Twodogs

Twins best pitcher first week of the year!!

I think the Twins really need to consider using Santana in CF against Lefties, and putting Escobar in at SS. At least then the Twins can get Escobar's bat into the game which I think is a plus over Schaffer??

Most valuable when you have an awful bullpen and need to go directly to the set up and closer to get wins. 8 innings a game didn't mean much for the Royals last year with that stud bullpen.

Boone?

Yep, exactly. And the pitcher needs to have confidence in his fastball that he can get the hitter out with it and the hitter needs to know that also, when that happens the hitter has to approach the situation where he needs to be thinking that the fastball is coming.

I don't get any of the international signing stuff. It doesn't make any sense to me. I wish teams had to draft international players just like they do US players. Also at what age can teams go after players internationally? Haven't teams gone after like 16 year olds and stuff like that before? Maybe I am wrong.

The change up is Milone's favorite pitch??? I think it's like his only pitch. Ha ha just joking. I think the change is awesome and Frank Viola mastered it. Likewise however, the most important thing is locating the fastball, pitching it where you want to. Even Viola admits that when he became more confident that his fastball could get people out then his circle change became even more dangerous. I think he said that one of his catchers, maybe it was Laudner or Harper, not sure which one, but they told Viola that he was only going to use his fastball one game. That catcher called every pitch a fastball all game long and I don't completely remember the outcome but paraphrasing Viola won like a 3 - 1 game or something like that. Basically the catcher, whoever it was, was trying to tell Viola that he can get outs with his fastball and when he became even more confident in that pitch his change up became even more dominating. I'm pretty sure Viola didn't care who he threw his change up to. So I like the idea, changing speeds will win the Twins a lot of games. There have been a lot of pitchers out there who have been very successful without having a super dominant fastball, but location and changing speeds keep hitters off balance. I am looking forward to this year with a new pitching approach, because changing speeds is definitely not the same as pitching to contact which drove me nuts with the old Twins methods.

What young guys has he failed to project??? The ones the Twins have now? Or the ones they've had over the last 4-5 years or so?? I mean if he sends them down to AAA are they going to forget how to play baseball?? Do they get worse for some reason? See I think if they get sent down and they force you to bring them up (a la Justin Morneau), which not too many have done over the 4 - 5 years then you bring them up. But for some reason most of these guys haven't forced anyones hand. Which is disappointing and it really only means that so far they are just Hype and no substance. God I hope some of these guys bring some substance over the next couple of years. Just bringing them up because they are hyped and have a bunch of potential means nothing. If they get sent down then they need to do a Justin Morneau and force them to bring you up.

Chillin in the FLA aint a bad thing if they are payin ya??

Yeah I don't think it was all even just Hicks hitting that got him. I think he didn't field particularly well either.

May got rocked in his last start, and yeah he has great strikeout totals but guys are hitting him, hard. So it is probably better to have him, like you said work out his issues now in AAA. I don't necessarily think that getting rocked in April and being sent down in June is the best thing for a young player, a la Hicks.

Hey all I know is that through a "no shortcut" approach and a lot of patients I get laid a lot more now than when I had a "we wanna get laid now" pablum that I used to spew all over the place. Ha Ha So I'm gonna sit back and use a little patients and I can handle my alcohol a little better now than when I was younger too, that in itself probably helps me have a little more patients. You know, if you're the last man standing you've got a shot. Ha ha Plus Mike, when you move out west the chicks wear less clothes so it gets easier to have a sit back and wait approach. Just spent the week at Pacific Beach in San Diego. Oh well I've had my laugh. In all honesty I think the Twins will do better this year. Seems to me that every year people have been on here thinking that the Twins were better than the year before and they have stunk for the last 4 seasons, now everyone is kinda down and so I think the Twins will surprise us.

I wonder how many games Santana will start in CF with Escobar at SS??

No I mean kinda like the Twins were successful before the last 4 years or so.

I know Beane has done well, but he isn't even the best GM in a 30 mile radius of where he works.

Kinda like the twins did just before the last 4 years or so?

Take a look at Oakland over the last decade, they don't really hold on to anyone.

And who else did Beane get rid of last year?

When was the last time in the last 10 or 15 years or so that the Twins had a 5th starter coming in with a lifetime winning record of 32 - 23 and a 3.98 lifetime ERA? Granted he is not flashy and doesn't have much ability to cause swings and misses but he has been pretty reliable over the last 3-4 years. If he can just replicate that and he is the Twins 5th starter then I think this season will be a little better than the last 3 or 4 years. Sure May or Meyer would be more sexy out there with K ability but there are a lot of guys around the bigs with K ability that get rocked all of the time. So I'm hoping that Milone does his thing that he has done for the last 3 or 4 years.

Could you imagine Gomez, Span and Revere manning the OF?? They'd make most of our pitchers look like all stars. The Twins got Hardy for Gomez, what did the Twins get for Hardy?? So far they have some pitching prospects for Span and Revere but no one who has actually performed at the MLB level, hopefully that changes soon??

Yeah I get it, and the Twins would have better success finding a decent hitting OFer that projects to be a LFer when Buxton arrives if they trade one of their young guys like May or Meyer but I'm just grasping for straws looking for a way to get Milone out and even for him it would be a good situation, but getting him out and clearing a way for May or Meyer. The Twins Defense already is bad, I feel they might as welll try to find a way to score more runs, keeping hicks and Schaffer isn;t making them any better. When Buxton arrives then you'd have two pretty good power hitting corner OFers. Until then status quo isn't going to win many ball games? In my opionion

25th man?? He had like 11 homeruns and 13 doubles in like 200 at bats, that's like better production than Vargas. Not to mention he did it in places like San Diego, LA, San Fran, not exactly hitter friendly parks. So He wouldn't be a better hitter than Schaffer??

No you are right, however, Milone was fairly successful in Oakland, everyone says that is because of the extra foul territory, Well LA has pretty much the same thing and Milone has a better track record than LA's projected 3rd and 4th pitchers in McCarthy and Anderson. Both I believe have losing career records.

I know this is just me hoping for something, but I really think the Twins should contact the Dodgers about trading Milone, and one or two other guys, maybe Hicks and some other minor league arm for OFer Van Slyke. I know the Dodgers are trying to trade Either and no one is biting on that. I'm sure Van Slyke is tired of being the 5th outfielder there and would be an instant starter for the Twins. The Dodgers rotation beyond the big two is pretty weak and a guy like Milone could do well there, spacious foul territory kind of like in Oakland. Right now they have McCarthy and Anderson as their 3rd and 4th starters with Ryu probably hurt again that leaves Wieland as the 5th?? Not a World series contending rotation if you ask me. Now granted if they get to the WS they will be using Kershaw and Grienke, but you need to play 162 to get there in the first place. To me Milone will probably win the 5th spot for the Twins has a year of control still attached to him and is good for what as a 5th guy 26 - 30 starts?? Whereas he will be much more beneficial to the Dodgers and Hicks can be their 5th OFer which is about where he belongs and then give them something from AA for the future and use VanSlyke in CF until Buxton is ready and then move him to LF and put Arcia back in RF in a year or so. The Twins have way too many 5th starter types and if May was 22 or 23 I'd say put him down in the minors but he is 25 and its time to bring him up or Meyer and use Pelfrey as the spot starter because he really has no value, but Milone actually has some value and has done decent this spring. VanSlyke would get regular every day at bats and the Dodgers could use Milone more than the Twins can. Especially right now. I don't know if it is possible but I think the Dodgers need a serviceable pitcher and the Twins have a couple of those, Hell they jumped on Correia last year???? Milone is better than him.

Something like that may work out for the Twins. Last year Soriano progressively got worse as the year went on. Started off really well and lost it somewhere towards the end. So if he came in and helped the Twins for 3 months and then the Twins trade him to a contender at or before the deadline, that gives some of the younger guys a little bit of seasoning down in AAA or AA and then come up for the last 2 months or so? It may give the Twins the best chance at winning during the beginning of the season whereas one of the younger guys will probably give them the best chance of winning towards the end of the season.