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gunnarthor

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Everything posted by gunnarthor

  1. gunnarthor
    Great photo
  2. gunnarthor
    [i think the strange thing is when they re-use numbers of players that were pretty good for them. Brad Radke wore 22 for quite awhile. What if they induct Radke into the Twins Hall of Fame? I'm not saying they should although I wouldn't have a problem with it. This season they are inducting Camilo Pascual into the Twins HOF and he wore #17. #17 is currently worn by relief pitcher Lester Oliveros so let's say he's on the team in July (14th) when they induct Mr. Pascual. How strange would that feel to be sitting in the dugout wearing the number of the player being inducted into the Twins HOF? They already inducted Radke into the Twins Hall of Fame.
  3. gunnarthor
    4) Injuries. A shortstop might hurt his arm and get moved to second or something. 5) Increase the offense (sorta like Seth's #3). The team might want to move a Bryce Harper or Jesus Montero out from behind the plate to keep his bat in the lineup.
  4. gunnarthor
    I like Hendriks a lot. He seems to possess good traits of a lot of our pitchers - Slowey-like walk rate, better ground ball rate than Blackburn, seems more durable than Baker with slightly better k-rates. Obviously, I have no idea how he'll adjust to the majors but I think he's an underrated prospect.
  5. gunnarthor
    Maybe he's superstitious and thinks a new number means a better season.
  6. gunnarthor
    First, your post seems to suggest lying is the norm, not the exception. Second, the Dominican Republic does issue birth certificate and Sano has one. Thirdly, Sano was intensely investigated about his age. The tests included a dental examination that calculated his age. It's the same test ICE and CBP use to test young people caught at the border. The Twins had MLB investigate Sano before they signed him. MLB, the Pirates, the Twins and bone tests have all concluded that Sano has not lied about his age.
  7. gunnarthor
    Last few drafts - Hunt was a bust, Hicks is developing slowly, Gutierezz (sp) was considered a reach by some and still hasn't developed into what we want. Gibson and Bashore got hurt, Wimmers got spacey. Our later round picks, with the exception of Rosario, haven't really been exciting. I liked last years draft but Micheal is the only one who might move quickly. Most of our drafts have been well received at the time but Goldstein's criticism isn't unfounded.
  8. gunnarthor
    The rule V draft has changed so much since Santana. Teams have an extra year of control of players so a guy like Santana is much less likely to slip through the cracks. Most analysis going in of the rule v draft concluded that no good players were available. The Twins probably picked Doyle b/c he potentially gives them back end pitching depth depth like Diamond did last year. He might also be better as a relief pitcher. He has good control, doesn't walk many and doesn't give up many home runs. Perhaps he becomes an effective relief pitcher. In any event, it's hard to criticize the Twins for taking a chance on him.
  9. gunnarthor
    Yeah, this. That makes the bench Hughes, Plouffe, third catcher and Burroughs who can push Valencia a bit.
  10. gunnarthor
    Wasn't it "Hardball?"
  11. gunnarthor
    The Scout and Ed were pretty bad but everyone knew it going in. Angels in the Outfield and Rookie of the Year were kid movies about baseball. But "For the love of the Game" was supposed to be a good film, with good actors and directors. And it really sucked.
  12. gunnarthor
    I think the Twins like Rochester because it has a major airport in it. I don't think they much care about what the owners do to make money in it. If it makes you feel better, when I went to a Trenton Thunder game (AA Yankee team) a few years back, they were selling Phillies merchandise and Garciaparra jerseys (used to be a Red Sox affiliate).
  13. gunnarthor
    I'm not sure that's completely fair comparison either. The Rays had the #1 pick back to back as recently as 07 and 08. The only time they picked later than the Twins was in 09 and 11. The 2011 draft was also the first draft in a long time where the Twins picked before the Rangers. Yankees and Red Sox have financial advantages that the Twins generally did not have, esp with bonus in the draft. I'm not trying to excuse the Twins, their last few draft groups have run into bad luck or just didn't pan out, but I'm also not sure this is a fair comparison of development and is rather just a snapshot in time that might not accurately reflect team developmental abilities. Phil Hughes, for instance, got a ton of hype but really hasn't had much more impact than Nick Blackburn (both had their rookie seasons in 07 and have, within margin of error, the same WAR). The main pitchers for those big market teams have generally not been developed prospects, with a few notable exceptions (Hamels #17 in 02 draft, Lester a 2nd rd pick that same year. Twins took Span at 20 and didn't have a shot for Lester in 2nd). Instead, those teams have spent hundreds of millions on Sabathia, Lee, Halladay, Beckett, Lackey etc.
  14. gunnarthor
    Buxton would seem to fit the Twins mold. Very toolsy high school centerfielder. http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/2012/02/draft-video-byron-buxton/
  15. gunnarthor
    My theory on Boston was that they had a lot of solid hitters (Millar, Varitek, Damon) who were much better when they got ahead of the count. Our pitchers rarely fell behind so their patience wasn't as great an asset for them. And Boston really used to struggle at the Dome and that might have gotten in their heads some.
  16. gunnarthor
    Burnett's a nice choice. And I think Capps will do well in the closer role (not sure if he counts though).
  17. gunnarthor
    The Dome - A lot, including the last game ever played. Posada's HR ball in game 3 landed two seats in front of me. Shea stadium - Santana's CG shutout! Camden - Got both games of a double header after the game I had tickets to was rained out. Morneau had a great day. Safeco - pretty. I just moved back to MN so I'll finally go to TF this season.
  18. gunnarthor
    It's hindsight but taking Gary Brown (or Zack Cox) instead of Alex Wimmers would have been nice. I don't know if either player was really on the Twins radar but both seem to be progressing well.
  19. gunnarthor
    I have no idea if you're right but I could see the Twins holding him back in Florida for a few weeks until the weather warms up since he's coming off some minor injuries.
  20. gunnarthor
    Bashore and Tootle could be interesting guys to watch. I remember the Twins were pretty excited about their 09 draft class (Gibson, Bashore, Bullock, Tootle and McCellum in the first 4 rounds) but it hasn't panned out yet. Injuries can certainly derail a career but it would be nice if one of these guys could bounce back and help the club.
  21. gunnarthor
    Fun article. I'm not really concerned with the #2 pick. I figure the guy we end up taking (Appel, Merrero, Giolito, Zunio, etc) will be a very good prospect. I'm more interested in who slips to us in the supp and early 2nd round. I think those four picks could really inject some talent into the system. But the new slotting system might make high school players (that we usually target) more likely to go to college instead of signing. Both Boyd and Harrison signed for over slot last year. Not sure if either would have signed under the new plan. On the other hand, college pitchers we usually target shouldn't be any different.
  22. gunnarthor
    Really? Kaat did start about 90 more games and threw about 500 more innings for us but that's about it, I'm not trying to knock that, both are, I think, underrated today but still, Blyleven leads in CG, Sho, ERA+, WAR etc, etc.
  23. gunnarthor
    Man, that's a great question. Obviously, Walter Johnson is #1. And Blyleven's Twin career was long enough to be #2. Santana at his best was pretty good but it was a relatively small peak, all things considered. Using WAR for a second, while Santana had several dominating seasons, Radke wasn't bad. He has more seasons in the top 10 for pWAR (as a Twin) than Santana. He's fifth all-time in IP. Frank Viola's 1987-1988 seasons were just as dominating as any of Santana's best seasons. And Jim Kaat threw over 3000 innings for the Twins. Pascual was, as Reusse pointed out, Minnesota's first great pitcher. I don't think his peak was as good as Santana's but it did last longer and he threw 1000+ more innings as a Twin. Without thinking more (should relief pitchers be considered?), I'd rank it 1) Johnson 2) Blyleven (these two probably can't be argued) 3) Pascual 4) Santana 5) Radke
  24. gunnarthor
    Barring a horrible year, Baker should be back and Blackburn is still under contract. Hendriks, I think, we'll eventually earn a rotation spot this year. That's 3 spots. I could see the Twins bringing back Pavano on another one year deal if he makes it through this year reasonably well. Gibson would certainly get slotted in to debut sometime in 2013 although I think they'd still have him start the season at AAA. I'm not sure we'll ever be big FA players for a Grienke type guy. (-sigh-) Maybe Wimmers has a big year. Maybe our #2 pick, if it's a college guy, could jump in early in 2013. If none of that happens though, it could be a year of Swarzak, Doyle, Diamond like guys all getting 10-12 starts until the league figures them out and the next guy comes in.
  25. gunnarthor
    The Twins might have wanted Hardy to go the other way but he didn't. When he went to the opposite field he had a .813 OPS (39 AB), up the middle he had a .796 OPS (175 AB) and when he pulled the ball he had a .742 OPS (71 AB). Obviously, that doesn't account for all his AB. He may have well had AB where he meekly grounded out to second b/c he was trying to go the other way or something. But he went the other way about 13.7% of the time as a Twin and he went the other way 13.7% of the time as an Oriole. For his career, he's gone the other way about 13.9% of the time. He certainly did pull the ball more as an Oriole (as would any RH hitter playing a ton of games at Camden, Fenway and Yankee stadium) but I think it's a bit much to say that the Twins approach was the problem.
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