Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

Old Twins Hat

Verified Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    152

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Profiles

News

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospects Ranking

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by Old Twins Hat

  1. Old Twins Hat
    The Twins have no obvious holes except they need to play better. That's not a hole, that's just the way baseball is. Bullpens are taken down and put back together -- it's the cheapest, most variable and hardest to predict aspect of baseball. Both Dodgers and Blue Jays had average bullpens last year. Statistics, sabermetrics -- they measure what happened after the fact. You can't know how so many variables will shake out. Using statistics to predict the unpredictable is not forecasting, it's back-casting. The Blue Jays last year: Springer has a good year, Barger emerges, Bichette hits like an All-Star, Vladdy loses weight and shows immense desire, they get Bader and some arms at the deadline, Ernie F'in Clement comes within a whisker of winning MVP in the World Series. Who knew? Worst to first and just about snuck by the Dodgers -- playing good baseball made the difference -- and staying healthy -- not just one or two guys, but the team as a whole played well and stayed on the field. Twins will go as far as good play, and luck, takes them. Get to Florida, see what you got, play the games. The Twins have a lot of young guys clamoring up the ladder -- they just might have something for once. Or they could half-ass it, collapse and crawl under an MLB rock. Really hard to know from this distance.
  2. Old Twins Hat
    What's the story on the Glick Family from New York. Candidates to buy the franchise? They aren't doing this because they feel bad for the Pohlads right?
  3. Old Twins Hat
    Shelton seems more cerebral, more synthetic in his thinking than Rocco. Rocco was always very relational, and didn't really generalize, always protecting his players and softening his critiques so completely that it became gobblety gook. I like Shelton's insights here, more like a teacher, someone who sees the big picture and where baseball is headed. He comes across as wise and above the fray. I like that and I hope the players do as well, though, with some of these guys, who knows?
  4. Old Twins Hat
    Last March, I flicked on a broadcast of a Twins Spring Training Game just in time to hear Gladden expressing concern over how Lewis limped off after trying to beat out a dribbler. Superstars don't go down with hamstring pulls in nothing games. On dribblers. Very often. Got that Royce?
  5. Old Twins Hat
    Relievers go up and down like elevators every year. No team is ever safe or beyond hope. And, to be fair, the Dodgers' and Blue Jays' respective bullpens were not the strong point of their run to the World Series.
  6. Old Twins Hat
    The reality of MLB baseball is that a guy like Ernie Clement, a pretty average MLB player if ever there was one, came within a whisker of winning World Series MVP and leading the Blue Jays to the pinnacle of the sport. Everyone on a 40-man has played baseball all of their life. If any one of them happens to have a good year, they shine, and the team, the manager and the GM all look like geniuses. If a handful of them have good years, this multiplies and the team shines, and then articles come out about what geniuses the whole front office, the field staff --everyone in the organization is a genius. It's not hard to figure: you need players to play well, stay healthy, have career performance years -- as many as possible. When you get that, teams have good years. The problem is that, like everything in American society, there is a wealth disparity. The floor of performance for Ohtani, Feeman and Betts is still going to be higher than Fitzgerald's and Kriedler's best year. Mathematically the window for winning when you have a roster like the Twins gets to be an extreme outlier. Not saying it can't be done, but the likelihood is very small -- almost impossible when you figure in the pitching quality of a team like L.A. Though I would say to all the doubters on Twins Daily, L.A. and Toronto, their bullpens were not great this year. They got to the World Series on starting pitching and their ability to score runs with legitimate hitters. Cliche alert: It's why we play the game. To see if the teams like the Twins can muster something unusual for six months of baseball. Most years, we know the answer. But, it sure makes it special when you defy the odds and actually play better than the numbers would have us believe. When that happens, the delirium of true fans is off-the-charts, because true fans get how crazy a year it has been -- how seismic the defying of baseball gods has been.
  7. Old Twins Hat
    I don't think there's much mystery here. On the financial side, paying down debt means a company is reducing expenses. Reducing expenses means there is more flexibility in deploying cash. That's plain, and in theory, the Twins organization has more flexibility financially at this point. On the ownership side, they now have two competing parties for the eventual purchase of the team. This will allow the Twins organization to assess what they have in the new ownership groups and, over time, figure out which one of them seems most ideal to come forward as long-time owners. I know there's been a bunch of skepticism about this arrangement, and I suppose it could still turn out badly for all concerned. However, at this point, it look to me -- and remember we are talking about a $1.7 B sale, that this process should allow consistent improvement of financials for the team, while working at the eventual sale by assessing what they've got in terms of partners. But then, I am an optimist.
  8. Old Twins Hat
    Jenkins plays CF, so that's three up the middle: the three most important positions in MLB.
  9. Old Twins Hat
    You do realize that both Rojas and Kiner-Falefa were on teams that went to the World Series, right?
  10. Old Twins Hat
    There are a lot of unhappy people in the world, or, in Twins' world. Blue Jays go worst to first with ex-Twins hitting coach. Hard to know what will happen for sure.
  11. Old Twins Hat
    You can't get any bigger change from 2023 than Guerrero. Remember when Sonny Gray picked him off second base in the crucial game? Vladdy sprawled on the infield, looking like a beached whale, signalled to the dugout to challenge the call. (Which they did not.) Remember that? Now look at him. Trim, athletic, hopping around the diamond like he's wearing ballet slippers, hammering the ball every time up. Hungry as hell. That's the change of the century right there.
  12. Old Twins Hat
    Twins don't need Lee to carry them, just hold his own, in the field and the batter's box. He switch-hits, hits for some power, seems to hit in the clutch and can get his bat to the ball. Best case is he becomes a solid, dependable player on defense who has good stretches at the plate, maybe even good years, and does not spoil rallies. In short, if he's a gamer, shows grit and determination to win, I think he can stick. So far, and it's just impressions, he's a little goofy in the dugout and lacking drive. Can't measure that, but, it is what I see, along with a young man who could and should get better-- if he wants that. Really wants that. Not for his dad, but for himself.
  13. Old Twins Hat
    That's the point. ML Baseball has a problem, a huge problem and everybody knows it. It's good, well and fine to be in favor of imitating the Brew Crew, but they are home watching the Dodgers in the World Series and it's another year of Betts, Freeman, Ohtani, Snell, Glasnow, etc. celebrating their awesome season. Yawn. Buzz kill. Cue the fan indifference. it's not going to be particularly close and baseball is being ruined because of it.
  14. Old Twins Hat
    Yeah, well, when it comes to strategy, hard to beat the Dodgers: buy the best players available, no matter the cost. We all saw how the Brewers stacked up against that.
  15. Old Twins Hat
    A Sprout with a Tong and unlimited salad bar. Or no deal.
  16. Old Twins Hat
    Kind of a downer of a commentary section -- no, not, never. Guess what? Lee is a pretty damn good defensive player -- sure handed, quick release, an accurate and strong arm. He gets to the ball, he makes the play. Reliably. Major league ready. I didn't even watch many games, but I could see that much. Will he hit enough? For a shortstop, the answer is "yes". Put him at third, second, or even utility and the answer is "not necessarily". Beat my brains out for seeing something positive in Lee, but remember, the shortstop's offense is typically a bonus. He is fine as a shortstop. He will not drag the Twins down. If the question is: Is Culpepper the future? The answer is: we don't know, but we hope Culpepper is an All-Star caliber player. But first, let's let Lee play and find his level best.
  17. Old Twins Hat
    Face it: the Twins were not a fundamentally sound baseball team, and they haven't been for quite some time. Running the bases? Most years, just terrible. Holding runners? Terrible. Hitting with runners on base? Terrible. Defense? Mediocre. Desire to win? Nope. I know the players are ultimately responsible for sound baseball plays, but the manager can and should dictate what is acceptable and what isn't when he fills out the lineup card. Great guy, very articulate, cared for his players. But, the Twins just did not play like a well-coached team. For that, look to Milwaukee.
  18. Old Twins Hat
    I'm already looking forward to next year. Which of the young starting pitchers will be studs, which will fill in the bullpen. Lewis, Lee, Keaschall -- that's a great start on the infield, especially defensively, all moving toward their prime. Buxton, Martin, Jenkins in the outfield. Twins will be plenty solid. Need some RH sticks at 1B, C and at DH -- not that hard to find. Couple of relievers and they are right there with the rest of the division. Yeah, it's been a sucky 35 years for sure but, next spring .... -- next spring we start all over and hit the fields in Florida on the way up.
  19. Old Twins Hat
    Caught some of the game. Is it just me or is Julien a complete hack at 1B. Can't get his feet right, misses the base. Very poor looking defender.
  20. Old Twins Hat
    Austin is playing like a rookie, all starts and stops and mistakes. What happens if he gets some seasoning and trusts his instincts?
  21. Old Twins Hat
    Noticed that too. His body, he looks almost uncomfortable in it, as if he is swelling up and his uniform won't hold him. Man-child at 20 and a big-time stud by 24. Wow!
  22. Old Twins Hat
    Correa lost me with his Christian Dior quote. What kind of player even knows that much about lavish jewelry. WTF?
  23. Old Twins Hat
    Announcers are going to struggle with Eduardo's name: In Spanish, every vowel is pronounced, so instead of Tate, it is Tah-eat. Hopefully he is special enough that everyone gets it right.
  24. Old Twins Hat
    Twins have gone from "unwatchable" to "must see" in about a week. In baseball terms that's like turning an aircraft carrier on a dime.
  25. Old Twins Hat
    Watching that clip of him running around the bases, I would say, "Yeah, he's got a major league body at... what... 20 years old"? Couple more years, he's strong like a mule.
×
×
  • Create New...