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Everything posted by Willihammer
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Article: Who's The Next Phil Hughes?
Willihammer replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
How often do these sort of players - pitchers, specifically, hit? Without knowing that, it seems hasty to say the Twins should be in on one of these contracts every year for ~$8m per. If the hit rate is less than say, your average 4 yr/32m contract, maybe its better to just ink one of those every 4 years instead? -
Article: Who's The Next Phil Hughes?
Willihammer replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Hypocrite warning, because I didn't like the signing at the time, but in retrospect a critical 4th reason that Hughes was a great signing was his good health. That doesn't apply to most of the players on your list. One could say Nolasco was "good when healthy" in 2014. Would he be on this list if he weren't already under contract? What about Pelfrey? -
Article: What to do: Eduardo Escobar
Willihammer replied to Seth Stohs's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
I appreciate that angle. I would counter with the majority of the Gardy years when middle infielders were health but getting production from them was a chronic problem. Part of that undoubtedly was that the talent just wasn't very good. Another part I think was in Gardy regularly rotating in the Alexi Casilla's, Brian Buschers, Matt Tolberts, and Brendan "Just Looking" Harris's in order to keep them "fresh." That's why they need to make a firm judgment about what kind of talent Escobar really is, IMO. If he's good enough to start, then he should start, and they can let a Doug Bernier or Ed Nunez backup the left side of the infield *only* if there's an injury. Those guys aren't hard to find. Likewise if he's a backup talent, then he should sit on the bench and shouldn't be rotated in ahead of better players just to keep him "fresh." -
Article: What to do: Eduardo Escobar
Willihammer replied to Seth Stohs's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Escobar is a tough dilemma. He's sort of the poster child for needing everyday at-bats to get into a groove. From a purely asset-maximization perspective maybe the right thing is to exercise an option on Santana next season and start Esobar at SS. Give him a month to sink or swim. On the other hand, how can you option the best batter on your team? IMO trying to trade Escobar now, at age 25 with his mixed track record, would be like trying to trade Plouffe at age 25. Nobody is going to bite on an arb-eligible, no option guy unless / until he proves to be a starting talent. For that reason, maybe Plouffe is the release valve. He's had his late bloom. He's shown he's worth the arb-raises and can be a starter on a good team. He will have trade value. It comes down to making an accurate eval of Escobar's true talent IMO. Is he poised to take the next step or would he sink back into a .650 batter if the Twins rolled with him as the 3B option next year. They need to get this one right. -
Article: Twins to Name Paul Molitor Manager
Willihammer replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
That's been the debate all along - what made Molitor the front runner? It certainly wasn't prior managerial success, or many other objective measures. In fact Molitor would seem to be at a disadvantage in many of those respects. On the GATG podcast, Bonnes tried to get McIntosh to answer the question "does being a good coach make for a good manager?" and McIntosh kind of skirted the question. That's really the $64,000 question nobody seems to have an answer for, and has lead some of us to conclude that maybe, Molitor's advantage isn't in his qualifications. -
Article: Twins to Name Paul Molitor Manager
Willihammer replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Seems like a pretty semantic distinction to me. Favoritism is not helpful to any process, like a personnel hire, where there are subjective judgments. Call it a dog and pony show or don't. If there is a "front runner" before the process even starts then it is by definition going to be unfair. -
Article: Twins to Name Paul Molitor Manager
Willihammer replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Like this post if you would have been upset with a Joe Maddon or Dave Martinez hiring -
Not too worried about the finger. A break is a break. Its not hard to see the wrist and brain things recurring though.
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Yikes, looks pretty barren once you get past the major leaguers.
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- brian dozier
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What's the scoring environment like in the AFL? Is it a hitters league?
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- eddie rosario
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Postseason Review: Bullpen
Willihammer commented on stringer bell's blog entry in stringer bell's Blog
"Ananymous" is a good word for Thielbar. -
Article: How "Different" Is Paul Molitor?
Willihammer replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Yeah. And if they wind up hiring internally then really, what's the rush? Molitor already knows the system, the major leaguers and personnel.. Any rush would be so an outside hire could field a staff and get acquainted with the Twins, no? The prospect of that must be diminishing by the day. -
What prompted the move? Was it Harrison's play or the overabundance of 3B options (Goodrum, Meija, Michael, etc). Does he have the glove to move back if the spot opens up again?
- 29 replies
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- trevor plouffe
- miguel sano
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Article: Contemplating the Royals... and the Twins
Willihammer replied to Seth Stohs's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
If GM's projected Wil Myers to go down a borderline HoF career track then the fan perspective is much more grounded in reality. You're also making light of the fact that somehow, even without Wil Myers, the Royals have arguably the best defensive outfield of all time - and decent bats too. That's another reason why the Buxton = Myers equation doesn't work (but I understand why he's the only spec you can use for purposes of the hypothetical). The Twins aren't nearly as loaded with outfielders.- 90 replies
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- alex gordon
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Article: Contemplating the Royals... and the Twins
Willihammer replied to Seth Stohs's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
I'd make that trade. If, like the Royals trade, it puts the Twins in a position to improve by 15 games in year 1 - in contention through the last week of the season, followed by a wild card berth in year 2, and be left with a similarly strong core and strong farm system in place (and at least 1 comp pick coming)... yes, absolutely I make that trade.- 90 replies
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- alex gordon
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Article: Contemplating the Royals... and the Twins
Willihammer replied to Seth Stohs's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
That's not really the comparison I'm trying to make. I'm comparing the "core" prospects aka. Rule 4 draftees to the amateur free agents aka. Latins within each system. The Royals and Twins systems are similar in that to date, the Latins have matched, maybe exceeded, the domestic talents. At some point we have to move from "sometimes top prospects take time" to "we got our rankings wrong."- 90 replies
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- alex gordon
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Article: Contemplating the Royals... and the Twins
Willihammer replied to Seth Stohs's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Maybe the industry is just biased. We all assumed Hosmer, Moustakas, Butler, and Gordon would emerge to form the Royals core. But only Gordon was worth more than 1 WAR this year. Instead, its been every bit as much the Latins - Perez, Escobar, Herrera, and Ventura who have brought that team to the promised land. Its not hard to see the Twins future playing out similarly. We've already seen top 10 guys - Hicks, Gibson, Wimmers, and Hendriks, stall if not bust. Meanwhile a crop of Latins has come up and produced pretty much from the word go.- 90 replies
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- alex gordon
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Article: Postseason Review: Aaron Hicks
Willihammer replied to stringer bell's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Hicks 1-2 (single) with 2 walks yesterday. http://mlb.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2014_10_16_leowin_marwin_1&t=g_box&sid=l135 -
Article: Left Field In Need Of Upgrade
Willihammer replied to Parker Hageman's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
A few days old but Darren WolfsonVerified account @DarrenWolfson The #MNTwins have spoken w/ Cuban FA OF Yasmany Tomas' camp as recently as Monday. Clear they like him. Problem: so do about 10 other teams. -
Article: Contemplating the Royals... and the Twins
Willihammer replied to Seth Stohs's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Actually, by WAR, KC has more production from trade acquisitions than Rule 4 draftees- 90 replies
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- alex gordon
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