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jkcarew

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Everything posted by jkcarew

  1. jkcarew
    Right? Poor Joey and his 199 BA. If he keeps playing like this, he’ll be lucky to get a contract worth more than $60M this off-season.😉
  2. jkcarew
    Who are these ‘pretty decent’ platoon bats of which you speak? Solano with his career OPS against lefties of 707 (worse this year)? Or Castro and his 699 (also worse this year)? But, yes…if the plan is to have Kirilloff play 75% of games (or whatever) because the wrist can’t handle more…that’s different. Then, might as well try to line those days up with lefty starters as much as possible.
  3. jkcarew
    Didn’t see the game…but the Kirilloff power sure is encouraging in regards to his confidence with the wrist. Fingers crossed. Now I expect Rocco to give him the start next time we see a lefty starter. If not, he’ll have some ‘slainin to do!
  4. jkcarew
    Who in the name of Lee Elia let this guy on the site??!! 🙃
  5. jkcarew
    And never pay taxes again!!
  6. jkcarew
    Yep…tip of the hat to them, as well. Still, Correa gets credit from me. We are a fan base asked to accept that the star CF gets regular days off…at DH. And yet, Correa…the guy who’s ankle is so compromised he can’t pass a physical, is on pace to play nearly 150 games…at SS. In the midst of his horrible offensive start, just want to throw a little love Correa’s way for the EFFORT.
  7. jkcarew
    Probably true. But here is what I also know to be true… Star players who don’t like off days, will have fewer off days.
  8. jkcarew
    Tip of the hat to Correa. This will be the Twins 40th game…and it will be Correa’s 36th start…all of them at SS, a very demanding position physically and mentally…and the position at which he provides the most value to the team. Not bad for a guy that can’t pass a physical. He may not be ‘earning his salary’ given the batting slump. But I don’t know how anyone could claim he isn’t TRYING to be that guy.
  9. jkcarew
    Trading the threat of more strikeouts with the potential for hits that actually score runs…for ground ball outs and and an occasional single might not fit your idea of what looks good. But it will win more games.
  10. jkcarew
    fyi… Jarett Whorff, the undrafted recent signee out of independent ball, is a RIGHT-HANDED pitcher, not left-handed. A Louisiana Tech kid who apparently hooked up with a velocity guru after having graduated. 24 years old…probably doesn’t figure to stay in Fort Myers too long…one way or the other.
  11. jkcarew
    He had been unlucky, but for the most part, tonight it was more about horrible execution. Threw a horrendous up and inner-half change on the long double. Threw Gomes 5 sweeper in a row, and the 5th got hit real hard for the winning RBI.
  12. jkcarew
    The move to Gallo didn’t work, but not because Solano takes more pitches. Gallo sees more pitches per at-bat than does Solano…this year and career.
  13. jkcarew
    To say the club is vulnerable against anything more than decent left-handed pitching is a bit of an understatement. Probably not going to get fixed until Buxton and Correa are both clicking at the same time…AND Farmer/Miranda and/or Lewis become factors. As is…I don’t know why you don’t just start two of Kepler/Kirilloff/Gallo rather than bother with Solano and Castro. At least you’d have a puncher’s chance of one of those guys running into a mistake pitch or two. Gray wasn’t getting hit, but he wasn’t aggressive enough or efficient enough. Too many pitches for Gray. Too short of a start.
  14. jkcarew
    If there is to be a ‘savior’ it probably comes from one (or two) of the following names… Lewis, Larnach, Miranda/Farmer, Helman. Helman a stretch, but if Lewis and Miranda, for whatever reasons, can’t factor in…a hot right-handed bat with a versatile defensive profile could really help. Probably the most obvious candidate for savior would be for Correa to get hot…or even warm.
  15. jkcarew
    I think what we see is what we get for now. What I’d LIKE to see if Larnach can figure things out…(assuming right handed starter)… c..Jeffers or Vazquez; 1B…Kirilloff; 2B…Polanco; 3B Gordon or Farmer; SS…Correa; LF…Gallo; CF…Buxton; RF…Kepler; DH…Larnach What I’d LIKE to see a month from now (right handed starter)… c..Jeffers or Vazquez; 1B…Kirilloff; 2B…Polanco; 3B Lewis; SS…Correa; LF…Gallo; CF…Buxton; RF…Kepler… Gordon rotating around to rest guys (and/or for slumping guys)…Available to DH…Larnach, Farmer, (sometimes Buxton with Farmer/Lewis/Gordon at 3B, and Gordon/Lewis in CF)
  16. jkcarew
    Gordon is useful. The problem with giving him ‘regular’ at-bats is that, with the current active roster, you should be sitting a right handed bat when inserting Gordon. If you’re sitting Kepler or Gallo (or even Larnach) against righties, you’re giving up too much XBH potential. That leaves Buxton, Farmer, Correa, or MAT. Personally, I would have no problem replacing MAT with Gordon against right-handed starters…although I admit I haven’t fully thought through what the drop in defense would mean.
  17. jkcarew
    I don’t think the club is quite as talented as you seem to think. To pitching has probably overachieved if anything so far. And offensively, the club went into the season counting on a lot of individual improvement and/or guys taking big steps… Larnach, Miranda, Kirilloff, Gallo, Gordon, Kepler…all unproven or coming off very bad years. Meanwhile, you’ve weakened the CF spot from an offensive standpoint, as well. Overall, they’re about where I thought they’d be…although the pitching has been better than I expected and the offense has been a little worse than I expected. Should still be able to win the ALC. And if the pitching holds up it would give them a punchers chance in the playoffs.
  18. jkcarew
    Fwiw…Lewis did steal a base after the HBP. Nice to see that. Danny De Andrade…is it too early to get excited? Michael Helman…is he a 2023 option (depending upon injuries, etc.)? Regardless, nice to see an 11th round grinder work himself to the door step.
  19. jkcarew
    Nice data. Thanks. Agreed. Soft contact will eventually result in success. First priority…the walks…and he should be good. To get to ‘shut down’ it would be good to see the put away on the sweeper creep up some…and that might be doable simply by better sequencing. I think the drop in whiff rate on the sweeper from 2022, might bare that theory out.
  20. jkcarew
    I agree his stuff has been better than the results…but the delta is mostly self-inflicted. He throws sweeper after sweeper (after sweeper after sweeper) and very often he’s failing to finish the batter off with it…but refuses (or the catchers are refusing) to have the batter see anything else. So far, it seems like the sweeper is a great soft-contact pitch, but not a great finishing pitch….or at least not in the sequence he has been using it. (His K% is right at league average…which, I assume, is probably below average among late relievers…and is below the overall K rate for the Twins staff. Meanwhile, his BABiP against is not high.) A middling out pitch is a problem waiting to happen if you’re a late-innings guy who inherits baserunners or creates them by walking people.
  21. jkcarew
    Solano was an emergency signing when they found out both Polanco and Kirilloff would be delayed. Nothing wrong with that (I guess other than figuring out you have an emergency on your hand on Feb 28) What IS annoying is when the Twins, or the media jackals doing their bidding, try to sell us on a narrative that the signing and the player are something they are not. Such was the case with Solano. The narrative of “this is going to make us much better against left-handed pitching” was nonsense. His career record against lefties is pedestrian despite some small sample goodness. And he was 35 years old and unemployed.
  22. jkcarew
    His career OPS is 700. There’s no getting around that…doesn’t bat for a particularly high BA…or, more importantly, has a decent but not high OBP, combined with zero power. And for good measure, he’s 35, and not very useful defensively. He not a solution for any team in the league. None. If he was, he would have been signed by somebody prior to Feb 28, and for more than $2M.
  23. jkcarew
    Never say never, but he’s 23 and playing low A ball. Jeffers was OPS’ing around 900 in AA ball at age 22…and was with the Twins at age 23. None of that matters if he’s still hitting anything like this if/when he gets to AA. For guys his age, that’s when I’ll get excited.
  24. jkcarew
    Nice win. For you Batting Averages folks… The Twins BA in this game was 200. But the OBP was 314. And the K% was ‘only’ 26%. Mix in the XBH power…and this is about what success is going to look like for this club.
  25. jkcarew
    Fwiw…combination of low BA with high XBH/HR%…which is exactly what the Twins are…is the best reason ever to NOT bunt guys to second base…ever.
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