Trov

Did not read full article, just the headline and my answer is NOOOOOO. You can never have too many starters or too much pitching. Then after I read the article I understood the point is address that we will need several to finish a year. That is the case, no way will the 5 that start this year will pitch every game. We will still need the likes of Ober, Varland, SWR, to come up and make some starts.

Yes we won, but I was still annoyed with the move to pull Lopez in the 6th. He was at 85 pitches and could have finished the 6th. There was all this talk about maybe letting starters go deeper, and in the game the broadcast team even said it would be dictated by the performances, then we get same old move. Then the broadcasters say, well the Twins want to get everyone in the games early and with the off day we want to make sure guys do not miss too many days blah blah blah. Why not just say, that is what Rocco going to do. I am more complaining about the fact we are told Twins will change up and give starters more depth, only to do exactly back to what we normally do. Sure hope we start getting some hits with bases loaded though.

Miranda has me most excited. He has shown in his career so far large growth in short periods. He was a fringe prospect early on, then grew quickly a couple of years ago. Last year he came up and struggled quickly, but then turned it around with a full 180 quickly. Then he drops some fat, puts on some muscle this off-season and takes spring head on. Yes, spring means nothing, but I am very high on Miranda right now as a sneaky guy to be our MVP this year.

I know season has not started, and E-Rod is coming off of missing significant time due to injury. However, I was thinking about how high I am on him, mainly the combo of eye and power. Rarely will you see numbers like his at any level. He hit 9 HR in just under 200 plate appearance, but he walked 57 times only striking out 52. That is crazy for someone of his age. It was a HR every 15 at bats, or 1 per 22 plate appearances. His OBP was .492, and this was in a pitcher friendly league. If he continues to have an eye like that and contact like he has I could see him move very quickly. I bet he ends up in AA this year, but if there is a ton of injuries to OF like last year, I do not think it is outside the realm that they give him a shot at the majors. This is only if he does what he did last year and injuries. I am not expecting majors, but I think it is in realm of possibilities. He may only be 20, but many superstars have made it to majors at that age.

I think last year was a combo of things, that hopefully will not be as extreme this year. Twins seemed to pull starters much sooner than other teams, but it is not like a crazy amount sooner. However, if we can get just 1 more inning per start it will help a ton. First, early on I know team was trying to hold starters back because of short spring. Then guys were hurt from time to time and would get shorter starts due to that. Archer was always going to get short starts. The team has adopted the try to limit 3rd trips through line up. However, that is in part based on the situation of the game. If we have large leads the team will let them go a 3rd time. The team also wants pen guys to start innings and not come into a mess of an inning if they can avoid it. So they would rather pull a guy after 5 if he is in the 3rd time through, around 90 pitches, and a close game. Mainly because they figure no way will they finish the 6th so they would rather have pen guy start 6th. Also, the team does not want to warm a guy up and not bring them in too often either. Like it or not, we will continue to have shorter starts, but hopefully we can get more 6 inning starts as at least a norm.

I am not part of the brain trust, and I am sure the Twins employ and pay people a lot of money to make educated decisions like making Buck the DH for some set amount of time, but I just do not see the logic. I mean are they also going to ask him to run at like 50%? How about they tell him to not run any balls out at all? Just swing and if it is a HR great, if not jog the 90 feet. Tell him to never slide and just do not run at a speed that will require him to slide to stop. Hell, lets not even ask him to take a lead off the base so he can avoid having to move quickly incase they try to pick him off. Better yet, lets ask him to never swing, because he has actually got hurt in past when he fouled a ball off his foot. Let him stand in there like the kid in Rookie of the Year. Cower in the corner of the box with his back turned. If he does sneeze and a swing comes out, walk to next base and if the ball is in the in the air just walk to dug out. We should have him go up in full catchers gear when he bats, and put on boxing gloves so his hands do not get hurt if he is hit by a pitch. He should not be in on deck circle either, and lets get him a golf cart to get to the batter box so he does not twist and ankle walking. Can anyone think of another way to decrease his value to the team but make sure he will stay healthy? Oh when not playing lets make sure we hire an assistant that does all his packing, one player once cut his thumb closing a suitcase, and make sure someone carries his bags every where too.

If Popkins can teach Gallo to just flip a pitch to LF when teams put that crazy OF shift on him some were doing in spring Gallo will lead league in triples. You do not even have to hit it hard to LF just hard enough to roll far enough that the infield will not run after it. The CF will have to run several hundred feet to LF to flag down a ball and hopefully by the time the ball gets touched Gallo would be pulling up into 3rd. At minimum they are giving him free doubles if can figure out how to hit flies to left in those defenses.

Castro will be on the roster as long as Polanco or AK are in IL. As soon as either are ready, he will get demoted, and eventually DFA when they need a 40 man spot most likely, unless he is on some crazy hot streak. For those who are upset about Ober, it is basically the nature of the beast. There are 5 guys that all cannot be sent down so they either have to work out of pen or be released. Ober still can be sent down with no issues of having to release him. Any one of the other 5 would either refuse an assignment, thus making a FA if that is an option, or would get picked up on waivers at a minimum, just as Ober would get picked up on waivers he had to pass through them. Ober will get to start in AAA and be ready to step in when needed. If Maeda struggles out the gate, they can move him to pen roll and call up Ober much easier, than if Ober struggles out the gate you move Maeda from pen into starting roll and expect anything more than a few innings. Maeda may be cooked based on age and TJ, and if so then we can figure that out and release him. From a pure roster stand point this was expected and really the only move that makes sense.

I just remembered another calibration injury from just a regular season walk off win. When Kendrys Morales jumped on home plate and injured his leg. He missed most of the season, as it was end of May he did it. So yeah, players will get hurt doing celebrations on pretty meaningless games. So anyone who points to Diaz as a reason to not play the WBC they forget players will do dumb stuff all the time on and off the field.

If you go by just performance this spring, of course Ober gets the nod, but if you go by history both Mahle and Maeda deserve time in regular season. Also, you forget that Ober has options, the other 2 do not, so it is have them on roster or cut them an pay them to play for someone else, or the pen. My guess, if Maeda starts to struggle out the gate, and Ober continues to crush in AAA, then Maeda gets moved to pen roll and Ober gets called up, hoping he stays healthy. Also, if either Maeda or Mahle need to go on IL Ober is first up. No team ever makes full season with just 5 starters, you need about 7 to 8 minimum to make starts through out a year. Ober will get plenty of chances.

Worth it is based on point of view. As pointed out the players clearly cared, and the fans from other countries clearly cared. It is also cool for some of the not well known lower minor leagues guys to get to play against future HOF guys like Trout. Diez injury was just dumb by him, which we hear they happen all the time. Denny Hocking got his hand stepped on after playoff win causing him to be out. Players get crazy injuries for all kinds of non-baseball stuff. In terms of on field stuff, players have been injured during spring games, that mean even less to people than WBC, that are now out the full season. Players will get hurt playing the game, and it could just as likely happen in a spring game versus a WBC. The only way you could argue injury from WBC over spring game is if a pitcher throws too many pitches and blows out their arm because it was not up to what needed to be. Outside that any injury that happens in games could just as likely happen in spring game. Baseball has long been a global game, MLB has taken international players for long time. Just because US has become less interested does not mean the world is not getting more interested in it. If it gets more international players to play and increase the pool of possible players to raise the talent here, then it is good for the game and it is worth it. Basketball exploded world wide in 90's when the best to play to that point decided to be showcased in the dream team. They crushed everyone, but people became a fan of the product, and now people will watch NBA games all over the world, increasing money for the NBA, and increasing the international players that raised the overall talent level. Yes, it sucks for the players that got hurt, but is spring training worth it if players are getting hurt there too?

You analogy to the Monte Hall problem is flawed. The Monte Hall problem is based on 1 door having a prize, and the other 2 doors having nothing. There is no in between. What you are talking about is selling off players for the chance the return will keep your team going, like the Rays do. I do agree with the general concept and would much rather trade a guy a year or two early than late. Another flaw the comparison to the Monte Hall problem is you get to pick of 1 of 3 doors. Knowing 1 has a prize. The show opens one door to show you a nothing prize. Then offers the change. To be a fare comparison, you have to pick from three options, then know one option was terrible and then decide if the option of trading now is better than riding with the player you have. In the case of choosing to trade a player now or not, you are not shown one of your options was bad. You only have 2 options, keep or trade. However, again, unlike in the Monte Hall problem, both options could be equal. It is possible they both are terrible, or both pay off. You could trade the player and he does great, but so does the player you go. However, unlike in the Monte Hall problem, there is an in between a prize or nothing. You suggest trading Thielbar will be the best player to trade now, and we missed out on trading Polanco before. First, Polanco for all the reasons you suggest he had high value in trade is all the reasons the Twins would have wanted to keep him. Yes, he got hurt and now his trade value is nothing, or next to nothing. However, at the time we were looking to compete, and would have had to replace him with something, as shown when he was hurt we did not have much there, because of other injuries as well. Also, if we would have traded him could we have got a prospect sure, but then we either would have needed to flip them for other holes or we would have used the prospects we used in trades to fill the hole not having Polanco. Each move affects the next. In terms of Thielbar, he may be at his peak, but he is still just a mid inning relief guy. He is unlikely to net huge return. Will the return we get for him be better than the what he would give us, versus who we replace him with? I get the point of trading guys at peak, as I said I am for it, but you need to also know you have someone to step in at similar level of production, else you are always building for future.

I am not a fan of the Garlick or White ideas to be just a right handed bat against lefties. I mean that is super limiting a roster spot. If they need to play because injuries okay, but to use up a full roster spot simply because you want a small edge against lefties in the very few times you face them just does not seem to make much sense. I do not know White well, but if he just a 1B then similar to Garlick they offer little than a bat against lefties and to me is not worth the negitive value they offer in other areas. I hated seeing Garlick pinch hit in the 4th or 5th for someone like Gordon against a lefty. Sure, sometimes Garlick would get a hit, but how much more likely was his at bat going to be better than Gordon's? Not a huge upgrade, but then you have a terrible defender rest of the game, getting 2 more at bats most likely against righty the rest of the way and will then have lower value.

I think if you are expecting Maeda to put up Cy Young award numbers then you need to be worried, but if you are looking for a 5th starter who should compete in many games I am not worried. In 2020 he was going into the year our number 2 pitcher. He ended up being our best. This year he is going into season as our number 5. If he ends up being our best, that means either he did amazing and we won the division, or we are last place. I doubt he will be what he was in 2020. If he struggles out the gate we can bring Ober back up and move Maeda to pen, or we can cut him if needed.

As for those complaining about ticket prices, I get it, you want to go back tot he days where you could get lower level tickets for under 10 bucks. Well that will never happen. You can get to games for not that much, if you do not care how good the seats are. Yes, if you want great seats, you need to pay a lot for them. Generally attendance is not driven by ticket cost, but product on the field. Yes, the cost may keep some away, but people are more put off by a bad product. I hate watching games where the team is striking out 15 times a game, getting 1 or 2 hits and losing by 5 plus runs. This is not entertaining and I would not pay any money for that, if that is the expectation. However, if I know there is a good chance of a good entertaining game, I will be willing to pay a little bit more for that, than a little less for a boring game.

For the people saying they do not trust the numbers and no way team is losing money, I believe that owners can lose on owing the team, but use that loss to counter the tax liability for other business. So it is fully possible they are losing money, but using the loss to offset profits in other businesses. I could be wrong about the ability to do that in taxes, but I think that is how it works.

E-Rod should get Skubal alone, without anyone else.

So you are sending out our number 6 starter, likely to get innings this year and next, for a guy that is left handed but less years of control and most likely similar upside. Maybe Skubal is a little higher than Ober because Ober has not been healthy, but when he has pitched he has been good. Mainly you just want the lefty starter and feel that is worth giving up our number 3 prospect, to get a lefty pitcher that is basically the pitcher you are sending away. Then to make the deal "better" you are swapping basically the same OF, but other side of plate hitter, where the righty is only slightly above average against lefties. Career 110 OPS against lefties. Not sure how O'Neill grades out on defense but at least Kepler has that going for him. Baseball reference has O'Niell a LF a negitive defender, but Kepler a positive defender at RF. Then to top it all off we send away a guy who might be in rotation next year, or could be dealt for something. So to sum it up, we basically swap guys that are similar in control years, Skubal one less year of control, at both OF and Pitcher, and to do this we give up our number 3 prospect and another possible starter for next year. Yeah that is a big no for me dog.

I will never underestimate a Terry Francona team. Cleveland has continued to retool and have winning teams. I am not big on the Josh Bell signing. He is bad on defense, really bad, so will only be DH. The issue with Bell is he is boom or bust. Over his history he will go on great runs looking like MVP candidate, then out of no where, he looks like he should not be in majors. He will be huge wild card for them, either puts them into great team, or holds them back. I also always worry when you had a ton of big season from rookies. Now, their biggest rookies on offense all had similar numbers in minors, so not like they did more than what they have in past, but sometimes rookie seasons are the best someone has, or takes a few years to adjust to how the league adjusted to them. I still think they will be the team fighting the Twins for the central.

No one can make a player play. If Polanco said he could not go, like what eventually happened, he would have sat. Sure, could the team have overruled Polanco, yes. However, they do not know how bad the pain is. As someone who gets recuring different tendonitis each bout is its own thing. Sometimes the pain is not bad, sometimes it is terrible. I never really can see it coming on. Yes, the only way to get it better is rest, but sometimes it would go away in a day or two, sometimes it lingers for weeks. Sometimes the players need to be honest with themselves and the team. Polanco has played through many different injuries in his career. I am no medical doctor, but in my experience in tendonitis there is little you can do to prevent it in the future, other than just stop doing what you are doing. Which means, for Polanco retirement. It is fully possible the Twins shut him down earlier last year, and he is still here with same issue. I would not say we know it would have been avoided, I mean he has sat for nearly 8 months now. I would also not say this is negligence. If Polanco is not being honest on how bad things are, hard for any medical people to really give a good opinion.

The sad part about this is the top 2 guys will have limited time in MLB I expect. The bottom 3 have the hit tool to combine with the power tool. Power is all good, but if you can hardly make contact that does not mean much.

The trash can situation was not just CC. Yes, he benefited from it, but he was not alone. The whole team benefited from it, and coaches were in on it too. Baseball has always tried to find ways to get an edge, the issue with that situation is they used tech that gave them an edge. However, Yankees and other teams were trying similar things, Houston just had the right guy behind the scenes to finally crack the signs. I would also point out that even if you know what is coming it does not mean you will get a hit, just allows you to have a better idea. In terms of CC's roll in the signs stealing, I do not know what roll he played, was he one of the instigators or more of the quite guys that did not want to speak out and just went along with it, or some where in between. I think fans are blowing it up bigger than it really should be.

Twins placed Santana on waivers, and Mets picked him up. We currently have 39 players on 40 man. I wonder what the move is going to be to fill that spot. Trade, signing, or calling up a prospect? Only way you make the move is if there is an expected corresponding move.

For all the people thinking they will get to watch games for free or cheap for extended period of time, I highly doubt that will happen. It may be free for a period to see how things shake out, but if streaming is their only option, unless they also have ads in between innings, teams will be losing out on a lot of money. So the only way to make up that money is by making the viewers watch it. Right now for a single team it is $130 for the season. With blackouts currently in place, only fans living outside the blackout area would be purchasing that for the team they want. Maybe, with removing the blackout areas because more people would pay for single team, they would not raise the prices much, but remember, if the only way to watch your team is to pay what they set it at, there is no reason to doubt the price will go up and up. You will have no choice but to watch at their price. Many on here expect it be cheap, I think it will be very expensive. Sure, if you only paid for cable for Twins games then sure it will be cheaper, but remember you will be paying minimum 130 a year for just the games. When you break it down per game it is not bad price, less than a dollar a game. I still think the price will shoot up once MLB has all the rights.

I honestly would not be surprised with a 6 man rotation to start the season. Then if there is injury or poor performance by any of the established guys ahead of Ober, then he may get a shot. I do not expect him to be a long man, they want to have him get starts and try to get innings that way, not through 2 to 3 every few days when there is a blow out one way or other.