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Taildragger8791

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Everything posted by Taildragger8791

  1. Taildragger8791
    When I lived in Iowa and South Dakota I almost always got the middle one, because that's the one with the 10% ethanol blend and it was cheaper than regular gas (I assume due to tax subsidies as well as proximity to the ethanol plants and corn production).
  2. Taildragger8791
    The Twins having 5 legit DHs would be very surprising and welcome news to the Twins management and fans.
  3. Taildragger8791
    Interesting that they show dirt around the bases in that graphic but didn't do it for real. I wonder if it's too difficult to clean it out of the fancy pants field-turf without damaging it?
  4. Taildragger8791
    Isn't the AA rotation pretty full? It might take a few weeks to sort guys out at the upper levels.
  5. Taildragger8791
    It's really tough to say until he reproduces those results while staying in the zone. As he tones it down or lives in the zone more he may not get so much poor contact and we'll see those numbers rise considerably. That's the hurdle he needs to climb to get to the majors.
  6. Taildragger8791
    I understand all that. But it's one thing to project a breakout year for a guy and a whole other thing to project becoming an all-time great 2B, which is the territory you'd be dipping into. It's an extremely high expectation that isn't even fair to the player.
  7. Taildragger8791
    Improves...in what way? Improving on last year's numbers would be near record-setting and MVP frontrunner territory. That's difficult to project for anyone without an extensive track record of performances like that. I could maybe see improved consistency & peripherals, but not necessarily his season-ending stats. Personally, I don't see Dozier getting traded at all this year barring a league-wide injury epidemic at the position. We simply won't get the premium return we want. There are too many options that teams can go get and plug in due to the glut of 2nd basemen across the league right now. It's a luxury for most non-competitive teams to carry a great second basemen and someone would happily flip a guy to a contender for less than the Twins would need.
  8. Taildragger8791
    I'm not aware of anyone who thinks he could fallback to the 'pen. Seems like a bad fit for someone featuring a low 90's fastball and a changeup. Sounds like he's rotation or bust.
  9. Taildragger8791
    If we hear about a flu bug taking out the whole team this weekend I think we know who to point the finger at...
  10. Taildragger8791
    286 is awfully high for any athlete under 7'0" that doesn't have a position listed as OL or DL. Even if that were pure muscle (unlikely) it would be unnecessary for a baseball player. At some point more muscle is just getting in the way. Miguel Cabrera was reportedly up to 285 and got down to 255-260 when he had to switch back to 3rd. He managed to do okay. If Sano at his age and athleticism can get down to 260 and stay there then he shouldn't be too physically limited. It'll come down to technique and skill more than anything.
  11. Taildragger8791
    I feel like this is a poor trolling attempt or something. The article was written by Seth, not Jeremy. Your post strongly implied that Alex Gordon had the same walk rate of 4.7% and then tried to bait everyone into discussing it. But that assertion was patently false because Alex Gordon has always had strong walk rates even with his extremely aggressive promotion schedule after being drafted. Edit: After evaluating a little further I realize you made an error when you said "Alex" Gordon, when you apparently meant Nick Gordon. I'm still not sure what discussion you were trying to prompt, but that at least clears up the mistake.
  12. Taildragger8791
    Coming from a family of professional athletes lends credence to a player's athletic pedigree. Lots of professional athletes come from families full of other athletes. Whether or not the mental part of the game comes along with it is a crapshoot, but it certainly doesn't hurt that someone grew up around the game. Watching how professionals conduct themselves and train, absorbing information and the environment, etc. Again, it doesn't mean a guy can hit a curveball, but it takes some doubt out of the overall equation and builds confidence with respect to other important qualities of a player.
  13. Taildragger8791
    Gotcha. I just don't see 2B or 3B having any opportunities for him this year. Maybe 20-30 starts filling in for injuries and rest days. They're kind of stuck riding him out at SS to see if he can do it. It would be a waste to leave his stick and legs on the bench unless he's a total butcher at SS.
  14. Taildragger8791
    The thing I thought was odd about Polanco's handling is how he was used as an extra depth piece for the MLB roster whenever they needed another infielder. He was called up and down several times between 2014 and mid-2016 for stints of only a day to a week, sometimes not even to play but just to be there as bench depth. It's a highly unusual way to handle a really young and promising prospect. I'm not arguing that it messed him up (definitely not his bat), but it speaks to how little planning and forethought went into his development and the overall roster management.
  15. Taildragger8791
    And how was he going to contribute anywhere else as a Twin when Sano and Dozier are locked into their respective positions? If they weren't going to play him at SS then he's only going to start about 10 games a year, when Dozier needs a rest. Or he'll have to play out of position at 3B/OF and get maybe 40-50 games, which is pretty wasteful. At that point you may as well trade him for a bag of balls or something, at least then you're putting some value to work.
  16. Taildragger8791
    I think the argument, at least for me, is that his OBP won't translate to the MLB level because he's going to get challenged in the zone to prove he can hit effectively and do a little damage. That could quickly become a sub-.300 OBP because nobody is going to walk him when the absolute worst thing he can do is flip a single over/through the infield. EDIT: If he hits for .300+ with pitchers challenging him then maybe he gets a little respect and keeps his OBP up, but he hasn't shown the ability to hit like that (like Revere did).
  17. Taildragger8791
    I'm curious where you think Polanco will be if Escobar is holding down SS. Barring a trade the only other place for him is on the bench or AAA (can't remember if he was granted a 4th option?).
  18. Taildragger8791
    I think that's an oversimplified view of his hitting. It's not so much that he can't hit at all, it's that he hits with the power of Ben Revere but without the elite base-stretching speed or contact ability. Even that meager career slash line of .264/.327/.309 will be difficult to maintain as he moves up and better pitchers challenge him knowing that he can't possibly do any damage. You're basically staring down a Pedro Florimon rerun. Gordon has considerably more contact ability and way power (only 11 XBH for Vielma in all of 2016), and he's even showing some potential as a run producer. They're about the same on base-stealing, maybe a slight edge to Vielma as of today. I just don't see how the two even begin to compare with the stick.
  19. Taildragger8791
    I'm good with Nick Gordon at #4 due to his higher-than-usual floor. Not every position on the diamond has to be a player with an elite skill. Sometimes you just need a steady & reliable guy at a key spot. I think of him as ending up like a Denard Span at SS (good at everything but not elite or terrible at anything) and I think we'd be pretty darn happy about that.
  20. Taildragger8791
    Skills fade when you don't practice them, and you don't make a seamless transition from playing SS at AA two years ago to playing MLB SS today. It's supposed to be a steady progression of development so players get used to the speed and other differences, ingraining the routine plays into muscle memory. Polanco has been jerked around over the last few years and collectively he has barely a season's worth of games at SS above A+ ball since 2014. The vast majority of those starts coming in 2014 & early 2015 at AA. Since then he's been yanked around the diamond and between levels and never got to settle into a position or role. He went from playing SS at AA to benchwarmer in MLB to 2B at AAA, then yanked back and forth between the last two until late last year when he finally got some regular time at SS. There was no progression/development towards MLB SS. They basically cut him off after AA. Maybe they had the right idea and he can't play the position, but I don't think even they know that for sure and it seems silly that they abandoned his development before they really knew. Particularly when his bat has been MLB-ready for over a year and every other position is blocked.
  21. Taildragger8791
    ...implying that Gonsalves isn't a little bit of a roll of the dice as well. He's really promising but he's getting by despite pretty notable control issues and a mediocre breaking ball. Likely due to having an advanced changeup that minor leaguers typically struggle with. Improving those two things will be keys to watch for in his development this year, because he has all the other qualities he needs to be successful in the big leagues.
  22. Taildragger8791
    Not much analysis unfortunately. Just an observation about his control issues. But from what I recall it wasn't so much his control as it was major league hitters reading him like a book, thus ignoring pitches they didn't want and feasting on ones they did. Hitters didn't have to chase him out of the zone. There's definitely something else there that needs fixing before he'll be effective.
  23. Taildragger8791
    From everything I've read the DSL is below even GCL in competition level. I don't think you can draw any conclusions one way or the other from stats on 30 plate appearances there, that's such an insanely short sample size with no context for who he was doing it against. It suggests he was talented relative to the competition, which is good, but that's about it. We'll just have to wait for him to get into the GCL this year to see where his swing development is at.
  24. Taildragger8791
    The walks weren't too bad (although I see 8th in AL for BB/9 and 13th for K/9), the problem last year is that we gave up a lot of good contact in addition to the poor strikeout ability. Getting in more favorable counts should help, but framing won't stop guys from barreling up fat pitches or get your sub-par defense to convert outs. We had far and away the most hits and highest BABIP and HR/9 in the AL. We were teed off on.
  25. Taildragger8791
    I considered that. The way I saw it is that both Buxton and Kirilloff played 48 and 55 games in the rookie leagues, respectively, with Buxton advancing to the Appy league after a couple dozen games and Kirilloff starting there. Both showed well enough as 18 year olds in advanced rookie leagues to go straight to low A in their first full season. So those rankings had more to go on in both cases. It's probably true too that, fair or not, top 10-15 picks get a little more pedigree credit than international players due to how much more we know about them at the time of acquisition (older in age, more game tape, typically played against better competition, more scouting history, etc).
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