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Platoon

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Everything posted by Platoon

  1. Platoon
    The question isn't really if the Twins a better team when Buxton plays. That seems evident. And middle defense is extremely important. And his is elite. The real question is at what point does his absence negate his presence. There is a point, but I don't think it's known yet. But the poster who mentioned this constant abuse of his body will shorten his career has a good point. There is validity to whether trading an oft injured Buxton for a #1 SP with some contract control is a good idea. When the Sondegaard matter came up I guess I wouldn't have done it. And still probably wouldn't. I think Buxton can be that good. But another year of this changes that equation completely.
  2. Platoon
    I totally agree with the career year offense issue. You know something is too good to be true when Jason Castro looks like Babe Ruth for half a season, and Andrianza looks like the second coming of Rod Carew. While I do like their approach on hitting, way more aggressive, I still think the all or nothing philosophy sooner or later always turns into nothing. Baseball is a pitchers game, the same way blackjack is a dealers game. The numbers always catch up to you. I am not as sure though that the team could have turned this into a Houston/Dodgers/Yankees club. The lower level of SP and the IF defense left holes one seasons acquisitions could likely have not corrected. We could have gotten "better" but could not have made the pitching on this team good enough to consistently stop quality teams. That kind of staff has to be developed by teams like MN in house as a rule.
  3. Platoon
    The top two GIF showed what appeared a curve ball on the left GIF and a FB on the right one. Tipping pitches? Or simply an extremely SSS? Someone smarter than me would have assuredly noticed this by now, I would think. As for dropping arm slot. That's often the sign of a nagging ache. Shoulder? Velocity and spin rate aside, not much is ever gained by dropping an arm angle. Especially for someone as short as he is. Flat arm slots produce frisbees, making good hitters happy hitters. Btw, excellent detailed post.
  4. Platoon
    The top two GIF showed what appeared a curve ball on the left GIF and a FB on the right one. Tipping pitches? Or simply an extremely SSS? Someone smarter than me would have assuredly noticed this by now, I would think. As for dropping arm slot. That's often the sign of a nagging ache. Shoulder? Velocity and spin rate aside, not much is ever gained by dropping an arm angle. Especially for someone as short as he is. Flat arm slots produce frisbees, making good hitters happy hitters.
  5. Platoon
    ".........advanced coaching staff has no stats to answer the big questions". I would imagine they have stats, pages and screens full of em! But not everything is magically fixable. We may hope that Berrios is an ace, but that doesn't make him so. He may simply be a good pitcher when he is top of game healthy with little room for error. Gibson? Same old Gibby, pitches like the Lion in the Wizard of Oz. No courage, nibble, nibble, nibble. Point is you can't make mediocre talent, dominant talent. It can have its nice streaks, but it generally returns to its basis. Parkersburg point was astute. Sitting on 95 mph is completely different than hitting 95. Reaching for 95 affects not only movement, it affects control and in the long run, longevity.
  6. Platoon
    You can play well sometimes and lose You can play poorly sometimes and win. The problem the Twins have is that they are generally playing poorly most of the time. It seems it's either the Bombas or nothing. The pitching is not good, but it's not easy to pitch well when there are so many questionable plays behind you. I say questionable because you can't use the word errors in MLB, as none are generally allocated. Last night had to be about the worst display of IF play, catcher included, that I have seen in MLB in quite awhile. If I watched a high school game with IF defense like that I would have been disappointed.
  7. Platoon
    Thats easy, there's one more tomato on the bottom of the plate than the top. I spotted it immediately. Would have commented sooner but I was at my weekly OCDA meeting.
  8. Platoon
    I am watching the game on TiVo, and am in the 6th just after Cron's whiff on a tag, of all things. The defense on this team is beyond horrid. They are sloppy, lazy, and inattentive. And those are on the good days. Jr. High school throw behind a runner? Ball between the legs of the "much improved" Garver? A throw from RF that misses second by ten feet? That's not even close to all of it. It's simply bizzare.
  9. Platoon
    Any stat that tells me RG is the best LF in baseball is puzzling, or worse. But regardless of how accurate defensive stats are, or aren't, you don't need analytics to see that this Twins team has sunken into a defensive morass......... There are days it's borderline embarrassing.
  10. Platoon
    And 38th defensively!
  11. Platoon
    It's important to remember that when the team moved to MN Killebrew was one of the main draws of this new Twins team. I loved watching Puckett play, and there are valid arguments to be made for both. I would understand how it's difficult for someone who did not see both play to appreciate how big Killebrew was to both the Twins and MLB in general. IIRC Jim Bouton called him the "Fat Kid", with deep respect!
  12. Platoon
    This. Thanks Chief!
  13. Platoon
    The long list is nice, and productive. But so many surprises means so many are possibly over performing their talent level? Regression coming? Or will enough carry forward those improvements. I can see Garver, Sano and Kepler doing so. Some of the others suffer from either very SSS, age, or a longer history of lower outputs than successful ones. Time will tell.
  14. Platoon
    Keplers power surge is a big surprise for me also. But the biggest surprise is that third comes before second? :)
  15. Platoon
    I would like to like this about 7 times!
  16. Platoon
    RBI situation? I want the guy who puts the bat on the ball the most often, yet with some drive. Arrez. He is an awful tough out. Yes, if I am down 3 with two on, two out, that equation changes. But if I want to move one runner to the plate it's Arrez hands down.
  17. Platoon
    One of the simplest evaluations of his crazy improvement is the simple fact that he has went from about the 11th or 12th guy I would want up in an RBI situation to about the second. Arrez (sp) would likely be 1st, unless it was a HR needed.
  18. Platoon
    And since respecting opponent and game are part of the game then Cave should have showed his respect and taken that pitch, as he would have in almost every other AB he has ever taken as a pro. He ain't the kind of hitter who gets a green light. But since that's turned into an intractable discussion, I yeild the rest of my time.
  19. Platoon
    Writing down the unwritten rules would make them written. This would seemingly reduce the passion that the unwritten rules seem to generate. The baseball rule book is thick enough and confusing enough as is. You can't write every little thing down. . Bottom line I bet every sport has unwritten rules. But since I wasn't engrained in any other sport I don't know any. But they are out there, lurking, waiting to be enforced on the unsuspecting! Speaking of unsuspecting, I bet none of Rocco, Cave, Kepler, the 1B coach, nor the umpire were unsuspecting when Kep got pegged. They just moved up a base, and discussed it later.
  20. Platoon
    Well fortunately Caves Career wont be derailed by taking a 3-0 cookie in an 8 run game. More likely that will come if he keeps diving at sinking liners 6' from his glove?
  21. Platoon
    Seems a generational gap here. Lol. I had the opposite experience in coaching a Legion game. We were completely outmanned by a team that had been in the state high school tourney that year. They were up ten, we had one AB left before the "mercy rule" kicked in. They tried to squeeze a run in from third. I didn't go tell that coach to keep trying, I told him to look at the damn scoreboard! And I asked him what the hell he thought he was doing. Some here think an unwritten rule is poor sportsmanship. So what is piling on? While I give Cave credit for apologizing, he was an idiot. And I bet that's exactly what he got told at 1B. Does anyone remember a few years ago when someone on the Twins did something comparatively stupid, the next guy got plunked. He didn't go after the pitcher, he went into the dugout after his teammate. Well played! I went to one of my 11 year old grandsons games this summer. The other team was far more talented, and rightfully was overwhelmingly ahead. Easily past a ten run lead. And they just kept stealing base after base, and scoring on passed balls. The only thing those opposing players learned that day was the unwritten rule of arrogance.
  22. Platoon
    There really aren't a lot of surprises here with the exception of the teams HR binge. Some of that is the juiced ball, but they still are hitting more than anyone. And, that juiced ball is likely a contributor to some of the "biggest hit of the year" HR's flying out of parks daily. No ones lead is safe. On defense most of the players are as advertised. Defense is sort of a constant. And the Twins IF has been consistent. You can hide a Polanco with the shifts to the point his bat makes him palatable. But his lack of arm and non dependable glove work still will show up. He has a glove like a third baseman, and an arm like a second baseman (barely). Cron temporarily surprised me at 1B, but that apparently was an illusion. You need more accurate IF arms to be able to mitigate his glove. Finally while I don't agree with the "batting order doesn't matter crowd", I am more concerned with the use of the pen. I do think RP would function better if they had an idea where they stood. As it is right now there is no apparent rhyme or reason to pen usage. Maybe the level of mediocrity makes usage a moot point? But it wouldn't hurt to find out.
  23. Platoon
    Joe Mauer called, wanted to know if we miss him yet?
  24. Platoon
    True, as long as the HR's are flying, and you are facing pliant pitchers. But, sometimes you gotta make your own luck. That said I think the reason Rocco sits on his hands most games is that stealing and bunting seem statistically passe. I also doubt Rocco is a hunch guy.
  25. Platoon
    Bluto: Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! Twins fans words to live by!
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