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Possumlad

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Everything posted by Possumlad

  1. Possumlad
    I'm likely in the (dramatic) minority, but I don't enjoy Provus nearly as much on TV as I did on the radio. He feels a bit stiffer & more forced on TV. Doesn't find the flow as naturally, and not all that organic or natural filling dead space. I enjoy his voice & actual play-by-play calls, but don't really enjoy his other commentary, repartee, or attempts at humor. Less of an issue on the radio, as more of the job is just calling & describing the action. Perk & Plouffe are my choices on the color side, but I enjoy the rotation. Don't mind any of them in doses.
  2. Possumlad
    It's either a bad haircut or a mediocre hairpiece....
  3. Possumlad
    Agree on Keaschall, but Winokur's been a disappointment so far. .686 OPS this year in 138 at bats for FTM.
  4. Possumlad
    Royce Lewis is locked in to 3rd for a long time. He's not moving to the outfield.
  5. Possumlad
    I've been very critical in the past, particularly about Popkins as hitting coach. I was wrong. Not just because the last 6 weeks have been so fun, and we just won our first playoff series in 20 years. But because the combo of this roster & farm system looks poised for a very strong 5+ year run. This FO has earned some very meaningful runway - we have a very appealing combo of vets, controllable young talent, and farm support backing both. Given the strong position we seem to be in, it can't be dumb luck - seems to be the result of the FO's long-term (and as you say, stubborn) plan finally paying off. Bravo.
  6. Possumlad
    It's close to impossible.. per Fangraphs the Yankees have a 1/200 chance to get a WC slot as of today. Not impossible, but...
  7. Possumlad
    Anyone know why Walker Jenkins has played exclusively DH in his 10 games so far?
  8. Possumlad
    Since there's really no other place to put it: rehabbing major leaguers in the minors is one of the dumber MLB traditions; one I hope dies soon. If a player needs to rebuild strength or flexibility after a long lay-off or specific injury, it makes sense. But a straight-forward injury like Royce's is either healed or it isn't. Once he's ready to go, he should be on the big-league field. We're currently wasting about a week of production @ AAA. For no reason whatsoever outside tradition. Can you imagine the Wolves sending Ant or KAT to the G-League for a week of starts coming off an injury? No, because it's idiotic. You're just risking further injury with no discernible upside. If the idea is to test readiness in a game situation - fine, give them one game @ AAA. But once the question is answered, get them out of there.
  9. Possumlad
    I think it's a bit of an odd take. Correa's undoubtedly having a bad year, ranking 16th currently by WAR of only ~20 eligible shortstops. But he's 28 years old and shouldn't be anywhere near past his prime. And he's had "off" seasons before - in 2018, he posted a 101 wRC+ & 3.4 WAR. In the shortened 2020 season, 94 wRC+. Those seasons were sandwiched between very good ones. Last year he was a 4.4 WAR player with a 140 wRC+. He was similar for Houston the year before that. I think it's reasonable to expect (not just hope) that he's somewhere between those extremes going forward. Or at least there's no reason not to expect that (other than frustration & recency bias). I don't have an analytical take on why; just that it would be extremely odd for a player of his caliber to fall off the way he has @ 28. I'd expect him to be at least a well above-average starter at a premium position for the next few seasons.
  10. Possumlad
    Jenkins situation (if it is one?) is odd. I haven't seen mention of any concerns or hangups by any local media - has anyone else? Best guess is he'll sign later tonight or tomorrow, given that no one locally or nationally seems to be talking about it.
  11. Possumlad
    "The game calmed down, entering the usual see-saw to nowhere that many baseball games see for a few innings." I just wanted to say this is a great piece of writing. Very evocative description of a certain mid-game rhythm we all know well. Something about those meandering middle innings reminds me of half-listening to games with my dad on the garage radio, deep in to the middle of a seemingly endless boyhood summer.
  12. Possumlad
    The Twins are obsessed with the Kyle Garlick's of the world. It's amazing how many at-bats they give yearly to AAAA sorts at the expense of deserving young players.
  13. Possumlad
    What is this based on? We've seen Buxton run the bases well enough. His speed is well-above league average. Do you have some inside information indicating that the Twins can't or won't ever again play Buxton in the field? Or or is it speculation?
  14. Possumlad
    Even if we assume he's much more likely to miss time playing in CF, Buck's more valuable to the Twins playing 70-90 games in CF than he is playing 140 @ DH. Buck @ DH means Taylor's (or a Taylor-equivelent's) bat in the line-up. 140 games of guaranteed below average production from one of your line-up spots is not worth the reduced injury risk to Buxton. The math just doesn't work out. Buck's not a good offensive player to be hidden at DH the way he is. Play him in CF at least 2-3 games a week, with a match-up based platoon at DH. DH him in another 1-2 w/ Taylor in Center. Worst-case scenario, Buck gets hurt. In that case, you're back to Taylor in CF and a platoon at DH. But in the games he plays, you get Taylor-level defense in Center without the corresponding hole in the line-up. Buck's worth what he is because he plays a premium defensive position. As with Mauer's move from C to 1B, he loses a ton of value once he's out of CF.
  15. Possumlad
    I don't know. I've had both, and I'd rather play baseball with plantar fascitis than a bad hangover.
  16. Possumlad
    Absolutely - the worst of all possible solutions. Robo-umps will be here full-time soon enough... hopefully we just fully bypass this ill-conceived interim step.
  17. Possumlad
    Agreed - but I don't think it should be all that hard to fix. The side to side & back to front components of the strike zone are 100% defined & agreed on. Only high/low need be addressed. What to do? In my mind there are a couple options: 1) Fixing the upper bound at a specific height. This would clearly benefit taller hitters. And likely also pitchers, as they could learn to groove pitches based on a fixed zone size. Clear losers would be shorter players. 2) Batter-specific strike zones based on height. Might feel a bit clunky, but not sure it would be all that hard. People grow very little (if at all) past age 18. Batters would be measured by an independent league official prior to joining the league, and their upper-bound would be a simple function of that height. Would assume the robo-ump could easily be tuned to accommodate batter-to-batter? I admittedly don't know the tech well enough. Interested in thoughts from others. Downsides to each - but both likely better than the current system.
  18. Possumlad
    It's a an interesting idea, and I've thought similar in the past. But more than anything I think it points to the fact that ERA is a largely useless stat to begin with. There are many, many thing that contribute to the "why" of an opposing team scoring a run. The pitcher that allowed the runner on base; the defense; the pitcher that allowed them home; and (often as much as anything) luck. ERA does almost nothing to isolate the individual pitcher's contribution to that "why." One of the shortcoming could be partially solved with your solution above... but there are so many others that I'm not sure it really matters. (And as a specific complication, what about runs that more than two pitchers contribute to? First pitchers walks the batter; second pitcher throws two passed balls, getting runner to third; then gets two outs; third pitcher comes in & gives up a single?)
  19. Possumlad
    This is an odd take. How many "superstars" do you think there are in the MLB? If it's more than 5-10, Correa is one of them. He had the 23rd highest WAR in baseball among position players - essentially the same WAR as Juan Soto, Lindor, Carlos Rodon, and Altuve. Are those players superstars? He's not Judge or Ohtani, but he's right there in that next group and plays a super-premium position.
  20. Possumlad
    Not really much to talk about; is what it is. I think we've all collectively had our fair share of COVID and Vax conversations over the past 2+ years. Not worth more energy or ink at this point.
  21. Possumlad
    I'm always surprised at how much sentiment shifts, even subtly, based on one or two games. Twins offense has been fine this year; they're 11 in MLB in OPS. Keep in mind that scoring & offense in general is way down in the MLB this year; it's all compared to what. Pitching has been great; 6th lowest ERA in MLB.
  22. Possumlad
    Not to be nitpicky, but Royce Lewis isn't 20. He's 22, turning 23 in June.
  23. Possumlad
    Lol. Editors, please make a note to never call start "impressive" until the pitcher clicks from 4 2/3 innings to 5. TwinsDr you've made this bizarre point like 7 times in the thread now; it makes no sense, and no one cares.
  24. Possumlad
    Not true in this case. They needed to test Buxton for COVID before disclosing the reason he left the game. Saying "left game with illness" without having that clarity would have created a lot of unnecessary drama.
  25. Possumlad
    Lotta angsty energy on this board after one of the more fun & interesting victories of the year. Not everything always goes according to plan in baseball. While they're seemingly yet to hit a real stride, the Twins are winning games and I'm having fun. If this thread is what we get after a almost no-hit, walk-off W, I'll take it as a reminder not to be hang around after a loss
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