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Dman

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Everything posted by Dman

  1. Dman
    This leadership thing seems so bogus to me. First can you name me a player that does what you describe. I haven't heard a story where players do that. Typically those things are the job of the hitting coach on the team. That is why all teams have position coaches. As for leadership in baseball the direction should come from the manager he is after all the leader of the team. How much leadership do you need to say ride your bike from you house to the store or bowling etc. You don't need leadership for those things. They are skills or things that you do. Your skill at doing them is different than someone else. No amount of leadership will change your skill level. Practice will but that is about it. If leadership had such an impact on players and skill level teams would be hiring the greatest leaders they could find. I see no such trend in all of baseball. Leadership is nothing compared to skill thus the player that developws said skill make huge amounts of money because that skill is rare. No leadership required. Joe Mauer has a rare skill and is better than 95% of the players in baseball at avoiding outs. That is a valuable skill that teams pay large amounts of money for. What do they pay for leadership skills? and who exactly has these magical skills that are so valued by the rest of baseball?
  2. Dman
    As much as I hate to admit it I think you are right. Personally I Vehemently disagree with the Mauer detractors but you are right he is not immune to criticism and people are entitled to see things a different way and that doesn't make them wrong. I do have to say the nitpicking bothers me. Was Babe Ruth a terrible player because he struck out so much? Was Lou Brock only good the year he stole 74 bases and then sucked all the other years? How great of a leader was Rod Carew? It seems fault finders can find there faults with all the great players. Why not just appreciate greatness while you have it?
  3. Dman
    I tend to agree with you here. I see both sides of Mauer and although I line up on the pro side there is some validity to what the other side says. In other words they aren't all wrong about him and many, many fans share that negativity. I just choose to focus on his positives and quite frankly he is one of the best players in baseball even if he doesn't hit a ton of home runs. Is who he is and his approach worth the money he makes? I think that is debatable. Just don't try to sell me on the fact that he doesn't care about winning and that he isn't one of the best in baseball.
  4. Dman
    I am inclined to agree with you Willie. I think Mauer suffers more from being not interesting than anything else. Comparing him to Kirby makes the contrast almost unpalatable. The large contract versus expectations (ie more homeruns) doesn't help many fans perception of him either. The thing is he is one of the best catchers to ever play the game and the only one with 3 batting titles. He consistently hits 300 every year and is usually top 5 in OBP. A lot of teams would like to have a player with those kinds of problems. In my opinion it seems unfair to criticize a guy who is that consistent year in and year out. For me personally I like Joe's approach and his Zen attitude. He doesn't need to light a fire under anyone to impress me or to be a good example. I think Cola mentioned him in an article and liked the way Joe carried himself and tried to emulate some of the things he does. I agree with others that Joe is just a good scapegoat for a bad team and particularly a team with bad pitching. Not much he can do about that.
  5. Dman
    I agree and would prefer an arm over any of the above. The Twins never, ever, ever buy ace pitchers in FA. We need lot's of chances to develop one. Having said that I was someone who didn't want Buxton and or Adrian Peterson because I thought we were good enough at those positions at the time and BPA was best way to go. So what do I know? It can be dangerous not to go BPA. I just want the Twins to find great pitchers anyway they can and drafting seems to be the only way we can get them.
  6. Dman
    Thanks for the insight. I guess I don't understand how Sulbaran could have better stats than Berrios in A ball but be considered such a lessor talent? Even though Nunez is slightly better than what we currently have why not try and trade for someone better or with higher upside at SS? I guess I am a bit dense when it comes to these things.
  7. Dman
    Wow, that was a fun read! Well written and insightful. Couldn't ask for more. Thanks for putting this out there!
  8. Dman
    I don't get this move. am I over valuing Sulbaren? I like his potential far more than than the guy we got for him. From what I can tell this guy doesn't bring anything that we don't already have. In fact this with either block someone or force us to get rid of someone. Please someone save my brain from exploding and give me good reasons for this trade?
  9. Dman
    I never really thought CC had a chance to make it to the Majors. I mean typically scouts find guys like this before they get as old he was. It seemed unlikely that he would possibly be a diamond in the ruff. He was a good Indy league player but would that really translate? Seemed unlikely to me. I really thought he might be making a bad decision not taking the overseas offer as he seemed to have a million dollars for certain going that direction. For as much as I have second guessed this guy since the Twins got him I also fell in love with his potential. To me there was always something special about this guy. He seemed to rise to every challenge. Erase every objection you could have about his talent. You have got to give the guy props for believing in himself when a lot of people around him did not. It seems that if you can bust through all of that you should be a good player in the end. I have been rooting for him to make it since he started hitting in AA and I hope he has a good MLB career. It is very early to call CC a success as he has only had only one exceptional week in MLB, but I like his odds to make it better now that he seems to have figured some things out. Hopefully he is the diamond in the ruff that the Twins were lucky to find.
  10. Dman
    If it wasn't a deep draft I would be more willing to give up a second round pick for Drew but given signing him doesn't help us make the playoffs I don't see giving up the lottery shot of a second round pick for him. Once we don't lose the pick I would hope the Twins go hard after him because if they can get him by paying more than they should to get him hopefully they can get value for him somewhere down the road.
  11. Dman
    Yeah I agree the umpires are pretty good but they always miss a few calls every game. My only complaint is that on strike three the ball should be mainly hitting the plate leaving no room to question the call. A nipped corner strike three call leaves too many questions. Make sure it is a strike then no one questions anything. Strike three should be a solid strike. He didn't do that and he was wrong on that call for Joe. I didn't feel he was being biased or anything but it seemed like he had a few more whoops calls than normal. If it was only three or four that is better than I thought. Tough to complain too much about 3 or 4 out of 200 and some pitches.
  12. Dman
    Yeah I gotta say that as an umpire if you get Joe Mauer mad then you know you made a bad call. Pitchers really like to pitch to the edges on Joe or at least that is my perception and he has gotten some odd calls, even last year. I think it was cold and Mr. Buckner had some interesting calls on several batters for both sides so I would guess things evened out but that was a brutal call to make for strike three on Joe. Pretty much inexcusable really. Maybe he was ready to get out of the cold weather and head home.
  13. Dman
    I agree with you. I am happy that at least we have had a chance to win each game going into the 8th or 9th inning. I am hoping to see more of that this year. While the wins are important to keep fans in the seats I am happy just to see Hicks, Kubel, Ploufe and CC hitting well and hopefully improving. I just want to see the young guys have some decent success and the pitchers keep us in games. That is success enough for me this year.
  14. Dman
    I predicted that Bartlett would make the team before spring training started. After watching him in Spring training I was hoping that I was going to be wrong about that. I hate to go negative but I am with most posters who believe there had to be better options than JB. Maybe a good club house guy is just what this teams needs? I don't know what else to say.
  15. Dman
    I've never been a huge Presley fan and how he looked in spring training was unimpressive. He isn't excellent in the field and his bat is marginal. I think Maestro or any other center fielder we have in AAA could do just about as well. I don't know why the Astro's want him but they can have him. He is a good 4th outfielder but nothing to get exited about as that is his greatest potential 4th outfielder. Personally I think the Twins are better off without him as there should be an opportunity for someone with more potential to step into that spot.
  16. Dman
    I tend to agree with you here. Guerra actually has movement on his pitches and he looked great in spring training. I think that if his shoulder stays healthy he is going to make his doubters look foolish. If he stays healthy I would not be surprised to see him get called up this year.
  17. Dman
    Hard to believe he went from one of our best pitchers to being waived but just like Worley he doesn't have a lot of movement on his pitches they are too straight. If he doesn't keep the ball down he seems to get hit hard. I just don't think his ceiling was high enough and we have better options now which is a good thing.
  18. Dman
    I agree in the games I watched Worley there was very little movement on the ball and the batters were squaring it up with ease. He needed better stuff to keep them off balance. Maybe if he starts throwing his slider more things will be better for him but the stuff I saw wasn't good enough to stay in MLB.
  19. Dman
    I am just guessing and somewhat full of it. I don't understand why they let him go for nothing when they could have tried to build his value back in AAA. I am just trying to find a reason why they would do what they did.
  20. Dman
    That is why I think there is an under the table deal here. If they can turn Worley around look for another trade possibly Presley for a decent prospect. If the they can't turn him around then the Twins keep the money. That is my conspiracy theory on this one. The Twins don't need the cash.
  21. Dman
    I agree Worely was going to be buried. There are other guys that are going to need a chance and more coming up behind them. It is also hard to move a pitcher that has pitched as poorly as he has the past year and a half. I also think the Twins have something going on with Pittsburgh and maybe are trying to even out the Morneau trade\rental as it was weird getting a relief pitcher and then a starter. Something didn't seem Quite right there to me.
  22. Dman
    I guess the Pirates are going to try and pull another Liriano out of their hat. They seem to have a knack for making our pitchers better. They have their work cut out for them this time.
  23. Dman
    Doc I am with you on Herman. I watched him last year and thought he did OK as well. He might not be a superstar but he seems very solid to me. He certainly would be a good bench player and I wouldn't count him out as potential starter as he is a gamer.
  24. Dman
    I really thought with Worley being in shape this spring and knowing he needed to have a good spring to stay in the majors was going to be OK. I did not see this coming because I believed he had a ton of motivation to get better. I just don't understand how a pitcher that pitched in the majors for two years could sink this low and be this bad. Well time to admit I was wrong about him coming back. I don't think the Twins had much choice but to clear room for somebody else. I hope Vance gets another chance but he has a lot of work to do to be a MLB pitcher.
  25. Dman
    I tend to agree that you can't win with the fan base pretty much no matter what you say. Although I don't think his comments were caustic, I guess I agree with other posters that it is in his best interest to focus on the positive. It should generate more interest in the team and he comes off looking like an optimist. It also shows he has his players backs. For myself I preferred his method as I get tired of the PR game where essentially nothing gets said. He called it like he saw it and I personally found that refreshing, but then again I am not your average fan.
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