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mikelink45

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Everything posted by mikelink45

  1. mikelink45
    As much as I enjoy these minor league summaries, I hope I do not have a season in which I have to find more pleasure in these than in the major league results. It seems like we have been doing so well in the minors for the last five years (or more) and that does not translate to the majors. What must be done?
  2. mikelink45
    Thanks for the enjoyable opening. If you did not have to state a few Twins facts the entire article might have been fun, but with the Twins reality eventually surfaces. We have 40% of our starting rotation functioning, we have 25% of our bullpen functioning, 33% of our outfield, 33% of our lineup batting over .250 and we are in last place - I am shocked.
  3. mikelink45
    Reality can be so depressing. The mirage that was the first week created a massive balloon and when it popped the casualties among fans who wanted to believe was devastating. This is the same rotation plus Mejia, this is a patchwork bullpen with one FA signing that was not even a closer and we expected what? It was so fun to been over 500. But now we are three times through the rotation - a magical moment in my assessment and we are have lost the glow. The bats are weaker than we thought and the arms are delivering what was expected. Something needs to happen and a lot of creativity would be welcome.
  4. mikelink45
    Wonderful thought exercise. I have been frustrated by the love of Pressly who demonstrated again today why I do not love him. MPH is not the measure of a relief pitcher. I always thought that the relievers ERA should include the runs scored by any of the runners that they inherit. They can be charged to the starter too, but the job of a reliever is to put out the fire and if all the runners score and then they get the batters out I am not counting that as a 0.00 era. I am also amazed by the Hold stat. Yikes is that perverted. We have not gotten a good measure for relievers and, like you, I think the save is ridiculous.
  5. mikelink45
    I love a pleasant surprise - but the cynic in me says - too early. His trend has been a steady increase in ERA with a one season dip, so I am not ready to see him as a number 2 in the rotation. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/santihe01.shtml
  6. mikelink45
    Lets not mess with another pitcher like we did May and go back and forth with tantalizing suggestions that he could be a starter but is a reliever now. He was a reliever and he is doing well - don't mess with success. Right now Haley, Breslow, Tonkin, Belisle look like replacement level at best pitchers. I do not trust Pressly to be consistent and Rogers and Kintzler look good. If you take Duffey out of this mix it looks really bad for the long run. http://www.espn.com/mlb/team/stats/pitching/_/name/min/minnesota-twins On the other hand Mejia and Santiago (to my shock) have looked decent in the rotation behind Santana who is off the charts in the small sample size while Hughes and Gibson look like what they have been the last two years - not much. I would love to see Berrios again, but putting Duffey in the rotation limits his use and impacts the pen while doing only minimum to upgrade the rotation. At this point Duffey is a starter only if we run out of starters. So if we think of rotations needing 7 - 8 starters to make it through the season and Berrios is currently number 6 and Gonsalves is an injury risk, who are numbers 7 and 8?
  7. mikelink45
    Who comes up if we reduce the pitching staff by one or let Santana go? Palka is hitting, but Granite is all around. Vargas vs Palka or Paulsen - who is the DH? Fun to follow the minor league games.
  8. mikelink45
    The argument over ACE is getting tiring. He is our Ace and it is good to have him there. He has done all we could ask of an ACE, but trade him? Yes. Take a look at this 2012 article on pitcher regression: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/pitcher-aging-curves-starters-and-relievers/ Age does matter and it matters where he has a half year off for drug rest or not. Age just happens and the body breaks down. Move him at his peak and we will be better off. Only a few freaks like Nolan Ryan and Warren Spahn keep pitching well into their 40's.
  9. mikelink45
    Romero rated number 1 prospect - is this another Twin prospect wilting under the spotlight? Please no. Get him straightened out we need more starters.
  10. mikelink45
    Its time for Berrios to be back. It is obvious he is beyond the minors. Lets start working on the rotation of the future.
  11. mikelink45
    I like the speculation, but most options are not very inspiring. I think Garver is in a really tough situation. I understand that they love Giminez and Garver sits, but when Giminez goes into the field it is ridiculous. Right now Berrios is really the only interesting SP prospect until the younger guys get established through the season and relief pitching is completely confusing since we have been reading about all the great minor leagur relievers for years and all we have so far is Tonkin and Rogers from the minor league pool. I do not count Pressly as one of our minor league developments. I keep looking for 3B because I do not believe Sano is long for the position and I am not seeing the next player to fill that spot.
  12. mikelink45
    I am not one who thinks it is a challenge unless you want to flip a coin between Haley and Breslow - neither are necessary or showing the upside we need. Haley was supposed to be a long man in the pen, but if he can only do one inning we have nothing to gain. Move him, use Duffey more in that role, get Vargas up, send down Santana and bring up a true fourth outfielder. Eventually we will need a 3B defensive player who can hit and Sano will move to DH or 1B. The Twins should be lining up their options.
  13. mikelink45
    I might add that when we think of the Twins and defense we seldom think of the pitchers, but in this list of the best fielders at each position they choose our Jim Kaat as the left handed pitcher in the line up. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/7787-glove-love-major-league-baseballs-all-time-fielding-team And finally here is an article listing the best Twins fielders at each position. And surprise - Dozier is number one at second base. http://statgeekbaseball.com/fieldingcmin.html
  14. mikelink45
    Look at Earl Weaver's Baltimore Orioles to see what defense can accomplish. They were known for HRs and pitching, but the defense made the pitching staff better than expected. When we look at the cubs the talk is about bats, but defense is what makes their pitchers look goodI . The Royals in their recent great run did not have the starters you expect, nor was their lineup a killer murderers row. It was defense and speed (calling Byron Buxton). I like this article on the best defensive teams of all time - http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/67824/the-best-defensive-teams-of-all-time it includes the 1984 Twins in the discussion. I suspect the value of outfield versus infield defense is also affected by your staff - ground ball versus flyball pitchers.
  15. mikelink45
    I cannot muster as much optimism as everyone else, but I do enjoy what has been going on. Perhaps number one is the change in attitude of Twins Fans, Number two is the insistence on batting Mauer 3/4 even though his line is only better than Buxton. Number three the outfield defense is terrific and flyball pitchers like Hughes are going to benefit. Number 4 we have not seen enough of Mejia and Haley to know if what we saw is what we will get, and number 5 it is nice to been up on bad teams, but in the next two rounds of the rotation we will finally have a better view of the season.
  16. mikelink45
    I believe the Yankees had a can't miss first round pitcher a few years ago that was a sure star - Brien Taylor http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=taylor002bri that does not mean we should not draft a high profile high school kid, but as good as he is, prospects really are challenged to get to the MLB clubs, unlike the other sports. It might be the minor league challenge that keeps some of our better athletes from going the baseball route. I hope the Twins get a great prospect and that we do not have the opportunity to draft this high again for the next decade or two.
  17. mikelink45
    Is Del Rosario like the old pitcher Tom Hall (150 lbs) who had a decent career for us? http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hallto01.shtml
  18. mikelink45
    The dictionary of etymology has it beginning in 1960 in baseball but I think they missed the real beginning of sweep: sweep (n.) Look up sweep at Dictionary.com mid-13c., "stroke, force," from sweep (v.). Meaning "act of sweeping" is from 1550s. From 1670s as "range, extent of a continued motion." In reference to police or military actions, it is attested from 1837. Sense of "a winning of all the tricks in a card game" is from 1814 (see sweepstakes); extended to other sports by 1960. Meaning "rapid survey or inspection" is from 1966. As a shortened form of chimney-sweeper, first attested 1796. sweep (v.) Look up sweep at Dictionary.com early 14c., "make clean by sweeping with a broom;" mid-14c., "perform the act of sweeping," of uncertain origin, perhaps from a past tense form of Middle English swope "sweep," from Old English swapan "to sweep" (transitive & intransitive); see swoop (v.), or perhaps from a Scandinavian source. Related: Swept; sweeping. From late 14c. as "hasten, rush, move swiftly and strongly;" also "collect by sweeping." From c. 1400 in transitive sense "drive quickly, impel, move or carry forward by force;" mid-15c. as "clear (something) away." Meaning "win all the events" is 1960, American English. Sense of "pass systematically over in search of something" is from 1966. To sweep (someone) off (his or her) feet "affect with infatuation" is from 1913. I could not get any further either, but it was an interesting question.
  19. mikelink45
    Nice article, great start. But series one, 159 games to go. I really hope these trends continue. Two weeks is what I need to feel like we can really analyze. My only quick reaction is to Buxton. Too many ks. Where is the sense of fun and relaxation that he needs. I hope it comes in the next series.
  20. mikelink45
    I cannot judge the lineup or the roster at this point. A couple weeks have to pass to see any trends. Its fun to have real games now, but I cannot speculate. I need to see what Park does in MILB, how Buxton performs or does not, how Grossman holds up his OBP, if Mauer does anything. This year is truly a puzzle to me and has been since they finalized their 25.
  21. mikelink45
    TR drafted relief pitchers to turn them in to starters. Now the FO wants to take the starting pitching and turn them into relievers. Who is going to start for us in the future?
  22. mikelink45
    One game - we can not really over analyze it, but the fact is fans needed this as much as the Twins players did. The sense of doom can be put aside for a few days and we can celebrate the fact that in 2017 we will have been above .500 during the season!
  23. mikelink45
    Interesting story lines, but not sure how much of a boost this team will give the MLB club. How will they be coached and how will the opportunities be delivered to this mostly young club? We seem to have a good number of bats and no opportunity in MLB despite being a 103 loss team.
  24. mikelink45
    This is a puzzle that leaves me very confused. Considering the players and their abilities and injuries I expect Park to be there. I do not see April with its lighter schedule being the time to have so many pitchers, and all spring we heard about Mauer getting more rest. Now I am thinking that April 15 is when we will see the real Twins roster - not now. So it depends upon injuries, how Vargas does in AAA and if Park still is slugging in the minors. Trying to explore the injury rates in MLB April is the month of the most injuries https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21709023 so highest likelihood of call ups until roster expands in September. For a look at the costs of injuries I found this to be a very interesting report - http://www.mdedge.com/amjorthopedics/article/106556/sports-medicine/injury-trends-major-league-baseball-over-18-seasons If Mauer or Grossman or one of the outfielders gets injured Park and Vargas will be up quickly, if not I fear Vargas will linger in the minors and eventually move on.
  25. mikelink45
    I think his learning curve is steep and he will have a lot of struggles this year, but still hit 240 with 25 home runs and the second half will outshine the first if they are patient with him.
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