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The Great Hambino

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Everything posted by The Great Hambino

  1. The Great Hambino
    If I'm the Twins, I'd be interested in Littell only with the understanding that a spot in the rotation isn''t guaranteed. He could end up there through injuries/inefectiveness/a late-offseason trade of Ryan/Lopez/Ober, but his planned role would be that of swingman/long relief. If I'm Littell, I'm telling the Twins to pound sand and holding out for a rotation opportunity that will surely materialize elsewhere as spring training unfolds and injuries inevitably mount up somewhere. I don't know if they're allowed to bring in Giolito in a similar role since he hasn't pitched for the Twins before
  2. The Great Hambino
    I am The Great Hambino, and I approve this message! What's the worst that could happen, anyway?
  3. The Great Hambino
    If everything is elite, then nothing is elite Take note, PJ
  4. The Great Hambino
    I really think if they'd just let athletes get endorsements instead of digging their heels in against what was clearly a losing cause in the NCAA v Alston case, a lot of this would have been avoided. I mean, do you know how off you need to be to lose 9-0 in the Supreme Court these days? That opened up the floodgates. Now they can't enforce any of their rules because they don't hold up in court since the revenue-producing athletes are being recognized as employees by any reasonable interpretation of employment law. This will continue until they either start recognizing them as employees (it is technically a form of student work, after all) or they get an antitrust exemption from Congress
  5. The Great Hambino
    Exactly. It's not about the level of spend, it's asset allocation and roster construction. It's about understanding that dollars spent at an area of surplus - whether it's $2MM or $4MM or $10MM - are dollars not spent at an area of need. They need bullpen pieces or more than they need another mediocre left-handed corner outfielder that is best off being DH'd. And they had the easiest off-ramp for Larnach this season relative to their other similar pieces. He's also a symptom of their delusional belief that they are a competitive team and their misguided refusal to finish the rebuild that they started as they risk of the withering away of the trade value of their remaining valuable pieces that won't be here when they have a real chance to be competitive again.
  6. The Great Hambino
    I liked him when he was The Most Interesting Man In The World for Dos Equis
  7. The Great Hambino
    A team could definitely win a Super Bowl with Derek Carr as their backup QB Or maybe he's just long-windedly saying that he's not coming out of retirement
  8. The Great Hambino
    40% of the time that 4th day will land on a Lopez or Ryan start, so you're losing any benefits you're theoretically getting on those days. It's theoretically possible if you were to pair two guys together and tell them "the first eight innings are yours come hell or high water" and that was your fifth spot in the rotation, and you were committed to letting your top guys and others who are on a heater pitch deeper into games. But that falls apart in practice because that's not a reasonable expectation. It would be different if they were in evaluation mode like at the end of last year and you can live with the downsides in order to gain more experience/information, but they're in competition mode. So, yeah. Unworkable
  9. The Great Hambino
    I'd rather pinch hit with Bell/Caratini/whomever else is available off the bench and bring Rodman in for defense and use Larnach's salary on the bullpen or maybe towards better middle infield depth. I realize Bell and Caratini weren't on the roster at the time he was signed, but surely they knew they'd be bringing in someone who could hit righties given the $14MM they spent on those two. Walking from Larnach would've been one of the easiest ways to rebalance the roster given their constraints. I was in favor of tendering Larnach because I thought he could be moved for a reliever. And maybe he still can. I also don't think they're legitimately competitive, so an alternate answer is "I don't really care, stop wasting our time/your trade resources and get on with the rebuild." But that ship has sailed
  10. The Great Hambino
    Is it assumed that Larnach and Wallner are the starting COFs? I don't know if it's ideal to have them both in the outfield at the same time. That leaves a lot for Buxton to cover, and it's not platinum-glove Buxton out there anymore. I could see Martin and Roden/Outman (Rodman?) taking care of LF the majority of the time early in the season. Bell can play 1B if you want both Larnach and Wallner in the lineup at the same time (the one not in right takes DH), since I assume that means they're facing a righty I wonder if Zoll would take a mulligan on tendering an offer to Larnach at this point if given the chance. I thought he'd have been traded by now if there had been any interest in giving up a competent reliever for him at his arb salary
  11. The Great Hambino
    After all the Yakety Sax plays Twins pitchers made trying and failing to throw the ball to first base in the early portion of last year, pitchers fielding their position doesn't sound like a bad area to focus on in day one of camp
  12. The Great Hambino
    Now that we see why he was released, and given Tommy P's insistence that improved vibes will lead to 10 more wins on its own, I think he needs to be signed immediately
  13. The Great Hambino
    Fair enough. That was a good call then
  14. The Great Hambino
    I completely forgot about Topa, he obviously takes one of my NRI slots Where am I off on Banda? Some are reflexively panning the move out of habit, while bunsen is ready to throw himself a victory parade. I feel like I'm pretty lukewarm on him
  15. The Great Hambino
    Clearly a good value, but at first glance it seems like an odd profile in that in comparing his 2023 2022 to his 2025, he cut his ERA in half (6.75 to 3.18) while his FIP actually got worse (4.50 to 4.52). It does look like he did well in his limited high-leverage opportunities. Hopefully can sustain that because he's probably the #1 high-leverage option now So now Banda, Sands, Rogers, Funderburk, Orze are probably veteran locks, which would leave three spots to be filled by failed starter prospects and non-roster camp invites. Will it be 1 and 2 or 2 and 1? My guess right now assuming full health (LOL) would be Festa, Altavilla, and Hendriks. Maybe one of Adams/Klein/Morris take one/both of the NRI slots. I'd prefer Raya show some degree of competence at AAA before getting a shot in the bigs, even if they've already decided to transfer him to relief EDIT: 2022, not 2023. In my defense, his BBRef page is a mess
  16. The Great Hambino
    It would be kinda strange to put someone that's not even on the 40-man at the top of the depth chart, wouldn't it?
  17. The Great Hambino
    It's worth noting that, based on things I've heard multiple times but can't seem to find in print, attendance reactions to team performance generally operate on a one-year lag - apparently, most tickets are sold before the season begins. That's why they set their attendance record in 1988 and not in 1987. So where were those one-year-lag bounces recently? In 2020, they got COVID-ed, while in 2024, they right-sized themselves out of that bounce. Tom basically admits it with this quote from this very article: I think it's safe to blame ownership when ownership blames ownership
  18. The Great Hambino
    Bell is another addition to the amorphous blob of mediocrity gumming up 1B/DH Caratini potentially could raise the floor the most, but that's partially due to simply replacing Vasquez, who was a bottomless pit at the plate. At least he provides some cover for the position next year. This was probably my favorite move. Rogers was needed, but he's not a high leverage option on a good team anymore. The amount of proven high leverage options in the bullpen still maxes out at one, and that's being very generous toward Sands. The trades were little more than shuffling deck chairs. Depth has improved, but something will have gone wrong if any of them find themselves to be regular starters this year. You could argue that every move raised their floor and that none raised their ceiling. They need to raise the ceiling if they're serious about being competitive. And since there are no more ceiling-raising moves to be made without sending out some near-major league ready prospects (which they aren't going to do), then they're just wishing/hoping/praying on internal development to raise that ceiling. In other words, they're putting out what's largely the same starting unit as the end of last year and expecting different results. Is there a word for that?
  19. The Great Hambino
    Agreed. At this point, ending the season with a clear path forward for 2027 and beyond would be a success in my mind. Part of being able to sort out the bullpen will be some of the young starters realizing their potential and establishing themselves as core pieces of the future rotation. If no one can establish themselves there, then they're not really in a much better position come this time next year. I't's much better for the bullpen if they're making tough decisions about moving excess starting pitching potential - either to the bullpen or as a trade piece to balance out the roster - than having to keep some shaky starting pitching in the rotation out of necessity
  20. The Great Hambino
    Every year it seems like 10-12 of the 15 modern day finalists belong in the HOF. How they ever end up with fewer than the max of 5 going in is a failure of process. What they ought to do is start with a yes/no vote for every candidate without any constraints. No having to choose which deserving HOFer gets your vote. Then take the group with >80% of the vote and have your comparative discussions just within that group. When voters have to resort to game theory to decide whom to give their votes, you end up with artificially lower vote percentages than you'd get from a straight yes/no, because not all voters apply their game theory the same way. Kinda like the guy (I forget who) explained not voting for Belichick because he wanted to vote for the three senior players and could only cast three votes. Apply whatever caps you want to a class after votes are cast, not before. Oh well. At least Eli didn't get in (and I WILL die on that hill!)
  21. The Great Hambino
    The way the HOF finalist voting is structured, this means Roger Craig was deemed more HOF-worthy than Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft. An argument could be made that an improvement in process might be a good idea. ETA: as wackadoodle as the veteran/coach/contributor process was, I think the standard group produced a very good class. IMO, those were the four most deserving HOFers of the 15 finalists. But am I alone in thinking it's weird that Isaac Bruce is in the hall while Torry Holt isn't?
  22. The Great Hambino
    One positive aspect of the pitching portion of the roster: outside of Pablo, SWR, Rogers, and Topa, every pitcher currently on the 40-man has options remaining, many of them with multiple remaining. That should, in theory, allow them to be patient and flexible as the younger guys sort out their roles and grow into new ones if necessary. Whether their apparent desperation to win this year allows them to be patient remains to be seen
  23. The Great Hambino
    I thought that might be the case but I wasn't sure. So I guess 24-25 teams then could be possibly under the MLB umbrella come negotiation time. I'm not convinced the Cubs' set-up is on solid ground. And even if they don't cede all control to MLB, there's potential options - licensing agreements, etc - to get all teams onto a single platform for distribution. Or perhaps revenue sharing can be modified for teams outside of MLB distribution. The bottom line is the more teams that are distributed by MLB, the better it is for the Twins
  24. The Great Hambino
    Of the teams that still have their own deals, how many would be considered secure enough to last long-term? Definitely Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees, and Mets. Possibly the Cubs and Blue Jays. Are the NBC-backed RSNs (Phillies, Giants) on solid ground? The rest would seem to be extremely vulnerable. So that means by the time they're negotiating new rights, MLB could potentially have as many as 24-26 teams in the fold. That may be past the tipping point that forces the elites to play nice with everyone else in terms of local TV revenue
  25. The Great Hambino
    If there's a silver lining to any of this, it means that Tom is much more concerned with their short-term prospects at the expense of long-term prospects (without any actual investment in terms of dollars), which could be an indication that they're looking to go back to market with the franchise post-CBA/TV rights renewals. Why care about what happens past 2028 if you're looking to sell the team? It's a flawed argument, but one you can see if you squint hard enough.
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