Starting some positivity thread

[Kenny Powers]

The doom & gloom is starting to get to me.  This thread is for positivity only.  I'll kick things off by highlighting a few young bats that deserve some recognition:

Alex Kirilloff.  .883 OPS.  Age 26 and is off to his best start ever.  Honestly I wasn't counting on him much this year based on his wrist issues.

Ryan Jeffers.  .880 OPS.  Age 26 and is picking up right where he left off after last year's breakout season.  It doesn't look like last year was a fluke.

Other young bats holding their own....

Jose Miranda.  .773 OPS.  Age 25 and is flashing again after a lost season last year.

Edouard Julien.  .687 OPS.  Age 24.  Leads team with 4 home runs.

Austin Martin.  .639 OPS.  Age 25 and is getting his first taste of the show.  

Add in the injured Royce Lewis (age 24) and you have six young guys that can be the future core.   

 

This season should get better - especially as some of these injured guys start coming back.

[Mike Sixel]

I like the youth, and I like CC as a leather, or leader, and player. There is a core here, and it will get better..

[Parfigliano]

The do have a young core that looks promising.  Let them play and quit wasting time with the Margot, Santana and Vasquez of the world.

[FlyingFinn]

Buxton is healthy and playing great in CF when he's out there. Stewart is pitching great and I think he should be the closer until Duran gets back. Jax will do just fine in the 7th and 8th innings. Oh, and Duran is throwing bullpen sessions.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Joe Ryan looks to be re-establishing himself as a potential #1 starter...

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

And not sure what happened in Kansas City but Ober's rebounded nicely the last two starts.

[chpettit19]

Jeffers has been great. In the midst of establishing himself as one of the best catchers in the game and that's been awesome to watch. 

Healthy Kirilloff is a lot of fun to watch.

Healthy Miranda is actually pretty fun to watch as well.

Martin and SWR both having nice early season showings is really fun.

Buxton in CF is always fun.

[Linus]

Guys like Martin and Miranda showing enough that next year we won’t have to do Margot, Santana et Al. Would be nice if Camargo got a chance and ran with it. 

[CRF]

You want positive? I'm positive we're not this bad, and I'm positive it'll get better. 

[In My La Z boy]

Thanks Kenny! I love baseball and I love our Twins! Nothing reminds me more of being a kid than baseball. I am grateful it's spring, and grateful to be able to watch baseball again! Go Twins!

[yeahyabetcha]

1 hour ago, Parfigliano said:

The do have a young core that looks promising.  Let them play and quit wasting time with the Margot, Santana and Vasquez of the world.

You need to work on your positivity. 😊

[RpR]

When Margot does get on base, he can score from first on a single fairly easily.

[LA Vikes Fan]

Like it, Kenny. I do agree that we can see the young core coming into focus - Jeffers, Lewis, Kirilloff, Julien, Miranda, Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Duran, and Jax. Add in the veterans Correa, Buxton, and Brock Stewart and you actually have a pretty good core to build around. Martin may be playing his way into that group and Varland could definitely be be part of the group as a late inning/closer in the bullpen, but not as a starter. Who knows, Paddack has talent and he could get there in the rotation. that's actually plenty of talent to build a competitive team.

Here's an optimistic thought, let's quit trying to pretend we're only a few veterans away from contending and go for the full-blown "play the young guys" mentality this year. We can do it now while the division is down and who knows what could happen. Jettison the mediocre vets and make sure the guys listed above plus Martin and even Camargo get regular playing time, bring up Keirsey from AAA and let's see where these guys can go.

 

[nicksaviking]

Yup, still encouraged by the core of this team. Most of the young guys are playing well enough, Lee was close to making the opening day roster and E-Rod is already in AAA. Pretty cloudy at the moment but the future forecast is still sunny.

[JD-TWINS]

3 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Jeffers has been great. In the midst of establishing himself as one of the best catchers in the game and that's been awesome to watch. 

Healthy Kirilloff is a lot of fun to watch.

Healthy Miranda is actually pretty fun to watch as well.

Martin and SWR both having nice early season showings is really fun.

Buxton in CF is always fun.

Agree with all the positivity!! Would really like Byron to level off (to the good) on both sides of the plate (offense & defense).

Martin isn’t a big star but he’s a guy you need around and a consistent contributor!

Staff has been good, overall.

CC back by May 1.

Healthy Lewis & Lee and it’s up with a bullet once we get to June. 

Hope the hypnotism is working on Wallner!!!

[FlyingFinn]

3 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

E-Rod is already in AAA.

You had me going there. I had to go check the roster and transactions to see if something happened today. Nope, E-Rod is still in AA.

[nicksaviking]

1 hour ago, FlyingFinn said:

You had me going there. I had to go check the roster and transactions to see if something happened today. Nope, E-Rod is still in AA.

Yes, mistake on my part.

[Squirrel]

11 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Yes, mistake on my part.

That's not very positive :) 

[Kenny Powers]

Lots of good responses.  But surprised nobody mentioned the bullpen?  So far - way better than expected.  And they have been doing it without our top guy Duran!

Some bullpen stats I found from Fangraphs:

#1 in MLB for K/9 (11.71).

#5 in MLB for ERA (2.71)

#8 (tied with two others) in MLB for WHIP (1.14)

#3 in MLB for xFIP (3.34)

I'm really liking what I'm seeing out of Cole Sands so far too.  

[wabene]

Joe Ryan is looking nasty. That split change is working nicely off the fastball. An improved Joe Ryan is a good thing. If he keeps it up, even better.

[$tryf4Life]

SWR getting back some prospect hype is good. Especially considering converting a pitcher to the bullpen could also have a positive impact. 

[RpR]

Vazquez, Farmer, Kirilloff, Santana and Margot all have a low stike out rate.

[alexlegge]

18 hours ago, Kenny Powers said:

Lots of good responses.  But surprised nobody mentioned the bullpen?  So far - way better than expected.  And they have been doing it without our top guy Duran!

Feel free to call me out for overreacting, but frankly, the bullpen looked more solid without Thielbar. Their current losing streak has been bookended by games he blew against Detroit. Ugly. Hopefully he figures things out quickly.

And now that that's out of my system, here's some more positivity: on June 7, 2006, the Twins were 25-33. And I highly doubt this year's AL Central is gonna take 96 wins... 

[D.C Twins]

Buck still healthy and playing in CF the run away winner!

[Kenny Powers]

38 minutes ago, alexlegge said:

Feel free to call me out for overreacting, but frankly, the bullpen looked more solid without Thielbar. Their current losing streak has been bookended by games he blew against Detroit. Ugly. Hopefully he figures things out quickly.

And now that that's out of my system, here's some more positivity: on June 7, 2006, the Twins were 25-33. And I highly doubt this year's AL Central is gonna take 96 wins... 

On the surface, we agree.  But...in keeping with the positives, I'd phrase it more like:  Theilbar has dropped his ERA by 63 points over his last two outings!  😆

And in all seriousness, I'd say last night was overall another good night for the pen:

3.2 innings, 5 strikeouts, 1 earned run

They've been holding their own.  No complaints from me and it should get better with a healthy Duran.

[alexlegge]

4 hours ago, Kenny Powers said:

On the surface, we agree.  But...in keeping with the positives, I'd phrase it more like:  Theilbar has dropped his ERA by 63 points over his last two outings!  😆

True! On that note, Ober's still only two starts into what will likely be a lengthy string of consecutive ERA-lowering starts. Could be a fun stat to follow. Positivity!!

[IndianaTwin]

8 hours ago, D.C Twins said:

Buck still healthy and playing in CF the run away winner!

And is on pace to play in 162 games!

[Richie the Rally Goat]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:59 AM, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

And not sure what happened in Kansas City but Ober's rebounded nicely the last two starts.

3! 3 Starts! Mwa ah ah