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EddieMatthews

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Everything posted by EddieMatthews

  1. EddieMatthews
    I think Sano wants to play in the Big Apple. Manage his playing time and salary accordingly. His value as a (designated?) hitter will determine long term pay. His value as a fielder will decrease over time until it reaches Ortizian levels. In the current MLB roster crunch where teams need to carry 13 pitchers, a full-time bench player is a liability for many teams.
  2. EddieMatthews
    I had Buxton as MVP. IMHO, he single-handedly stopped at least a dozen pitcher meltdowns with his defense. Add to that the impact as a hitter and as a base-runner and BB was a game changer. The Twins record could have been 73-89 and worse than all AL teams except Chi and Det. My only issue with Dozier is that he is in the 1-hole. He's not a lead-off guy. He should be batting with ducks on the pond. With his HR numbers his RBI totals should be triple digits. The lead-off spot should be filled by management with someone who excels at getting on base. Having said that, Dozier deserves credit for improved hitting, clutch hitting, leadership, and power. This may be the last time Dozier leads the Twins in HR. Sano, Rosario, Buxton, Kepler, Escobar all have a shot at most HR.
  3. EddieMatthews
    If you average the 8 relievers you get a B-. The 'pen was not reliable in 2017. We dumped an all-star stopper in July and had to scramble to elevate someone in that role to finish the season. Perhaps a better grade can be found by counting the number of pitchers who appeared in relief. The Twins had a full roster - 25 relievers on staff in 2017. It was the Bad News Bears. We need a relief corps in 2018 that earns a B grade. The 2017 staff was not worthy of that grade.
  4. EddieMatthews
    Most Improved: Mauer, coming back from a career threatening concussion. Others were dealing with learning and growing up. Rookie: Hildenberger, no contest. Pitcher: Santana, no contest. MVP: Buxton, he held the pitching staff up all by himself. When others make a spectacular catch it saves a single, but when Buxton makes a catch it saves runs. He became a threat at bat and on the bases. The game changes when he is in it.
  5. EddieMatthews
    I carry some disappointments regarding Santana's career, not for Johan's play, but for how he was (mis)managed. In 2002 and 2003 he was used in relief and as a starter, and couldn't break into a full time starter until 2004. Even with a 2.99 ERA in 2002 and 3.07 in 2003 he had Kyle Lohse, Matt Kinney, Kenny Rogers, Rick Reed, Joe Mays, and Brad Radke getting starts that should have gone to Johan. In Johan's first year as a full time starter, he wins the Cy Young. Followed that up with three more great years before the trade to the Mets. In my opinion, if Santana had stayed in Minnesota, playing with a good run scoring team, and for a manager who "coddled" pitchers, he may have continued for several more years of success. In NY he had one great year, and then tapered off, encountering injuries that ended his career. So Santana lost four years of greatness and posted mediocrity instead. That would have given him HOF credentials, and we wouldn't need this discussion.
  6. EddieMatthews
    Recker has pitching experience.
  7. EddieMatthews
    I have not been a Gibson fan, more of a doubter. The big "if" for me when the team ended Spring Training was the performance of Gibson and Hughes. Both were big question marks and there were no starting pitchers waiting in the wings. Last night Gibson was good enough to give me hope. So I hope he holds this trajectory. We still lack a stopper, but if we can have three solid starters in Santana, Berrios, and Gibson, it will give us the opportunity to compete on most nights.
  8. EddieMatthews
    AL Central Standings Cleveland 44-37 Twins 43-40 (-2) Kansas City 42-40 (-2.5) Chicago 37-45 (-7.5) Detroit 37-45 (-7.5) KC won yesterday so now have same record as Twins (43-40). Cleveland lost so now are at 44-38.
  9. EddieMatthews
    Yes, good graphic. At first glance, I thought it was the bullpen in alphabetical order, and thought that was Molitor's strategy in choosing the next reliever with the closer always at the bottom. Then I saw it was not quite alpha ordered. Then I thought "maybe Molly doesn't spell well". I thought I was onto something related to the sometimes questionable relief pitching selection. Hmmm.
  10. EddieMatthews
    Buxton takes a lot of pressure off the pitching staff. They know they can make a mistake and still get the out. He also expands the coverage in left and right, allowing them to shade a couple of steps closer to the foul lines. I like him. Offensively, he is so fast to first, and can stretch any hit another base. He will continue to make better contact and raise his hitting stats.
  11. EddieMatthews
    All the talk about trading Santana on another board makes me question whether the Twins will ever get a quality starting five. Or three for that matter. Or two? The pitching staff looks like 2016 or most other years since we had Johan. The revolving door needs a little oil because it will be in use for a few more years. Same goes for the relief corps. A blown save that results in a loss is better that a blown save that results in a 15 inning disaster that burns out the entire staff.
  12. EddieMatthews
    The Twins play relaxed on the road. Their pitching remains suspect. Hopefully the "up" Santana will show up Thursday. Tuesday and Wednesday the bats need to be swinging. Using the elevator analogy, let's hope they push the tenth floor button for a few days. Good news is that Gibson will not pitch until Friday. Go Twins!
  13. EddieMatthews
    Maybe if teams keep 13 pitchers, there may be some job security for relievers (or even starters) if they buy a first baseman's mitt or learn to run bases. If Sano could play RF, maybe a pitcher could too. Could a skilled pitcher backfill a position player? Would they be any worse than Danny Santana? Lots of opportunities and should be some spare time in the minors to diversify the skillset. It would surely make late innings more interesting to watch.
  14. EddieMatthews
    I thought that Gibson made a good bid for the "odd man out" today. He hasn't had a year good enough to indicate that we should keep him in the rotation. His stats are comparable to Slo / Bake / Burn a few years ago. I'd rather give a prospect some seasoning than keep running out Gibson every 5 days. Even if he has a good day once a month, he has reached his peak and we will not see anything better from him.
  15. EddieMatthews
    From Baseball-Reference.com. We haven't seen the Twins in 1st Place in AL Central in a long time. 2017 Minnesota Twins Statistics Record: N/A, 1st place in AL_Central (Schedule and Results) Manager: Paul Molitor
  16. EddieMatthews
    Spot on regarding Sano and Polanco! Making the routine plays means not giving the opponent an extra out or giving away an out on offense. If the Twins can stay competitive in most games, they will be a fun team to watch this year.
  17. EddieMatthews
    I am less concerned about Joe Mauer at first and his back-ups than I am about the pitching. It looks like the brain trust has doubts about the starters going more than 5 innings. They may not want to overwork the bullpen in April. There is a stretch of 16 games in a row coming up. Worst case, Mauer has fresh legs and should hold his own against lefties for a couple of at-bats until the right handed reliever comes in for the opposing team. I hope the starting pitching can perform. Getting 6+ innings on the average will lessen pressure on relief. May has a day off every week. We can expect roster changes by end of May, so let's hope Park is one of the call-ups.
  18. EddieMatthews
    I'd like to see Dozier move down the line-up and get into more RBI situations. That would require a better option for lead-off. I hope Dozier feels comfortable in the 3-hole or 4-hole with someone on base and someone behind him that forces the opposition to pitch to him. In my dreams I see a .285 / .360 / .490 slash with 40 dingers and 105 RBI. In reality, I see him returning to his career average before 2016 of .240 as pitchers avoid the high fastball and defensive shifts take away hits.
  19. EddieMatthews
    There's not a lot of meat on the 40-man. The execs have their work cut out for them. I am surprised that anyone is worried about another team claiming our cast-offs. Maybe the 15-man that didn't play much last year have merit, but the 25-man resulted in 100+ losses, and there's not a lot of upside in that group, IMHO. We need some serious help.
  20. EddieMatthews
    Mauer's best season, 2009, started for him in May. He was in lousy condition and spent April 2009 in Fort Myers getting in shape. People don't recognize this in their praise of his year. What numbers would he have posted with another 22 games. From May thru Oct Mauer played in 138 games and only missed 2 days. The Twins need to find out what training Mauer had in 2009 and get him in that kind of conditioning. That will improve his bat speed, hard contact, and games played. My guess for 2017 and 2018 is same numbers as we saw in 2014-16 because Mauer will not be in good shape. Maybe he's over the hill and cannot get in good shape, but this is independent of his concussion issues. Morneau worked on conditioning post-concussion and was able to win an NL batting title. Good luck, Joe.
  21. EddieMatthews
    I agree, very generous. Dozier didn't break .800 on OPS, and is an average defender. His BA although career best is still Maueresce. Maybe if he were in the 3 hole his numbers would have been better. I agree on Mauer, so I would use him as a standard for Polenco, Sano, Vargas. No one should get a B if they cannot hit for the MLB average, field to the MLB average, and make MLB plays such as knowing which base to throw to, where to take cutoff throws, and put the ball in play. These guys need to stay after school to bring their grades up to C.
  22. EddieMatthews
    If an Old-timers Bomb Squad were named from 1961 thru 2010 they would be able to win a 7 game series from the New-timers Bomb Squad from 2011 - 2016. The recent revolving door has had numerous deplorable (can I use that term again?) players. Many of the players named from the Old-timers had some redeeming years in their careers. The New-timers were cast-offs, dumpster, AAA players that couldn't make it to the bigs with any other team. This when compounded by many questionable roster moves, makes it the all-time worst. I'm not going to build an entire line-up, but will name a few. 1B - Morneau (post concussion) followed by Mauer (post concussion) 2B - Nishi, SS - Nishi, OF - Rene Tosoni, Willihammer, Hicks, etc. And Pitching - pick from the 50+ players that revolved across the mound in that period. Nishi gets "worst" at two positions, a team record.
  23. EddieMatthews
    First and Third base are positions that should be held by productive bats. The Twins have had a career .727 OPS at third and a post-concussion Mauer at first. A quick look at other AL teams shows that most have plus .800 OPS at third. Moving Plouffe off the roster opens up the position for Sano. We'll see how he handles it. The money saved by releasing Plouffe should get us a catcher who can handle the pitching staff. Go Twins!
  24. EddieMatthews
    My pick for Twins top five bounce back seasons are Plouffe, Arcia, Nolasco, Suzuki, and Jepsen. If you can pick players (Plouffe) who will not be on the 2017 roster, so can I.
  25. EddieMatthews
    Through the entire series, I enjoyed the differences between an NL and an AL team. I thought about games 6 and 7 and how it would have been differently managed and played if the DH wasn't in the line-up. Although the Cubs didn't play with a DH in the regular season, they had the better DH when in Cleveland with Schwarber who came off the DL to provide several critical at-bats and hits. I also agree that Maddon mis-managed his pitching in games 6 and 7 as many others have said. Bringing in Chapman in game 6 was premature and not needed. The bunt attempt with two strikes and the infield in may not have worked even if executed. Pulling Hendricks was one batter too soon. I don't understand the Jon Lester problem with throwing to first base. When Lindor was caught off first in game 5 and Lester couldn't throw and get the out, I would have had all runners stretch their leads on first. Make him throw a pick-off underhanded. Steal second at will. Fun World Series, and still the best major sports championship. For the players and the fans. The fan involvement is the best!
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