Here’s A Laugh

[The Sir]

Perusing a Twins board this morning, and here they are talking about us. What a bunch of morons.

“In my honest opinion i do not think the Twins need be concerned with Chicago Or Cleveland threatening their division title aspirations. Cleveland is obviously not concerned with winning and Chicago is just Chicago. True that they have added quality players. Give them an A for effort. To me they fall short on outfield defense, infield defense and starting pitching. Even though they have Keuchel and Gonzalez, they are relying too much on Giolito to not regress(unlikely), Rodon to bounce back from Tj surgery(unlikely), Lopez to improve(highly unlikely), and Cease to break out(extremely doubtful). Also, what have they done with the bullpen? not much if anything. Their players don't hustle, take extra bases,fight hard when down, and generally i feel are just not winners. Thats their top dawgs fault. Unfortunately for them neither Encarnacion nor Mazzara are defensive wizards either. Who is gonna play 2nd base? Center? Do they even have a gold glover on the roster? Philosophically we beat them like a drum since 2008...and those White Sox were more talented and better managed. Lets worry about the next step...hear me Derek? To just win the Central is not gonna do it this time.”
 

Extremely doubtful that Dylan Cease progresses? Highly unlikely that Lopez improves? Who’s pinning their hopes on Rodon coming back strong? Ever hear of the DH- who cares about Encarnacion’s D? Have you heard of the #3 and #40 prospects in MLB? We actually let our GG go because we have someone in the wings who is better.

A fan of a team that got 31 homeruns from Mitch Garver is talking gleefully about regression on other teams. The 2019 Twins got more career years from otherwise mediocre players than any team I can remember.

I can’t wait to knock these smug dicks off their pedestal. Who knows- maybe they’ll win the wild card so they can continue their hilarious postseason futility, one game at a time.

Edited January 1, 2020 by The Sir

[Lonchair]

That.  Is.  Hilarious.  Some Twins fan 2020 wish list. Good luck with that. 

[bschmaranz]

That dudes certainly not biased.  Everyone on the Sox is going to regress but guys like Odorizzi, Garver, Polanco, Berrios, the two arms they just signed, it'll be business as usual. 

[Timmy U]

I agree the Sox defense is not stellar.  That said, a left side of Poland’s, Sanyo, and Rosario is atrocious.

[bschmaranz]

3 minutes ago, Timmy U said:

I agree the Sox defense is not stellar.  That said, a left side of Poland’s, Sanyo, and Rosario is atrocious.

And if they expect Garver to catch at all, he's in Omar Narvaez land.

[Sox72]

Whether their logic is ridiculous or not, unfortunately, our team has given them every reason to think this way over the past 15 years. 

[poppysox]

"He who laughs last...laughs loudest."
 

[EloyJenkins]

Twins  will most likely win the division in 2020. So they can be cocky. But from 21-24, the White Sox should not only win the division but potentially be world series contenders. Let them have their opinions, but once the core is in place and we see progression (it's coming) then we can enjoy their futility

[pcq]

Sox are low on hustle index but excel on bunted balls in play. He left out Kopech Robert and Madrigal. If the Twinks sign Josh D and move Skanko to 1B they would be well served. They signed a pitcher who may not even pitch. I would speculate Josh is just using them for leverage. Even though the Sox have a Fundamentals section the Twins play better baseball. We have all seen that but we have Rikki Rentoria. 

[The Sir]

11 minutes ago, EloyJenkins said:

Twins  will most likely win the division in 2020. So they can be cocky. But from 21-24, the White Sox should not only win the division but potentially be world series contenders. Let them have their opinions, but once the core is in place and we see progression (it's coming) then we can enjoy their futility

I tend to disagree. The Twins have some glaring weaknesses and they have several guys who are due for serious regression. They are our main competition this year, but despite winning 100 games, they’re not in the same class as the Yanks or Astros.

And cockiness aside, the guy I quoted seems like an ignoramus in his own right.

[EloyJenkins]

1 minute ago, The Sir said:

I tend to disagree. The Twins have some glaring weaknesses and they have several guys who are due for serious regression. They are our main competition this year, but despite winning 100 games, they’re not in the same class as the Yanks or Astros.

And cockiness aside, the guy I quoted seems like an ignoramus in his own right.

I know they will regress...but regression for them probably means 90-93 wins still. Are Sox prepared to win that many? At THIS point of the off-season I say not yet. I'd say 86-89 feels about right and MAYBE a chance at 90-92 if everything went perfect.

[pcq]

Twinks should be looking at how NYY operates and how can they compete better with the Yanks pitching. 

[ChiSox59]

59 minutes ago, Timmy U said:

I agree the Sox defense is not stellar.  That said, a left side of Poland’s, Sanyo, and Rosario is atrocious.

The Twins quite likely have the worst defense in the game when Buxton isn’t playing, which is most of the time. 

[soxfan49]

"They don't fight when down."

Nothing like a high school senior questioning the heart of pro baseball players. Further, wasn't one of the "strengths" (if you will) of the team last year the fact that they were never out of it no matter the score in the late innings?

[EloyJenkins]

3 minutes ago, soxfan49 said:

"They don't fight when down."

Nothing like a high school senior questioning the heart of pro baseball players. Further, wasn't one of the "strengths" (if you will) of the team last year the fact that they were never out of it no matter the score in the late innings?

Maybe the Twins marketing picked up on Win or Jermaine Dye Trying...

[thxfrthmmrs]

Does Greg have a brother who's a Twins fan? Here's a couple other gems from the same poster in the same thread:

In reference to Yolmer being a GG and had an OPS+ of 80 last year:

Quote

gg is a term i do not understand...if his career ops is 80 why did they wait until this off season to cut him? and if you mean .800 then thats pretty good for a 2b. i mean i obviously don't know what i am talking about. The Twins will he fine eith a rotation of Thorpe, Dobnak, Smeltzer, Littell, and Graterol. we should trade some pitching depth to fill the hole at first base.

 

Quote

I know most people nowadays think they know everything about baseball because they bury their noses in the mlb analytics almanac for nerds handbook. I will go on record to say any trade involving Eddie Rosario would be an asinine idea....I watch the games not the computer printouts. it is painful to say over and over again...ANALytics is an evaluation tool. Not a performance indicator or predictor. Eddie Rosario is a team leader and pressure performer. look at the tape of the Twins at Boston, game #3 of a three game series...bottom of the ninth. You guys...and by that i mean the "senior good old boy writers" of Twins Daily should call this the Derek Falvey fan club forum... ..Their intention this off season was never to improve this team. Its way too easy to do nothing thus never get saddled with making a mistake. I am so sick of you idiots sugar coating everything these two dolts do or justifying everything they do not do i may just vomit right now. Ride falvines coattails right to Boston and go write for the beanpole herald. to call this Twins daily is an insult to any twins fan and an aberration to baseball fans in general.

 

Edited January 1, 2020 by thxfrthmmrs

[The Sir]

7 minutes ago, thxfrthmmrs said:

Does Greg have a brother who's a Twins fan? Here's a couple other gems from the same poster in the same thread:

 

 

 

Yeah, I definitely got a @greg775 vibe reading that guy’s posts. The similarities are uncanny.

[soxfan49]

2 hours ago, thxfrthmmrs said:

Does Greg have a brother who's a Twins fan? Here's a couple other gems from the same poster in the same thread:

In reference to Yolmer being a GG and had an OPS+ of 80 last year:

 

 

ANALytics. Get it? Anal-lytics. He hates those analytics.

[caulfield12]

2 hours ago, thxfrthmmrs said:

Does Greg have a brother who's a Twins fan? Here's a couple other gems from the same poster in the same thread:

In reference to Yolmer being a GG and had an OPS+ of 80 last year:

 

 

Last line should read “abomination“...sounds like previous arguments about Crede and Uribe being ultra-clutch.

Edited January 1, 2020 by caulfield12

[hi8is]

Confirmation biased isn’t really a thing.

[Jose Abreu]

Funny, I was reading another Twins board yesterday where this was said about us:

Quote

They remind me of the twins of last year, and thats because literally NOBODY knows what to expect when you get that many new guys in a lineup. Last year, they had 4 solid hitters, and 5 negative WAR, replacement guys. Now they have a Nelson Cruz-like (not as good) DH, the best catcher in the league in both hitting and framing (besides Realmuto), a better #1 pitcher than the Berrios based off of last yrs numbers, and a 5 tool Cuban prospect that is 6’4 and seriously might be the fastest player in all of baseball that also has power. Not only to mention Moncada possibly being an MVP candidate if he played a whole season, and Eloy Jimenez averaging 40 bombs per 162 in his rookie year.

Seems like half of them are genuinely scared of us and the other half thinks we're gonna suck

[Jose Abreu]

And while it's obvious that the guy doesn't know who Robert and Madrigal are, I still think there's a good chance that our 2020 team is actually good defensively. I wrote about this yesterday but in a nutshell, we have terrific defenders at the most important positions (with Anderson being the lone exception) and that should outweigh the bad defense at 1B and LF, even if Anderson doesn't improve at SS. 

[hi8is]

Madrigal is going to be the modern day second base version of Ozzie Smith. From day one.

White socks will be knocked off.

[greg775]

47 minutes ago, soxfan49 said:

ANALytics. Get it? Anal-lytics. He hates those analytics.

I could take some of my issues one at a time this offseason if I don't get put on vacation for it.

1.) W/L. For decade after decade, Hall of Fame ballot after Hall of Fame ballot, W/L was huge, maybe THE most important factor in a starter being named to Hall of Fame or not. And also huge factor in the Cy Young voting. Now if you mention W/L at all you are laughed out of the discussion. I do not care much for analytics but something like this is a huge pet peeve of mine. From one of the most important factors EVER involving a pitcher's performance to "nobody cares about wins and loss record!!!"

Edited January 1, 2020 by greg775

[Jerksticks]

7 minutes ago, greg775 said:

I could take some of my issues one at a time this offseason if I don't get put on vacation for it.

1.) W/L. For decade after decade, Hall of Fame ballot after Hall of Fame ballot, W/L was huge, maybe THE most important factor in a starter being named to Hall of Fame or not. And also huge factor in the Cy Young voting. Now if you mention W/L at all you are laughed out of the discussion. I do not care much for analytics but something like this is a huge pet peeve of mine. From one of the most important factors EVER involving a pitcher's performance to "nobody cares about wins and loss record!!!"

Still matters for hall of fame and CY.  And it definitely matters for GMs signing free agents; just not as much as it used to.  It definitely still factors in though.  A GM would be an absolute idiot not to use all information available.