tarheeltwinsfan

Dave, Where have you been? I've been missing your acid comments. By the way, I agree wholeheartedly with what you just wrote.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo !

Zack Granite. I saw him throw out a Tampa Bay player in the opening ST game. Granite threw a strike to the third baseman from centerfield. The prior report on him was that he had a less than average arm. Hmmm, I wonder whether to believe the report or what I saw Friday night in Fort Myers. Don't forget Granite led all minor league players in steals last year.

Thanks for the reports guys. I'll look for you, Halsey and Bob, Saturday morning. What time does practice start on Saturday morning? I'll be at the Friday night game, but am more excited about wandering from field to field and from batting cage to batting cage.

Shaggy has an aura when he is on the mound. I can't put my finger on any one thing...but he just looks very business-like, serious and a little scary.

Here is Sano's math equation: 3B - LF= MVP2B

I hope you are feeling better soon Halsey. I'll be there Friday night and Sat and Sunday. Hope to meet you and some of the other writers and contributors.

A number of my high school teammates used to vomit when the coach put me in to pitch.

Isn't there a better option in the OF than Grossman, whom you have said "may be the worst defensive OF I've seen in a Twins' uniform"? Is it more valuable to hit LF pitching and play terrible defense in the OF, or are you looking at Grossman being a DH and pinch hitter against LH pitching? How valuable is good defense in LF or RF every 5th or 6th game? Is there a way to measure this conundrum?.

One of my all-time favorite Minnesota Twins' players was Kirby Puckett.. Oh wait, his seems to be a hockey discussion here. Well Kirby's last name would be a good one for a hockey player, I guess. I'd better get off of this discussion, since being from the south, I know nothing about hockey. Although one of my law school roommates at UNC played hockey at Boston College in undergraduate school. I think that's why Ed Crotty was so rough when we played basketball in the gym at UNC.

Touche. You have made some really good points here. I guess I was placing too much emphasis on Twins Daily having selected Granite the Twins' 2016 Minor League All Star center fielder.

Good article by a UNC graduate. I hope Vargas will remember this advice and can let it ground him as a person and as a player.

I thought I had better say something nice to Brock, since I just absolutely destroyed him on my reply to a reply he made to a post of mine about Zack Granite vs. Grossman. By the way, Leviathan, I am not a suck up, and your posts are the most informative, knowledgeable, well written, witty posts I have ever read. Really, I mean it.

Thanks for everything Brock.

Really nice article. And extremely well written, I might add. Thanks for sharing your journey with us. Thanks for allowing us to walk along with you.

Granite may meet your criteria as a batter also. In an article by Seth in August 2016, Granite stated he always hit left handed pitchers better. His splits in 2016 against RH pitchers were: .296/.348/.36 (749); against LH pitchers they were: .291/.345/.339/ (.684). His slugging against lefties was down, but the rest of his numbers against lefties were surprisingly close to his numbers against RH pitchers. In 2015 against RH pitchers his splits were:.248/.322/.312 (.634) and against LH pitchers : .314/.421/.373 (.794). He would be an incredible pinch runner late in the game. Last year he had 56 steals in 72 attempts. With him on first base, the next batter would get more fastballs, because the catcher and pitcher would be worried about Granite dancing off first base. Granted he has very little power, but so does Grossman have little power. So our disagreement may come down to whether the Twins would benefit more from a fast, good fielding OF, a gifted base stealer who hits lefties as well as he hits righties, who has no major league experience or a very poor fielding, OF who has major league experience and who hits lefties well, but not righties. How often would the Twins' opponent have a lefty pitching (way fewer lefties than righties) and how often would the Twins' opponent change pitchers to pitch a righty or lefty to Granite or Grossman. Not often I would submit, because neither is going to hit it out of the park. Finally how often would Bux, Rosario, or Kepler need a rest for a minor injury or just because they need a day off. or because a tough lefty was starting for the Twins' opponent , thereby necessitating the Twins playing an admittedly poor fielding Grossman vs. a good fielding speedster like Granite?

Thanks for the memories.

We're talking a lot about their offensive numbers...but those guys have potential to play some exceptional defense. We just need Bux to avoid crashing into the fence, and Rosario (how many assists did he have in 2015 ?) needs to concentrate on every pitch and Kepler needs to learn the nuances of the game. Plus the Twins need a fourth OF who can play defense. No more Willinghams, Sanos or Delmon Youngs trying to play OF defense.

Much of what people think of as being pitching is actually defense. Good point Doomtints. I really think the Twins defense was the cause of much of the pitching woes. Put 3 speedsters in the OF, plus a quick, glue-gloved, rocket armed SS, and a catcher that can actually call a smart game (say for example a Stanford graduate), and the Twins' pitchers will "improve" greatly.

My top Twins' prospect is Hunter Greene, because the Twins must draft him #1 and he will leap-frog over all other Twins prospects, which the Twins already have. Period.

I didn't realize Carlos Silva was amphibious...I mean ambidextrous... I mean left handed.

Thank you for an awesome series. This was really a huge undertaking. It was, and will continue to be, fascinating to read.

What if Zack Granite were the 4th OF instead of Grossman. That OF would be fast, with good arms. Good OF defense makes for better pitching. DEEE FENSE!

If we are limited to just the Twins, I vote for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen at 2nd base and shortstop.

Sorry for the above post. The devil made me do it.