2007 Minnesota Twins

State Champ 97 · Post by **State Champ 97** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:31 pm

I guess we picked the wrong time to get rid of Tiffee.

He ended up in Baltimore didn't he?

Blue Breeze · Post by **Blue Breeze** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:35 pm

State Champ 97 wrote:I guess we picked the wrong time to get rid of Tiffee.
He ended up in Baltimore didn't he?

Yea, but if we had Terry Tiffee as our starting third baseman to open the season, I would forecast a 4th place finish.

State Champ 97 · Post by **State Champ 97** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:38 pm

I'm sure Sid will be second guessing the Koskie deal in the Trib anytime now. Is he even back from the concussion?

Blue Breeze · Post by **Blue Breeze** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:40 pm

State Champ 97 wrote:I'm sure Sid will be second guessing the Koskie deal in the Trib anytime now. Is he even back from the concussion?

I think so but as of right now it looks as though he may be in a platoon/utility role. Koskie has always been one to age faster than the normal human being, I think his career is winding to a close.

Govs93 · Post by **Govs93** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:46 pm

Ponson threw well today, Durbin got hammered.

1 inning, 4 ER on 5 hits for the kid. He won't be around a week from today.

packerboy · Post by **packerboy** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 2:22 pm

It was Watkins I was thinking of. Maybe he cant hit but he looked good in the field.

But hey , we dont need hitters.

Everybody else does except us. Other teams need Gary Sheffield, Frank Thomas, Soriano, Lee, etc etc. Not us.

If we need a hitter we get Brett Boone(a/k/a the no brainer) or Matt Lecroy.

Which reminds me, how is Rondell doing this spring?

Govs93 · Post by **Govs93** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 2:29 pm

I don't think there was ever a lot of doubt, but the Twins offically announced the home opener as a sellout

Blue Breeze · Post by **Blue Breeze** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 3:19 pm

packerboy wrote: Everybody else does except us. Other teams need Gary Sheffield, Frank Thomas, Soriano, Lee, etc etc. Not us.

What would you rather have though? One of those guys locked up for 6 years, or a shot at signing Santana, Mauer, Morneau to long-term deals? Personally, I'll take the latter. The Twins are never going to be high budget or have a market that attracts those types of hitters. Signing one of those guys would not go anywhere towards building a complete team.

Govs93 · Post by **Govs93** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 3:34 pm

Pretty good Terry Ryan interview here. He gets into the contract status of some of the big guns, lack of offensive depth in the system, and a few other topics.

Irishmans Shanty · Post by **Irishmans Shanty** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:36 pm

Blue Breeze wrote:
packerboy wrote: Everybody else does except us. Other teams need Gary Sheffield, Frank Thomas, Soriano, Lee, etc etc. Not us.
What would you rather have though? One of those guys locked up for 6 years, or a shot at signing Santana, Mauer, Morneau to long-term deals?.

The Twins are always looking two or three years down the road with every move. I honestly think they can have Santana, Mauer, Morneau, and some big name-free agent-nonoverthehill-thumper like a Sheffield or Thome. But it goes against their philosophy. Afterall the Twins did go out this year and sign that big name, he was Torri "more glove than bat" Hunter. They could have let him walk and signed a Sheff but they didn't.

I thought Detroit hit the ball pretty well last year, seems like Thames, Monroe, Inge, or Granderson were circling the bases before I could get to the fridge. And what do they do? They go out and get Sheffield. Detroit's philosophy is to hit the Boofin ball to a title now, not in three years when it all comes together.

Blue Breeze · Post by **Blue Breeze** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:46 pm

Irishmans Shanty wrote: The Twins are always looking two or three years down the road with every move. I honestly think they can have Santana, Mauer, Morneau, and some big name-free agent-nonoverthehill-thumper like a Sheffield or Thome. But it goes against their philosophy. Afterall the Twins did go out this year and sign that big name, he was Torri "more glove than bat" Hunter. They could have let him walk and signed a Sheff but they didn't.

I thought Detroit hit the ball pretty well last year, seems like Thames, Monroe, Inge, or Granderson were circling the bases before I could get to the fridge. And what do they do? They go out and get Sheffield. Detroit's philosophy is to hit the Boofin ball to a title now, not in three years when it all comes together.

I see your point Shanty, but the common denominator of Thames, Monroe, Inge, Granderson is that they were all Tigers farmhands at one time. And the average of those 4 respectively was .256, .255, .253, and .260. They won behind the arms of Verlander, Rogers, Zumaya, and Bonderman. They haven't really gotten studs, they have signed players who other teams have perceived to be past their prime (Sheffield, Rogers, Pudge), much like the vets the Twins take on. Theirs have panned out better, but our moves in trades to get the likes of Liriano, Nathan, and Punto who have all become regular contributors have balanced that out. It's not like the Tigers spend a lot of money either.

The Twins and Tigers were pretty much neck and neck last year, I don't see why that won't be the case again, you don't win 4 division titles in 5 years without a win now attitude.

packerboy · Post by **packerboy** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:59 pm

BB, Everybody's goal is to win the world series. Some teams dont have a chance of doing that and they conduct themselves accordingly. They build for the future and a chance to win down the road. Its great way to go about things.

The Twins have been building for the future for quite a while. They' ve done a good job. They had a great season last year.

But at some point in time, you have to look at your ball club and ask "Do we have enough to win the world series?"

Well, do they? Maybe.

Lets face it. Morneau won the MVP because Jermaine Dye wasnt in the playoffs. Mauer wasnt in the top ten in AL for number of hits. I love both those guys but I dont think they are enough. Will they be 3 years from now? Who knows?

What I think I know is that they would have enough if they added a thumper now. Three years from now it may be something else . Maybe Santana will go back to just being good by then. Maybe Morneau will never hit 30 again.

'87 was a lot of fun. ' 91 was even better. I think if they could have added a hitter, '06 may have benn a little more special and ' 07 could be great

Blue Breeze · Post by **Blue Breeze** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 5:09 pm

PB, I agree with most of that. The Twins have been building for the future for quite a while. There were some painfully horrific seasons in the late 90's and early 00's, but it was apparent that there was hope for the future. The team finally realized that from 2002-2004. Those teams didn't have what it took to win the World Series, but I think last year's club did. A healthy Liriano could have changed the complexity of the playoffs.

Morneau shouldn't have won the MVP last year. I may not have even put him in the Top 5. This may have raised his pricetag which is unfortunate for the team, but a lot of teams don't have even one hitter the caliber of Mauer or Morneau, throw in solid hitters like Cuddyer and Hunter in the middle of the order and the lineup has serious potential.

If we could have added a bat, that would have been great. But who? Do we really want to tie ourselves down to Soriano for 7 years? He is going to be 38 at the end of that deal and the Cubs will be getting about 4 years of him where he is not in his prime. Not to mention his price would cripple the rest of the team. There really aren't any bargain players than can make a huge impact anymore, and that's what the team has to search for.

EREmpireStrikesBack · Post by **EREmpireStrikesBack** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:31 pm

Carlos Lee.

oh and Alexi Casilla.

EREmpireStrikesBack · Post by **EREmpireStrikesBack** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:44 pm

In Buster Olney's Blog, he rates the Twins as the easiest AL schedule in April being home for 14 of 26 games and only playing 9 games against teams that finished over .500 last year.

If they don't get a fast start, this could be not good.

boblee · Post by **boblee** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:58 pm

EREmpireStrikesBack wrote:In Buster Olney's Blog, he rates the Twins as the easiest AL schedule in April being home for 14 of 26 games and only playing 9 games against teams that finished over .500 last year.

If they don't get a fast start, this could be not good.

I agree 100%, and Rich Suttcliffe picked the Twins to win the division. I am tired of seeing the Indians picked EVERY YEAR.

NumberCruncher · Post by **NumberCruncher** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:38 pm

Just curious, anyone in here big on sabermetrics?

Govs93 · Post by **Govs93** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:43 am

If you believe LaVelle E. Neal (most do), the Twins are going to go with Silva to start the season over Garza.

Hopefully they'll be able weather the storm and move on after a couple of disasters.

Govs93 · Post by **Govs93** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:53 am

NumberCruncher wrote:Just curious, anyone in here big on sabermetrics?

Big, as in knowing every oddball sabermetrics number available? No.

I think a couple of the numbers provide some insight for fans - mainly WHIP & OPS. Beyond that, I have to think most of them are created for either GMs, or those "Trekkies" of baseball watchers who try and outdo each other with their baseball knowledge.

Post by **east hockey** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:49 am

NumberCruncher wrote:Just curious, anyone in here big on sabermetrics?

Well, I used to buy Bill James Baseball Abstract every year and had been following his studies fairly closely (including Brock 6, which may not be very applicable in these days of Big Juice), but as my interest in baseball has waned, so has my interest in sabermetrics.

So, I have no idea what's on the "cutting edge" in that area nowadays.

Lee

packerboy · Post by **packerboy** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:57 am

BB, Sure some teams dont have a Morneau nor a Mauer. The Tigers didnt last year and they made it to the world series.

But the Tigers are a very unique team. They dont have a big HR guy nor RBI guy but they have 6-7 guys who hit between 20 and 28 Hrs and 80 to 90 RBIs.

They actually remind me of the Gaetti, Hrbek, Puckett Twins.

But the Tigers signed Sheff in the off season. The White Sox signed Thome last year.

We havent had this type of situation since the 60s. A team that is highly regarded and fun to watch for a number of seaons but maybe doesnt have enough to get over the hump. In the 60s there was no free gancy. There is now. Use it to get over the hump.

packerboy · Post by **packerboy** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 10:37 am

Lee wrote: "but as my interest in baseball has waned'

I have just this to say to you then my friend:

They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces.... The one constant through all the years, Lee, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Lee. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.

Govs93 · Post by **Govs93** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:01 am

packerboy wrote:Lee wrote: "but as my interest in baseball has waned'

I have just this to say to you then my friend:

They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces.... The one constant through all the years, Lee, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Lee. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.

Who's this? The Easter Bunny?

Govs93 · Post by **Govs93** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:04 am

***BREAKING NEWS***

Matthew LeCroy has been cut. All hopes for 2007 are officially gone.

Also cut: Mike Venafro, Tommy Watkins, Glenn Williams, and Brad King - but who really cares? Big Country is gone!

boblee · Post by **boblee** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:32 am

Govs93 wrote: ***BREAKING NEWS***

Matthew LeCroy has been cut. All hopes for 2007 are officially gone.

Also cut: Mike Venafro, Tommy Watkins, Glenn Williams, and Brad King - but who really cares? Big Country is gone!

They send him down, or cut him clean?

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2007 Minnesota Twins

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