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jkcarew

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Everything posted by jkcarew

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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)
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. jkcarew
    The plan hasn’t been a disaster…Buxton has produced enough…and for the most part, MAT hasn’t been a total wash offensively. The problem is that a team as offensively challenged as the Twins can’t afford to sacrifice offense at ANY position where they have an alternative. And the alternatives at DH are multiplying as the 40-man gets healthier. While the alternatives at CF remain…Buxton.
  15. jkcarew
    Who would you suggest replacing his OPS+ 142 and wRC+ 141 with?
  16. jkcarew
    IMO, there’s a pattern on the site of not fully grasping who Joey Gallo is. He’s basically Miguel Sano…low BA, high K%, hits home runs in bunches. But two significant differences…Gallo can still manage to get on base some during the frequent/long dry spells with his superior control of the strike zone…and Gallo is a pretty useful defensive player. I get not liking the batter profile. But (recent slump not withstanding), so far we’re getting GOOD Joey Gallo, not bad. (OPS+ 142; wRC+ 141) If we’re looking for reasonable expectations for improvement, others are much higher on the list…Correa, Miranda, recent additions of Polanco and Kirilloff, Gordon, not playing MAT, etc
  17. jkcarew
    Gallo is slumping, yes. Performing below his statistical norms? No…not by a long shot. Also, his current 2023 OPS+ is 142 His career OPS+ is 110.
  18. jkcarew
    In the 2nd we got… HBP, BB, BB, pop-up, GDP And what we were all thinking/hoping for… HBP, BB, BB, SF, BB, FC, K; 2 runs scored without a hit. Right? We’re not expecting a hit, doesn’t even enter the mind. That’s where the expectations are. I keep saying, if the starting pitching stays like this, the club is going to win a lot of games. I’m starting to wonder if that’s true.
  19. jkcarew
    Huh? Gallo was 0-2 with 2 walks and 1 K. He reached base twice in a game where the entire club had 6 men reach. Meanwhile, his OBP is still among the highest on the team. His K% is about the same as Buxton’s.
  20. jkcarew
    All mlb pitchers can fill the strike zone. Most lack the guts to do it. When you pitch that way, your going to give up some hard contact, and occasionally you’re going to get clobbered. The rest of the time, you’re going to be eating innings, saving the bullpen, and giving the club a chance to win today’s game and tomorrow’s game.
  21. jkcarew
    Not allowing the opposition to score remains a foolproof plan for winning. But, I’d like to see signs of a back-up plan.
  22. jkcarew
    Sneaky contributing factor… New schedule has fewer games played within the divisions. For the ALC, that means the number of games for which they break even is smaller…and the number of games where teams outside the division demolish the ALC teams is greater.
  23. jkcarew
    Ah…but it is possible!… One team has a perfect game going into the 10th inning of a scoreless game. In the 10th inning, the team that hasn’t had a batter reach base, has their first batter hit a HR. The perfect game is broken up by a 2-run homer. (Edit: just saw where you had already acknowledged this. Sorry.)
  24. jkcarew
    He’s currently our best hitting outfielder. And that’s part of the problem. Max is being Max…he’s fine. Even seems like he’s edging his OBP with the walks closer to what you’d want in a lead off hitter. But neither him being the best hitter in the outfield…or him being the lead off hitter are his fault. He’s not one of the clubs current problems.
  25. jkcarew
    Gallo’s OBP is 342. His SLG is 619. That makes him, currently, the best offensive player on the team. Those that are going to want Gallo’s BA to be significantly above 200 are going to be disappointed. He is, and always will be, a three true outcome guy. Absolutely, there’s a fine line with his ilk…but SO FAR…there’s no way any of us could have hoped for a better version of Gallo than what we’ve gotten…and yes, I’ll add another SO FAR.
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