ewen21

I am going to be somewhat of a dissenter here. I am not disappointed in Falvey and Levine all that much because I don't think all that much of them or the Twins right now I can totally see why they are using this strategy because the young players that were so often bragged about are now in their mid 20s and have not really distinguished themselves as major leaguers. These were the guys they were planning on building around and these young players: Sano, Buxton, Kepler, etc....just have not been as advertised (bragged about). We really need to get over it and move on from "XYZ propsect has a ________ ceiling" or "his numbers at this stage of his career are the same as Torii Hunter's so we need to believe he can do the same thing" It is high time we treat prospects as assets and that we stop getting so attached to them. This team is where it is because these alleged blue chip guys aren't "all that" as it turns out. Now we have our new coach making personal visits just to see where their heads are at. I am far more concerned about where the culture is than I am with the FA market. Sorry. THat FA market isn't going to save us AND if the culture here doesn't change we are going to be able to do much better than what we did last winter and this winter for a long LONG time. The young players not living up to the hype (I did not create the hype, nor did I buy into it) is what the problem is right now. If they approached anything resembling where the pundits said they'd be by now I am certain our GMs would be more aggressive in the FA market. I, quite frankly, don't see it as a smart strategy to outbid the market just to sign a name guy. Not unless the team is going someplace.

I saw that clip on You Tube a while back, quite unintentionally. Amazing that I remember that reference. And that is the only time I heard "toot sweet" Sounds like 1940s slang

The GREAT David Johansen on Johnny Carson. Watch 3:10 to 3:20

The average Joe just has no idea

With regard to this side discussion on offense vs.defense and which has more value, I ask everyone this: Would you rather have been the Red Sox or the Diamondbacks last year? The Diamondbacks had the most defensive runs saved BY FAR with 157 and the Red Sox were down at 23rd with -26 for a DRS. Saving 157 is RIDICULOUS and Arizona was 82-80. Guess who scored the most runs in baseball in 2017? Houston and they had -11 defensive runs saved. Didn't seem to matter that much because they hit. Saving runs is a good thing. I want guys saving runs as much as possible, but what are we talking about here? THis is about putting it in its proper perspective.

I thought it was CUDD-yer at first Pretty unfortunate pronunciation, to say the least I thought Sano was Say no Miguel Angel Say no

I saw the Grateful Dead in 1987. Was not impressed

The hard cold truth is that his glove cannot do enough to counterbalance his horrific offense. We need to stop pushing his defense to the front of every conversation about him. Why sugarcoat things? Centerfield is a very important position, but there are only a few small zones on the field where he can showcase his stuff. That just doesn't happen often enough. Historically CFs average a bit more than 2 putouts a game. That is about what Buxton averaged in 2017. I put the numbers up already. I have gotten a couple of responses from posters who think I don't value defense. Not true. More like I understand that one player can only do so much defensively. Not his fault he isn't going to get enough chances to neutralize his poor bat, that is just how it is

GOD that was horrible. I was drinking a bottle of Jameson's Irish Whiskey that night. Such a brutal loss I can't kill him for what he did as a rookie in that Angels series. Adam Kennedy. MY GOD did that suck!

He said, "we had a successful season" after being swept out by the Yankees in a non competitive series in 2010. That really REALLY stuck in my craw. He was one of my favorites during that 2006 dream run, but that changed when he assumed the role of "voice of the Twins" the next season. Didn't think he needed to be the quote machine he became and I actually think he could have had a better, more consistent career as a hitter. I thought he was, as you say, sort of a complacent types

The numbers don't agree. Simply put, he isn't getting enough opportunities to use that talent and counterbalance the weak bat. There are small zones on the field where Buxton can exhibit his special skills and balls just don't get hit there often enough. If that happened with regularity and was something as common as his turn in the order coming up then you would have something. It is not. Furthermore, hen you have a spot in the lineup where a player provides little hope it makes it so easy on the opposing pitcher and manager. It's almost a domino effect in some games where the opposing team feels like they are facing the pitcher's spot in the lineup. He has been that bad outside of his hot almost two months in 2017. Look at the 800 other at bats besides that hot streak. That is A LOT of terrible offense. And instead of using hypotheticals look at how many putouts he makes. I'll use the only year he was able to play everyday. Even in 2017 where he played out of his mind in the field he managed 24 defensive runs saved according to that metric (if you take that as gospel). He made 274 plays in 1143 innings in the field. That is a play every 4.17 innings and a large majority of those plays are routine plays for major league centerfielders. Another problem with Buxton are the injuries due to his style of play PLUS the migraine issues. How long can he play with this reckless abandon before the machine tilts? It is a house of cards, in my opinion, I get it. You want to be positive and you don't want to give up on the guy. The hard cold reality is while he is a top shelf fielder that isn't making up for how bad he hits. It makes up for part of it, but certainly not all of it. We can quibble about how much exactly but those things are so hard to determine. In the end, give me a player who can hit the three run homer over a guy who might hurt himself (again) crashing into a wall attempting to rob another of 3 run homer. The guy with the bat is going to have more opportunities to help his team than a centerfielder who makes two about two putouts a game.

With this rationale almost every single article posted here this winter falls under your. "you have no way of knowing" classification. To post this "you have no way of knowing" at stuff is useless. EVERYTHING at this time of the year is timber for a discussion. If you don't agree with me than make your point please. if you don't have one then have a good day.

Is this a rebuttal? When you say something like that it sure sounds like one. So how about this..... Here is what we do know: Team Buxton took the deal. If they thought they had a strong chance doing better in arbitration they'd have gone for it. Dare I say they have more knowledge of the situation? Traderumors.com projected 1.2 million for him. Are you a more reliable source than those two entities that are much closer to the situation that either of us? If you can explain to me how an arbiter would rule in favor of a deal greater than what Buxton got from the Twins then please explain your rationale behind that one because it really makes no sense to me.

That ship sailed as far as the unpleasantness goes

Amen. This is why I don't flip out over the bullpen now. In '02 who in the world know LaTroy Hawkins, JC Romero and Tony Fiore would make our bullpen a solid unit? ANSWER: No one

It's a "conciliatory gesture" to avoid unpleasantness. Too late. That ship sailed

The Twins avoided arbitration and gave him a better deal than he would have gotten had he gone through the process.

I am not into extending Buxton or Kepler at this time. I also think it is wrong to assume that Buxton is "worth it" on his defense alone. His defense makes an impact, but not nearly as much as a lot of people want to think because his bat makes such a negative impact. He goes through long spells where he is about as clueless a hitter there is in the game AND one of the easiest outs you're going to find. His spot in the lineup comes up four times a game. in 2017 (his best season and as close to a full season as he has given us) he made 274 plays. He made a little more than two plays a game. Just how many of those were routine? This notion that his glove is worth him being a horrible hitter isn't truthful or factual. If he can't hit at least .240 and get on base at a rate above .300 then he is a liability. I don't care if his glove is made of platinum.

"Jumping in on a market for guys who shouldn’t still be angling for a role and compensating them at a level that suggests you believe they’ll advance your cause may be the bow this team needs to place on jumping the gun into relevancy." This last little bit left me a little confused

It is fairly easy to note that Sano looks quite different from the guy he was last year at this time in that picture with Baldelli. I am hoping that it's not just lost weight and that he's maintained his strength. I have seen many lose weight the wrong way only to become weaker. Hopefully he's lost weight the right way. I am guessing he has.

I am criticizing Sano for something plain as day (his conditioning). This other thing about the usher sounds a like "baseless claim". Or is it? I have no idea.

Essentially, before Berrios last season, since 2010 ended we have not seen so much as a #2 starter come through our season except for a couple of seasons by Baker. We can't live with that. We have to put a premium on raising young starting pitching. If you can field just two young pitchers who can occupy the middle of the rotation and be lucky enough to have one like Berrios then you have something. Going out and signing a Grienke or a Darvish or a Mad Bum is a fool's errand. Any one of those are flash moves. We need to raise cost-controlled starting pitching that can get outs and not embarrass itself. Until we can do that I have trouble thinking we can get anywhere.

I would only hope that Gonsalves becomes at least a servicable major league starter. It is daunting to think about the paucity of in-house starting pitching produced since after Liriano and Garza. Scott Baker is retired and he won 66 games for his career and that is tops. After him is Kyle Gibson with 54; add Kevin Slowey (also retired) with 44 career wins. I would hope Gibson passes Baker, but I wouldn't bet on him winning more than 80 games. I am excited about Berrios (even if I am wary), but almost indifferent with Gonsalves. I just am conditioned not to think about it until he is called up. Anything before that means nothing to me. I heard all about talented young arms before. Come up and do it so I can believe. Anything else is an assumption. What isn't an assumption is that we really have not produced a pitcher worthy of being called an ace in since Johan Santana (bless his heart). It is quite literally hard to sell the others I listed as a #2, but that is a matter of opinion albeit a much smaller point. If someone wants to argue Baker could have been called a solid number 2 a couple of times. OK....sure. I am talking about the depth of his work not his tiny prime. The overriding fact is that we don't produce much starting pitching. If you can't raise your own pitching then you have to go out into the market and overpay for free agents. It would sure as heck be nice to have two pitchers under team control (pre arbitration) actually pitching well at once for a season. It's almost as if it has been ordained that this should not happen. It actually is making me nuts! Liriano and Pavano had a good thing going in 2010 and they were not high salary guys. Since then there just hasn't been much to be excited about and Gonsalves doesn't change that for me. Sorry about that. I keep hearing this and that about getting arms for the bullpen. How about raising young arms to start and give 6 innings of once a week? How about we have a season where maybe two or three of them come up, mature and give us quality innings?? When have we been excited about a starter coming through our system since Liriano? There was hype around Garza coming up but he is done and had an OK career. Not with us. Not sure what to say about Gonsalves. Low batting average against, high walks. How does this translate at the highest level? We saw a little last year. Obviously he needs to develop.

With regard to the Twins rushing Buxton back I would say read his article from last March by Beradino. It was all about how he took pride in playing through pain. How he was raised right. How there were no excuses, etc...etc.....etc https://www.twincities.com/2018/03/28/twins-star-byron-buxton-takes-pride-in-his-ability-to-play-through-pain/ This is HIS STANDARD and he was proud to talk all about it in March. Then April happened and he hit like garbage out of the gate again. Then the migraines kicked in. Then he got sent down and he hurt his toe. Not sure how the Twins are too blame for that. And with the toe it was not a full fracture and he wanted to get back on the field. He said so himself in another article: Once Buxton can tolerate the pain, he's expected to go on a rehab assignment because he's been out for so long. He remained in good spirits before Saturday's game against the Reds, and he's hopeful he could return sooner than later. "I'm gonna always try to play with it," Buxton said. "But probably gonna let it sit the next couple days. Let the symptoms go down a little bit and see what I can tolerate." https://www.mlb.com/news/byron-buxton-has-fracture-in-left-big-toe/c-274261230 Buxton has a lot to fix. I cannot see how or why extending would make any sense to either party, That is about all I want to say about it.

That is very easy to say, but it doesn't feel the same to me.. Clete Thomas and Jamey Carroll aren't Jonathan Schoop and CJ Cron. Terry Ryan seemed to never have a nose for these kinds of players. Still young guys who might cost a little, but have something to prove and some success under their belts. Ryan signed the absolute dregs