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Platoon

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Everything posted by Platoon

  1. Platoon
    Nice article. Thanks.
  2. Platoon
    I am not a Molitor fan, and your article touches on one game, but could be considered seasonal also. The worst part of the RG switch was we were behind, not the defense. Santana ain't no gem, but Robbie is also a butcher. Molitor has not improved an iota since he started. He has no feel for managing, he seems to make moves, to make moves. He burns out BP pitchers who are hot. His lineups and discipline are inconsistent. I would imagine no one except a couple veterans has a clue of their standing on the roster. I don't know about the last 4 games but I do know he used 8 different lineups in the first 8 games! C'mon. MLB does not have a participation rule. That said, I bet Falvine is not looking forward to the day they have to go see Pauls buddy Jim and break the news!
  3. Platoon
    ............. I practiced to be a Catholic for years, and never got the hang of it!
  4. Platoon
    I wasn't surprised they have a long pitching staff, they always seemed to in the past also. And yes they could have came north with one less relief pitcher, with the extra days off and got away with it. I still think that as much as I prefer 12 RP that ship may have sailed. Pitch counts and more situational pitching moves need more pitchers. And remember, with the exception of E Santana the SP is still less than a sure thing. There's a little smoke and mirrors in a staff without a legit #1, or even a good #2.
  5. Platoon
    The article when based on one game is fine, but left out of the equation was the fact Molitors history is this will be one of about 125 different lineups he sends out. And if one is going to use metrics when admiring the on base guys high in the order, one has to use metrics to question the incessant bunting also. As an aside, plate discipline had little to do with taking walks in this particular game. Some of the fans in the first row were more in danger than the strike zone was.,
  6. Platoon
    Santana was in mid season form, the Sano bomb was impressive, and the defense better than last year. Even the bunts were in fair territory this year! An oddity indeed. But I do wonder how the analytically savvy Falvine will take the the bunt happy approach of their manager? As for RG, there is absolutely no way I would offer him four pitches out of the strike zone. To his credit he has a fine eye. Which is important if you can't hit. Watching him DH is gonna take some getting used to, but I guess it's better than him wearing a glove! .
  7. Platoon
    Parks removal from the 40 man was likely his undoing. To replace him on the 40, after determining he might not be able to handle MLB pitching based on ST would have been difficult. Not impossible, but difficult. The bench is short enough as is, and this would have forced RG into the OF 3-4 days a week. Ugh. If Park proves he can hit AAA fastballs with consistency, then you can bring him up and hopefully move RG. No I have not forgotten DanSan. But he would need to be replaced by a true utility player, with the bench as short as it is. Yet another pitching related problem.
  8. Platoon
    There's a lot of moving parts here. But the biggest one was Pohlads decision to protect his buddy. If he had not done that, Molitor would have saved face as being moved by the new administration. Falvine would be judged on their choice of a new guy right out of the chute, and roster decisions would not be graded on this curve. And it would have definitely helped ticket sales. All this said, it's not inconceivable that either scenario is correct, but my bet is on evaluation of players over a longer period. That fits in with both the slow pace of movement in FO moves, and in the simple fact that this team is not one SP away from contention.
  9. Platoon
    I know this is going to be as popular as warm beer, but with what amounts to a two man bench, DanSan fills a specific need. There maybe another player on the market who can replace him easily. But we don't have him. And EE cannot play OF at all, and RG is remarkably the DH. (that said he can't play OF at all either) Park did put up nice numbers, but required a 40 man move. My other question on Park is whom did he hit the dingers off of? I just have a very hard time believing a veteran player with little exposure to ML fastballs is just going to change his swing and start catching up to big heat. Pitchers in ST work on THEIR stuff, not on opposing hitters. As to Falvine, if this roster was in a vacuum, I would start looking for a new FO. But it's not. Plus they are hamstrung with what I feel is an extremely poor manager. One that may have more of the owners ear than we acknowledge!
  10. Platoon
    I am not ready to throw the new FO under the bus just yet. That said the bus is coming down the street and it will probably get here around the middle of June. Hopefully those two aren't standing too close to the curb at the time! .
  11. Platoon
    Just think if Rip Von Twins fan woke up from his long sleep. He rubs his eyes, and asks what year is it? Informed it's 2017 and spring training is winding down he asks how the Twins did during his 7 year nap. Informed of the carnage from those years, he looked at last years roster, and then this years! His comments cannot be repeated verbatim on TD, but they alluded to the Twins retaining Terry Ryan after a 103 loss season based on the fact that this new roster was obviously Ryans handiwork! When informed Pohlad had actually dismissed TR and brought in the two headed Falvine, Rip was hear to mutter WTF, and announce he was going to take another nap!
  12. Platoon
    IF we would platoon Grossman based on who was pitching, this could conceivably give RG 3-4 starts a week in the OF. And you either move Rosario to RF if RG hits for Kepler, or you put RG in RF with that grade 20 arm? On a team that still specializes in PTC? :(
  13. Platoon
    Good post, but you forgot #3. The Contract.
  14. Platoon
    I always believed as a rule, that GM gave their managers the team, and they managed what they got. I know from listening to and about Gardenhire he wasn't that discreet about the fact he didn't get what he wanted for his roster.
  15. Platoon
    While I am not a Ryan fan, he and Bill Smith did not necessarily leave the cupboard bare. But while they have left a better than serviceable OF, and some potential offense, they never could figure out a way to acquire what is likely the two most important parts of a baseball team. Starting pitching and SS. They either truly believed you could consistently club other teams into submission, or found it easier to acquire players of decent caliber at less sought after positions. Tom Kelly was a fixture in this orginisation for decades, but his belief in SP and defense apparently did not migrate uphill in the chain of command.
  16. Platoon
    Flexibility is a key complement in this matter. Two years ago the team could have made a run if the FO had purchased a front line rental. But that team, and this one cannot trade it's youthful postion players to acquire one. They were on the right track with the Dozier idea, but it didn't pan out. This season, win or lose, will go a long way to determining what they chase next winter. If it goes as I think it will, they throw everything and the kitchen sink into finding a #1 or #2 SP, without trading anyone under 30 years old. Basically cash. There aren't a lot of trading chips that we can move. So it will become a test of whether the perception of the Pohlads frugality is indeed just a perception.
  17. Platoon
    Since I didn't know any big words like "framing", we used to refer to it as dragging the ball off the plate. We weren't dealing with late breaking 92 mph sliders, or exploding FB's though. But there were plenty of late breaking curves, caught while sliding your glove across the plate and dragging it past the zone. Different level, same effect. It was nice to hear Castro discuss giving the ump a view, and that size does matter. That factor may be more important than framing in the amount of strikes called, or not called.
  18. Platoon
    Dissing ABBA should result in at least 3 warning points, and being sent to bed without supper!
  19. Platoon
    The bad new about the last 6 years of Twins baseball, is the Minnesota Twins! The good news, in its wake comes an article like this. . As any reader of The Onion knows, the secret is to make a ridiculously impossible scenario appear to be almost plausible. Well done Sir!
  20. Platoon
    Molitor is being the good soldier, at little cost. Apologizing for something that you had nothing to do with, is an assured way to get support, and to deflect your heretofore critics. If in fact Molitor was responsible for Polanco being a 2B in Rochester, then Pohlad fired the wrong guy! This is only one of several times that Molitor has intimated that he makes personnel decisions. Another that comes to mind is the Rosario walking to third base fiasco. If indeed Paul Molitor has the authority to make decisions on position assignents in MiLB, and 25 man roster decisions, what pray tell does a GM, or for that matter two GM's do?
  21. Platoon
    Thanks for the history. I seldom read blogs, and my flip phone makes it difficult to post. . But checking in is a daily event. While the Twins have made following baseball difficult on more than one occasion, I think this site makes it easier to get past the depressing play in several ways. One is sort of an institutional sense of humor. And the other is one mentioned above. An overall feeling of civility, a trait seemingly in rare supply both on the Internet, and life in general. Keep up the good work!
  22. Platoon
    I agree with the premise of the article, and most of the content. I will say that I never thought the 2015 team over achieved as players. That would have given rationale to those 83 games. Having watched a lot of them, thanks TiVo, I saw an unreal amount of odd happenings. Critical errors by opponents, pop fly two out base hits, missing the opponents ace in four game series. It went on and on. Karma caught up to the 2016 team, and it showed. I have the 2017 Twins just shy of 80 wins. Their youth will dramatically improve this year. As you noted their relief pitching is not blocking advancements. But three problems were not adressed last year. One is easily corrected, but will still have an unknown cost. Paul Molitor. Either he does a Ying to his previous Yang, or precious developmental time will be wasted. The other two went hand in hand. SS and starting pitching. SS may have been tinkered with, but it did not solve the Polanco issue. Or do we know if Polanco will actually sit at all knowing Molitors proclivity for offense. And the SP remains a morass of #4 starters. All too easy to stick out there, too good to trade, and too bad to trade. The youth will easily drag us over 59 wins. The sad part is the failure to address th SP and manager will likely keep us under .500. Yet again!
  23. Platoon
    He got jerked around by his manager last year, as did several other players. He seldom started against LH pitchers, even though he had a 1.262 OPS against them. And as has been noted on this thread and others, he seems to get benched when he's hitting well. I think it would be foolish not give him a regular slot, whether that be as the 1B when a LH is pitching or to try him against everybody. Basically we do not yet know what he's capable of. Vargas' use is one of the reasons I have no confidence in this manager at all. And that "problem" remains! With guys like Vargas you have to decide whether they have the potential, and then let it come out. If a player looks at every AB as a boarding pass to Rochester, it's hard to hit!
  24. Platoon
    The jury on Molitor may be out, but he is lucky to have the Chief Justice in his pocket! Otherwise I think the verdict would not have gone his way. But even with Molitors Maddening Managerial Malpractice this team will rise or fall on its SP, and it's corps of youngsters. I really think Buxton is going to fulfill the Buxton practice of struggling initially and then dominating. Sano will do what Sano does, hit the ball. Kepler is a sound baseball player with an upside. I don't think it's fair to expect Dozier to hit that many home runs again, in fact he would be worth more on base more often than hitting solo singers while down 4 runs. Polanco can hit, but the left side of the IF will mitigate some of their offense. The BP has arms in waiting, it can be fixed. But oh that SP!
  25. Platoon
    If EE was put back into LF, even for an inning, there would be "Miss Me Yet" billboards on 35W with DanSans pic on them. Or, in other words, if anyone can make Robby G. look like a MLB outfielder, EE is the guy.
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