Hauvster's Rainy Day Thread

[powerchord86]

 

[Hauvster]

Guess all my threads go to this one thread. How gay.

 

[Hauvster]

I guess it makes you feel powerful. I think its funny as hell in one aspect. This is a dead page. Maybe 4 people post here. And yet, you gotta push me around. Some people are just small. Well you enjoy your authority bro, feels like you need it.

 

[buckamania]

Hauv - Forget about SportsHoopla, just get back to firing-away on Fox. That is your destiny...your identity....your mojo!!!

I come here to rap with PC, the sagacious-recluse from the frozen tundra known as No. Dak. Like the reclusive prairie dog, PC never strays far from his den.

You got it made on Fox.

Meanwhile, I have no identity, no destiny, no moj',.... but I got a couple good posses goin' for me! I got you guys on Fox, PC over here on SportsHoopla (btw - I sent you a message about your pal Hew 2-weeks ago on the SportsHoopla site. Did you get it?) And....I got a posse of baseball-scoundrels down here in Ft. Myers.

Life is good!

 

[Hauvster]

Whether I have it made on Fox, or not, isnt the issue. I dont expect you to say anything in my defense here, I know PC is your friends. But you know, as well as I, that censorship over my point of view is wrong. Its just like when you make a post on Fox and it disappears without any explanation, when what you wrote was not vulgar or insulting to anyone on the site. It WRONG. And it pisses you off. i know, I've read your follow up posts. And you have my support on the matter. You have a right to speak your mind, and to be heard. It doesnt matter if others disagree. I always thought that was the point of these sites. Some trolls just want to attack, but others will engage you in serious discussions, for and against. We have had some of those ourselves.

But just remember this, it speaks volumes about the mans character when you look at how he treats others when he has some authority over them. Beyond any doubts, I know what PC is now. You do too, even if you want say it. But it is what it is, and since no one will do anything about it, let PC have his tyranny here on this empty Twins page with no posters. It is kinda funnt when you think about it. Who is he protecting from my evil PoV? Himself? LOL ok.

Oh well bro. I will keep doing what I have always done. Post what I think, what I feel, and what I see. If PC doesnt like it, then he can stay off ths ONE, SINGLE thread where he has banished me. Come back in two weeks and I will write out what I beliebe will happen this season. If you care to engage me with your own thoughts, please do so. But I do this for myself, in a large degree. If you scroll back, you will see the last two seasons predictions. You can look at what happened and judge for yourself how accurate my guesses were. Some were right on, others not so much. But thats the fun of it.

Anyway, thanks for the response. I will talk to you here, or there, but most likely both. Drink one for me, since I dont partake

Hauvster out

 

[Hauvster]

Well, here we go again. What a mess to sort through. There are just so many question marks its hard to know what will happen. Things we do know - our middle infield is unknown, our starting 4 of 5 suck, and our outfield is fast but raw. Can we make this work in the positive? Who can say? I will try

First base is what it is. The final year for Morneau is at hand. Let us hope he delivers more than not, and we can trade him away at the deadline and get some goods in return. If he can hit 280, knock 20-25 out and drive in 80-90 I will not complain.

Second base? I dont even know. Carroll? Maybe once in a while. Dozier? Was it his glove that got him sent down last year? He showed us some speed, with a bit of pop. Could be something, but I cant even wager a logical guess.

SS? Florimon? Escobar? I hear good things, but the minors are the minors baby, and the bigs are the bigs. Gonna need to see something to believe anything. Thats two very scary weakpoints.....right in the middle.

Third base. I am praying the Ploufee developes his glove, just like the rest of you. His avg must come up as well. 230 just doesnt cut it. When the rat man hit 230, at least he hit for power and won a GG. Also brought leadership to the clubhouse. Although Trev shows power, he aint no Gaetti. But here is for hoping for growth. If TP hits over 250, I will be thankful. I suspect 20-30 homers with more RBI work than last year. His avg will have more to do with that than his power.

Catcher/DH If Mauer stays healthy, he will need to deliver big if anyone expects me to drop the whip. That contract demands alot of production. Will we get it? No. So what would be a realistic season? Bat around 320-330? That is the least I expect. Power? Maybe 13-15 homers? Not impressed. Production? Say, 80-90 rbi? Could be highers....should be higher. Still nothing short of 2009 numbers will suffice.

I hope Dmit turns out to be the real deal. A 20 homer, 80 rbi year would be acceptable, but I hope to see growth here as well. Say 25 and 100? Might be too much to ask.

Ok, a lot of discussion about this kid Hicks. I was burned when Benny got traded, but this kid seems to have some power to go with his speed. lets hope ST wasnt a mirage. Thats a great combo to have, so show me what you got. A shot in the dark here, but 15 or so homers, 300 with 100 runs, 40 Sb and I will love this kid. Might be asking to much, but .....

Come on Willy. A repeat would be just fine. I know that was one of his best seasons, so I am a little scared he will regress. How much is the question. Another 30-100 would work.

Is it Mastro in the last spot? Not much avg there, a little bit of pop, but I like his speed. If you dont have power, you better be fast. Looking for a runner here. Maybe 30-40 SB to go with Hicks. Again, I dont know enough to make much more than hopeful predictions. So many questions....

Well, if everyone does his job, this offense might turn out to be something better than avg. Might even turn over a gem or two. God knows we need em. But more to the point, a good offense could actually lead us to a few more wins than we deserve, and keep us out of the cellar. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Tomorrow I will dive into that dumpster we call a starting 5. Stinky, stinky....

Hauvster out

 

[Hauvster]

And I am back

I know, it took me nearly 3 weeks, and many of you were hanging on for my words of wisdom on this years pitching staff. Well, here we go!!

Lets start with those lovable starters.

Scotty Diamond: I like Scotty. I believe he has some quality skills going in his favor. One thing will happen this year : the opposition will figure him out. What he will need to do is make that adjustment. If he can do that, we have one solid guy. Not an ace, no, but a guy more from the Brad Radke cut. Hey, its a plce to start. Lets take a shot and say 14-15 wins?

Liam Hendrik? /yawn good bye.

Kevin Correia: Ok, this guy struck me as the quinesential Blackburn, always going .500. He still may be, but atm he is showing a higher grade side of himself. One reason I hesitated to write this up was this guy. I hope he is for real, I pray he is for real. Maybe a change of scenery has done him good. But four starts in, I like what I am seeing. Lets hope he holds to this form. I'm going out on a limb here, but I am calling for 14-15 wins here too.

Mike Pelfrey: what a bust. I have seen nothing that gives me hope that this guy is worth the roster spot he is keeping from someone else. be gone, and be gone fast!!

Vance Worley: I liked Benny, and we truly miss him right now. Worley needs to produce if this trade is to make me see it as a positive. I am not impressed so far. One good outting, one mediocre outting, and a blow up. Ok, I will hold my piece for now and let this guy get a couple more starts. But I will say this now: I lack faith in his ability to be anything more than an low rung starter. If he breaks double digit wins, I will be shocked.

I was curious to see what Harden had in the tank, but seems he still suffers from the injury bug. Bummer.

Sam Deduno: Last season, he held his own. I know he is wild as hell, but at least he isnt slow as hell. At least that batter needs to think about something other than a juicey, soft, non-fast fast ball to hammer out of the park. His showing in the WBC really was a surprise. Now I want to see if that translates over into a major league season. I am going to go positive here and say that it will. I am hoping for a 12 win season from Sammy. Regardless of whether I get it right or not, I would like to see him get his chance.

Colt De Vries: Again, he was scrappy last season, and I always like a young guy with scrap. I know, his skills set is not overly impressive. But in this case, if this kid can come into the game, keep it close with a gritty performance, he just might find himself winning more than he loses. Hell, every staff needs a guy like that at the back end of their rotation. Lets just say, if he gets himself healthy, and gets his chance to replace one of the losers ahead of him, he just might break 10 wins. I would love that.

So, my picks for a starting 5 would be this: Scotty, KC, Deduno, Worley (ugh) and De Vries. A great rotation? No. But it could hold in it a shot at a division title. We need to rebuild, and the first piece of being a winner is to win your division. As I said last year, we need an ace to compete. We dont have one atm, but if we show we can win, we just might attract one next season.

Next time - the relievers.

Hauvster out

 

[Hauvster]

Our relievers. This is kind of a strong point, I think.

Lets start with our closer, Perkins. I think Perk has found his place on this team. Wasnt much of a starter, even struggled in mid-relief, but as a closer, he looks to be more than I even figured him to be. I will stand on that, and say he is the man to finish out our games. I am looking for 30+ saves from the guy. If we were a better team, I would go with 40+, but we arent. keep that ERA below 3.00 and the rest will take care of itself

I like Burton as well. If he can come thru with another solid season, we may have our middle man.

The Swarz? BD? I just dont know. Both have shown flashes, but neither seems able to hold it. Lets just do this - leave them in the pen, working mid-relief, and we will see how they flush out. Maybe not being bounced around will make a difference. If neither shows progress, I wont miss them when they leave. I once thought BD could be a starter, but I was mistaken. He is going to need to make it work from the pen

Reonicke and Pressley I dont know enough about to make a fact based, or even an opinion based call on. We will just need to keep an eye on them. They may even have company shortly, as Pelfrey sucks, and D & D may need to warm up a bit before they take starts.

With Perk closing, if Burton, BD and the Swarz can maintain any type of success, I think we can survive the season in good shape. This team isnt that far off from being a good team. But to get there, some real hard truths will need to be understood by management, and moves made accordingly. On the field, some guys will need to step up or step aside. I miss the speed with dealt away in the off-season. I really thought that if we werent going to add power, we needed to have speed. Languishing in the middle serves no purpose.

Ok, so much for early season stuff. I will drop in every now and again to give you all my I know you love to know what I think about things. It grounds you all and gives you focus

But until then, stay strong. I'm just around the corner....

Hauvster out

 

[Hauvster]

The dog days of summer are here, and we are seeing once again a team of little heart and minimal energy. Well, it isnt like we didnt see it coming. Morneau held his own the first half, now its time for a fade. I think Joe is feeling the heat of the middle of summer, and Scotty had been figured out, and he hasnt made the adjustments.

I will take heart that this is Morneau's final year with this team. Joe is simply Joe, and it is what it is. But I will give faith for another year that Scotty may still find himself. When I think back to Frankie Viola, those first two years were very rough on him. Maybe Scotty can figure it out. We have a ton of young guys filling out the line-up, and I think that is a good thing. Its past time for us to develope some young blood. The last piece of the puzzle is a new leader on the field. I will hope the Pohlads find a nugget of understanding and can the fat man. Then, in an unparralled sign that there is a God, they sell the team to a real baseball lover, and we find ourselves in a championship run a few years down the road.

I can hope it if I want.

 

[BigDDude]

Hauv - Forget about SportsHoopla, just get back to firing-away on Fox. That is your destiny...your identity....your mojo!!!

I come here to rap with PC, the sagacious-recluse from the frozen tundra known as No. Dak. Like the reclusive prairie dog, PC never strays far from his den.

You got it made on Fox.

Meanwhile, I have no identity, no destiny, no moj',.... but I got a couple good posses goin' for me! I got you guys on Fox, PC over here on SportsHoopla (btw - I sent you a message about your pal Hew 2-weeks ago on the SportsHoopla site. Did you get it?) And....I got a posse of baseball-scoundrels down here in Ft. Myers.

Life is good!

While it sucks to have to work to build credibility on other sites, from my experiences here, it is not an all bad endeavor. There are good people here, just like on all sites. And, like all other sites, the trick and key is finding them.

As such, I hope more refugees from other sites find this one, and find it to their liking, sooner than later.

 

[Hauvster]

Well, I tried to be optimistic, but it seems I was more right than wrong in my prediction of what this team really was capable of. We suck...plain and simple. We still possess Marshmorneau, which sucks also, but no one else wanted him. I rest my case on the guy.

Gardenhire is still around, but he isnt going to last another disasterous season (thank God).

Once those pieces have been removed, we can get down to really rebuilding and redefining this team. Its going to take a couple of years of lumps, but we have some young talent that just needs a bit of time. When we finally get to that point, my attitude will shift into a different mode. I dont like it, but I get the "support the young guy" mentality. Gardenhire simply isnt the guy you want to have at the head of the team while you do it. He cant teach, he doesnt motivate, and his baseball IQ is nothing to brag on.

For all of you folks who continually rag on me, enjoy the losing. I tried to warn you 4 years ago, and all I got was attacked. Sucks to be wrong doesnt it? If you could have gotten the red out of your eyes, you would have been able to follow the logic of what was happening here. But I do understand. Loyality to team, management and players can be touchy. Cutting to the core as I do can be hard to take, but 4 years later, perhaps some reflection can sooth those ruffled feathers. I'll say it one last time - it didnt need to be this way. Had we had better leadership all the way down the line, we could have augmented this fall and perhaps survived without the collapse. But this team made the wrong call at nearly every turn. Hard to phathom, but you know they did. So here we are....on the dung heap of Mudville. Sad.

Next year baby! Here's to hoping the last two things that need doing get done. Then we can begin the healing.

 

[Hauvster]

Well, looks like I was fairly close on some of my predictions for the line up. Not so much on a couple of others.
Almost dead on for Morneau. He might reach 20 homers and 80 rbi, but his avg is a hair low. One month to go, and you all know he fades....
Dozier!! Bingo Baby!! I had a feeling, but that was all. Seems this feeling was solid. I can live with this guys growing pains.
Florimon? Again, wasnt sure here either, but again, I can live with his growing pains. Hopefully both Pedro D'***** and BullDozier can grow together, making a solid middle infield, with a bit of speed, a bit of pop, and solid defense.
TP? Man, his avg two years running is just too low. His rbi should be better this year, but injuries have limited him and I doubt he reaches my 20 homer plateu.
Joe has his double digit homers, and his 320 avg. But I missed on his 80 rbi. He will be lucky to break 60.
Willy? Damn, what a bust that was. Who could have seen that coming? Oh well, missed on him.
Dmit might be a miss as well. Again, injuries are hampering him. He still has a chance to come close though. Lets hope so.
All in all, not a bad job of predicting. Yea, one more month, I know. Just wanted to check in on things. I know you all miss me here.

 

[Hauvster]

10 games to go!!! Morneau got traded. Just need RG0 to get the axe and we can start rebuilding this team.

 

[Hauvster]

I win! I predicted 66-96 at the start of the season....and thats exactly what we ended up. Perfection!!Damn, I am good. What did the rest of you guess? A .500 finish? A winning record? Maybe even a division title? Hey, I can appreciate your desire to be something more than we really are, but you have to keep it real. And the reality is, we suck. Not everything is a complete negative, but we really need new leadership to start correcting the garbage way we have begun to play. Or else we will get the same results next year. Four years of 90 plus losses? OMG no. Just cant stomach that any more. But anyhow, I was spot on. I saw with astonishing clarity!!! Atleast something good came from all of this...confirmation of my wisom and insight. Yahoo!!!!

 

[Hauvea]

Excellent stuff!

 

[Win TWINS!!!]

Excellent stuff!

How so?