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gunnarthor

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Everything posted by gunnarthor

  1. gunnarthor
    This assumes the team didn't know about his PED use and didn't benefit from it.
  2. gunnarthor
    I will add though, for all the talk we've had from ownership about going all in when the window is open, if we ever see the team sign a big time FA it would be this offseason, off of a 101 win team with a loaded offensive core. I don't think it'll happen but if ever does, it'll be now.
  3. gunnarthor
    I've mentioned it in a few other threads but I just think the Twins are much more likely to follow the Rays example. They'll have one or two real starters (Berrios for sure and then a handful of pitchers that the team will hope can go 6 innings starting with Pineda and maybe Graterol for a month or two by the end of the season). The rest of the innings will be eaten up by a large bullpen. With payroll concerns, I don't think we will see the team target 180+ inning starters anymore. Instead we will probably try to find 8 arms that can throw 60-80 innings if needed. I expect that the Twins will be big on AAAA arms* this offseason that can shuttle between Rochester and the majors, as needed. And arms that can be DFA'd without much concern (Mejia, Eades, De Jong). I could see us making some low budget FA signings for guys like Drew Smyly or maybe even signing someone like Ivan Nova, but that's probably our ceiling. On the trade front, I don't think we'd trade for Thor but I'm still a big believer in fixing Dylan Bundy and Johnson might be a good coach for him. * Somehow, Littell, Smeltzer, Dobnak and Stashak combined for nearly 140 innings of 3.30 era. That's the AAAA arms we'll rely on.
  4. gunnarthor
    One option would be resign Schoop and put Arreaz at third. Or keep Gonzalez at third and don't trade Rosario. But really, I'd rather the team focus on improving the pitching staff than moving around deck chairs. The position players are - more or less - set.
  5. gunnarthor
    Meh, most good teams dominate bad teams. Your Cards had a similar 30-11 record against four teams. Good teams dominate bad teams. Twins had a .518 winning percentage against the A's, Rays, Astros and Yankees combined. They should have been more competitive in this series but they weren't. Again.
  6. gunnarthor
    I don't think we'll see much change, honestly. My guess is that they'll resign Pineda and we'll hear whispers about how the Twins are in on Cole, Strasburg, Bumgarner and Kuechel but they'll sign Ivan Nova or Tanner Roark on a two year deal. They'll also make a bargain bin grab of someone like Drew Smyly or such. I think this team is going to go into a Rays like rotation behind Berrios and Nova and have maybe three traditional starters and nine bullpen arms being used interchangeably and being shuttled to Rochester. I think we'll trade Rosario and let Wade/Cave hold LF until Kiriloff or Larnach are ready - probably by July. We'll resign Cron and bring back Nelson and go with an IF of Cron, Arreaz, Polanco and Sano. I could see us bringing back Castro in a similar but slightly diminished role but if not him, we'll nab someone else to play 40% of the games behind the plate. The team will hope for a healthy season from Sano and Buxton and continued high play from Kepler/Garver/Polanco. There is some regression in those three but the offense should still be pretty good and the AL central will be weak enough that we could be 10 games worse and probably still win the central next year.
  7. gunnarthor
    The Twins nearly made the playoffs in 2015 and made the playoffs in 2017 and 2019. They had disaster seasons in 2016 and 2018. Without looking, I'm pretty sure I know which seasons created more fan interest going into the following seasons.
  8. gunnarthor
    I'm ok in general with these comments. He didn't have a good series as a manager but he's a rookie and I think he'll get better. He certainly had some good points this season and the players obviously had a much better atmosphere than they had under Molly. I think Rocco deserves most of that credit. He got out-managed (and Aaron Boone ain't exactly Tony La Russa) but I'm not sure that made that much difference. Maybe not starting Dobnak in game 2 would've helped but we just were outplayed - again.
  9. gunnarthor
    Yeah, I'm on the fire Zimmer bandwagon after staying off the last few years. I suspect we will win quite easily against the Giants but the underlying problems - bad offensive identity, shoddy blocking, misusing talent (Barr) will haunt us all the way to a 9-7 record.
  10. gunnarthor
    I imagine the FO/ownerships refusal to make significant improvements during the season to a playoff team and simply accept the #3 spot will bite us pretty hard. I don't think we match up well at Yankee stadium. I'd have felt more comfortable with a ground ball pitcher on the mound tonight. Obviously, we have a chance but we all the injuries and iffy rotation I don't think we win a game - again.
  11. gunnarthor
    2010 was our magical year and they swept us. I'm not going to believe we can beat them until we actually beat them. Until then, I image that Berrios will give up 3 HR in the first two innings tonight, that we score a few in the fifth but get locked down after that and lose 8-4. I hate being a pessimist.
  12. gunnarthor
    Market is down a lot this week. Lot of different factors but a lot of smart people seem to think that we are due for a recession. This could be the start of it, I suppose.
  13. gunnarthor
    I think the Yankee hitters will do what Aaron Hicks did to him - crush him. I'm not really thrilled about sending any lefties at that lineup.
  14. gunnarthor
    http://www.startribune.com/the-latin-influence-twins-clubhouse-can-be-a-rollicking-place-and-that-s-just-the-way-the-team-wants-it/561926622/ I really liked this one. Talks about how Rocco has allowed a different vibe in the clubhouse ("Baldelli started spring training with a relaxed, rest-and-recovery atmosphere, but stressed that his players should always be professional — but be themselves") and how the many Twins from Latin America have flourished in this better environment.
  15. gunnarthor
    SI has a front page story breaking down the Yankee/Astros ALCS series so .... not everyone is as pumped for Twins/Yankees as you.
  16. gunnarthor
    Yeah, I like our defense but even that seems like it's playing worse than the sum of its parts. I could be wrong but after Trubisky was injured, it seemed that the defense was still using Kendriks and/or Barr in a spy set against Collins for a few drives. Like, the defense didn't know to change it's game plan against a back up. And we resigned Barr and there was all this talk that they'd make use of his rushing skills and ability to disrupt the offense and instead he's back to the same not-quite-right-fit defense for him. As for our offense, it's a mess. The line is a joke - I can't believe how much the center and left guard are just revolving doors right now. Gads. Cousins is what he is and the coordinator has to figure out what works - maybe the hurry up offense? - and slim down the playbook to get the most out of him.
  17. gunnarthor
    We have 25+ years of Pohlad ownership. We have comments made by Levine. We know they grabbed Falvey to mimic Cleveland's growth (low payroll) over voices that would build another way. This team isn't going to spend in free agency. That Cruz is arguably the best FA signing since Morris tells us more about the Twins than Cruz. My personal opinion is that teams should either go huge in free agency (nab Cole, for instance) or basically sit it out. The middle range rarely works. We'll see if Falvine can figure out how to build support a team or if it will all fall on the players.
  18. gunnarthor
    Twins have about a 120m or so payroll this year. I don't expect that the Twins will increase it that much. Certainly not to 140. While they'll get a little salary relief they'll also have some big arb bills to pay. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIN/minnesota-twins-salaries-and-contracts.shtml While those numbers seem high - and some players will be released/traded instead of coming back - it's probably somewhat close, especially with Berrios entering Arb 1 and Sano, Buxton, Rosario and Rogers all entering Arb 2. Second year arb average is 5m and I think three of those guys will probably get more than avg. Basically, there is no way the Twins are signing Cole. They will probably clear some salary by trading Rosario and make some minor pitching signings. I think they'll resign Pineda but Odorizzi and Gibby will walk. And then they'll probably make another two minor signings similar to Perez and go with Berrios, (Perez clone 1), (Perez clone 2) and then try to find ways to make Dobnak, Thorpe, Gonsalves etc work while creating a pitching staff that more resembles the Rays large bullpen group rather than traditional starters.
  19. gunnarthor
    I could be wrong, but it seemed like he was open after five seconds of route running. He didn't get separation within 10 yards. That could be coaching issues - maybe we should have called more intermediate routes rather than long ones - but when I watched him on replays, he was never really open until pretty late into the play. And that was usually after the interior line had collapsed. I could be wrong but that's what it looked like to me.
  20. gunnarthor
    I think I'm done with Zimmer and Spielman. He's solid as a DC but his teams are never ready and the team doesn't seem to understand its identity. Which seems like a disconnect somewhere. I don't think Cousins is the problem itself but he isn't a fit for this team. With a crappy OL (again) we needed a more mobile QB for our passing game and we need to develop a respectable run game. The coaching staff isn't helping at all. We win the toss but defer which is the opposite of what we should do - a run heavy team with a good defense should take the ball first, esp since the defense is better at halftime adjustments anyway. A run heavy team with a good defense isn't great at playing from behind so they should try to take the lead right away and limit the other teams first half possessions - just like Chicago did today. And then use the strong defense to limit the other teams first second half possession - just like Chicago did today. Our passing game is a mess. Theilen is the home town boy done good but he takes forever to develop his routes that aren't slants. If Cousins' primary read takes too long to develop with this line, we get a bunch of sacks. I don't think it was a coincidence that our only good drive was a hurry up offense that focused on Diggs and Johnson in the passing game. We don't have much at third WR and are trying to rely on multi-TE sets - which don't work when playing from behind.
  21. gunnarthor
    I'm sure the Giants knew about it and didn't write it down anywhere.
  22. gunnarthor
    The last few in the pen probably don't matter. If we need Graterol to pitch, we're already in trouble. I think Gibby in the pen makes sense. The lineup looks right to me.
  23. gunnarthor
    Of course he shouldn't.
  24. gunnarthor
    What do you mean by that? All the sports leagues are concerned about this to some extent b/c they see it as a reputational harm to the sport. So they try to punish the players (and if that collaterally harms the victim, so be it). Or do you mean the pro sports leagues should work with players (and, in cases where it's needed, spouses) to get counseling and anger management and focus on the underlying issues that may have caused the incident?
  25. gunnarthor
    I'm not sure. Pitching, league wide, is rough. So I'm not sure we have better affordable options. He's relatively durable and good for about 160 ip or so a year in 28-30 starts. I guess I'll worry more after the playoffs.
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