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Alex

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Everything posted by Alex

  1. Alex
    Sorry, but it's an incomplete analogy. What's the alternative to cheap veterans as stop gaps? AAA lifers in full time roles in the majors? These positions need to be filled. Building a foundation and adding veterans are not mutually exclusive and can be accomplished at the same time. When these vets are signed for a couple million dollars, nothing is harmed. Also, Twins at least need to build some semblance of competitiveness unless they want Target Field to be a ghost stadium in year four.
  2. Alex
    Last week's Gleeman and the Geek (EP 68) explains as well as any I've heard about why we as fans gets frustrated by every move the Twins make like this, or don't make that we see other teams. At about the 1 hour mark, they discuss how the Twins not revealing their estimated payroll and saying money isn't important is far more frustrating to fans. It definitely applies to the discussion here and the fact that people are splitting hairs about Doumit's 3.5M/year contract (seriously, a great value).
  3. Alex
    Just a correction... It's the Rule 5 draft, not the Rule V draft... Anyway, I like Anthony and I sincerely hope for him that he does get selected. But teams have had opportunities to pick him up and haven't. I'd be shocked if he was taken now. In part because the last few years only about 10-12 players get drafted in the Rule 5, few stick, and they're generally younger. Isn't the fact that they're under team control likely part reason and not just younger? Slama did put a great season together in AAA and that could easily have changed minds. It seems like the back of the bullpen is an easy place to keep a Rule 5 pick (at worst.) Slama could give a team at least a couple of years (possibly more) very cheap. Last season, Terry Ryan said Slama would get his shot (2013), but to me, this doesn't seem to coincide with that statement, at least if he meant with the Twins. If he really wanted to give him his shot, wouldn't he have been protected just in case? Though maybe these other younger players are more valuable long term.
  4. Alex
    Well, if rumors are true and Span has been shopped around, the rest of the league doesn't value Span as highly as the Twins do. My guess is if they could/can get starting pitching for him they will pull the trigger. I personally agree with PseudoSABR, that that kind of player is a major reach for Span.
  5. Alex
    I highly agree with this. I'd rather see a deal for Willingham being made. He's not as valuable, but teams may be willing to offer just as much as Span would fetch. Willingham's not as valuable? Willingham's defense has certainly hurt him and Span's contract is better, but in terms of offense, I think some people would be surprised that Willingham had the better OBP (which is really Span's value as a bat), and of course, combine that with power and you've got a much more valuable offensive player. Overall, WAR is better for Span, but I'd bet that most teams would rather have Willingham. That said, while it's the popular notion to trade Span for pitching, my guess is he hasn't been worth that or we'd have seen a trade already. Don't get me wrong, I believe that if the Twins can get something valuable for either, they should make the move, but Span has a skillset where the Twins have some depth while that isn't true of Willingham. He's the only Twin to hit 35 HR since Killibrew). Considering that most of them (21) came at Target Field, a place where guys like Cuddyer and Kubel whined about the park, Willingham is much more valuable to the Twins than Span. No way should they consider trading Willingham over Span, but they should certainly entertain offers on both.
  6. Alex
    One of the better takes overall as most opinions seem far too influenced by the result of the play. I don't know that it was a great call, but I can certainly understand why it was made and why it was made when it was made. If the ump had let it play out and but the SS had purposely dropped it on purpose and then managed to turn a double play (not likely but possible), people would have been just as upset. Or, maybe they wouldn't have because they figured the ball was in the outfield and don't understand the rule.
  7. Alex
    This is why I was saying he shouldn't be fired, but I'd like to see more of him before crowning him GM for the next decade. Firing coaches has little to do with the status quo, as they don't really matter one way or another with this team. The status quo I was referring to is their refusal to sign even decent SP, continually trying the same type of player in the MI, refusing to move players of value through two horrible seasons, and, at least at the surface, what seems like an archaic system of player evaluation. There were some positives, Doumit, Hammer, Burton. The draft strategy looks better but we'll see if it pans out. But there were some big failures and concerns, too: Using ST stats to evaluate players, no significant trades (as mentioned above), moving up players when they clearly weren't ready or no spot for them to play, Marquis, stubbornly sticking with terrible pitchers in the pen when others had at least deserved a look, and comments that seem to indicaten we're in for more of the same.
  8. Alex
    I just don't think these things are worth caring about. Whether they fire 3 or 5 or everyone, it's not what really matters. I don't think there are any coaching staffs that could have won 90 games with this team, so to me, holding them accountable seems false in and of itself. Now, if there's something going on in the clubhouse where players are bored listening to the same guys, then the moves are justified, but I'd think it'd be worthwhile to stop believing that personnel moves (or non-moves) are going to make a huge impact on the team in the win column. Ultimately, the accountability should be on the front office and organization in their evaluation of players and refusal to spend money to improve the team through FA.
  9. Alex
    Frankly, I think you're on the money here. I'd agree that Terry Ryan's head shouldn't be called for, but this seems like a move that re-instates a status quo when maybe new ideas should probably be being considered.
  10. Alex
    If they fire someone it will basically give the appearance of doing something without having to spend significant money doing something that might actually be more impactful (like signing FA pitchers not named Marquis).
  11. Alex
    From what I remember, they said it would affect him all season until he was able to rest it.
  12. Alex
    Bruno is one thing but he has history with the Twins. Cuellar is not a spring chicken and I think might be close to retirement himself. That said I agree. I think if the only move after two 90+ loss season would be to replace Liddle, they better do nothing. They should clean house, but at least Anderson has to go. Cannot keep only the players accountable and call for no scholarships (and still hand one to the Drew) while you tenure your manager and your coaches. Glad to hear that the Pohlads do not like the product their staff (starting with the GM) put on the field. Time to see whether they will do the right thing... Ultimately, I could care less about the coaching staff. The issues are far more about organizational philosophy and player evaluation than anything else. No team, regardless of their coaches, wins even 81 games with this pitching staff. Could the Twins win a few more games with better coaches? Probably, but I don't think it's a number that would be even close to being in the double digits.
  13. Alex
    Because of his approach, people think pitchers throw Mauer a strike on the first pitch almost every time. That isn't true. In fact, exactly opposite is true. He gets the fewer first pitch strikes than nearly every hitter with a qualifying number of PA. In fact, he only gets strikes 54% of the time on the first pitch. Of 142 hitters with the qualified number of PA, 135 of them have a first pitch strike percentage higher than Mauer. I, too, think its pretty tough to criticize this approach, even if it sometimes seems frustrating to see him take that first pitch strike more than half the time. It works really, really well over the course of the at bat and the season.
  14. Alex
    Yes, he certainly has a thing for Ron Gardenhire: http://joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-annual-gardy-rant.html Now, the Gardy article was one surreal read two years later. Also, one of the last comments was how great the talent in the minors were. All this at what would soon become the crashing and burning of two seasons for the team.
  15. Alex
    No he's not Nishi or Butera. But, just so we're clear, 3.61 ERA would place him in the bottom half of all relievers since 2010. He's not elite, no, and he's really not even been that good, and certainly not worth the money.
  16. Alex
    I'm fine with them choosing not to pay 20m a year for someone, but if they sit on their heels again or just sign pitchers like Jason Marquis, they'll be a joke for another year and see their attendance decline by another 3k a game if not more. So to say that the market for aces is thin is fine, but for starting pitching help, especially for a team like the Twins is false. Either Ryan is being delibrately misleading or Souhan did a horrible job relaying the information.
  17. Alex
    Fair enough. If you believe Gardy at his word and that the idea he hasn't penciled him in as a starter this coming season, that's fine. IMO, then Gardy still has really said....nothing. To expand my point, I hope Gardy is lying through his teeth and telling management they need to upgrade the middle infield, either now or in the future by trading for prospects. Frankly, starting Dozier and Florimon at 2B and SS next year (or at some point) scares the heck out of me. I mean, I know he's not going to say he doesn't like someone in public, but the middle infield evaluation and development of this organization has been worse than all other positions. I'd agree that their number one need is starting pitching but I do think middle infield is a close second.
  18. Alex
    You might want to take a look at what statistics oriented people have said about Twins players/moves and then compare them to the moves the Twins have made this season. In some cases, those projections agree, and both groups have been wrong about different players. I've followed things pretty closely, though, and the Twins management could certainly use more statistical analysis.
  19. Alex
    Please, feel free to name some hitters as I'm curious because I couldn't think of any. Also, what is meant by "success?" The one who defied his minor league numbers is Span, in that he's been mostly able to reproduce his minor league numbers (which until he was 24 would have made him a AAAA player). He always showed good plate discipline but never posted an .800 OPS in the minors for a full season (and in fact was below .700 for many). However, before he was called up, even he started tearing things up in AAA. Joe Benson had a couple of good seasons at AAA. He was called up last fall and didn't look all that ready, so AAA was a good spot for him to start the season. He did have some injuries this year, so it's hard to actually gauge, but he didn't do anything at any point that merited consideration of making this roster, especially when other OF were performing better. He did nothing to deserve a ML callup. (I'd argue the same for Dozier, but even that was at an incredibly weak position).
  20. Alex
    Why? Because they've shown such skill at evaluating and developing middle infielders over the past decade or so?
  21. Alex
    If you want me to give credit to him for being a terrible hitter and couching it because he's "young," fine, but that's not the way it really works (and he's not THAT young). If a guy is going to hit well, he should hit well. When they do it against younger competition you have to take it into account, as in Dozier's case. You don't do the reverse though and say that because someone is young and not hitting, they are actually better than they are. Guys who get walks in the minors tend to get even fewer in the majors. He is 23, so he certainly has a chance to improve, but it's not like he's 18 and playing in AAA and really hit well ever beyond rookie ball (OBP of 300 is pretty terrible by the way) and once you get past single A his numbers are awful (between AA and AAA, he OBP is below .300), they're not even good for a minor leaguer. For his CAREER as a minor leaguer, he's a .267/.312/.348 hitter. There's no getting around how bad this is...they're not close to the numbers of an everyday player. A good comparison is Ben Revere, elite defensively at his position but a below average hitter in the bigs. Even he hit minor league pitching hard and was a comparable age to Escobar at similar levels. The bottom line is none of these guys have shown anything over a significant period of time that should lead anyone to think they can be everyday options.
  22. Alex
    Definitely a change from mid-season. A lot of that has to do with Hicks improving, of course and some of the other players drafted recently and the younger players moving faster than expected.
  23. Alex
    Escobar's OBP is pretty ugly even in the minors and when compared to those two and especially Carroll. Unless you're hitting a good number of home runs that makes you a pretty worthless hitter.
  24. Alex
    Wait, is Parmelee hurt? Seriously? I like Mastro but c'mon. Yeah, I'm find with Butera giving Doums a rest, but the Twins lineup should not have two catchers (w/o Mauer) as it did last night.
  25. Alex
    Funny, I was just going to post this and it looks like hindsight.....but there was no reason to play Butera. This means Doumit could have been at C, Revere in LF, and Parmelee in RF to get him some more at bats.
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