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REPETE

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Everything posted by REPETE

  1. REPETE
    This topic is somewhat of the dead horse being whipped again. Plouffe being traded for prospects that don't pan out turn into the "why did we trade Span/Revere/etc" argument. There was no market for an average 3B, so we may as well keep him. He still may be traded this spring, as injuries around the league occur, making it a great move. The AJ trade is heralded as one of the great trades of all time, simply because it worked! However, when anyone mentions the AJ trade in defense of Ryan, the Ryan haters point back at all the trades that weren't as successful. You can't have it both ways. Now we trade Hicks, who's had one great Spring training, and one great month, meaning he's FAR from a known asset, for a position of need. Only time will tell if this works for either team, but we certainly can't say today this is a bad trade, as our OF of the future is Rosario, Buxton, Arcia (if he hits), and Kepler in the wings. I'm not sure how we can say there's no ambition. Conservative? Maybe. But whatever term we put on it, doesn't mean it will work. I applauded Bill Smith at the time for being "ambitious" with trades. How'd that work for us?
  2. REPETE
    This is a valid point. I don't buy the "We didn't win the world series so we're a failure" argument, as 97% of the teams in the league don't! However, the Twins of the 00's were built to win. They won divisions, and once that happens, you're one of few teams competing for the WS. However, I don't know if you can fault "the system" for not winning playoffs. Those playoff Twins had batting title winners, MVPs, and a Cy Young winner. I'm not sure how much more you can bring to the post-season. My personal take was Gardy should've been fired during that run, but a new manager may or may not have changed anything. The players that got them there didn't perform on the big stage, and no role players excelled for two weeks. End of story. Doesn't mean "the system is broken".
  3. REPETE
    EXACTLY! During the 00's and winning divisions, everyone was clamoring for "The Twins Way", and the Twins were the darlings of the league for doing it without spending $$$$$. Does the fact we never won a World Series mean those teams were miserable failures? Some quotes in these pages seem to point in that direction. Only two teams make the World Series, and only one wins. That takes a lot of talent, along with some luck & good fortune: injuries, match ups, catching fire at the right time, etc. Now, everyone loves the Royals, and says everyone must build their team like them. Let's not forget, the Royals dwelled in complete obscurity for 30 years. The Astros were miserable for just as long. The Cubs? Yeah! The Mets? Baseball is cyclical. If you don't have the money to buy players every year (Yankees), when your system develops high first rounders that actually pan out, you win... As long as they develop, and the FO doesn't screw it up by constantly trading guys who will go on to make the core of the team. The fact this team was extremely relevant for a decade, followed by 4 years of the abyss, and now on the verge of being quite relevant again for some time, points towards a system that is far from broken, and may be the next "darling" trend. The question really boils down to, is it better to have 8-10 years of a team that is relevant, and with the right luck, can win the World Series? Or is it better to make blockbuster trades, possibly win the World Series (FAR from a guarantee), then fall back to irrelevance for 10 years?
  4. REPETE
    Agreed. Spending money doesn't equal wins. But unless it's your team, you don't remember it happening. Perfect example was the 2013 Blue Jays. in 2012, they were bumping up against 90 losses, then increased their payroll >30% ($82M up to $125M), and pre-season prognosticators couldn't get out of their own way saying this team is now the front-runner to win the world series. End result? One less loss than the previous 89 loss season. But nobody remembers the team that spend money and didn't win. We just point to the payroll, and say "we need to spend more!".
  5. REPETE
    I also agree with the crux of this article. Twins had a great run in a bad division through the 2000's. The bottom dropped out 2011, and was completely unexpected, mainly due to a rash of injuries. Everyone figured 2011 was an aberration for a good team, and they'd bounce back in 2012. Alas, they sucked again, and everyone blamed the FO for not spending $$. Money wasn't the problem, the good times just ran their course. At that point, I agreed, there was no reason for the team to throw good money after bad. It wouldn't have made a difference. Should they have spent $$ this offseason? I'm good with "no", as we have young talent to hopefully fit the bill, if not this year, then next. The REAL question of how much should we love or hate the Pohlads is what happens over the next five years. If they're in contention this year, do they make a mid-season move? Maybe not, as the following years are our window. I'm good with that (depending on the circumstances, obviously). What the Pohlads do next offseason is the real question. Will they get us a front-line starter to anchor what should be a decent starting staff. Do they spend money and fill a glaring hole in the lineup? How soon, and for how long do they pay Sano & Buxton? Or do they say they can't afford long expensive contracts (see J Mauer) and trade them for prospects? Or do they say "we can't afford free agents today because Sano & Buxton paydays are coming? I'm ok with not spending money over 90+ loss seasons with nothing in the cupboard, but if you're going to allow those seasons to happen, they'd better SPEND the money when the team has a legitimate shot at a ring.
  6. REPETE
    John Kruk, when asked at a restaurant during spring training, if he was in shape: "To run a marathon? No, but this is baseball. The bases are only 90' apart." From what I understand about concussions, they're never the same. Corey Koskie suffered for many years. Morneau came back, and did show part of his old self, but then BAM! He gets another one. Football players get them all the time, and a week later, are back playing. We don't know if Mauer will ever be the player he used to be, only time and his stats will tell us..
  7. REPETE
    Hughes scares the crap out of me. His velocity was struggling to hit 90 when he came back last year, and I don't see many closers not named Fuentes being successful at that speed. That said, if he doesn't get back to 93, he won't be much of a starter, either.
  8. REPETE
    Thrylos, I have 3 questions on this: 1) Is there anyone still out there in FA that could possibly fill this need? 2) Were any of the other options worth a 3 year deal? 3) do you see 2-3 of these young arms possibly stepping up to be the next Perkins & Jepsen? I guess I'm not panicking until I see this group in spring. It's very possible that the BP looks like Swiss cheese, especially early on, but the question still remains, would it have made sense to sign a better guy for three years, and in year 2, they start looking more like Fien, but salary is blocking the young studs from being called up?
  9. REPETE
    I'm OK with Buxton starting in AAA, even for a short time. A little more seasoning won't kill him, and possibly makes him better in the Majors a little sooner. The CF question isn't necessarily going to be answered by who plays the best there in spring training, though. I think the real question is: "How does Sano adapt to the OF?" That will drive almost all of the answers, including: 1. Does Plouffe get traded? 2. Who plays CF 3. What are the final roster moves between Santana & Arcia.
  10. REPETE
    My problem with Suzuki last year went beyond hit hitting (or lack thereof). By the end of the season, he couldn't throw the ball to 2nd without 2 hops. My guess is, the veteran Suzuki starts the season catching 4 or 5 games a week, then by about the end of May, it becomes more of a 50/50 timeshare. I'd love to see Murphy play more at the outset, but I have a feeling they'll let Zuk play himself out of the lineup.
  11. REPETE
    does he have the thick cajun accent?
  12. REPETE
    True, but that was a different regime (Gardy), and a team with a glut of holes. This team, it can be argued, has question marks in the OF, and this is just another risk-free signing in the event all of the "worst case' scenarios play out. At least I HOPE that's what this signing is. San Quentin has a long way to go to prove he can still play at the major league level.
  13. REPETE
    a healthy Verlander alone puts them at 500. Let's hope Kate Upton can really screw up his head so he can't pitch.
  14. REPETE
    Check me if I'm wrong here, but yes, the Randy Johnson comparison has been made repeatedly. That said, wasn't Randy Johnson the exception to the rule of 8' tall pitchers being able to figure out the "repeatable motion"? Personally, at this point in his career, I believe a Relief role may be the best option. if he figures it out, and dominates, we can have the discussion of "should we move him back to starting", but worst case, he becomes a good/dominant reliever. As we've seen in the TD vitriol over the last 8 months, we desperately need those!
  15. REPETE
    If Plouffe is worth $20+M a year, I'm grossly underpaid in my job!
  16. REPETE
    That part is pretty obvious. I'm wondering if it's possible other teams were waiting to see what his final salary number was. Or is $1M one way or the other not that significant for a team looking for an upgrade at 3B?
  17. REPETE
    As for Plouffe, does the final salary they settle on make a difference in his trade value? ie, does his final # make it more likely, less likely, or no change on him being traded?
  18. REPETE
    Is this a good spot to propose we trade Ricky Nolasco for Buster Posey? That would change this list, wouldn't it?
  19. REPETE
    Great read, and fun clips! Watching the Sano video, what was telling was how important his HRs were, looking at the scoreboard. There's a lot of guys who hit HRs when their team is up or down by 7. Most of Sano's HRs came when they were needed to either take the lead, get the team back in the game, or put the game away.
  20. REPETE
    I think we should be more concerned about the wall's safety.
  21. REPETE
    I'm not as concerned with Rosario as others. Sano's time in the majors started red hot, then slowed. Did pitchers "figure him out"? Rosario was up for most of the year, and every time he hit a slump, the "pitchers figured him out" line came up often, but then he'd go on a hitting streak & bring the avg right back up. Agreed that his K rate is ridiculous, but I have high hopes he can trim that a bit. I don't think he'll ever walk much, but better pitch selection will raise the Avg, and that's the only way he'll raise his OBP.
  22. REPETE
    Agreed. It's another example of complete over-reach which has become all too common in today's society. Sure, some fans will get hurt, no doubt, and not always because they're on their cell phone. But should we also be warning fans they have a better chance of being hurt by the light rail just outside the stadium? Fans should know the inherent risk of sitting close to the field. I love being close to the field, for the view, and also the opportunity to get a foul ball. Our season tix are just to the left of the netting, BECAUSE OF THE NETTING! We could've gone behind home plate many times, but stayed away from it because we didn't want to watch the game through the net.
  23. REPETE
    If he's hitting 10 bombs a year because he can't get off the trainers table, all we'll hear here is "why didn't management take care of him?" Perhaps putting him in the OF is the best way to make Sano think about pushing away from the buffet table one plate sooner. "Hey, I'd better stay under 300lbs if I have to run 50 feet."
  24. REPETE
    Comment: I thought the Nishioka deal was very questionable at the time, as (if I recall correctly) he had one great year in Japan. Prior to that, he was a good, not great player, esp BA wise. Question: For a large man, Sano has decent speed (when he's not hobbling around with a hammy), so i don't see OF speed as a problem. However, does anyone know what Sano is doing right now? Is he back home or here in the US? Is he playing winter ball, and if so, what position? Or is he just practicing buffets?
  25. REPETE
    True, Morneau was traded, but that's semantics. He was not going to be retained at the end of the year, as Joe was moving to 1st. This move makes no sense for a couple reasons: 1. He's not the "veteran presence" that Torii brought. He's Clark Kent; mild mannered, then turns into a great hitter. 2. He can't stay healthy, so you can't count on him. 3. He would be a great PH off the bench (redundant?), but baseball no longer has PH. The days of Chip Hale are gone. If they're good enough to PH, they play everyday.
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