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mikelink45

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Everything posted by mikelink45

  1. mikelink45
    I love your writing, but am I the only person who does not want to think about Carlos anymore? Really this is just too much for me. There are more players than Carlos who can lead us to a sub 500 season.
  2. mikelink45
    I suspect that I am not the only one who expected to see a really good pitcher emerge from the system. We were installing a system throughout minors and majors - we had some good arms and they were supposed to be gaining even more with the new systems in place. "On October 3, 2016, the Minnesota Twins hired Falvey as their executive vice president and chief baseball office" (wiki). This is not the first or second year, it is not just drafts from previous regimes. What were the expectations?
  3. mikelink45
    This is the issue. If you are Cohen these are not a problem, but the Nationals finished last - a terrible team, and the Angels were 20th - two below the Twins. If the Twins were carrying those two on their payroll we could all tune out and come back in 10 years. Could the Pohlads afford it? Sure. But they are not playing that game and we are not in NY of LA. The problem is that MLB is divided between 30 owners (all massively rich) but each independent personalities. Did Steinbrenner's spending change the league? No. Others did not follow. We rank 9th in Payroll (almost the same as our standings among all 30 teams. Of course our division winner Cleveland Guardians rank 26th in payroll. And Tampa Bay is 28th. No matter what we want, each team choses their own path, but they have to be smart in the path that they choose. We cannot afford to DFA players who still have rich contracts, but the big teams can. Again, it is the owner that chooses the path. But our owners have their path and our FO has their wisdom. The rest of us just react.
  4. mikelink45
    Interesting to see mlb.com rate the most improved systems and Cleveland is number 3 with its minor league system now ranked #3. "Cleveland certainly has a type. It selects a college pitcher with good control in the Draft, tightens up his stuff, adds a little velo and watches him take off as a Minor League starting pitcher." What did our FO miss in their Cleveland years?
  5. mikelink45
    I agree with you. I always think we need to wait to at least the all star break to rank new signees. Everyone who signs has potential, but how do you compare College and High School to professional leagues. I like the idea of a waiting list of those we expect to see get into the rankings..
  6. mikelink45
    Buxton is too fragile, They picked up Billy Hamilton, but his effectiveness was blunted by the fact that whenever he went in he was supposed to steal - no surprise he was 1 and 1 according to BR. I am curious about the team speed. Kepler looks like he should have speed (if he ever gets a basehit), Polanco, Gordon, Buxton all look fast and I don't know about Miranda. Bleacher Reports says Tampa Bay has the most speed and they were number 11 in SB in all of baseball. Cleveland was number three which fits in their profile of doing all the little things to win! Love Francona. Being number 30 is ridiculous.   I just know that Rickey Henderson taught the league how valuable speed and daring can be. Julio Rodriguez of the Mariners is showing he can do all the things needed with 25 SB and 28 HR. His speed on the bases really made a difference to the team success. How do our prospects look? What is their speed potential?
  7. mikelink45
    Nobody has more to prove than Balazovic - he was expected to be a rotation piece. Then there is Matt Cantarino who has to show us that he can stay healthy and can break the Rice jinx. If one can be in the rotation and the other in the BP it would really help. And then there is Blayne Enlow who has to prove he is still a prospect. His stock is really falling fast.
  8. mikelink45
    If they are that valuable maybe we can dump (trade) Pagan and Lopez for some future value.
  9. mikelink45
    Step up - Lewis, Larnach, Kiriloff - those are the players we projected three years ago and their continuing absence cannot be tolerated anymore. Miranda has stepped up and will continue to improve. Lopez is not someone I would count on - I rate him with Pagan. And Jeffers does need to step up, but the urgency was reduced by Vasquez. Now beyond them I was so disappointed by Balazovic last year - even in the minors he needs to step up.
  10. mikelink45
    Since I do not see us winning next year I would like to see us take the prospects and challenge them in the BP so we can build a future instead of investing in retreads. Kimbrel is now signed, but I did not want him. Lets start using our own talent and forget the Lopez, Pagan, Robles, Colome failures. (I know we still have the first two and some of you believe in them - I don't).
  11. mikelink45
    No - his injury really harmed his career - He will eventually get in, but there is a weird psychology about getting elected in the first year that will stop him. I do think he has a better reputation outside of MN, but I think he has a longer wait than we would like. BR has these ratings for his HOF case: Black Ink Batting - 15 (198th), Average HOFer ≈ 27 Gray Ink Batting - 43 (746th), Average HOFer ≈ 144 Hall of Fame Monitor Batting - 92 (203rd), Likely HOFer ≈ 100 Hall of Fame Standards Batting - 41 (157th), Average HOFer ≈ 50 JAWS Catcher (7th): 55.2 career WAR | 39.0 7yr-peak WAR | 47.1 JAWS | 4.8 WAR/162 Average HOF C (out of 16): 53.6 career WAR | 34.7 7yr-peak WAR | 44.2 JAWS | 4.7 WAR/162 Lack of power hurts him. In BR similar batters you have to go to the bottom of the list to find HOF comps. Mauer's WAR gets him in if he was just a catcher, but as a 1B He does not make the list. Going to numerous sites the arguments for him are good, but the odds continue to be low. It will be an intriguing situation and a lot depends on the rest of the ballot..
  12. mikelink45
    Not sure on this, I will wait. Since we did not sign them I can't speculate on whether we were wise or not, but time will make it clear. In the meantime if we had signed this five we would all be ecstatic.
  13. mikelink45
    2020 - 32 players 2363 games missed 2021 - 28 players 1713 games missed 2020 - short season 14 players 389 games missed 2019 - 19 players - 629 games 2018 - 18 players - 1052 games This is the summary of games missed - I concede that we are not the worst, but...
  14. mikelink45
    Okay - I will conceded we are just really bad at the health issue, not the worst!
  15. mikelink45
    All those numbers continually put us in the bottom half of the teams. The Reds and Pirates and Cubs were terrible teams in 2022 we do not want to be ranked with them. The average for those five years is 20th. I will stay with my comment.
  16. mikelink45
    TEAMS WITH MOST INJURED PLAYERS
  17. mikelink45
    Have you noticed our injured players versus other teams? And not just this year.
  18. mikelink45
    Good grief - first we get another Correa article and then we propose trades for players who are either not as good as Urshela or one that is going to require a SS level signing. No thanks. Keep Miranda there, let him prove that he can handle both the bat and the bag.
  19. mikelink45
    If the Twins sign him for their original offer they are being stupid. Two teams that can afford him have medical issues. The Twins have had the worst medical history of any team. To ignore this is ridiculous. Five years max, but I like the two year options of other posters.
  20. mikelink45
    I like Wallner instead of Gallo and Kepler for the future although he needs to learn to field. Where is Julien? I wonder if Lewis and Lee might trade positions. I see Polanco is gone and Larnach has been replaced by Rodriguez. That is an exciting player, but maybe Larnach replaces Wallner in the OF. Who is a better fielder? Can Kiriloff stay injury free? If not does Arraez or Miranda go to first? With Julien for 2B I would see Arraez. This was fun. Good for conversation.
  21. mikelink45
    You assume that the FO which in another article professed their love for Gallo is only thinking one year.
  22. mikelink45
    All the quotes about the money - his annual salary is the same as we gave Joey Gallo
  23. mikelink45
    I believe that the Correa columns have finally run their course, now the Gallo justifications are flowing. I remember articles justifying Sano until it was just impossible to write anything positive. So here we are with an $11M strikeout artists - for a pitcher that would be good, for a hitter - not so much. But he walked! Wait - no he didn't last year his OBP was 280 = which would have been a good BA. And his SP was 357 which would have been a decent OBP. Maybe these are misprints - a column shifted to the right. But of course we can fix any player - look at Archer, Bundy, Shoemaker, Happ, Robles, Vargas, Bailey, Colome, Pagan, Lopez - yes, send us your injured, your underperforming masses, let us make them all better. Joey is next in line for Frankenstein's lab.
  24. mikelink45
    I believe owning sports teams is a hobby for the ultra rich - it is the bauble they carry around to their exclusive meetings and everyone has been happy to polish their "I own buttons" for each power lunch. But someone forgot to tell Cohen that it is not about winning. They did not tell him that sharing the wealth was a bad idea. Just think if those rich guys would say I have enough, how about if I give all my employees a real raise that will cut my annual millions (billions) down a little? But the money goes to the employees that give them bragging rights. Until now it was just the "I own Mike Trout" syndrome - now someone has caught the Steinbrenner bug and Cohen is actually laughing at the pittance he is paying. Don't look at the total package - look at the annual salaries, by the time Correa gets $300,000 Cohen will have a few more billions. And the poor Pohlads will be spinning their small marker LP as long as they can.
  25. mikelink45
    I'm in. I like the looks and it is time to test the future. If Larnach and Kiriloff can't make it this year we need to move on. I do want Julien up. I cannot help my negative Joey Gallo take - he does nothing for rebuild or whatever we are calling the current situation. The pitching is thin as always, but lets see if there is hope in the prospects and trade the vets you list to get more and better prospects.
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