mikelink45
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From the album: Minnesota Twins Gold Glove winners
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From the album: Minnesota Twins Gold Glove winners
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From the album: Minnesota Twins Gold Glove winners
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From the album: Minnesota Twins Gold Glove winners
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From the album: Minnesota Twins Gold Glove winners
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From the album: Minnesota Twins Gold Glove winners
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From the album: Minnesota Twins Gold Glove winners
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I look at Manfred - his attitude is no pro baseball as a sport - it is pro owners all the way. He was dictatorial in negotiating the 60 game season and I think he will be equally tough in the bargaining. The cutting of minor leagues happened before the pandemic, the loss of so many outposts of baseball cannot help the sport regain its popularity. The length of game talks have taken ridiculously long to come to any solutions other than pointing to first for an intentional BB. Elimination of some relief pitcher use with the three batter rule was the other option. But there is so many more tweaks - why the HR trot - go to first and then the dugout, eliminate half the warm up pitches with each new inning and pitcher. But that is not what this is about. The conversation about the new Mets Owner is that he has had some talks with other owners who are afraid he will hurt their economics by spending. They could not have talked to George Steinbrenner like that. Will it work? I believe collusion has raised its head as a Covid-19 response.
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Love your article and I do not want to sign any of them. Thanks for the work.
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We Need To Talk About Analytics
mikelink45 replied to Matt Braun's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Wow - an analytics apologist! Numbers don't need to have people explaining and justifying, unless that is they are misused. When analytics become arbitrary it is wrong. Anything that is all or nothing is wrong and in this case Cash was wrong and all who try to justify his decision actually make it worse. Let's just say that I and many many others are not happy and move on. Every time we try to justify decisions by the numbers we reduce the human factor and those of us who are not analytic bound just get grumpier. Nice try, but after reading this I just wanted to argue with you instead of letting it go. -
Fascinating to see the relievers that are being cut. Obviously the MLB owners are trying to reestablish the value and contracts for relievers and using Covid as their tool to correct their own over priced contracts. Why not bring Hand home to MN?
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My Twins 2020-21 Offseason Priorities
mikelink45 commented on Nate Palmer's blog entry in Left Field Gap
:All the list of Cleveland pitchers makes me wonder why we are not - next man up. Duran? Let's start moving our own arms into the rotation - not Thorpe, not Smeltzer. Resign Odorizzi, then put in Duran and let Dobnak be the fall back option. -
Twins Claim RHP Ian Gibaut, LHP Brandon Waddell
mikelink45 replied to Seth Stohs's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Since Thielbar and Wisler shocked me last year I will reserve judgment or I would simply post - WHO? -
Since he was available I can understand Detroit hiring Hinch. I think they owe Gardy a statue for putting up with the lack of talent he had. LaRussa is a statue himself, a walking breathing statue of someone well past his prime and even his career. But he is also a symbol to all retired people. Old presidents, old managers - maybe the Twins will be calling me someday.
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Will Major League Baseball Ban the Shift?
mikelink45 replied to Cody Christie's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
As the old school advocate I am happy to have you pluck my quote. The shift has shifted batting to be more hit over the shift - fly balls which also fits the HR addiction that the sport has. I would not ban the shift, but I certainly would still advocate for the players who can control their bat. Between the pulling of pitchers (Snell) and the lack of action the game is being hurt for most casual fans - just look at the WS viewing on television. I loved the stolen bases, sacrifice bunt, the singles that scored runs and all the total baseball of the Dodgers. But I will conclude with the thought that if ballplayers are taught to use the entire field they will just as they have now been taught that launch angle is the most important skill. -
Bring Back the Light on Littell
mikelink45 commented on Ted Schwerzler 's blog entry in Off The Baggy
Littell has to impress and fill one of the new openings in the BP right out of ST or get optioned. We know it took Duffey and May time to emerge, Let's hope Littell surprises us with some new life on his pitches. -
Will Major League Baseball Ban the Shift?
mikelink45 replied to Cody Christie's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
I hate the shifts, but I hate the ban even more. Can you imagine what a Cobb, Hornsby, Carew, Gwynn could have hit if the shifted on them? Bat control has gone and the true outcome nonsense prevails. Stop flailing away and pulling everything and the shifts disappear. This is about the batters, not the defense. I agree with earlier posts - clocks made the NBA into the excitement that people want and before the clock everyone went crazy with slow down tactics to stop a team like the Minneapolis Lakers from getting the ball to Mikan, Pollard and other big man stars who dominated the league. "November 22, 1950, to be exact – the Fort Wayne Pistons defeated the Minneapolis Lakers in the lowest scoring game in NBA history, 19-18." Limit the number of pitchers, limit visits to the mound, get rid of the 8 warm up pitches for pitchers who have just finished warming up in the BP. Keep the 7 inning DH. No more third strike fouls on bunts. There are lots of ways to speed the game without changing the real game. -
Ready to move on. But what is really hard to anticipate is how many more DFAs there will be as the teams look to shed payroll. This is going to be one confusing FA year.
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Old school - sure to make a lot of you mad
mikelink45 commented on mikelink45's blog entry in mikelink45's Blog
Fun to speculate. I do not know why, but I am hung up on letting the manager have only 4 designated pitchers for any game. Imagine the anguish when they have only one of them left. -
Old school - sure to make a lot of you mad
mikelink45 commented on mikelink45's blog entry in mikelink45's Blog
I am with you. The great starters learned how to change things when the third AB came up. Now we will never know who is the Tom Seaver or Carlton or Spahn or Marichal or Gibson.... -
Fresh Meat: Grading the 2020 Twins Rookie Debuts
mikelink45 replied to David Youngs's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
David you are a soft grader - I think Blankenhorn gets an incomplete - not his fault, the Twins should have had him up longer. Colina either gets an F for that terrible debut or at best an incomplete. Please justify a C+. Kiriloff also did not have a long enough debut to get a real grade, except it was in the playoffs and he was thrust into a really difficult situation and handled it well. So I see that as really incomplete too, but not unhappy with the grade either. Whitehead - D. No bat, but he is fast and that was all he was here for. He got used more than they intended (3 games) because of injuries and jettisoned quickly. I would have preferred one of our real prospects. And what about Alcala? There is an A - up all year, used in many different situations. 0.4 WAR, 24 innings, 27 Ks and 3.57 era. I know he was here for 2 games the year before, but that should not count, just like our one gamers this year should still be reviewed in a similar way next year when they actually get to play. Good information, only the grades get questioned. -
Old school - sure to make a lot of you mad
mikelink45 commented on mikelink45's blog entry in mikelink45's Blog
Well thought out response. Thanks. A lot to think about and baseball better start thinking about more than cutting the minors and furloughing its scouts. -
Wish I could understand professional sports economics, but even with an economics major back in the 60s I am so far from this reality that I can only shake my head. The egotists in NY have always disregarded the true economics of the game because they wanted to win. Who do we have with that mentality now? The silly thing is that baseball teams competed with themselves. How many teams were going to give Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Gerrit Cole - you name them - $30 million a year? Those were ego contracts. The record is filled with Pujols types riding into the sunset on some huge and ridiculous contracts. The Rays have shown the way to cheap teams and so have the A's. But of course the billionaire owners smile on their way to the bank and that is the last thing I want to see. If the owners recognize that their teams are just a bauble in their bragging rights world then they can spend whatever they want. The difference is the commissioner who has less interest in baseball and more in the bottom line that anyone in recent memory.
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Old school - sure to make a lot of you mad
mikelink45 commented on mikelink45's blog entry in mikelink45's Blog
Thanks for the note - watching the Dodgers get it done with both singles and HRs is exciting - just like Mookie stealing bases and moving around. The Dodgers have forced errors by being aggressive and so have the Rays. In their last win the Rays took to small ball and Phillips hit was 82 MPH - a ball does not have to have a massive exit velocity. We even saw a sacrifice bunt for a run in one game. I am a big fan of Arraez and I think his small ball makes a difference. I think ownerships statements after the playoff loss hint at getting some guys on base and moving runners along. I hope so. I even see statements on ESPN and Athletic hinting that the three outcomes are creating boring games. Since MLB wants fans in the stands shorter games with more action is what they need to find. The 100 mph pitch is hittable by mlb batters if they want to adjust - we see it all the time and that is about to level out. How much can an arm produce? -
What is Tampa seeing in SLegers?
