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mikelink45

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Everything posted by mikelink45

  1. mikelink45
    I am always mystified by the criticism he receives. Force fed into the majors he has answered the call. If he were a starter his statistics might require some hard looks, but he is 23 (almost 24) and he is handling CF when called upon - 112 games there . Last year Buxton had only 57 games in CF and 60 the year before - 117 games - only five more than Celestino. Please no Gallo in CF! I look for him to continue to improve and I am happy to have him on the team.
  2. mikelink45
    I liked this article, but like so many posts I think we have a large list of Twins with a lot to prove: Mahle - he needs to be healthy and be a #2 Maeda - he has to show that he is healthy and that the short season Cy Young year was not a fluke Buxton - see the other posts Pagan - so much that it is impossible to summarize Lopez - was he a half season fluke? Polanco - is he healthy? Has he peaked? Miranda - can he continue forward to be the number 4 hitter and drive in runs? Farmer - can he give us solid SS if we do not loop back to Correa? Gallo - can he become valuable or is he a 160 hitter (this is my number one need because I do not like his acquistion. Alcala - is he able to come back to health and production
  3. mikelink45
    No. I know what your are attempting to say and the brush you are using to cover everyone will still leave the Twins at 500 unless the pitching is fixed.
  4. mikelink45
    This fits with my response to the top 30 prospects of 2020 essay. I have been very disappointed in Enlow and I understand why he is low man on the 40 man totem pole. BUT!!!! This is the Pagan, Lopez, profile - big arm, poor results. But of course we can make him better even though a team that needs good arms let him go. Way to build a BP - any more blue light specials out there? I would have rather they put Enlow in the BP and see what he could do - even though I am not a big believer in him.
  5. mikelink45
    This made me laugh - a good rant - I hope you feel better now. Of course you did not mention Shoemaker or Bailey or Pagan or CRON!!
  6. mikelink45
    Let's begin with the fact that it is February, The month of groundhogs. Yes the Twins roster is a mess, we call that Deja Vue. Except the ground hog looked at this roster and decided to swing left handed and start digging holes in the OF since we can never have enough left handers out there. He took a few swing and missed - leading him to believe he once again cracked the formula for being a Twins OF. February is also the shortest month of the year so we can get through our anguish quicker. By March we will have found some savvy old vets that we know we can restore to their glory and all will be well. By that time Gallo will have made contact with the ball for the first time and be too amazed to run. The British Museum provides us with the basis of hope - "February is named after an ancient Roman festival of purification called Februa" Then comes reality when the god of war - Mars comes MARCHing in.
  7. mikelink45
    Miranda, Alcala, Gordon, Kiriloff, Larnach, Lewis, Duran, Jeffers, Celestino, Wallner, and Rodriguez make this a very good prospect list. 37% is probably as good as any top thirty prospect list. What we need is for some of these to rise above the good to the star level. So far Duran is there. Miranda and Gordon went to very good. But I hope the Kiriloff, Larnach, Lewis trio goes beyond that and get a real corner stone to build off. What the list really misses is pitching. Winder, Canterino, Sands and Balazovic have to step up and if they do this will be a very rich mine of talent. I do wish Baddoo more success - he is exciting and talented. Rortvedt's injury really cost him. He is trapped at AAA unless he can really improve. The biggest disappointment on the list is Thorpe followed by Javier and Cavaco. Last thought - the A's give Rooker his last chance - can he become their Gallo (minus any fielding)?
  8. mikelink45
    When all else fails lets think about resigning Correa. When we had him we finished below 500. If we resign him we will be below 500 based on the rest of the assembled team. Right now there is no traction to make a fan really optimistic. Maybe Gallo can pitch and Pagan can play outfield, Vasquez can out frame the league, and Farmer will be an all-star.
  9. mikelink45
    For a player of his draft position and all the information that we have had about him I expected him to be one of those pitchers who moved through the system. He was in AA at 23 and it did not go well. A+ is the level that he has attained with success. At this point he needs to get into AA and shine. Time to get things moving - he will be 24 during the season, if he does well he is AAA at 25, MLB 26. His WHIP which I think is an essential stat has been bad for most years. I cannot say that you or anyone else would be discouraged by the statistics, but I see him as an upside back of the rotation guy and the early notes I remember indicated much better was expected.
  10. mikelink45
    Enlow is the one I have no faith in. I feel bad for doubting him, but following all the TD reports I just think he is lacking in something - tangible or intangible I am not sure. I just went on the BR page to check out my feelings and it confirmed for me that he is not moving up and he is not performing as his draft would predict. I like Julien, I was higher on Steer, but that is no option anymore. Festa has the statistics I would have expected from Blayne. I look forward to more exposure for him. And Balazovic is someone I have really been looking forward to seeing and last year was really disappointing.
  11. mikelink45
    No - for the same reason I rant about signing Gallo - these guys do not make us better. Our only chance for improvement is in the young guys. Let them play, move the deadwood and get all the young players in to sort things out. We are not going to sign the big star (Correa and Boras played us) and thus we need a different strategy. Look at how Cleveland chose youth, speed, fielding, and pitching to carry them into the playoffs.
  12. mikelink45
    I really liked this entire series and the ability to discuss and debate these values. I think Lewis and Lee deserve to be in the top five with Ryan #1 right now. Until we see some movement on SP he is what we have for the future which makes him more valuable than his talent level would suggest. I would then move Duran to #2 because this team uses the BP every game for almost half the game. Without a strong BP we are destined to be a losing team. Lee would be next for me and I think he is one of the phenoms like Rodriguez in Seattle (and hopefully our own Rodriguez #6). Lewis is probably #4 because SS is so important and he showed so much talent before getting shut down. Buxton is #5 with potential to soar to number one if he gets healthy (how many years have we written that?). At 7 and 8 would be Arraez and Miranda who should be our primary offensive drivers. I know that Polanco was in your top five, but I think he has peaked and his value is dropping for me. I hope I am wrong but for this exercise but I put him at #9 right now. At this point Ober, Richardson, Prielipp, Varland, and Gray should start the second half of the listing with Gray at the head because he has to lead the rotation this year and can be signed to an extension or used to get the kind of prospects we have been trading away. I would then put Mahle for the same reason - we need him to be what the tream dreamed of or to be high value trade bait. #15 Is Alcala who showed so much promise before the injury (I hate to have to use that word again) and could be the second arm in the BP. I drop Lopez - he has to show me some talent - he and Pagan both are disappointments. #16 I put Kiriloff and Larnach in a tie - we need both of them and continue to wait to see them on the field. Again and again injury makes this list look like a roll call at General Hospital. But both of these players have so much potential. #18 - Vasquez. We need a catcher who is at least league average to keep our pitching staff moving forward as well as getting a few hits. (with his tutelage maybe Jeffers could crawl back into my list). #19 - Julien with Lewis, Arraez and Polanco having injury issues we need to have another player in line to fill in. #20 - I like Wallner, but I fear that Gallo just pushed him out of the picture. I prefer Wallner. I don't know where Austin fits in, but I would put him in a tie for 20.
  13. mikelink45
    I would like that, but over the years I cannot tell you how many times our various professional teams have been shocked at how such a great prospect fell into their lap! So amazing, yet few of them ever rise to the level that really deserves such amazement. Let's hope this time it is true.
  14. mikelink45
    That is true of a lot of players - the doldrums of August heat and the end of the year always have an impact
  15. mikelink45
    Our OF is a mess - if they think that they have solved it I can understand why we are now a 500 or less team. Is there a team with an OF that is too right handed?
  16. mikelink45
    I would like to hear Nolan Ryan and Cal Ripken in this discussion.
  17. mikelink45
    I think Polanco has peaked and it is a good time to include him with Kepler (Gallo), and Larnach and sent them to Miami which needs bats for one of their good arms! At this point Polanco's value is in what he can bring back to the team.
  18. mikelink45
    I disagree with the rest day plan. Injuries can occur at any time and taking planned rest does not reduce the potential of injury on any day. It is something they tried, but my feeling is, play him when he is ready, rest him when you see that he is tired or physically unable.
  19. mikelink45
    BR has his comps - Ian Happ, Eric Thames, Craig Wilson, Mitch Hanigar and Rick Ankiel - not a list of superstars. Through age 28 his comps are Bo Jackson (he was great and then injury took him out young), Mack Jones from the Milwaukee Braves, Matt Joyce, Jimmie Hall (Minnesota Twins) and Jorge Soler. This brings up a question I have had for a long time - are we overrating Buxton. Do we have a home town bias?
  20. mikelink45
    Fun article - so good for generating discussion which is really a fun part of TD. I would join many who question Ober in that spot - way to high for me. Two Years, two injuries. Total over two years of 31 starts. He has been a pleasure but it seems like every Twin I write about has to include injuries. Which leads me to Rodriguez - I too got really excited by him and see him as the eventual Buxton of the team, but again there is the injury - injuries are not confined to the major league roster. I do see great value in his exciting potential and I suspect he would have begun jumping leagues if not for the injury. Duran needs to top the list, I am surprised that he is this low. For a team that relies and dies with the BP he is the one dependable and arm out there. To get 2.8 BRWAR in the pen is great. Fangraphs gives him 1.5 WAR and he is 22 among RP. He would rank higher if he was used as the closer and had the save statistics, but we know his value whenever he comes in. Arraez is my favorite player and Miranda is quickly becoming my second. I really think that we will see something special with those two in 2023. I just hope Arraez does not go down with his bad knee. But I would probably rank they higher. My listing of these five would have: Duran Miranda Arraez Rodriguez Ober
  21. mikelink45
    Please remember Kiner-Falefa - and trade Gallo. I hate that signing so much. We can and should do better.
  22. mikelink45
    For a player we expect so much from Sano is not a good comp
  23. mikelink45
    Ted you have definitely found something to give you hope. Throughout your writing you remain so positive - thank you, even though I do not feel the same. Buxton has now been a Twin 8 years. He has averaged 73 games a season. 67 in CF. He is a superstar if he is in the field, as a DH not so much. 244/301/473 - OPS+ 108. That is a good player, not a star. Yes I would like to see him step up and turn it around in year 9, but I have to see it to believe it. I will root for him, enjoy him, but I do not want false expectations. He is in line with Mahle, Maeda, Larnach, Kiriloff, Gallo, Kepler, Pagan, Lopez, Alcala, Ober, Jeffers as players we would sure like to see match our earliest expectations.
  24. mikelink45
    This group is a puzzle to me - Prielipp continues to get a lot of recognition and I wonder if some of it is just our desperation coming through. Until he starts throwing and showing I cannot put him on my list, but it is interesting speculation. Jeffers drops down when the electronic balls and strikes takes away the magical "framing" technique and the larger bases and less ability to throw and hold the runner will put his arm in the spotlight and that does not seem good. But more than anything I really expected him to hit when he got to the Twins. Austin has been more of a disappointment than a star so far and I would have him in the lower five - Kiriloff, even with injuries would be the one I would trade him with. I hope Richardson comes through, but if he does is he BP or is he SP? I would trade places with Gray. Larnach is interesting because his path has been filled with as many injuries as Kiriloff and AK gets left off while Larnach is #14.
  25. mikelink45
    Where would you rank Falvey, Lavine and Pohlad on that list?
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