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travistwinstalk

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Blog Entries posted by travistwinstalk

  1. travistwinstalk
    The Twinsare 0-2 after two dreadful performances against the Orioles that saw the Twinsdominated by two average at best pitchers, struggled defensively, and had theirpitchers battered. Some will say that itis over and that Ron Gardenhire should be fired and replaced with PaulMolitor. They will say that Terry Ryanshould never have returned and he is no better than Bill Smith. They will say that Jim Pohlad is one of thecheapest owners in baseball that should spend like the Tigers. They will say that Joe Mauer is overpaid andthat Justin Morneau should just retire. I am not one of those people and will never be one of those people. I am here to explain what Twins fans should “realistically”expect out of this season and where this franchise is heading.
    I have been telling anyone thatwould listen that 2012 was a rebuilding year for the Twins coming off their 99loss 2011 season. The Twins would notcome out and say it was a rebuilding year because as a professional baseballteam you should always try to win. Ireally respect what Terry Ryan has tried to do by signing stopgap guys for ayear that here for one reason and one reason only. They are here to try to win because that’s whatthe Twins do is win as they have won six division titles in the last 11 yearsunder manager Ron Gardenhire. With thatsaid they are letting more talented players develop at their pace. Some teams push prospects up before they areready and you lose them because of that. Guys like Joe Benson, Brian Dozier, Carlos Gutierrez, Deolis Guerra,Rene Tosoni, Alex Wimmers could be up and struggling, but the Twins believe inprotecting these guys and allowing them to continue to develop. So instead of pushing them Terry Ryan signedguys like Jamey Carroll that allows Dozier to develop, Jared Burton allowsGutierrez to develop, Jeff Gray allows Guerra to develop, Ryan Doumit allowsJoe Benson to develop, and so on.
     
    Then guys like Joe Nathan, and Michael Cuddyer wanted moremoney than the Twins were willing to spend. By resigning Matt Capps they didn’t push Glen Perkins into the closersrole, but rest assured he will be the closer in 2013 and going forward. Where I think Ryan did his finest work wasreplacing Cuddyer with Josh Willingham who is equal to him offensively andcosts 3.5 million a year less. GrantedWillingham was not good yesterday, but every player has games were they are notgood and last night was a game that Willingham was not good. I will take my chances with Willingham and noone is talking about the homerun he had the day before and the great throw hemade to cut a run down at the plate.
    Then those that are criticizing Jim Pohlad, the Twins have a100 million dollar payroll that is in the top third in baseball. When the Twins signed Joe Mauer to his 8 year184 million dollar contract we all knew that the Twins would have to be thriftywith other guys. The problem is that forthe last three years Justin Morneau has been injured and he makes 15 million ayear. Being a mid-market team you can’tjust throw away 38 million dollars like they did last year with the injuries toMauer and Morneau, you just can’t. Goingforward the Twins need these guys to stay healthy and productive. If they don’t stay healthy and aren’tproductive it doesn’t matter what other players do.
     
    With that said it is only two games and the Twins will win alot of games this year. They are muchtoo talented to play like this. However,you need to give credit where credit is due in that Jake Arrieta and TommyHunter were excellent the last two days. Especially Arrieta who I have not seen that good before and trust me theYankees and Tigers would have struggled with him the way he pitched the otherday. It also should not be surprisingthat the Twins have struggled being that they have replaced four out of ninestarters and it will take some time to click getting used to playing with eachother. It is not supposed to be anexcuse as these guys are professional baseball players who are being paid wellto do better than what they are. However, there are 160 games to go and there will be games where theTwins play bad, but Twins fans need to learn to relax and just enjoy thegames. I know that is not in Twins fansnature to just relax when they lose so all I am saying is try not to jump offthe ledge until they are ten games out. All I know is that 48 hours ago I was super excited for the season andam not going to get all upset over two losses and will continue to enjoy theTwins. I refuse to panic about the teamyet, well atleast not for another week.
  3. travistwinstalk
    I apologize for the mistakes I made on the Rochester roster, but I will try to do a better job in New Britain. With that being said the New Britain roster is more difficult because it is more fluid. Alot of the New Britain roster will be determined by what happens with the Rochester roster. Guys that don't make the Rochester roster, but that still hang around will likely go the New Britian. FYI if you think I got a lot wrong on the Rochester Roster you haven't see anything yet just because we just don't know. But I find it fun to guess who I think will be on these rosters so don't take my projections very seriously because they are just my guesses. Noone in the blogsophere knows how these rosters will be constructed. Terry Ryan and Mike Radcliffe are probably the only ones who know who is going to New Britain besides the few names that have been leaked out. However, for this exercise I am going to try and guess and see if i can guess and I welcome your comments on if you agree or disagree. By the way there are a few guys that I named to the Rochester roster that information has been released that they will be in New Britain so I have them on this roster.
     
    C- Chris Herrmann
    1b- Nate Hanson
    2b- James Beresford
    SS- Pedro Florimon
    3b Deibinson Romero
    LF- Darin Mastroianni
    CF- Aaron Hicks
    RF- Angel Morales
    DH- Anderson Hidalgo
     
    Bench
    Danny Lehmann
    Evan Bigley
    Estarlin De Los Santos
     
     
    Pitching
    1. David Bromberg
    2. Pat Dean
    3. Alex Wimmers
    4. Logan Darnell
    5. Bobby Lanigan
     
    Bullpen
    Bruce Pugh
    Dakota Watts
    Luis Perdomo
    Lester Oliveros
    Matt Hauser
    Tony Davis
    Steve Hirschfeld
  4. travistwinstalk
    I don't know how well many of you know me but my name is Travis Aune and I am a cohost of Seth Stohs every Thursday night this season on Twins Minor League Weekly. I have a blog over at travistwinstalk.blogspot.com and I do some Twins stuff, but my main focus because I truly enjoy it is the minor leagues. I am nowhere near the class of Seth as he is the Godfather of the Minor Leagues and he amazes me the amount of material he writes and knows. Seth is a giant and I am a midget compared to him. With that being said I know alot about the minor leagues as well and I am sharing some here at Twins Daily a great site that I am truly glad the Twin Centric guys developed. So every so often I am going to post blog postings and I will also be active in the forums so I am glad to be here. With that said over the next few days I am going to project rosters of the Minor League affiliates and most likely I will be wrong on most of them, but I think it can create a good discussion when the rosters are introduced.
     
    C- Drew Butera
    1b-Aaron Bates
    2b-Tsyoshi Nishioka
    SS- Brian Dozier
    3b- Michael Holliman
    LF- Wilkin Ramirez
    CF- Joe Benson
    RF- Rene Tosoni
    DH Matt Carson
     
    Bench
    Ray Chang
    JR Towles
    Rene Rivera
     
     
    Pitching
    1. Liam Hendriks
    2. Scott Diamond
    3. Daryl Thompson
    4. Esmerling Vasquez
    5. PJ Walters
     
    Bullpen
    Anthony Slama
    Jeff Gray
    Carlos Gutierrez
    Jeff Manship
    Tyler Robertson
    Cole Devries
    Deolis Guerra
     
     
     
    There is my picks of course I will be wrong on 90 percent of my picks. Let me know if you agree or disagree with my choices if I forgot someone or if someone you dont think will make it. Thanks again
  5. travistwinstalk
    As many can tell I am not a typical Twins blogger in that my posts are very infrequent. That is because I go to school in Texas and am very busy. I know everybody is busy, but for me my blogging is a hobby that I only do if I have time for it. I will blog more in the summer when I don’t have classes, but I felt the need the need to write my feelings with how everything is going with the Twins right now.
     
     
    As many of you know I was 30 years old when I went back to College and will graduate next spring. When I decided to go back to school there were tons of people that thought I was crazy. They said why would someone give up a job that were you were making a steady income to chase a dream. These people created a chip on my shoulder in that I am determined to prove to each of them including some in my own family that yes I can do this and do it well. I see this same chip on the shoulder of several Twins players. With the departures of Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, and Joe Nathan many have written off the Twins as a hopeless cause in 2012. Every prediction I have seen has the Twins fighting the White Sox and Royals for 3rd place behind Detroit and Cleveland. They say there are too many unknowns with the Twins with the injury situations of Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Denard Span along with the lowering the payroll by 13-18 million over 2011. However, when I look at Joe Mauer I see a guy who has a chip on his shoulder much like I do. He is out to prove that people have forgot just who is and that is one of the best players in the game. He is out to prove that 2011 was an aberration, and that he is a catcher first and foremost. I see that same chip on Denard Span’s shoulder who is sick of hearing about how the Twins should trade him, that Ben Revere is a better centerfielder than him. Denard Span is one of the top 5 leadoff men in the major leagues and people will give him the credit he justly deserves.
     
     
    As a whole I see a team with a huge chip on their shoulder with a manager in Ron Gardenhire who just knows how to win. In case anyone forgot he has won six division titles in ten years as manager. This team will be better than what the so called experts think and those that undersell this team your in for a rude awakening. For those that think that the Twins have no chance to hang with the Tigers you will be wrong. Much like you can’t ever discount Bill Belichek and Tom Brady in a big game, you should also never discount the Twins when expectations are low and the Twins can be the underdogs Gardy loves to be. When they are underdogs the Twins have a tendency of just finding a way of getting it done.
     
     
    I know many are perturbed that the Pohlad’s cut the Twins payroll and my response is simply who cares. Since when did payroll determine who wins the world series. If that was the case the Yankees would win it all every year. By my Minnesota math I believe the Yankees have only won 1 championship in 11 years while having the highest payroll by a large margin. Teams are build with cohesiveness and working well as a team. I would much rather play the Twins way and that is develop their talent and if that means letting free agents go then so be it. I have come to realize for some people it wouldn’t matter what the Twins payroll is it would be too low. Mr. Pohlad would get crushed no matter what he did as he should have done more. What people need to realize is as much as this is entertainment for us it is a business for him as it should be. In what business do you spend your own money on the product besides at the startup of a company. When your established the business should run on its own and you should get a profit out of it. The fact that he spends 52% on payroll is a credit to him and he should’t be expected to do more even though some people will never give him credit.
     
     
    Those bitching about the moves Terry Ryan has done this offseason should be ashamed of themselves as he is working inside a budget. There was no way that Michael Cuddyer is worth 10.5 million anymore. He was never a superstar and his defense has slipped to below average. Credit Ryan for knowing that there was no way to sign Cuddyer at that figure so instead he signs Josh Willingham for seven million and to be honest Cuddyer and Willingham are very similar players. To be able to get a similar player for 3.5 million a year is pure brilliance by Ryan. Signing Jamey Carroll was also a good signing if you ask me as the Twins did not have the money to sign Jose Reyes and after last years debacle at SS they needed a steady hand at SS and that is what Carroll is and that’s steady. The coup of the offseason was signing Ryan Doumit for 3 million. Doumit is a .800 ops guy who can catch if something happens to Mauer. So in my mind with the budget they had and the moves he made Terry Ryan should get credit and not get bitched about. For those that say the Twins are not contenders with this roster you are wrong and you will be proven wrong over the next 6 months.
     
     
    The guy that people are really wrong about is Aaron Hicks who for some reason people are starting to doubt. Seems like your average fan just looks at a few numbers and judge that he is a bust. If you look deeper with his walk rate and his gap power you are looking at a stud. It irritated me when I read Baseball America’s prospect list and saw that Hicks had dropped from 45 before last season to 127 this year. I followed every game that he appeared in and I really don’t get it. He has the chance to be a 6 tool player in that he will hit for average, hit for power, got speed, great range on defense, tremendous arm, and incredible intangibles. I talked to a fellow blogger about Hicks and he asked me on a scale of 1-10 how good he would be with 10 being a hall of famer and I said 8, but I think more of a 9 now. He has all the tools you want in a prospect and I truly believe that he is going to be a stud.
    For those worried about the Twins system don’t be they have 15-20 players in their system that I believe will have the chance to be major league players. Then with all the draft picks they have in June the system will get better. It is probably middle of the pack now, but by the end of the year it will be a top 10 system if you ask me.
     
     
    My biggest peeve with Twins fans is they believe everything they read instead of investigating things themselves. You don’t have to take my word for it think about it yourself and come to your own judgement. Just because something is written doesn’t mean that it is true so form your own opinions is my best advice. I thank you for taking the time to read this and look forward to getting to know all of you much better in the future. If you have any comments or questions you can either leave a comment in the comment box or shoot me an email at travis_aune@yahoo.com.
     
    This was dated Febuary 3rd just wanted to get everyone on heres opinion of it.
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