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birddog

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Everything posted by birddog

  1. birddog
    We know how impossible it is to get #1 starters in Minnesota. We couldn't draft them; we couldn't develop them when we traded for them (Meyer and May); and we know we'll never pay the money for great free agents. That is why it is so important to give these young prospects as much time in the minors as they need to work on the pitches they haven't perfected yet. We may have rushed Berrios his first year. If Romero's fastball and slider are plus pitches already, work on the changeup as much as needed in the minors to make that into a plus pitch. Don't be afraid to sacrifice minor league stats to better your chances of dominating at the ML level. If he comes up at the end of a season close to an innings limit, we can talk about being a reliever--at most for one season. It scares me when we turn guys like Meyer, May, and other top prospects into relievers after having failed at harvesting their potential as starters. Let's hope Falvine has better success than Terry Ryan had. I truly believe they will.
  2. birddog
    If you look up meh in the dictionary, Gibson's picture appears. He is an entity that leaves you feeling meh. He is a nice guy, so it's hard not to like him as a person and maybe get the benefit of all the doubts. As a pitcher, he throws hard enough and has good movement so you wonder why he doesn't succeed. He must lead MLB in crooked numbers as he seems to either get shelled in the first inning and then settles down (albeit too late) or he puts up goose eggs for a few innings only to hit the sweet spot of every bat in one very bad inning. I was happy he lost his arbitration case. Hopefully it made him hungrier as this has to be his "good results or goodbye" season.
  3. birddog
    I love the trade. Is Odorizzi a #1? Probably not especially in a deep rotation, but with the Twins he steps right in and makes us better. He goes from a team that struggles to score runs to a team that will give him close to 5 runs a game and allow him to challenge hitters. Playing for a winning, exciting team in one of the classic stadiums in baseball has to be so more beneficial than playing before sparse crowds in the worst stadium in baseball. I wish Palacios luck with his new team. I loved his speech after the trade thanking God and the Twins. I hope he becomes a good MLer, and Odorizzi becomes a major factor in the Twins pursuit of first place in our division. Now if the Twins need to drop someone off the 40-man to add Anibal, let it be Anibal.
  4. birddog
    However we use to measure it, I hope Joe has a great season. Personally I would prefer to see him be aggressive and swing away at hittable pitches with RISP, especially late in the game. Just saying that we can replace Joe's average stats next year--although maybe not his OBP--with pretty much any of our young 1B/OF types and save around $22 million to spend on the SP we desperately need.
  5. birddog
    Joe was a great Twin as a catcher, was very ordinary when concussions forced him to 1B, and last year was good to very good. Average and defense were excellent but run production for a 1B is not close to what is required. He averaged 62 RBI's the past 3 years to rank 28th in baseball among those with 1B eligibility. As a comparison let's use Danny Valencia, yes THAT Danny Valencia. Stats over the past three years: Mauer: .278 BA, 9 HRs, 62 RBI's, 69 R's. Valencia: .277 BA 17 HRs, 61 RBI's, 62 R's. Would anyone think about giving Valencia $10 million+ per year? Gotta like and respect Joe Mauer. How could you not? But I hope Joe decides to hang up the cleats and sell cars or just enjoy his twins after this season. If he has a great season, he goes out on top and hopefully makes the HOF. But either way his $23 million will go a long way to getting us a top-notch starting pitcher. Way too much talk about getting Darvish this offseason, only to wind up with Anibal Sanchez. No excuses about not enough money beginning next season.
  6. birddog
    Twins needed a #1 starter and got a #11. Is that twice as good? I can only quote what Harry Doyle would have said. "Well, they sign Sanchez to release someone off the 40-man. Falvine must have been thinking . . . I don't know WHAT the hell they're thinking!"
  7. birddog
    We are all trying our best to figure out why the front office is so reluctant to improve our starting pitching when we look very impressive in all other phases of the game. My only guess is that they think our young prospects are ready to prove that they are at least as good as the free agents they refuse to sign or trade for? If they find they are wrong a month into the season, I hope they have at least laid the groundwork to quickly fix it.
  8. birddog
    When it comes to Twins starting pitching prospects, all we have is hope. Let's hope that first Berrios and now Gonsalves and Romero can become quality reality. If Gonsalves' changeup is that good, it will make 91-94 seem that much faster. Three quality pitches at three different speeds will hopefully make him an effective pitcher. I love our hitting and like the bullpen additions, but with our starting pitching there's still just hope.
  9. birddog
    They say speed doesn't go in a slump, so it's nice to see the Twins with all the speed options. I would like to see bunting, particularly drag bunting, as maybe a larger part of our arsenal for next year. If not for the excitement it can generate, then for the fact that it forces some of our free swingers to see the ball a little longer. One of the sweetest sights in baseball is watching Buxton hit a gapper or chasing one down. We have a great combination of speed and power which made watching the Twins so much fun again. Let's hope we utilize that speed with more SB's in '18.
  10. birddog
    I think Joe is leaning toward retirement. He has never been an ego type who needs accolades, so I think he willWe all hope Joe can have a 2018 like his 2017. If he has overcome his concussion, that is definitely a possibility. I would like to hope that any decision on 2019 and beyond is based on a team-friendly contract of course, but more importantly on the readiness of our young prospects to take over at 1B. If they project better than Mauer stats, the decision has to be made to play the best player.
  11. birddog
    I agree. Two max.
  12. birddog
    I agree that none of these players increase my heart rate at all. Not that long ago it seemed as if our 40-man roster decisions were tough and we were in danger of losing quality young prospects. Now it seems as if we have a number of AAAA types (like Adam Brett Walker) that we are protecting. I agree that Palka is now best served in a trade as our OF is set for hopefully quite a while. Fernando Romero is no longer in the discussion as he has been blown out his last three starts, but I still want to see Gonsalves, even if it is just as a reliever. Add him to the 40 man now since they have to after the season any way, and see if his stuff will get MLB hitters out.
  13. birddog
    How the 2016 Twins transformed into the 2017 Twins, we don't quite know but all of Twinkieland is loving it. In spite of very minor acquisitions, somehow this is a new team--a resilient team that just won't quit. I think James Rowson deserves a lot of credit for the success of the young hitters. Buxton finally looks so relaxed at the plate and he has us raving about his bat as well as his glove. Rosario still swings hard, but not at every pitch that lands within shouting range of the catcher thrusting him into the top ten in average. You can see their confidence level rising every game. Yes, even Mauer has joined the hit parade--we must be due for a total eclipse or something. The playoff structure of MLB is so good for the game, keeping mediocre teams in it and thus fans watching to the bitter end. I wish our passion for the hitting was matched by the pitching. I think the young relievers have been a real find, but the starters are still just a roll of the dice as to whether they will give us a chance to win. If good Berrios or Santana shows up, we would have a genuine shot at a wild card playoff win. I don't like our chances in a best-of-seven playoff, but hopefully Falvine finds a couple good starters in the off season so next year we are talking division and not wild card.
  14. birddog
    Love the fact that Twins are winning in spite of Sano's lack of production in HRs and RBIs. I was wondering if Rosario, Buxton, Polanco, Kepler, et al was the nucleus to compensate for our pitching--or lack thereof. This bodes very well for present and future. Hopefully Sano's hand is healed and he finds his power stroke and cuts down on his K rate so he can supplement the hot hitters. I think Moli has to take the brakes off Buxton once he is on base, especially with two outs. Even against lefties I think he has the speed to get to second on pickoffs if he takes off on first movement. I, too, think Grossman not contributing has to put him on waivers and I wonder how much longer we can keep a no glove, no bat backup catcher in Giminez. Garver must be called up sooner than September. Three passed balls in one inning is pathetic, even for a catcher who hits like Gary Sanchez. But for one hitting a buck ninety with no power, it has to be see you later. My wish list is Garver and Granite replacing Grossman and Giminez. And Gonsalves and/or Fernando Romero to replace . . . well, take your pick. Tough to make changes when a team is hot--unless they are replacing players doing nothing.
  15. birddog
    Falvey and Levine have just one draft behind them. Much of the concern over "old prospects" is from the TR days. Hopefully this year's draft will be the first of many that, in the future, will be looked upon as adept.
  16. birddog
    Kudos to Falvey and Levine for the Jaime Garcia trades--and maybe even more so for ridding us of JR Murphy to get a dominant RP in AA. Not sure who else will leave in trades--and I'm hoping Ervin stays-- but I trust Falvine will not get cheated. Was it a coincidence that Buxton went on the DL when we had to see more of Zach Granite? And even a few more days with the migraine that "required" Buxton to get some confidence back from AAA pitching? The timing was just too optimal. With not a whole lot of trade bait to land better pitching, maybe teams were asking about Rosario in a trade? Hopefully they won't listen to offers for Kepler.
  17. birddog
    Great article, Seth. We know you and all the TD writers do your homework and have first-hand knowledge of what is really going on. I hope the Twins take a look at our own minor leaguers before trading off some of the top prospects for guys who won't really help much. Enjoy the run we've made up to this point, but the serious quest begins in 2018 so see if we have the answers to maybe our pitching woes in our own system.
  18. birddog
    The only thing we all agree upon is what a tough job our admin has. I hope they know now what we have in our system and can use our scarce strengths to overcome our pitching weakness. Any trade will be painful as we have to give up to get. I hate the thought of trading Buxton even though I loved watching Granite in CF yesterday. I do believe Buxton will hit for average and power very soon and he makes our pitchers much better. I like Granite as a replacement for Grossman. He is a much better OF and will hit for a high average with OBP over 40%. I like Rosario but think he is expendable and might bring a decent pitching prospect. Please don't trade Kepler or Santana. Hope that Colon is decent enough to be traded (not holding my breath by any means) and maybe someone would want one of our catchers as Garver looks MLB ready. It's not like we have much to give up so Gonsalves and Fernando should be up sometime in the second half. I love our start so far, but don't expect to remain contenders much longer. I hope Falvey and Levine can make the right decisions, but no way will they make us all happy no matter what they do.
  19. birddog
    With Granite's stats, he certainly deserves a call up, but OF is one area we are pretty much set--for now and the future. Would love to see him leading off for the Twins, but at whose expense? Having a minor injury to one of the OFs requiring a 10-day DL stint would not be a bad thing for the Twins right now. Even if it's Buxton, he may benefit from a 3-5 day rehab in AAA. Other than a trade, I just don't see where Granite would fit right now or who would have to be demoted. Remember we have Adrianza ready to come off the DL so someone already needs to go down. I wish we had a SP at AAA who deserved a call up as much as Granite.
  20. birddog
    Absolutely loved Berrios' first start. He attacked the strike zone and did not nibble. He appeared to trust his stuff and I was most impressed with the pace of the game with him on the mound. "Get the ball and throw the ball" will keep your fielders in the game so they will be ready to catch the ball when put in play (the opposite of Pelfrey who put everyone to sleep, especially with runners on base). I think we will see (and I'm hoping and praying) a much different Berrios this time around as he attacks early on to get ahead of the count instead of pitching behind like last year when hitters new what was coming on 2-0 and 3-1. He may not average a K an inning, but we should see him go 7+ most starts. What a relief it would be to see a drafted pitching prospect succeed in the majors. It's been a long time.
  21. birddog
    So excited to see Jose coming up. Agree with the fact that he needs to be up for the duration of the season. He got behind hitters last year and way too many full counts to allow him to go 6 innings-- much less 7 or 8. I hope he accepts the fact that week grounders count just as much as Ks. Use Santana and Hughes as examples to pound the zone and get ahead of hitters to widen the strike zone. If it works for Hughes, it will certainly work for Berrios with his better stuff. He knows he is not coming up to be a savior for the team like many expected last year. Just be a #4 who will give us 6+ quality innings with three runs or fewer and let our offense win him some games. If, for some reason he is not the starter we hoped for this year, put him in the bullpen and let him learn at the MLB level to get the confidence he needs. Hopefully we will never have to read about him at AAA ever again, unless it's a rehab assignment when he's 35 recovering from a sprained ankle.
  22. birddog
    Ervin appears to be an excellent team leader, and his love for the game and his teammates is apparent. As Doc stated earlier, to trade him would have to take a king's ransom, for his value to the team is so high that you don't just unload him. A year ago his ERA was about 3.2 and now sub 1.00. His value to the Twins would not be matched by any other team's offer for a trade, so let's just enjoy him as a Twin and see where it leads us. At some point we have to stop unloading our proven players, unless we get proven quality in exchange. We have had way too many "can't miss" misses.
  23. birddog
    Loved reading the countdown articles, guys. When the countdown got to #2 I had no idea who #1 would be. Forgot about Romero, but I love his numbers and upside. Gonsalves would have been my guess, but with 3-5 more MPH on his fastball, Romero, at least on paper, appears to have a higher ceiling. It was much more exciting in past years when top prospects were Buxton, Sano, Kepler, Berrios, etc. but with these guys on the ML roster it takes time to reload. I hope and pray that our top prospects can soon reach their ceiling and complement the young talent in the majors, especially the pitchers.
  24. birddog
    I agree with: What makes Jay a SP and May a RP? If Jay is a so so SP I would rather he take his two quality pitches to the pen where he would be more likely to have greater value to the team. If he can master a change, then he has a shot as a solid ML starter. My question is: How good is the pitching coach at AA? Is it better for Jay to start at AAA if he is working with a much better coach? And of course that leads us to the fact our top pitching coach is with the Twins and look at the success--or lack thereof--he had last year.
  25. birddog
    If the Twins were going after Napoli, I'd bet it were as much or more for his leadership than his bat. I have no idea what kind of leadership Vargas provides, but I like his bat from both sides of the plate and think he will hit close to 30 HRs and drive in 90+ runs if he gets 500 PAs. Yes, he will go through bad streaks at the plate as most power hitters do, but give him a chance to overcome his failures. He is young enough that we have to find out what we have in him. If Sano proves he can handle 3B adequately, IMO Vargas is the logical choice for our long-term DH. I love our lineup with Sano and Vargas--especially back to back--and hope Molitor agrees with most of us that Mauer needs more days off.
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