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diehardtwinsfan

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Everything posted by diehardtwinsfan

  1. I think problem number 1 is that you take it as fact that he could hit .220 with 35 HRs. Players with his flaws don't usually make it to the majors. He certainly can be the exception to the rule, but more likely than not, he doesn't get there, and that is something that BA is taking into account when they put him further down on the list... and please, spare me the 4 championships argument. Last I checked, there were 25 guys on a roster, 14 of which are going to be called starters of some type plus a closer. Bottom line is this: Walker doesn't play a premium defensive position and he has a lot of question marks. It is not some sort of slight that keeps him down on the list, it's these two very key things. He won't the first guy not in the top 10 on a list to make the majors, and there have been plenty of guys not in the top 10 who turned out to be stars. The list simply recognizes what most of Walker's ardent apologists don't: the odds aren't in his favor. That doesn't mean he cannot succeed, he certainly has to date. It just means that he has more work to do.
  2. yeah, basically. If you read Seth, Thrylos, Sickles, Shane, myself, or anyone, we all have different criteria. If someone were to figure out the magic elixir that was always right, there would be just one way to rank them.
  3. I lived in Cleveland during all of this. Art Model basically engineered the whole thing in a way that as far as I'm concerned was pretty shady. Cleveland was a pretty good team in the late 80s, but the hired some guy who's now a HOF coach for the Patriots and had him dismantle that team in a way that really angered the fans. In the mean time, he was given the opportunity to join the Indians in a new stadium that is now Progressive Field. He declined, being happy with his current stadium, but only a year or two after Gateway started, he changed his mind. If I remember right, he bought the group that owned his lease and high-tailed it out of town. What I find more ironic is that all the fans in Baltimore that were angered about waking up one day and finding the Colts in Indy were right behind him on it... It seemed very hypocritical in my eyes. Regardless, the biggest issue with the Cleveland move is the NFL's inability to find a competent owner to manage the Browns. Model, like him or not, was a competent football owner, even if he was a scumbag as a person.
  4. yeah skeptical of this projection. I could see the Twins at 78. I think as it's constructed today, 83 wins of last year is pretty likely and that 78 is a tad low... just don't like all the question marks... too many. By the end of the season, I think we will be pretty excited about 2017 though... But Detroit, KC, and CHI are all ???? in my opinion. I'd take a bunch of wins from Det and Chi and give them to KC... Cleveland is probably the most realistic, but I could see them being a bit closer to 81 than 85.
  5. I guess the question is whether you trade Plouffe for anything. Look at what Frasier got. Not much. You might get a B- prospect or a C+ guy for Plouffe or perhaps 2, but I'm not sure it would be a spec as good Palka. Would people be OK with this? I'm guessing there would be a lot of hand wringing over this one, call me crazy. As for the Fowler idea, I like it. Just be very prepared for a rather underwhelming return on Plouffe. That doesn't strike me as something TR does.
  6. A few years ago, a friend of mine and were discussing this and Mauer was a sure thing. Now, I'm not so certain. As a catcher, no question. His problem though is longevity. His transition to 1B has been less than smooth. I think if he can have a couple Maueresque seasons over the next two years, then yeah, he's in. But if he keeps playing like he did the last 2 seasons, I don't know of HOF voters will be so kind. As it is, you could argue that there were 15 clear cut HOF guys on the ballot this year. Only 2 made it in. Mauer strikes me as a casualty in this scenario.
  7. I think the OF out of spring training is Arcia, Sano, Sweeney, and Rosario. Just my 2 cents. I want Buxton to prove it in AAA as well s Kepler, and I think the Twins (rightfully) want to give Arcia another shot. That changes if by chance Plouffe is traded this spring, but the only way that happens is if a team loses a 3B to injury and suddenly has a need. The Frasier trade showed us how little Plouffe will get, but a sudden need might make someone sweeten the pot enough to get Ryan to pull the trigger. I do agree on depth. This team is deep and can survive an injury pretty much anywhere other than C or RP (and even RP will likely change as the year goes on). The real problem is finding playing time for everyone. The inevitable injury will take care of that, but those don't always happen at convenient times.
  8. I really don't get the conclusion of the original author. Berrios is hardly being held back. He's been through the low and high minors in 3 seasons. Add to it that there's a real innings limitation that has to be respected as he gets stretched out, the fact that someone gets DFAd in order for him to be called up, likely real developmental reasons in AAA (I guarantee you he's not just going out there and doing his thing, his coaches have him working on things), and the fact that we have 7 starters for 5 spots as it is. We may not like all the reasons, but that's the economic reality of baseball, especially when 3 guys in the rotation have guaranteed contracts. If there's reason to be upset right now, it's b/c this team handed out 3 long term FA contracts which don't expire for 2, 3, and 5 more seasons.
  9. The fact that there are more black athletes in basketball and football doesn't make it racial. It's a race issue when those same black athletes are being accorded worse treatment than their white counterparts because of the color of their skin. They aren't. They are all being treated unfairly. I stand by my original statement. College sports exploits athletes. PERIOD. The NCAA doesn't care what the color of their skin is. Equating it to race is nothing more than poor journalism at best, stoking race flames where they don't exist in order to create controversy that isn't there. Look, there's real racism in this country. I won't dispute that, but crap like this does more to stifle progress on the subject than it does bring awareness to it. If anything, it only fans the flames making it worse.
  10. Oberyn's death was hard to watch b/c I read the books and knew what was coming. He was in a fight to the death and was winning, so seeing it was pretty bad... but yeah, when we get into misogyny and what not, that stuff can be spun in so many different ways (pro and con) that I just don't see the point in arguing it. At one point I think you have to simply enjoy the story and not read into it. I can certainly see some of the complaints (though Sansa's rape wasn't shown per say, just heard, though I suspect that had more to do with her character being 15 years old than anything else). But if you want to look at misogyny, I'd look closer at HBO (and it's audience). People don't want to see unattractive people naked. No one wants to see the Lolly's Stokeworth rape (at least based on Martin's description of the character), which may have more reason as to why that one was left out.
  11. I wasn't really referring to Snow's 'death' (agree completely here as I'll be very disappointed if he's really dead) as much as the fact that if Ned never bothered telling Catlyn the truth (which I personally would have trouble believing) and Ned is dead. Yeah, I could see Bran figuring it out via his newfound skills, but that doesn't do really anyone else any good.
  12. I agree that there's a can of worms here, but given the billions being brought in by college sports, and how the system is deliberately engineered in such a way to keep the students from receiving any of it (without their voice I might add), the time has come for something to be done as opposed to nothing. These kids are exploited, and sadly a few simple changes such as allowing them to profit from their own namesakes, guaranteed medical care, and a reasonable stipend would do a lot to correcting that. A halfway decent lawyer could beat the NCAA in any anti-trust case put against it. The biggest surprise I have here is why it hasn't happened yet.
  13. Side note... the question I really want to know is if John Snow was really Lyanna's son (though I suppose anyone who would know is now dead).
  14. I'm kind of with you on that. HBO for the most part tuned down the misogyny from the books, but at the same time, that was pretty common with that type of culture during the middle ages and it was certainly was common in the culture GRRM built for GOT. I'm fine if they simply wanted to not film it, but let's not rewrite an entire culture based on what we feel it should be. That leaves for a lot of really boring stories in many ways. At one point, we have to accept an artistic license there and not assume it's someone's agenda to degrade women. The Sansa scene was harsh, but it also portrayed the type of person Ramsay Bolton really was (and even this was toned down from the books as they took out many of his other exploits). I'm more annoyed that they simply removed Jeyne Pool's role here as fake Arya and simply conflated Sansa's character into this. Sansa in the book was a 'stupid little girl' (her words), but she was smart enough to learn and adapt. The one in the movie never does that. She just gets crapped on repeatedly. I won't argue in that it probably didn't need to be filmed... it certainly could have been talked about at a later time as opposed to shown, but I get the impression it's fairly instrumental to the plot moving the show forward.
  15. This is a really good example of what bothers me about the race card that is often played in our culture. College sports exploits student athletes. PERIOD. Absolutely no reason to bring race into it. If you are a decent college athlete, you are being hosed. It isn't like the value of the scholarship is being lessened simply b/c of the color of ones skin.
  16. well that sucks... was looking forward to reading it. Guess I'll see most of it before I read it.
  17. I suppose it cannot be Star Wars without some sort of "I am your Father" type reference. Any chance they make a new Space Balls movie once this is all done?
  18. You just kind of get used to it. The Vikings ways to lose games. I wonder if it's time to try and get something of value for AP (one of the biggest chokers we seem to have). Zimmer may be a good coach, but it just seems like choking is part our culture. I'm really tiring of it personally.
  19. Well, just spent a week in the Dominican. Didn't run into Sano on the beach, so I guess that's a good thing Oh, but I should add, if you ever go there, wear your Twins gear. Baseball is a big deal down there and the locals all notice.
  20. I'm sure that when they bid on Park, the question of how the team would play out was certainly discussed. I highly doubt that Sano to the OF was something that came up after Park/Hicks. I suspect it was an option all along. I also think they planned on trading Plouffe, but given what the offers have been so far, they are content to keep him. Not sure I like that, but if that's how the cards play out, then they don't have a choice.
  21. Well, if they wanted a CF, then I don't see the Twins as partners as soon as Hicks left town. I don't think Revere is that good of a baseball player personally.
  22. Liking the lists. I was already planning on watching Wade closely this year, but this Graterol kid is pretty interesting too. Here's to hoping there's nothing serious with that elbow.
  23. Honestly, just about everyone here is either unknown or has a high ceiling with some flaws. I could see any of them breaking out, all of them, or none of them. If I had a pick to click, I'd say that Walker, Harrison, Michael, and Gordon will all make some pretty big strides forward as hitters. I'm a bit more skeptical on pitching. Not sure if I'd call Gonsalves a breakout candidate (considering how good he was last year), but I could see him coming out firing bullets in A+ to start given that he wasn't bad there in his first taste of it last season. I think Meyer and Thorpe are the ones that will be pleasant surprises.
  24. yeah, not making outs is what wins a game. All or nothing power will lead to a lot of blowouts when the HRs are flying and long streaks of poor output when they aren't. We need more OBP in that. Dozier has that. Sano did it in the minors. Kepler has the look of doing it. I don't mind having guys like Walker and Park in the lineup, but they still need to know when not to swing.
  25. I really don't see the love for Turner as compared to Garver. Garver was a pretty good defensive catcher in college (runner up to Turner if memory serves me) and has been good enough in his professional career while posting an OPS significantly higher than Turner. I don't think there's a question as to who is the better prospect at this stage of the game. I would start them accordingly. I think Navaretto should probably return to Cedar Rapids. He didn't hit well, and while his defense is ready, I think letting him work on his bat in a familiar environment would be wise. That allows for Turner to remain in Fort Meyer while Garver can ply his work in AA. That's how I'd do that personally.
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