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mluebker

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Everything posted by mluebker

  1. mluebker
    If they do this, send them a bill for the consultation and check into the requirements for witness protection.
  2. mluebker
    I'd take a catcher with no on-field coaching experience, as long as he has good communication skills. I don't know anything about Suzuki's communication skills, though.
  3. mluebker
    Clearly Joe has had some media training. He seems skilled at giving the answers to the questions he wanted to be asked, instead of to the questions he was asked or addressing what his theoretical audience actually wants to know. It's called "spinning'," and apparently whoever trained him forgot to mention how that technique rarely works with sports fans, at least not for 34 consecutive years.
  4. mluebker
    Played in the 2002 ALCS or can convincingly pretend you did. Get thrown out once a week. Ability to wave arms furiously while yelling “C’MON BLUE!” required. Must own at least one pair of stirrups and an authentic Starter jacket. If you’ve ever taken batting practice in a Metrodome dome dog costume or been immortalized in a Target Field bobblehead, congratulations: you’re already qualified to manage the Minnesota Twins. Okay, it's Doug Mientkiewicz by acclamation! (Well, the bobblehead was at the Dome, but close enough!)
  5. mluebker
    Love it—it could be Billy Martin and Calvin Griffith 2.0. And we know he knows how to motivate young players, something the Twins now have in abundance.
  6. mluebker
    I’d suspect Falvey is the one who decided to make the change, hoping it would take the heat off of him. Hopefully someone higher up the food chain will do the same for him.
  7. mluebker
    I’m not sure anything has or will ever wake up the Pohlads, but I’m glad they decided it was time for a change.
  8. mluebker
    Most managers don’t select the players they put on the field. Their success (or lack of it) depends on what they accomplish with what they’re given. After eight years of good rosters and bad, of playing musical chairs at almost every position, and counting pitches instead of evaluating pitchers’ performance, Baldelli has little to show for his tenure beyond inexplicable longevity.
  9. mluebker
    Hope for the best. Expect the worst.
  10. mluebker
    I like the idea of developing a closer and set-up man from among the “high-caliber, high-velocity” guys already under contract, but who aren’t going to make the rotation. It doesn’t cost the team anything extra and for whoever gets the shot, it would have to be better than shuttling back and forth between the Twins and Saints to make spot starts. Use the talent in hand and see who wants to use their skills to move from marginal starter to (possibly) elite bullpen status.
  11. mluebker
    Short of the Pohlads selling the team, that would be my fondest wish come true and the biggest difference-maker we can hope for right now.
  12. mluebker
    This is the Twins fans’ dilemma. Who wouldn’t want to see a a couple of moderately competent free agents on the field, even another star or two? But whenever that happens it means other needs are being ignored or filled by bottom tier free agents and guys who have been DFA elsewhere. I’d rather see a handful of solid, competitive, everyday position players out there, and less musical chairs on the lineup card.
  13. mluebker
    Unless the Pohlads manage to sell, we may have to acknowledge that no external solutions are forthcoming and the Twins will have to play the guys they have.
  14. mluebker
    Also jumpstarted the offense. I don’t care if he never hits more than his weight, as long as he keeps coming up with key hits and play solid defense.
  15. mluebker
    He’s a keeper, in my book. But how about along with workload management, rest and recovery, and rotation construction, they add aggressive strength and flexibility training to build up some endurance and resilience?
  16. mluebker
    “Obviously, I’m not speaking to the success of these moves; I’m merely pointing out that this very front office—one that has largely been the same for the better part of a decade, at levels from leadership to analyst, only growing—was making risky decisions on a routine basis relatively recently.” I think the only thing risky about the moves that the Pohlads routinely make during the off-season is in alienating the fans who want to see the team win. It’s a revolving door: Anytime a player does well and stands to get a raise, they’re out the door and Falvey and company go looking for a cheap DFA or free agent replacement who looks like he has roughly the same statistics. But all too often, that cheaper replacement is a just a little bit worse than whoever they’re replacing. That’s not how you build a winning team.
  17. mluebker
    Next year MLB could just send visiting teams over to St. Paul for games. Outside of the competitive improvement, who’d know the difference?
  18. mluebker
    No more one-year rentals. There are too many other slots that need to be filled before the Twins are going to be legitimate contenders again. So better to find longer-term solutions to fill those (bullpen) and see how the new kids perform before looking for upgrades. Leave Lee and Clemens where they are until changes at first and short actually could put them over the top, not so they could improve from fifth worst in MLB to only sixth or seventh worst. Besides, Clemens is fun to watch and regardless of his other stats, he hits home runs and drives in runs.
  19. mluebker
    I like the guy and think he’s earned a regular spot in the lineup. Someone used the term “difference makers” a few days back, and that’s hard to measure with just statistics. He’s had a knack for delivering the big hit when the Twins need it, despite what his numbers say.
  20. mluebker
    If it keeps him in the line-up and off the IL, I’m for it. But that comes as a painful reminder of just how brief a time a talent like Buxton has at the top of his game, with a tremendous sense of loss at what could have been, and of how quickly the years pass.
  21. mluebker
    That’s generous. Whatever special sauce Falvey may have had, I think it got left out on the counter overnight, when it should have been in the fridge.
  22. mluebker
    Count me in.
  23. mluebker
    If, by some miracle, the Pohlads were to actually invest some money in their team, a big NO to chasing “one premium free agent.” What the Twins need more than anything right now is “multiple difference makers.”
  24. mluebker
    Love the enthusiasm and hope you’re right about Jenkins. But the idea of building a team around a kid who’s yet to play a major league game seems a little premature. Beyond that, I’m not a fan of building a team around one guy, no matter how good he is. A (current or eventual) superstar at one position, especially an expensive one soaking up a quarter or more of the available salary money, too often has meant a rotating cast of bargain basement players at other positions. Those teams rarely win championships. I’d much rather see solid, everyday players at every position and a rotation filled with guys who can win six out of every ten starts. Oh, and a manager who thinks outside the box once in a while.
  25. mluebker
    And .215/.284/.446 with 14 home runs and 39 RBI in a Twins uniform. In other words, a little better than Royce Lewis but not quite up to the Matt Wallner level. They could do worse. (And have.)
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