diehardtwinsfan

Is this an April fools joke?

The comments you saw later were due in large part to additional follow up from other threads where things went off the tracks. It doesn't make you a "rube" that this got missed the first time. It happens. I'd also add, that this is one of many reasons why moderators will issue a simple warning as opposed to an infraction. Warnings don't count... at least towards anything long term on this forum... infractions do. I'm not going to argue with you when you say that sometimes the line is gray and you don't know where it is. That's true... it can be. That is probably the biggest challenge we face and the reason why this thread is now 10 pages deep. I can say that we do have discussions over just about every moderation action and if I were to feel that one of my fellow moderators went too far, I could tell him/her that they did so and why I feel that way. No one would take offense, and sometimes infractions/warnings get reversed. That happens too. What I can say about some of this is to consider your audience. This isn't an all male forum. Mentioning "boobs" in a post is going to elicit different responses from different people, and I'm not so certain the women on this forum will appreciate it as much as the men. Drunkenness is me being... well whatever... (and I say this as someone who is 'decompressing' on vacation right now). If one of the women who posted here were to be referring to 'penises' in their posts, I can guarantee that there would be people reporting it, and that right there is a HUGE difference (no pun intended, don't go there ) between anatomy and alcohol. The only place where we have been clear that there is a greater leeway is the game threads... outside of those threads, think long and hard about your audience. Simply put, stay away from the line... and that's coming from someone who has crossed this particular line on these forums before. Audience is king. Be respectful of that and I doubt anyone will ever be moderated.

I honestly think they should amend the rules to allow players to sign a 1 year deal without compensation if they are unemployed at a certain point into ST. Drew is an upgrade over a lot of team's SS positions right now and remains unemployed due to the compensation pick... Granted, he and his agent poorly estimated his market demands, but signing a 1 year deal at a reduced price is bad enough vs. potentially not playing for a good chunk (or all) of 2014.

I'd probably go for an ace upside pitcher if one is still there at 5, but if he's the best bat and the rest of the pitchers look more like a 2 upside, I'd say yes. Good bats at up the middle positions are always valuable, and he could easily be flipped if Pinto suddenly turned into the second coming of Joe Mauer.

I'd be quite happy if he had a Mijares like career. He was a pretty good reliever for us for a while. The fact that we got a decent prospect for Butera still surprises me.

No Gonsalves or Thorpe... color me annoyed... Bit surprised that Sulbaran isn't in Fort Meyers. He put up pretty good numbers in the MWL last season, not sure what good repeating will do him.

What we are bordering on is a discussion that might need to get moved to the sports bar What isn't allowed has already been discussed. Let's keep the thread civil, and if this moves more in a political or general baseball discussion, the mods will move the thread. That's not really a big deal.

Not to state the obvious, but Worley had 2 years of major league sucess with a pretty good minor league track record. I'm not sure this is a scouting problem. Part of me cannnot help but wonder if the problem here was attempting to turn Worley into something he isn't and breaking him along the way.

FWIW, I'd note that I wouldn't expect to see Meyer pitching in Minnesota this season (except September). He is not on the 40 man roster and will only get placed on it if several guys "in front" of him fail (Johnson, Darnell, etc). That said, I'll echo what Jokin and others are saying. I have a tough time believing this team will be worse (baring a nastly bite from the injury bug) than the last 3 seasons. I get that there are unknowns, but there's a lot better depth to deal with them this season. I don't see the offense being great, but again I have a tough time believing that there won't be guys who improve.. and for various reasons. I think a win total in the 70s is very realistic, and a few breaks could see that creep up to the .500 mark. Not expecting .500, but I think it's a far more realistic bet this year than last.

I have a tough time believing he's going to win this. His only argument is "they offered me a major league contract and then sent me down". He's a good prospect, but he doesn't even have an airtight case based on performance. There's definitely a fine line here, and I am not even sure this is unethical (at least in this particular scenario). The Stros are basically saying that they will absorb the risk of him not performing well in exchange for a cheaper deal. He's getting some salary certainty and potentially earlier free agency. I think he might have a case if he was able to establish that he's clearly ready, but it isn't as if he put up a Sano like A+ season in AAA last year. He has some issues, and he didn't put them to rest this spring.

I would have to think (the way it's shaping up) that a pitcher is who we take at 5 (and I want that personally unless there's a Tulo like SS available). This might be a situation where if there's no sizable gap between say 5 and 10 or if the Twin's BPA isn't likely to go top 5, the Twins can leverage that to get an easier sign and then grab a tough sign later in the draft.

Kubel was given an unconditional release from his team last year and hasn't set the world on fire so far this spring. I for one would much rather give Parm one last shot....

MODERATOR NOTE: Let's put this good fan/bad fan meme to rest please. Thanks you.

The flip side to this is that he destroyed AAA pitching last year. I'm not sure what else he has to prove there. That said, given Kubel's performance, I'm not sure he should be on the team either... That's my 2 cents. I could see burning the option on Arcia, it isn't the worst idea given his performance later in the year seems to have carried over to the spring...

Just a quick question, but since when was the Pythag results the be all/end all of wins and losses? It seems to me that the Twins have consistently outperformed their pythagorean results from year to year... maybe that's just faulty memory, but that tells me that the theory doesn't necessarily hold water.... or that there's a reason they are able to do this (I believe bull pen has often been cited as the main possibility). I'll stand by my original post. The pitching is vastly improved. The offense is more or less the same, adn there's a good case for improvements from several key components to the offense. Baring injury, they should be a lot easier to watch this year. Not expecting playoffs, but I woudln't be surprised in the least if they had less than 90 losses.

The starting pitching has vastly improved and the offense is more or less the same. I don't see how they can be worse (baring the injury bite)... I think guys like Arcia, Willingham, Hicks (if he's up), and Dozier are pretty decent bets to improve. Mauer is Mauer. The potency of the offense is going to lie with Plouffe, Parmelee, and Pinto in my opinion (and possibly Colabello). I think they ease Josmil into the starting role, so that part will take a bit of time. Something is going to have to click with the others. I'm not expecting all of them to suddenly figure it out, but if one does, that goes a long way towards the team's long term competitiveness.

I was thinking this too. If Parm is not on the roster and Bartlet, Kubel, or Herrman (as the 3rd C)are, there's something seriously wrong here.

Just an FYI, when the games start, there will be a daily thread in this forum on them.

I'd say this is a pretty good projection. I could see him putting together a few seasons like that. Those are well above average for a CF too and can stand on their own in a corner if needs be (though I think Hicks will be of more value being traded to a CF needy team at some point).

I would amend this slightly to "lose with young players that are ready". The occasional vet that can pull out a decent season and get flipped for a guy at the deadline does have a ton of value to a rebuilding team.

While I consider it faint, I do think Plouffe should get one more chance... I hope something clicks and he can break the .800 OPS mark for the season and earn the DH/spare OF job for the next few years... I have the same hope for Parmelee... One of those guys figuring it out would go a long way towards being competitive in the latter part of this decade.

Yikes, one life threatening problem to another.... Hope this is the last of it.

I really don't get the "they just have to step up and earn this" thing... I have no doubt that all of these guys want it... In the case of Bartlett and Kubel, unfortunately I think they are done.

Buxton is a great prospect, but I really cannot help but think that our expectations might be getting a bit out of hand... Just my 2 cents.... I hope he's the next Willie Mays, but there was only one Mays. If he turned into say Torri Hunter, would we consider him a failure?

Honestly, I suspect this is going to play out based on how some other bats develop. If something clicks with Parm or Plouffe, I have to think that Hicks goes on the block if he's also successful. If Hicks can hit .270ish with 15-20 home runs though while playing GG defense in the corners, he's still going to be well above average for a corner OF. I do agree that his value is higher as a CF and if a taker was willing to give us that SS we've needed, or an ace pitcher, I'd flip Hicks in a heartbeat. If not though, he's still quite valuable in the corner. Now if he cannot hit that well, then I'd flip him as a CF for whatever I could get and go sign someone in FA if Parm or Plouffe don't figure it out. I don't think it's a good philosophy to stick him in the corner and say that because we have Mauer, Buxton, Sano, etc. that Hicks doesn't need to hit. I cannot stand that philosophy.