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mazeville

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Everything posted by mazeville

  1. mazeville
    Except Plouffe is going to be activated tomorrow. And he needs to play routinely if he's on the roster. He's also your best defensive third baseman.
  2. mazeville
    Tom Kelly told Reusse that he thinks Buxton is "long." Kid just needs to shorten his swing and he'll be OK. Indeed, it seems to me that this suggests his problems at the major league level are due to a hitch in his swing and not something more serious. Hope so, anyway. But I'm still guessing he gets up here by the All Star break. At least I'm hoping. Last year he was awful when he started but toward the end of the year he really started to come around. It was unfortunate that the season ended before he could really get it going. And then he started this year with his swing in terrible shape. Oof.
  3. mazeville
    Don't agree with the outfield alignment. But the issue demonstrates how much the Twins have backed themselves into a corner by trading Aaron Hicks and not Trevor Plouffe. I feel like I'm beating a dead horse -- a really dead horse -- but if they had kept Hicks and traded Plouffe, the Twins could have put Sano at third (with Nunez and Jorge Polanco as the backup options), which would have enabled the team to have a good defensive outfield of Rosario-Buxton-Hicks. And when Buxton got sent down, that OF would be Rosario-Hicks-Arcia. Still a good defensive outfield with some hitting ability (though Hicks is hitting terribly himself ...). So maybe that point is moot. In any event, your alignment ignores Sano, the only other player besides Mauer who gets on base with regularity. Platooning Arcia and Park would seem like a good idea. But Park doesn't have a hit against a lefty this season yet (small sample size). In any event, I'm just not sure what can be done, absent everybody basically improving on their April.
  4. mazeville
    I'd much rather have technology to call balls and strikes than I would replay ... because he's right. The pace of the game is SO SLOW. I have two kids. And I can't even consider taking them to a weeknight game any longer because you KNOW that game will go past 10 pm. Likely to 10:30 or 11. Ridiculous. I love baseball. But four-hour games just drag.
  5. mazeville
    This. Absolutely this. If the Twins are going to lose, lose young. Give Buxton another month or two in AAA and let him fix his swing but get him up the rest of the year. Trade out a couple of veterans for some prospects. Nolasco might be rebuilding some of his value. Maybe Phil Hughes or Ervin Santana have some trade value still. Trade Trevor Plouffe. There's no point in keeping veterans on a team that's going to lose 90 games. And your future is in your young players who need to develop.
  6. mazeville
    I agree that having players who can play multiple positions is good for a team. Except, that's not happening. The Twins went into this season insisting that Sano would ONLY play RF, after Sano spent almost no time preparing to play for the position going into spring training. And the Twins have indicated that Plouffe should ONLY play 3B, even though he would probably do a better job playing in the outfield than Sano. In addition, Sano is a much bigger person than Kris Bryant. Part of the problem in having Sano play the outfield is that he is just so large. The other issue is that the Twins have some glaring weaknesses, at catcher and at relief pitcher. They have excess third basemen (don't forget Polanco and Nunez) and too many corner infielders/DH/corner outfielder types. Trading Plouffe would potentially enable you to address an area of weakness (relief) while opening up more playing time in the corner outfield for someone like Arcia. When Plouffe comes back, you'll have to either choose between a horrible defensive outfield in Arcia-Rosario-Sano or Arcia-Santana-Sano or a weaker offensive outfield in Rosario-Santana-Sano. Arcia is a very big bat who should be in the lineup against any righthanded pitcher. Which is most of the time.
  7. mazeville
    This year is frustrating. But things are much better than they were five years ago. First, the pitching is MUCH better. The Twins' pitching has been 13th in MLB this year. That's not a world beater number, but it is a drastic improvement over past years. Neal Allen has been a great pitching coach and Molitor's willingness to shift the defense has worked for the team. Better yet, the team has depth on the mound that could provide the staff a boost while also missing more bats. Because so long as the pitching continues to perform, you could easily see Ricky Nolasco or Phil Hughes (or both) become trade bait around deadline time. One of the more maddening element about the team's downfall was the lack of legitimate trade candidates the team. had. The Twins don't have that problem this time around. They could trade a couple of pitchers at deadline time and improve. This team also badly needs some roster balance, and even despite the poor performance of the offense some of those players could fetch something in return. Trevor Plouffe might not get the return people think he should, but he wouldn't be let go for nothing. Arcia might be rebuilding his value. So I wouldn't say "blow it up." But I really hope that this front office would be willing to take a couple of aggressive steps at deadline time to balance the roster and open up spots for young pitchers like Tyler Duffey and Jose Berrios and young players like Jorge Polanco. And they should open up spots for strong bullpen arms like JT Chargois. My guess, however, is that they won't do that.
  8. mazeville
    Nope. Twins NEED his defense. He might be scuffling at the plate, but that defense is still elite and given the Twins' corner options it remains a must to have back there. He'll figure things out eventually. Amazing how people just start trashing Buxton so early.
  9. mazeville
    This team has plenty of veteran leadership. That's not the issue. It's just a team that had a very, very, very bad start. Fact is, Buxton has always been expected to have a bad start. Everybody knew that. It's hardly surprising that he's playing poorly to start the season. If he is still struggling like this in June, then this is a real problem. But it's April.
  10. mazeville
    I'm as frustrated by Buxton's early-season performance as anyone. But can we really call him a flop this fast? And let's make no mistake: This entire team is playing terribly. Only two regulars -- two! -- have batting averages above .200. So it's not like Buxton is badly underperforming the players he's surrounded with. Frankly, I don't want him sent down at all. The Twins' season is likely a lost cause -- yes, I know it's early, but find me a team that started 0-9 and sniffed the playoffs -- and so I'd just much rather keep plugging away with young kids.
  11. mazeville
    I don't understand the Murphy signing. It's a panic move. But it's also putting them in a tough spot with their young outfield. They traded away Aaron Hicks this offseason and inserted Sano -- and you can't tell me that Sano's struggles at the plate aren't at least partially due to his distraction in learning how to play the outfield. They gave Buxton the CF job even though there was plenty of evidence he needed more time in AAA to learn how to stay away from breaking balls. And now they sign a veteran outfielder, who bats lefthanded by the way -- just like Oswaldo Arcia, and Max Kepler. Murphy will come in. He'll demand some playing time. And that will take playing time away from one of the young outfielders. He's hardly a world beater with the bat, though decent. The Twins did the right thing by deciding to focus on their young players. But you also sink or swim with those young players. And you can make the argument that the team has already played itself out of contention this season -- sure, it's early, but they're 0-9 and teams just don't recover from that to make the playoffs. There are plenty of outfielders on the roster already that you can send down Buxton and plenty of potential DH options to send down Park. Why crowd the outfield further in a season that's probably already a lost cause? This stinks.
  12. mazeville
    The best move this offseason would have been to keep Aaron Hicks, who would have been the center fielder while Buxton got his AAA time. Sano would be at third. Then you'd have Hicks in Center, Arcia in right and Sano at third. Park at DH, apparently. But the problem isn't walks. It's hits. Mauer, Sano, Dozier and Park are all walking a certain amount. Sano has an OBP of .300. Even Escobar is getting a few walks. They just aren't hitting. Only two players -- two! -- are hitting above .200. It's just a teamwide inability to hit the ball right now. So I'm not sure what could have been done differently this offseason to prevent all this. It's just so WEIRD. I keep telling myself it's early. But they're 0-9 now. Nobody who loses this much this early goes to the playoffs. Unless things turn around in a real hurry, we are in for a summer of watching a losing team. Again. Ugh.
  13. mazeville
    I don't know I'd do anything at this point, other than start platooning Park and Arcia. I'd also start rotating Kepler in to ensure he plays as much as the other three outfielders. But the fact is, only three players on the entire Twins team are hitting over .200. That's insane. Byron Buxton, as bad as he's been early this season, has the 5th best batting average on the team. (Or is it 6th? I'm too lazy to look but it's one of the two) I would consider a bullpen move, replacing Fien with Chargois or some other fireballer. Beyond that, this team has to work through its issues as a whole. It's just a bad team at this point.
  14. mazeville
    I'm not going to hate on this move. I hope Ricky Nolasco has a sub-3.00 ERA and 15-20 wins and is in the Cy Young conversation. I hope he does well, period. Because players who do well are good for the team. Even if they're not on the team over the long term because they can become trade bait come the All Star Break. I'm not the biggest fan of basing decisions off a limited ST performance. But I also understand that Ricky Nolasco will cost the Twins $25 million over two years and there is no way the Twins can recoup that if he is a long reliever. If you're going to make a decision based on ST, give the first nod to the guy making $25 million in the hopes he performs at least well enough to become trade bait so you can open up a spot for Duffey or Berrios. Do I think the Twins should have signed him in the first place? Nope. Do I think the Twins should have traded him over the offseason? Yes. But I also believe the Twins tried to trade him and couldn't come to a deal. And I believe that if he remains injury-free and pitches up to his capabilities he could become a trade candidate at some point this year.
  15. mazeville
    But I'd replace some of those homers with triples. I'd guess he'll get his power this year from doubles and triples.
  16. mazeville
    The belief here is that Reusse is not just coming up with this view on his own. He spends more time in Fort Myers than anybody else on here. He talks to a lot of people within the Twins organization. If he believes that Sano isn't working hard enough, he likely came to that conclusion not just by watching him, but by also talking with people within the Twins. He's clearly spoken with Molitor about this, and my guess is that he's spoken privately with several others. So I'm guessing that the Twins are concerned that Sano isn't working hard enough on the transition to right field. He makes a decent case -- Arcia, by contrast, spent much of the offseason in Florida to rave reviews, even if his offense hasn't improved much, at least judging from spring results. At the same time, I think some of it is unfair. The kid does have a family to support and he likely wanted to see them in the DR before spending an entire summer up in the States. In addition, I think a lot of this would not be necessary if the Twins kept him at third or found a way to put him at first base.
  17. mazeville
    Uh, he had a .400 .441 .545 .986 line in those games. I know it's a small sample size, but I would definitely consider a .986 OPS "pounded."
  18. mazeville
    I think Duffey gets sent down and Nolasco is the fifth starter. I'm not a huge fan of it, but I think the Twins do that sort of thing. I do not agree that Buxton gets sent down. His spring hasn't been bad enough to require a demotion, and his fielding is so superior -- especially with Sano in RF -- that they'll want him up here. They've more or less said they expect his bat to take a while to adjust. And keep in mind that Buxton pounded AAA last year. He pretty much needs to play at the major league level to adjust to major league pitching.
  19. mazeville
    The optimal solution, frankly, would be a strong spring. Then dangle Nolasco in front of the Dodgers or Angels and agree to pay some of the salary. I'm not saying they would want Nolasco. But I'm still holding out hope the Twins can trade him, even for a bag of balls and tickets to a Justin Bieber concert.
  20. mazeville
    Your Arcia percentage is WAY too low. I would, in fact, reverse Arcia and Sweeney. No, Arcia can't play center. But he is a big lefthanded bat off the bench. Letting him go would be really, really stupid.
  21. mazeville
    The point of the "next David Ortiz" comment is based not on potential - obviously, Sano has more potential than does Arcia -- but based on the ability to hit for power combined with the prospect of losing him. If you recall, the Twins let Ortiz go and Boston signed him for some ridiculously cheap contract. He and his big bat played remarkably well in Boston and he became a hall of fame-caliber player. Am I saying Arcia is Ortiz? Not necessarily. But imagine what he would be like playing in Yankee stadium with that lefthanded bat of his. The point is that the Twins had better give Arcia every possible chance to earn a full-time job with the Twins because he damn well could find that potential somewhere else.
  22. mazeville
    But you're already putting someone who is much bigger than Arcia in RF in Sano -- someone who has never played there before. So I don't know what this fuss is about Arcia's defense, especially when you have players like Rosario and Buxton and/or Kepler on your roster. I would have much rather Arcia be the DH. But the Twins went out and got Park, so that train has likely left the station. Arcia deserves a shot. He has demonstrated enough in his time up in the majors to get that shot. I get what happened last year, but the list of Twins players who stunk up and got sent down for long periods of time is a big one and includes Torii Hunter, Brian Dozier and Aaron Hicks. Arcia has no options left. If he doesn't make this team for whatever reason, he gets put on waivers and will likely be snapped up. And then a left handed right-handed hitting masher can get snapped up by a team with a short right field porch like, say, the Yankees.
  23. mazeville
    20 homers in 400 PA in 2014. Again, do not give up on Arcia so fast.
  24. mazeville
    I actually am OK with the Twins telling Sano to concentrate on the OF. Maybe the team could do some good by having him play some third, but he didn't do much to focus on the OF this offseason and you want to send him that sort of message. I guess. That said, it would be good to have some positional flexibility -- let Sano play multiple positions. Of course, it doesn't help much if he's not good at fielding either. So that's why you put him exclusively in the OF.
  25. mazeville
    These are good points. You can shop Plouffe without actually trading him and if the market really is as dry as it was, pull him back.
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