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Darius

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Everything posted by Darius

  1. Darius
    The Playoffs are basically out of the question at this point. No way they can make up for this stretch. The more things change the more they stay the same. You can't look me in the eye and tell me you're making an honest 100% effort to win every game if you keep running out guys like Hughes and Rodney the way they have. It's always been very confusing to me that game 10 (for example) is treated differently than game 160. The expiriimentation just doesnt make sense.
  2. Darius
    Rodney being awful for stretches in the past, but eventually figuring out, isn't a great reason to keep him in the close role. In fact, it's the opposite. Why not pull him and out him in a lower leverage role UNTIL he figures it out. That seems like a pretty obvious solution, IMO. Also, I'm not sure I buy that blowing 4 saves after he "figured it out" really warrants the term "only." If you're blowing 5+ saves a year, and giving away wins for a month before you get yourself on track, you are a bad closer, and shouldn't be in that role. I don't care what your ERA is at the end of year. Consistency from a closer is key. A team like the Twins fighting tooth and nail for a wildcard spot needs every game, and can't afford the sit around and wait for an aging closer to work himself back into pitching shape for two months. This is classic paralysis due to overanalysis, and it's going to cost the Twins a playoff spot.
  3. Darius
    Rodney remaining in the closer role at this point is indefensible. In-freaking-defensible. There is absolutely no reason to keep running him out there with the game on line. He's turned 3 wins into losses and the team isn't even to 20 games yet. What is going on? The season might be over already, barring a miracle. They certainly can't compete with NYY, Bos, Cle, Hou, and probably not LA with a healthy Trout and Ohtani. You don't lose 5-10% of your game consecutively and make the playoffs. The pace you have to keep to make up for that isn't sustainable for a team with a mediocre (at best) pitching staff. Really disappointing. I'm tired of this old school mentality
  4. Darius
    Are people really blaming this on Gibson? He certainly pitched well enough. Everyone needs some bullpen help in a game at some point. He rebounded from an early homer to get the team through to a point where they could get some key bullpen pieces a break. I've been learning the thing with Gibson is expectations. He's a back-end starter. Not an ace. He'll never. E one. Going into the 7th inning last night, his season ERA to that point was down to about 3.5 (4.29 after the inning - we've seen worse from Twins "aces" over the decades). That can be extended back to about July of last year. The guy has been doing his his job serviceably for some time now. People just need to drop this expectations that come along with the first-round label. For comparison, guys like Rosario, Kepler, Buxton, Polanco who have also been historically inept offensively can put together a couple of good weeks at the plate and they've arrived as superstars. It's a perception thing.
  5. Darius
    I'm usually one to hold umps/refs accountable for bad game changing calls, when others say the team should've done more in the first place. In this case, the latter is right. When you play baseball poorly in terms of fundamentals (errors, too man walks, hitting batters), you leave yourself open to that. Compound the facts that Molitor continues to make repeated head-scratching bullpen moves and they (someone--Falvine?) insist on giving Rodney the ninth despite the warnings of every down to my three-year old and you have the makings of a problem. I'm nowhere near jumping ship right now. But it's extremely frustrating for a team likely fighting tooth-and-nail for the last wildcard spot to be dropping games like these. This game literally might be the difference between making and missing the playoffs.
  6. Darius
    Hitting Gomez is terrible. It's time to get Rodney out of the closer role. That's two games already.
  7. Darius
    I have never seen anyone say (seriously, anyway) that Mauer legitimately doesn't try. Or, that he milked the concussions. Nothing beyond sarcastic jokes in those regards. As far as being a clutch hitter, not sure homeruns have much to do with it. You can be a clutch hitter without being a power hitter. I think about this way: If I'm down by 1 with the bases loaded in the ninth, who is most likely to get that run in from third to tie the game? I'd take very few in the game over Mauer in that scenario.
  8. Darius
    Me and a friend were talking about the Twins over a barley soda shortly before the season started. My bold prediction was Berrios will be in the Cy Young conversation. At this rate, he my surpass that wildly irresponsible prediction (at the time) and actually win it. Out if all of the possible extensions being kicked around (Sano, Buxton, Rosario, Kepler, etc), I think the most important piece to keep around long-term is Berrios.
  9. Darius
    Come September, if they don't force the Twins hand before then (or, God forbid, serious injury from a current starter), getting guys like Gordon, Gonsalves, and Romero is going to be like adding talent at the trade deadline. There is a bunch of quality depth right now. I never thought I'd say that about this organization.
  10. Darius
    A classic tale of blind luck. Always adhering to that philosophy (passing on elite prospects for a cheaper option) will backfire in you more than it'll help you, Going back and looking at all of the number 1 picks in the last 20-30 years, for every Mark Prior prior with massive expectations that bounces out of the league immediately, there's a Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Chipper Jones, Bryce Harper, etc.
  11. Darius
    Ghosts of heroes past? He just nearly (should have) won a Gold Glove at a second position, and he's been hitting over .300 for with a great OBP for about a year now. Sure, he's not winning anymore MVPs anytime soon, but good grief....and World Championships (plural - as if dumping Mauer and playing Rooker is the difference between us and the Astros)?.....maybe tone down the sensationalism a tad.
  12. Darius
    He's not going anywhere. People are kind of assuming that his career is over. I think he has a lot of productive time left. For my money, if you need a base hit in the bottom of the ninth with two down, there aren't a whole lot of guys I'd take over Mauer.....especially in our lineup (a lot d high K guys). I think they'll work out a reasonable, team-friendly, 3-4 year deal and let him walk as a Twin on his own terms. I think it's on the Twins, though, because I don't see Mauer wanting to go anywhere chasing a paycheck at this point. Not when the Twins are looking like a top AL contender going forward.
  13. Darius
    I get that they made a financial investment (which isn't even that large, relatively), but how does that make starting Hughes beneficial to the franchise in any way? He's going to get obliterated, and the Twins will probably lose multiple games. If the guy is also damaging the team vs. no contribution, doesn't it make the contract worse? I've always been confused about motivation to run a guy like that out there. A sunk cost is a sunk cost. It doesn't take a doctorate from Oxford to see that. So, really, what's the deal? Does an MLB owner in 2018 really say, "we invested $12 million per year (peanuts) in this guy, he better be out there"? Even considering that their dad made all of the money, they have to have some business acumen, right?
  14. Darius
    Was never real high on Lynn. He'll fill a back-end role nicely, but probably not the #1-#2 in the rotation that some thought we were getting. I think Gibson puts together a better season than Lynn does this year.....but I may be the only one alive that actually believes Gibson has turned a corner.
  15. Darius
    Molitor is terrible. That is all.
  16. Darius
    Sweet new bullpen. The more it changes the more it stays the same.
  17. Darius
    He seemed to do well mentally? One of the first things that comes to mind for me when thinking about May is the tirades he would throw on the mound after giving something up, which was followed by an unraveling much more often than is preferred. Sure, if the inning was clean he'd be happy as a clam. But, you could see the stress on his face with every additional baserunner. If, heaven forbid, a run crossed the plate he'd scream into his glove and stomp around like a child. Hopefully he's worked some of that out as he's matured, but I recall it being rather embarrassing at times.
  18. Darius
    It'll be interesting to see who goes in a few weeks when they no longer cannot get by on the 4-man rotation. They'll certainly need that long man at some point. I am so damn happy baseball is back again. It's going to be a fun year. The team hasn't had offensive, defensive, and pitching depth like this in decades. Even back when they were an above average team in a bad division in the 00s, they seemed to be a little more top heavy, carried by the likes of Santana, Liriano, Hunter, Mauer, and Morneau. This year, there's no bonifide superstar (yet), but there's no glaring weakness, and there are a few guys in the minors that could come up and fill in without a drastic drop-off.
  19. Darius
    Isn't it kind of ridiculous that team wouldn't be in "win now mode?" Isn't that the the whole point of the thing? If only I could show up to my job and choose when I'd like to be in "work now mode."
  20. Darius
    Romero without question, IMO. For a team long starved for high-end pitching prospects, it could be argued rather easily that he's the most important player for the Twins organization that has yet to reach the majors, in terms of what it would mean if he fulfills his potential. For him to come out and throw 8 no hit innings is encouraging. I still dont think we'll see him yet this year, but it's a nice step.
  21. Darius
    Still bummed about this one. I won't complain too much. They've made some savvy moves this offseason that'll likely have a much greater impact than Chagrois (Reed, Duke, Odiorizzi, Lynn). But, id take a healthy Chagrois in our bullpen over Kinley, and maybe a couple others. I don't think their intent was to dump him. I think they were probably shocked when he got claimed. They tried to get cute with the roster.
  22. Darius
    "Lets make one thing clear....Kennys Vargas is not David Ortiz." To be fair, David Ortiz wasn't David Ortiz when they let him go. He was an oft-injured extremely marginal DH, and conveniently became David Ortiz after becoming hooked up with a notorious juicer (Manny). Give Kennys the same "B12 supplement," and we may have our Big Papi.
  23. Darius
    It's ridiculous to me that everyone just assumes that he did it, but there just wasn't "enough" proof (which doesn't even make sense, either there is or there isn't proof). What makes me "itchy" about this situation is all the people who think they're qualified to play judge and jury on social media. This isn't an attempt to tear into the "victim" (again, more loaded language being used). But things like this do get made up by accusers for various reasons. You absolutely cannot start throwing the book at everyone that Twitter assumes is guilty, with no witnesses, no evidence, and no admission (denial, in fact). We're still operating in America, here. Sexual assault is an issue. A big one. But we need to be really careful in regards to the language we use and the conclusions we draw. Its all the rage these days to feign outrage, virtue signal, seek victimhood for attention, etc. almost nothing can be taken at face value anymore, yet Sano was assumed guilty the minute the first Tweet related to the "incident" was posted.
  24. Darius
    Buzenitz put up flashy window stats last year. He had some nice moments. But, the peripherals will tell you why theyre not handing him the closer role right now. FIP of 4.20, 6.5 K/9. He relies very heavily on that fastball, which is OK, but doesn't have any spectacular secondary offerings. Basically a two-pitch guy with a mediocre breaking ball. Considering those factors along with an unsustainable BABIP near the Mendoza line, and it's likely a matter of time before the things get a little shaky.
  25. Darius
    People acting as if the beginning of the season doesn't matter as much as the end, like it's some sort of preseason, is so strange to me. All game are equally weighted, whether in September or May. Teams finish a game out of the postseason every year. I'm not even arguing that he doesn't deserve a shot. Frankly, I don't know enough about the guy to form an opinion. I'm calling the sentiment that a contender would knowingly risk a game or two, in what will certainly be a tight playoff race, because they're worried about sending back a rule 5, absurd. He was rule 5'd off of one of the worst teams in baseball. Don't you think they could work out a deal to keep him for peanuts if isn't he truly wasn't ready, but they wanted him that badly? If, for whatever insane reason, they actually believe Duffey and/or Busenitz are better relievers at this moment in time, but would rather chase an unproven guy solely because he can throw 99 (which isn't near as rare as it once was even just a years ago)....they're incompetent. He better be getting the shot because they think he's going to help the team more than Buzenitz or Duffey immediately. If not, what the hell are they thinking? What are you hanging into him for? Do you think he'll go to bed one night one night being sub-Busenitz, and wake up the next morning as K-Rod in his prime? Why worry about keeping that guy?
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