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birddog

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Everything posted by birddog

  1. birddog
    TR can't win--in the eyes of most TD fans. First everyone says "let the young kids play" and now they want to fill in the holes with veterans. TR is going to fill in the holes with the kids because he thinks they will make us better than overpriced veterans would. And I wholeheartedly agree with him. I had hoped we would get Aroldis Chapman. It didn't work out so we had to move on. I'm glad TR didn't panic with our bullpen. We have the young arms, now coach them up and give them a chance to show us what they can do. In the short time TR has retaken control, I think he has done an exceptional job at turning around the whole organization. We should be pretty good at the MLB level, and we have young talent in the minors comparable to almost any other organization. We'd love to have the Mets' starting pitching, but so would 28 other teams. These next two years are critical to see if the young talent is what we had hoped for and what areas we need to improve upon, and I am sure TR will do just that after watching games at every level. He is a dedicated baseball man who knows talent and he will get the job done.
  2. birddog
    I agree with those who say the future should begin now with Buxton in CF for the next 15 years unless he really struggles in ST. He will win games for us with his glove and legs and hopefully he sticks in the big leagues. Many are worried about Sano's defense, but he is an athlete who will prove the naysayers wrong. He has worked hard to improve his defense at 3B. I saw him at Beloit and never dreamed he would become even adequate defensively, but he improves every year. Rosario is a great LFer so keep him there and alternate Arcia in LF, RF, as well as DH occasionally. I hope Arcia gets as many at bats as Mauer this year unless Mauer rebounds like Morneau did when he won the NL batting title and proves he deserves 500 ABs again. I am so pumped up for ST to start. Our Twins are going to score runs and provide a lot of excitement this year.
  3. birddog
    Nolasco doesn't have many fans among us. We'd all rather see Duffey and Berrios start the season if they are deserving, but if Bryant isn't taken north with the Cubs after his monstrous ST last year, Twins fans can't be too upset if Berrios doesn't either. We fans don't like it, but that's the way it's done. We have no choice but to root for Nolasco and Mauer because management doesn't want to eat around $95 million over the remainder of their contracts.
  4. birddog
    Great to hear as we plan our 4th annual Cedar Rapids trip for this summer.
  5. birddog
    TR has to have nightmares of him signing Nolasco even though at the time most of us were in favor of it. Since it was his signature on the deal he has no choice but to see it to fruition. He has a professional and personal investment in each player so it has to be excruciatingly painful when he is confronted with a Nolasco situation when he still believes in his player. He has a very tough job, but I know he will do what is best for the team.
  6. birddog
    If he's good, that's not a bad thing is it?
  7. birddog
    I know some pessimists don't like the look of things, but we have to excited for the near future, if not for the present. If Nolasco is healthy, Twins have no choice but to give him a shot with what he is being paid. If he succeeds, he gets peddled. If not he gets his release with the Twins knowing for sure he can't produce any more. Either way Berrios will be the recipient of his starting gig after hopefully no more than 4-5 appearances. Really like Duffey and the Bert-curve comparison is right on. Nice to see him changing speeds on it, too. I agree with those who say start Meyer off as a starter, even if it may be in Rochester. Shouldn't go from can't miss to missed in just one bad season. Starting pitching always seems to work itself out due to injuries and ineffectiveness, so we have to be patient in April. We are finding out already how tough it is to work the 40-man roster with all our young prospects. Nice to have that problem, but I still wish TR would have traded some of those prospects for Chapman.
  8. birddog
    We've seen enough "soft throwing lefties" and none of these guys are worth what we would lose off the 40-man. I still think TR erred by not getting Chapman. He is as close to a sure thing as there is and the Yanks didn't give up equal value. Go with what we have for now giving the young guys a shot.
  9. birddog
    If Plouffe is not traded, move Mauer to the OF.
  10. birddog
    Arcia once again appears to be the forgotten man here. I know he's out of options and shouldn't win a job because of that, but he can flat out hit. His defense is suspect at best, but he was hitting .276 when he was sent down last year and he is capable of approaching .300 with good power if he doesn't try to crush every pitch. I like his intensity and it appears he wants to be a leader. Terrible attitude in the minors last year, but I expect him to grow up a lot this year and live up to his talent. If Buxton doesn't stick I hope to see Rosario in CF and Sano and Arcia in the corners. Twins fans have to be excited about the OF possibilities to start the season, but when Buxton and Kepler arrive for good, hopefully we can lock them in for a decade. I, too, am hoping ABW or Palka can produce their minor league numbers in the bigs. Can't wait for the season to start as I see us scoring a lot of runs.
  11. birddog
    Always enjoy your articles, Seth, knowing the amount of time you spend on research. You'd like to expect 40+ HRs from your 1B/DH combo. I would be happy with 25 from Park, but in your mind, Seth, what is the best season realistically we could see from Mauer? Can we ever expect 15+ HRs from him? And do you expect he will be rested more often if he continues his mediocrity?
  12. birddog
    Exciting article! Can't wait to see what this lineup is going to bring in power numbers. Keep Sano healthy and we are going to absolutely fall in love with this guy if we haven't already. I love his at bats. Rarely swings at bad pitches and gets a good swing on almost every one he offers at. Park is the question mark but nice to have some power behind Sano. If he can hit 27 next year, we'd love that. There seems to be quite a bit of negativity that Twins are going to regress next year, but I don't think so. I really like our lineup and think we have enough pitching to make the playoffs and even challenge KC for the division. I really like EE at SS to start the season. I think the biggest question mark is once again at first base--not just in the power numbers but in overall production. If he is not producing the quality numbers we need, learn from the Vikings and "next man up".
  13. birddog
    I fully agree with Nick and his assessment that May will be better utilized as a RP and we use Milone as a starter. All of Twinsland is hoping that scoring runs is not going to be the issue this season. With our projected lineup, we should be in the top third of the majors in scoring runs. With that in mind, the use of May as a shutdown 7th/8th inning setup reliever should maximize his worth and prevent late inning leads from turning into losses. With Milone as a consistent sub-4-runs-per-game starter, he should win many of his starts if the bullpen can shut down opponents in the latter innings. If TR gets an offer too good to pass on Milone before the season starts, take it; however, if we wait until late April or early May when we have a better idea of whom we can count on, we are trading from strength instead of from need. Lack of production or injuries to our SP could make Milone a very valuable commodity.
  14. birddog
    I agree. Money was not going to be an issue with the new stadium. Why give up prospects in a trade when you have enough money to buy them? Nolasco's deal is looking terrible, but how bad would it look if we had given up good young prospects who are now putting up good numbers for other teams to get him? We are only out money.
  15. birddog
    Popular move? No. Necessary move for Moli to make based on what he is given by TR? Yes. Right now there is not that much difference between May as a starter and the others auditioning for the role. But May is much better than the options Molitor has right now for the 7th/8th innings. We need to relax a bit here and realize how long the season is. What happens in April will seem like eons ago when we get to the AS break. And by then we will have the answers we need. Did Nolasco finally pan out and allow us to peddle him? Did Mauer revert back to superman or is he still Clark Kent without glasses? And are we better off with him in the OF than Sano? Berrios? Duffey? Kepler? Lots of questions, but the season is long enough to find out in April when we know for sure instead of December when it's all a guess.
  16. birddog
    These two are still way too young for us to give up on them, unless of course we get good value for them in a trade. Arcia is out of options so he is our 4th OF if he doesn't start. Vargas has an option left, so if he can't help us this year he goes to Rochester with strict orders to increase his slugging percentage. Too much hitting?--a great problem to have.
  17. birddog
    It is so refreshing to read positives about the Twins and more importantly, how the present is looking good. We've been reading for way too long that the future is bright. That future is now here. By the way, I too would have included Duffy even if you had to call this the top 6. He was surprisingly dominant with a curve that had even Bert salivating. If he has a good spring, he deserves to go north as a starter.
  18. birddog
    Mauer emits a lot of "hope". Fans hope he can stay healthy. We hope he can remain a catcher. We hope he can hit more HRs after moving to 1B. We hope he trades part of his salary for team ownership. Now we hope management plays the player who deserves to play. My hope now is that Joe realizes that what he does to get ready for the season isn't working any more now that he is beyond his prime. Maybe fully recovering from his concussions will grant him the nanosecond it takes to determine whether to swing or take, but I think only a good workout regime will bring back his bat speed. Spend some money and time with the right trainer. I hope (although I don't believe) Joe gets back to his batting champion form; if not I hope management does what is best for the team to win.
  19. birddog
    TR proved most of us wrong with his deadline acquisition of Jepsen. He didn't panic and give away young talent to land a SS and C, and Escobar and Suzuki have responded. I know there are a lot of TR bashers here in TD land, but in spite of the bad luck we've had with our free agent SP's--and I believe it is bad luck and not bad signings except for Hughes' extension--he has done a decent job of turning this team around. We knew it wouldn't happen overnight. He knows talent, he knows the Twins needs, and he knows what other teams covet. He may make a trade for Storen if the price is right, but if they are asking a king's ransom he will find a better way to improve the team. It will be an interesting and busy off-season for TR, but I am confident he is the right man to make the Twins even better for next year and the future.
  20. birddog
    I saw him in ST and could have sworn I was watching Morneau in every aspect of his game. He Ks only once every 6.5 ABs, with almost a 1-1 in BB/K and 17-21 in SBs. Very impressive athlete. His ceiling could be a left-handed Paul Goldschmidt when he develops more HR power, which IMO he will.
  21. birddog
    It's a shame we don't have an established SS. We have two utility IF who try to put a non-sticky bandaid on the position, which leaves us with no pop off the bench. I hope TR can get us the quality SS we need for the future or at least a decent stop gap and keep one of them as the utility guy--but please don't go shopping in Japan.
  22. birddog
    TR was damned if he didn't, damned when he did. We all agreed with his FA signings at the time figuring at worst they could be traded for some value if they performed at their normal level. Indeed a mistake to give new contracts to Hughes and Suzuki, so I see everyone's "buy high". We had to give Kendrys away when he put up Punto type of stats--but we all lauded his signing. He has shown in KC the player TR thought he was getting. I think TR has been much more unlucky than bad. I pray his luck changes during the offseason.
  23. birddog
    I like this idea as it allows playing time to the young guys and allows Torii a graceful way to walk off into the sunset without looking as if he's being benched. Can we do the same for Mauer? As mentioned before on TD, why can't Mauer get hurt in a year in which he's hurting the Twins?
  24. birddog
    I wonder if Twins offered same deal to the Padres for Benoit or if his salary was too high?
  25. birddog
    Again I repeat that I don't like the trade, but TR was damned if he did, damned if he didn't. Fans have to believe he knows a lot more than we do. Please TR show us you know more than we do.
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