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mikelink45

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Everything posted by mikelink45

  1. mikelink45
    The academy is a really great idea and nutrition is something that really needs attention, but it also brings up a question that I have no answer to. Is there anything that can be done to help prevent TJ surgery? Are there warm ups, compensatory muscles that can be developed with the right exercise? This is so costly to player and club I am waiting for a new development. I hope the academy actually has some classes (analytics anyone?) and becomes a means of developing the whole player.
  2. mikelink45
    For a long time the "Twins way" was a hot and popular topic - it's just that the era has passed and the TR way has not generated any buzz like the Sox and the Cubs or other exciting teams. Until Buxton, Meyer, Berrios, Sano are on the roster it will and should stay that way. In our everyday Twins reading it is easy to see more than there really is and to feel like we are being underestimated, but my fear is that we may be guilty of overestimating our progress. Whether fantasy ranking, preseason predictions or just a national buzz I enjoy the perspectives just like I enjoy this site, but let us earn some respect before we are concerned about lacking it.
  3. mikelink45
    I read the comment in another posting that Pelfrey takes a long time to warm up and is not suited to relief. TR has clogged up a system that we have been patiently waiting for over 4 years. Now is not the time for older, low upside, fillers. Youth is all I want. Let's see that vaunted minor league produce. Fill the bullpen and the rotation with the young guys and get Sano and Buxton up asap.
  4. mikelink45
    It is time to pull the - if you want to be in the majors card = lose weight. Nice adolescence food attitude, but if this is a hurdle - address it. He might not like it, but the big checks in the majors are ahead and he will know it. Let's face the fact that he will not be Brooks Robinson, but then Harmon Killebrew is HOF and a long way from Brooks too. Let's hope there is enough to push a trade where we use strength and quality to get a good return. Plouffe should have good value now - as he ages that value goes down.
  5. mikelink45
    Move him up quick. Don't waste him in the minors. Get the best in the lineup at Target field.
  6. mikelink45
    It is difficult, for me, to see people so far from major league ready get ranked so high. Yes, he has potential, but I prefer to see the top spots go to the players who have a chance to play this year and next. Players like Kohl are certainly high on the overall list, but not top 5. With so many years left before the top level there are too many things that can go wrong. Maybe we need a prospect ranking and a wish list.
  7. mikelink45
    The Cardinals get their arms to the majors and they work them with the major league staff as support. Young arms like Wacha can be damaged and some do not come back, but they got amazing production for Wacha in the past and if he does not come back they will still have succeeded as a team. We need to learn that lesson. If Meyer goes down, let it be in Major League production. Let the other pitchers and the pitching coach work with him here and as a starter.
  8. mikelink45
    I am pessimistic if this season is supposed to be a winning year - look at the other clubs in our division and what they did and have, but optimistic about next year and the future - if we do not get enamored with the players who can make this a 500 club. Get the youth on board - it is easier to be a fan of a young team working its way up in the standings that a bunch of fringe okay players collecting their paychecks.
  9. mikelink45
    This is one choice I could not see anyone complaining about. His weakness was his stinginess which was not only legendary, but wrong. His teams and players were hurt by this miserliness. I am curious if you could sit back and look at your 25 and consider the wholeness, then realign them again - would you change anything? And then there is the question of who are the top ten GMs in baseball today? I would certainly start with Beane, then Sabean, Since Dombroski is on your list he would be third - who fills out the list? Does Terry Ryan get on the list? I am not a Cashman fan and the last few years have shown his weakness when he does not have all the Steinbrenner overpaying, but does he have credits that will get him on the list? Andrew Friedman, Jed Hoyer (Theo Epstein is no longer GM so he is not eligible.) Thanks for generating the storyline.
  10. mikelink45
    This is one of those step backward moves. Do we want to have okay, maybe even a little mediocre when we could develop Meyer or May? Is a left hander that important if that left hander cannot shut teams down. Remember our outfield defense - near league worst and tell me we need another pitch to contact guy. Have 35% chance is 30% higher than I would like. Having a neck issue myself, I cannot use that for the excuse it might be for others. A trending loss of velocity when his velocity cannot get him on the baseball freeway now is not encouraging. I see him as a nice AAA filler.
  11. mikelink45
    Great story line. Nice pick for the number 2 - expecting Branch Rickey in #1. This has been a very nice series of essays to read. Congratulations on excellent work.
  12. mikelink45
    Barrow is a really top choice. Lots of the men on the list can be shuffled in a variety of ways - the measurements are really difficult, but Barrow is definitely top notch. So far my only major rift with the listing is the placement of Billy Beane.
  13. mikelink45
    Put him in now. KC showed that you do not need a lot of fancy secondary pitches when you come in with heat for an inning. Why waste his non-TommyJohn years in the minors. There is no teaching 97+ - just turn him loose.
  14. mikelink45
    His lack of integration drops his rank much lower for me and is part of the issue that had to be faced by his successors.
  15. mikelink45
    I will feel progress is being made when Meyer and May are in the starting rotation and the following year Berrios. All these older, experienced and low upside fillers are not going to energize the franchise or the future.
  16. mikelink45
    Nice summary of someone who is truly a great GM.
  17. mikelink45
    Lets move on - I am not rooting for a team that plays 500 ball and if we are going to get past that it will take our young arms or signing player the Twins would never consider for ridiculous contracts.
  18. mikelink45
    I think Joe has been overthinking and probably reading too many of these forums. He is a cerebral person and a person who internalizes too much. If he feels better that is more than half the battle. His skills are still there, but the strike zone changing caused him to think too much, changing positions caused him to think too much, all the criticism and frustration with losing flustered him. Without the big contract we would be moving on and putting him where he could do what his skill set allows. We obsess and really who cares - better Joe than the Pohlads there is plenty of money on the team. Like all the big, long, contracts for players past their prime he will never produce what the rest of us who cannot combine our lifetime earnings to match his annual earnings want to expect.
  19. mikelink45
    Your last two choices are worthy, but how they come out ahead of Billy Beane has me baffled. Detroit is stuck - they cannot get over the hump. They bought good, but need developing players to become great.
  20. mikelink45
    This is a man who definitely belongs top ten. I am pleased to see him on the list and high up it, but now I am really curious about who you think might be better than Beane. Strange as it sounds, I think BIlly is underrated. He has really made the most of the payroll and situation he has and he has risked tweaking the establishment.
  21. mikelink45
    I had the good fortune of being an usher for the Twins in their inaugural season and I loved Pascaul and Pedro Ramos. Those two were always underrated and I believe Pascual was close to HOF caliber at that time. There were some fun players to watch and a feeling in the evening twilight that we were really BIG LEAGUE. It made me a fan for life. In that year the home town hero was Paul Giel and Jim Kaat was an after thought. Imagine Bill Tuttle and Reno Bertoia in your starting lineup and fielding metrics would have had fun with Jim Lemon.
  22. mikelink45
    one for three is hardly an exciting resume. Still waiting for the ones that are no argument. You have given us a few, but the field as a whole is ho-hum
  23. mikelink45
    I loved the article. The analysis of the analysis misses the point. There is a correlation between good drafting and good results in the MLB standings. The Twins were often afraid of the agents or the potential bonuses if I remember the headlines from those years. We drafted safe! There is something to say about looking at the percent from the entire draft, but like football - it is round one that headlines the draft. We can say that there are a lot of factors that come in to play, but that is why we now use so many tools and the Twins have never been at the forefront of new analysis.
  24. mikelink45
    Since I remain skeptical about Twins performance in 2015 I am all for playing Hicks until Buxton comes on board in July. If Buxton is all we have been saying it is time to give him the Griffey/Trout treatment and let him grow in the bigs. Get Rosario ready to replace Hunter and see if we can really lay the foundation for 2016. If we think like Beane we will push the vets to get max value this summer and then get the next wave in with more in the minors to support them.
  25. mikelink45
    What a tough one - great story, like a novel, all leading to the great fall - a Greek Tragedy except that Jimmy the Greek would claim that title. Hard to figure out this ranking. Definitely a top selection, but how much do you knock him down for a bad ending?
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