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diehardtwinsfan

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Everything posted by diehardtwinsfan

  1. diehardtwinsfan
    I don't think that there's a fan out there that doesn't want their team to win the world series. I do think though that this focus is a bit narrow. We all knew what last year was going to bring, and while I think most of us are expecting a losing season this year as well; I don't think that it's wrong for a fan of a team to also want to see the team set itself up to be competitive long term. Sports teams tend to be cyclical in terms of being good and being bad... and we all know the Twins have been bad. They are moving in the right direction, and I don't see any problem with people being excited about progress.
  2. diehardtwinsfan
    He's not on the 40 man... Unless he's absolutely terrible, he's going to stay long.... Taking the over.
  3. diehardtwinsfan
    Except that if it didn't vest, it's likely b/c he was hurt or something like that. I find it interesting that he didn't bet on himself.
  4. diehardtwinsfan
    I don't understand your pessimism on him with this bat. His career minor league OPS is .821 with the last two seasons being well above that number, and he's not been old for his age either. I agree that there is good reason for caution, but this is a guy who could conceivably post plenty of seasons north of .800 OPS in a major league uniform. That type of bat will play at most any positions, even DH. He's not a grade A prospect for a lot of reasons, but most orgs would be pretty happy with a guy like this in their system, and he'd be a top 3 prospect in a number of systems.
  5. diehardtwinsfan
    I see your point, but I don't think this works well every time. The best available 1B bat may be better than the best available SS bat, but it's quite possible that the SS/CF is the better player because of their defensive value. I'm still leaning towards upside that high in the draft. I doubt there will be 5 stud college guys that will be sure things at their positions (hopefully of need), so when the Twins pick at 5, I'd grab for ceiling... For me right now, that's Kolek or Gatewood. All could easily change. I see the turner love, but I just don't see grabbing a guy who might be the next Elvis Andrus at 5 overall. Andrus is a good player, but not exactly the type of guy I'd target that high in the draft. There are better ceilings out there at that point, and if org need is the primary consideration, then I'd rather go with Gatewood.
  6. diehardtwinsfan
    Given that up until this week we still had a foot of snow on the ground here in Indy, I'm still trying to wrap my head around baseball starting. That said, I have to think at 5 the Twins will want highest upside. I'd look at Gatewood or Kolek personally unless by some miracle Hoffman or Rodon fall. Got to say that Turner doesn't excite me unless he suddenly shows the ability to hit for some power.
  7. diehardtwinsfan
    Not familiar with Strato, but basically Pinto should be a decent fantasy option since I don't think there's much in terms of talk of him moving off catcher. Based on the last couple of seasons, I think it's safe to say that the kid can hit and will be above average offensively at the position. Defense is a question right now and will definitely mitigate his playing time in the short term. I would expect him to be eased into the role this year and probably be the official starter next year (assuming he doesn't fall flat on his face, but there's nothing in his history indicating he's going to have issues here). If he can be stashed away, he's worth a later pick as he will likely be able to product above average fantasy numbers from the C position.
  8. diehardtwinsfan
    Presley showed in the minors that he's a pretty decent hitter. It hasn't translated to the majors, but when I saw him play in Indy, he was quite good. I get that it doesn't necessarily translate but given that the Twins won't be competing, I think they give Presley an extended look in the majors to prove he belongs, at which point he's probably traded for something a lot better than an aging Morneau. Otherwise, he's a 4th OF, and I'm fine with that too. I think Hicks shoudl be put in AAA. I don't care of he hits .800 in ST with a homerun every game. He did quite well last year and did not do well once the season began. I'd rather him play against easier competition and master that and then promote him once he's earned it.
  9. diehardtwinsfan
    To me, it isn't that simple. It's a short term vs. long term approach. No matter what the Twins throw at Drew, they will forfeit a pick in the 40s to aquire him. That's worth something, and the question becomes exactly what. As well, the profitability thing may not be an issue right now, but it would be the reason that would prevent them from getting a real upgrade should it be available at a later time.
  10. diehardtwinsfan
    He's made it hard so far not to root for him. His goals are pretty reasonable too, though being a HS draftee, I'd suspect he's going to be on an innings limit this year. Seeing him in CR at one point though seems reasonable. I kind of hope he starts there early on. With Thorpe, Stewart, and Gonclaves, they have a rotation that will keep me checking their box scores daily.
  11. diehardtwinsfan
    Yeah, that's a dangerous one had it not been caught. The flip side is that it isn't structural surgery on the shoulder... not a medical expert here but it doesn't sound like the type of thing that would elicit long term concerns. Good luck to him.
  12. diehardtwinsfan
    I think there's good reason to think the offense will improve a bit on it's own. in 2012, the offense was more middle of the road and people weren't terribly concerned about it. That was helped by seeing decent production from some of the younger players. I think you will likely see some steps forward from Dozier, Arcia, Parmelee, Plouffe, along with a rebound year from Willingham. None of that is unreasonable to expect. The real question is how much. The wildcards in my opinion will be Pinto, Sano, and potentially Buxton.
  13. diehardtwinsfan
    Given people are talking about Gatewood in the top 5, I'm surprised that his name was in the last tier. That's my 2 cents, but there were a lot of guys I've seen talked about in the top 5 overall who weren't anywhere near it on this list. Personally, not high on Turner, or anyone whose primary game is speed. If he can hit for some power and put those questions to rest, my opinion will change there. Right now, I want Kolek or Gatewood... All will likely change come June....
  14. diehardtwinsfan
    I think the biggest glut is pitching and not enough pen spots to hold them. I don't know why some think we will have 3 catchers. That was a pretty bad idea back when we had Mauer, but the only reason Gardy did it was b/c he would be playing Mauer at DH when he wasn't catching. Pinto would have to continue his September to do that, and I don't see that happening (and I like him as a prospect too)... What I expect to see (and for that matter what think should happen). C - Pinto/Suzuki (with Suzuki starting at first but Pinto working into the starting role) 1B - Mauer, Parmelee 2B - Dozier, Escobar SS - Florimon, Escobar 3B - Plouffe LF - Willingham CF - Presley, Mastro RF - Arcia, Mastro, Parmelee DH - Kubel, Parmelee, Plouffe, Mauer, whoever. Pitching is the hard part. There's 3 guys out of options (Deduno, Worley, and Diamond) competing for 1 starting spot. Therefore Gibson, right or wrong, is in AAA. I predict Deduno ends up in the pen if he isn't on the 60 day and Worley is the 5th starter. Not sure what happens to Diamond.
  15. diehardtwinsfan
    I waffle back and forth on Drew. No question he's an upgrade, and I agree with others in that the need for him will be greater in a few years. Perhaps they try hard for a JJ Hardy reunion next season... who knows. But yeah, there's not much in the minors. Santana might have the glove and a better OPS than florimon, but you have to go further down to Polanco (and he's no sure thing to stick by any means) before you see potential...
  16. diehardtwinsfan
    That's just it, it isn't cheating. The rules don't say you can't over spend. They impose very weak penalties on you the next year if you do. All contracts are approved by the MLB front office, so if it was cheating, Selig would step in. It's not, because it's within the rules. I can certainly agree about the spirit of the rules, and I doubt anyone would complain if a team spent a 100k more to get that one last guy, but the Cubs and Rangers destroyed their allotments last year and the Yanks and Sox appear to be doing it this season. The penalties that were agreed on were not strict enough to do it. Had these teams been forced to surrender their first rounder in the US draft, I don't think this would have happened unless they really really really liked someone. As I said prior, I'm pretty sure this was by design. Most teams want an international draft, and to get around it, they need to show how the system is broken. Putting a good system together won't get them that. We will see come July what actually happens...
  17. diehardtwinsfan
    I'm not sure how all of that works. I do know that when I've done work related searches for specific hardware, it ends up on my ads... same with running shoes. Some ads don't seem to follow that...
  18. diehardtwinsfan
    Honestly, I remember Correa being kind of a last minute thing. Buxton and Appel were always assumed to be 1-2. Correa was a late riser.
  19. diehardtwinsfan
    Honestly, I would have been fine with Appel, Gausman, or Zimmer... Now Appel wasn't going to sign, that I get... I dont' think anyone questioned the ceiling (though the comparrisons we see right now weren't being tossed around)... and he had a lot of question marks. Some of the biggest were concerns about the level of competition that he faced. I personally didn't see anything in those discussions that screamed BPA. A number of people had that at Appel... Now that said, so far it appears as though I was wrong. I'm happy to eat crow. My biggest concern (and a bit tangental here) is that I'm hearing ridiculous comps for him now, and while I hope he sees that, we should probably remind ourselves that he's just getting his first taste of AA ball. There's still a lot that needs to go right for him.
  20. diehardtwinsfan
    I misunderstood you... makes more sense now.
  21. diehardtwinsfan
    Thrylos, I've asked you this in the past and never gotten an answer. Other than your posts here in this forum, I haven't seen anything that would indicate that there's a general dislike for Jeff Smith within the org, and the fact that he was tapped to manage in the AFL seems to indicate otherwise. I understand that you have some sources that are somehow connected to the organization, but I don't think the line is all that fine between claiming that you personally don't care for him (which we all do to various people) and claiming soley on your authority that all of his former players don't care him and expecting people to believe you... especially without supplying any kind of documented evidence to corroborate this point and using only anonymous sources that you know. Sources can be wrong, and I doubt any of us know all of Smith's former players. Anyone can claim to have contacts within the org. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for something a bit more solid to back it up. As a fan who has no connections to the org, this is something I would be very interested in knowing.
  22. diehardtwinsfan
    The problem I see is that most players whose agents are worth anything will tell them to wait until all the teams can be in to maximize their value. Like it or not, this was an attempt to do this without an international draft. However, as long as the big maket teams have a way of dumping their excess reserves back into the system, they will do it. I don't blame them, b/c I'd do it to, but from a best interests of baseball standpoint, there has to be a way of maintaning competitive balance, and I see this as nothing more than a way to eventually get the international draft.
  23. diehardtwinsfan
    Longoria signed a below market deal, and while I'd love for Sano/Buxton to do that, I wouldn't expect it. The Twins do have some leverage in that they can pay them more during their pre-arb years and guarantee a salary during their arb years in exchange for a year or two of FA, and I expect that to happen, but I do think at one point Sano and Buxton are going to want their deals if they turn into what it is that people think they could be... and let's be honest... we'd all do the same thing. Now can the Twins afford it? I think they could, and they may. I woudln't be surprised though if they were forced to let one of them go.
  24. diehardtwinsfan
    I honestly think that most teams want an international draft. The easiest way for that to happen is for these rules to get broken enough that the sytem fails. They tweak the rules to fix a broken system and then at the next CBA, they will be rightfully upset when teams like the Cubs, Yankees, and RedSox do what they did last year and will do this year. Oh, and we'll see Cubans, Japanese, and Koreans subject to it too. I don't like it for the players, but I do think that long term it's best for baseball.
  25. diehardtwinsfan
    Just a moderator note, let's try to keep the tone civil. This is an interesting thread, let's keep it that way. Thanks.
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