Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

mikelink45

Old-Timey Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    10,080

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    27

 Content Type 

Profiles

News

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospects Ranking

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by mikelink45

  1. mikelink45
    The only comparison I would make is at his position. Puckett and Buxton are the true centerfielders. Puckett had 12 years before his injury ended his career Buxton has 11 years Puckett played 1783 games Buxton 898 and if Buxton played 162 he would fall far short of Puckett's number and that matters for impact on the team Buxton's line for those 898 games 248/308/487/795 Puckett 318/360/477/837 I do not care what WAR says - Puckett far out distances Buxton. Buxton is the second best position player of his era - Mauer number one. Sometimes ranking really do not matter.
  2. mikelink45
    I totally agree with the last post - put Winokur some place other than SS. He is not Ripken, His size and speed do not spell SS. Otherwise this group does not impress me.
  3. mikelink45
    I agree that Mendez should be ahead of the last four on this list.
  4. mikelink45
    Fascinating - I really enjoyed this review because it also tempers our expectations for the prospect rankings. When I look at the current top prospects many of them come from other systems through trades. Will they perform as expected? Will they out perform the players they were traded for? Tait/Rojas/Gonzales/Mendez/Gallagher are in the top Twenty according to Pitcher List and all were acquired in our massive trade moves this past summer. Add in Mick Abel/Taj Bradley (not a rookie anymore) and RHP Geremy Villoria, OF James Outman, LHP Garrett Horn, RHP Mike Mikulski, OF Alan Roden, RHP Sam Armstrong. Who will be the breakout stars? Who will win the trades? Will they stay healthy? The Pablo Lopez trade looked great the first 2 1/2 seasons. Then he was injured and missed significant time in 2025 and now he is injured and will miss all of 2026. Luis Arraez was traded for Lopez, Jose Salas and outfielder Byron Chourio. Arraez won a batting title with the Marlins, then he was traded to SD and won another batting title during his two years there. Now he is with San Francisco. Yes we could use Arraez, but if Pablo had stayed healthy we still would have won the trade. Salas, 22, SS, hit 236/310 with 732 OPS last year at Witchita. Baseball reference has him as number 29 in our system. Byron Chourio, 20, OF hit 344/429/410/838 He looks like he might be a success or solid trade bait. He is ranked 30 on Fangraphs top 43 list for the Twins. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/minnesota-twins-top-43-prospects/ This is a 2025 list. As we see the TD lists I would love to see a comparison chart that compares the various projections on Fangraphs, MLB.com, TD and others..
  5. mikelink45
    like jmlease1 I question DeBarge being ranked that high. I suspect we have other prospects that are being more productive and have a higher upside. I would move Culpepper to the top of this group. Followed by Diaw. Thanks for interesting insights. I did not know anything about Ellwanger and nothing in his stats say he is a top prospect, but then number 20 is a crapshoot. Even dropping DeBarge I do not know who would fill the empty spot on this list.
  6. mikelink45
    Lets talk about the players I want to fight for a position - Walker, Gonzales, Rodriguez.
  7. mikelink45
    A dismal outlook. Where are the days of Killebrew, Morneau, Mientkiewicz and Hrbek. Sure anyone can play 1B, but should they? With Lewis and Lee still question marks on the left side, it is sad to see this position seen as a filler instead of a positive. If we trade Jeffers we can have below average production at both catcher and 1B and I can't wait for Nick to analyze 3b, SS. Like another post I would put either Larnach or Wallner at 1B and improve the OF at the same time.
  8. mikelink45
    We know Boras does not like to give up Free Agency so I think we can begin the planning now. I don't like it when the other teams and agents know we are desparate.
  9. mikelink45
    I would like Jeffers extended but Boras is not a supporter of this strategy.
  10. mikelink45
    I am not as pleased as most commenters. I am actually thinking of next year which is what most articles have pointed to as when the Twins climb back into contention. We have some excellent prospects that I suspect will be in the lineup - Walker, Rodriguez - but if Jeffers is gone and there is a good chance then Caratini is not a good replacement. Everything I have read is that his defense is not adequate for the number one catcher and Tait is still a ways off.
  11. mikelink45
    I have no debate with you. Santana is fine for me, but Baines in particular is a case of favoritism over qualification. Tony LaRussa got him in. I would not have put in Andrew Jones. I would say five years on the ballot is enough - they are either worth putting in or they should be off the ballot. I only say five because of the periodic logjams. And based on the way we judge players I would probably put in Bonds, McGwire, Clemens, Sosa. Not because they didn't cheat, but because they were allowed to have full careers no matter what they did and they were not multiple offenders like Ramirez or A Rod and nor did they commit perjury like Palmeiro. In the past I did not want them in, but they have gotten more publicity by not going in than they would have if they were voted in and we moved on. My issue is that their records should be erased if they are not allowed in. The same with Rose who was reprehensible in many ways, but every year we got Rose stories and not MLB is so tied to gambling that it seems foolish to blame a player for gambling - unless it is like the black sox who through the game The moral stances that baseball has is shown now as gamblers find players like Ortiz and Clase who can be tempted to gain a little extra money. Dumb as it is I am sure there are more. I am frustrated with some of the HOF stances because the Hall has refused to give clarity to their stance on PEDs, gambling, and law. The guidelines are "Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played." Who decides on integrity, sportsmanship, character and what that means? Ty Cobb would be excluded on this basis, but his record as a player demands he is in. If that is the basis that Dale Murphy should be in and otherwise I would not elect him. On that basis Moe Berg should be in - spy for the US in the war - but his record on the field says no. Sorry, you got me thinking too much.
  12. mikelink45
    I think Kriedler, Roden and Martin stay, but let's hope some better options come our way. It will be interesting to see if Zoll has the stubbornness of Falvey when it comes to players they acquire. Outman should be given no free pass. He stays only if he found his old bat. Arcia is too old to be a viable SS, but they might like his age. Wagaman does nothing for this team as it is constructed. Urshela does not have the glove to backup SS and if he is kept it means Lewis is backup SS. Gray is interesting and could beat out Kreidler, but that is not exciting.
  13. mikelink45
    In the long run it does not matter. But I happen to be a small hall person and I am not really excited about lowering the standards so that anyone that was good can get in. We have enough questionable entries in the hall now. As IndianaTwin stated " Curt Schilling, Zack Greinke, Kevin Brown and Wilbur Wood all exceed him and Dave Stieb, Luis Tiant, Rick Reuschel and David Cone are very close to him." Would I put all of them in the hall - No. I understand that we are not seeing the 3000 hits 300 wins standards working anymore, but I am not sure that WAR is the real measurement either. I can adjust to the best in their era which gets Santana votes, but I do not need to go back and match every other era's stats to that person. I do not want to sort through plaques in a Hall that takes up multiple buildings. Some day there will be another hall - the best of the best.
  14. mikelink45
    If the lists I have seen here are accurate move him to the pen. He is too far down the list and can always be stretched out if we go that far. But for now every live arm we have should be used to bolster the pen.
  15. mikelink45
    No - whether we have any hope this year or not, Ryan is needed to give the young pitcher one veteran to look up to and steady the ship. Ober is trying to recover his effectiveness and is not ready to be the staff ACE.
  16. mikelink45
    Like you I want him to make it, but I am very disappointed with what we saw last year. You mentioned Schwarber - he had a low BA, but he had massive power, took walks, and drove in runs. Matt had 22 HRs and only 40 RBIs! That is the combo that really disappoints me.
  17. mikelink45
    Nice try Nick - Pablo missed most of last year, will miss most of this year and will be coming back with who knows what ability in the last year of his contract. This is another blow for the team and I am really sorry to read about this, but we have already paid for Mahle and others during their injury years and didn't get much of a return. Save the money and invest in Pablo if he comes back strong of in someone who is pitching well.
  18. mikelink45
    What is going on - am I getting the wrong posts - first 5 things was actually 2 and now 12 quotes is 3. What am I doing wrong?
  19. mikelink45
    I guess that is it - I clicked on view full article and nothing happened - maybe that is one of the five.
  20. mikelink45
    I did and nothing happened - same two points
  21. mikelink45
    I only read two notes - the headline implies 5
  22. mikelink45
    Wallner, Larnach, Lee, Bell - start all four and give the pitchers a bottle of Advil. Talk about GOLD Gloves - these are made of Iron. Clank. My biggest hope is that we are not wedded to the past. That there is true evaluation on all levels and we cut veterans, rookies, DFAs according to their ability and no one has a lock on anything. Sorry, Ryan, Pablo, Jeffers, and Buxton - we are counting on each of you.
  23. mikelink45
    Very old - 8 decades changes a persons' perspective
  24. mikelink45
    If only projections were facts.
  25. mikelink45
    The best move so far, but when someone who has been DFA'd is the best move it means we still have a lot of work to do.
×
×
  • Create New...