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REPETE

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Everything posted by REPETE

  1. REPETE
    I don't know how you can compare Perkins to Nolasco. Nolasco was by FAR the better team player last year, by taking the year off. If he struggles again this spring, and April, I'm sure he can develop another ailment landing him on the 180 DL. Now THAT'S a Team Player!
  2. REPETE
    As for Hughsey (thanks Gardy), what's his velocity? I know it's early, but is he topping 90? I wouldn't be surprised if Duffy starts in AAA, and they give both Milone & Nolasco a spot in the rotation, both with extremely short leashes.
  3. REPETE
    I think we need to wait on Sano. After all, he could end up eating his way out of baseball with a contract that big!
  4. REPETE
    For Buxton, let us not forget the "injury history". The guy hasn't been able to stay healthy, for whatever reason. If he continues to miss games every year, a big extension will be hammered more than a "Mauer contract". As for Perk, if he does change his mind after this contract, and wish to continue baseball, my guess is it's because the Twins are on the verge of winning a World Series, in which case he'd want to stay a Twin anyway, at a "discount price". His comments are exactly why I also never bought into the "we should've traded Perkins 2 years ago" argument. He gave us the hometown discount, and we honored it. You start giving those contracts, then trade the guy, you never get a hometown discount again.
  5. REPETE
    If Nolasco goes thru spring pitching "Twins-Nolasco-like", is there any chance they just dump him? Or is it possible he develops another nagging injury that puts him on the 180 day DL again? I know it's only game 2 of spring, but it looked the same as the last two seasons. Nobody chases his off speed pitches, and then he has to groove it. If it comes down to watching him struggle for two months, I'd rather see a young guy struggle.
  6. REPETE
    I have no metrics to say this, or stats to back this up; nothing but a gut (which continues to grow) feeling. But something about watching him just screams to me the old Tom Kelly adage, "Make him a full time player, and he'll play his way right out of baseball." I hope I'm very wrong, and that he can hold down the position respectably until we get a true, flashy superstar (Gordon? Boy he seems a long way away yet!). I'd love to love EE. Did I mention, I hope he proves me wrong?
  7. REPETE
    We've had the good fortune of watching Twins spring training for many years, from '02 - 13, but this is now the 3rd year we haven't gotten there. In '14, we saw the Twins play at Port St Lucie (NYM), and last year was Tampa (Tor). While nothing like being at the home park, it is fun to see the different venues, so if you're down there, don't be afraid to take a little road trip yourself! One note; leave early. FL traffic is horrible in March, and there are often bad accidents or road construction that leads to longer than expected trips. Worst case, you get to the ballpark early, and that's when lots of fun can be had!
  8. REPETE
    I think this is a bit strong. "Starter quality" for a guy that hasn't seen a pitch in AAA? We've seen many posts on TD saying Kepler should be, or will be, one of the corner OF in 2016, saying trade proven players and bring him up. I still think we need to give Max a little time. I'm pulling for him BIG TIME, and hope he becomes a star, but in reality, he's had one great year in AA. Let's hope this continues in AAA before we anoint him the guy who should be breaking camp with the big league team.
  9. REPETE
    I thought it was always said, you can't lead the league in turning double plays unless your pitchers cooperate by putting lots of people on base. Turning DPs is not a stat you want to lead the league in.
  10. REPETE
    with any new rule, the enforcement is always the biggest concern. The "Intention" of a new rule is what often gets lost in the enforcement. Some umpires may take take it to the extreme, and start calling interference whenever there's ANY contact. We know that early on, MLB Network will have a lot of discussion on what is considered a good, clean, HARD slide, when the first, close, interference is called. I have always hated the hard, rolling takeout slide where the player had absolutely no chance of ever touching 2nd base, and could never understand how that was considered legal, according to the existing rules. I'm fine with a hard slide into the base on a close play at 2nd, but my concern is overzealous umpires. Personally, I don't think we needed a new rule, but rather, just a clarification of the existing rule, much like MLB stated years ago, "we're going to have umpires start calling balls & strikes according to the rule book". As mentioned many times before, only time will tell.
  11. REPETE
    forget it, he's rolling.
  12. REPETE
    OK, "abysmal" was over the top. But can you honestly say, even 1/3 of the way through that season, that you thought that team was going to be as good as it turned out? I'm the eternal Twins optimist, twice predicting correctly before they season they'd win the World Series. I won't go into how many times I've been incorrect, but even halfway through that year, I was waiting for the 8 game losing streak, followed by a 10 game losing streak. They picked up some pieces,and had hope for some success, but did you honestly think that team would be THAT good? In hindsight, we talk about what a great team it was, but there were a lot of guys that had great years, and continued it throughout the playoffs. If the Twins in the 00's had that same luck (Morneau's MVP season, he couldn't buy a hit in the playoffs), maybe they win a WS, and this discussion isn't taking place.
  13. REPETE
    Mike, we may be arguing the same thing. I don't have an "answer". In fact, that's exactly my question. Which is better? Sell off the future for a legitimate run at a World Series, which may or may not pan out and get us there, or stay in contention for a few more years? If they sell the farm for a rental player or big time FA, and win the World Series, but are looking at 500 for the next 10 years, I'd probably be OK with that. But if they sell the farm, and still don't win the World Series, like Toronto last year, if they fall into obscurity, 2 years later, everyone says they're a horribly run FO. However, if they stand pat with a very good team, and hope for a lot of luck to win the World Series, but continue to be relevant in a division run for the next 4-5 years, that certainly makes baseball much more interesting for a longer time. I'd be great with winning a World Series, but I hope it's not at the expense of the farm system. Spend money in the offseason for the years it looks like we're ready to win, but don't give up the future. As for the 2016 team, I think it's time to see what we have in the young kids, then in 2017, pick up pieces to fill holes.
  14. REPETE
    NO! But now the question is, how does a guy with one good Japanese season get his own clothing line? Did he make them himself in his basement? How come Joe Mauer didn't help him out by sporting the Nishi-line? Is this the same sporty apparel that Twins players wear during the first go-around of At Bat pictures now?
  15. REPETE
    I look back at the 91 team. They picked up Chili Davis, and Jack Morris (among others). Those guys performed WAAAYYY over expectatons, and weren't Young Andrew's first choices. Going into the season, nobody said "world series", or even "playoffs". We were just hoping they'd not be abysmal. But the FA, Combined with some veterans, and some rookies came together, and after the season was over, we "knew" they were a very good team, partly because we caught that lightning in the bottle. Kepler was just an example. When teams make the playoffs, its because guys have good years, and are much more expensive to keep. So you pay some of them, lose some, and bring up young guys to fill in. Young guys don't always pan out, so you'd better hope you have more young guys behind them. When you're picking 24, 27, 29, that's a much different scenario than picking Mauer & Buxton, and eventually the cupboard runs bare. But if you do get rid of a Kepler for a rental guy, two years from now when the Twins lose 90, everyone says "Ryan's an idiot; it sure would be nice to see the that all-star Kepler in a Twins jersey right now." And if we didn't win the WS with the rental guy we got for Kepler? Well now, Ryan's an even BIGGER idiot.
  16. REPETE
    If by "gone in to win", you mean picking up rental players for the stretch, I agree. They haven't. But the bigger question is, would you rather they mortgage the future by trading future assets for said rental player, or keep future assets, and try to be relevant for the future, too. But if you trade a Kepler for 3 months of a rental player, and you still don't make the WS, you're in the same boat; no WS title, and a weaker team. The follow up question becomes, would you rather win the World Series once, followed by third place division finishes for 8 years, or be competitive for 8 years? Personally, I'd love a ring, but it was nice watching them win division titles for the 00's span, too. With some breaks, and a guy getting hot, there's no reason they couldn't have won a WS during those years. it just didn't happen.
  17. REPETE
    Sorry, scenario A, not B.
  18. REPETE
    I concur 100%. Assuming Sano can't play OF, which I'd say 97% of the earth's population is wary of, the team would be better off with scenario B. However, having Plouffe for insurance, rather than trading him for a used ball bag, may turn out well. Perhaps they move him in Spring training. Perhaps they have their own injuries the require his services. I'd much rather have Plouffe (who, for the record is a "nice" player, far from a "necessary" player) now, than settle for giving him away for less than market value. Worst case, Sano goes to 3rd, and Plouffe becomes a bat off the bench. I'd say that's a pretty decent PH, and no extra money was spent.
  19. REPETE
    I agree they may not have been "built to win a world series", but again, the real question is how far do you go to win NOW? We could've traded a bunch of prospects for a rental player, or bought a free agent or two, but that wouldn't have guaranteed a World Series, and most certainly would have shortened our run of division titles, even in a weak division, as our prospects would've been gone.
  20. REPETE
    This topic is somewhat of the dead horse being whipped again. Plouffe being traded for prospects that don't pan out turn into the "why did we trade Span/Revere/etc" argument. There was no market for an average 3B, so we may as well keep him. He still may be traded this spring, as injuries around the league occur, making it a great move. The AJ trade is heralded as one of the great trades of all time, simply because it worked! However, when anyone mentions the AJ trade in defense of Ryan, the Ryan haters point back at all the trades that weren't as successful. You can't have it both ways. Now we trade Hicks, who's had one great Spring training, and one great month, meaning he's FAR from a known asset, for a position of need. Only time will tell if this works for either team, but we certainly can't say today this is a bad trade, as our OF of the future is Rosario, Buxton, Arcia (if he hits), and Kepler in the wings. I'm not sure how we can say there's no ambition. Conservative? Maybe. But whatever term we put on it, doesn't mean it will work. I applauded Bill Smith at the time for being "ambitious" with trades. How'd that work for us?
  21. REPETE
    This is a valid point. I don't buy the "We didn't win the world series so we're a failure" argument, as 97% of the teams in the league don't! However, the Twins of the 00's were built to win. They won divisions, and once that happens, you're one of few teams competing for the WS. However, I don't know if you can fault "the system" for not winning playoffs. Those playoff Twins had batting title winners, MVPs, and a Cy Young winner. I'm not sure how much more you can bring to the post-season. My personal take was Gardy should've been fired during that run, but a new manager may or may not have changed anything. The players that got them there didn't perform on the big stage, and no role players excelled for two weeks. End of story. Doesn't mean "the system is broken".
  22. REPETE
    EXACTLY! During the 00's and winning divisions, everyone was clamoring for "The Twins Way", and the Twins were the darlings of the league for doing it without spending $$$$$. Does the fact we never won a World Series mean those teams were miserable failures? Some quotes in these pages seem to point in that direction. Only two teams make the World Series, and only one wins. That takes a lot of talent, along with some luck & good fortune: injuries, match ups, catching fire at the right time, etc. Now, everyone loves the Royals, and says everyone must build their team like them. Let's not forget, the Royals dwelled in complete obscurity for 30 years. The Astros were miserable for just as long. The Cubs? Yeah! The Mets? Baseball is cyclical. If you don't have the money to buy players every year (Yankees), when your system develops high first rounders that actually pan out, you win... As long as they develop, and the FO doesn't screw it up by constantly trading guys who will go on to make the core of the team. The fact this team was extremely relevant for a decade, followed by 4 years of the abyss, and now on the verge of being quite relevant again for some time, points towards a system that is far from broken, and may be the next "darling" trend. The question really boils down to, is it better to have 8-10 years of a team that is relevant, and with the right luck, can win the World Series? Or is it better to make blockbuster trades, possibly win the World Series (FAR from a guarantee), then fall back to irrelevance for 10 years?
  23. REPETE
    Agreed. Spending money doesn't equal wins. But unless it's your team, you don't remember it happening. Perfect example was the 2013 Blue Jays. in 2012, they were bumping up against 90 losses, then increased their payroll >30% ($82M up to $125M), and pre-season prognosticators couldn't get out of their own way saying this team is now the front-runner to win the world series. End result? One less loss than the previous 89 loss season. But nobody remembers the team that spend money and didn't win. We just point to the payroll, and say "we need to spend more!".
  24. REPETE
    I also agree with the crux of this article. Twins had a great run in a bad division through the 2000's. The bottom dropped out 2011, and was completely unexpected, mainly due to a rash of injuries. Everyone figured 2011 was an aberration for a good team, and they'd bounce back in 2012. Alas, they sucked again, and everyone blamed the FO for not spending $$. Money wasn't the problem, the good times just ran their course. At that point, I agreed, there was no reason for the team to throw good money after bad. It wouldn't have made a difference. Should they have spent $$ this offseason? I'm good with "no", as we have young talent to hopefully fit the bill, if not this year, then next. The REAL question of how much should we love or hate the Pohlads is what happens over the next five years. If they're in contention this year, do they make a mid-season move? Maybe not, as the following years are our window. I'm good with that (depending on the circumstances, obviously). What the Pohlads do next offseason is the real question. Will they get us a front-line starter to anchor what should be a decent starting staff. Do they spend money and fill a glaring hole in the lineup? How soon, and for how long do they pay Sano & Buxton? Or do they say they can't afford long expensive contracts (see J Mauer) and trade them for prospects? Or do they say "we can't afford free agents today because Sano & Buxton paydays are coming? I'm ok with not spending money over 90+ loss seasons with nothing in the cupboard, but if you're going to allow those seasons to happen, they'd better SPEND the money when the team has a legitimate shot at a ring.
  25. REPETE
    John Kruk, when asked at a restaurant during spring training, if he was in shape: "To run a marathon? No, but this is baseball. The bases are only 90' apart." From what I understand about concussions, they're never the same. Corey Koskie suffered for many years. Morneau came back, and did show part of his old self, but then BAM! He gets another one. Football players get them all the time, and a week later, are back playing. We don't know if Mauer will ever be the player he used to be, only time and his stats will tell us..
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