gil4

I hope the Rob Wilfong rumor isn't true, because the replacement level infielder tattoo needs to be Nick Punto sliding into first. Of course, we also need a pitcher, and there are so many possibilities.

It sounds like you missed a life-changing opportunity there. (Maybe not life-changing for the better, but still life-changing)

I have always considered age to be less of a factor for pitchers than for hitters. He's 25 and his arm hasn't fallen off - that alone puts him in the top 10% of pitching prospects in his age group.

Most of what I know about Gilbert was this play, and it wasn't his finest moment: It may look like a quick hook, but the crew chief said he had warned him already about arguing balls and strikes while he was in CF. (It takes a lot to get a ball/strike warning from CF,) If the Twins decide to draft him, hopefully it's after doing a bit of extra due diligence.

I got my nap in during the game today. Apparently the Twins did too.

It worked for decades until it didn't work anymore, because someone did something else that worked better. We may get to a point where everyone has the same numbers ands same computer analysis, and the only tiebreaker will be one scout's eye test vs. another's. We aren't there yet (as far as I can tell), Of course, even the eye test will be video that's enhanced and analyzed by computers...

I think Bundy went on the COVID list. I would hope he didn't have symptoms during the game, although it's possible he was off enough to affect his performance. It's also possible getting shelled had no medical cause whatsoever.

Yeah, you might want to dig up one of last year's threads to post that. It's hard to believe this is the same site (or the same team.)

This might be the wrong site to post this, but Joe Morgan > Kirby Puckett, and it isn't close. Does that need to go under the "controversial baseball opinions:" article instead?

It would have to be a pitcher doing the pinch-running. The last I checked, we had two healthy non-pitcher subs. I think the next improvement at TF is going to be expanded bullpen seating.

I'm willing to try the bubble wrap. Maybe line the walls with the stuff, too. I prefer that idea to the DH suggestion.

From the article: "Thousands of fans cast their votes for their favorite name in September 2020, with Sky Carp edging out Supper Clubbers -- by less than 50 votes." I didn't care for the Sky Carp name either until I saw what the next alternative was. By comparison, Sky Carp is an awesome name.

And some definitely is. He needs to learn how to make catches at the wall without killing himself. He had another one early in spring training that made the ESPN highlights, but it showed he still hasn't learned. If he keeps hitting walls while in awkward positions, he will keep getting hurt.

Yeah, those Mariners fans are still upset they traded him. ? (Baseball Weekly had a short follow-up article on the name change with one of my all-time favorite headlines - "Player Really To Be Named Later." )

That is hard to believe. He looked like he didn't even know how to hold a bat last year. I was extra disappointed because I was excited when we signed him - he played his college ball in our small town in western Oklahoma.

When will he have to make that decision? November? He will likely have forgotten there even was a summer by then. (I probably should have led with the "you're crazy," but two weeks ago we would have said that about anyone who thought we would sign him.)

ESPN headline for the video clip: "Buxton crashes into the wall to rob Olson of extra bases" Me: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

My routine reading included Gleeman, Seth, and "Twins Geek" Bonnes. I liked his family nicknames Bonnes used - Voice of Reason and Chatty Chatty Princess (and was there also The Boy, or was that from somewhere else - maybe Dave Barry?). Thinking about how old my kids were then and how old they are now, and I bet Princess is an adult now and would give dad a hard time if she found out someone remembered that name.

Did we make another trade that I didn't hear about? ? I'd say Miranda (pretty sure that's who you meant) needs to play full time somewhere, and Urshela might have to adapt to a utility role.

Especially when you consider draft order. The highest the Twins picked in that stretch was 14 (Hicks in 2008). 2010-2015 gave us Buxton, three guys with ,2 career WAR each (Gordon and Stewart could still add on, but probably not much.) In that time, they had pick 21, 30, 2, 4, 5, and 6. 2011 - Twins drafted Levi Michael #30 - there were 6 hits and 24 misses in the next 30. Jackie Bradley or Trevor Story would have been nice, but there were a lot of options on the table that would have been equal busts. 2012 - 60 matching player(s). 40 played in the majors (66%). Total of 264.3 WAR, or 6.6 per major leaguer. (Twins got Buxton at 2 plus Berrios in the supplemental (#32) - 27 WAR and counting between them. Two hits in a deep draft) 2013 - 39 matching player(s). 30 played in the majors (76%). Total of 141.0 WAR, or 4.7 per major leaguer. (39.7 WAR in picks 1-3) Twins left a lot of opportunity on the table. 2014 - 41 matching player(s). 28 played in the majors (68%). Total of 139.2 WAR, or 5.0 per major leaguer. (20.5 WAR in picks 1-4) Weird draft - #1 and #2 didn't make it past A ball, #6 has a career OPS+ of 27. Nola (7), Turner (13), and Chapman (25 ) were more than half the WAR for the class. This was the 2nd year in a row the Astros selected #1 and got nothing (Appel, Aiken). It doesn't matter where you hit, as long as you hit somewhere. 2015 - 42 matching player(s). 31 played in the majors (73%). Total of 100.8 WAR, or 3.3 per major leaguer. (46.1 WAR in picks 1-5) Weak draft overall, Benintendi was next, but there were a lot of busts. The 2011 (edit - I meant 2012) supplemental (31-60) was probably equal to the top 30 in this draft. I'm not sure there was to this other than the draft is a crapshoot and you need to get one or two of the 10+ WAR guys for it to be a success.

Walt Bond/"Died of leukemia (diagnosed 1962) in September 1967." It seems like a lot of progress has made in the treatment of leukemia. Former Twin Danny Thompson died of Leukemia in 1976. I knew at least three people who died of it in the 1980s. Since then. I haven't heard of any. Is the impression mistaken? Is it just that I am no longer in the age bracket that's hardest hit? (My kids are in the bracket now that I was in then, and I haven't heard of any of their friends having it.)

I agree and think it is realistic (although the numbers may vary.) Just to expand on what the players would want, the minimum would have to be a hard minimum with stiff penalties, and the maximum would have to be a soft cap, with penalties scaled based on the amount over the cap and the number of years over the cap (like they are now.)

Roxy was far more effective than I expected.

Except for the full no-trade clause in the deal. That shouldn't be too big a stumbling block - it the Twins decide to move on, they can probably find a team he is willing to go to.