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gunnarthor

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Everything posted by gunnarthor

  1. gunnarthor
    Let's see - one fired GM, lots of fired coaches in majors and minors, new minor league development guy, huge turnover of players. Frankly, the only thing that wasn't done was firing Gardy. So there's been accountability, you just don't like it because the axe didn't fall on the guy you wanted. Huge difference.
  2. gunnarthor
    From today's Strib, Ryan said "People always like change if you’re not successful. That’s kind of the way professional sports are,” Ryan said. “If you don’t have immediate gratification, change it up. But our ownership is not of that mold. They have faith in our front office, that we’ll get it done." Personally, I think both Gardy and Ryan are part of the solution and am glad our ownership isn't into knee jerk reactions.
  3. gunnarthor
    Should we send May down? Right now Nolasco has to pitch b/c of that contract. Hughes and Gibson should stay in the rotation. Milone seemed like a worthy gamble. My guess is that, if Meyer comes up it'll be in the pen and next year we'll start with those five in the rotation and Meyer would replace the first one when a DL trip comes up.
  4. gunnarthor
    I do think the Twins should be on the Cuban defectors more heavily than they are. Tomas would be a nice start.
  5. gunnarthor
    A while back, I remember looking at every prospect that the Twins had ranked in the top 100 since Ryan became GM. 20% busted - guys like Joe Benson, Matt Moses, Adam Johnson, JD Durbin. But most of them became useful everyday players - ie, solid starters - and about 20% became all stars - guys like Guzman, Mauer, Morneau, Cuddy, Hunter. The other interesting thing was that, of the busts, most of them were ranked high by reputation (like Johnson or Moses who were both high picks). Only a few, like Benson, worked their way onto the list by putting up good numbers in the minors but couldn't make the move to the majors. And the last thing to remember is that, while some top prospects won't pan out, some non-prospects will emerge. These guys were never top 100 prospects - Radke, Santana, Mays, Baker, Koskie, Dougie Baseball, AJ Pierzinski, Jacque Jones, Duensing, Dozier. Maybe Danny Santana gets added to that list next year.
  6. gunnarthor
    I don't think SF would be an ideal trading partner. There #1 prospect is currently hurt and their #2 was just drafted so can't be traded for a year. They are also an old (modestly) old team without a lot of obvious young cost-controlled guys to give back in a trade. From the Twins perspective, I think you'd want to see if the Orioles would make a package around Bundy or the Nats make a package around Gioltio or the Cards make a package around Taveras. But I think those guys are untradeable from their respective clubs points of view so it wouldn't happen. And the Twins shouldn't give up Dozier for an AJ Cole grouped package either. So I don't think he'll get moved. But that's the type of return you'd want to consider.
  7. gunnarthor
    I'd hold out for a date with Yvonne Strahovski instead.
  8. gunnarthor
    Levi Michael has really reemerged as a prospect. Obviously we have SSS in AA but he's not struggling there and his bb/k numbers have been great all year. He could turn into a decent on-base utility type guy for a MI. Nice to see.
  9. gunnarthor
    I think Ryan should gauge interest in the offseason but the return would have to be pretty high. He's been about a 4 WAR guy the last two years and is just now entering his arb years so he'll be pretty cheap yet. I do think that it makes sense to move him if you can find a good return b/c the team does seem to have a few good options behind him - Santana, Rosario, Polanco (who I really like), Michael. But the return would have to be better than the Span/Revere moves and I'm not sure they'd find a team to bite on that.
  10. gunnarthor
    There are a few narratives on TD that have to be followed despite being false. Gardy is a dumb redneck is one of them.
  11. gunnarthor
    But, aside from PED Ortiz' accusation from a decade ago (which didn't actually fit the facts), is there any evidence that the Twins have a "cookie cutter approach"?
  12. gunnarthor
    That's a good point. IIRC, young Morneau had a bit of the same problem in using the whole field. But by 06, 21 of his 34 home runs went to CF or LF. Good power hitters use the entire field, even if they are usually pull happy. They just have to learn to what to do with certain pitches the pitchers want them to try and pull. Arcia will get there sometime.
  13. gunnarthor
    Threads like this seem to have two purposes - 1) to report on a simple statement made which may or may not have much impact on reality and 2) to remind people yet again that PED Ortiz didn't hit many home runs in MN. I'm really not sure what the point is. As to #1, the numbers show that Vargas isn't pull happy, despite the statement (and while Arcia doesn't go to left field much, he does have a good number of hits back up the middle so he's not entirely pull happy). Additionally, there isn't a lot of reason to believe that the Twins, for years now, have been an collection of hitters who use the entire field. This (like a lot of other memes on TD) has fueled a false narrative about "The Twins Way."
  14. gunnarthor
    We are still in SSS territory but I thought Vargas did a pretty good job of using the whole field as a hitter and the numbers point that out. As a righty, Vargas has hit .300 (3 for 10) going to center or right field and is 3 for 4 when pulling it. As a lefty, Vargas 9 for 20 up the middle or opp field and 4 for 7 pulling it. He doesn't seem determined to pull the ball, despite the nice narrative.
  15. gunnarthor
    Usually you see something that promises "greatest picture ever" and you think, "well, this will probably suck." But, nope, this time it was delivered.
  16. gunnarthor
    Are you freaking kidding? What a wasted ******** season. God I hope he doesn't have Morneau's concussion.
  17. gunnarthor
    Two thoughts 1) This is the right thing to do. No reason to burn an option year this year. 2) Despite saying "I can still hope", people are going to use this as an example of Gardy preferring vets.
  18. gunnarthor
    And here's Jason Turbow's short article on Harper/Atlanta. http://thebaseballcodes.com/2014/08/11/scuff-the-dirt-bryce-but-make-sure-to-watch-where-you-walk/ He gets it right when he says "Ultimately, the gesture was so minor that it should serve as fuel for Braves fans, but not the Braves themselves." Looks like the fans (here and in Atlanta) cared a lot more about it than the players.
  19. gunnarthor
    I assume you and Levi will be as strong in your anti-violence campaign when you see football players hit after the whistle and hockey players drop gloves and fight. I mean, those things have actually caused real injuries as opposed to the dreaded baseball HBP.
  20. gunnarthor
    http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/royals-add-righty-thumper-willingham/ Baseball America's article goes into pretty good depth on Adam but I'd point out one thing: "Adam’s success or failure is largely tied to his delivery. When he gets too upright in his delivery and gets too mechanical he leaves his fastball up, it straightens up and becomes quite hittable. He has three games of seven or more runs allowed this year and he had five games of seven runs or more allowed last year. But when he drives off the mound and gets extension, he gets just as much if not more velocity (92-95 mph) and generates good sink on his fastball while locating down in the zone. Adam added a slider this year, although at its best, his downer curveball is more effective and is usable both as a strike early in the count or as a bigger breaker when he’s ahead of hitters." May had a similar problem when we got him - while tall he pitched short and the ball came in high on a straight plane, letting hitters square up better and/or letting the ball fly out of the zone. It took a couple years, and repeating AA, but May has gotten a lot better with that. Perhaps the Twins see a similar tweek in Adam and can turn him into a solid starter. BA also wrote that "The Twins are getting a great lottery ticket. At his best, Adam shows two plus pitches (his fastball and curveball) as well as an average changeup and a slider that could develop into an average pitch and he does it all with potentially average control." We have three more seasons where we can stash him in the minors while he works on mechanics/control.
  21. gunnarthor
    Well, this got off topic. Too bad. But regardless I think we can safely agree that it added another page to a pretty good rivalry in baseball - something I feel is missing. The A's just beat the Twins 12 straight times and I don't think anyone - either A's or Twins fans - felt much about it. But had it been the White Sox, it would've been a lot worse/better. Rivalries, IMHO, make sports better and rivalries are born b/c of things like this - players disrespecting another team, bad comments in the press, controversial plays, important wins/losses. Regardless of how you feel about Harper, he's added something big to this for the fans of those teams.
  22. gunnarthor
    MLBtraderumors on Adam: The return for Willingham is not insignificant, which is a fair achievement for Minnesota given that the pending free agent was claimed (leaving the Twins without leverage to deal with multiple trade partners). Adam, 23, was a fifth-round pick in 2010. He has scuffled somewhat in the upper minors as a starter (5.13 ERA in 242 1/3 Double-A innings), but has had some success at Triple-A this year in a relief role (2.35 ERA over 15 1/3 frames). Baseball America rated him Kansas City’s 9th-best prospect coming into the year, saying he has a solid heater and average slider but will need to develop a go-to third offering (change or curve) in order to succeed against lefties at the next level. MLB.com also rated him in the ninth slot among KC prospects entering the year, but dropped him to 16th in its mid-season update. Ultimately, Adam represents a controllable depth piece for a Minnesota club that already picked up young starter Tommy Milone earlier this summer. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/08/royals-acquire-josh-willingham.html Seems like a solid trade for us.
  23. gunnarthor
    Adam seems like a nice gamble. Worst case, as he's already in AAA at 23, he looks like a ML relief arm. But he could be a (real) 4/5 starter. Eats a lot of innings, good fastball/slider. Needs a 3rd pitch but solid strike out and walk numbers. Not perfect but could become a 200 inning, 100 ERA+ guy if it breaks right.
  24. gunnarthor
    http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/08/royals-acquire-josh-willingham.html Twins get minor league pitcher Jason Adams - #16 on mlb.com's KC prospect list. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2014/#list=kc Scouting Grades: Fastball: 65 | Curveball: 45 | Slider: 50 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 45 | Overall: 50 The Royals like when they can find talent in their own backyard and they did so when they signed Adam away from Missouri in 2010. While the move to Double-A in 2013 caused struggles initially, Adam improved tremendously as the year wore on. He has an above-average fastball and gained velocity in 2013, complementing it with a new slider, which should be at least Major League average. He throws a curve and a changeup, but both lag behind. He'll need to refine his command, especially with his offspeed stuff, in order to keep moving forward. There's been some talk of Adam being a reliever, and that fastball-slider combination would play very well in short relief, but the strides he made have some believing the big right-hander still has the goods to start.
  25. gunnarthor
    http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/baseball-scouts-use-numbers-too/ Pretty easy read but it features Joe Mauer and scouting grades.
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