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gunnarthor

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Everything posted by gunnarthor

  1. gunnarthor
    Yeah, especially with the rest of the Central falling back a bit. This should be our worst season for a while now.
  2. gunnarthor
    Didn't Souhan suggest something like this a few weeks ago? In any event, I think something will have to change unless Mauer starts hitting. The Twins can't keep putting him in the lineup if he's a .265/.330/.390 guy anymore.
  3. gunnarthor
    I think the Twins trade for Storen and add someone like Darren O'Day or a cheaper option like Tommy Hunter.
  4. gunnarthor
    Yeah, they'd need to add to that but Bedrosian could be a real piece - maybe him and a good SP prospect? Not really sure what the Angels have.
  5. gunnarthor
    This and the Butera trade make me convinced that ML quality catching is a lot harder to find than we fans think and ML teams value it more than we think they should.
  6. gunnarthor
    Right, I forgot we don't give him credit for drafts and international signings b/c it's either something every GM would've done or it's something GMs shouldn't get credit for, depending on how you're feeling on the particular player. I'm honestly baffled by your constant negativity, Mike. At the beginning of the year, you were pretty harsh on Ryan and people like me who said the Twins had a .500-ish team were kool-aid drinkers. Yet we were right. For the last few years, it's been pretty clear that Ryan was rebuilding the team to be built around a new nucleus, somehow you failed to understand/see what was pretty obvious. I guess the new anti-Ryan focus will be that the team is winning on player's he didn't acquire? This year, the Twins got at least 1 WAR from 19 players - 14 were acquired by Ryan. So to your irrelevant question, since Ryan's come back the only minor leaguers he's acquired through means not including the draft, international signing and rule v drafts have been May, Meyer, Sulibrun, Welker, Gilmartin, Pryor, Adam, Turban, Hernandez and Pineda.
  7. gunnarthor
    Ryan is fine. He's had tons of chances to make short term decisions over long term ones and always takes the longterm health of the club first. (Buxton over 3 college pitchers, for example). He's made one move early in the offseason. Since he's come back, he's restocked our system and let it develop. Plouffe and Dozier are both good complementary pieces that can help the 2016 Twins win the AL Central. They don't need to move either of them.
  8. gunnarthor
    A .380 OBP would be third in the AL last year and that would be the most important part. Sure, the 110 .iso is low but that could be forgiven (and, in fairness, Mauer had a better .iso last year). That stat line would have been pretty good, frankly. It wouldn't have been an all-star but it would probably been about 3-4 WAR.
  9. gunnarthor
    Mauer isn't going anywhere, he has a full no-trade clause, he can't go back to catcher. Here's what might happen. The team starts the year with Sano in RF, Plouffe at 3b, Park at DH and Mauer at first. Buxton and Kepler are at AAA. After six weeks, Sano and Park are just what we've been dreaming about - taking walks, hitting HRs, major offensive bats. Plouffe is putting up his standard .250/.315/.430 line. But Mauer is struggling - .265/.325/.330 while Buxton is hitting .400 in Rochester. At that point, the Twins might start to think about moving Mauer to a part time bench spot. Of course, we can also dream and hope that instead of a .265/.325/.330 line Mauer is putting up a .300/.380/.410 line instead.
  10. gunnarthor
    I guess I'm not too worried about him playing RF after watching Torii, Hammer and Arcia in the OF the last few years. I think he'll be ok. He's faster than he looks and his arm will play there. I'm not sure he'll have the instincts to make a good read but I also don't know that he won't. The only concern I have is if he gets hurt but that's probably me being overly concerned. He's a big dude but that doesn't mean he's not in shape.
  11. gunnarthor
    I do think Storen to the Twins is a real possibility. They've been linked to him before the 09 draft and in the first rounds of Span trades. With one year left and an absolute need to move him I think the Twins could get him for something like their supp second round pick, which they could trade. He shouldn't cost much more than Jepsen, IMHO. I'd pass on Ramos, which has been discussed before. I'm not willing to pay the price on Strasburg. He'll be a FA and won't sign an extension. His k/9 look great but he dealt with a bunch of injuries last year (only 127ip) and has yet to have a great season. His 2014 is probably his best - led the league in K's, 3.5 WAR, 200+innings for the only time. I think he'd cost far more than he'd be worth.
  12. gunnarthor
    He lost me when he called Daniel Ortiz an impact prospect.
  13. gunnarthor
    I'll be lame and and say 50/50. There's absolutely nothing wrong with keeping him. He's a solid 3 WAR player who gives us good defense. Sano might not be Rosario in the OF but he can probably be as good as Hunter was (and Arcia and Willingham were) if needed. The reality is, if we lose Plouffe, we can't completely replace him. Sano's bat would be better but he's not as good defensively. Sano at a less important defensive postion, while still letting Park DH, makes just as much sense as moving Plouffe. And that gives the Twins needed depth during the season. If Buxton is hitting .400 in AAA and Hicks and Rosario are both playing well enough to prevent a demotion, well, that's a great problem to have.
  14. gunnarthor
    Confidence that one can hit in the majors? I know Walker is a polarizing prospect and I hope he turns into an absolute stud but the Twins would be stupid to make plans for 2016 requiring them to count on Walker (or Arcia).
  15. gunnarthor
    http://www.startribune.com/twins-pursuit-of-park-not-about-mauer/343872772/ Yeah, it's Souhan but ... He thinks the trade shouldn't be seen as a comment on Mauer and thinks the Twins can get Mauer, Plouffe, Sano and Park into the same lineup. With Park, the Twins have some tradeable assets (Hicks/Kepler) that can help - "This dovetails with what I've been hearing from Twins insiders the last two years - they think they can win a World Series with this young core, and they're going to make a push over the next three years." It'll be interesting to watch this push.
  16. gunnarthor
    http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/byung-ho-park-can-hit-the-snot-out-of-the-ball/ I think this is the best part - "Park, obviously, has no major-league experience, no American track record to examine. We don’t know what the terms of his contract are going to be. We don’t even know that much about the market, or about how the Twins evaluated all their options. I don’t know if this is going to be “worth it,” to the dollar. What I do know is it’ll be good to see what Park can accomplish at the highest level. He’s earned this opportunity, and he’s earned it by demonstrating that he can hit the living crap out of a baseball." The article also shows some of his HRs to centerfield and you can see the 50 ft fence out there that he has occasionally cleared.
  17. gunnarthor
    I'm also not syaing that there's any real interest in Plouffe from the Astros (or even if there's real interest in trading him from MN). But it's something I saw from an Astros team themed website. Would a trade make sense? I have no idea. But it's out there and not created by Twins-fans so I thought I'd throw it out there. I'm sure the other place I saw it was a different Astros blog, not their SBNation site (although it came up there a couple times, as well).
  18. gunnarthor
    I saw it on at least one other Astros blog but I have no idea which one, sorry. I do think Plouffe is an upgrade for them (over the last two years, Plouffe has amassed more WAR than Lowrie and Valbuena combined) and they also have a problem at first base although they should probably give Singleton another shot.
  19. gunnarthor
    The Twins could certainly start the season with a lineup that looks something like this - CF Hicks 2B Dozier 1B Mauer RF Sano DH Park 3B Plouffe LF Rosario C Suzuki SS Escobar And make moves in season just as well.
  20. gunnarthor
    Nice little article from Joe Posnanski that references Hunter and his HOF chances a bit - http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/world-series-mets-royals-winning-with-depth/
  21. gunnarthor
    OK, so I now think Plouffe gets moved. Going by team fWAR for third base (not a great stat), the teams below us at 3B last year that might be considered contenders (ie guys who might want Plouffe for two years) are: Red Sox -2.5 WAR DBacks 0.5 WAR Yankees, Padres, Cleveland at 1.2 WAR Angels 1.8 WAR Astros 2.5 WAR Nationals 3.0 WAR Twins were listed at 3.6.
  22. gunnarthor
    I know it's come up a couple times but here's the last place I saw it in the comment section - http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2015/11/3/9662808/identifying-interesting-offseason-targets-for-the-astros#comments
  23. gunnarthor
    This isn't the only move the team will make and it's probably not even their biggest. They don't have to move Plouffe - they could go with a Sano in RF, Park at DH if they wanted. What this move does do is give the Twins a (potentially) big middle of the order bat to go with Sano. It's not clear how Park will translate to MLB but his upside is pretty darn exciting, if he reaches it.
  24. gunnarthor
    I have a friend from law school who is now an international scout for the Royals. He's based in Asia so I asked his thoughts on Park. "He mashes. I really liked him but he wasn't a fit for us. He will strike out a ton, but I'll be very surprised if he doesn't hit 25 hrs. Saw him hit one out dead center in mokdong stadium over a fifty foot high fence. Must have gone at least 500 ft. Reminds me of magglio ordonez, but his swing is a bit longer. Hits most of his bombs to opposite field. Decent fielder. Strong as an ox. He will have an adjustment period and will need to keep his confidence up, but you should be happy."
  25. gunnarthor
    Wow, I'm somewhat surprised. MLBtraderumors ranked him as their #23 FA but as others have said, scouting reports are tough on him. I'm not sure the Twins should expect him to start right away or send him to the minors first. But I do think this makes it much more likely that Plouffe is traded. The roster is getting crowded.
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