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mikelink45

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Everything posted by mikelink45

  1. mikelink45
    More logs for my fire - this is great - keep it coming. For me it is not the fact we have so many logjams, but rather TR. Can someone put together his track record? Which months does he trade? Which months does he sign free agents? Lets analyze the key guy, not the players. My old time memory says TR moves fast and then sits. At the end he adds players that others pass on so he can get savvy vets to fill the voids.
  2. mikelink45
    Mauer should bat 8 or 9 if the lineup is filled with all the sluggers. I like the idea of the second leadoff hitter - a 9 that is on base as the rotation revolves through the game.
  3. mikelink45
    I know I am both Old and Old fashioned - I like defense. I like fast agile defenders who prevent runs. I like Buxton, Rosario, Kepler. I like a great infield, but we cannot have that. Escobar and Dozier are at least average. The corners? I know we tend to see teams sacrifice here, but the biggest issue for me is that if Sano is not OF and I hope he is not, and if he is not DH - we have now committed this - we have to put him at 3B. Catcher???
  4. mikelink45
    Move Fien and move on - he had his upside days and relievers are not consistent year by year, however the K trend is a real indicator. We have other options. Nunez is another question mark. He does just enough good to think he has something, but the key is his low cost so he will be kept. Milone and Plouffe should be sign and trade candidates. The Twins have some players for a multi-player trade!
  5. mikelink45
    Forget the expense to the Twins, why do we bother trying to think about saving dollars - MLB has gone crazy - see the Price deal. $30 Million a year. He couldn't even win a post season game! So we are worried about starting the clock on a good player. If he is ready just keep him and then it is the manager who has to allot the bat spots. I am ready for an all young team (no I have not forgotten Mauer at first) and I think that goes for pitching and outfield. The infield might be too set, although I would prefer Sano at third so we could do a Rosario, Buxton, Arcia, Kepler foursome in the outfield. Nice article.
  6. mikelink45
    I really enjoyed reading this. For years we had the Twins Way and I think you have described the dangers of having a set performance behaviour in an organization that will rise when individuals reach their own performance goals and not the rigid judgment of form and discipline.
  7. mikelink45
    I like a simple approach - find out what we have - keep rotating the young players until their role is determined. No FA, no multi-year contracts. We have enough clogging the pipeline and a barely over 500 record is not sufficient to move from our internal options.
  8. mikelink45
    Good article to cause some winter thinking. I do not agree with Fister, but I agree with the idea of going with what we have for the bullpen. How many teams buy a bullpen arm only to find out that there is nothing left after one good year. Use the young arms. But in the starting rotation they have to put in Berrios. He is the stud we have all been waiting for and the Twins need to show that he is the guy they have been touting. Unlike many posts I would start Buxton. I think last year was good introduction and if we are patient his natural talents will come through. If you look at his minor league performances this follows the pattern, initial struggle and then he gets the message and takes off. I want outfield defense and Sano and Arcia do not give it. Rosario, Buxton and Kepler by the allstar break. We have to move Arcia, maybe he and Plouffe will create an attractive package that can include Nolasco's contract - that is the only trade or move I would like to see.
  9. mikelink45
    Thanks for posting this. For all our happiness for 2015, we performed above expectations and made it to .500. This is a realistic look at the starting pitching. For 2015 we need Berrios to live up to our hopes, Duffey to find his 2015 magic, and the management to look at performance and not salaries in 2016.
  10. mikelink45
    #1 Mauer - yes, this is now a three more year problem. The Twins better find someone to work with him that can help them recover some more of their investment. #2 Nolasco - we still have him for another year and he is clogging the system. #3 Santana - Not Ervin, but Danny. We wasted a lot of SS time hoping he would not be a rookie fluke. #4 The bullpen, yes Perkins, but Stauffer(?), a diminishing Fien, Graham being stored and not reliable... #5 Not Pinto, but Suzuki - we paid for a one year career year and he went back to what he was (Hughes is close to this too). Pinto is a shame, but he was not with us, nor was Arcia or Meyer - it would have been good if they have blossomed, but they are minor league problems. Suzuki was a major.
  11. mikelink45
    Don't forget Aaron Hicks. He turned his career around and made value for a good trade.
  12. mikelink45
    I really appreciate this article and Seth's list. Stop chasing relievers and develop them.
  13. mikelink45
    We have Mauer now and will have him until the end of his contract. We can hope he gets better, but the timeline on that hope is getting mighty long and thin. He is a good player and we need to look past $23 as a fan and hope the Twins can do the same. He will be on the Twins, but should be a part time player - not judged by money but by performance. For a smart player his inability to switch to a different strike zone as quoted in various posts is baffling. It is stubbornness more than talent. However, as a first baseman, his power is not offset by average, his OBP is not so high that he gives us a leadoff and certainly not a middle of the order batter which means he should be 6 or below in the order, maybe even 9 which some believe is the second leadoff position after the first inning. He is not a Keith Hernandez fielder so he is not such an asset that we cannot adjust to others at the bag. If we consider him a part time starter - part time bench, we strengthen the bench and reduce the angst. Buxton has a history of a short struggle at each level before figuring it out. I think it is time for the Willie Mays treatment - put him out, stay with him, and bank on his ability fo pull him through. We desperately need his fielding. I would love Rosario, Buxton, and Kepler in the OF. But I think the Twins need to have one or two more trades before we really examine the roster because right now, the overall content makes no sense.
  14. mikelink45
    TR is famous for making his moves early. I expect December changes, but then a slow down. What makes most sense now is moving pitchers and clearing the logjam. We do not need another corner outfielder. Sano, Buxton, Kepler, Arcia, Rosario fill the spots unless Sano moves to 3B. Clear room for Berrios, move on from Fien, and get us another live arm in the pen, that is the biggest priority. I love the KC playing style. It is not easy to copy, but speed, defense and relief pitching are real priorities. With our pitchers we need the defense to be solid and moving Hicks was a good trade on one level, but if Buxton is between Arcia and Sano he should be wearing a track suit.
  15. mikelink45
    And the Twins decide to move the fences in? Work in centerfield could extend from the bar to the field. TR wants homers.
  16. mikelink45
    Quite a gamble - one of TR's trends has been to trade CFs. I believe the Twins could see how defense pushed the KC champs - are we really going to start Sano in the field? Please, Buxton and Rosario need to be there to cover the ground.
  17. mikelink45
    The Twins have gluts of players in SP (not that they are great - just too many) and now the Outfield and DH and 1B. This is what GMs are hired to fix and I am not sure that I have confidence that TR can do that. It is nice to have talent, but we lose trade value for a player to sits on the bench instead of playing. It is time to move Plouffe and Rosario. We should have done that with Arcia when he had his good year, now we have lost value. It is okay to package players for a player you want and to dump players (Nolasco) that you need to move on. At some point the Mauer decision falls on TR too. Perhaps he is the ideal bench player or maybe he should be moved to outfield. Mauer is the sore at which we will pick for the next two years, but a sit down talk, a move of the no trade, a move to the bench - the Twins obligation is to have the best lineup - it is not the obligation to start the highest paid players.
  18. mikelink45
    The most important aspect of the article is the reality that Plouffe is much better in the minds of Twins fans than he is in the field. He is a serviceable player, but I am not sure that we will even get what these trade scenarios suggest. If we can we need to move him and move on. My real interest is in a package that will get Nolasco to the NL where he might have value. With Plouffe and maybe one of the good minor leaguers that we cannot see an opening for we might win on two levels.
  19. mikelink45
    I still love Walker and the power and potential he has. Sometimes I feel like a negative momentum has developed among fans and then it just keeps going forward despite the growth of the player. I think he will replace Vargas by the end of the year.
  20. mikelink45
    The Mets developed their own talent. This is the only acceptable formula for us - and it includes rule 5. We have the talent right now - Berrios, Duffey, Gibson, May to have a young productive staff. We sign and trade for low end free agents and stifle their development. We could not straighten out Liriano, we gave up on Garza and Lohse. Spend some more money on people who teach the pitchers how to pitch. It is cheaper than free agency to invest in your product in the minors and get them up and pitching earlier - I will always consider it a baseball crime that Berrios was not up this year and I do not care how his career ultimately develops.
  21. mikelink45
    No - Jay cannot be #5 there is something about earning that rating and he has not. I am fine with top four and don't care about the order, but I want something more substantial in the #5.
  22. mikelink45
    Unlike other readers, I do not see this as a strong group. I would imagine the majority of teams could match out 6 - 20 rankings. We have a SS who can't catch, a slugger who strikes out more than the Royal's team, a young live arm pitcher who cannot miss bats, a superstud fast reliever who should rank around 15 with the up and down year he had last year, Gonsalves who looks really legit.
  23. mikelink45
    I think that a team like the Twins that need their prospects to succeed need to make a new investment - they need some coach psychologists to work with players like Meyers and Arcia who have the talent, but just can't put it together. Maybe Torii can work with Arcia - take that back his statement about black latinos makes that a bad idea - but we can find someone who can help. It is not about the talent, it is more about the head and I hate to waste two potentially good players. Other than Meyer I feel like my reading of Twins Daily minor league reports must be slipping because this group, like the previous has me really scratching my head. Too many players who have not played, not succeeded, are here in the 11 - 20 list. The minor league ranking must be really dipping as the majors mines the minors. But to have Wandy on the list when he has not played is not a prospect listing, but an indictment of the farm system. Looking forward to the top ten and a little more excitement (personally).
  24. mikelink45
    It is alright and necessary to separate the athlete and the person - it happens all the time. When public figures make public statements they should be accountable and a home run does not take the statement away. I really dislike Torii's personal beliefs, but I do not dislike Torii and I was really pleased with his locker room presence and for 1/2 the year his at bats. However, what if he did have a gay team mate of a black latino teammate? It's time for Torii to grow up with his racist and homophobic positions. I am pleased he is retiring, not because of his remarks, but because the Twins really do need to move on and this is a good transition for them. Please Terry do not think about AJ as the next Torii. Flip is another issue. Having no relationship at all with him, I still grew to really like him and his radio comments seem to bring the personal and the professional together as a really loveable and genuine human being. He will be missed and I am sorry his is not around for our young nucleus.
  25. mikelink45
    Great timing - he is helping the Twins two years in a row.
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