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Otaknam

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Everything posted by Otaknam

  1. Otaknam
    Martin”s lack of exit velocity might be attributed to the team’s love affair with power and trying to get him to change his approach. Let him be who he is: a patient contact hitter with speed and occasional power. If he can be an on base machine that’s an asset for any team. And if he can be an above average outfielder and play infield on a fill in basis, all the better.
  2. Otaknam
    Spend the money on a starting pitchers and bullpen help, not another left handed hitter for a left handed heavy lineup. I think the team will be depending on players like Kiriloff and Miranda to be healthy and have bounce back and healthy seasons.
  3. Otaknam
    Generally speaking, moving a pitcher with an history of injury concerns from the bullpen, where he excels and has been injury free, to starter isn’t wise. And it creates a large bullpen hole that would have to be filled. You’d only experiment with this if your bullpen was already strong, even without Duran, where you could slowly build up his innings as a starter.
  4. Otaknam
    If there are other experienced catchers available, likely at a lower cost than Vasquez. Since Boston is reducing salary why would they want him and his $12 million salary? They can find another way to trade Janson and acquire young talent. As for the Twins, I would take Vasquez for Janson for a bullpen role, but not assume he is now the closer. And I wouldn’t include anyone in the Twins top 15 prospects to make this work. And no to moving Duran to a starting role, as has been suggested. He is elite as a closer and those aren’t easy to find either.
  5. Otaknam
    The Twins will not trade Lewis, a potential superstar and the personality to be the face of their franchise. Trading him would be baseball management malfeasance. I’m not a fan of trading Lee either, as part of a package, though I think that is a possibility, to acquire a solid starting pitcher. Lee seems like a four tool player, and the power may come too. Whatever they do, I hope they don’t get snookered like they did with the Cincinnati trade to acquire Mahle, a disastrous trade by any standard.
  6. Otaknam
    Base stealing is an under appreciated aspect of baseball. The new rules of bigger bases and pitch clock lend themselves to utilizing speed. four seasons of station to station and wait for the home run, AKA Earl Weaver, Rocco finally employed the speed he had in 2023. Base stealing isn’t just about speed, it is also about intuition and getting a jump by reading the pitcher. It helps to stay out of the double play by setting the base runner in motion, putting more pressure on the defense. Julien has had very good base stealing numbers in the minors, but I think he was hampered by legs problems. So hopefully he is another guy who can steal some bases. Lewis and Castro too. Let’s use everything in the offensive arsenal, not just power.
  7. Otaknam
    No team will trade a proven top of the rotation starter for Kiriloff and the unproven Martin. If the Twins could do that they should! But it would take a lot more top talent to make that trade. Kiriloff AND Lee or Kiriloff AND Julien might get it done, with maybe a top 20 minor leaguer thrown in.
  8. Otaknam
    Low A and high A are fine, but I’ll pay more attention when they duplicate their success at the much more difficult AA. That will be the challenge for these guys.
  9. Otaknam
    Lee and Rodriquez are a big price to pay, so I would only trade for Cease if they could get him to agree to a longer term contract beyond the current two years of team control. Right now he is a free agent after 2025. Scott Boros is his agent, so that has to be factored in, though the Twins have been able to work with him in recent years.
  10. Otaknam
    I think that was Cesar Tovar who played all positions in one game, not Versalles.
  11. Otaknam
    No to trading Julien. His offensive profile, ability to get on base, and low salary make him an ideal lead off hitter. Mix in his demonstrated power and he is a keeper, not trade bait.
  12. Otaknam
    By most accounts Jenkins is a potential generational talent who could be on the fast track to the big leagues. You don’t trade a person like that unless it is for the missing piece to win a World Series. Even then I would not do it.
  13. Otaknam
    The potential star player who is close is Brooks Lee, who I fear they will trade for pitching. Festa might make it this year as their top starting prospect, but Raya appears to be a few years away. Rodriquez might be a trade candidate, but he is a couple of years away. Jenkins should be untouchable IMO.
  14. Otaknam
    Julien proved in 2023 that he belongs. He does need to be more aggressive with two strikes, and I think that will come with more experience. His strikeout totals are not high because of called strike threes that were out of the zone, as others have mentioned. He needs the old school protect the plate with two strikes attitude. But he is an on base machine with power, an obvious asset to the lineup. Hopefully his defense improves where he becomes at least league average.
  15. Otaknam
    No to trading Brooks Lee for anyone!
  16. Otaknam
    Agree on Smalley, as he stammers to make his point almost every time he speaks. It’s very hard to listen to.
  17. Otaknam
    Provus is on the professional upswing as a broadcaster, as is verified by the football and basketball play by play he does for other media outlets. The Twins are lucky to have him, and I think his pairing with Morneau will be very good. However this means the radio broadcast will be downgraded by pairing Atteberry and Gladden. IMO Atteberry chatters too much and tries too hard with factoids to fill in between pitches. And it is really hard to listen to Gladden as he struggles to describe the action. I’m sure he’s a great guy and would be fun to have a beer with. But he is a below average color guy who should not be doing play by play for three innings, where I usually turn him off. Why they would move on from Bremer but keep Gladden is a real head scratcher. Clearly this shows the team doesn’t understand its audience.
  18. Otaknam
    Taking a low cost flyer on Staumont makes some sense, given their reluctance to spend right now. Pitchers can regain effectiveness with tweaking their delivery or learning a new pitch. Staumont’s control problems are an issue, as free passes are a killer for relievers.
  19. Otaknam
    Lack of starting depth clearly means Varland starts. They also need Festa, SWR, or another pitcher to show himself ready to start, with Festa the most obvious given his success last season. Hopefully Alcala and others can emerge to bolster the bullpen. I do think they will trade for another starter, but hopefully don’t get snookered again trading for damaged goods while giving up excellent young players, I.e. Cincinnati. Headrick and Dobnak are just fringe big leaguers unless they have developed a real out pitch or an 97 mph fastball. And Jenkins, Lee, Rodriquez, Soto, and Raya are off the table.
  20. Otaknam
    Calling Miranda’s rookie season as “brilliant” was a bit of hyperbole. A .269 batting average, 16 homers and 66 rbi was solid but not head turning. Three to one strikeout to walk ratio was poor. He did have some clutch hits, but his defense was below average. I still think he can recover his stroke and be a solid contributor offensively in 2024.
  21. Otaknam
    Following the soccer plan is great way to destroy MLB. It would take a generation for such an extreme makeover for fans to accept, which I never would. The Dodgers are like Godzilla, destroying everything in its path to achieve its goal. MLB needs a salary cap and salary basement more than ever.
  22. Otaknam
    Right now he sounds like a number 5 starter for a team w no other options. Maybe trading Larnach even up would make sense, but otherwise why weaken your bullpen to take a flyer on a guy who a high ERA, low strikeout rate, and has somewhat of an injury history? We already have Cole Sands.
  23. Otaknam
    Success for Buxton would be to play offensively in 140 games and defensively 120 games. We know he will be injured again. So the only question is how long will he be on the injured list and how many flailing at bats will it take before he gets his timing back when he returns. Given his injury history I’m not optimistic.
  24. Otaknam
    Nope! Not a fan of trading two top pitching prospects and Polanco for a one year rental. That only makes sense if the team is poised for a serious playoff run, need one more top of the rotation starter like Jack Morris, and I don’t think the team is there yet. The Sonny Gray trade worked out because they got two years and strong, albeit short five inning starts, from him. But you can’t keep trading your top pitching prospects for short term rentals because mid markets still have to develop pitchers, not just develop and trade them.
  25. Otaknam
    Julien and Lee, young ML ready infielders with potential impact bats and high ceilings, for a once a week starter? No thanks! Trade 2 is more palatable, though ERod looks like he could be a five tool player potentially ready for a call up by the end of the year, or next year at the latest.
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