mikelink45
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Everything posted by mikelink45
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Minor league fillers are fine as long as they do not block the young arms that might really provide us some upside.
- 13 replies
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- jake petricka
- jc ramirez
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And you did not even list Homer Bailey, J A Happ, Shoemaker... So thanks for that wonderful trip down memory lane!
- 32 replies
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- chris archer
- brian fuentes
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Organizing Minnesota’s Bullpen Pecking Order
mikelink45 replied to Cody Christie's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Today MLB.com listed the five pitchers who will rule the ninth inning. The top two have Twins lineage - Hendriks and Pressly. At least Graderol and Chargois are not on the list! Rogers is not there either.- 29 replies
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- taylor rogers
- tyler duffey
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Celestino, Beckham Sent to Minor-League Camp
mikelink45 replied to Seth Stohs's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Let's move Cave to a coach so Rocco can continue to have him around. We have so many coaches I could not even list their positions let alone their names. Then let's get serious about the OF. I cut Rooker - we do not need more Ks - we have Sano and Sanchez for that and we do need a glove - something Rooker has not figured out. All the nonroster guys are easy cuts. And then I cut Stashak. What will be really interesting is what happens when they go from 28 - 26. Then it is based on Duran and Winder's effectiveness and the need for Godoy. -
Twins 2022 Position Analysis: Right Field
mikelink45 replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
It is interesting to read about LF and RF in these analyses. I believe there was Akil Baddoo and LaMonte Wade in the system and they are now established starters for Detroit and the Giants. Meanwhile we kept Cave. But you really hit on the key complaint - Baldelli put him in a spot where his weaknesses were magnified - leadoff where we want hits, middle of the lineup where we want power. As someone else said, as a 7 - 9 hitter we would not have been as anxious about his production. But in the long run RF needs to produce more.- 19 replies
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- max kepler
- alex kirilloff
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Organizing Minnesota’s Bullpen Pecking Order
mikelink45 replied to Cody Christie's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
I am still curious about Duran and whether he stays a starter or reliever. He has the stuff to blow batters away.- 29 replies
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- taylor rogers
- tyler duffey
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Interesting take on Gordon. I agree with you. Letting him go would be like the decision to keep Cave and let LaMonte Wade leave. The giants were delighted to get him.
- 12 replies
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- nick gordon
- devin smeltzer
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MLB ranks of SP did not even have us in honorable mention. Our BP did not make the ranks either. The outsiders are not as excited as Twins fans and I do not think it is a coastal bias. The note on the Twins in the honorable mentions is that Sano and Sanchez have to hit for the lineup to really be good.
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Don't go backward - Cave and Garlick are not answers. Neither is Smeltzer. We need some high upside players, not retreads, or rehabs. We want to be a championship team and that means we want players better than the other teams in our league and division.
- 12 replies
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- nick gordon
- devin smeltzer
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Let's not let the FO off our fandom hook. They blew it. A great SS may save us 3 - 5 games, but a great pitcher can mean 10. Having our current rotation, I hate to say this, but I would just as soon see Bundy and Archer blow out quickly and get replaced by our young guys. I want a high ceiling - I am not worried about the floor.
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I would remove Rooker, Romero and Sanchez - but it would be Godoy first.
- 68 replies
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- jose miranda
- trevor larnach
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Ranking the Twins Top-5 Slider Prospects
mikelink45 replied to Cody Christie's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Canterino and Balazovic are my hopes for this year. You have now given me some new prospects to watch.- 3 replies
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- matt canterino
- sean mooney
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Twins 2022 Position Analysis: Center Field
mikelink45 replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
For a prolonged period - Celestino is the only one who looks good to me. Remember that Buxton also looked over matched when he first came up. Don't judge a player on a call up that is too early. -
Twins 2022 Position Analysis: Left Field
mikelink45 replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
If only the other team agreed- 22 replies
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- alex kirilloff
- trevor larnach
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Who Makes Up the Twins Bench?
mikelink45 replied to Ted Schwerzler 's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
If Rooker's only asset is the fact he hits right handed I am not ready to give him a spot. He does have versatility - he can play bad defense at multiple positions. Gordon and Arraez I am not sure about Godoy since he can be right across the river if the need for a third catcher comes up. I think Larnach might just make it allowing Kiriloff more time at 1B. The Sano/Sanchez log jam is an issue. Then I am stuck, but I hope not one of the last two - they require a DFA (if Rooker I am okay).- 55 replies
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- trevor larnach
- luis arraez
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Joe Smith, Velocity, and the Twins' Ultimate Gamble
mikelink45 replied to Matt Braun's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Huascar Ynoa, Luis Gil, Brusdar Graterol, and Chase Petty - They look pretty good to me. I would be happy to have all four on our staff right now. I am not against the "junk ball" pitcher as a change of pace in the BP and I hope Smith does well. Like Bundy and Archer, we just have to wait and see.- 18 replies
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- joe smith
- sonny gray
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This adds another layer to the fact that so many articles in the last two years said Lewis would not stick at SS - I hope he does. Where else would he play. CF is gone. His value and bat in LF is not very high and lots of posts put Martin there. Polanco has 2B and 3B is an Urshela, Arraez, Miranda logjam. For Lewis to succeed as we all hope Correa has to move on - opt out - after this year, but is that what we really want?
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My biggest worry is if Bundy and Archer pull a Happ and Shoemaker and we hang on to them too long. If they look lousy cut them and move one. But I am still reeling from the FO pitching moves - besides last year there was Homer Bailey and Andrew Albers and John Gant and Martin Perez - which one of these did Wes Johnson do his, so called- magic, with? Sorry, but you can only tweak so much and it has not given me any great hope. I am beginning to think the Wes Johnson rep is undeserved. We had Zach Littell and now the Giants do - he was 4 - 2 with 2.92 era last year for the first place Giants. Sean Poppin did not have a good year after leaving us, but he is on the Diamondback team. We pushed Colina and then gave up on him. Where was the coaching. He is now with the Rangers. Every year we hear about Thorpe, but no fix there. Kyle Gibson went from a disappointment to an all-star when he left. I am not sure that I can credit very many pitching coaches with changing careers, but it is time we start examining Wes and seeing if he is what they told us.
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My biggest question mark for the Twins is Rooker. Every article talks about his bad glove. Now with Sanchez filling the strikeout and big swing role what does Rooker give us? I would be happy to have Larnach or Celestino as the fourth OF, but Rooker is not a good choice at any position. Catcher was our strength - Jeffers, Garver, Rortvedt - now it is a positional weak spot. Jeffers has to come back strong and Godoy needs to be on the team so Sanchez doesn't wear any glove except for batting.
- 48 replies
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- chris archer
- randy dobnak
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Twins 2022 Position Analysis: Left Field
mikelink45 replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Bring back Eddie! Just kidding. Who thought LF would be a challenge for the team? I would like us to move on from Rooker - why didn't we market him as a NL DH? Let's hope Larnach has learned his lesson. Berrios had a terrible first year and learned from it. Larnach could be the same.- 22 replies
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- alex kirilloff
- trevor larnach
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Twins to Sign RHP Chris Archer to One-Year Deal
mikelink45 replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Archer has struggled for a long time. I went to Baseball reference to look at his career. He was terrific with an era below 3.25 for three years! But then he jumped into the 4+ ERA for the next five years with his Whip also jumping up during this period. And then he was 5.19 in 2019, missed 2020 and came back to 4.66. He had an ERA+ of 100 or more for 5 of his 9 years. His WPA was a negative for five years and then was 0.2 last year. This is not a track record that excites me. I would take either Archer of Bundy, I do not like having both. -
Twins to Sign RHP Chris Archer to One-Year Deal
mikelink45 replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Reminds me of Happ and Shoemaker! I would rather go young.

