Twins 2019

I have a feeling it was the reason they signed him. I was hoping he would be a guy they targeted at the beginning of the offseason. Probably get more production out of him too.

I agree, they probably saw a DL stint looming. This injury reminds me of Santanas finger last year. Seemed like nothing at first but ends up costing him half his season, hope that isn’t the same case.

I do feel bad for Sano. Twins tell him to lose a bunch of weight and then play in the winter league, he does both, then gets an unlucky injury thanks to a victory celebration. Wish the poor guy the best. His daughter dies a few years ago, then its a titanium rod in his leg, soon after theres some sexual assault allegations. Mix in a few poor seasons, and a demotion to single A. Still a young kid, really hope he gets it straightened out.

I am really questioning the Twins training staff the past few years. Seems like every small injury a Twins player gets that would normally be a 15 day DL trip ends up with the player landing on the 60 day DL. Something doesn’t add up….

I posted the same thing in the last year and I fully agree. What’s weird is, between Gardy-Molitor-Baldelli, there must’ve been some turnover in that department and yet it’s still always the same. Just lingering, stupid injuries that cost Twins players way too much time. Then they go to AAA or AA for a rehab stint, have setback, go to Ft. Myers, get put on a strict paper-football-only regimen, pull a hamstring, change diet to rice cakes and passion fruit, etc. Anyway where was I….yeah I agree, the Twins training staff seems to be part of the problem.

Casual fan here but I’m pumped now. I just scored a 4 day weekend in Ft. Myers at the Hyatt, airfare, 2 games, dinner with some players and all it’s costing me is a rental car. Taking my daughter since she’s been working hard in school. I think what I’m looking forward to most is escaping this blasted winter.

Of course I’m also going to try to work in some fishing down there on water that doesn’t need a slushy hole to fish through.

Congrats, that sounds like an awful damn good weekend, enjoy!

BoatsHateMe wrote:

Casual fan here but I’m pumped now. I just scored a 4 day weekend in Ft. Myers at the Hyatt, airfare, 2 games, dinner with some players and all it’s costing me is a rental car. Taking my daughter since she’s been working hard in school. I think what I’m looking forward to most is escaping this blasted winter.

Of course I’m also going to try to work in some fishing down there on water that doesn’t need a slushy hole to fish through.

That’s awesome! It’s tough to beat a trip to Spring Training! I’ve never been to the Twins camp in Ft Myers but I’ve been to Blue Jays and Phillies Spring Training almost every year for about ten years. Nothing like getting away from the mess up here and sitting on some grass watching baseball! Don’t forget to hit the ponds in Ft Myers. I hear there are some big bass in some of them!

Great dinner last night with many of the Twins players. Our table of 7 had a couple of corporate Twins people that helped put this whole thing together, the Owner of Schweigert and his son of about 10, my daughter and I and pitcher Matt Magil. All great to talk to, Matt was a great ambassador for the Twins. Hearing his story coming up from high school in LA and going right into pro ball with the Dodgers organization was very entertaining. He was very humble and knew he was blessed to be playing a game for a living. I also had a nice chat with Corey Provus. Great guy, very funny.

I’m not the kind of guy that is easily star struck. Actors I could give a F about, sports guys excel physically and sometimes mentally at what they do but they still put their pants on one leg at a time and leave bacon stripes in their underwear. That said, the highlight of my night though was spotting this guy walk into our section of the restaurant and meeting him, telling him he was my childhood sports hero, all my bats, gloves & shirts had to have his name on it. What a great man. He had great things to say about the state of MN and Twins organization, how he was always welcomed and treated with respect (probably a rarity in the 70’s) which is why he continues to work with and support the Twins organization. Thank you Rod!

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The Twins dropped some Ching on this weekend for their fans and supporters. I’m very grateful.

Dutchboy wrote:

Twins will compete in the division for a while only because there are no viable teams other than the Twins & Cleveland. If the Twins get passed by Detroit, Chicago or Kansas City then they will suck more then expected.

I think Cleveland is going to be a lot better than people think.

From Aaron Gleeman: “Angels made $350 million in revenue last year alone. Their multi-billionaire owner Arte Moreno bought the team for $180 million in 2003. Now it’s worth an estimated $1.8 billion, a tenfold increase.

Criticism of Mike Trout’s salary in a sport without a team salary cap is silly.”

As I have said before…….these billionaire owners aren’t stupid. If they couldn’t afford these contracts they wouldn’t offer them.

Trout will pay for himself easily.

Trout is one of the few guys in sports that has stayed true to who he has always been. Always been one of the (I’d argue the best) in the current generation of ballplayers, always been a humble guy that doesn’t make waves with outlandish quotes or beating on women or screwing up at all. He’s been a model citizen for the league and it blows my mind the league doesn’t do more to try to make him the face of baseball.

I guess being in LAA doesn’t help. The west coast bias is real in baseball.

That’s a good point, mahtofire. Reminded me of one of the better tweets I’ve seen in awhile. This rant is in response to Colin Cowherd (well known idiot) stating that most wouldn’t recognize Trout, even referring to him as irrelevant.

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In this day & age of camera’s EVERYWHERE it’s pretty amazing you never hear or see anything of Trout off the field.

Refreshing to see a super star that doesn’t have a ego the size of Texas.

Yesterdays Tribune reported there are still tickets available for opening day.

Dutchboy wrote:

Yesterdays Tribune reported there are still tickets available for opening day.

Who doesn’t want to go see baseball in March in MN?

Dutchboy wrote:

As I have said before…….these billionaire owners aren’t stupid. If they couldn’t afford these contracts they wouldn’t offer them.

Trout will pay for himself easily.

I totally agree. He’s a generational talent. His stats nearly mirror Mickey Mantle’s at this point in their careers, with a slight edge to Mantle.

Bass Thumb wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dutchboy wrote:</div>
Yesterdays Tribune reported there are still tickets available for opening day.

Who doesn’t want to go see baseball in March in MN?

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dutchboy wrote:</div>
As I have said before…….these billionaire owners aren’t stupid. If they couldn’t afford these contracts they wouldn’t offer them.

Trout will pay for himself easily.

I totally agree. He’s a generational talent. His stats nearly mirror Mickey Mantle’s at this point in their careers, with a slight edge to Mantle.

Trout also has the coolest nickname of any modern player, with a really funny story to back it up.

Basically, on a different online forum, somethingawful.com, a bunch of users were arguing about what Trout’s career trajectory would be during and after his breakout year. Someone said he has basically been Mickey Mantle thus far, and that sparked a big debate how unlikely it was for Trout to produce at that level or higher for his career.

At the same time, that group of posters was lamenting at the lack of creativity in nicknames for ball players these days. A-Rod, K-Rod, Miggy, etc. People wished we could go back to ‘the golden’ age of nicknames: The Georgia Peach, The Splendid Splinter, etc.

Then one dude decided to bring these two things together and make a play on Mantle’s nickname, The Commerce Comet, to really drive home the, at the time, ridiculous comparison of Mantle/Trout. Thus, ‘The Millville Meteor’ was born.

He updated Trout’s wikipedia page, and put a bunch of fake references on there that got passed wikipedia’s fake content scans or whatever they do, and not long after journalists just assumed it was his nickname.

http://nowiknow.com/full-circle-wikipedia/

It was a really funny event to watch unfold, but that forum has all sorts of stories like that.

They also helped orchestrate the ‘Vote for Rory’ campaign for the 2007 NHL all-star game, which would have had Rory Fitzpatrick start in the ASG even though he was a total journeyman defensemen. This was awesome until the NHL cooked the books on it.

https://slate.com/culture/2007/01/the-nhl-s-all-star-voting-disaster-a-slate-investigation.html

He needs to get a better post season then 0 wins and .083 batting avg.

I do like him but not going the Mantle route yet. He has only been in one post season so the numbers will get better but I still do not see the Angels doing much this season either.

Hoyt4 wrote:

He needs to get a better post season then 0 wins and .083 batting avg.

I do like him but not going the Mantle route yet. He has only been in one post season so the numbers will get better but I still do not see the Angels doing much this season either.

Pretty sure if he ever gets team decent enough to go back to the postseason he will most definitely improve those numbers.

Put Trout on those Yankee teams Mantle played on and his numbers will improve. I just pray he is never linked to PEDS like the other cheaters have been. He is a great talent and should just let his game speak for it’s self.

Hoyt4 wrote:

He needs to get a better post season then 0 wins and .083 batting avg.

I do like him but not going the Mantle route yet. He has only been in one post season so the numbers will get better but I still do not see the Angels doing much this season either.

Yeahhh, the 1951-1964 yankees might not be a great comparison for the 2011-2018 Angels.

That Yankees team AVERAGED 97.3 wins per season, and went to the world series 12 years out of 14(and won it 7 times). If you back it up to the years prior to Mantle joining, they went 15 out of 18 years. Insane.

That’s what is actually crazy about the comparison though, Mantle played on an unbelievable team for almost his entire career, Trout has not, yet the numbers are VERY similar through their first 8 seasons.

Mantle:
.314 AVG
.430 OBP
.577 SLG
1.006 OPS
249 HRs
185 2Bs
77 SB
799 BB
773 K

Trout:
.307 AVG
.416 OBP
.573 SLG
.990 OPS
240 HRs
224 2Bs
189 SB
693 BB
998 K

Trout actually compares EXTREMELY well to Mantle, and actually looks better in a lot of the counting metrics when you consider the team around him, the era, and the fact that he’s had about 100 fewer plate appearances.

The only knock on Trout in this comparison is that he strikes out a bit more, but the eras were completely different. Mantle actually led the league in strikeouts 5 times with 111, 107, 120, 125, 126. Those would be pretty low numbers for a power hitter in today’s game.

The most similar batters through 26 are Frank Robinson, Ken Griffey Jr, Mickey Mantle, and Hank Aaron. I don’t think people really appreciate how good Trout is, he is on pace for inner inner circle hall of fame career.

And you’re not even talking about Trout’s defense!

Also should be mentioned that Mantle probably didn’t see many, if any, pitchers that threw over 90. Also saw the same pitcher for every at bat in each game. With that being said, Mantle played in much bigger stadiums. Most fences back then were WAY deeper than they are now. But their traditional and analytic numbers are nearly identical through their age 27 seasons. Crazy to think Mantle was considered to be a man among boys size wise back then, at a whopping 5’11 195 lbs

In the paper today they said the fat kid will get the boot off his foot and is expected to miss the first month of the season.

Gotta get his cardio conditioning to where he can run around the bases 20 times this year…..

Well it all starts tomorrow. I’m finding myself more excited about this season that the previous few. At least this lineup will put up some major runs. I’m just worried our bullpen will give them all back. I’m predicting a second place finish behind the Tribe and missing out on the playoffs. But I think they’ll only be a few games back of CLE. We will see! At least there will be something other than basketball to talk about now!

I think a decent season, 2nd place divisional finish, and missing the playoffs are a pretty fair guess.

Assuming that or something similar happens it will be interesting to see the direction they take mid-season, whether they try and get better or go into sell mode and try and flip players like they did last year.

Pineda has really impressed me this Spring. His ball moves all over the place. Hopefully he keeps it together and continues it into the season.

Bullpen is scary though.

Did I hear that right, Sports Illustrated picked the Twins to win the Division? Preposterous Statement?

Today used to be one of my favorite days of the year, right up there w/ Fishing Opener and Rifle Deer Opener.