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gunnarthor

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Everything posted by gunnarthor

  1. gunnarthor
    Oh, man, did I like The Big Short. That was fantastic. The scene with Carroll in the Vegas sushi bar was both hilarious and made me very angry. We lost a ton in the 08 recession. (We were big holders of Wachovia and Citi stocks). Great film.
  2. gunnarthor
    I think that's a point that real life GMs have to push back a bit on. As I see it, I think we should leave Buxton/Rosario in the majors unless the Twins think: 1) the failure's are destroying their confidence, or 2) time in AAA will accelerate their learning curve. But the Twins also have to put a product on the field that all fans (not just those that post on TD) will want to watch. Target Field prints money for the Pohlad family so they want people in it. TF was funded by tax payers so the team has a PR nightmare if it says 'losing is fine, spend money anyway.' If the Twins were 4-5 right now, they wouldn't be under this pressure and could let the growing pains happen at this level - which is what I think they expected. But a historically bad start (probably) means some alterations of the plan. And the GM's job is not just to create the best future team - he very much does have to worry about attendance and revenue and keeping his boss happy. I don't think the Twins ever wanted to go the slash and burn route that the Astros did, which really hurt their relationship with the fans (their attendance figures, even last year, were worse than the Twins, as were their TV ratings). It can't ignore the bad start. It's a fine line. So I do think the GM might say - let Buxton get fixed in AAA where the fans won't see those ugly at-bats, bring him up when he's hitting again and in the meantime try to field a more competitive team at the ML level so fans still come to the ball park.
  3. gunnarthor
    That's a really good point. Last year, I thought Mike Nikorak might be a nice sleeper pick for someone and he slid all the way to 27. There will be some nice talent at 15 although we might not nab the right guy. Should still be fun to watch.
  4. gunnarthor
    So, b/c I'm married with children I never see things while they're current but we just rented Spotlight, the movie about the priest sexual abuse scandal. Anyone see it? It's a really great (but depressing) movie.
  5. gunnarthor
    It's almost like you purposefully ignored the context of my post.
  6. gunnarthor
    That makes no sense. The last players acquired by Ryan (in the draft) were: 2007 - Revere (traded by Ryan 2012) 2006 -Parmelee, Benson, Robertson, Valencia (****ty draft) 2005 - Garza, (traded by Smith), Slowey (traded by Ryan 2012) Duensing (a solid enough draft class) 2004 - Plouffe, Perkins (both still with Twins, both solid enough players) 2003 -Moses (never made it), Baker (injured in 2012 and released), nice hit though. 2002 - Span (traded by Ryan 2012), Crain, Neshek (both allowed to leave as FA under Smith) Other than 06, those were solid enough drafts. The talent drain wasn't b/c of Ryan.
  7. gunnarthor
    I think what makes Ryan a good GM is that he has built up three groups of minor leaguers, that he was able to keep the window open longer than any other low payroll GM, that his view of building with youngsters is the norm now. That the Twins didn't win a WS under him is sad but not really surprising. (And that his detractors ignore the massively uneven playing field he was on is incredibly dishonest). I tend to think that most of those teams overachieved. As for the last two years, I correctly though last years team would be a .500 team and I thought this years team would be in the playoff hunt. Obviously, this start looks horrible but it doesn't change that we have a really nice nucleus of players.
  8. gunnarthor
    You haven't moved the goal posts? In this thread alone, you've argued that the Twins didn't make a trade like the Cubs with Shark. When people pointed out that Ryan didn't have a Shark to trade, it was Ryan's fault that the 2012 team didn't have a Shark on the roster. When people suggested Smith might have failed to give Ryan a good roster, you blamed the roster construction on the GM from 5 years before (which, of course, would suggest that this years bad roster is Smith's fault, but never mind).
  9. gunnarthor
    No, I don't think so. I'm pretty sure my liberal bonafides are better than anyone else on this forum. I think those of us who support Ryan tend to view things in big pictures and those who don't want to focus on little things, which is why the goal posts keep getting moved. It's frustrating.
  10. gunnarthor
    That's simply wrong. A draft might get you two players. A team is built up of players from many different drafts (or signings). Last year the Cubs had 13 players accrue 1 WAR or more. Some were drafted in 2014 and some were drafted in 2002. The Twins, under Smith, let the cupboard run bare. Ryan restocked it. It's not his fault that the well ran dry after he left.
  11. gunnarthor
    Because knee-jerk reactions are a really dumb way to run a franchise. We've been arguing about this for years Mike. Last year, you made nearly the same comments about Ryan, saying when will we see results. I told you that I thought last years team looked like a .500 team to me. You said if they aren't, can Ryan go? And, of course, I was right. It was a .500 team last year. Clearly, Ryan has the rebuild on the schedule most of us supporters thought it would be on. The slow start to this year - a year most of the pessimists said would be a step back year - doesn't change Ryan's very good rebuild.
  12. gunnarthor
    Well, they have quality players in the majors already, despite their ugly start. And I think it's a bit of a exaggeration to blame the 2012 roster (for instance) on Ryan. Of the players Ryan inherited in 2012, he traded a bunch of veterans - Morneau, Span, Slowey, Liriano and Revere (all acquired under Ryan's previous regime).
  13. gunnarthor
    I hope they send down Rosario but I think it'll be Buxton.
  14. gunnarthor
    Well, I assume that no one expected Sano's OPS+ 30 to be the high mark among the three. Rosario looks lost, I'd send him down first. I imagine the back up plan was Danny Santana (on the DL) and Maestro (not on 40 man roster) and the team might like Murphy more than Maestro? As for Arcia, I'm sure he'll get some chances but he sucked in AAA last year, clearly isn't in Molitor's good graces, had a bad ST and is a bad fielder.
  15. gunnarthor
    Define home grown talent. Since the Twins were pretty competitive for the first decade of this century, I assume you are cherry picking home grown talent to mean exclusively draft picks made since 2001, correct? I think it's fair to say that the team Ryan took over in 2012 not having Shark on it is probably not Ryan's fault.
  16. gunnarthor
    Yeah, this exactly. If the young guys are up and struggling, it's "Ryan rushed them!" If they sign a vet, it's "you're blocking the youngsters!"
  17. gunnarthor
    Out of curiosity, who does Klaw have at #15?
  18. gunnarthor
    Yeah, that was weird. Kepler's up b/c only he and Walker are on the 40 man, so that makes sense. But starting him against the lefty didn't. I also thought that Molitor would give Kepler a few starts in a row.
  19. gunnarthor
    Gordon's start is really encouraging. Hope he can keep this up all year.
  20. gunnarthor
    So we want to fire Ryan b/c Buxton isn't hitting like Correa and Bryant? Lunhow's trades haven't helped much (at least not yet). A lot of the success of the Astros team last year was b/c of Wade's moves before he was fired. The tanking for the top pick strategy is still in doubt. As is trading away a ton of talent for Giles. Ryan didn't have guys like Shark to trade. Perkins was the closest thing. All three teams were in different places when the GMs took over and all three had different problems. All three focused on improving the minor league talent first. All three teams sucked until last year. All three teams have a nice young nucleus. Both MN and Houston are starting a little wonky this year. Both will be fine.
  21. gunnarthor
    Yeah, they could, I suppose. The NL only has 9 teams trying this year. And they have a massive payroll advantage that should keep them in the hunt while the AL looks more even. But they won't make the playoffs 5x in 7 years. Only a handful of teams have been able to pull that off.
  22. gunnarthor
    I find it more aggravating that fans want to burn the place down after 8 games. If you think Hoyer or Lunhow are on the right path, than you should think the Twins are.
  23. gunnarthor
    You might be putting the cart before the horse. They had a good year last year but, like the Twins, they sucked until last year.
  24. gunnarthor
    Well, as far as I can see, only Park really is controversial. In the OF, Ryan decided to go with Rosario, Buxton and Sano. Now you could argue that Sano should be at third and Buxton should be in the minors and the Twins should have a stopgap of some kind in center field. That kind of kills the 'play the kids' theme but you could argue it. (Also, most one year CF stop gaps probably wouldn't' be much of an improvement) Rosario made a lot of outs last year and is doing so again this year. The team decided to go with him (although Kepler might eventually move him out but probably not before July). I'm ok betting on Rosario with Kepler in the wings over a stop gap. In the IF, you know what you have with the veterans. Plouffe could have been moved but, as argued many times, the market for third baseman might not have been very good and the Twins might very well think Sano can't play third. If either of those two is correct, keeping Plouffe and putting Sano in RF is the right decision. The controversial decision is Park, who I think is a good gamble but might need to go to AAA first. If they didn't go with Park, they'd probably have Arcia or Vargas there. (Or, you could argue that Sano would DH and Kepler/Arcia would be in RF) Neither plan would alleviate the strike outs. Basically, the line up is the lineup of the future and there will be growing pains. The Twins line up will be good when Buxton and Sano are good.
  25. gunnarthor
    Dang, mlb has to update their list .... So he's probably not going to be at 15 is what you're saying? While we're on the topic, anyone know how Kyle Cody and Funkhowsier are looking this year?
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