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one_eyed_jack

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Everything posted by one_eyed_jack

  1. one_eyed_jack
    ---Yeah, maybe 75 is optimistic, but I expect a bit of an uptick in wins. The way I see it, it's similar to last year's team, but with better starting pitching. Not great, but better. It's hard to overstate how bad the starting pitching was last year. So many nights we were down by 4 or 5 runs before half the fans had settled into their seats. It's really hard to win games that way. So better starting pitching should be good for a few W's. And I could be totally off on this, but I have a gut feeling that the Big Canadian is poised for a monster comeback year that will make the Twins regret not extending him when they may have been able to do so for a more reasonable price.
  2. one_eyed_jack
    I think Howard nails it when he talks about how building for the future is great, but refusing to build a birdge to the future is hard to accept or justify. The Twins have money to spend. They are in the weakest division in baseball. We may be a ways off from being a legit threat to win it all, but I think another solid starter and a competent middle infielder or two could have given us a shot to hang in the division race for a while with an outside chance to win it if some things broke our way. But as I look at the roster now, I see a 70-75 win team.
  3. one_eyed_jack
    Pursuing Correia over Marcum has always been a curious decision. This article with a few self-serving quotes from Marcum doesn't change anything or add to the conversation. I'm a little surprised that it took Marcum this long to land a job, maybe concerns about his health are legit. Still, at least with Marcum, we would at least have had a shot at getting a guy who could make a difference. I hope to God he proves me wrong, but I have trouble seeing Correia becoming anything more than a marginal 5th starter.
  4. one_eyed_jack
    ---I'm sure everyone would prefer to avoid it, but If there were a division realignment that forced an AL Central team to move to the west, it would not be either of the two in the eastern time zone.
  5. one_eyed_jack
    ---That is an interesting list, but metro area market and potential viewing audience are not the same thing. Certainly, the Twins viewing audience extends well beyond the Twin Cities metro area. In Sacramento, the potential viewing audience probably does not extend much beyond that with 2 teams in the SF Bay Area. In Nashville, they could become more the TN state team, kind of like the Twins in MN. So their potential TV audience includes not only Nashville but the whole state, which has 3 other cities on that list (Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga). The Orlando thing makes sense, but I have a feeling that if the Rays relocate, it will be out of the state of Florida.
  6. one_eyed_jack
    Some interesting ideas. Going back to the days of 3 teams in NYC? That would be cool, but I don't think it would happen. Montreal is a thought. At 4 million people, it's twice the size of the US metro areas mentioned. Nashville seems like a strong choice, Olney has been tweeting about that. Seems like a big enough market that is in enough of a gap for any existing team to object to too strongly. PR and Mexico? Depending on how far out we're talking, MLB may be ready for that.
  7. one_eyed_jack
    This article does not give much reason for hope for the future of major league baseball in the Tampa Bay area. But if they move, where would they go? What's a market currently without an MLB team that could support one? It doesn't seem to me like there are that many. North Carolina (Raleigh/Durham or Charlotte)? Tennessee (Nashville or Memphis)? Would San Juan, PR be a viable option?
  8. one_eyed_jack
    Random thoughts on the passing NFL playoff scene: A Raven has made me eat some crow - Joe Flacco, I didn't think you had it in you, but you do Colin K. has looked scary good. It will be really interesting to see what he does on football's biggest stage. The media lovefest with Tom Brady is out of hand and needs to stop. Every time one of Peyton Manning's teams suffers a postseason disappointment, they pin it all on Peyton. But when the Patriots walk off the field losers in a playoff game they were supposed to win, Teflon Tuck Rule Tommy Boy is absolved of all blame. I watched some post-game stuff on both ESPN and NFL Network, and they went on-and-on about injuries, dropped passes, defensive lapses, etc. I kept waiting for one of them to pipe up and say "oh yeah, and Brady didn't play well." None did, and a couple even defended him, even though he was badly outplayed by Flacco. I love the NFL postseason. Please, Christian Ponder, be better than I think you are. I don't care how many degrees below zero it gets, January is awesome if the Vikes are making a deep run. Hats off to Tony Gonzalez on an amazing career. Normally I pull for the accomplished vet who has never been to the big dance, but as a Vikes fan who remembers '98, I can't help but feel a certain savage pleasure in watching the Falcons choke away an NFC championship game at home. My Super Bowl prediction: Ravens 27-24 in OT. If you're a Niners fan, that's good news for you, I have about a 10% success rate in predicting SB winners.
  9. one_eyed_jack
    I don't understand the compulsion to dwell on this move. I don't know whether it's some kind of an emotional attachment to JJ Hardy or an addiction to the feeling of self-satisfaction of being able to say "I told you so", but seriously, it's 2013. The contemporary relevance of moves made in 2010 ended a while ago. Ramos for Capps was a dumb move too, and also labeled as such by many people as soon as it was made. But there hasn't been anywhere near the amont incessant whining over that like there's been for the Hardy trade. It's not like this move alone doomed the past 2 seasons. You know what you get if you take the 2011 and 2012 Twins and add JJ Hardy? 2 bad baseball teams. Hardy would have made them a little less crappy, but let's not kid ourselves into thinking that we would have been playing meaningful baseball in September but for the decison to trade him. Time to move on.
  10. one_eyed_jack
    I didn't see the show. As I said in an earlier thread about this, I don't have a problem with the result per se. The fact that nobody got in does not necessarily mean the process is broken. However, reading some of the absurd, flippant and illogical explanations from those who chose to publish their ballots proved to me that there's a lot of people voting on this thing who have absolutely zero business doing so. I'll have to go back and look at which one, but one of the ESPN guys said he could have voted for Morris because he has in the past, but "just wasn't feeling it this year." Are you kidding me? It's fine not to vote for Morris, I probably wouldn't either, but come on, take the process seriously. Then there was a guy who said he "needed more time" to decide on Biggio. That tells me he's being either lazy (they get these ballots in plenty of time to put some thought and analysis into each player and make a decision) or spineless (wants to see how others vote first so he can just follow the crowd.) Either way, if you can't or won't do the job, then your voting privileges should be taken from you can given to someone who can and will.
  11. one_eyed_jack
    My thought is that it's now 2013, and high time to stop whining about moves made in 2010 that didn't work out. At this point you might as well be complaining about Bruno-for-Herr.
  12. one_eyed_jack
    Aaron Swartz, Reddit co-founder and internet activist, committed suicide. He was 26. Horribly sad. A high-value pick for the purposes of this twisted game, but horribly sad.
  13. one_eyed_jack
    I don't have a problem with the result of yesterday's vote as much as I do the reasoning (or lack thereof) behind it. When you read some of the published explanations for ballots, it's hard not to come away feeling like the process is completely broken. For example, you've got Wallace Matthews saying things like "You can argue that I should have voted for Jack Morris (I have in the past but wasn't feeling it this year).... Really? He wasn't "feeling it"? Last I checked it was the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Wallace Matthews' Feelings. I read another guy who said that he "needed more time" to decide on Biggio. More time? Don't they get these ballots months before they're due? If you can't do the job in the time alloted, step aside and give it to someone who can.
  14. one_eyed_jack
    ---Nobody is starting a "witch hunt". It is not a "witch hunt" to point out what Perry did, and frankly, I would not even deny him the hall for it. I'm merely pointing out the inconsistency. Perry regularly broke the rules to gain competitive advantage on the field of play. Everyone knows it. He admits it. And he goes in without much of a fuss. But now we have voters refusing to even consider Biggio who was never found to have done anything wrong, but played with some guys who did. I just think the "KEEP OUT THE CHEATERS" crowd is being naive and obtuse by acting like the hall is cheater-free today.
  15. one_eyed_jack
    Yeah a bunch of these guys will probably go in evenutally. But the guys who were never even accused of any wrongdoing getting penalized is stupid and wrong. And the voters righteous indignation and finger-wagging over PED's would be a lot more credible if they had put up more of a stink about, say, Gaylord Perry. He was a known, avowed and shameless cheater.
  16. one_eyed_jack
    ---Well, it will be interesting to see how long it does stay there. Will the voters who refused to consider Biggio because of the era he played in be consistent and refuse to consider Frank Thomas in 2014? And Griffey Jr. in 2016? And Derek Jeter when his day comes?
  17. one_eyed_jack
    Well there you have it. The BBHOF has officially jumped the shark. Seriously, look at some of the ballots and their explanations and tell me that a collection of regulars from TD couldn't come up with better results. Jack Morris to me is a classic borderline case. I have no problem with him not making it, but I won't complain if he does. Biggio's exclusion is just absurd. Part of it is the "first-ballot hall of famer" nonsense, which has to stop. This tiered approach to induction is just silly self-absorption on the part of the voters. Either you think a guy is worthy or you don't. But don't withhold support because you think he's worthy, but not THAT worthy. Part of it is the guilt-by-association with PED's. Look at this explanation from one voter: I spoke to several writers about their ballots and found that two had voted for Biggio and two others hadn’t because of a suspicion in baseball circles that he used steroids. When Bagwell was eligible initially a couple of years ago, I voted for him, then was told he was a steroids guy. Trusting the information, I haven’t voted for him since. Maybe the two writers who told me they voted for Biggio will come to a similar conclusion before the next vote. Those writers said they also voted for Piazza, which is troubling because I don’t know if there’s anyone in baseball who doesn’t think Piazza used steroids. Is that where we are now? Disqualifying guys based on rumor and suspicion?
  18. one_eyed_jack
    If we can get that first win, then a deep run is possile. But that first win will be tough. Really hard to win in Lambeau, really hard to beat the same team 2 weeks in a row. The way Rodgers was carving up our secondary after Winfield went down did not leave me with a lot of happy feelings about Saturday night. I think we need a monster day from AP and an effective, mistake-free day from Ponder, grind out some long, drives that end in 7, not 3, and keep Rodgers on the sideline. We'll see. In any case, it's fun to have one of the local boys teams in the postseason again, it's only been a couple of years, but it sure feels like forever.
  19. one_eyed_jack
    It's easy to pee on Dave's enthusiasm by pointing out obvious differences between baseball and football. But it's New Year's Eve, folks, indulge in a little hope. Back in August, I can't tell you how many people told me that looking at the schedule, they couldn't see the Vikings doing better than 4-12. It's not just that they weren't picked to make the playoffs, they were supposed to be a bad team in a rebuilding/transition year. Granted, it's easier to be a surprise team in football than in baseball in many ways. But if some things break the Twins way (while the Tigers stumble), they could be competitive in what is likely to be a very weak division.
  20. one_eyed_jack
    Wow, what a game. I didn't think we'd be able to give up 34 points and still win. Sorry AP came up a bit short, but an incredible year nonetheless. Credit to Mr. Ponder, a nice performance in a pressure situation. And it was fitting to see the season end as it started, with Blair Walsh kicking us to victory. We may get our clocks cleaned next week, but this season has been a lot more fun than I thought it would be, I never dreamed we'd be playing in the postseason. (I hope I'm saying the same thing about the 2013 Twins in about 10 months.)
  21. one_eyed_jack
    ---And I don't think anyone demanded a top-tier free agent. I, for one, would have been content with a second or third-tier free agent. You're right that guys like Greinke aren't going to give the Twins serious consideration. But surely, there are guys better than Correia who would have signed here for the right price.
  22. one_eyed_jack
    Being a bad team can, and often does, make it a tougher sell. Some guys may value the chance to win more than money, and for that reason would not seriously consider a team like the Twins. However, I don't see how you can claim that NO free agents would sign here. The Cubs were on the verge of getting Sanchez before he went back to Detroit, and then managed to get E-Jax (the guy I was hoping the Twins would get).
  23. one_eyed_jack
    It's not that they won't overpay, it's that they won't pay market prices. Someone wake up Terry Ryan and tell him that it isn't 2004 anymore, and $10 million doesn get you what it used to. It's like listening to old people at the grocery store complain about food prices while reminiscing about what things used to cost what they were kids. I supported the Span and Revere trades, I think they were good moves. But not spending some extra money to get something better than Correia is really frustrating. This is a weak division. It should not take much to compete in it. A decent arm or two, and the Twins would have at least had a chance to be playing meaningful games late in the season. And signing decent FA's as opposed to crappy FA's would not have jeopardized the long-term plan or hamstrung the team financially. Teams are always looking for pitching, if nothing else we probably could have traded them for something half-decent at the deadline if it didn't work out. We all got frustrated with Smith's recklessness, now we have the other extreme. Some of Smith's moves were the equivalent of going for it on 4th-and-22 on your own 20. But now we have Ryan, who won't go for it on 4th-and-1 on the other team's 20. (Sorry, got a football mindset, gearing up for tomorrow - go Vikes!)
  24. one_eyed_jack
    Psyched for this game, didn't think at the beginning of the season that it would mean anything to the Vikes. But here we are in a win-and-we're-in, good stuff. Ponder's performance is certainly a big part of it, but his receivers have to make some plays for him too. The offense needs to grind out some extended drives that result in points and keep Rodgers off the field. It's also important that the defense to not let Rodgers get in a groove early because if he does, it will be bad news. The Vikes will have a hard time coming back from a big deficit with this offense - need to at least keep it close to have a shot to win. I won't dare predict the outcome. Anything is possible, and frankly no result would surprise me. I just hope we live to see another week.
  25. one_eyed_jack
    Excellent work. I laughed as well, though it was tenuous laughter as this veered a little too close to the truth at times. I think we'll probably need a sense of humor to get through 2013. But one never knows. Look at Vikings this year. Everyone thought they'd be bad. I can't tell you how many people told me in August that they looked at the schedule and couldn't see anything better than a 4-12 finish. Yet here they are in a win-and-they're-in situation next Sunday.
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