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Ncgo4

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Everything posted by Ncgo4

  1. Buxton, Rosario, Hicks, Hunter, Plouffe, Richardson, Sano, Mauer and Kepler. Easy. The first 3 in the outfield, Sano to third, Kepler to first and platoon Plouffe, Hunter & Mauer at DH and to fill in on occasion. Hunter, Plouffe & Mauer cannot hit worth a hoot so why, oh why, do we embrace this notion that they should for some reason start?
  2. If Sano could get to 20 And 50 having only played almost exactly half the season, he would have to be considered. If he went insane and got to 25 and 60...I'm sorry, it's the Cool Ade kicking in.
  3. Now. TODAY! The Twins are fighting to make the playoffs, Robinson can barely hit Sano's weight (maybe) and Hunter is not hitting as well as Robinson. Aside from our excitement to see another rookie called up, we need this bat. It's a no-brainier plus the Kaiser (I hope that's not considered derogatory, I didn't mean it to be) is already on the 40 man roster. Let's just get this done. As to J B, leave him alone until next year. I sure hate to say that.
  4. My worst nightmare is that I wake up and read that our GM has agreed to a 3 year extension.
  5. Further on above. Sano had 4 2-run dingers in this 7 game road trip. Batted .321 (9 for 28) with 9 RBI's. Pretty decent start to a 10 game road trip. That's a season pace for 162 HR's and 208 RBI's. Not bad. Only needs to keep up the pace for another 39 games till season's end, certainly he can do just that much.
  6. He certainly can be a super star. If his early ML performance is an indication of his skill level, he will only get better with more ML experience. I am, however, very concerned about his health. To be a contributing infielder and to avoid injury, he has got to keep his weight under control. Pulling 260-280 lbs around first and sliding into second on a hit into the corner is a recipe for trouble. Boy, this is exciting to watch. Even though he may only appear in 80 games, could he potentially be rookie of the year? 25 HR's is a possibility. Scary.
  7. John, with all respect,your #2 above may be one of the silliest points I've seen in a long time by a professional writer. He's popular so the Twins can't bench him? He's hitting .235 and he's a liability in the field and the Twins can't bench him? He or Hicks or Rosario were blocking arguably the best prospect in baseball so who do you bench? Let's see, the best hitters and fielders or the most popular 40 year old liability on the roster? That's why you pay a GM $millions to make decisions rather than manage via an Internet poll. But, in fairness, I have to add that apparently the GM agrees with you. Which supports my other opinion that he, too, should be benched.
  8. I still think Stewart has 1 or 2 starter potential. He never concentrated on baseball in high school. As a result he got onto professional ball and almost certainly wore his arm out. Next year at AA will be the first chance to see his real potential. Of course I just made all of this up, but I think it could be true. I can hope!
  9. Next year we'll have Sano, Hicks, Rosario, Arcia (likely) and Kepler all starting. The average age will be about 23 and that, my friends will be fun. All this assumes, of course, that none of these are traded for a 34 year old 3rd position starting pitcher. It also leaves us sans a catcher or SS that's serviceable. I love Kool Aide and I'm drinkin' it.
  10. I don't get it. Robinson hitting .260 is a super star compared to Hunter at .235. Neither should be in the lineup when Kepler (already on the 40 roster) is sitting in Chatanooga hitting .340 with power, speed and walks almost equal to K's. Der Maxamillion should be starting just to the right of Buxton and one of H or R should be released.
  11. Terri Ryan did us a major, I say major, favor by not making any more trades at the deadline. Look at the one he made. He gave up arguably one of out 3 best pitching prospects for a marginal at best, crappy at worst middle reliever having a bad year. If he had been busy we might have lost Buxton and Kepler for the opportunity to talk A Rod out of retirement next year. We have Hunter and Mauer starting and the best prospect in the world hitting .400 in Rochester and perhaps the minor league player of the year in Chatanooga. The worst part is that Kepler is already on the ML roster. Terri, please go.
  12. Can make the same point about Mauer. He's hitting about .266 with a slugging % of .380. That's not even acceptable for a shortstop.
  13. Kepler doesn't lack power. He has only moderate HR power. He has demonstrated scary gap power, with a .552 slugging %. This compares to Mauer's .380 and Hunter's .420. Please, PLEASE, waste either of these positions on Kepler.
  14. Regarding Rosario & Hicks. Both are hitting better from their "bad" side than Hunter is doing from both sides. This is why I fail to understand why Buxton isn't playing right now. Hunter could still be a great club house influence to the young players.
  15. The predicament of existing contracts is a puzzle. We owe Mauer $20 + million per year for the next 3 (?) years. We are, in effect, paying him now for his earlier performance. He seems incapable of performing up to pennant winning standards for his position. The same can be said for several of our pitchers. The question is what do do? There seems to be a consensus that we must play him. If we have Buxton, Hicks & Rosario in the outfield performing at stellar levels and Kepler opens in Rochester next year and a month into the season is hitting .320, what do we do? It's simple, we call him up and put Mauer deep down the bench. We pay him $23 million to watch baseball. The Twins will not be hurting for salary space and the team may just need to eat some large contracts. The same is true, even more so, on the pitching staff. Should Berrios, Santana, Duffey & May turn out to be the strength of the bullpen next year we might have to release several highly compensated pitchers. Or trade them and pay partial salaries. It may be even worse if we finally figure out that 13 in the bullpen, and Robinson as you pinch hitter makes no sense at all. We got into this situation trying to cobble together a lineup until our great minor leaguers were ready to step in. Now they are ready and we are finding out that our long term planning needed some work. TR doesn't have an easy task ahead of himself. Some of his decisions may just reflect unfavorably on his earlier decisions. Ain't easy being an MLB GM.
  16. I'm plenty hand wringing for both of us. To assume that Twin's mgmt will make the best choices is a stretch of faith. This is the management that got rid of Revere (I think it was) & others to make way for Hicks on the basis almost solely of a strong spring training. Do I think it's possible this team could overreact I the opposite direction? Sure, but I'm not predicting they will. The more ML info they can get before making trades is critical. I would like both Buxton and Kepler called up as soon as possible. Give TR and his people as fully loaded a data base as possible. I think we know what to expect from Hunter and Robinson. These decision are critical and they're difficult.
  17. I've always been a big fan of Hunter, but (you had to know there was a "but"). This year has been a total disappointment. He's now hitting .238 a full 40 points below is career average. His OBP is also down 40 points from his career average. Isn't it time to call someone up who can contribute a little more? Do we have any one in the minors who could possibly hit? Say, someone currently hitting over .400 (during an admittedly small sample). Say, someone considered one of the BEST hitting prospects in baseball. Say, someone considered the best fielding prospect in baseball? Say someone with the potential to steal 50 bases per year? I know, Hunter is great in the clubhouse, but usn't it really about time to call up Buxton?
  18. Not trying to be a smart a**, but isn't it time to worry about the entire pitching staff? With all the money spent by our GM, we don't have a single SP that raises any particular fear in the hearts of any opponent. Similarly with relievers. While Perkins was a deserving All Star, since the A-S break he's been terrible. In the minors, other than Barrios, we have some nice pitchers, but no one that's a potential top of the order "Ace". This seems a little( strange given that we have great hitting prospects everywhere we look. It certainly suggests that our evaluation and/or development process on the pitching side is wanting.
  19. Hughes, Nolasco & Milone shouldn't block anyone. Especially not just because we owe them money. TC has committed us to many puzzling longer term contracts. While we may have to pay them we don't have to, for instance, start Nolasco ahead of Berrios
  20. In order to have a log jam you need logs. Robinson and Hunter aren't logs, they're dead wood, certainly as regards next year. Hunter should be kept around for his clubhouse presence, to mentor and to relieve the youngsters occasionally and to pinch hit. Also, Mauer should be "rested" for the rest of this season, Plouffe to 1st, Sano to 3rd so we can really find out if he can play there and Max Kepler to DH. If the season is gone as the Twin's action at the trade deadline indicated they think it is, then let's us see what we just might have for next year.
  21. This may be the definition of a critical series. The Twins are reeling the Rangers are playing well and they have nearly identical records. If the Twins drop 3, they would be 4 games below .500 and the season could become almost impossible to salvage. They would be conceivably be 8 positions and maybe 6 1/2 games out of the playoffs. John, my question to you is, do you think this could be the stake in the heart that would enable Twins mgmt to finally shake up the team and institute a real youth movement. Buxton, Berrios, Kepler into the starting lineup with maybe a few others? Hey, I can dream.
  22. In yesterday's twin bill he went 1-3 (a double) and 2-4 (singles). For the day 3-7. Average plummeted from .451 to .448.
  23. 4 for 5 tonight with 4 singles. His average in Elizabethton is .455 and for the season .439. Silly numbers. I assume they won't move him up again this year unless they move Gordon who has him blocked out of Cedar Rapids. Gordon is hitting around .272. I am certainly getting ahead of myself, but when is the last time the Twins have had a minor leaguer finish the tear above .400? The Twins have 25 games left, the Kernels have 37. If he played in 22 of the 25 games and averaged 4 ABs he'd need to hit .352 to finish the year above .400.
  24. Back to Polacios! The crazy continues. So far tonight he's 3 for 3 and batting over .450.
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