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USAFChief

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Everything posted by USAFChief

  1. USAFChief
    Ain't baseball grand?
  2. USAFChief
    ha...I made the same mistake. No worries.
  3. USAFChief
    My point, which you missed, is that with 12 and 13 man pitching staffs, it's very difficult to carry a part time first baseman who plays no other position. The rest of your post is nice, but his 2009 MVP has nothing to do with winning games in 2019. And for the record, I disagree he signed for less than market value, but again, that's irrelevant to 2019.
  4. USAFChief
    because they really needed a K in that spot? Why not? Worry about the save if one presents itself. There's 4 off days coming up. Everyone but Berrios shud b available.
  5. USAFChief
    Concur. Other teams are, in effect, using a 9 or 10 man bullpen, simply by swapping out the bottom 2 or 3 guys for fresh arms as needed. And then swap back, rinse lather repeat. I don't understand why our supposedly savvy and forward thinking front office aren't doing more of that. Why would Molitor have left an overused reliever (who should be mostly a LOOGY anyway) on to give up 5 runs yesterday? In a winnable game?
  6. USAFChief
    It adds up to a .707 OPS.
  7. USAFChief
    Personally I hope they START shuttling MLB ready relievers back and forth from Rochester. Agree on Belisle though.
  8. USAFChief
    And just let him slog through a 5 run inning.
  9. USAFChief
    I'm going to guess Levine will consider a larger sample size than last night's box score in making decisions. Feel free to do things your way though.
  10. USAFChief
    in this day and age, its particularly tough to carry a part time 1st baseman. Carrying a spare outfielder, who covers three positions, is needed. A spare infielder, an extra catcher. But a 110 game first baseman, who does nothing else besides some DH? That's very limiting, particularly when you're not getting much from him when he does play. I understand nostalgia, but I prefer winning. And sorry to say, Mauer isn't helping a lot there any more.
  11. USAFChief
    I agree the Sano factor is huge, and if he isn't the 3Bman, there's no other good option. I don't know how Falvey and Levine view Sano, so that could certainly influence the decision. Dozier can't play 3rd, no how, no way, with that noodle arm. As for Gordon, I wouldn't trust him to be a productive MLB player in 2019, so that weighs in my preference for Dozier. If you trust Gordon, HE could play 3rd, I guess. Me, I'd rather bet on Sano than Gordon. As for Dozier "killing" 2018, I agree he was part of the problem, but since you like WAR...there's not much WAR difference between him and Escobar so far in 2018.
  12. USAFChief
    I'd consider the WAR (if I valued "WAR") from the previous 4.5 years for both players, much much more than I'd consider a small WAR advantage from the first half of the current season. And BTW, there isn't much WAR difference at this point of 2018. Escobar is a nice player. I like him. I hope the Twins can keep him. But if they can only keep one of him or Dozier, I keep Dozier. BTW...it seems like you're weighing in on this.
  13. USAFChief
    Uh, no. In the reality of Dozier having better slash lines for the past 4 years. Escobar was a better hitter for the first 90 games of 2018, but I'd be willing to bet he isn't by the end of 2018, he won't be for this year, either. I don't pay much attention to WAR, but since you do, please check Dozier's WAR over the past four years and compare it to Escobar's. WPA is interesting trivia, but no way to measure worth. Escobar is 1.5 years younger, and can play on the left side of the infield, so that's a plus. But as a second baseman, Dozier is the better player as of today, and I'd bet for the next couple seasons as well.
  14. USAFChief
    Why? Dozier is a better player than Escobar.
  15. USAFChief
    It's a long shot, obviously, but who you beat isn't particularly meaningful. All W's count the same. Other teams have beaten up on KC and Balt, too, obviously. The Twins are a better team than they've played. I'd prefer to at least wait until late July before giving up on anything. And for the record, if you really want to consider who've they've beaten, the Twins are 16-10 against Boston, Cleveland, Houston, the LAA, and St Louis.
  16. USAFChief
    I'd be ok with that approach, too.
  17. USAFChief
    If we're "not in a window," why do we care if we have control of "core players" through 2021-22? Would it be because...we're "in a window?" Or would it be that Lewis/Graterol/Gordon/Kiriloff et al aren't "core players" at all. They're prospects.
  18. USAFChief
    One last try: A poster claimed that good teams never added talent until they were already good. I disagree, both with the theory, and the actual claim. I provided an example of the Cubs, who had young talent but were clearly not good yet. They operated on faith that they would be good, soon, and that adding talent like Lester, before they were actually good, made sense. The Twins have young talent. Including two players who were top 10 level talent. Adding to that, now, makes all the sense in the world. If you don't think the Twins have the young talent to compete in 2019, then what do you advocate? Trade Rosario, Kepler, Berrios, and get what you can for Sano and Buxton?
  19. USAFChief
    Yes. To the discussion underway, yes. A poster declared that top teams never added big names through free agency or trade until they were already good. That is clearly not true. One example off the top of my head was the Cubs, who signed Lester before they were good. They added talent when available, hoping that talent would help the talent they already had on hand in the near future. And to repeat, the Twins might as well operate under the assumption their current crop of players, highlighted by Buxton and Sano, are going to work out. If they don't, there is no real damage done by adding to what will be a long drought anyway.
  20. USAFChief
    Sano and Buxton were at the same level of prospect status as the Cubs prospects. Buxton was a consensus top prospect in all of baseball. Where Sano and Buxton are currently, is irrelevant to the discussion of what the Cubs did in December of 2014.
  21. USAFChief
    So they had faith in their future, despite their current record? Whereas the Twins, who have by all means at least the same level of prospects currently in the big leagues or on the cusp, should bet against their future? They're not "ready to compete?" I'd be willing to bet I could find multiple examples of your post (not necessarily by you) from 2015, advocating to wait until Sano, Buxton et al were in the big leagues, and then "go for it." It doesn't work that way. Add talent when you can.
  22. USAFChief
    Off the top of my head, I believe the Cubs signed Jon Lester to a $150 deal in December of 2014, coming off a 71-91 season. I bet I can find more examples if I spend 5 minutes looking them up. Perhaps they felt they already had the pieces needed to compete, and were simply adding to it. Sort of like the Twins, with Sano, Buxton, Berrios, Kepler, Rosario, Polanco, etc. The exact guys they've been building this "window" around for half a decade. I just have never agreed with the philosophy of waiting until you're really good, before you try to get really really good. IMO, that's how you spend decades waiting to get really good. Tha's not how the Yankees and Red Sox got where they are. They assess their needs, and then fill them, by whatever means necessary. Or at least try.
  23. USAFChief
    I think the gamble is assuming they are NOT real.
  24. USAFChief
    If Buxton and Sano, with the current MLB youngsters and high minors help, are not the answer, there is no window. If they are real, the window is now. The perfect storm of misfortune that is 2018 shouldn't cloud the picture of whether or not the Twins should plan on 2019-2020 as being the time to go for it. It's a no-lose situation. Either you added to a good team needing a catcher, or you added a good, tradeable catcher to a team that wasn't going to contend anyway for the foreseeable future and can be dumped at next year's deadline for a similar haul.
  25. USAFChief
    Not to pick on you or make this personal, but I feel like I could have read this exact post five years ago, speaking about 2016-2018 as "the window." When all that young talent reaches the majors and is dominating. And four years ago about 2017-2019 as "the window." etc etc etc I think the better option is to build your own window, rather than waiting for a window to build itself. Not to mention there's no guarantee you'll have trade opportunites available in 2020, or the assets to acquire such trade opportunities if they do exist.
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