mikelink45
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Everything posted by mikelink45
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I agree with the consternation over Sano's Ks. Despite Keith Law and others saying Ks are okay - they are not. But that is the only part of the Sano story that bothers me. He projects to be a wonderful star for us and I can only hope that he too will want to make more contact because even weak contact by him has potential for a hit.
- 9 replies
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- miguel sano
- adalberto mejia
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If you were listing the most probable MLB ready players in our system at this time - the ones we could or should see in 2017 who would they be? I keep hoping Gonsalves and Romero will make the rotation, but maybe they are not good enough. I only read these reports and I would love to hear from some of you savvy minor league watchers to give me some indications of which players to focus on this year. I am excited by Rooker and Lewis and hope they move up quickly, but they are part of a group that has a long ways to go so I want the quick to the majors list.
- 11 replies
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- brent rooker
- jaylin davis
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I sure hope your evaluation is wrong.
- 17 replies
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- brent rooker
- ariel montesino
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This is a non-move. Low risk, probably low cost and it should sell some minor league tickers, but if he is up before Gonsalves and Romero who have already seen Felix Jorge take two of their starts, not to mention the other retreads that have been signed, I will be very disappointed. I just read the minor league report and I do not see a need for this move.
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I am very happy to see Granite moved up. Giving players a MLB chance is a great reward and incentive. That's why I would like to see them give Gonsalves and Romero a shot at starting - still not sure how Jorge got ahead of them in the pecking order. Like my recent comment on Rooker, I would love to see them push Lewis up a grade and challenge him. I think the really good ones respond to challenges.
- 18 replies
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- jovani moran
- zack granite
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Four home runs and 845 OPS is a very good start. His walk rate is not good, but hopefully he like so many young hitters can work on that as he progresses.
- 17 replies
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- brent rooker
- ariel montesino
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Very nice to see Hildenberger shine in this one. He has done well in every opportunity and I hope he gets into more higher leverage situations.
- 9 replies
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- kennys vargas
- felix jorge
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Article: DAAYYAAM. Byron Buxton Is Fast.
mikelink45 replied to Parker Hageman's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
This is really fun. It is a reminder of how disruptive Rickey Henderson was. It changes the other teams defense and pitching. I love it. I love the SB which has had its value diminished by many new sabermetrics guys like Law in his book Smart Baseball, but speed can make a professional team look like little leaguers trying to hurry the ball around the bases but never catching the speedy guy. -
Nice for Jorge, but it would have been nice to use this option to try out another of our minor league starters. Lets see Gonsalves, for example, on the major league stage.
- 20 replies
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- brandon kintzler
- eduardo escobar
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I would like to see Rooker moved up. I know it is early, but he is an older prospect and needs to be moved to a level that challenges him if he is going to maximize his talent.
- 17 replies
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- brent rooker
- ariel montesino
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Recently I read a column analyzing the catchers - I believe it was Bleacher Reports - and Castro was down a lot further in ratings, even framing, than I expected. I do not know how to analyze this, but I wonder if Castro is as good as advertising. Is he responsible for Santana's success or is it Santana? Berrios has had Giminez catching a lot of his games. I am not trying to dump on Castro, but this was the big move and I would love to have a greater analysis of his play. Baseball prospectus has him #9 http://www.baseballprospectus.com/sortable/index.php?cid=1899425 which is very good. Stat Corner has him one of the worst - http://www.statcorner.com/CatcherReport.php So where are we?
- 42 replies
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- ervin santana
- byron buxton
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I am trying to develop a clever response, but all I can come up with is No and No. Neshek is getting old, will be a free agent, and might reach the tipping point really quickly meaning we rented a player for little value. Hand looks good, is in his prime, is much more interesting, but if Twins Daily and Seth Stoths reports are to be believed, the answer might be in the minors already. Save the prospects for something of real value, we do not need the world's greatest reliever, we just need to improve over what we have.
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Gibson saved his season on July 4, but Santiago should be toast and not in the pen, he has no weapons to be lights out in the pen. We can see what happens with mediocre stuff when Hughes trots out there. But yes - test the young guys in mlb. Rotate them in and out. Use the year to find the right ones, give them experience, and get rid of Santiago.
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Shouldn't Breslow and Belisle be on this list? They certainly aren't major league relievers.
- 18 replies
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- john curtiss
- luke bard
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Thanks - but my real question is - when he comes back with some rest, will he bust out and give us one of the half seasons of great hitting he has done in the past two years?
- 16 replies
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- adalberto mejia
- joe mauer
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Time for Gonsalves to get a start in mlb. We know what Santiago and Gibson are and its not good. Their upside is gone and we should start experimenting with the young pitchers to see who is next in line. Mejia is settling down and now we have Santana, Berrios, Mejia - lets put new names after them. Lets also move some young arms in the bullpen. We have sunk to .500 level for now, its time for a boost and we should be rewarding guys in our own system.
- 10 replies
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- byungho park
- stephen gonsalves
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With Vargas gone I expect that Grossman is DH and that means we could use a fourth outfielder - Granite on the bench. Putting Ehire in the OF like Molitor has done takes him from excellent defense (IF) to terrible (OF) and there is no excuse for damaging the defense when there are other options. I have been disappointed in Duffey'r performances lately and suggest we use Hildenberger to spell him and give him more time off if he is wearing done. Finally, Dozier being out of the lineup raises another performance question - is it time for his annual half year of brilliance?
- 16 replies
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- adalberto mejia
- joe mauer
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Call more up - Santiago has to go, but so does Gibson. His best is mediocre. Lets try for better. I have no idea if this group is better than what we have, but I would like to find out. Jorge did not even make the top five and he won a game for the Twins.
- 13 replies
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- stephen gonsalves
- tyler wells
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Article: Miguel Sano, Ervin Santana Named All-Stars
mikelink45 replied to Seth Stohs's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
I understand and I am happy for the fans who enjoy the game. I like the exercise of naming the team and that is it. In the old days of Mays, Williams, Aaron, etc. they did more than play the first three innings with the front line all stars. Now the replacements play more than the starters. Imagine a game like 1941 when Ted Williams goes 1 for 4 and hits a gaming winning home run in the 9th. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/asgbox/07081941.shtml By that time today's all star starters are catching their plane home. http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/155065792/v6448299/1941-asg-ted-williams-walkoff-home-run Those early games were played with intensity and each side wanted to really be the best, no world series home stand on the line, just the fun of the game. I am less excited by the reason decades. -
Article: Halfway Home: 9 Crazy On-Pace Numbers
mikelink45 replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
I really enjoyed this, but one qualification that you gave is a sign of the times and not something this old man agrees with - wins do matter as do strikeouts by the batter. I am reading Keith Law's Smart Baseball and enjoying it, but also disagreeing with parts The win is still a good measure for pitchers because it represents the fact that they pitched long enough to qualify and that is getting rarer just like shut outs are getting rarer. Imagine a player setting the record of 16 in one season! http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/SHO_season.shtml Wins for relief pitchers do not matter, but I still put value in the win total for a starter. The fact that Warren Spahn won 20 games or more 13 times is really impressive. The fact that Steve Carlton won won 27 games for the last-place (59-97) 1972 Phillies is amazing. In the same way that saves mean nothing the wins still count and there is a reason Santana has 10 wins and Gibson and Santiago have 4 each. The second stat that drives us old guys crazy is the total acceptance that K's are not a problem. They are. We used to have power hitters who also did not strikeout 1/3 of their at bats. If Sano is a 270 hitter and strikes out 216 times we all lose. He does not have less power by striking out less. But if we remove 100 of those strike outs his average tells us that he should have at least 27 more hits and I think we would all take that. In fact his BABIP is .366 so that would be 36 more hits.- 26 replies
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- ervin santana
- miguel sano
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Article: Miguel Sano, Ervin Santana Named All-Stars
mikelink45 replied to Seth Stohs's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
That's nice, but I lost interest in All Star contests in all sports long ago. In the ancient days the all stars played the game, now it is like little leagues - everyone has to get into the game and by the end you have no idea who the real all stars were. -
I am hoping Lewis and Rooker are on the fast track. They look ready.
- 15 replies
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- akil baddoo
- clark beeker
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Looking at the Twins record - we are hovering around .500. I know our pitching is the big problem, but I cannot imagine that we are so good that we could not use Granite on the MLB roster.
- 7 replies
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- zack granite
- travis blankenhorn
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Belisle and Boshers tainted the start for Jorge and left me wondering why we keep using these guys instead of giving Hildenberger some more innings to find out what he has. Maybe Molitor is just enamored with names that start with "B".
- 11 replies
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- felix jorge
- miguel sano
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