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D. Hocking

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Everything posted by D. Hocking

  1. D. Hocking
    I read this as Willingham should have pinch RUN there, which I am not sure has ever been said.
  2. D. Hocking
    You want to trade our game 1 starter from the 2009 ALDS?
  3. D. Hocking
    I wanted the Royals to win, but yes, hats off to Bumgarner. Kind of impressive of the Giants to win three rings in 5 years.
  4. D. Hocking
    I was not fat. When all is said and done, while it irritates me if they did not at least make a half-hearted attempt to contact Maddon, I think both Molitor and Lovullo have potential to be great. Right now I am more in favor of Luvullo than Molitor, but that is more gut than any reasoned rationale.
  5. D. Hocking
    If I only had read this post twenty some years ago, high school could have ended on such a different note.
  6. D. Hocking
    I am gullible and naive enough that I would have (probably foolishly) given them the benefit of the doubt if they had not hired him because either he did not want to come, or they really felt he would not have been a fit, and maybe would have understood had they felt that one of the other candidates would have been just as good for a cheaper price, if they would have at least contacted and talked to him. For them to not even do a cursory chat due to budget reasons not only seems like a bad choice baseball wise, but for any business not to talk to someone who is the best at their job when you have that particular need seems like a bad business move period. I am not of the mind-set where I think spending money is the answer (you need to spend wisely - but sometimes you should spend), but after this it is going to be harder to swallow any of the spouting of their low salary philosophy when rationalizing a cheaper payroll. I am less likely to believe that they want to spend wisely, but simply that they are cheap and are more interested in their balance sheet than their win-loss columns. [sorry that was rambling and incoherent - am working on something convoluted at work and this was a mental health break. Not sure the mental health is any better.]
  7. D. Hocking
    He is excited because the Pohlads offered him the Roseau/ND leg of Twins Caravan next winter to cinch the deal. He now knows he is going to an organization that will do anything to build a championship team.
  8. D. Hocking
    I am not not happy the news broke during a busy work afternoon, so I cannot properly be distracted by it and can only sparingly check the sharp insight and predictions by the minds of Twins Daily.
  9. D. Hocking
    Buster O just predicted this.
  10. D. Hocking
    St. Paul Saints tweet: St. Paul Saints @StPaulSaints · 15m 15 minutes ago We would like to announce we have no plans to interview Joe Maddon. George Tsamis will remain our manager. Obviously he would be a great hire, and unlike Doug M. I would not constantly misspell his last name which would cause less aggravation to certain posters.
  11. D. Hocking
    Juicing is always a relevant element in pro sports. This is such a wishy washy reply, but I think all three candidates have positive attributes, and as long as the Twins did a sincere search with an open mind to who would be best for the job, and there was not a pre-ordained choice with these interviews being just for show, I will be fine with any of these candidates. Once the manager is chosen, it will be interesting to see who the coaching staff is, if they make changes in training, medical etc. Of course who the manager is won't matter as much without another pitcher, and maybe a real outfielder etc.
  12. D. Hocking
    Yes - I think the media just wanted to acknowledge Gardy. I think there are a number of players that actually are pretty decent with the media. Gardy probably deserves the media award just for attending the press conference for his dismissal. He handled what could have a contentious situation with grace and class and even a bit of humor.
  13. D. Hocking
    I understand it is a business and they need to show fiscal responsibility and I also know just spending money is not the answer. However, even if it was only for PR purposes, it would be nice to read some of these interviews if you felt that in addition to this being a business, they had some passion of owning and running a baseball team and how their primary goal was to win for winning sake, not because winning will generate revenue and future ticket sales. This interview conjures images of spreadsheets and pie charts that someone would present to their shareholders to show the five year plan to increase revenues, not how they are excited about the possibility of someday bring a trophy to Target Field. I am not saying they don't want to win and that they should just go wildly spend some money, but try to show that running a baseball team is is something that causes a rush of excitement and the dream of winning in the play-offs gets the pulse going just as much as record ticket sales. It might not be fiscally responsible, but I would like to see them base the team salary based on the needs to the team and who is out there and not dependent on revenue. I am fine with smart spending or not spending just to spend, but I would hope they would go outside their spreadsheet box and 50% limit, if they really felt it would be beneficial to the team (within practical limits of course - I don't expect them to go into the red).
  14. D. Hocking
    Bear? Look at the body language - you can tell there is already a lot of tension and animosity between the two. http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/AutographLine2.jpg
  15. D. Hocking
    There have been a couple of interviews where if I did not hear who they were interviewing I would have thought it was an old clip of Cuddy. I am not sure where I stand on the importance of a club house leader, but I have heard Gardy say Dozier will get on people in the locker room. If a club house voice is important, in addition to his solid defense, his personality and growing experience could be an asset in the club house. Plus, there is the hair.
  16. D. Hocking
    I think numbers post DL might be realistic. Baseball has such a razor edge from being a successful hitter to floundering. It does not take much mentally pr physically to throw one off. Think of all of the issues Mauer had to address the beginning of the season: returning from a concussion, losing a good chunk of the off-season conditioning because of the concussion, learning a new position,feeling pressure about making the all-star team when at the home field, back issues, (hopefully due to not being able to condition off season and not a sign of future problems), oblique (ditto). It will be interesting to see how he is next year. One more year removed from the concussion, knowing more what to expect playing first base and hopefully try a few new off season conditioning techniques. It is possible that he is just aging quickly due to his career as a catcher, but I also think it is possible that he will have a bit of a rebound and while his best days are behind him, be a respectable player for a few more years. If healthy, I also think his defense will continue to improve.
  17. D. Hocking
    It was bound to happen eventually. Maybe they can do something to shorten the time of the games. Daleks can be polarizing as well, so I am hoping there will not be a lot of unfounded or unsubstantiated insults of them. http://thechristiannerd.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/dalek-infield.jpg
  18. D. Hocking
    I have always felt that was a big reason he left was because he did not want to make those decisions. Part burn-out, part avoidance. Plus, I have always thought he had some input on some of the decisions Smith made when he first became GM. At the very least, I don't think Smith made his early decisions without strong input from someone. Not that Smith did not make some bad decisions (Nishi alone..), and Ryan has made some very good decisions, but I think sometimes things get oversimplified and every bad decision is blamed on Smith and Ryan is completely disassociated from some things where he had some involvement.
  19. D. Hocking
    Ron was pretty adamant last year that Anderson was the one coach he would not let go. I wonder if Gardy goes someplace else, if he will lobby hard to try and bring Anderson on as his pitching coach. I would imagine other GMs and team owners would be wary of his recent pitching staff's track record.
  20. D. Hocking
    I like Mauer, do not think he is as dumb as a box of rocks (or as dumb as Llyod), but now I will see this comparison in my head every time he smartly comes up to bat. http://ideluca.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/lloyd_christmas_large.jpg http://www.yanksarecoming.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/joemauer.jpg
  21. D. Hocking
    Yes, older brothers don't necessarily "coddle" their younger siblings,if my memory and childhood scars remember correctly. I do think Gardy felt he could not tell Mauer much about hitting, and kind of left him alone. I also think Mauer is set in his ways and a bit stubborn (which I think is not uncommon for veteran players), so it would not be a bad thing for the new manager to get him out of his comfort zone, not to be antagonistic, but to make him go outside his box to some degree.
  22. D. Hocking
    The absences in May were due to the back injury. I actually think he might have come back from that too early, because he was awful. I wondered if him compensating for playing with the hurt back might have led to the oblique strain (although I have no idea if that would even be likely physically). I do think they made sure he was healed a little more completely with the oblique because he was not ready to return when he did with the back. The effects of his concussion were discussed here, but I was surprised at how little it came up as a or was discussed as possibility of some of his problems when he was discussed elsewhere. It was almost like it was forgotten how his previous season ended, and it was almost taken for granted by some that it was no longer an issue (which was strange after Justin and Span). It is possible his problems were not concussion related, but I think it is definitely possible they were. I have seen a lot of comments that he might as well go back to being catchers since he got hurt playing first base often implying he wanted the easier position because he was soft, basically ignoring that he very reluctantly made the switch after hearing from numerous doctors that he could have long-term or permanent ramifications if he got concussed again. He mentioned being healthy for his wife and kids as being a primary reason not to take that risk.
  23. D. Hocking
    I am so glad Twitter, face book, being able to take pictures from a phone and instantly post it on the internet was not around when I was in my teens and 20s. I can envision a lot of things would have been posted that probably would have been ill-advised. You think you are posting something that will just be seen by a couple of people and all of a sudden it is out there for all to see (granted I would not have the twitter following of Nolasco...).
  24. D. Hocking
    Semi-off topic, but I think this is becoming a problem in all sports. The NFL games are pretty chopped up and seem to go on longer now as well. This is the extreme example, but even when it is a good game all the commercial breaks really distract from the Super Bowl (and grumpy old man like rant -- the SB commercials have not been consistently good since about 2000, it is time to stop hyping the SB commercials like they are the artistic achievement of the year. Most of them try too hard to be funny or entertaining. End of grumpy old man rant that has nothing to do with this thread).
  25. D. Hocking
    I think the trib comments tend to lean more towards poisonous bile than snark (or at least the last time I read them, maybe they are much more thoughtful, civil, and rational now).
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