Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

D. Hocking

Old-Timey Member
  • Posts

    2,504
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 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 D. Hocking

  1. I am ready for spring training to really get going so we have some semi-legitimate reasons to bitch. I feel like some of the off-season discussions have played themselves out for now.... If the Twins had some serious reservations, it makes even more sense why they did not go out of their way to trade Trevor.
  2. True - I believe Chief was tutored in philosophy by Plato -- so his philosophy would be more classical.
  3. In one of the companion videos to the Brian Murphy interviews, he cited this as his toughest loss. If he is a regular reader of TwinsDaily, I am not sure he will appreciate this particular thread.
  4. There are a couple of boards I used to browse that I don't even want to imagine how the discussion is going - although I suspect foaming at the mouth is involved.
  5. Yes - concussion issues aside -- I have felt a couple of years (last year and I believe 2013) the team and/or Joe was very sensitive to the criticism that he does not play enough and their main goal was to have him play a record number of games for the season. There were a few times when I thought he needed a break, but I think they kept him in so they could say -- see, Mauer is on track to play a record number of games.
  6. This was me in more conspiracy mode, but when they signed Park, I was wondering if there was going to be some sort of announcement later involving Mauer.
  7. Gardy was much more creative when coming up with player nicknames. I don't think Gardy was to blame for most of the Twins woes, but I do think he was burned out and there was a black cloud over his head the last couple of years which I think that seeped into the club house a little. I think Molitor helped change that and it was not just a smoke machine that changed the club house environment (this is largely -- or all -- speculation on my part). I was also hoping for an outside candidate and did not agree with everything he did, but he is a smart guy and I think he will make adjustments (a lot of the managerial aspects of the job were new to him since he really did not manage at lower levels). [To give Gardy some credit, Paul is going to benefit from some talented players the next few years -- Gardy had some less than ideal teams during the 2011 - 2014 stretch.]
  8. In your youth people were just starting to wear clothes - so it would have been much more common.
  9. I heard him talking about the strike zone on one of the Twinsfest interviews over the weekend (I think with Reusse). They also talked about how it is much more common to face some sort of specialty reliever in the 5 or 6th inning another around at the starting pitching. Reusse later was saying because of these things, even if Joe recovers his swing, the days of hitting 340 or 350 are over.
  10. I am the only one who keeps reading the title to this as La Velle loses 5 pounds? I am ready for spring training to start, so we can do more than speculate.
  11. Speed aside (and I think he is faster than he looks), he is good at reading a ball when it is hit and getting the most out of his base running.
  12. He is in good enough shape where the Wild had recruited him to join the team. (Sadly, they then realized he was teaching players to be more patient and selective in regards of when to shoot at the net ...). I think with the disappearance of the beard, he is bound to have a better season.http://2.cdn.nhle.com/wild/images/upload/gallery/2016/01/PariseSkatingGallery16_slide.jpg
  13. Yet I noticed you never did answer the question...
  14. I am hoping you won't be able to say this when all is said and done...
  15. When you factor in war, pestilence, famine... In all seriousness, to the new posters, the moderators do a great job including the head moderator. There are a lot of different opinions and personalities here and they are pretty adept at maintaining the balance of allowing debate and various opinions but preventing a thread from devolving into just a lot of negative comments and bickering.
  16. The HOF is obviously a big honor and still a big deal, but do you think it is as highly thought of as it was in the past? There is so much gray area now about who should be considered, who was doing what etc. Plus sadly, I am not sure the younger generation cares as much about the history of the game just who is playing now or possibly who they watched while growing up (not to sound like an 85 year old curmudgeon). I could see it go either way for Mauer, although currently trending towards not. I think it might depend a little on how he plays the next few years and if in retrospect if it looks like his downtime was due to concussion or other issues. A world series win the next couple of seasons would help..... Too bad if he does not get in, because it did look like much more of a sure think 7 to 8 years ago, and it would have been fun to see a hometown player who seems in general to be a good guy to get in for his hometown team. It would have to be a bit of a disappointment for him, but he seems grounded enough where he will still be able to enjoy spending his post-career at his "cabin" and watching his girls win the high school championship for whatever sport they are playing and being a color commentator for some network (the last one might be somewhat unlikely) .
  17. I think him being from California is way down on the list of issues concerning the head moderator.
  18. Interesting stuff -- fun to read about Nathan's nervous tick and AJ's aggressive intensity and ego. I am glad there are no reports recorded for prosperity about any body shape and athletic defects I had at age 19. While this is not exactly on point for the scouting discussion - it seems like a good time to revisit this picture. .http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/_0WX0nFaniuDL9JRe6LzsA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3NfbGVnbztxPTg1O3c9Mzc1/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/sports/2014-04-22/2681bf90-ca62-11e3-825a-1b55848ea173_young-perk-and-mauer.jpg
  19. I have heard that reading baseball webpages with intelligent baseball analysis and that have thoughtful, compelling discussion makes one about ten to 15 years younger than their chronological age.
  20. I think there is a glaringly obvious exclusion from that list. Someone who was with the Twins the last time they won a play-off series. Someone who could bring veteran leadership as well as show an incredible range of skills all around the diamond. Someone who grew up during a time that he would be able to bring break dance moves to the dance party. Someone who is really available and ready to get back into the game where he was meant to be. Of those listed above - AJ fills a need, but I would love to find someone other than him. Is the league that lacking in catcher depth? It would be nice to have more than a one year band aid who has potential to be a club house distraction.
  21. If I did not know any better - I would swear I was reading a typical game thread, except this might be a little more logical, coherent, and baseball minded.
  22. Mauer can also restructure his contract to help make this happen. The one negative is when Mauer goes back to catching, the chances of resigning AJ go down. Bonds could also fill that veteran presence and be a positive presence to the younger players. He can be a good place holder until Cuddy's contract with the Mets expires and we can get him in free agency.
  23. In addition to the reoccurrence of the concussion symptoms, wasn't a big part of DL stint last year due to the neck issues flaring up again? It seems like his body is really giving him quite a few signs to back off. I feel like he is an injury away from having life time health issues, if he has not already passed that point. It has to be incredibly tough to walk away from something you really love and the only thing you have ever really known as a career (as evidenced by Jerry Kill this week). He is one of my sentimental favorites, I can understand why he still wants to play (and imagine he would love to return home so to speak), but I don't think the team has greater needs and I think it would be in his best interest to contemplate stepping away from the game (as hard as that must be).
  24. I am not sure what you mean by that... http://sportsnaut.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/0143.jpg I thought it was a bad decision to bring him back -- I was wrong -- I think it ended up being a positive movie. I am also glad he is not coming back - I think it might have had shades of Favre 2010. Still kudos to him for a great career and retiring in a way that will not cloud the off-season or next season with speculation.
×
×
  • Create New...