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mikelink45

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Everything posted by mikelink45

  1. mikelink45
    Interesting list because it really is a look at where the Twins roster stands for 2026. Ryan should be back, but probably traded. Jeffers has leverage unless we think Perada is going to blossom into a star of Vasquez is going to sign for $1m and suddenly find the fountain of youth. Otherwise they are all replaceable at this point. Lewis and Ober are the most interesting and Thielbar's ascendency with the Cubs shows how dangerous it is to give up too soon.
  2. mikelink45
    This is like soccer with a division for the lesser talented teams - with the premier league and then a number of levels in what they call a pyramid. Lousy teams go down, better teams go up. The Twins are now comfortably in their league with Texas. Then there is CO, A's, White Sox, Braves, Pirates and we have the next league down. I have become indifferent to wins and losses. Mostly I am glad Zebby had a good game and will always be puzzled why Vasquez is up for his farewell tour.
  3. mikelink45
    Let the 2025 punishment end before this speculation starts. Save something - you have months to fill with what ifs.
  4. mikelink45
    At this point we are all so frustrated that you need to give us time to flush the 2025 season out of our minds (a little bit) before putting these questions forward. When it comes to Twins decisions does it matter what the fans think?
  5. mikelink45
    Nope - they both fail
  6. mikelink45
    I replied to another posting - which players did Lavine acquire before Falvey took over all the acquisitions?
  7. mikelink45
    Where does Lavine fit? Which of them did all the early acquiring?
  8. mikelink45
    Nice to have Martin get some press, but the thinking of Falvey and the FO are too confusing for me to speculate. Having acquired Roden and Outman Falvey might continue to push for playing time for "his" acquisitions despite their lack of production. The list of OF candidates is long, but how many have potential to be more than replacement level or below? How do they rank? I prefer the prospects, not that prospects always reach their potential, but because the other players have already shown their abilities and that is not good enough.
  9. mikelink45
    Its done - move on
  10. mikelink45
    The system just worries me - which means a do over - FO, Manager, and all the coaches: Here's a breakdown of the 2025 coaching staff: Manager: Rocco Baldelli Bench Coach: Jayce Tingler - what does he do? What has he contributed? Assistant Bench/Catching Coach: Hank Conger - an assistant to an assistant! Hitting Coach: Matt Borgschulte - well that worked out well Hitting Coach: Rayden Sierra - which one gets all the Mendoza line batters? Assistant Hitting Coach: Trevor Amicone - more help and the team line is 239/312/397 Pitching Coach: Pete Maki - excellent job - team era 4.69 (where are his assistants? First Base/Infield Coach: Ramon Borrego Did he get lonely? Bullpen Coach: Colby Suggs - Why don't we get rid of all the major league arms and see what he can do? Quality Control Coach: Nate Dammann - Okay where is the quality? Third Base Coach: Tommy Watkins - his biggest strength is staying employed. The minor league coaches prepare the minor leaguers - the major league coaching are supposed to build on their accomplishments, but - how many do better their second or third season on the team? I am even worried that Keaschall is slowing down as the season ends. Luckily for you - there is another week you can summarize.
  11. mikelink45
    I might have liked the essay but when you put a shout out for Julien you really lost me. Have you looked at his batting average. Have you seen the futility of this man who is supposed to take a starring role in the upsurge of the Minnesota twins. I'm sorry but Miranda is just as good as he is and neither one should be on a major league team at this point. Neither should outman or gaspar All teams lose and all teams win it's just a some win a lot and some lose a lot. So to make one victory out of this morass is not enough to start seeing all the positives. If SWR is our new ace next season really looks long. It's not that he's a bad picture it's just that he's not good enough to carry a team like an ace supposed to. I like enthusiasm but these reports have to be realistic too.
  12. mikelink45
    This essay just does not move me past Buxton and Keaschall. Make it two - Ryan would have been there, but as usual his season ends meekly, whether injury or illness. Our best pitcher, but not ready for a CY - just a sigh! The quote kills the essay - Outman and Roden do not give me hope for 2016. Rodriguez and Walker could. Outman has -0.8 WAR and is hitting 145 with 54 Ks in 117 ABs. Roden has a -0.6 WAR in 136 ABs with a 191 average. True it is fun to run - Whitey ball When the Cardinals did it and won. Little league chaos when you have the worst record and it does not matter. Retitle you essay 2 1/2 things that went right!
  13. mikelink45
    If this was the Limbo, we would be tunneling beneath the ground.
  14. mikelink45
    I love your editorial to begin this essay. I think you are really right on.
  15. mikelink45
    The only thing I can say is that today the team shut me out as well I have nothing to add
  16. mikelink45
    Doesn't matter how many I just would love to see him succeed
  17. mikelink45
    The season must be over - this reads like an off-season dreamscape. What if we don't trade Ryan and Lopez? What if Ober and Sands are not the pitchers we have seen this year? What if Zebby and Festa can actually have ERAs under 5? What is Lee and Lewis discover the magic that we foresaw when they came up as high ranked prospects? What if we actually had a 1B and DH? What is we could field the ball? What if Roden and Outman could actually hit beyond AAA or Abel and Bradley could find the magic restart button? What if the BP had Ohl, Adams, and Lawyerson make us forget the RP that we no longer have? What is Falvey and Pohlad woke up and said, "What the Hell, let's spend a lot of money?" What if Rocco is reborn with his running offense and sparked the boys to really play hard every inning of every game? Yes, a few items to clear up, but what a nice dream.
  18. mikelink45
    There are teams like Pirates and A's, Angels, and White Sox who could use another bat - my hope is that one of them grabs him and we get to root for another Rooker type ex-twin.
  19. mikelink45
    I commented yesterday about Sands - he has taken the Ober track for the year - without those two back next year everything is even more bleak. Has Cole been a mirage or is this year just a down one? Lawyerson seems to have staked a place for 2026. Too bad we did not let other pitchers try out instead of Hatch, Tonkin and Cabrera
  20. mikelink45
    Thanks to the Vikings for losing JJ again and giving the Twins a chance for another article - a big story among the obits. Don't the Lynx know that MN sports is not based on winning? I am appalled - they might even when the championship!
  21. mikelink45
    When Julien came up he was expected to be the answer to the missing Arraez - an on base machine. But he seems to have lost it completely and I hope he is not expected to be the 1B next year. Did they tinker with him too much or did the pitchers figure him out. I tend to think they were concerned with getting more power. Miranda rose quickly and spectacularly only to have his balloon bust. I am sorry he did not pan out, but not sure the reasons - injury or just a quick peak year with nothing left. Lewis looked like Keaschall to begin - Mr Grand Slam. Enthusiasm, excitement. he it the one I most compare with Keaschall. The number one draft choice - ranked on national prospect lists. Great expectations, a crash, injuries, a slump (which he claimed he never got) and we are hoping his bat is coming alive and he might be a good - not great IF for the future. Right now Keaschall is doing great, looking great, everything seems to be in place for a star players (I do not like ranking anyone as a Superstar). But then TD writes an article about his weaknesses. Every team has that same perspective so I think he can do better than the other three - I have no assurance that will be the case. We once were excited by Arcia, Rosario, Sano, Kepler and none of them reached the limits that the first years promised - some bombed right away - Arcia, some lingered until there was no hope - Sano, Rosario was a little bit of a cult hero who had a great run in the Atlanta WS but otherwise was replacement levell and Kepler always seemed on the verge of something really good, but actually had only one really good year and a lot of average years. His 220/17/51 line this year defines his career. Go Luke - baseball is hard.
  22. mikelink45
    No mention of Billy Martin? Gene Mauch? Paul Molitor deserves to be higher than Rocco. He was steady, consistent and dealt well with the talent he had. I have him with Billy Gardner and above Rigney and Miller (the worst). I don't hate Rocco - just am not enamored with him. But some of my criticism is on the system that Falvey and his abundant coaching staff and front office have followed.
  23. mikelink45
    Interesting perspective - thanks
  24. mikelink45
    I hope and expect that he will adjust in the off-season and continue to produce. I think we have a start if he does not have the Royce Lewis, Edouard Julien, Miranda regression for year two.
  25. mikelink45
    As a lecturer on river cruise ships I often tell stories of Mark Twain, His life was filled with amazing adventures, failures, and people. Seldom do we associate him with sports but as you can read in the newspaper account copied here - Mark Twain, while not an athlete, still had a chance to participate in the game with an umpiring experience. Add to that his Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court where he wrote: "In Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” a time-traveling American brought baseball to 6th-century England, where arguments with umpires were robust: “The umpire’s first decision was usually his last. ... When it was noticed that no umpire ever survived a game, umpiring got to be unpopular.” "His Yankee, Hank Morgan, exclaims of favored ballplaying knights: “The very best man in my subordinate nine! What a handy right-fielder he was!” and “My peerless short-stop! I’ve seen him catch a daisy-cutter in his teeth!” An armor-plated runner sliding into a base, Twain wrote, “was like an iron-clad coming into port.” At a banquet for Albert Spalding he said, “Baseball is the very symbol, the outward and visible expression of the drive and push and rush and struggle of the raging, tearing, booming nineteenth century.” Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), April 8, 1889. And in Tom Sawyer he wrote: There was no joy in life for poor Tom. He put away his bat and his ball and dragged himself through each day.” Mark Twain, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1885. The Philadelphia Times reported him toting a package onto the field and declaring that it contained dynamite. When his decisions “gave dissatisfaction,” the article stated, “he coolly placed one foot upon it, and the hubbub immediately ceased.”
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