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birddog

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Everything posted by birddog

  1. birddog
    Seth, why do you think Gonsalves has not been called up when others with inferior minor league career stats have? I realize he just pitched Thursday so he couldn't pitch Sunday, but he could/should have been called up for at least a spot start in the previous 3 years. Twins justify Stewart start saying "we have to see what he can do" and I agree with that, but what about the much better prospect?
  2. birddog
    Love these minor league reports, especially the top 20 summary. Totally agree on the sentiment that Gonsalves debut is way overdue. I realize the walks are up but the results are there. How can we base our future with prospects on September performances in MLB if it's against Detroit, Chisox, and Royals while they--like Twins--are tanking? For the most part I'm very happy with our front office moves, but am totally baffled with our claims on other teams' discards instead of using our own prospects on the 40-man. Belisle, Drake, Field?! Why?
  3. birddog
    Great article that summarizes exactly where the Twins are--you know, limbo. I could have "liked" all the comments so far, but totally agree with the fact we stop picking up recyclables in the dumpster and use our prospects on the 40-man. Why in the wide wide world of sports has Gonsalves not been promoted yet? Is this Falvine's decision or Moli's? Get rid of the dead weight NOW who have no chance of being on the team next year. September stats can be somewhat meaningless to gauge prospects. I like most of the moves the FO has made, but choosing other teams' discards over our own prospects really throws up the white towel on our farm system.
  4. birddog
    I like this trade and all of them we've made so far and hoping for about 4-5 more today. Back at the start of the season, I never dreamed we'd be sellers at the deadline. I thought the players added by our front office in the off-season made us a lock for the postseason this year. The front office did their job--the players acquired and our coaching staff didn't do theirs. The front office is now cleaning up the mess it has become and I applaud them. We are not sure of the quality we got, but now we have the quantity to pick up some quality players in trades after the season. I'm not ready to write off '19 yet unless we find out for sure if Buxton and Sano (Buckno) are the mediocrities that showed up this year. Have them spend an offseason working out with Berrios and maybe, just maybe, they regain their confidence and chisel their bodies enough to avoid injuries. We have lots of question marks in Kepler, Polanco, Garver, et al, but none more huge than Buckno.
  5. birddog
    We can agree to disagree on this trade. I hate to lose Esco but believe we will make a sincere effort to re-sign him in the offseason and the return is worth the gamble. Lots of hate for the front office but I like the moves they made when they made them. Not on them that the free agents didn't perform. We all want established players or players close to majors but they have to play the 40-man roster game so this opens up one spot. Now unload Morrison, Duke, Lynn, etc. and see if our prospects can help us next year or we have to make trades. I definitely would like to see Gibson kept even before his great outing against Boston. If he is traded it had better be a major haul, not just 3 low A ball prospects.
  6. birddog
    Free agency seems to be more often than not a swing and a miss. Twins should have plenty of budget money next year, so in the offseason work some trades with teams looking to save money and unload their established players. If Buxton and Sano--Buckno--show no signs of life, we retool for '20 or '21 (man that sounds scary), but if they can show some signs of being the players we had prayed for we are just a few players short of being a contending team. If that is the case give up some prospects and get us accomplished players to help.
  7. birddog
    Great writeup, Nick. I love Target Field but Kaufman is indeed a treasure. Those stadiums deserve much better teams playing in them. Twins just can't seem to handle prosperity this year. Any smidgeon of hope is quickly wiped out and replaced with despair. How can Twins expect to sell tickets with Morrison, Motter, Lynn, Belisle, and Wilson making up 20% of the roster?
  8. birddog
    I don't think it's fair to lump Adrianza with Motter. The former, though not a great bat, is a major league ball player even if it is just a utility player. The latter, to quote Harry Doyle from Major League, "I don't know what the hell Falvine is thinking!" All of a sudden our bench players are guys Moli would never consider using. Yes, I would say we are sellers.
  9. birddog
    I won't propose any names to receive from trades because I don't follow other teams' minor leagues. Do as the Indians did, trading away to another team's position of wealth like RP is for San Diego. Get as much quality as possible and/or get good quantity like the Orioles did, but don't wait for these prospects to play for us. Peddle them this winter for established players. The "waiting for prospects to help" game isn't working too well for us. We will have the money to pay proven players next year.
  10. birddog
    You gotta love Esco on both sides of the ball, and yes, who would replace him at 3B if traded would be a major question. The thought of Motter coming back is downright scary and Sano has to prove he is the player from the first half of 2017 before he is welcomed back. If some team offers a king's ransom for him we take it, and sign him in the offseason. Not try--just do it. Some have said "he is not this good" but his stats from last year were pretty darn good. With that logic, maybe Buxton and Sano, "are not this bad"?
  11. birddog
    How can we not be disappointed and even frustrated in the Buxton and Sano who showed up this year? Especially after the hype of can't miss prospects. It is getting tougher each year as Twins are once again sellers at the trade deadline to get excited about the prospects of getting more prospects. Yes, we have had some pan out but way too many fell out of the pan like fool's gold. The only good news is that anyone who doesn't understand the concept of floor and ceiling now just has to look at Buxton's September 2017 as ceiling and his 2018 season as floor. If that floor has a basement I'm afraid CF is Cave's for the next decade.
  12. birddog
    A second half Dozier and a full-season Escobar are great players to have if your team has a shot at a division title. We can get both back in the off-season if we can afford them and there is no better option. We were really hoping that Twins would be buyers at trade deadline this year but here we are again trying to get more prospects so that maybe--just maybe--2019 will be our year. If we are indeed sellers once again this year, use these prospects to trade for established players in the off-season. It seems our prospects' values only diminish the closer they get to the majors.
  13. birddog
    Thanks for the great write up, Seth. How great would it be to have a 2B that put up Nick Gordon first-half numbers and Brian Dozier 2nd-half numbers. I hope Twins can find out why with Gordon and I hope Dozier goes on his 2nd half terror and raises his trade value to the point we get a special player to help us soon. I love the potential of Lewis, Graterol, and Kiriloff and realize we have to be patient, but we have to find out soon what we have in Gonsalves and Gordon in preparation for 2019. And I'm not thinking September. I'm thinking mid to late July.
  14. birddog
    No way we get anyone close enough to help us in 2019 for any of those players except maybe Escobar who I would prefer to keep and re-sign. So I would recommend getting young A or AA players with upside that we peddle in the off season to get players who would help us next year. We fans are finding most prospects are just suspects who pique our interest for 6 years and then are released. Trading or releasing these players, if we can't get anything of value, allows us to finally see what we have in young players like Gonsalves, Gordon and Wade. As well as freeing up 40-man roster spots for players we don't want to lose in the Rule 5 draft. Falvine definitely has to prove their worth in the next 6 weeks. Some of these players with no value now may have to be kept until after the deadline when we may get a little more out of them. But we have to see if our top prospects on the 40-man roster can play.
  15. birddog
    With his two hits last night maybe a NL team will take notice and overpay. He is too valuable to trade for the sake of a trade and his age doesn't concern me as he seems to be getting better. I'm done being overly excited about prospects as I got too excited about Sano and Buxton, so whatever prospects we get should be packaged in the offseason for established players who will make us better.
  16. birddog
    Nick, you hit the nail on the head summarizing everything about this season. Without Buxton and Sano assuming leadership, we have to wait for Kiriloff and Lewis which puts us 3 years behind our presumed 2018 or 2019 for eminence. We thought we had a plethora of depth at the start of the season, but I don't really see any top prospects ready to help out at the MLB level, at least not at AA or above. Rooker has been so-so and I agree that Gordon should be up soon when we can trade Dozier. Maybe Cave will prove that he belongs, but I don't see any OF help if Wade is not close to ready and Buxton should not be back until he can hit .280 or better at AAA. Gonsalves never gets a chance to prove he belongs (though this is the first year he may not deserve it) and other pitchers who do, don't have any margin for error before sent down again like Littell. Yet we give other team's rejects like Motter and Wilson extended time before we realize why they only hit .170 for those other teams. Yes, we had injuries, a suspension, and underperformers, but we were no way prepared for this disaster. I had a lot of confidence in our front office, but they have to make some major moves to raise this Titanic we call the Twins.
  17. birddog
    I would like to know if Buxton is forced to bunt in the minors and if not why? I would like to see him attempt a bunt for a base hit at least once a game, and especially in the minors shouldn't he be doing what he needs to make himself a better on-base guy? With Buck, what is the minimum we should expect with the bat to have his glove on the field? I would love to think ceiling with him, but am afraid we have to expect floor.
  18. birddog
    Lots of different views on the season, but gotta believe every one of us is elated to have Mauer back. If nothing else we only have to see Grossman and Morrison one at a time. Unless of course Molitor decides the no hit no glove Grossman should spell Rosario more often. My son got tickets to the doubleheader against the Chisox for $3 and other than Escobar's 3 run HR and a great stadium, we overpaid. This team is an offensive mess.
  19. birddog
    Grossman should not be hitting and cannot field. Not nearly enough clutch walks from him to justify his roster spot. Totally agree Molitor needs help with decisions like bringing in the same two relievers every single game. I can see Jack Parkman saying "we're screwed" with most of Molitor's decisions.
  20. birddog
    I, too, am totally dumbfounded with this move. This is such a Terry Ryan move. Twins are loyal to a fault with players who do not deserve to be on a MLB roster, like the player we finally released, Pettit. And don't get me started on how we are keeping Grossman for no apparent reason. At some point the loyalty has to go to our minor league prospects who have proved at every level they deserve at least a shot. Also agree with earlier poster who said it's the offense that needs major help. Once again we are totally baffled with 85 mph fastballs and 76 mph curves last night. Does the FO really believe Polanco and Buxton returning are going to transform us into a team that can consistently score runs?
  21. birddog
    Lots of frustration which means we still care, but this is one boring lineup to try and sell tickets. Blame can go to everyone who has made an appearance this season as well as coaches. How can we not look at Buxton and Sano as our biggest disappointments as I know for myself I expected huge numbers from them only to get nothing. I thought Buxton may get 50 steals, but he may not get on base 50 times. I thought Sano would give us huge production in HRs and RBIs, but he has only been huge. Some form of leadership has to step up to put an end to the offensive futility. Dozier has called meetings, but he has to produce on the field to produce results from the clubhouse. Nothing has been mentioned of Morrison's ineptitude. Who would listen to anyone but Rosario and Escobar? Like every hitter this season, Falvine stepped to the plate before the season and swung for the fences. We thought they had delivered two quality starting and relief pitchers, along with a power threat to hit behind Sano allowing him to see better pitches. As it turns out these moves did not bring the results we anticipated, but Falvine can not get gun shy. Leadership has to come from them and they need to bring up Gordon and Wade and let Pettit and Grossman go. We can't expect any trades yet because anyone we want to trade has no trade value--though Lynn is improving his stock lately. We no longer have the luxury of waiting for status quo to change by itself.
  22. birddog
    What would Sano become if he spent the offseason working out with Berrios?! Loved to see Molitor stay with him for the 9th. It has to help a pitcher's stamina in a later game in which he may need it to get through 6.
  23. birddog
    And I'm hoping Gordon and Wade lose their prospect tag soon. Thanks for the article, Ted. It looks like we're banking on hope for the future once again.
  24. birddog
    I thought the front office had made all the right moves to make this the most exciting and winningest team we've had in a long time. Lots of biggest disappointments: Morrison has been the huge disappointment though I still think signing him for so little was a good move. He may heat up in 2nd half enough to get a prospect at the trade deadline. Dozier is what he is, an excellent half-season player. Buxton is the perennial slow starter who may never get started due to injuries and. Sano has started to come on of late but has proven he can not last a season at closer to 300 than 260. Polanco's suspension could have been a huge part of our frustration. As mentioned, Rosario is our best--and whowould'vethunkit--our most consistent hitter. Escobar and Kepler have been mostly positive. But that's it for the positives. We have no one to step up from AAA and often times our lineup resembles AAAA more than MLB. I have no desire to pay to watch them, and while away on vacation for a week, I am not missing a thing. I am tired of hearing "still a lot of baseball left". Other than the last two games our starting pitching appears to be much improved, but our hitters are way too undisciplined and will get themselves out when not thrown strikes. Even if we start to score runs like the end of last year, I do not believe we will catch the Indians for the division or any other team for the wild card.
  25. birddog
    Totally agree on these six, especially Kiriloff's promotion being due as his numbers, especially the power numbers, are much better than Royce Lewis'. OF used to be an area of depth in our system, but we are finding out how quickly things can change. Backups are pretty mediocre now and with Grossman not hitting, we could use some reinforcements. I too, was hoping Rooker would be on the fast track, but he hasn't established much yet to be excited about. I think and hope Buxton is about to find himself, but how much longer do we allow him to take ABs and hit south of .170? He normally comes around in June and I think he will again, but I would really like to see Wade promoted at least to AAA and then to the majors if we lose one of our top 3 OF to injury. The lineup in Rochester is quite inept and I'm sure the pitchers would love to see some offense.
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