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mikelink45

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Everything posted by mikelink45

  1. mikelink45
    Terry wants to prove his trades are good so Meyer instead of Berrios. Catcher a mess, bullpen a mess, the best option for 3B stubbornly kept in RF. Did I miss something? I thought we had an off season to figure out things.
  2. mikelink45
    If this was a jigsaw puzzle we would all be gathered around the table wondering why all the pieces are in the sky and we seem short on the body and in particular the edges that define the picture. Plouffe down means we should have gone to Polanco and kept him so that we had the position filled. Escobar may have had a career year last year and SS does not look particularly well manned. Then there are the positions with so many options that no one knows which direction to turn their piece so that it will fit. I want a trade that clears some of the excess. I think we have two puzzles mixed together and Terry Ryan is not the man I want trying to do the sorting.
  3. mikelink45
    The Twins need counseling on how to handle their young players. There is no reason that the young call ups can't play at least every third game ( I mean start). Give them experience. Learning is not sitting.
  4. mikelink45
    Nice comparison! Without a doubt his concussion has cost him and he needs a few good post catcher years to get back in the run for HOF. Modern era comparisons to players like Cochrane are great for those of us who look back at early baseball, but I am not sure that computes for the voters any more.
  5. mikelink45
    Sorry, no excitement. 29 other teams were not interested in him as a manager so we bring him back. TR is happy because he has accomplished two things: He brought back a former TwinHe is building a screen from those crazy cybermetric guys and all their numbers and crazy ideas.
  6. mikelink45
    It is fun to see nice comments about Joe again. Of course many of the comments will be from the same people who wrote him off. Baseball is so difficult, it really is hard to predict the rise of young players, the declines of old players, and the sudden one year surges of unknowns. Thats why we love it.
  7. mikelink45
    I did not know when I chose this time to travel in Europe that I would be glad to find people who do not know what Baseball is and think Twins are cutie little kids.
  8. mikelink45
    It is a safe roster - not losing players without a minor league option, putting the highest paid players in the rotation. Okay - what will this team look like in July? I hope Nolasco pitches well enough to be traded, but that would have him in the rotation until trade deadline - not to my liking. Duffey had a gimmick - a curveball that fell off the table, but nothing else. The evaluations that TD does exceeds everything that was in baseball two decades ago and the majors have to have even more tools. So a gimmick has to be backed up with other talent and Duffey is going to need all year to put the other pitches on a major league value. Berrios, has talent, talent comes through and he will be the young pitcher in the rotation as soon as someone blows out something or just blows up. In the American League the bench is just not essential so they have a nice mix, but the question is how they keep young players interested when they are primarily sitting? The bullpen really does need May because I am not excited about what is there. I fear Tonkin is AAAA and Fien, Abad, Pressley are fillers. I am anxious for the young studs to move in and these guys to move out.
  9. mikelink45
    Great speculation, but my problem is defining a bust. Danny Santana last year was a bust. Dozier and Perkins had bad half years. If Duffey is expected to continue what he did last year he is a bust candidate. Suzuki is going to do what he has always done, except for his career year with us, and therefore cannot be a bust for living up or down to expectations. Eddie Rosario's OBP is a concern so it depends on how much you think is a normal year and reasonable expectations, because of his promise and excitement last year he could be the second bust. Michael Tonkin was the player I thought would step forward this year and for me, he is near not making it which would make him the biggest bust.
  10. mikelink45
    Get the triples number up. No idea about the others, but this is a player who likes to take that third base (the most exciting hit in baseball).
  11. mikelink45
    It is true that the clogging of good players at multiple positions can be a good thing. Who does not want someone really good in the minors if needed. The OLD yankees of the 1950's - 60's used to have that all the time - Berra, Blanchard, Howard at catcher! and the Twins have potentially good players at all the positions - DH, RF, 1B where the abundance is pushing good players down. What is important is the courage of the team to assess and sit the weakest of the options and this is where I worry that the Twins will not act. Kepler, Rosario, Buxton would make all our pitchers happy. Park if he delivers on his promise and Sano at DH and 1B make the most sense, but we have the Mauer issue that will not be addressed in a pure baseball manner.
  12. mikelink45
    In many ways this is what was expected, but if Gardy was still around we would have had one of the veteran outfielders on the bench. Good to see some leadership! The pitching has been the big mystery and still remains so. More stories to examine ahead!
  13. mikelink45
    I am fine with Tonkin going, but prefer he is picked up. He has had enough time in AAA and has not had a real extended look. If he can catch on elsewhere I wish him luck. Nothing else is really exciting here. We have some real potential in the minors and when they come up I will be really pleased.
  14. mikelink45
    Spring predictions are seldom worth the effort. Interesting to speculate, but who knows what either will do? Murphy does not have enough time to establish a good track record and Suzuki does, but either can suffer one of the numerous injuries that plague catchers. Look at HOF Roy Campanella: .258 .345 .416 1949 28 Dodgers 130 436 65 125 22 2 22 0 82 67 17 36 1 0 3 11 .287 .385 .498 1950 29 Dodgers 126 437 70 123 19 3 31 2 89 55 15 51 0 0 2 17 .281 .364 .551 1951 30 Dodgers 143 505 90 164 33 1 33 2 108 53 14 51 0 0 4 19 .325 .393 .590 1952 31 Dodgers 128 468 73 126 18 1 22 2 97 57 12 59 5 0 3 22 .269 .352 .453 1953 32 Dodgers 144 519 103 162 26 3 41 0 142 67 13 58 0 0 4 13 .312 .395 .611 1954 33 Dodgers 111 397 43 82 14 3 19 0 51 42 6 49 4 1 2 13 .207 .285 .401 1955 34 Dodgers 123 446 81 142 20 1 32 0 107 56 9 41 5 9 6 14 .318 .395 .583 1956 35 Dodgers 124 388 39 85 6 1 20 0 73 66 15 61 4 2 1 20 .219 .333 .394 1957 36 Dodgers 103 330 31 80 9 0 13 0 62 34 6 50 6 6 4 11 .242 .316 .388 Career G AB R H 2B 3B HR GRSL RBI BB IBB SO SH SF HBP GIDP AVG OBP SLG 10 Years 1,215 4,205 627 1,161 178 18 242 6 856 533 113 501 30 18 30 143 .276 .360 .50 Injury stopped career, but look at the BAs. What stands out is the OBP from year to year, but the other stats swing wildly with the wear and tear of the catcher position. I'm glad we have two that seem to be Major leaguers and some in the wings.
  15. mikelink45
    TR does not have a limit or a leash - he is our guy and he will remain our guy, despite our frustrations.
  16. mikelink45
    I know you have listed the numbers for each position, but it would be really great if TD would maintain a roster on its page showing who is left at each position. I am sure we will be down to 2 catchers and 12 pitchers which means there will be seven additional cuts. And if we cut the 6 non-roster players from infield and outfield that still leaves one more. Of course if we keep 13 pitchers one more must go. I need help following all these moves.
  17. mikelink45
    One key question is - where does he stack up - it had better be in front of Fien and a number of others. Jepsen, May and Perkins does not match NY or KC, but it is the best we have. The accumulation of overpaid vets for starting stands in his way and they are not going away this year. So I guess we can say May is in the pen both 20016 and 2017.
  18. mikelink45
    Spring training is about March melt and snows like we have today followed by melting and dreaming. It is a month that passes and the skis sit unused while the rubber boots replace hiking boots for the time being. This is waiting for the migration, watching the ice turn to mush on the lakes while boats wait and ice houses sit idle. Give me spring training and false hopes, talk about baseball and fill the days. After the spring equinox the days get longer than the nights, we will barbecue, mow, plant, and have a pleasant patter on the radio.
  19. mikelink45
    Thanks for this memory. Harmon was so full of potential everyone in the Park had to concentrate when he came to bat - the real reaction was before he even got in the box. If you were in the line for some of the awful food being sold then you would leave even if you finally made it to the counter.
  20. mikelink45
    No to Gibson. We should have learned from the past two years that extending pitchers who are number 3,4,5 guys just is not wise. I am always surprised to read Gibson's age and it is good to see it again because he might be at his peak right now and the worst thing about extensions is paying after the peak instead of before.
  21. mikelink45
    Nice article - forget free agents and rule five picks, the Twins have a treasure trove here and they need to hire whatever coaches are needed to turn them in to the Major League gold. A very exciting time for the team. The catcher position will straighten itself out - we have five potential catchers here and if they perform to replacement level we will still be great with the potential that is pushing at the big leagues. Lets just hope that the coaches and FO are ready to get the youth movement in full swing.
  22. mikelink45
    I really enjoy these reports, however, I have no judgments from a single game or this early in Spring Training. I hope Tonkin figures out how to get movement and makes the team. I always route for the young guys to make the transition and I realize how hard it is. The same for Park, Arcia, and others. Just keep them playing, there are weeks left to make judgments in.
  23. mikelink45
    We are so lucky to have a player with this talent. He is a difference maker and that means we need patience. If he is not Mike Trout this season, we should be content with building his experience, and allowing him to develop towards the superstar we expect. Young players can struggle, but the struggle is part of the learning curve. Go Byron - I am excited to see your development at the major league level.
  24. mikelink45
    The time to add aging players with a year or two of competitive talent is when we are close to a WS team and have an obvious weakness. Otherwise, keep the young players in the majors, let them go up and down if needed, and play to a positive future. For years KC talked about potential and struggled, but then the talent came together and they made the push forward. This is what the Twins need to do. We are not going to sign a Price or Lester so lets be smart in developing talent and moving the vets as the youth is ready to go. Letting Nolasco go will be hard on the Twins FO, but if he fails it is necessary for the fanbase, who are the real employers of these players.
  25. mikelink45
    These are not vital parts of the teams future and are under contract for what might be their most valuable years. The Twins are not adept at trading and we would just sit on them players until they move themselves. Lets save the extension money for the new wave that is arriving in the dugout.
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