twinsfan34

I agree. Block shots can be a breakdown of defense and someone came over to help. End result could still be a tip in slam. I was trying to say how that would affect FG%. Despite more blocked shots, the FG% was higher. But I did put "(worse defense)" there....I do feel though, where Tyson Chandler is your DPOY you have a week list of candidates. He would have finished maybe 12th in voting with the time period I listed. Clyde Drexler to Gary Payton would have even finished higher than he did. Nevermind the Dikembe Mutombo, David Robinson, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Hakeem Olajuwon, etc, etc. But yes, totally agree that defense is other thing. It's why Bruce Bowen was 1st or 2nd Team Defense for 8 years despite no more than 1 spg and 0.5 bpg. Team Defense and Individual defense are different, but often related. And I apologize for taking the topic OT. I will cease and desist. Go Kenny Vargas!!

Lightfoot, some great stats. Thanks for that. .289...makes .248 not look so bad. To the runs scored point, Walker is a very good baserunner (much like Dozier)...he seems to advance a base when others wouldn't, steal a base in situations that are required/needed...and then his hits typically are of a higher slugging % variety. I think he's fine at A+ this year and I think he'll start next year at AA. He'll be a 'slower' path to the big leagues, but I think he'll get there. Jose Abreu, a much better hitter than Walker is similar, scores a good deal of runs, lots of RBI, but a very low OBP. He's been on fire to get his average up over .300, but still his OBP is only .330. For perspective, that's a lower OBP than Aaron Hicks, who hit .185. So he's a different kind of player. Is that a player valuable enough to the Twins to put him on the MLB roster? I don't know. Perhaps a matter of philosophy. Just like the A's sold Cespedes rather easily (not a high OBP% guy) for a half a season Lester rental, the Twins may not regard players like Walker with much regard. Perhaps rightly so. I like Walker, from everything I've read on the guy - wonderful character, not entitled, a willing learner. I think he'll be as good as he can be and not be a hindrance to whatever that may be unlike many athletes who are their own worst enemies. I see a similar 'success' for Walker at AA next year. He'll be 23 next year in a league that averages 24.7 to 25.8 on average. So he'll be almost 2 years younger than most of the league. For perspective, Aaron Hicks is 24 in AA. So he could 'toil' for 2 years and still be at the Hicks level of development. I think it's probably the best bet, if we're going to see Walker play MLB, he'll be 24-25 when that happens.

I grew up watching Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Hakeem Olajuwon, Magic Johnson, Patrick Ewing, John Stockton & Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, and David Robinson. You'll find that MOST of those players, in addition to their offense, were great defenders. Then you had next tier guys like Gary Payton who would exploit matchups in the post. Players had many different skills instead of just hoisting 3 pointers and having no court sense to understand matchups. If you can't beat your guy off the dribble, shoot a 3 mentality. Then there's the Clyde Drexler's to the Scottie Pippen and Kevin McHale types. Elite defenders and multi-faceted offensive games as well. I played and coached some form of basketball since I was 5. This is a horrible stretch of NBA talent. Wasted 1st round picks and very few elite players who can pass, defend, and exploit offensive matchups. People forget that Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Olajuwon, Ewing, Malone, etc...even little John Stockton - they all shot over 50% from the field. They all could pass - they all could defend. Bird, with no knees, and possible the slowest player in the league, still averaged 2 steals per game. To go along with his 26-10-5 and his 50-90-40 from the field. LeBron got smarter in MIA....saw his FG% rise, but take out the Spurs and Kevin Durant, maybe Kevin Love and Steph Curry - what kind of NBA did you have last year? or even the past 6-7 years. FG is about 4-5% lower on average versus when those players played and the irony is the blocked shots are way down. (worse defense) It's basically why a team like the Spurs, older, not overly talented, can DESTORY (14+ ppg) a team with three "Stars" on it like the Heat. The Spurs also averaged 10 ppg more than the Thunder (the other NBA star). The Spurs are probably the only team that can play with title teams of the 90's and early 2000's IMO. The heat would have been smoked for 20+ ppg by many of those teams.

I'm in the same boat here. Basketball seems to be an inferior product as a whole. I watched the NBA Finals mainly due to the Spurs and actually seeing a group of players play basketball with a relatively high basketball IQ. The Vikings have just been horrible - not sure about the rest of the NFL. Of the games I've watched though, I do feel the game has changed, tons of passing - I don't like the 'touch the QB' penalties and the over the top protect the WRs the NFL game has taken. Makes it too easy to score in my opinion. I, admittedly, have a bias or greater enjoyment towards watching defense. Hockey, meh.

I live in greater Dallas, TX. So I have MLB.TV...I watch games if I'm home. I had caught a majority of the games before the All-Star break, but lost momentum (as I do each year) due to the All-Star break. The July 31st trade that resulted in the Vargas call up had me going back to watch the archived games of his At-bats. Otherwise, unless there was a few noteworthy stats I see in the game writeups or box scores I won't go back and watch the games. I do plan on watching tonight vs the Padres. If they called up May or Meyer, I'd for sure watch those games or watch the archive if I wasn't able to watch it live. The Cubs called up Javier Baez yesterday...he's the beginning of their wave of players. Jorge Solar will likely be up with the Sept call-ups (he's on the 40 man roster) so I plan on watching those games. A young lineup that already has Anthony Rizzo (1B), Armydes Alcantara (2B/SS), and Starlin Castro (SS) that will only get more fun to watch the following Spring when the Cubs likely add Kris Bryant to that lineup. By the Fall they could potentially add Addison Russell (now at AA) and Kyle Schwarber (raking at A+). With the Twins injuries to Sano and Buxton and the suspension of Rosario, we fell behind the timetable of prospects arrival that the Cubs are now experiecing (now or in the very short future is likely when Sano or Buxton may have appeared on the MLB). Now we're looking at possibly late 2015. In lieu of that time-table, I, as I would any year, would prefer them try the young guys. I would watch every game Meyer and May pitched and likely most of the games if the Twins lineup had Pinto, Arcia, Vargas, Rosario, Santana, and Polanco in the everyday lineup. I don't think Rosario is ready, but those other guys could warrant MLB at-bats. And if they don't do well, we drop from 8th/9th overall draft pick to somewhere back to the previous drafts (4th/5th) and they have something to 'dwell on' and work on over the Winter months to be ready for Spring training. Sort of like a flu shot or any other vaccine if you will.

Buster Olney @Buster_ESPN Kurt Suzuki gets $12m over two years in an extension from the Twins, plus vesting option for 2017 based on PAs. Can live with that...Suzuki obviously came down to earth and saw the back of his own baseball card.

Buster Olney @Buster_ESPN Kurt Suzuki gets $12m over two years in an extension from the Twins, plus vesting option for 2017 based on PAs. I can live with that.

Man...if the Tigers got Price for Austin Jackson and Drew Smyly...they robbed the Rays, even if they only have him this year and next year's $15-18M arbritation rated season.

Welp, Suzuki was the only 'action' Twins fans got...curious the terms on the extension. Hope it's only 2 years...at no more than $7M per. (aka Salty annual haul) Even so, feel that's a bit high.

Dave you may be right, I could be misinterpreting the baseball-reference link. Maybe when it says "2015" it means for the 2015 Free Agency period, not after 2015 season.

Andrew Miller is being traded to the Orioles...curious to see how expensive he was - other than Parmalee - the guy is lights out on LH's. He's a free agent after 2015. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/millean01.shtml

Other than Johnson (3) and Darnell (1) have the Twins had any other LH starts this year? Would that be the lowest ever? Question: Are you Over or Under for Milone getting that many (4) MLB starts this year?

Wonder if we could put Nolasco on trade waivers. You want him, come get him!! For "Cash Considerations" aka a bag of balls.

Get Captain Jack Sparrow Goins on the line - tell him to have Terry call up the Yankees right now and offer Milone for any resemblance of this package. Tell him we'll toss in a bag of balls (Duensing and Correia) too.

Ah!! Good call! - that was a change at the last bargaining agreement...or one of the more recent. So a hefty price to pay...

Beane's trades in and of themselves are not typically great and he's been fleeced on such trades as Matt Holiday and Carlos Gonzalez, in which he litterally had nothing in MLB production to show for those players. He's also spent $10M on Ben Sheets to not get a MLB pitch out of him. BUT, what Beane has done that very few GMs have done is not get 'nothing' ouf of his pending FA's or players going to Arbitration (more a Tampa Rays trait than an Oakland trait though). Let's hope the Twins can do the same with Suzuki, Willingham, Correia, etc. IF they're a player you want and can't sign to an extension or a player that a team may want, get something in return. That's the art of Beane. He minimizes his losses. He doesn't lose outright. Take in point with Lester - he's not going to resign him - or highly unlikely - however, he'll gladly lay down a $14.1M (or $15-ish) qualifiying offer for Lester. If he returns, one of the best playoff SPs in baseball is on the team for another playoff run, if not, sandwich pick in the 1st round of the 2015 draft.

Does anyone know about Pitcher Spray charts? (e.g. where their BABIP end up) If Milone induces mostly contact to RF...would be advantageous. Also, looking for FB/HR rates by park (e.g. Oakland Coliseum vs Target Field) - to see if Oakland, in terms of FBs is a better/worse pitchers park. To me, the advantage in Oakland is for pitchers who induce popups with the tremendous amount of foul ground.

FYI...perhaps why we got Milone as 'cheap' as we did... He's wanted out of Oakland since the Cubs-A's trade. http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/following-demotion-tommy-milone-wants-a-s-to-trade-him-072114

Milone's pitch usage... http://www.brooksbaseball.net/tabs.php?player=543548&p_hand=-1&ppos=-1&cn=200&gFilt=&time=month&minmax=ci&var=usage&s_type=2&startDate=03/30/2007&endDate=07/31/2014&balls=-1&strikes=-1&b_hand=-1 Milone's pitch velocities... http://www.brooksbaseball.net/velo.php?player=543548&gFilt=&time=month&startDate=03/30/2007&endDate=07/31/2014&s_type=2 He's not the Twins stereotypical 100 MPH thrower.

I like this trade all around. A superfulous 4th OF (maybe even 4th best on our current roster) and Milone, statistically, fits in more about #3 or #4 starter on our staff. Then Vargas coming up...is this just a quick available bat type of thing (e.g. Polanco call up) or does it say something about the impending return or prolonged return of Mauer (1B/DH)? Or is it again, a placeholder as Milone will be up in a few days scenario.

hells yes.

Given (hopeful) trade of Suzuki and Willingham. Be nice to throw in Corriea. I can't see Buxton in any scenario...even if he hits 88 for 88 in his last 88 At-bats. I mentioned the trades in that they need to be in place and for non 40-man roster players (e.g. not like Pryor from SEA) to add guys like Alex Meyer. So my guys are guys that are already on 40-man roster. The Candidates: SS/CF - Santana C/DH - Pinto RF/LF/DH - Arcia P - May SS - Polanco 1B/DH - Vargas I personally think the positions most in doubt for next year are CF, SS, and C. And those are the 3 most expensive positions in FA. So I'd like to see us try to figure out which of our young guys at those positions can play those positions. Santana in CF/SS. If the plan is to put him in CF, then Polanco should be up playing SS until he loses all confidence or looks lost. I think Pinto needs to put in and play 2-3-4 weeks in a row. See how he plays as a regular. He's got a better arm than Suzuki...just seemed flustered and lacked confidence as he didn't throw out his initial few runners. I don't know what to do about Arcia. They say BB and K rates are the most easily discernable and unchanging in prospects (they: SABR) and can be picked up in as little as 500 PAs. I don't know if his problem is his approach. Which can be taught more so, aka don't swing until you see a fastball or a strike...then whatever contingencies fit best for that pitcher/hitter situation. Or is it just his pitch recognition (tougher to teach). This again is more in the approach where most of the 'growth' is seen - just knowing pitchers tendencies - e.g. Phil Hughes is 80% likely to throw a 92-94 mph fastball first pitch, middle half of the plate. Either way, I like a Twins team where he's a top contributor. He's got fire, he's got a decent arm in RF and he seems to be in the game. That leaves Varas, May, and Meyer....if I only get 5. I'd honestly like to see May then...and if the Willingham trade doesn't yield another 40-man roster guy, then Meyer. I'm not as curious about Vargas.

http://mlb.mlb.com/n...8&vkey=news_mlb The guy is 6'6" 240 lbs He boasts a 40-inch vertical and a 6.6-second time in the 60-yard dash, according to Strankman. Wonder if he could be a starter?

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/twins-sign-undrafted-pitcher-who-can-throw-100-mph?ymd=20140729&content_id=86944938&vkey=news_mlb 6'6" 240 lbs He boasts a 40-inch vertical and a 6.6-second time in the 60-yard dash, according to Strankman. Wow. Maybe the Vikings and Timberwolves could use him too.

This is ruining our pitch to contact philosophy. Zumaya...Burdi...Cederoth...now this guy??? What next?