ewen21

When I think hitter I think the spectrum of offensive production and Harmon gave us more than what Knoblauch did, in my opinion. Thanks

I understand they are different players with different skill sets, but it isn't very hard (in my opinion) to make a holistic judgment without much introspection in this case. When making this comparison, I view it this way. If I had to draft one or the other in my first pick to start a team I am picking Harmon over Knoblauch without hesitation (and that is no slight on Knobby).

Better to me means most impactful hitters. Matty Alou hit over .330 in four consecutive seasons and hardly anyone mentions it. Why? Because as extraordinarily impressive as that was he was basically a singles hitter. As dated as the quote may be, I think Ralph Kiner may have said it best: "Singles hitters drive Fords, home run hitters drive Cadillacs"

While Knoblauch was a great hitter for average and stole a lot of bases he should never be compared to Killebrew even in a "best hitter' category. I respect your knowledge and your considerate demeanor, but what criteria are you using if you feel Knoblauch warrants a comparison to Harmon? It honestly doesn't even matter what aspects of their offensive game you want to emphasize.

We have a near pandemic the likes we’ve never seen, but a least we don’t need to worry about whether or not Byron Buxton is ready. We wouldn’t miss a beat without him if you ask me. Yeah he provides great defense but it isn’t like he’s a catcher or a shortstop. He simply doesn’t see enough opportunities to make his glove as much of a presence as what I read here. He makes a difference, but when he’s barely getting on base and not hitting much (which is pretty common) he hurts us as much as he helps. He could breathe a sigh of relief, I guess. The man has a .567 OPS for his career in April. As far as the sentiment about him not getting at bats during ST was OK since there was concern about him getting hurt really is counterintuitive thinking. If you feel that way then you basically have asserted he’s destined to be hurt.

Why are you telling me what I should do? I am not going to stop watching baseball because the Astros cheated. You make no sense. I will say, I did stop watching baseball for almost five years after the strike. If something like that happens again then perhaps I will, but why in the world would I allow the Astros scandal make me stop watching? This is about the Astros not being punished for me. And if players want to administer their own form of punishment, I probably will be behind it for a little while. And I might even get a little enjoyment out of some of it, as sinister as that sounds. Baseball is not real life to me. I have a family, a profession and a life. Baseball is a show to me and with the money these guys make and with how insulated their worlds are I am going to shred players in the occasional rant. Do you feel the need to close all of that down? You are no fun

Arraez is not "light hitting" One who hits .334 with a 123 OPS+ should not deserve such a designation as you've assigned.

Ben Revere's goofiness might best embody what I couldn't take about the early 2010s Twins teams. Somehow people found his smile charming. I found it to be thoroughly annoying

I take issue with the title. I could not get past it and needed to post my 100% disagreement with the mention of these two names together. This is not a good way to start a discussion about Luis Arraez. He had a .828 OPS last year, Ben Revere had a .661 OPS. TO compare the two is call Arraez toothless after a single half season where he played brilliantly. He also mananged to hit 4 home runs and Revere needed over 2,000 at bats to get there. I will read the article and then see if it's even worth another response. Sorry, Ted....not sure how or why you decided this should be the launching off point for a discussion.

I am not looking at it from a player perspective. Why would anyone here look at this issue from that perspective? If you want to go there then I would submit to you that a great number of players are pretty ornery over this. And PLEASE. Don't classify this in the same group as Joe Niekro filing down baseballs or individuals operating on their own. The logic and reasoning applied in this case isn't a one size fits all thing. Just as in law distinctions are made between different circumstances. You cannot disprove logic by superimposing it over multiple circumstances where the logic doesn't work. IN this case there were so many layers to the cheating, so many people attached to the team were complicit in this. When you say something like, "if you’re gonna ban everyone who breaks the rules" you are really dumbing this down. Honestly you are. This all boils down to the fact that these players were not punished. There is an assumption that it cannot be proven who was and was not involved. I call BS on that one. Baseball simply doesn't want to sink a franchise so they've swept it under the rug.

Agreed. What I do not understand is that some feel criticism (such as what I presented here) should be curbed. How is that? People who are coming from that angle are essentially saying players deserve no criticism. At all....because it is too speculative and too judgmental. To hit back at criticism in this case? Honestly. Get over it and let people rip these a-holes

Am I being too judgmental?

I am saying what I would do. It would send the message: YOU ARE NOT WELCOME in my clubhouse. Is it harsh? Maybe it is. Then again, I am not trying to convince you or anyone to endorse what I have said. Are we OK still? I hope so, because I kind of enjoy your posts (sometimes)

Uh, there is a distinction I make between taking PEDs and being part of a team-wide cheating scandal. Those guys did it and deserve a strike. Another strike and I would want to cut ties. The other thing about it is all of those other players suffered consequences. Marwin has not. You do understand this, right?

How is Gonzalez necessary to win a ring? I get that he has 10.5 left on his contract this year and we aren't going to just throw it away, but I know I would. His game is no better than Adrianza's and I think it is important to send a message to all Twins players that this bullsh*t is not tolerated here. Not sure how or why that is a crazy notion. Tell him he can keep his check and just leave.

Kirby Puckett never played in under 145 games 9 years in a row. That alone makes this hopeful comparison completely off base, in my opinion. He isn't going to suddenly develop into a durable player, and in fact, as he goes into his 26 year old season he is player entering his statistical prime. For a first round pick with such hype he has a .292 OBP and he is supposed to be a speed guy! When I see Buxton, I do not see Kirby Puckett. I see Mike Cameron--so far

Sometimes things go beyond analytics I would be happy if the Twins simply hit the eject button and no one ever spoke his name again

You are guilty! You kind of remind me of Gardenhire!! Sorry man, but....since you'd be willing to 1) rush a kid up who into emergency duty (who probably isn't ready) and 2) in the process more than likely create a black hole in his spot in the lineup. Way too early to plug this kid into that spot. That doesn't compute for me. And thankfully, I am certain our GMs probably see it my way

STOP. You picked a guy who has not played over A ball to replace our starting CF if he goes down. You picked him over a player with a good deal of ML experience and has an OPS around .800. His speed and defense is that magical it supplants a guy with an .800 OPS and two years of experience at the ML level in that role. I don't need a lecture about the Go-Go Sox of 1959 and the Whitey Herzog teams (which are completely dated in today's game). To pick Celestino over Cave only serves to illustrate how far over on the continuum you are on defense and speed. You value that over experience and everything else. I am not discounting the importance of defense. It's more like you have grossly overvalued it in this case.

He's got "speed and defense" so let's take him? Doesn't matter that he is 20 and has not played an inning past high A ball. You have seen this guy play? Honestly man. Might be 2 or 3 more years before he is ready, by the looks. I will take Cave as our 4th outfielder. He is a better offensive player than Buxton even with considerable drop off in the field. I want a lineup with no black holes in it as opposed to the mythical "speed and defense" in CF which apparently cures cancer and saves lives. This old elitist BS about defense is bunk. It is important, but it gets far too much weight around here from what I am reading. I will take a team that is simply average on defense and outstanding on offense. You can have the all hands HOF defense team with the average bat team and I will kick your teeth in 7 times out of ten (given we have the same kind of pitching).

Agree with you 100% Given a choice between two players with the following skill sets: One of the very best hitters in the game in all areas, but OK defense vs. One of the best defenders in the game, but OK bat I take the bat every day and twice on Sunday. A great glove is great to have, but I would rather have a spectacular hitter over a spectacular fielder. There is no way the glove can have the same impact. A centerfielder makes about 2.5 plays a game on average. Buxton doesn't make much more than that. Not his fault. He just doesn't get the opportunity to make a lot of plays only he can make. Maybe just a few a year, to be honest. A great hitter gets up four times a game and can wreck games, screw up the other team's pitching and manager, etc,.,, since his time up is 100% guaranteed. Buxton could wait weeks before he makes a great play. It is beyond his control. It really is that simple

Buxton reportedly got his surgery on September 11 of last year and recovery time is supposed to 5-6 months. In less than two weeks it will be six months so what gives? He is getting his work in right now according to all I have read, but isn't ready for live action. We went through a laundry list of ailments in 2018 and we really never knew when he would be ready. The fact that articles like this have to written tells me all I need to know. I literally have zero expectations for Buxton this year. This "if healthy" tag is something he needs to lose real soon or else he isn't going to last very long in this league

Not trying to knock Stashak, but......he's pitched 25 innings. If we know anything about relief pitching we don't know what 90% of the relief pitchers are one year to the next. It is the most unstable position there is. Sure, it was nice to have him come up and be useful and it would be nice to see more of these kinds of guys.

Thanks for the enthusiasm and for hearing me and some of the other fans out on the title. I happen to think our pitching is not that bad. The bullpen seems to have some pros and our starting staff is much better than what we have had over the last 10 seasons

I sometimes don't see the point in what people refer to as "optimism" when it comes to talking about our favorite sports team because honesty and reality ultimately wins out. How can we really feel this way in our heart of hearts if we are going to be completely honest about it? I suppose it is nice to have an optimsitc view and hope for things that are very unlikely and I suppose it is also nice to line up all the positves in something and cast aside the negatives. That being said, I think once again the front office has done a great job giving this team a chance to win. It wouldn't be their fault if we don't get very far. I think we can say that we are the favorite in the Central without being arrogant or overly optimistic. Beyond that anything more is a bit much. For me it all boils down to..."what is this group going to do when/if they get there?" A playoff berth is honestly nothing more than a shot at what should be the goal. With this franchise it seems to me the goal is reached once the division is won. I remember a thread late last summer that basically said..."Bring on the Yankees" Well....we got 'em and look at what happened again. We can talk the talk in February about how we have a "nightmare" of a pitching staff for the rest of the league. What matters to me is where the hell is this team's soul, brains and guts in October. I am so sick and tired of all the overly bold optimism. After what transpired a few months ago it isn't warranted. It is one thing to feel some optimism, but it quite another when optimism overrules honesty. We had a decent pitching staff last year (contrary to popular belief). It was not the pitching that disappointed me so much against the Yankees even though they weren't competitive. It was the offense. We were so bombastic and yet when everything on the line the offense went radio silent. I really don't care who we have on the mound if we are going to fall flat like that again. Couldn't we score more than seven runs in three games against a pretty average major league pitching staff? What about that? If we are going to honest about things we had a slightly better than average staff last year. It was every bit as good as the Yankees staff. A lot of people here were ready to compare our offense to the Yankees offense last year (and that was fair). So why the deep gap between us in the post season? It isn't because they are they THAT much better and if we lose to them in three straight again it won't be because we didn't sign Ryu or some other "stud" pitcher. It runs way deeper than that. It is about a mindset. It is the mindset that dictates no matter what we are still good. Eh. I have had enough of that. I had enough of it as soon as Michael Cuddyer pronounced 2010 a "successful season because we won the Central" This mindset still exists in the person of Rocco Baldelli I like Nash and have given him props for his articles, but after years and years of watching this team, I find it hard to be bombastic about what we have. I would rather be conservative and temper my enthusiasm. I give this team a chance to go all the way. It's just the mindset of Baldelli really gives me doubts. It is the same junk we heard in the past. Proclaiming the season "successful" after being washed out in the first round. Had it been the very first time we got there in 25 years then I can accept that. I cannot accept it as a fan who has seen virtually every single pitch and at bat in the 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2019 playoffs. Six times in a row we are out in the first round and we are now talking about 15 playoff losses in a row. If we are going to run articles that proclaim our pitching to be a "nightmare" for the rest of the league we should at least give space for a post like this when you consider the history. I am not quite over the latest October nightmare so please forgive my tone. Sorry Nash. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but it is hard for me to get behind that notion. Not now (although I would love to be proven wrong)