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Taildragger8791

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Everything posted by Taildragger8791

  1. Taildragger8791
    Can we stop framing this as if people are actively rooting for him to fail? I haven't seen anyone hoping for that and it's rudely misrepresentative. I'm sure everyone here would be ecstatic if he leveled off to a reliable #4/#5 starter. What I have seen is a lot of people that have lost trust in him and won't be quick to believe he's not the same Gibson that occassionally puts a couple games together against bad teams only to go off the rails again. He doesn't have any equity built up right now and needs to continue to perform over a longer timespan and against better lineups before he'll start to earn it back.
  2. Taildragger8791
    Yeah, there's a reason exceptional players were exceptional. It's because they were the rare case of a guy floundered for a while before breaking out and becoming an all-time great. We like to forget about the 99 others who simply petered off and eventually disappeared. Gibson has shown some good stuff lately but he'll need to reproduce it against some more potent lineups before anyone should get too excited. Even last year he'd occassionally shut down really bad teams before getting rocked again by a more competitive team.
  3. Taildragger8791
    Nathan was also primarily a shortstop through high school and college, and didn't convert to a pitcher until after he was drafted. Not really the same situation.
  4. Taildragger8791
    Here's how I see it: In both cases it isn't egregious enough to be an error but the player still failed to complete a close play because of pressure from the opponent, thus the credit goes to the opponent. In one case, the fielders couldn't complete the catch & tag because they rushed knowing the runner was closing in fast, thus the runner gets credit for the double. In the other case, the runner makes a mistake sliding in too aggressively/wildly to beat the tag but he likely only beat the tag because he made a slide that he couldn't complete, thus he doesn't get credit. He was never truly safe because he was never in control. The situation where a guy rounds a bag is different because he passed the bag under control and uncontested.
  5. Taildragger8791
    I think he was saying Rooker should keep training in the OF so he can fill in out there as a 4th OF, but would otherwise be a full-time player between 1B/DH/OF.
  6. Taildragger8791
    How does it dilute the argument? Trout is the standard Buxton has to meet or surpass to win the award. That's where the bar is set, and it's a very high bar. Buck might be able to do it eventually, but next year or even the year after is going to be tough unless this 2nd half guy is the new normal going forward.
  7. Taildragger8791
    Right or wrong, it usually takes multiple years for a young player to "prove" it to MVP voters.In a close race the thumb is on the side of the scale with veterans who have done it before. See Trout/Cabrera. Trout will likely be the established vet for Buck to beat out. Buxton is also going to also be hampered by how much of his value comes on defense and the basepaths. Even if his hitting numbers are really good they still aren't likely to jump off the page like they do for a traditional cleanup slugger. He isn't going to be top-5 in the league in any offensive metric except probably speed stats like SB and triples. That'll require the voters to be more qualitative in their assessments than they traditionally have been.
  8. Taildragger8791
    I think the poster made a reasonable attempt to limit the scope of the question to Mauer's swing mechanics, not mentality or value as a player, which is fair. I've wondered this myself. For his size and talent level it seems like Mauer should be able to do more than spray the ball to left field gaps. Turning on a pitch is such a natural thing for most players that they have to be heavily coached away from it, but Mauer seems to have no instinct for it at all. It's hard to believe he isn't capable, but when he tried to do it a couple years ago it was a disaster. So it seems like there's something physical at play here.
  9. Taildragger8791
    Brent Rooker at Ft Myers is now sitting at .289/.376/.589 for a .967 OPS and climbing. Scratch off the first 3 games there, call that an adjustment period, and he's stroking .314/.395/.640 for a 1.035 OPS. The strikeouts are still too frequent but the walk rate is reasonable. At the very least they've got something interesting with him.
  10. Taildragger8791
    Even if we had the wonderful problem of both panning out, they're both at least 2 years behind Gordon who could be in the majors next year. That's plenty of time for things to work themselves out.
  11. Taildragger8791
    To be fair, they aren't exactly in a position to raise prices when they're already staring down such low attendance. Officially attendance is around 25,200/game but there were a lot of games the first few months that were drastically less than the reported numbers. They'll still finish solidy in the bottom 10 of the league even with a late-season bump from wildcard contention. Let's see how this shakes out for the following season if they make the playoffs and start next year strong.
  12. Taildragger8791
    Maybe, and being in the LeBron-less East will certainly help them stay relevant if they want to try. But I don't see how to make the leftover pieces fit without him there to stir the drink. There's no true PG or dominant wing players left, just a bunch of bigs and a random collection of so-so shooters and scorers. Not sure they'll have enough cap room to add outside star power. They don't have to strip it down to the studs but I could see them moving any older players or sizeable contracts of value to try and restructure the roster around a new approach.
  13. Taildragger8791
    I think this move is basically acknowledging that theyr'e going to have to blow it all up in 2018. They still gave themselves a good chance to compete for this year, then they're set up well to shed a lot of contracts (LeBron, Shumpert, Frye, Thomas) and have some tradeable assets to work with (Love, JR Smith, Tristan Thompson, Crowder). Giving Thomas the max won't even be their problem to debate. Much better spot to be in than the last time LeBron left.
  14. Taildragger8791
    That wasn't my point about Kepler. I think he'll ultimately be fine but he's struggling quite a bit this year and there aren't any good options to give him a break or pinch hit for him.
  15. Taildragger8791
    Nobody suggested anything close to HoF, and throwing out strawman points like that doesn't contribute anything. You're arguing against your own made-up hyperbolic statement. What I saw was posters frustrated that Hicks finally seemed to turn a corner and become a valuable baseball player while our trade return was an instant objective failure. Those frustrations were exacerbated by the fact that we didn't have a single outfielder hitting well over the first couple months, and there were no competent options to fill in. Kepler still isn't hitting much. Hicks would be a pretty decent piece to fall back on.
  16. Taildragger8791
    Sure didn't seem like a simple update. For some reason you were asking a leading question based on an insignificantly short sample size to make a point that you think Hicks stinks again. Came off like a cheap shot.
  17. Taildragger8791
    Then I hope he doesn't complain if he gets put in the 7-hole in the lineup next year until August rolls around. We can do better in the leadoff spot than a low-OBP strikeout-prone fly ball pull hitter for the first 4 months. And he shouldn't be surprised when the contract offers reflect that he's a half-season player. The late surge is an awfully fickle thing to gamble on; it's highly unusual for that type of pattern to repeat perennially. The rest of the year he's barley top 15 at his position and that on top of being 31 is going to cap his assessed value.
  18. Taildragger8791
    I don't think 11 games after returning from a long DL stint is really the best time to be making judgements about a player. He had a 5-game run in there that was actually pretty good, and now a 5-game run that isn't. That's the shortest of short sample sizes. He hit very well for almost 3 full months before getting hurt. If he goes back to hitting well again then I don't see how you could honestly argue he wouldn't be a valuable addition to this team's outfield depth.
  19. Taildragger8791
    The BBs are still pretty high, and the overall WHIP is just okay but not that good for a AA prospect. I'm fine with pushing him since the story on him is always that he has "stuff", so maybe a little challenge will help him put it together. I'm not a fan of just popping off random games from within a sample size like that though. It's one thing if there's some other factor involved like it's the first couple games after a promotion/injury, a guy was playing hurt, weather, etc. Otherwise, those games happened. Consistency is a skill too.
  20. Taildragger8791
    I suppose the only issue with that is now you have that catcher hitting at the top of the order the rest of the game unless you really go whole hog and pull a double switch. I don't see how it would be illegal, but if that strategy caught on I'm sure you'd see a new rule against it pretty quickly.
  21. Taildragger8791
    I'm not hearing any credible assertions that Sano is bad at 3rd at this point, I think most people recognize that he's been surprisingly good at most aspects of the position. What I'm hearing is that some don't believe he'll age gracefully and could eat himself off the hot corner within a few years unless he refocuses his diet and training regime to stay there. His athletcism will wane quicker than a normal 20-something year old, resulting declining defensive value and increasing injury risk. It's just what happens to big guys like that. Thankfully he has the bat to play anywhere and he'd likely still handle 1B for a long time, assuming he can pick it. I'm sure the Twins realize this already.
  22. Taildragger8791
    I didn't say he had. I said he's flashed a powerful bat and the potential to be advanced quickly. Nothing remarkable, yet no real red flags yet either. He's basically meeting expectations. That isn't enough to make a strong assessment one or or the other, which is fine because he's only two months into his career. I don't think we'll know what he is until he's had a little more time to make adjustments and then get tested against upper minors talent.
  23. Taildragger8791
    For his first taste of professional baseball and wooden bats, yeah. He's flashed legit power and the ability to draw walks. The strikeout rate is high but not unreasonably so (yet). I'd like to see more doubles and consistency but he literally just left metal bats and college dorms behind 2 months ago. The sample size is so small too. Take out his first few games at A ball, call it an adjustment period. Since then he's hitting .265/.365/.518 (.883 OPS) with only a .314 BABIP. He's proven to make adjustments quickly. No, I'm not saving a spot for him in MLB yet or declaring him a can't-miss prospect. But he's definitley showing an ability to progress up the system quickly.
  24. Taildragger8791
    Lewin Diaz has a long ways to go before pencilling him in at 1B for the Twins. He's still all projection and hasn't really shown he'll fulfill that yet. The batting average and strikeout rate are okay, but he isn't taking walks or hitting for much power. He's not "flashing" yet like you'd expect for a future power hitter. I'm not concerned, but I'm not reserving any spots ahead of him in the pipeline either.
  25. Taildragger8791
    Ah, that makes a lot more sense. I'm really glad MLB worked out that system so draftees get in and get started so much sooner. Seeing guys lose almost a year of development while hashing out money was a pretty painful process.
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