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one_eyed_jack

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Everything posted by one_eyed_jack

  1. one_eyed_jack
    I understand that knowing the accuser must make this situation somewhat emotional for you, but this is irresponsible speculation. What makes you so certain that you know how law enforcement would have reacted if she had gone to them immediately? You realize that the police investigated the allegations against Kirby Puckett and it led to criminal charges filed by Hennepin County, right?
  2. one_eyed_jack
    I'm mostly lurk and rarely post these days, but it was a fun season, and I wanted to thank all involved for making it more fun - I enjoy the content and the conversation. The ending was tough, more so because it was in the Bronx. I hate the Yankees with the white hot passion of a thousand burning suns. If this had happened in Boston or Houston, I wouldn't be nearly as ticked off as I am right now. But the future is bright. This team can score runs. The rotation and bullpen need help. Here's hoping that the postseason losing streak ends 1 year from right now.
  3. one_eyed_jack
    Look I don't truly know whether Mauer is tough or not. I've never claimed to. I was just trying to refute the line of thinking that because Souhan, a bunch of fans, and possibly one former teammate with a penchant for saying ludicrous things think he is, there must be something to it. I have no inside access to what goes on behind the scenes. But I can see what happens on the field and draw some conclusions from that. For example I think what Mauer was able to accomplish from '08-10 tends to refute Hunter's 2007 comment. I don't see how you excel as an MLB catcher to that degree while lacking toughness. To me, it's also not particularly suggestive of a guy who "begs" out of the lineup because of a bruise.
  4. one_eyed_jack
    Information? You've cited other people's opinions and perceptions. That's not information. The fact that a viewpoint is shared by a couple of local writers who like to stir up the hornet's nest, a bunch of ranting keyboard warriors in the Strib comments section, and one former teammate whose mouth moves faster than his brain does not give it legitimacy.
  5. one_eyed_jack
    Sore hip won't stop Mauer from catching Mauer playing through all kinds of pain Examples in addition to the one I posted earlier in the thread.
  6. one_eyed_jack
    Well, that assumes that Mauer could have played at 80%. But we don't know that and frankly, neither does Hunter. I noticed Hunter also went with the Favre tough guy schtick there: "Me, I grew up in a different time. I'm ready to play no matter what -- broken toe, hamstring, groin, back -- and that's the mentality I've grown to have." I'm with twinsnorth, this is macho silliness. Instead of making it the analysis of risk vs. reward that it should be, it gets made into this thing about manhood where you play "no matter what'. (And Torii has missed time due to injury in his career, so clearly he does not play "no matter what".) But getting back to the Souhan's original comment: I would believe that Mauer has been held out of the lineup on days he could have played. But Souhan said Mauer begged out of the lineup because of a bruise. That I do not find believable at all.
  7. one_eyed_jack
    Others players have defended him before. Perkins here for example. But Souhan didn't ask any other players for comment here, and they're not going to pro-actively address something like this. I don't know what Hunter said, but much as I loved watching him as a player, his memory is questionable. And while the local scribes may be closer to the team and have more access than us, that doesn't mean that they are always right, or that their word should be taken as gospel.
  8. one_eyed_jack
    The appropriate question is where is the prrof that Souhan was right. The burden is on him to support it, not on everyone else to refute it. You can't throw out a claim like that and expect it to be assumed accurate until someone provides proof to the contrary.
  9. one_eyed_jack
    We'll have to agree to disagree there. I like Maddon, and I appreciate that players respect him, and that he's willing to do some unconventional things. But I don't view him as a "do whatever it takes to get him" candidate. His career winning percentage is 8th among active managers. Not that it's a stat that tells the whole story, but it does not suggest to me that we're dealing with, say, the baseball equivalent of Greg Popovich opting out of his contract with the Spurs and going on the open market. In general, I think there's only so much a manager can do to win games. A bad manager can make bad moves, lose the clubhouse and turn a team with 90 win talent into a 70 win team. But no matter how good of a manager you are,you're not going to win 90 games with 70 win talent. I'd prefer Maddon over Molitor, but I seriously doubt it would make much of a difference in terms of wins and losses.
  10. one_eyed_jack
    What the Cubs did doesn't totally sit right with me but Renteria is a big boy and he's been around the game long enough to understand that it can be ruthless at times. I'll give Theo Epstein a little credit for being honest about it, he came right out and admitted that this wasn't fair to Rick. A lot of organizations would have thrown him under the bus instead. I'm still not sold on this idea that the Twins should have immediately gone to Maddon and offered him whatever money and authority it would have taken to get him here. I like Maddon, and I would have been happy had they hired him. But I don't see much reason to get all worked up over the fact that they didn't.
  11. one_eyed_jack
    Cheers to that. I don't know what caused Mauer to have such a lame season, but it was frustrating and sad to watch. I don't doubt his desire to bounce back strong next year. If Joe starts hitting like his old self, and some of the younger guys take a step forward, this team will put some runs on the board.
  12. one_eyed_jack
    Souhan's piece was pretty embarrassing. I understand that he's a columnist, not a reporter, but he can't come up with better takes than this? When the guy making $23 million a year begs out of the lineup because of a bruise, it’s difficult for the manager to push others to play through pain. This is the stuff of ranting ignoramuses in the Strib comments section, not a paid professional. Mauer had a bad season, but does Souhan sincerely believe that he begged out of the lineup because of a bruise? Also, this is the complete opposite of what he wrote in May, when he talked about Mauer experiencing "sharp, searing, debilitating pain"
  13. one_eyed_jack
    I'm still trying to understand this "extended honeymoon" thing. Is your concern that by giving Molitor a 3-year deal, the FO is signaling that they are willing to tolerate 2 more years of losing?
  14. one_eyed_jack
    I'm not sure we know enough about how that whole thing went down to say that Maddon himself acted unethically. I guess all is fair in love and war, and the Cubs felt that they had the chance to replace a good general with a great general, but it doesn't feel right to me somehow. I'll tell you this, Epstein better be right about this, because if he isn't, and the Cubbies flounder under Maddon, it could come back to bite him.
  15. one_eyed_jack
    Not my first choice, but not a bad choice. I'm sure there will be more teeth-gnashing over Maddon, but in terms of W-L, I don't think having him manage the 2015 Twins instead of Molitor would make much of a difference.
  16. one_eyed_jack
    He'd be a decent candidate, but he doesn't excite me any more than either Molitor or Lovullo, so I'm not going to get worked up over it if the Twins don't rush to bring him in. And I don't see why his heritage is relevant. Is there a track record of players from Venezuela and DR performing better under managers of Mexican descent? Bruce Bochy was born in France and grew up in the US. He's had a fair few guys from Latin America on his roster (Sandoval, Pagan, Perez, Blanco, etc.) and I'd say the results haven't been too shabby. Just find a guy that's good at the job.
  17. one_eyed_jack
    Look I'd love it if the Twins hired Maddon, but I'm not going to get worked up over it if they don't as long as they hire someone competent. I'm just not convinced that managers necessarily make a huge difference in terms of wins and losses. There are situations where they do, but it's more often for the worse, for example where you have a good team that quits on a manager they don't like, then goes back to playing hard for his replacement. But I don't think this is one of them. But hey, maybe I'm wrong, I'm open to being convinced otherwise, so I'm curious as to thoughts on this: How many wins would hiring Maddon be good for? What would you expect the difference in record to be between the 2015 Twins managed by Maddon as compared to the 2015 Twins managed by Molitor? If we'd had Maddon the last 4 years, would our record have been dramatically better?
  18. one_eyed_jack
    Read my post again. I said the managerial change was needed. I didn't say don't fix the hole in the roof. Yes, fix it. But let's not pretend that fixing the hole in the roof will magically cause all of the other problems to go away.
  19. one_eyed_jack
    I understand why a lot folks want Maddon, but the teeth-gnashing over the Twins not pulling a Brinks truck into his driveway the instant he hit the market is getting a bit silly. I'm glad the Twins decided to make a managerial change, but I also don't think that alone is going to have that much of an impact. Good managing cannot compensate for bad pitching. If your pitching stinks, your record is going to stink. And the Twins pitching has stunk. Bad. An average of 800 runs surrendered in the last 4 seasons. Sure Maddon could, and probably would, do some things differently to help that a bit, but it's not like hiring him would transform all of our starters into David Price.
  20. one_eyed_jack
    LEN says the Twins did reach out to Maddon. http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/280875292.html
  21. one_eyed_jack
    Bumgarner, wow. Kudos to the Royals. I thought the magic would wear off, and this would be a one-sided series in SF's favor. But KC was right there. Postseason baseball is awesome, hope the Twins can be part of it again soon.
  22. one_eyed_jack
    Fair enough. The blown leads probably stick out in my mind more, but it would have been more accurate to say tied or leading. My point was that there were close games that could have gone either way. In any case, I need to be done with this topic - too many painful memories. I think I'd rather re-hash the last 4 years of incompetence and irrelevance than dissect the Gardy-era playoff losses. I'd guess about 98% of the F-bombs I've dropped in my life were during those 21 playoff losses.
  23. one_eyed_jack
    Not sure I buy into the "playing soft" thing either. Who played soft? There were quite a few games where we had late leads, only to have our normally reliable bullpen (including our all-star closer) cough them up. Was Nathan playing soft? And on not using talent disparity as an excuse, I get where you are coming from, but I think it depends on what year you are talking about. Take 2009. I understand not liking the whole "little engine" thing, but I also think it's a little silly to throw out starters like Duensing and Blackburn against guys like Sabathia and Pettite, counter an infield of A-Rod, Jeter, Cano and Teixera with Tolbert, Cabrera, Punto and Cuddyer and expect to win because "upsets happen". 2010 was a different story. It was a deeper, more experienced Twins team. The Yankees were starting to look older and weaker. We had home field advantage in the new ballpark. We clinched early and were able to set up our rotation. It felt like it was our time to finally break through. That was a winnable series.
  24. one_eyed_jack
    I'd be surprised if Maddon ended up here, but I wouldn't rule it out. A lot of folks said Rick Adelman, who I think you can look at as sort of the NBA version of Maddon, would never take the T-Wolves job. The T-Wolves were coming off a string of horrific seasons, and there were other jobs in bigger markets available. But Rick came here. (Of course his tenure was pretty disappointing....) And yeah, Maddon would cost more than other managers, but he'd also generate buzz and interest that other candidates wouldn't.
  25. one_eyed_jack
    I watch, but I don't really have a favorite. The postseason is fun because of the dramatics. You never know how things are going to turn out. (Unlike, say, the NBA playoffs, which can be exciting, but the results are pretty predictable). The Tigers and Angels both getting swept? Hard to see that coming.
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