Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

Jham

Old-Timey Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2,320

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Profiles

Minnesota Twins News, Rumors & Analysis

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospect Rankings

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Minnesota Twins Trade & Free Agent Rumors

Minnesota Twins Fan Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by Jham

  1. Jham
    Everyone keeps citing his defense. If we've learned anything about defensive metrics, it's that a season's worth of stats isn't a big enough sample size. Does anyone remember seeing him try to go back on fly balls? It was horrible. Part of this could be made up for by playing deeper and just giving up more singles and first to thirds. Or moving to right and moving Sano to left. I like Rosario a lot. His game is almost exactly the same as another former fave, Jacque Jones. Jones was praised for D coming up, leading off and playing center field. But he was not a premium defensive player. Neither is Rosario. I've stated before, his maximum value is at 2nd base. His max value to the team may well be as trade bait. His quick wrists would play very well in the AL East for example. That said, I like watching him play for the Twins.
  2. Jham
    Meyer supposedly has a snappy slider. It didn't look better than average when he was up last year. He supposedly has a 98 mph fastball. 94 when he came up. He used to be all K's and BB's. Now they crush him all over the field. I wonder if his stuff is the same after the shoulder problems. With the stuff he has now, his best chance is to dial it down, refine the command, work on the change up, and stay in the rotation. If he doesn't have it by the end of the season. Start working on knuckleball.
  3. Jham
    Best food in Target Field: The old-fashioned natural casing wieners served only by the venders in the candy stripes. The catch is that there are only like two vendors patrolling the whole stadium and they rarely make it to the third deck. $5. When you're done with your dog, go get the hot mini-donuts over by the plaza. Pair them with a Summit EPA for a low cal weight friendly dessert. Or, skip the hot dog, get the $15 Bucket of donuts, eat them all by yourself, then take the bucket still filled with vanilla sugar and cinnamon over to the by-the-once beer vendor, fill with EPA, and complete the mini-donut/EPA challenge. Garnish with a suicide note. Around the stadium, Seven Sushi is pretentious and overpriced, but the salmon sashimi is melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Fogo de Chao is an overall fun experience, you can get a better steak for $50, but you can't match the variety. I wouldn't say there's a ton of bargains within the ballpark area,but Burrito Loco on the U of M campus often has ridiculous food specials like free fajitas with a pitcher of beer or wings by the pitcher full, again free with a pitcher of the best High Life on tap.
  4. Jham

    Nunez

    Jham replied to DaveW's topic in Minnesota Twins Talk

    He's also posted a positive WAR in both his seasons with the Twins, as a reserve. I'm not sure WAR is the best indicator of value for everyday players, let alone utility players. I think people get worked up about Nunez being on the team over more popular prospects. But the horrible booted ball with the bases loaded against the Royals aside, he seems like one of those damn valuable veterans that shows young players that hard work and professionalism help maximize natural talent or lack thereof. He's 28 years old. He takes his position as a part time player, doesn't complain, then produces when called upon. Good for Nunez, good for the Twins.
  5. Jham
    The younger options aren't cheaper than Nolasco. They're more expensive. Obviously, you have to pay Nolasco either way. Personally, I'm hoping Nolasco has a bounce back year the way Pelfrey did last year. That would give the team a whole lot of options.
  6. Jham

    PED guys

    Jham replied to gunnarthor's topic in Other Baseball

    Absurd. HGH use carries significant side effects. The problem with allowing use, any use, is that all players feel pressured to use then. Final roster spots, free agent signings, and picking up options could all come down to those using versus not. The pressure to use is over the top at that point. It would be hard to have to retire or get sent down because some other guy was using and you weren't.
  7. Jham
    When Gibson was getting ahead and breaking off sliders and change-ups last year he was unbelievably good. IMO, better than anyone else in the rotation at their best. He seems to get into prolonged funks of falling behind and getting shelled though. I think maturity will help. I don't think his improvement in K/9 was a fluke, and I actually expect him to improve again this year. When he came up he was a thrower, he nibbled, and still sometimes nibbles. Now he's learning to pitch. No one should be untouchable, but I can't imagine anyone offering enough to get him. I certainly wouldn't take relief help with Reed, Burdi, Meyer, Jay, et al waiting in the wings. If none of them have stepped forward by the all star break and the pen still needs help, I'd consider more drastic options. Preseason, I'm rolling with Gibby as my 2 behind Santana.
  8. Jham
    I think dozier's love of the slide into pop up throw significantly limits his range compared to running through the ball or diving. However he's more on balance for his throws so i dunno what the net is.
  9. Jham
    1 Santana 2 Gibson if his k's keep improving. .. 3 Hughes (Saw him outduel kuechel lady year after injury. He really liked like he learned to pitch) 4 Duffey Too good last year not to be in there with a good spring. 5 Millone May looked like a duck taking to water in the pen. No one seems to dispute he's better suited for relief, just that he may be more valuable as a starter. If he can continue to be dominant, I'd find room for him. Nolasco probably won't be healthy, but if he is and pitches well, we'll simply point out that Pelfrey went to the pen, then had a great year as a starter. Berrios needs to be in AAA because of service time and the likelihood that he won't be an immediate upgrade in April.
  10. Jham
    I agree with much of the prediction. Except i don't think we would necessarily see more free agents by moving the time or pay scale for team control because the analysis for the same would also slide accordingly. Players still risk injury, owners risk losing players or having to pay more. Buying out arb years may still make sense for both sides provided the dollars are greater and offsers are sooner. Poker strategy doesn't change just because the ante goes up. Never the less, these changes still favor the player more often than not
  11. Jham
    The only real difference between Milone and Buehrle is a HR every 5 games, a few more K's and BB's, and less GB. The GB rate must be offset by the K's since the FIPs and xFIPs are basically the same. Buehrle also dominated lefties from what I remember. I feel Milone is undervalued in the market due to his lack of velo and lack of upside. But being able to just plug someone in for a dozen wins is kind of nice. http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=225&position=P http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=7608&position=P
  12. Jham
    The team took a major jump last year. Little if any of that jump was due to May being in the rotation half the season. He made a huge impact out of the pen, however. I am one of the few who wonder if his success in either role can be duplicated. I do think his stuff plays much better out of the pen. I think his focus is sharper, his occasional wildness is less destructive, and his velocity and spin are way up. I am fine with keeping him in the pen. I don't like wasting years trying to build for the future, particularly when your team legitimately has some talent. I don't want to waste a year of Sano and Buxton, waste the last years of Mauer, Santana, Hughes and Perkins, and waste the primes of Dozier, Plouffe, and Gibson sifting through young starting pitching when we all know none of them are aces. By the time we've got our 5 guys seasoned to compete, at least one of them will have a major arm injury, and 2 of them will be replaceable 4-5 types, and 3-4 other young arms will be tempting us to move the timetable back another 3 years. Accumulate as much talent as you can. Play to win until the All-Star break and see where you're at then. I believe May in the pen gives us our best chance of winning. By the end of the season, Burdi and Reed may be up, and May could represent an upgrade in the rotation. Sorry if I don't see that as a tragedy.
  13. Jham
    May. His numbers were bolstered by a ridiculously low first-half BB/9 and HR/9 last year. I doubt he can keep it up, or throw 97 for a full season, even out of the pen. He's clearly better out of the pen, and can certainly be good, but I'm not sold that he really has the stuff to be consistently dominant like he was at the end of last season.
  14. Jham
    LF- Arcia CF- Rosario RF- Sano 4th- Santana DH Park Unless Bryant wins his lawsuit, there's really no doubting that keeping Buxton and Kepler down is the only realistic move. Basically every other rookie has dealt with this. Hicks was rushed and failed. Mauer was rushed, got hurt, and the lost year of team control cost us oh probably $45 mil for an additional year. I'd also note that the above line-up has a distinct possibility of failing. But I'd be willing to give it a shot for a couple weeks with Santana rotating into center until Buxton arrives. By this point, hopefully Kepler is the top available prospect in the trade market and we can choose which ace we'd like to flip him for well before the trade deadline.
  15. Jham
    As Molitor so aptly pointed out when asked about moving Mauer down in the order, Mauer lead the team in hitting, on base, and I'd assume batting with RISP. We need clearly better options before tinkering with our franchise player who is somehow still one of our better players. I don't know where to put him, but we probably need even last year's Mauer in our line up...
  16. Jham
    Since active or inactive is relative, I think some much of the disagreement is based on these varying relations. To me, Ryan has been more active than in some prior years, although the last couple he's made splashy signings, so this year could be seen as more aggressive than normal but less than last year or the year before. If your baseline isn't prior years, but rather other teams in the league, I would think we're somewhere in the middle, more active than many, less active than many, but I haven't gone team by team. That being said, I don't think it's fair to bash Ryan without knowing what his initial plan was with Plouffe and the rotation and what efforts were made to deal or sign players. And I certainly don't believe it's fair to call him out for lacking aggression or sitting inactive while simultaneously marginalizing the moves he has made as insignificant. If you disagree with his moves, that's one thing, saying he hasn't been active is another. Trading Hicks, moving Sano, keeping Plouffe, signing Park, keeping May in the pen, keeping Fien, cutting lose on Boyer and Duensing are all significant decisions. Many of these are risky moves. Let's see how these tough decisions play out. Standing pat can be an aggressive move.
  17. Jham
    Interesting opinions. I've been a Shields guy since summer and would have even been willing to give up a prospect to have him for the playoff push. However, the Padres aren't going to salary dump him. 1) you have to field a team, 2) they're ownership is delusional about their chances of competing, 3) Nolasco (probably) sucks, and 4) IF Shields is available, a contending team that doesn't care about money will offer an actual prospect rather than (almost) guaranteed loss. Shields is just so far from a "cut your losses" contract at this point, it's not really worth taking seriously. Interesting debate though.
  18. Jham
    Realistically, the Twins are never going to sign an ace. Too much money for too many years. However, you can avoid the commitment of dollars and years by trading for aces. Worked pretty darn well for the Royals. In fact, their ability to do so, might ultimately drive the price of starting pitching down at which point the price of prospects goes up until it costs too many prospects to get an ace at which point signing one becomes attractive again. Otherwise you have to raise an ace, which the Twins haven't done. For that reason, I give up a lot. I'd be shopping Rosario and Duffey pretty hard in this case given their ceilings and current perception through the league. I'd be easily talked into Kepler, Berrios, or Buxton. All have pretty large questions marks for how high they're ranked.
  19. Jham
    I should have used the qualifier "quality" in front of vets and rookies! Kevin Correia... gross.
  20. Jham
    Fien is not blocking anyone. Either he performs like he did the first half of last year prior to getting hurt when he was lights out, or he's not great in which case the only way he's not replaced by Burdi, Reed, Meyer, etc. is because they're also not great. Fien has potential value beyond being a place holder. He's a veteran, he's an emotional leader on the team, and I'd trust him in a big spot way more than any of the rookies we might call up. I sure regret having Santana, Hughes, and Pelfrey blocking Meyer and May last year, and having Escobar blocking Santana and Hunter blocking Arcia. Having too much talent on the roster isn't a problem. It's a lot easier to call down to the farm if a vet gets hurt or doesn't perform than to go get a vet if a rookie or soph doesn't perform.
  21. Jham
    Then retired when he realized he'd screwed up the Hunter situation, alienated the vets on the club, and wan't going to be able to resign Nathan or Johann. And I'm actually sort of a Ryan fan...
  22. Jham
    Raise your hand if you've ever seen Sano track down an outfield fly ball? Perhaps we should all wait and see how Sano does before judging whether he can or can't cut it in the OF. Players a lot less naturally talented than Sano have successfully transitioned. Why jump to such foregone conclusions and trade away one of our better players on a hunch? It's not like Plouffe couldn't be traded before the deadline next year. If it worked out, a line up with Sano and Plouffe in the middle would be formidable. Sano to right is a low risk, high reward move. Trading Plouffe is a high risk, unknown reward move. I don't think Sano to right has the highest chance of success in the world, but I can certainly see the appeal of taking that chance. And I guess I wouldn't bet Plouffe on it not working.
  23. Jham
    I had these same concerns about Danny Valencia. He seemed to go from trying to drive the ball (7HR in half a season) to just trying to wait and slap. I feel like Lew Ford might have had a leg kick originally, maybe not... Denard Span was pretty successful with the Twins, maybe because he had that still wide-stance approach...
  24. Jham
    Watched the game, and Burdi's delivery particularly looks much smoother. Reed looked fantastic with great downward plane on what looked like a change, but might have been a slider or 2 seamer. ABW laced a pea down the line for 2 late insurance runs against one of the AFL best relievers. Announcers said they were first RBI he'd given up.
  25. Jham
    Honestly, I'm not sure I trust the elbow of someone who hasn't had TJ surgery as much as a reconstructed elbow nowadays... Shoulders are a different story... Re: Total WAR over 3 seasons vs. 6 seasons... I don't think MLB will move to having 3 year seasons or playoffs every third year, so the name of the game is still trying to win as many games as you can each season and hope you have some elite talent to carry you through the playoffs.
×
×
  • Create New...