereft of "new ideas". This group will "blindly defend" the status quo. I for one believe differently. Changes get made all the time. I personally couldn't make a sensible judgment about the quality and performance of this group of people. That would be an act of arrogance. What I hope for and expect is incremental change and improvement. I for one am really optimistic about 2014 and beyond, and I even expect the 2013 tea to be pretty fun to watch
  12. bird
    Oh, and Rantz and his staff did such a lousy job developing players that, despite being given so little to work with in the opinion of many of you, he was able to supply the big club with these players this year: Revere, Hendriks, Robertson, Waldrop, Diamond, DeVries, Parmelee, and Dozier.
  13. bird
    righty8383, thanks for pointing out that Rantz was only in charge of developing the players, and not drafting them. Rantz and about five dozen other employees that is.
  14. bird
    Huh? Incredibly, twinswon1991, you were able to avoid facts once again. Congratulations.
  15. bird
    The Twins went a full decade not once picking in the top third of the draft (Hicks, 2006, I believe). If the computerless Rantz (a thrylos rant) was such a big problem, the Twins should certainly have a farm system ranked among the ten worst, right? Instead, the latest rankings will place the Twins certainly in the top third, often higher. Rantz doesn't get all the credit for this, but he deserves much of the praise he gets, most of it coming from people who know what they're talking about. This contrasts with the opinion of some pissant with his snotty little head buried in his little laptop.
  16. bird
    You know, thrylos, some of us like to remember and even celebrate some of the good things, like the Rantz connection to Kirby Puckett. Leave it to you to come along and piss in the punch bowl. I feel sorry for you.
  17. bird
    Just heard Reusse tell the story of when, during the baseball strike, Rantz went off to Illinois to watch his son play baseball, and was told about a chubby little player named Kirby Puckett. Thanks, Mr. Rantz!
  18. bird
    Just curious: of the 13 WAR leaders among starters drafted as 1st rounders in 2011 and 2012, how many of those were available when the Twins order in the draft came up? Thanks.
  19. bird
    I'm with Top Gun. This lineup should score roughly 18 runs per game, which is enough to get us over .500 for the year. One caveat is that whatchamacallit, that sample size thingy.
  20. bird
    The impact of these signings was hugely positive. The fact that they weren't impactful to the WL record is salient, but many of us see the positives. Avoiding the distorted "all or nothing" viewpoint that the glass is shuttered all over the floor is important. The glass is half full! Willingham was a great signing, and so was Doumit. Burton is an indication that the Twins are still capable of excellent scouting. Same with Fien, Maestro, Florimon, Deduno, Walters, and a number of others. Let's face it, the team had way too many holes to fill to expect them all to be filled in one or two seasons. If that was your expectation, no doubt you're frustrated. So, they spent some dough, wisely in the case of Willinham and Doumit, not so wisely in the case of Capp and a few others. Then, they scrounged. Bad teams scrounge, especiallt when they have no trade chips, which was the case last year. What's different going forward? 1. They have at least some trade chips. 2. They have at least some salary room. 3. They have many fewer holes to fill. 4. In my opinion, they're on a intermediate-term plan to be at least mediocre in 2013, competitive in 2014 with a lot of first-year players getting baptized, division-winners by 2015, and serious pennant contenders by 2016 when this wave of top-notch talent begins to mature.
  21. bird
    Hey, relax, everyone. Our intrepid beat writers will get to the bottom of this. Stand back and watch the tough questions fly.
  22. bird
    Fair-minded is maybe what most Minnesota fans and analysts strive to be, jokin. Take a cue from jmlease1, jokin. In fairness, he can credit the front office when credit is due. Even when some of us criticize things, we look to be fair instead of resorting to your "bumbled and muddled" jibberish. Notice that you don't see us "foregivers" painting these wildly pollyannish pictures of the faultless Twins front office. So, your wildly distorted descriptions of ineptitude ring so hollow to most of us, jokin. If you toned that crap dowm, we could find a few grains of credibility in there somewhere.
  23. bird
    minn55441, you have not read anything from the mouths of Twins ownership or front office that the plan this off-season is to strictly rely on these types of pick-ups. You perhaps read comments from bloggers, or Souhan's garbage column, that have led you to this false understanding.
  24. bird
    Nick, that's precisely correct. Ryan admitted his failure to fix things on the fly. But that's not enough for Souhan and others, who will manipulate his comments to support their own conclusions. Apparently, jokin, you are quick at emulating. Again, Ryan never said he's going to fix the rotation simply by signing Baker and Pavano. That's what Souhan and jokin would like you to buy. Did he say he will NOT look to the FA market? Nope. In fact, he left all avenues open, although he warned us that he does not expect the Twins to compete for "elite" FA pitching talent (thank God!). So, jokin, if Ryan fails to fix the rotation for 2013, I will join you in calling for his head. I'll define "fix" as a rotation with an ERA in the top 10 in the league. If he fixes the rotation, jokin, I'm expecting you to sing his praises. Not.
  25. bird
    Relax, people. This is the dramatic Jim Souhan we're dealing with, and who likes to stir it up more than him? If you're a proponent of a housecleaning, you're going to be unsatisfied with any interview you read involving the Twins' ownership and staff. Elite? Be careful what you wish for. It's a good thing none of us has a vote, because we would probably be guilty of labelling guys like Meche and Silva as "elite" in a thin market. Ryan won't do that, thank God. I didn't hear Ryan say he considered either Pavano or Baker as the solution. Jim Souhan left you with that impression, not Ryan.
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