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mluebker

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Everything posted by mluebker

  1. mluebker
    Sure, get him some exposure at 2B and 3B, but maybe not turn him into another utility guy because he can hit. If he looks good at shortstop, strive to make him the best shortstop he can be. The Twins could use one. (And ditto for Keaschall at second.)
  2. mluebker
    You’d think a pitcher—or catcher or pitching coach—would notice when a particular pitch is getting hammered and mention it. I’ve never thought pitching-to-contact—intentionally or otherwise—is a good idea unless you’ve got an air-tight defense out there. And I can’t recall the last time the Twins fielded anything close. Overall, I prefer the old strategy of missing bats as often as possible while staying in and around the strike zone. But you gotta have guys who can do that.
  3. mluebker
    I like a defensive upgrade, particularly behind the plate.
  4. mluebker
    I thought Killebrew was miscast at 3B but was happy enough to see him playing LF or 1B. I like Lemon in the line-up, but not so much in left field. That would have to be Bob Allison—longer career, pretty good power, and definitely a defensive upgrade.
  5. mluebker
    This article reminds me of waking up on a sunny morning, then looking to the northwest and seeing a dark, stormy sky. Might be able to enjoy an hour or two, but you know what’s coming because you’ve seen it so many times before.
  6. mluebker
    Like I said, I’d love to be wrong. And Shelton did the right thing by reaching out to Lewis first thing. So here’s hoping his managerial style and new coaching staff have a different enough approach to young players to start turning things around. Because we’re going to be seeing plenty of young players wearing Twins uniforms this year.
  7. mluebker
    Completely agree. I’d love to be wrong, but Royce Lewis has gone from future franchise player to “What do call it when someone keeps doing the same thing and keeps expecting different results?”
  8. mluebker
    Maybe Buxton was just good, not lucky. Maybe whoever developed his expected numbers for 2025 was just wrong. And yeah, I’ll admit I was one of those guys who didn’t think Buxton was ever going to have a season like that again. But that’s what’s great about having real ballplayers out there instead of hypothetical constructs from the spreadsheets that try to define them—they can surprise you like that.
  9. mluebker
    I'd rather have Clemens playing (or platooned at) first base for his defensive skills and occasional moments at the plate than either of those guys. And I'd rather have probably half the guys commenting here as the Twins GM. At least they're paying attention to what happens on the field.
  10. mluebker
    Stats never tell the whole story. Some guys come up with good underlying number and apparently high ceilings but never reach them. Others have to scrap their way into the line-up, work hard every day to stay there, and end up being of greater value to a team than the guy with more talent. I'm always going to prefer the latter.
  11. mluebker
    So, left-handed hitting outfielders and now first basemen who can’t field. You never know what some people want to collect. This improves the team how?
  12. mluebker
    Sorry, Morris belongs in the top slot. Without him there’s no 1991 World Championship. I value that way more than a lot of home runs over a handful of seasons that only make the playoffs.
  13. mluebker
    There seems to be a remarkable zeal this winter for lousy defenders who are streaky hitters. Maybe look harder for solid defenders who are streaky hitters? With a decent rotation, maybe they could hold other teams to few enough runs that even the streaky guys could put a few on the board and win some games.
  14. mluebker
    Yeah, that’s what this team needs to compete: even more sub-par defense in the infield and continuing musical chairs with the line-up.
  15. mluebker
    Ah, that’s a different issue. This generation of Pohlads don’t seem to be as astute with their money as Carl. So in that regard, you may be correct—even if they’re trying, they may NOT actually be making a profit, although it’s difficult to imagine they’re purposefully trying to lose money. If they were, one might expect them to actually spend enough of it to sign and put nine quality players on the field on a regular basis. But clearly that’s not on their to-list, either. So if they aren’t trying to lose money, and they obviously aren’t trying to put together a championship team, they’re picking some kind of middle position. That, I was inferring, was to at least make the team profitable. If they aren’t doing that, it’s hard to understand why they’re in the baseball business at all.
  16. mluebker
    If you think the Pohlads have been trying to put a team on the field that actually could win a pennant (much less a championship) for the past couple years, we’ve been watching different teams. The evidence is the team’s consistently mediocre performance—they aren’t even a wild card team anymore. The Pohlads seem more concerned about “the stadium experience” than the baseball being played there.
  17. mluebker
    Well, you can either believe your opinions and preconceptions or trust the evidence you see with your own eyes. I’m going with the latter.
  18. mluebker
    We hold these truths to be self-evident.
  19. mluebker
    With so little to build ON, they have to build "around."
  20. mluebker
    They can't tear the roster all the way down to the ground without losing even the fans who make excuses for them. If you have a better take on the great job the Twins are doing, I'd love to hear it.
  21. mluebker
    Bingo. The current approach is to keep moving guys from one position where they struggle to another one where they struggle more because the Twins brain trust wanted to keep a promising bat in the line-up. But all the moving around gives them the yips at the plate, and pretty soon you’ve got an infield that looks like, well, the Twins infield. So the Twins better find some lights-out guys to restock the bullpen, because they aren’t going to be able to hold a late inning lead by relying on their defense.
  22. mluebker
    Their plan is to try to be just competitive enough to make a profit, with little or no reference to silly things like playoffs.
  23. mluebker
    Which, for better or worse, makes him the starting first baseman on the Pohlad’s and Falvey’s Twins.
  24. mluebker
    Their obsession with converting guys who can hit, but aren’t great defenders elsewhere or picking up other team’s cast-offs in the bargain aisle in early February seem to have become team traditions. Apparently first base no longer is a key position.
  25. mluebker
    Plausible, but not particularly palatable, for sure. What worries me is they’ll go a third route and just stand pat (at least until the trade deadline), neither competing nor rebuilding.
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