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John Bonnes

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  1. John Bonnes
    You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?1073-Should-Twins-Emulate-White-Sox
  2. John Bonnes
    Vegas picked the White Sox to finish fourth in the AL Central this year, pegging them to win about 74.5 games. Chicago's season essentially ended last night when the Tigers clinched the division, but that means the Pale Hose' playoff hopes lasted until October, about four (five?) months longer than the Twins. They also made anyone who bet the “under” in Vegas look like a fool, exceeding Vegas preseason estimate by 10 games and counting. I am one of those fools. In our Gleeman and the Geek podcast, I predicted a miserable season on Chicago’s south side. They had won 79 games in 2011, but with a run differential that looked worse than that. And then they lost Mark Buehrle to the Marlins and traded away slugger Carlos Quentin and closer Sergio Santos. They had also lost manager Carlos Guillen, for better or worse. But the White Sox responded by getting career (or at least bouncback) years from several suspect veterans. Pitcher Jake Peavy, who had spent most of the last few years injured, led the team in innings. Adam Dunn and Alex Rios were much maligned last year when they were getting paid $24M to knock home just 84 RBI. This year they exceeded that number by 100. Kevin Youkilis came over from the Red Sox to fill a serious gap at third and AJ Pierzynski slugged a career high 27 home runs. However, none of those guys is less than 31 years old and several of them are going to be free agents. The White Sox had a fun year, but they really only had two younger players show they could contribute long-term. Pitcher Chris Sale became the staff ace while showing he could handle a starting pitcher’s workload. And center fielder Alejandro De Aza (who isn’t really young at 28 years old) posted very respectable numbers for a leadoff hitter and center fielder. Which means that this spring, Chicago is likely going to be wrestling with similar questions as there were last spring. Can they trust Rios and Dunn? How will eat Peavy’s innings? Who will play third base? Is Tyler Flowers ready to catch full time? And if things go right, will they still be a good, but not great, team that just misses the playoffs? Meanwhile, the Twins must decide this offseason just how jealous they are of the Sox success this year – because that might just be within reach. The Twins could grab two or three veteran arms and be a .500 club this summer. With a few breaks (which might include some regression from the Sox) they could challenge for the 2013 AL Central last into September. Like the Sox, it’s hard to imagine them winning 90 games, but meaningful baseball would be a welcome change after two years of futility. But if they did that, next offseason they would likely be back in a similar position as the Sox. They would be looking at losing Justin Morneau. They would have an aging roster. The departure of Denard Span and Josh Willingham would be a year away. They would have kept their team together and maybe missed the chance to add some pitching or middle infield prospects. They would have had success, shown they could fill some holes, maybe even given minor league talent time to work it’s way up the farm system, but they would still not have a widespread and deep foundation of a great team. They would still be missing that young and cheap core. Would that be enough?
  3. John Bonnes
    Vegas picked the White Sox to finish fourth in the AL Central this year, pegging them to win about 74.5 games. Chicago's season essentially ended last night when the Tigers clinched the division, but that means the Pale Hose' playoff hopes lasted until October, about four (five?) months longer than the Twins. They also made anyone who bet the “under” in Vegas look like a fool, exceeding Vegas preseason estimate by 10 games and counting. I am one of those fools. In our Gleeman and the Geek podcast, I predicted a miserable season on Chicago’s south side. They had won 79 games in 2011, but with a run differential that looked worse than that. And then they lost Mark Buehrle to the Marlins and traded away slugger Carlos Quentin and closer Sergio Santos. They had also lost manager Carlos Guillen, for better or worse. But the White Sox responded by getting career (or at least bouncback) years from several suspect veterans. Pitcher Jake Peavy, who had spent most of the last few years injured, led the team in innings. Adam Dunn and Alex Rios were much maligned last year when they were getting paid $24M to knock home just 84 RBI. This year they exceeded that number by 100. Kevin Youkilis came over from the Red Sox to fill a serious gap at third and AJ Pierzynski slugged a career high 27 home runs. However, none of those guys is less than 31 years old and several of them are going to be free agents. The White Sox had a fun year, but they really only had two younger players show they could contribute long-term. Pitcher Chris Sale became the staff ace while showing he could handle a starting pitcher’s workload. And center fielder Alejandro De Aza (who isn’t really young at 28 years old) posted very respectable numbers for a leadoff hitter and center fielder. Which means that this spring, Chicago is likely going to be wrestling with similar questions as there were last spring. Can they trust Rios and Dunn? How will eat Peavy’s innings? Who will play third base? Is Tyler Flowers ready to catch full time? And if things go right, will they still be a good, but not great, team that just misses the playoffs? Meanwhile, the Twins must decide this offseason just how jealous they are of the Sox success this year – because that might just be within reach. The Twins could grab two or three veteran arms and be a .500 club this summer. With a few breaks (which might include some regression from the Sox) they could challenge for the 2013 AL Central last into September. Like the Sox, it’s hard to imagine them winning 90 games, but meaningful baseball would be a welcome change after two years of futility. But if they did that, next offseason they would likely be back in a similar position as the Sox. They would be looking at losing Justin Morneau. They would have an aging roster. The departure of Denard Span and Josh Willingham would be a year away. They would have kept their team together and maybe missed the chance to add some pitching or middle infield prospects. They would have had success, shown they could fill some holes, maybe even given minor league talent time to work it’s way up the farm system, but they would still not have a widespread and deep foundation of a great team. They would still be missing that young and cheap core. Would that be enough?
  4. John Bonnes
    Vegas picked the White Sox to finish fourth in the AL Central this year, pegging them to win about 74.5 games. Chicago's season essentially ended last night when the Tigers clinched the division, but that means the Pale Hose' playoff hopes lasted until October, about four (five?) months longer than the Twins. They also made anyone who bet the “under” in Vegas look like a fool, exceeding Vegas preseason estimate by 10 games and counting. I am one of those fools. In our Gleeman and the Geek podcast, I predicted a miserable season on Chicago’s south side. They had won 79 games in 2011, but with a run differential that looked worse than that. And then they lost Mark Buehrle to the Marlins and traded away slugger Carlos Quentin and closer Sergio Santos. They had also lost manager Ozzie Guillen, for better or worse. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] But the White Sox responded by getting career (or at least bouncback) years from several suspect veterans. Pitcher Jake Peavy, who had spent most of the last few years injured, led the team in innings. Adam Dunn and Alex Rios were much maligned last year when they were getting paid $24M to knock home just 84 RBI. This year they exceeded that number by 100. Kevin Youkilis came over from the Red Sox to fill a serious gap at third and AJ Pierzynski slugged a career high 27 home runs. However, none of those guys is less than 31 years old and several of them are going to be free agents. The White Sox had a fun year, but they really only had two younger players show they could contribute long-term. Pitcher Chris Sale became the staff ace while showing he could handle a starting pitcher’s workload. And center fielder Alejandro De Aza (who isn’t really young at 28 years old) posted very respectable numbers for a leadoff hitter and center fielder. Which means that this spring, Chicago is likely going to be wrestling with similar questions as there were last spring. Can they trust Rios and Dunn? How will eat Peavy’s innings? Who will play third base? Is Tyler Flowers ready to catch full time? And if things go right, will they still be a good, but not great, team that just misses the playoffs? Meanwhile, the Twins must decide this offseason just how jealous they are of the Sox success this year – because that might just be within reach. The Twins could grab two or three veteran arms and be a .500 club this summer. With a few breaks (which might include some regression from the Sox) they could challenge for the 2013 AL Central last into September. Like the Sox, it’s hard to imagine them winning 90 games, but meaningful baseball would be a welcome change after two years of futility. But if they did that, next offseason they would likely be back in a similar position as the Sox. They would be looking at losing Justin Morneau. They would have an aging roster. The departure of Denard Span and Josh Willingham would be a year away. They would have kept their team together and maybe missed the chance to add some pitching or middle infield prospects. They would have had success, shown they could fill some holes, maybe even given minor league talent time to work it’s way up the farm system, but they would still not have a widespread and deep foundation of a great team. They would still be missing that young and cheap core. Would that be enough?
  5. John Bonnes
    I think the problem with keeping Bruno is that there will likely be some job openings in the majors for hitting coaches this year. If the Twins don't promote him, I would think there would be a decent chance of him being hired away.
  6. John Bonnes
    I suppose it always seems like we should have predicted a collapse more than a surge. To be honest, to this day I'm not totally sure how the Orioles and A's are doing it. And I'm not sure I trust them to do it again next year.
  7. John Bonnes
    Three teams surprised Aaron and John (and all of MLB, really): Baltimore, Oakland and Boston. Each outpaced Vegas by 20 games. Which should we have seen coming?
  8. John Bonnes
    Who is to blame for the Nishioka disaster? The scouting department, or did the Twins sign Nishioka for revenue reasons?
  9. John Bonnes
    So should the Twins consider field staff changes, and if so how far should they go? Or should they at least consider replacing some of the MLB staff with the AAA staff?
  10. John Bonnes
    You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?1071-Gleeman-and-the-Geek-Ep-60-Nishioka-No-More-and-Losing-Las-Vegas
  11. John Bonnes
    The Minnesota Twins release Tsuyoshi Nishioka, contemplate coaching changes, and the John and Aaron review the MLB season via their preseason predictions. Here are: the podcasts the rss feed if you want to subscribe and the podcast on iTunes.
  12. John Bonnes
    The Minnesota Twins release Tsuyoshi Nishioka, contemplate coaching changes, and the John and Aaron review the MLB season via their preseason predictions. Here are: the podcasts the rss feed if you want to subscribe and the podcast on iTunes.
  13. John Bonnes
    The Minnesota Twins release Tsuyoshi Nishioka, contemplate coaching changes, and the John and Aaron review the MLB season via their preseason predictions. Here are: the podcasts the rss feed if you want to subscribe and the podcast on iTunes. If you want to chat about the topics, let us know.... Was Nishi a scouting error or a revenue driven? Should the Twins make field staff changes? What surprise AL team should we have predicted?
  14. John Bonnes
    MIke Redmond, who coaches the High-A Blue Jays team, was named to the FSL All-Star team. http://http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120828&content_id=37474884&vkey=news_t424&fext=.jsp&sid=t424 Congrats Red Dog!
  15. John Bonnes
    Personally, I would've loved to do Navy Seal training at that age. I have no problem with the Pirates doing that.
  16. John Bonnes
    Deduno and Dickey are decent comps. But there are differences in context. First, any success Dickey had was in the first three months of the season. I don't think we can overstate just how bad he was from July through September. Deduno's rise has been in the last half, except recently, and that has certainly jeopardized his status for next year. Like I said, he was bad enough in Rochester and the latter halfof 2009 that nobody had a problem keeping him of the Sept roster. As for Marquis, that's a different data point in my mind. I know you're opposed to Gardy and Anderson and I can see valid points on them - especially Anderson, for whom I used to write glowing reports. But Dickey is such a weak data point in my mind as to negligible. If I was making an argument against Anderson's work, I'd personally leave it off because it so easily refutable and make me look biased. I'd feel like a pro-Romney guy talking about where Obama was born.
  17. John Bonnes
    ok, Pin it on the Twins. But someone has to be accountable. Who would that be in your mind? Thryloss, I don't think you're being intellectually honest on this, or that hindsight is clouding your mind. You were blogging in 2009 and wrote about Dickey several times. If you had a post after the 2009 season that expounded on why the Twins should keep Dickey, I can't find it. In fact, I find just the opposite - an 8/21 post in which you're advocating calling up Johan Pino in September over Dickey. Seriously, Thryloss, I'm not picking on you. The fact is that NOBODY saw this coming. Not me, not you, not the statheads, not the prospect hounds, not the Twins, not any other major league team and not even the Mets. He signd a minor league deal, for chrissakes! And there is a reason for all of that. He was TERRIBLE past June that year. I rember having high hopes for him going into that St. Louis series and he completely imploded shortly therafter. He had an ERA over 9 starting July 1. He was demoted. He had an ERA over 5 in Rochester. I don't even think he got a September callup. And the next year he was every fantasy baseball player owners lucky pick of the year. Gardy and Anderson might have missed it, or Ryan, or Smith, but so did you and I and the entire baseball watching world. (I remember advocating his demotion). So, if you want to pin it on someone, you're going to need a LOT of pins.
  18. John Bonnes
    It'll probably be a soft landing for Nishi - he might already have an arrangement with a Japanese team - but it still takes character to walk away from guaranteed money like that. I've never heard anyone question his heart or desire, just his ability to handle The Show, so I can't say I'm surprised. Good luck to him. I'll root for him to bounce back strong there.
  19. John Bonnes
    IN the afternoon game vs the Royals, Cabrera went 1-4, losing a half point, but still at .326, still about two hits ahead of Mauer.
  20. John Bonnes
    Over at Rant Sports, a local independent writer is wondering if the Twins won't chase Ervin Santana this offseason. Here's the link.... http://www.rantsports.com/mlb/2012/09/26/mlb-rumors-minnesota-twins-free-agent-target-ervin-santana/ I'll admit, he's one of my favorite targets on the market, just 30 years old, coming off a down year but finishing strong. I suspect he's at the upper range of where the Twins land, but it's not inconceivable.
  21. John Bonnes
    Good story. It documents just how unusual it is for Mauer to have those kinds of at-bats. Those of us at the game may never see that again from Joe. It could be that nobody does. I rolled my eyes that those three strikeouts involved one of my pet peeves about Mauer - watching a called strike for the first pitch. It looks like he changed his approach for his fourth at-bat, hacking at the first offering (and grounding out).
  22. John Bonnes
    I especially like how he talks about reading the batter and reacting to him. Seeing if he's "cheating" on his swing a little, how his timing is, what it is he's trying to do, what he's frustrated by. It shows he's being present and a confidence that allows him to work outside himself, be aware of his opponent.
  23. John Bonnes
    JP3700, I think those are great names. I can't believe I didn't come up with Kendrick. I wrote up a profile on Cloyd but wiffed on Kendrick. I want to research Aceves and Arrieta now, too.
  24. John Bonnes
    My best guess woudl be be Sano, Buxton, Hicks, Arcia and Berrios with Rosario getting an honorable metion. If Gibson does well in the AFL, he could too. But after all the rending of garments over the Twins farm system over the last two years, I think it'll be ranked as above average this year. That's a nice turnaround.
  25. John Bonnes
    I actually just wrote up Wade Davis as a possiblity in the Handbook last night. Good catch.
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