Spring Training Games, Week of 3/9 - 3/15

[tony&rodney]

 

Morris might be the rookie pitcher who makes the most impact in 2025. He looks very good right now. 

Love the way Morris moves the ball around. That cutter inside will never see fair territory. 

Miranda didn't look too interested in catching that popup. I'm hoping for more ground balls to shortstop.

[Jocko87]

Nice to see Winokur on the teevee, if only for a moment.  Big dude, when he fills out. 

[Doctor Gast]

IMO playable GB got past Julien.

[stringer bell]

1 minute ago, tony&rodney said:

Love the way Morris moves the ball around. That cutter inside will never see fair territory. 

Miranda didn't look too interested in catching that popup. I'm hoping for more ground balls to shortstop.

Florida ballparks are pretty tough for wind and sun, but Miranda didn't have a good look on the popup.

I really want to see Winokur a bit more. He double-clutched his first chance, but Springer wasn''t running hard out of the box. He made a smooth play with a perfect throw on his second chance.

[ashbury]

Breaking News: Brooks Lee is pretty slow to first base, for a young middle infielder.

[stringer bell]

Toronto announcers love Julien apparently. I'm not sure he's a lock for the squad and I think Lee is the choice at second base if they made Opening Day decisions today.

[stringer bell]

Gasper has a major league...............mustache.

[ashbury]

5 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Toronto announcers love Julien apparently. I'm not sure he's a lock for the squad and I think Lee is the choice at second base if they made Opening Day decisions today.

Sounded like they went to the trouble to talk with him in person before the game.  Good for them, doing some homework.  I'm not sure our broadcast team brings much direct information to us about the opposing team.

[Linus]

10 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Florida ballparks are pretty tough for wind and sun, but Miranda didn't have a good look on the popup.

I really want to see Winokur a bit more. He double-clutched his first chance, but Springer wasn''t running hard out of the box. He made a smooth play with a perfect throw on his second chance.

It was a really strong throw.  Looks like he has a gun.

[stringer bell]

10 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

IMO playable GB got past Julien.

Hard to know without watching his movement at contact, but it looked like a tough play to me. 

[stringer bell]

Too many pitches out of the zone for Varland. 

He is facing good major league hitters. 

[stringer bell]

I don't know if he did it on purpose, but a smart play by Julien!

[ashbury]

Just now, stringer bell said:

I don't know if he did it on purpose, but a smart play by Julien!

Exactly.  In the moment it looked like he got caught in-between, but even if so he made a nice toss to second base.  Unlucky play for Toronto, all in all.

[tony&rodney]

Julien looked slow on the base hit to his left.

Interesting innocent comment by Blue Jay announcer about the Twins not having the money that other teams in their division have making them short a bat. I would expect these guys to know the general range of payrolls, but they don't and so a constant false thread gets repeated enough to be passed along. facts or science are taking a beating in the 21st century. The comment is meaningless in the course of events but I'm wondering when outright falsehoods and open lying will peak and result in a return to sanity.

Worried about Varland's location.

[Cory Engelhardt]

11 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Sounded like they went to the trouble to talk with him in person before the game.  Good for them, doing some homework.  I'm not sure our broadcast team brings much direct information to us about the opposing team.

Julien is Canadian after all. I felt like that was the reason for them connecting with him. Still, their broadcast team is one of the better I've heard this spring.

[stringer bell]

Winokur is a big'un for sure. It appears he runs pretty well and has a good arm. He could be something in a couple of years.

[Linus]

Morris looked very good against some good hitters.  His command inspires confidence - Festa has better stuff but I just don’t think his command is as good.

[Linus]

9 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Winokur is a big'un for sure. It appears he runs pretty well and has a good arm. He could be something in a couple of years.

It will be very interesting to see what spot on the field he ends up.  He’s a bit of a unicorn for his size.

[tony&rodney]

Miranda looks like our DH.

[Doctor Gast]

Wow! Miranda HR up 2-0

[tony&rodney]

6 minutes ago, Linus said:

It will be very interesting to see what spot on the field he ends up.  He’s a bit of a unicorn for his size.

Winokur is really raw and needs a ton of experience, for sure. I watched him quite a bit last year and he was the best shortstop I saw among Twins minor leaguers. His size suggests a move but his athleticism is pretty amazing.

[Doctor Gast]

TOR has a good line-up, Twins pitching has come through.

 

[Doctor Gast]

Castellano is struggling.

[stringer bell]

Throw more strikes!!

[tony&rodney]

Ground ball hit right to Ross at shortstop and Lee went for the ball which took away easy force out at third on a ball not hit hard enough to turn two. Small thing. I think if Lee plays third more often he goes to bag.

[thelanges5]

Julien called out on strikes 😭

[USAFChief]

And this is why I'd be surprised if Castellano makes the team, and why he shouldn't. 

Can't carry someone not ready to contribute. 

 

[FlyingFinn]

5 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Winokur is really raw and needs a ton of experience, for sure. I watched him quite a bit last year and he was the best shortstop I saw among Twins minor leaguers.

Better than DeAndrade? Of course, he didn't play much due to injury.

[tony&rodney]

2 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

Better than DeAndrade? Of course, he didn't play much due to injury.

Yes, most definitely, but only from my perspective of watching about 20-30 games via milb.com.

[Althebum82]

Interestingly, when I tried to look up Winokur it looks like he has been identified as OF in all of his other transactions listings.  No defensive stats were listed, so I was curious if SS is just a spring training experiment or if it is his actual regular position.  After all, Miranda shows as a SS for most of his transaction history, so it would not surprise me if the OF designation for Winookur was similarly bogus.....