Mr. Brooks

If the lineup posted on the Strib site this morning is the same lineup he actually faced, then those numbers don't mean a whole lot. 1. Daniel Descalso, SS 2. Shane Robinson, CF 3. Matt Carpenter, 2B 4. Matt Adams, 1B 5. Oscar Tavares, RF 6. Ty Wigginton, 3B 7. Adron Chambers, LF 8. Tony Cruz, C 9. Shelby Miller, RHP I see probably one guy who will be in the opening day lineup (whichever of Deslasco/Carpenter win the 2B job), and they even chose not to use a DH, while the Twins did!

We'll just have to agree to completely disagree. Even Pujols last 2 seasons were better than (2011), or comparable (2012) to any full season Justin has EVER put up, aside from his MVP season. If you are going to put the qualifier of "going forward" in regards to Pujols numbers, then it is only fair to use the same qualifier for Justin. Pujols is only 2 years older than Justin, and has never suffered the major injuries that Justin has, so to expect "peak" numbers from Justin, but not give the same benefit to Pujols seems a little questionable to me. And if TR gives Morneau an extension for 5 years, $80 million, he should be fired on the spot, IMO.

Just because someone is critical of TR or Gardy does not mean that person is pretending to know more about baseball then them. Look at it this way: You go out to a restaurant, and order the most expensive steak on the menu, medium rare. The steak is delivered to your table, and its burned to a crisp, and as dry as an old boot. Are you going to question it, or just say, "well, I certainly don't know more about cooking than the chef does, so if he says this is medium rare, then I guess it is!" Even people who are good at their jobs make mistakes, and sometimes they make mistakes that are obvious to even the lay person. I think just about everyone in here understands that guys need backups and that backups are occasionally going to play. But I also don't think that not having the foresight to have a plan B in place, which causes Nick Punto and Drew Butera to EVER get every day AB's is questionable at the least, and borders on incompetence. And one thing that I do, and will question is the following: In general I give TR a pass for the SP issues last year. A reasonable person could not have predicted all 3 of Liriano, Pavano, and Baker being useless, for all intents and purposes. But I think TR has done a very questionable job of addressing that issue this year. I keep hearing about how at a minimum our starting pitching couldnt possibly be as bad as last year, and I've even seen some people say that it will be vastly improved. Well, I'm not seeing that. To me, quantity does NOT equal quality, and I dont really see anything in the short term that is better than last year. Correai: I won't even pile on, its a horse that's been beaten, buried, dug up, beaten again, and set on fire. It is what it is. Pelfrey: I don't think he's ready. Things could get ugly if he's allowed to start the season. I have even heard rumblings of him starting opening day (not that it really matters who starts which day, really), so apparently they are not even considering DL'ing him to give him time to get healthy. I'll go ahead and assume that there is a pretty good chance they are seeing something that is not being seen publicly, but I'm still not optimistic about it. Worley: I'll be honest, I knew of him, but hadnt seen him pitch much. I looked at his numbers and thought this could be a solid middle rotation guy for us. A small sample size over ST is certainly nothing to draw conclusions from, but at the same time, he's shown us nothing to to get excited about, and plenty to be nervous about. I'm hopeful its just a matter of him building up strength in his elbow, and that this isnt just his normal stuff. The prospects: Gibson looked really bad, and not ready in ST. I know Gardy and TR are saying optimistic things publicly, but the whispers I have heard are that they are no longer counting on much of him at the MLB level this year. Seth, have you discussed this with your sources, and if so, what is the mood regarding him? Meyer and May, I'm excited to have some good young arms in the system, and these 2 seem fairly close to MLB ready. But, I think the max that we will see from one or the other is a few innings in Sept. The rest: Deduno, Walters, Hendricks, De Vries, etc. : Nothing in here that we didnt have last year.

Capable of similar production as the best right handed hitter of our lifetime? Pujols has put up 11 seasons of .900 OPS or higher, and 8 seasons of 1.000 OPS or higher. Justin has done .900 one time (his MVP season), and has never come close to a 1.000 season. Justin's MVP season would have ranked as Pujols 11th best season, by OPS. Justin is a very good hitter, when healthy and on, but no, he's not capable of similar production as Pujols. And as a bonus, Pujols has also played at least 143 games every year of his career.

So you dont think the Rays have good scouts and FO people? Do you think that they just luckbox their way into being competitive year in and year out in the same division as the Red Sox and Yankees, on 1/4 to 1/3 of the payroll?

1)Because Ramirez probably has a better bat than Colabello. Ramirez put up a higher OPS at AA, in stints as a 21yo, 22yo, 24yo and 26yo than Colabello did at AA as a 28 yo. 2)I could be wrong, but i'm pretty sure Ramirez has an option year remaining. 3)Even if he doesnt, they are both fringe MLB'ers, I doubt the risk of losing either of them is much of a concern when considering who to bring north.

You mean the same study that also gives Butera a negative value at framing pitches?

Considering Doumit was worth 9.6 wins above replacement during his time in Pittsburgh (I'm only counting his time in the NL because we are discussing his value as a C, not as a DH, correct?) over 7 seassons (avg 1.4 WAR/season), while Butera has a negative WAR during his time with the Twins, I'd say it is pretty clear that Doumit's bat more than overcomes Butera's defensive superiority. There is simply no defense that is good enough to overcome a sub .500 OPS bat, at any position, on any team. And the minor leagues and retirement lines are full of gold glove caliber defenders who never learned how to hit. If that type of bat could be overcome by stellar defense, all those guys would be rich. And, no Doumit would not make a good fantasy starter. In fact he wouldnt even be drafted in a typical 10 team mixed league, much less be starting for anyone. If Doumit is starting on your fantasy team, you are in big trouble.

That would be pretty tough. ROY voters dont appreciate defense, which is a huge part of Hicks game. Even if he has a really good season, he probably wont put up the type of offensive numbers that look shiny to the voters.

LOL, most AL managers see a leadoff double and say, "alright, we got a chance for a big inning here!" Gardy sees a leadoff double and says, "alright, we got a chance to move the runner over to 3rd and hit a sac fly here!" You can't make it up.

Not sure if you are aware or not, but Chapman was moved back to closer, and Bauer was optioned to AAA.

My point wasnt to compare payrolls with Tampa, my point was that it CAN be done. You can trade some of your major pieces at their peak value AND still be competitive. You just have to have very competent scouts and FO people.

You don't think the Rays go into every season expecting to compete for a WS? I couldnt disagree more.

.268/.344/.440 16hr

Bolded #1: An MLB GM should not be making moves based on what is/is not going to please the message board posters. There were people in the media who thought that he would never repeat 2010, and should be traded. In fact, the FO themselves refused to offer an extension, and there were reports of trade offers from the Yankees that Spring, so its not like they didnt consider it. Bolded part #2: The Rays do this all the time. Its smart business if you are going to be a small to mid market team. The FO was never going to lock him up long term. When the Rays FO makes that determination, they move a player while their value is high, they dont wait, just because they want to make sure they can contend, they trust their scouting and their prospects and they know they can make the trade, re stock the farm, AND still compete. As loaded as our farm system is now, just think how loaded it would be if they traded both Liriano and Delmon at the peak of their value.

Kershaw, Strasburg, Darvish, Medlan, Moore, Halladay

Yeah, the wages to pension argument is comparing apples to oranges. The only way it would be similar is if your company told you they were going to hire you at minimum wage, but if you stayed and worked for minimum wage for 10 years, they would bump you up to $40/hr for the next ten years, only to pull the rug out after the first 10 years and say, "haha, just kidding. We voted to change that, you just worked 10 years @ minimum wage for nothing!!"

Couldn't have gotten more even if we had traded him in the offseason after 2010, when his value was the highest it was going to be? Just once I wish our GM would sell high on someone, instead of selling low every dang time. (Young, Liriano, Hardy,)

When young players who are still under team control are signed to long term extensions, the contract typically buys out the ARB years, plus 1 or 2 years of FA. Service time still plays an important role, because it either gives you one more year of sample size before you need to offer that extension, or it allows you to add one extra year to the extension. EXAMPLE: Hicks and his agent decide that the longest deal they are willing to do is ARB years + first 2 years of FA. If you have have an extra year of team control, that means you can sign him to a 6 year extension, rather than a 5 year extension, OR you can wait one more year before offering that 5 year extension. I'm not arguing Hicks shouldnt be up, I think he should be, and I'm glad he is. I"m just pointing out that even if a player is good enough to be locked up long term, that extra year of team control can sometimes still be a factor.

He can be signed after the amateur draft in June, without the team having to forfeit a draft pick.

I know the Twins get the rap of "pitch to contact", and often deservedly so, but Deduno DOES have control issues. I dont feel like them stating the obvious is some kind of undeserved criticism. The Twins are not the only team that a)thinks having control problems is a serious issue, and b)thinks that Deduno has control problems, as evidenced by nobody else wanting him. I am not saying that those issues cannot be fixed, but I will say that the small sample size of the WBC is not necessarily evidence that it HAS been fixed. And finally, IMO, I think the reason he now is in the mix for a 4th or 5th spot in the rotation has much more to do with Diamond, Gibson, and Hendricks, than it does to his WBC performances. While it certainly hasnt hurt has chances, and probably has helped a little bit, I just dont think MLB managers, coaches, and GM's put nearly as much stock into this small of a sample size as some people in here are.

I want to preface what I'm about to say by noting that its not meant to be a rip on Pelfrey. I hope they are not seriously considering bringing him north if he's not ready, physically, (I'm not down there seeing what they see, so maybe he is?) just to try to win an extra game or two early in the season. I just dont think he's ready to go, and it could be pretty ugly if he comes north throwing the same stuff he's throwing right now.

Interesting that performance doesnt matter. They have already predetermined that he is moving up? (I'm not doubting your source, I'm new here, don't know who you are, just honestly find that interesting. I'd be curious to know if that is unique to the Twins or if other organizations do that as well.)

Is sample size meaningless or not? You can't just apply it to players you like or don't like. It either matters or it doesnt. Deduno is a 29 year old with a track record, Butera is a 29 year old with a track record. Why does your statement, "improvement starts somewhere" apply to one but not the other? Could it just be that you like one player and dont like the other one?

That would be a great season. .246/.313/.446, 22hr