Hosken Bombo Disco

Question for you: I'm pro Hunter speaking his mind, and defend Berardino's credentials to pose tough questions... how do we all end up taking Us vs Them positions on everything??!

Welcome in Doc, the waters still warm Tell me--do you think if Torii believed so resolutely in the cause he's espousing, that he would call berardino a "prick" for asking him to talk about that cause? Torii is smart and knows it's a bit controversial issue I'm sure, but if this is an honestly held belief of his, shouldn't he use the question as an opportunity to continue advocating for his position?

I respect your take but disagree. Hunter's outspokenness/relatability is a feature not a bug and is part of why the Twins courted him. That's the broader context in which I read Berardino's question (haven't listened to it). Part of interviewing is performance: I'd best most of the reporters served up routine questions they already knew the answers to. "Can you still produce?" "Are you happy to be back?" "Yes." Then Berardino has the guts to ask something which for most of us would be uncomfortable but in no way out of bounds for the circumstances, even though I grant a press conference is typically meant to be a staged love fest. As people have said, there were many reasonable ways to answer that question, and Torii used one--and then went off script. I don't think Berardino cared how the question would be answered, so long as someone asked it. In that respect Berardino and Hunter aren't that far apart. They're both here to mix things up a bit and challenge some stale beliefs. Now that they've had their confrontation they will probably become best of friends It's not a perfect analogy but the journalist-source relationship is something like the physician-patient relationship, in that the journalist has a professional duty to get at the truth of the matter, dealing with inconvenient facts and sometimes needing to probe and ask uncomfortable questions. Nothing unethical about it. Only Torii's old fashioned position on this pet issue could cause anything to become sensationalized (but hopefully won't). And even better if Torii sees the light and changes his beliefs.

+1

Let me apply the "eye test" to this, and then get back to you.

That gif is brutal. I don't think Hunter is loafing but it does show he has a very slow read. His best defense is that they had a 7 run lead in the 8th inning and he was playing it safe. Because you don't want a pop fly to get past you and roll to the wall, or something

Yeah I'd bet there some noise in Torii's fielding stats. An all star outfielder wouldn't completely forget how to play outfield overnight, would he? I'd guess he just lost some range and maybe arm? The only play that stands out to me is his 2013 ALCS play crashing into the bullpen. I wasn't in favor of it but if you squint real hard this signing starts to make sense. Torii has charisma. Is in shape. Is a walking advertisement for how to earn $100 million which I'm sure could get the attention of many of the talented young guys making minimum. Agree this is a little different than the guys we signed last year. If Torii can bring yet one more slightly different voice to this thing, and maybe even *gasp* makes some plays in the outfield and lead by example--and continues to hit--then the signing should work out. And as a few guys mentioned on the other thread. The public is going to love this move. But I sure hope there's a trade brewing because I don't want to see guys like Pinto/Arcia/Vargas not getting their bats. And I like Arcia, would hate to see him go, and maybe left field will work better for him than right field has.

Forget it. Hamels doesn't sound like a guy who wants to spend much time in the Midwest. (*cough*nolasco*cough*)

I loved this: "I commissioned a watercolor painting of the image on Neil Allen's rookie card." Despite this sweet little piece of objectivity, this was a really well conceived and well sourced profile. I am liking Allen more and more. I think he's going to work out. Thanks for posting.

Glad to be corrected. Also,, Dick says "doink" at 2:08

Yeah it implies a familiarity Hayhurst does not have, but every lifelong Twins fan has used "Twinkie" at some point and it's not really a word to be protective of and not much of an insult actually. That ends my scold for the day.

Maybe this was what separated him from the pack

I am going to agree with you, but I think baseball is more of a family/fraternity type of job (nor am I going to look it up like h2o) where in baseball you don't see coaches constantly coming and going. Football would be a completely different matter, shorter seasons, stronger personalities, higher stress, more specialization, more turnover, more money, etc. Where a Denny Green football coaching tree looks pretty damn impressive, if you ask me.

It's extremely, extremely rare to convert a position player to pitcher, or vise versa, by the time a player reaches the MLB level. (Rick Ankiel is the only one who comes to mind.) I think Hicksie will get one more audition for a 25-roster spot. His winter league results do not bode well for him, however.

any update? Allen been made official?

Hope so!

Broadly speaking, that is true. Pitchers need to work ahead and hitters need to work a good count. (In Mauer's case, a good count is sometimes 0-2). But on the individual level the broad stroke philosophy starts to break down. Alex Meyer, for example. If the Twins plan to keep him in AAA until he can pinpoint all his pitches, then I might call that an organizational failure (based on what I've read about him from others). The new coaches get the benefit of the doubt since obviously it's not a job any of us could do.

The reporters also might have cherry-picked that quotation for effect, and if they did, I sure stepped in it. But, the Twins pitching philosophy has been "attack the strike zone" meanwhile, the hitting philosophy has been "make 'em throw strikes." By now I hope the Twins can see the dissonance in those philosophies and are making some fundamental changes.

I'm on board with this take. Time will tell. The Twins obsession with "pitch to contact" is just kind of a head scratcher though. As long as we're not turning May and Meyer and other strikeout guys into something they are not, we should be fine. The base hits on 0-2 counts get a little irritating!

I will defer to you since you follow it pretty closely. But has anybody showed the Twins the K% chart recently? My goodness. The guy even looks like Rick Anderson. :-)

TwinsDaily is a serious website. Please stop making jokes like this.

Devastating. Yet to be seen, is who exactly will be devastated.

I agree. I would rather have them apply this $20-40 million towards an actual really good pitcher who commands big money, even if its not until next offseason.

*shudders*

OK so I was excited to see the Twins are trying something different. But after a few minutes on the interwebs I don't think this guy's performance in Korea compares favorably to Ryu of the Dodgers, not at all. Ryu went for $25 mil bid and 6/36 so we'll see what happens.