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bighat

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Everything posted by bighat

  1. bighat
    Wow, of all the Twins disappointing guys on this team you found a way to put Astudillo in the bottom 5 on the entire team this year? Ryan Jeffers is batting .194 and is basically the full-time catcher for this team. To me that means he's providing little value. He's literally batting under .200 dude. It's not a small sample size either. Advanced stats don't look good either. Tyler Duffey came in with a new 2.2 million contract and was supposed to slam the door in the 7th and 8th inning. But instead he stinks. That's providing little value, especially considering he's making 3x as much as Rogers. Meanwhile they're paying Astudillo with Chuck E. Cheese tokens and he's got the last spot on the bench when he's not playing in St. Paul. He's not lighting the world on fire but he's gotten a few key hits and can spell just about everyone at 1st, 3rd, and catcher. Not much value, but for their money the Twins aren't getting ripped off or anything with this guy.
  2. bighat
    If you think the write-ups on Ober are a bit too pollyanna, you'll fall off your chair when you read what people are writing about 26 year-old Griffin Jax and his 6.79 ERA and 1.5 WHIP..... Actually I think we should be cautiously optimistic about Ober - but I emphasize "cautiously". You know, in that Minnesota way where we might feel a glimmer of hope, but we keep it bottled up and very close to the chest, because hey, we don't want to get too excited don'cha know. Let's put it this way: Ober hasn't been a major disappointment unlike just about everyone not named Polanco this season. That's good enough for me right now.
  3. bighat
    @Matthew Lenz Great write-up as always. One tiny disagreement: what planet are we living on when giving up 4 earned runs in 4.2 innings is worthy of a "Jax bounces back" headline? I'd have gone with "Jax continues to struggle". Most of the comments here on Jax are spot on. I think we all respect the hell out of the guy and thank him for his service - but his overall body of work isn't inspiring. @jimbo92107 I admire the optimism but I disagree. In my eyes he's clearly a depth piece, ceiling would be a Smeltzer type. Nothing wrong with running him out there if there's nobody else ready to audition, though. Happy Labor Day all. Hope you are enjoying a peaceful day off.
  4. bighat
    Really good point. If Griffin Jax had put up Randy's numbers last night, the main argument on this forum would be whether he should be our #2 or #3 starter going into next season. If we can give Buxton a pass on his 2-27 effort since coming back, we can give Dobnak a mulligan on this outing as well. He's been a disappointment to be sure, but in my mind he is a big league pitcher and can be effective at this level. There's a microscopic chance this Twins team can compete in 2022, Randy returning to form is a big part of that.
  5. bighat
    I'm still not sure that Bailey Ober is the next Bailey Ober. I mean, I'm somewhat encouraged but this is all wayyyyy too soon. Maybe since I don't have anything nice to say, I'll just wait to comment on your next article, which will likely be titled thusly: "Viola. Blyleven. Santana. Ober: let's debate the top Twins pitchers of all time".
  6. bighat
    Corey Kluber, Charlie Morton, Alex Cobb, Andrew Heaney are not #2 or #3 starters, they are back-end guys at best. You maybe sign one of those guys to compete for the #5 spot, nothing more. Someone else mentioned Martin Perez as a possible target. Good lord, are we that desperate? Hmmm. After looking at the state of things, I guess we are. The Twins should absolutely sign one of the bigger names in free agency. The problem is that they'd honestly need to sign 3 big names in order to have a chance. Yeowch. And oh yeah, they've got to fix the bullpen too. The Twins didn't sign Josh Donaldson so he could rot on a last place team for 3 years. But that's what's going to happen. What a nightmare these injuries have done to this Twins team. The Twins are going to be picked to finish dead last in the division by just about everyone, and if I were a betting man I'd do the same. But, like the author of this piece, the fan in me hopes that Joe Ryan emerges as a true ace and becomes the MLB story of the year a la Stephen Strasburg in his rookie year, Bailey Ober becomes a vintage Adam Wainwright clone, Dobnak rises like the Phoenix and we strike gold on a few free agents. That's why we watch, after all.
  7. bighat
    Bats on this team are embarrassing. It's been like this the whole season - on the very rare occasions that the Twins do get good pitching, the hitters are so shocked they can't hit. I actually think it has to do with hitters feeling pressure in low-scoring games, and a manager that can't keep his team loose and/or confident enough to battle back.
  8. bighat
    Great news! Excited to see the kid pitch.
  9. bighat
    Totally get it, got no problem with the ads - gotta keep the lights on and then some, as you should considering the incredible content you all are posting here.
  10. bighat
    Yep, 'twas the ad blocker.
  11. bighat
    Ober enters the off-season as the Twins #1 pitcher. If nothing happened between now and opening day, he'd be the guy.
  12. bighat
    Anyone else have trouble with these pages? I can't seem to play the videos, it's not very intuitive here....
  13. bighat
    Agree. I think he pretty much has to start like this next year if the Twins are going to try and stay competitive out of the gate. Regardless, for now, as you said, it's nice to see.
  14. bighat
    I'd like to see Jax join Larnach in St. Paul and start seeing if we've got some minor league guys who can rise to the challenge at the major league level. It's well past time to start a revolving door of auditions. In other words: Next!
  15. bighat
    I'm sure we all wish that this great pitching performance came from a younger member of the guys auditioning for pitching spots next year, but ya gotta be happy for Andrew Albers. Quite the journey indeed and good for him. He's got to feel good about his abilities and hopefully he'll continue to play in the bigs for a couple years somewhere filling in as a spot-starter here and there. Crafty lefties who can eat innings can make a living at this level. I'm sure he's got some great stories to tell, he's a grinder. Made millions in Japan, so he's got nothing to lose. Gotta be on Cloud Nine right about now.
  16. bighat
    I think this is the most frustrating part of this Lost Season. Not only are the Twins losing, but they're not even getting any meaningful development. All the exciting prospects we should have seen full-time right now are injured (Duran, Lewis, Kirilloff) or the Twins just aren't ready to bring them up (J.Blaze, A. Martin, Joe Ryan). In what's become pretty much the worst case scenario, the franchise now enters 2022 coming off a last-place finish and zero additional knowledge about their top minor league pieces. Murphy's Law, man.
  17. bighat
    That you did. My last name is Johnson, too. Guess I am subconsciously trying to distance myself from the Twins pitching staff?
  18. bighat
    Cheap shot, but it was low-hanging fruit. Of course, according to this logic, it's been a wet summer in Minneapolis because it rained yesterday.
  19. bighat
    Ober and Jax?!?! What about Shoemaker, Happ, Maeda, Pineda, Duffey, Robles, Rogers, Alcala, Barnes, Gant, Minaya, Colome, Dobnak, Law, Stashak and Thorpe!?!?!?!?! My Lord. Do you really think the pitching staff and their coaches have done a satisfactory job this year?
  20. bighat
    Speaking of Torkelson, the Tigers' 2020 first round pick out of college is apparently in AAA. Meanwhile, Aaron Sabato, the Twins' 2020 first round pick out of college just got promoted....to high A ball. Shows you there's a big difference between those top 5 spots in the draft and the bottom 5 spots. Maybe tanking the rest of the year would be just what the doctor ordered?
  21. bighat
    That Robles trade is looking pretty darn good, eh? Impressed with Ober again, he's doing what's asked of him and then some. Agree with the sentiment above that Colome is the worst closer in Twins history. They have to DFA this guy no matter how you slice it. I'd argue that if the Twins care about this guy's career, they should do the humane thing and cut him now before he gets any more opportunities to blow leads. I think it's time to take a good hard look at replacing Wes Anderson. How can you not, with every single pitcher regressing? Has the Sano homer landed yet? Donaldson, Polanco, Buxton, Arraez, Kirilloff....I think we have a competitive offense in 2022.
  22. bighat
    I don't think the FO really thinks differently. I was more speaking to the "Twins Fan Universe", including many here, who seem to have unrealistic expectations for what Jax's future looks like in a Twins uniform. If he's all we got, sure let's run 'em out there to get lit up once a week. But hearing all of these excuses ("Gee whiz Jax is good but he got jobbed by the ump") is like telling yourself that Fido went to live on a farm when instead he actually got the needle after he bit the social worker's finger off. Telling ourselves comforting lies about non-competitive pitchers is just kicking the can down the road.
  23. bighat
    Gotta hand it to Theilbar, blowing the game immediately after the team scratches, claws, and wills itself all the way back into the ballgame in the 8th inning. *muah! - that's a vintage glass of '21 Twins Bullpen. As for Jax and Barnes: can we stop with pretending these guys are going to be anything except organizational depth already? These aren't top prospects, and unlike Hollywood, this isn't the point in the movie where they start to dig deep, find the fire in their souls, and throw no-hitters. They're just doing what any reasonable person expects of them: getting hit around pretty hard most of the time, with the occasional palatable outing. Unfortunately every single one of this team's top prospects are injured, so if you're watching the Twins the rest of the year, this is what you're going to be getting from their pitching staff. A steady diet of low-ceiling rookies mixed in with some 35 year-old waiver pickups. We all deserve better as fans of this club.
  24. bighat
    It looks to me like Rocco is always trying to get away with playing his least competitive lineup so that the team can win tomorrow. Got Charlie Barnes on the mound? Might as well throw in the towel and field the worst lineup possible. I dislike this part of Rocco's managing style. He also does it during in-game situations. Twins down by 2 runs in the 6th? Instead of bringing in a shut-down reliever, Rocco puts in the worst bullpen guy so the Twins can save Rogers for tomorrow. But then tomorrow, the Twins lose 9-3. Also getting sick of seeing the Twins run out all of these has-beens and never-will-bes in a lost season. Forget calling up any of our top prospects, let's just sign Ubaldo Jimenez, Jeff Samardjzia and Hector Santiago to start the rest of the season. Maybe we can grab Melky Cabrera and Matt Kemp to fill in those OF spots. Watching a wasted season is terrible. Watching a wasted season and getting zero of the team's top prospects any experience is another. Kiriloff would have been fun to watch but he's injured. Larnach fizzled out, but at least we got to see the guy try. Right now Nick Gordon is the most exciting call up on the field. Give us something to get excited about, please.
  25. bighat
    I've never understood harsh Polanco criticism - year after year, there are people who write terrible things about this guy, when all he's done is mash for his whole career. "He can't hit, has no business switch hitting, has a terrible glove and arm".....blah blah blah. Like what the heck? This guy's our best, most consistent player and has been a rock in the lineup for years now. At the very least he's solid. At best, he's the team's star. We've all been traumatized by the rollercoaster careers of our young core. Buxton, Sano, Kepler, Garver - all of them have, at one point or another, gone into very lengthy tailspins that have led fans to doubt their ability and value. We're conditioned to believe that all Twins players have some sort of deep, dark weakness that will eventually be exposed. Polanco doesn't fit into that category. Neither does Luis Arraez. Keep those two guys healthy, get a full year of Buxton in the lineup and spend money on pitching and this team has a chance at getting back to respectability in 2022. And on that team Polanco should be batting at the top of the lineup where he belongs.
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