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mikelink45

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Everything posted by mikelink45

  1. mikelink45
    I hate to see some of the names we have been reading about dropping in ranking rather than going upward. Rortvedt's struggles is a disappointment. I was hoping to see him on a fast track, it is nice to see Thorpe back and hopefully he will jump up the rankings again. Baddoo and Miranda ratings puzzle me. Based on what they are showing in the stats you share I would say they should be at least down in the next ten on the list. They are listed on hope and I do not put much stock in that until I see real production. I hope to follow your career updates. Arreaz injury is the worst news on the list.
  2. mikelink45
    I believe that he will continue to improve in all facets because he has the attitude to accompany his skills. I see that at the Oriiz factor, the ability to concentrate and swing hard and not be phased by the external things that can impact a player. I think we have just witnessed the birth of a star.
  3. mikelink45
    I am ready for Garver to see the majors and with the poor performance that Gibson just gave us I would like to see Sleger given a chance.
  4. mikelink45
    Melotakis is my shock guy on this list. I keep hearing that he is ready for MLB, but how can that be if he is this low on the list. I expect to see the list get more and more MLB ready as it goes up in number.
  5. mikelink45
    The Saints truly embody the fun and spirit of baseball and I appreciate all the fans who join in this great celebration of the game.
  6. mikelink45
    I believe Mr Hughes is saving face and asking for a DL spot - so we should be so kind as to give it to him. Move on!
  7. mikelink45
    For those who think Buxton should be the phenom and not Berrios, I think this baseball prospectus article about Aaron Hicks - yes we gave up on him - puts things in persective - http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=31873 Berrios had his ups and downs like Buxton and now has it together. I believe he is an example for Buxton.
  8. mikelink45
    Very nice story. It would be great to see him move up quickly, but most important I hope the arm strength builds so he can do it safely.
  9. mikelink45
    Okay you minor league experts - tell me about Slegers. Is he real? Can he be MLB? I just love the idea of a tiny Berrios followed by a giant Sleger to really give different looks to opposing lineups, but that is my fantasy and I wonder how real his stuff is. I read these reports and he sure sounds good.
  10. mikelink45
    I am just glad Berrios is up. I would have liked it earlier, but I consider the Twins six weeks to be their real spring training and I am glad we came out with a winning record. They moved on Gibson and I am pleased they did and maybe he will find some magic with the AAA coaches. I wanted more from Mejia and hopefully he will be up and good soon. I do not see Duffey being that good again - even though his debut was spectacular and the May anguish has gone on for three years. Right now I see Santana, Berrios, Santiago and then I would like to see the same team that pushed out Tonkin and Gibson start down the list and move Hughes to the BP - in fact for those who like Duffey I would trade their spots. But then lets move on the BP and get some more stud arms out there. I listened to the Molitor interview last night and he basically said that Pressly is the only guy with an arm that can get a K and turn the other team. Why? We have Burdi and Melotakis and others in the minors with live arms. Molitor basically told the audience that we need some relief pitchers that can blow the other team away. So what are we waiting for. We have made step one and two - lets keep the shuffle going until we end up with what we really want to have going forward.
  11. mikelink45
    I would like to see Garver come up. We have had Ryan in enough games to diminish any hopes we might have. The Yankee years are long gone and Garver has worked hard to earn a chance. Garver is not young and more seasoning is not to the benefit of a catcher since we all know that most catchers regress in their 30s. I agree with mlhouse posting - the pitcher numbers are not showing that big Castro boost. The pitch framing is not a cureall when the pitches are so far off that the people in the bleachers can call balls and strikes. Let Garver sink or swim. We all hope Rotverdt(?) will the the eventual answer, but by then it would be nice to see who can split time or back him up.
  12. mikelink45
    Why Rucinski? He has pitched 8 years according to Baseball reference and is 29-31 with 4.49 era 1.4 whip, about 1:3 BB/K. Don't we have better? Based on these reports I would think that we did.
  13. mikelink45
    I cannot see or scout the players and if I did I would not be accurate, but my hope is that we have assembled the talent judges needed for one of the most important decisions in the draft that we (hopefully) will have over the next decade.
  14. mikelink45
    1/4 mark of season - some expectations - Sano will continue to hit very well, Buxton and Kepler start upswing and keep going, Dozier has to have his half season of spectacular homeruns (two years in a row), and Polanco and Rosario maintain what they have. Catchers better continue framing because they won't be hitting and Joe Mauer will have a week or two where everyone thinks he is back and he won't be. Vargas should be okay, but not spectacular and maybe we will see another DH and I do not mean Grossman. Santana has to regress some, but still is our best, Berrios will be good 3/4 of the time, Santiago will regress, Hughes better not regress because right now he is awful and, therefore, we have to hope that Gibson and Mejia push Hughes to the pen. In the bullpen it is beyond time for Melotakis and Burdi to be there - Haley and Belisle out. And we have to learn to quit waiting for Kinzler to fail - we have to hang with him. Pressly - raw tough, poor performance, not a fan. With all that I think the Twins will be above 500 at the end, not a lot, but a game or two.
  15. mikelink45
    Great insight - yes the transition is the problem and if we are addressing that I am pleased.
  16. mikelink45
    I know that the articles tried to get in to this, but it is a tough one to analyze. Tepesch jumped out at me because of this minor league report and his start for the Twins. The three leading Runs vs Er pitchers this year are Tepesch, Tonkin and Hughes in that order. And last year it was Gibson, Duffey and Tonkin.
  17. mikelink45
    I do not think we can overestimate the impact of a lousy central division on our record. I will be interested in getting their record in division versus other divisions by the end of the year. Right now we are 5 - 5 with games against Texas which was struggling at the time, Oakland (a very poor team), Boston and Colorado. So we are 9 - 5 in division. Nothing wrong with beating up the weak teams.
  18. mikelink45
    I was struck by the fact that Tepesch gave up a number of unearned runs in this outing and did the same in the MLB outing. The difficulty in ERA is that it misses many aspects of measurements for quality pitching. Pitchers who consistently give up lots of unearned runs are poor pitchers in my mind. Perhaps they create hard hit balls that lead to errors and even if not, they do not have the stamina to get that extra out. I find it even more frustrating for evaluating relief pitchers who can give up runs to the players on base when they come in and get no impact on their era. A relief pitcher should always have an ERA a run below starters. I know that Baseball reference has tried to assess pitchers differently, but they still fall short - http://www.baseball-reference.com/about/war_explained_pitch.shtml Another look at unearned runs and pitcher performance is found at http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2006/02/a_look_at_unear.php The author says = "If my longheld belief is correct, groundball pitchers should give up more unearned runs than flyball pitchers." and "I would agree with David [Gassko} and recommend that we pay more attention to total runs than earned runs. Oh, you'll still find me giving an ERA here and there, but recognize that run average (RA) is an even better gauge of a pitcher's performance than earned run average. Secondly, as it relates to ERA, be aware that a pitcher with a high percentage of unearned runs is more likely to regress than a pitcher with a low percentage of unearned runs. Not surprisingly, pitchers in the top 20 table above have a higher DIPS ERA relative to actual ERA than those in the bottom 20." I have not heard stats quoted about fielding independent pitching, but found this article quite interesting - http://www.hardballtimes.com/batted-balls-and-dips/ And finally I like this blog and the idea of Runs Allowed more than ERA - http://danagonistes.blogspot.com/2004/08/unearned-runs-whose-fault.html
  19. mikelink45
    I found this quote - "Double-A: The entrance to the “upper minors,” the jump to Double-A tends to be the most difficult for prospects, and tells us the most about them. The Double-A level is where hitters and pitchers begin to have a plan. This is where pitchers can’t get by without a decent off-speed pitch and the hitters who can’t hit them are exposed. The competition is good, as evidenced by the fact that we see players jump from Double-A to the majors with relative frequency. Each organization has its own philosophy on doing so, but it does happen often because of the advanced level of competition. There aren’t as many players in Double-A with major league experience as there are in Triple-A, but one could argue that the pure talent level is actually higher because players are heading in an upward direction as opposed to the stagnation that tends to take place with some Triple-A players." http://www.hardballtimes.com/understanding-minor-league-levels/ I believe that the really good players do not have to spend time in AAA. Remember how Kelly talked about AA back in his years. This was his real proving ground and AAA was what filled out the roster. For me, the relief pitchers do not need AAA, they need to move to the majors. Unlike starters, they only need two pitches and if they have them we should use the live arms in MLB.
  20. mikelink45
    Nice profile I like the MiLB managers that I have learned about through TD. Thank you.
  21. mikelink45
    An Ace stops losing streaks, holds his own against the number 1 pitcher on the other team and sets the standard for the rotation. So far this year Santana has been our ace and it does not matter what others are doing on their teams - he is our pitching leader. He took Berrios under his wing, he has given us consistent performances and is the only pitcher that I currently expect to win or come close in every start. But on your list I think Arrieta has fallen far from that rating, but was one the last two years, Madison Bumgarner is injured but a true Ace among Aces, Zack Greinke is a number 2 and last year was not even that, Felix Hernandez has to figure something out or his Ace days are over, Clayton Kershaw ranks Ace of Aces with Bumgarner, Corey Kluber ace, David Price used to be an ace, Chris Sale is an Ace, Max Scherzer the third Ace among Aces, Justin Verlander is a shadow of his old Ace days. So we have three HOF type aces, some number one starter aces, and a lot of downward spirals. Few Aces sustain that rating so celebrate Santana's rise and enjoy it as long as it lasts.
  22. mikelink45
    Nice recap. I am all in on Berrios and hope he thrives, but you are right we now have Santana, Santiago, Berrios - we need more and Santiago is not high on my list, just doing better than Hughes. Mejia is not doing all that well in the minors. Do we have anyone else in the minors that we could try? Sleger? Joe is just Joe, not good on quotes and not too spectacular in the field any more either. We can live with him, but I thought we were going to give him more days off. I do not seem him making adjustments - he says he just has to keep doing what he is doing to which I would say, you have been doing this for the last three years and it is not working - make some adjustments. I am more happy with Sano's BA than his HRs. I expect the bombs, but controlling the plate and hitting bombs too is really great.
  23. mikelink45
    There are fillers here, but otherwise it justifies our ranking as a middle of the pack minor league with minimal star potential.
  24. mikelink45
    This site continues to show me great relief pitchers, but it does not seem that the Twins have any belief in them or we would see some of these arms coming to the bigs instead of recycling Boshers and picking up scraps from other teams. Are we overrating our relief pitcher prospects? I know Tonkin had great reviews in the past, but no team would even take him off the wires when we DFA's him - http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/players/playerpage/2027421/michael-tonkin I keep waiting for Burdi and others from these reports to replace Pressly and Breslow. Please explain to me why the Twins are not using these arms while they are still young.
  25. mikelink45
    This is great news - now J O - run with it.
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