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EddieMatthews

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Everything posted by EddieMatthews

  1. EddieMatthews
    If you look at the career records of Santana, Nolasco, Hughes, Milone, Gibson, none of them stands out. Each has had some success and some bad. They all look like middle of the rotation guys (or worse). None are young either. Five milquetoasts. Bring up both Duffey and Berrios by the end of May. Terry Ryan needs to get on the phone and move two of the five current starters. It probably doesn't matter which two go. Let's get the youth movement rolling. Let's find out if we have any "aces" or "stoppers" for the 2017 rotation.
  2. EddieMatthews
    Dozier could battle the shift by pushing a bunt to the right side. He has the speed to beat it out. He doesn't need to change his hitting style, only use other things to stretch the field.
  3. EddieMatthews
    Joe's best position in the line-up is batting second. He will see better pitches when there are runners on base, and when there is a solid threat batting behind him. Those were missing last year and there's promise that he will have that help this year. I'm hoping that he will be in the chase for a fourth batting title.
  4. EddieMatthews
    I'm staying on the bandwagon! I will be the one with the Pee Wee Herman mask on so none of my friends will recognize me.
  5. EddieMatthews
    My line-up would have Harmon at first. He played more games there than any other position. That opens up third where I would platoon Gaetti with Koskie (not sure if that is allowed...) but the tie is due to their fan popularity in addition to the field. That opens up an outfield position where Bob Allison has to be named. I was at a game, sitting on the third base side where the last out of the inning was made on a foul pop to Koskie. After catching the ball, he turned to the stands and flipped the ball to a kid. An adult stepped in front of the kid and grabbed the ball. Koskie pointed to the guy, and yelled "Give the ball to the kid!" and stared him down until he coughed up the ball. Class act from a class guy. I also agree with Platoon's comment on Hrbek. He left a lot on on the table, but the "Tag" almost makes up for it. That is my all-time favorite Twins memory.
  6. EddieMatthews
    The Twins have an advantage over last year. There are more options for Molitor to set up the line-up. Putting a speedy guy ahead of Park and Sano behind him will improve the pitches that Park faces. Resting him when he would face a tough pitcher is another option. I expect Park to have .278 / .355 / .460 and have 25 HR, 85 RBI and 150 K's in 525 AB.
  7. EddieMatthews
    If there is an "over/under" on the Mauer prediction, I'll take the "under". Hope the shades help his daytime hitting, but obviously there are still a lot of variables in play before Joe gets back to his former self. Even so, he will be one of the more productive hitters on this team in 2016.
  8. EddieMatthews
    I have come to accept Plouffe at 3B. He strikes out too much and had 28 GIDP last year to top off his season. HIs power and RBI stats make him acceptable. However, I don't believe the Twins can make the next level with a majority of players who strike out more than 20% of their at bats. The Twins miss to many opportunities to move runners.
  9. EddieMatthews
    The Twins will start Nolasco and try to establish some trade value. Ricky must believe that he has several good years left, and would want to maximize his earnings potential before he retires. I agree with other posters that he could become a clubhouse cancer, but that would not be a label that Ricky wants, as it would reduce the willingness of another team to take him on. In all likelihood, the Twins will eat a lot of that $24 million contract, and another team might need a fifth starter if they think he could produce and would cost them a few million for the remaining two years. Not many good options.
  10. EddieMatthews
    It may not be a valid comparison to look at Mauer and Morneau as all brain injuries are not the same. Morneau suffered his concussion in 2010 while on an MVP season. He did not recover his batting skills until 2014 when he won the NL batting title, and continued in 2015 with another +.300 season. Morneau has not recovered his slugging performance, but appears to have a higher average. There is an evolving science on concussions and treatments to improve recovery. While some recover more quickly, baseball is a complex sport that requires special skills and the brain is integral to those skills. Mauer is in year 3 of his concussion recovery. We can hope that this will be a break-out year for him. It may take another year. It may not happen, I agree with other posters that playing baseball is the best exercise for improving brain function as it relates to playing baseball.
  11. EddieMatthews
    i'm sure that Joe Mauer has been up front with the Twins management. This article makes it crystal clear why he will never catch again. It's one thing to face a 95mph heater a handful of times in a game while standing to the side of the plate. It's entirely another matter to face those pitches from behind the plate while a batter is trying to change the trajectory. It's not clear if the vision issues are serious enough to endanger Mauer on a high inside pitch, or if it means that he cannot pick up the ball rotation enough to tell a fastball from a slider. A hit a week for him would raise his average over .300 and differentiating close pitches is the difference between a ball and a strike, a walk and a strikeout.
  12. EddieMatthews
    Unfortunately, Nolasco will be a starter. The Twins will want to have him prove his value as a starter. Right now he has no value in a trade. They will give him a good opportunity to start for at least a month, maybe more. $12m is a lot of money ($24m for the balance of his contract) for the Twins to discard. The Twins will work toward the starting pitching that will be best in the second half of the season. It should include Berrios and Duffey (if he is effective) and will mean some demotions and trades to clear the deck.
  13. EddieMatthews
    Keep in mind that the Twins braintrust is looking for the next Brad Radke. They want an inning-eater who can hold an ERA of 4.25 and a WHIP of 1.300. Someone who can stay under club control for the longest time. I would like to see Duffey pick up a third pitch and stay in the rotation. 2016 will show if the hitters can adjust to his curve. I expect that they will, so he should get as many starts as possible early, before that happens. If it doesn't and he can stay ahead of the hitters, all the better. If he flounders, bring up Berrios.
  14. EddieMatthews
    This seems like a convoluted strategy from Ryan. Uniformed left handed throwers on the roster include O'Rourke, Perkins, Milone, and Kepler. O'Rourke has control issues and may start out in Rochester. Milone may be the sixth man out in the starting pitching contest. Maybe the Twins will go north with only Perkins who can throw from the starboard side of the mound. If he goes on the DL, Kepler will get the call!
  15. EddieMatthews
    Not discounting the impact of age which takes a toll on all hitters, Joe's strikeout percentage correlates to an overall increase in strikeout percentage in the AL from 2010 through 2015. It is likely that pitchers have been given an advantage over hitters in that timespan. In 2010 the K ratio was 19.6% and in 2015 it was 22.0%.
  16. EddieMatthews
    I hope it's true. News from the TwinsFest has a lot of reports of Twins who are in better shape. Nolasco, Hughes, Graham, Arcia, now Mauer. Maybe the near miss for the 2015 payoffs has inspired the whole team to report stronger, lighter, quicker. The results should create good competition for the 25 roster spots. Maybe Molitor can convert this into ten more wins.
  17. EddieMatthews
    Good! The Twins have a bunch of second tier players that need to have their value resolved. Give them a defined role in Spring Training. Let them prove themselves. Santana and Arcia are out of options and soon will be out of time with Kepler, Polanco, Buxton knocking on the door. Nolasco (who will likely be a starter despite the hopes and wishes of many posters including me) needs to fish or cut bait too. If they can establish value in ST and in April, they may have some trade value. I don't see the Twins retaining them long in 2016. They either have trade value or are released. They need to play to allow the decision to be made. I hope that decision is made in March or April.
  18. EddieMatthews
    I still don't believe the Twins are serious about Sano in the outfield. RF in Target Field has a high wall and a tight corner, meaning lots of tricky caroms. And as Kwak stated, half of the games are played in other parks. Each outfield in every stadium has unique characteristics to master. Third base is third base in every ballpark. It's 90 feet between the base and 120 feet to first. Sano will be a liability in the outfield and manageable at third. If outfield was that easy for a player to learn, then wny did Willingham and Arcia have so many difficulties. As Tvagle posted, let's play the lineup that we expect on August 1. I still expect the Twins to bundle Plouffe and Nolasco in a trade. This solves several problems, making room for Duffey and Berrios, putting a power hitter with average at 3B, and getting the outfielders of the future on the field.
  19. EddieMatthews
    While Mauer's HOF credentials have been tarnished by his post-concussion performance, he had 8 solid years as a catcher. However, I think that his 2011 year is a bigger black mark than the past two post-concussion years. In the middle of a 10 year run of solid to outstanding catching, Joe developed "bi-lateral leg weakness". WTF? it may be a legit ailment, but it has transformed Joe's image to that of a wimp. I hope Joe can turn his hitting around and get back to .300+ batting. I hope that the concussion issues are behind him and he can have the same resurgence that Morneau has had. If he can add another batting title and 5 more years, he's a lock for the HOF.
  20. EddieMatthews
    I agree with other posters that the Twins will give Arcia and Santana time to establish value in April and May. Buxton will claim CF with a strong spring, otherwise Santana will start there. Arcia will start as DH and occasional RF. Rosario will be in LF. Sano may be a "project" in RF, and will get DH and 3B play. By June I expect all this to sort out. Rosario, Buxton, Kepler will be in the outfield. Sano, Escobar, Dozier, Mauer will be the infield with Plouffe filling in at 3B and 1B. Park will get some seasoning in Rochester and be at DH by June. The Twins need to field a solid defensive team to support their pitching staff. Hughes is a fly ball pitcher, so he would not be happy with Sano and Arcia at the corners. All pitchers would love to have Buxton and Rosario covering the outfield. Can't wait for Summer! Less optimistic about April and May.
  21. EddieMatthews
    The quality of the 2015 rookies looks much better than prior years. In 2014 we thought that Santana and Vargas would return to more success. It would be interesting to see a comparison by year of the team roster with a list of the number of rookies and the number of players who played their last year in the majors. In 2012, several players played their last year, including Nishioki, Komatsu, Burroughs, Hughes, Blackburn, Pavano, Gray, Perdomo, and Capps. It hurt to even look at that roster. 2013 wasn't much better. 2015 and 2016 should show us cream of the crop instead of dregs of the barrel. The quality of the roster top to bottom and April through October looks promising.
  22. EddieMatthews
    It's not saber metrics, but it sells tickets. When a guy can hammer a high fastball into the left field stands, or make a sliding or diving stop of a hard smash and get the out, the fans love it. That's why they vote on their all star ballot for a guy like Dozier. Does it add to the win column? Good question. It's obvious that Dozier (and Plouffe for that matter) have great fan support despite their K-ratio, low batting average, and BARISP. It gets tough for the management to address the need to build a quality roster when it means that developing "stars" power in the short term may not meet with developing a winning lineup in the longterm. So should we trade Dozier or Plouffe or Gibson to make the team stronger? Of course. Just be careful how high a pedestal they have been placed on the prior year.
  23. EddieMatthews
    Another poster discussed the changed strike zone and the effect this has had on Mauer's batting and approach. I would like to see Twins Daily take up this discussion topic in depth. In looking at statistics from prior years, it appears that there has been a significant uptick in strikeouts per game, about 0.5 more from 2011 to 2012 and part of a broader trend that increased K's by 1.5 more per game since 2000. This trend shows in both the AL and NL. Why is this happening? Is it cause or effect? Is the pitching better? Is it more use of relief pitching? Is it a changed strike zone? Are umpires calling a tighter zone because of the threat of automated strike / ball technology?
  24. EddieMatthews
    I agree with Halsey. I want Mauer in the HOF. The first half of his career earned it. The second half needs to maintain that luster. So far, he's has 3 bummer years out of the last 5. It wouldn't take much to get above .300 in 2016. Only one hit per week more. I am hoping that Mauer gets extensive help and takes a holistic approach, much like Morneau did to recover his career. This means strength and speed training, diet (vegan?), mental exercises and counseling, etc. I think that Mauer was derailed from his HOF track by injuries that included a concussion, and being forced to change positions from Catcher to First Base. Morneau did an incredible amount of work to revive his baseball career. Joe's past track record makes the same investment a requisite for his career.
  25. EddieMatthews
    The 2015 Twins were at best a .500 team given the players on the team. Molitor and his coaches added about 6 wins net through team management and attitudes. Granted, these are intangibles, but expect the same in 2016. The Twins roster at this point has about the same plusses and minuses. Someone will need to step into the attitude void left by Torii's departure. The larger factor is that the Central Division will see improvement. Half of the games are within the division. KC will be strong, Cleveland should improve, Houston also, ChiSox are ramping up their lineup, and the Tigers have cleaned house. Prediction: 78-84, but a very competitive team.
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