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Darius

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Everything posted by Darius

  1. Darius
    It's a little strange to me that the military would let some if its best and brightest go for the sake of playing a game. You look at the flip-side, Ted Williams took a break in his prime to serve around the time of WWII. Pat Tillman put a promising career on hold to go fight after 9/11. Jackie Robinson was drafted to fight in WWII. David Robinson went to the Naval Academy, and fulfilled his service before beginning his NBA career. Roger Staubach fulfilled his service after the Air Force Academy and fought in Vietnam. DiMaggio voluntarily put his career on hold to fight. Current NFL O-Lineman Alejandro Villanueva served multiple tours in Afghanistan after West Point, prior the NFL. Not disparaging anyone, here, but I'm not sure I like the idea of certain giving high profile an atheletes a pass to play a game. I don't like the precedent it sets, and I'm sure it rubs a lot of his fellow average-joe sailors the wrong way that he gets preferential treatment. I know I would've been a little miffed that the Marine Corps was forcing me to fulfil my duty that I willingly signed on for by risking my life, whole showing preference to others based on nothing that has to do with the military. For example, if I was an especially talented financial analyst who happened to learn that craft at a military academy, would they have let me out to go make millions at a hedge fund on Wall Street?
  2. Darius
    That Sano double was an absolute rocket. Considering the density of our atmosphere, gravity, et al, I'm by sure a baseball can be hit much harder (the record is around 120 mph, but I'm skeptical of these meaurememt techniques if Sano's double was said to be nearly 10 mph slower).
  3. Darius
    Dozier shouldn't be a surprise. It's the story of his career at this point. He's terrible for significant stretches of the season, then goes off for a few weeks to make his stats look resptable. I've been calling him overrated for about two years now, and I'm typically only met with insults. He's never been great defensively (it's beyond me how he won a gold glove). He kills the team by demanding the lead off spot, and the most plate appearances. He Ks in every close and late PA. There is a reason why they couldn't get anything for the guy, despite a bargain contract and what appears to be elite production on paper. He's been the marquee player now during how many 90+ loss campaigns? He's a nice player, and would fit well on a lot of teams.....but he's just not as good as he is perceived to be.
  4. Darius
    Gordon just keeps hitting. With the Twins now effectively out of it (6.5 back of the Indians, who are pulling away fast....and more games back of the Wildcard), what good does it do them to keep a guy like Dozier (now long overrated, anyway) around all year to walk in the offseason? What good does it do to let Escobar play out the string if you repeatedly show he's not in the long-term plans? Why reward Polanco with an open door back to the starting SS? If you're talking about economics, I would think getting prospects up would generate excitement, this generate more revenue. After discounting a one year service-time opportunity cost down the road (which isn't a guarantee anyway, btw, chances are better the kid will wash out by then), you're probably my losing money by clinging to service time. Sometimes, things that FOs do just don't make any sense. I continue to contend it's an ego thing in the front office. Everyone has convinced themselves that it's such a delicate process, getting a guy to the majors. That these guys are so sensitive that early exposure to a higher level will cause severe regression, maybe even instant death. Frankly, I find it all ridiculous and fraudulent.
  5. Darius
    I feel for the guy. He had a Hall of Fame career derailed by a nagging, mysterious injury. Tough break. However, $150 million dollars is a pretty nice consolation. Hard to feel sorry for a guy who made that much money over a decade of doing something I pay league fees to play every year. I feel sorry for construction workers that get terminal mesothelioma and get screwed by health insurance companies, while making 40k per year over 30 year career. I feel sorry for a private in the Marine Corps that gets half of his body blown to bits fighting for a bunch of ungrateful Liberal millennials, while making peanuts. A guy riding into the sunset in his mid-30s, with enough asset-wise to support the next 5 generations of Mauers doesn't do much to my heartstrings. Especially when we know he's got a cushy Twins FO job waiting for him. Tough break, but I don't think it's necessary to shed a tear and play flowers of the forest on the bagpipes.
  6. Darius
    It would be nice to see Wade. While they're at it, I'd like to watch guys like Gonsalves and Gordon as well. If the team is going to stink I'd like something to keep it interesting. Summer has barely started and they're already basically playing meaningless games. It really puts a damper on my evening dock-sitting and beer drinking.
  7. Darius
    Buxton was in the lineup to try and salvage the season. The writing is now on the wall, so shut him down for a while. If the Twins were a game up on the Indians, he'd still be in the lineup. As for Santana, he wouldn't make a difference anyway (unless he can hit). Our starters, with the exception of the last two nights, have been great. Odorizzi, Romero, Berrios, Gibson all sitting with ERAs in the mid 3s with big K numbers. Lynn has also been coming around a little. To be frank, it would've been ideal to dump Santana for prospects last year.
  8. Darius
    I'd do one more full game at 1B with Sano, give him a day off, and get him to Seattle. The lineup needs some kind of spark, and it's a pretty significant series if we want to leave the door open to potentially creep back into the Wildcard neighborhood.
  9. Darius
    Stagnant offense? Chris Carter is on the way to fix that. Because that's what this team is missing. Another guy that can't get on base and Ks three times per night while sprinkling in the occasional meaningless solo homer. Luckily, we're still only 1.5 back of Cleveland despite them only trailing the Yanks, Sox, and Astros in run differential in the AL (and a healthy +45 over the Twins). It's a matter of days now until this season is in the books if they can't figure out how to string a few good games together. Cleveland's run is inevitable.
  10. Darius
    I agree with the comments on the format. I really like it. I'll be honest, I'm not really one who cares much about the outcome of games. But I'm very interested in how the prospects are doing individually, so the top prospect stat-line is great. For example, I don't care much about the outcome of the Kernals game. But, it's good to know that Lewis went 0-4 with a K. This isn't really of note in terms of the game summary, so it may not show up, meaning I would've had to do my own cursory research. We all know time is money. So, you're basically paying me to read these now.
  11. Darius
    I have a really hard time saying it's totally bunk. Just because it hasn't been conclusively proven, does not by any stretch mean it's been debunked. A guy following an incremental innings program blowing his arm isn't proof that it's never been an effective strategy for anyone. I find it hard to accept that it's not true to some extent. Especially for guys throwing as hard as Romero. It's like running, or anything else. You have to condition your body over a long period of time. Sure, maybe the act of throwing extra innings in a vacuum isn't a precursor to injury. But, if your body isn't conditioned for that load, you compensate, which opens you up for injury elsewhere. For example, if you're not feeling 100%, and may not get the explosion off the mound you normally would, you may try and horse you're way through the delivery with your back/shoulder/arm a little more. There's just no way of knowing "it's bunk." People point to past, and to the higher number of blowouts now, but it wasn't the same back in those days. Pitchers didn't throw as hard, didn't throw as much in the offseason in a lot of cases, weren't as muscular and were more flexible, etc. It's nearly apples to oranges. I'm not a proponent of of shutting him down at say, 150 innings. However, considering his upside and potential long-term value, I wouldn't be comfortable ramping him up to 200+ innings this year.
  12. Darius
    The rotation considering optimal health, IMO, should be: Santana, Berrios, Romero, Gibson, Odorizzi. May should be eased back in the bullpen this year. Lynn should be thrown out into the pen as well, but I have the feeling they'll give him 1 or 2 more starts then DL him if he can't pull it together. Phil Hughes is cooked, and shouldn't be on the team. It's ridiculous to think that he's returning any value in that 12 million by losing games. Cut bait. If Santana struggles mightily, which I expect, you have Lynn there with Gonsalves ready for the call as well. I would also use those guys to skip Romero occasionally to keep his innings down. I would rather allocate more of those limited innings to the second half. I'd love to have that card up my sleeve for a 163, Game 1 of a playoff series, wildcard play-in, etc, even if that would be his final start of the year. Thats the best rotation this team has had in a long, long time.
  13. Darius
    If Romero continues to pitch like this, and they send him down to burn innings in AAA, I'll be convinced that I'm living in some long-con, Truman Show-like "punk'd" prank that the whole world is in on. I look around me, and I'm nearly certain that's the case. But, that would really be the coffin nail.
  14. Darius
    The problem aren't going to be fixed by bringing up more young guys, or acquiring whatever dumpster fodder is out there right now. The issue lies with the current "veteran" players. 1). Sano is supposed to be the anchor of the lineup. He's supposed to provide run production by way of power, but he also sees a lot of pitches...which can have a ripple effect throughout the lineup as you get into bullpens earlier, etc. His presence can also provide that proverbial "protection" factor. Hes arguably the most important component of the lineup, and it's not there. 2). Morrison has been awful, and he's been sucking up a lot of ABs with runners on. He was hitting the heart of the order for a significant stretch. He's not necessarily a key cog (see second half last year without him), but he certainly could be making up for Sano's absence, but the production hasn't been there. 3). Dozier was great for a few weeks, but has kind of tapered off. We've seen it in the past, the lineup goes as Dozier goes. The consistency isn't there. He'll go on a torrid stretch and hit 6 homers in a week. Then, the other three weeks of the month he'll strike out a ton and meekly pop everything up to the left side of the infield. The production at the end of the year looks nice, but he's actually not helping you win all that many games (how beneficial is a 3 homer game and a 10-1 win one day of the week, followed by five 3-2 type losses?). Those, IMO, are the main issues. Getting some consistency out of Dozier, getting Sano healthy, and getting some semblance of production from Morrison....along with the contributions from Mauer, Escobar, Rosario, Kepler....could really light the powder keg. Also, the struggling pitching has to have an impact. When you repeatedly score runs to get a lead in the 5th-6th-7th inning, and it's repeatedly given right back by the pitching staff in the subsequent half inning, it probably takes a little wind out of your sail.
  15. Darius
    Huge win. Something I found funny was last night someone was railing on Rosario for going 0-fer and that being why the team lost. We'll he sure got the message
  16. Darius
    Another note: Berrios is still young (23). That's something that should be considered. Inconsistency should be expected to some degree. If he's going through stretches like this at age 25+ then I'll start to worry. The problem, IMO, is that this team is forced to rely on Berrios to be its horse throughout the season. It's a combination of poor roster management (from past regime), bad drafting (previous regime), reluctance to put up real money for free agent SPs (previous regime), injury (Santana)......there are a multitude of contributing factors. All of which, aside from injury, are missteps from management. Basically, my point is, it's easy to turn on Berrios and hold him responsible for the team's woes when he has a few bad games. But, let's not lose sight of the big picture here. He's been fighting an uphill battle in this organization for years, and some unrealistic expectations have been attached due to the dearth of pitching for years and years. In my opinion, I think he's a better pitcher in a different organization. Cole from Astros comes to mind. High-end stuff, but mysteriously underachieved in toxic Pittsburgh. He gets out of there and is surrounded by a dynamic winning culture, and it looks like he's going to run away with the Cy Young this year (sub .75 WHIP, 1.5 FIP, 1.47 ERA, .250 BABIP, etc....not really looking like a flash in the pan). Keep in mind that he moved from the NL to the AL, which isn't easy.
  17. Darius
    Berrios certainly wasn't at his best, but he still ended up giving the team a shot to win. Realistically, he's just not going to throw a 2-hit shutout with 9 Ks every night. People have gotten the idea in their head that he's a high-end Ace type guy, but he's never profiled as that type of pitcher. Scouting reports and prospect analysis has always tabbed him as likely more of a middle of the rotation guy. That is mainly because he's a fly ball pitcher, that's too short to generate much of a downward plane, making him highly susceptible to the long ball at the major league level. We're seeing that. At some point, everyone needs some help from the bullpen. Presley, as good as he's been, didn't exactly make the Angels beat him last night, he gave them the opportunity with a wild pitch, and followed that up with a two-out run scoring hit from the 9 batter. Even if Berrios was a little better last night, it likely wouldnt have mattered. This bullpen is terrible. I agree with the comments above questionin the pitching coach. Not exactly doom. A bangup job this year. Aside from Gibson, who carried things over from last year, and Romero who is a fresh call-up with astronomical talent, nobody has been pitching all that well. The extra strikeouts are nice (went fro from like 30th to 9th)....but only as far as they actually help you win ball games.
  18. Darius
    Berrios is hurt, right? Edit: little late to the party on that one, I see.
  19. Darius
    These long balls aren't a good sign for Berrios. He really needed to show up and pitch a gem tonight. A win tonight would be huge in multiple ways (gain groin in the division and wild card). Hopefully the bats can compensate.
  20. Darius
    Not a chance. His defense is absolutely vital to this team getting back into things, and they are playing the top contender for the second wildcard spot. If it takes some time to get his swing back (which wasn't really there to begin with), so be it. I wouldn't mind seeing him get creative and bunt with two strikes when it's least expected, etc. Take everything. Whatever can help get his wheels on base. Revolutionary idea, I know.
  21. Darius
    True, the Angels haven't played the toughest schedule. But, what about the Mariners? They're also looking pretty good, and are a real contender for that second wildcard. When it comes to Cleveland, they'll find their stride. A healthy Brantley (which is a huge question mark) to go along with Ramirez, Lindor, Encarnacion is a legit high-end 1-4 (not in that particular order). Kipnis, Gomes, and Alonso are nice secondary peices. They will start scoring runs. When it comes to pitching, Kluber is one of the best. Corrasco is very good, and they'll get a healthy Salazar back. They still have Allen and Miller in the bullpen. Remember last year? There was a window open, seemingly, when the Twins had an opportunity to catch the Indians. It last about 5 minutes before Cleveland went on one of the most prolific, dominating win-streaks in MLB history. They are a veteran team that knows how to win baseball games. I fully expect that they will hit the throttle at some point and leave the Twins in a cloud of dust.
  22. Darius
    Sound like a kid with his head on squarely. Easy to root for guys like this.
  23. Darius
    When you see a guy with stuff like this, it begs the question: why did take so long to give him major league innings? Especially for pitchers who are nearly all a ticking time bomb, the minor league paradigm needs to be changed, IMO. There is no reason to let a guy with major league caliber stuff use up 500 innings in the minors. I can see if you have a rotation like Astros, but a team like the Twins running out grange retreads year after year don't really have an excuse. I know Romero was injured, which held him back, but we see it with all prospects. This example just reinforces my distain for the mandatory minimum minor league sentence, no matter how much better you are than the guy earning a major paycheck. It's archaic.
  24. Darius
    Nope. Maybe they should've done it before the season went off the rails, and there may have been a chance. You know, around the time of Phil Hughes' first start this year, when even my dog was wondering why the hell they're giving him starts. Gonsalves is still wasting away down there, throwing shutouts, while Lance Lynn is walking 18 guys per game and posting a 9.00 ERA. But, hey, be patient, I'm told. Apparently, the games in April and May don't matter.....until you're a few games short in October.
  25. Darius
    This goes beyond a slump. Awful personnel decisions (Kinley, Rodney closing, Hughes starting, etc), bullpen mismanagement questionable lineup decisions (Kepler hitting 7th/8th with Rosario hitting 4th for a month), and awful fundamental baseball (defense, moving runners, making contact with RISP and less than 2 outs) are all significant contributing factors. Calling it a slump gives the implication that there's luck and things beyond team/player control involved. This is a just bad team, being managed very poorly. This isn't something that is merely happening to them, they the made the bed they're sleeping in (including Falvine).
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