bunsen82

Jason Reitz is pitching for FCL. The next one to get back is Matt Barr from a broken arm.

Thats a heck of a day for Teilon after his early season has gone similarly to Amicks AFL experience last fall. It happens. The Twins signed Teilon for $1 million in 2024 international draft after the Dodgers dropped their commitment to sign Roki Sasaki. We will see if this gets him going. Next thing is Amick. Say what you will the kid is punishing the ball. The power that he was drafted for is finally showing up. I said he really looks valuable if he can get his batting average to .260 to .280. His slash line is .256/.352/.570. He is beginning to blend the contact approach from last year with his power approach from college. My guess is he was messing with his swing in the AFL. As to Winokur. Thats not quite a fair take. 1st off - he has a high strike out rate, that will likely always be a part of his package. However he is still growing and maturing into his body, no different than someone like Aaron Judge. With a big body like that you have a massive strike zone compared to other players. 2 is Winokur takes time to get into a groove. His strikeouts were rough to start the season. We are halfway through May SSS, but for May his SO rate is 30%. His slashline for May is a ridiculous .405/.496/.595 and he is playing really good defense and moving around really well. Let alone he is doing this at age 21. If people want to write off a 21 year old that appears to really be dialing in, be my guest. Thats the last thing I would ever do. He has a ton of volatility in the ultimate product but his ceiling is upper echelon. We took a lottery ticket on him and Young last year. Ideally you want one of them to pan out. 1 other note. We might actually have some pitchers coming up through the international side. Might have to watch that some more. Also glad to see Jiminez is making it back healthy. We really need to get several of these pitchers and hitters healthy in the Minor and Major leagues.

Look at that picture, he is trying to pull and outside pitch and is missing. If he stepped into the plate instead of out and let the ball travel just a bit further, he is rocketing that ball up the first base line. He can't hit the outside pitch so that is all he is getting. This isn't that difficult of a concept. Thats why he is missing more balls and pulling less balls and having more weak contact. Its not that he is doing anything differently, its that the pitchers have adjusted and he is seeing zero pitches on the inner half. Nothing he can barrel, nothing he can pull. You don't just magically fix this. He has to totally revamp his approach but thats what he was supposed to do this offseason.

They tried to prop him up all offseason. The guy either refuses or cannot adjust his hitting approach, which has changed drastically in the last 3-4 years. I am honestly ready to move on.

Our Bullpen has rested for 2 days . . . They should feel like new men LOL.

Even with all the fluctuations and injuries it seems the teams are beginning to play a little better. I think as we get some players back that the minor league system will begin to take off a bit. We have 3 wild cards in the system in my opinion with massive differential on what their final products could be - Tait, Winokur, and Young. Tonight all 3 impressed. The power potential on Tait is legit. He is also improving his floor a bit by having a better discerning eye. I would like to see the batting average higher .250 to .270 but honestly the improvement is right on track. Young really struggled to start out the year. April was .181/.255/.277. May in 8 games .333/.371/.545. Minor leagues are an adjustment especially for bigger players like Young and Winokur. Young appears to be turning the corner and flashing some of the potential that he has. Winokur when he gets hot can carry teams in the minors. I think the power is starting to show up, but the hit tool is definitely improving. .277/.390/.454 on the year at Cedar Rapids. I always said you wanted 1 of Winokur and Young to flash this year and look like a legit MLB option and I would say Winokur is definitely trying to grab that slot and Young appears to be adjusting.

So is Culpepper that fast you can't even get a clear picture . . . dang. 🤣

Sometimes it works most cases it doesn't. In either case making a pitcher your closer that has just been DFA's seems more of an indictment on our current relief pitchers which was my point.

The subscription news and forums are sadly a dying breed as is the newspaper industry. Not sure what the answer is but I don't think this will work out the way he hopes.

Tampa Bay - Gomez you are not good enough to be in our bullpen. DFA Twins - 1 week later . . . Gomez you are our closer. LOL - you can't make this stuff up. Even still Gomez has a spark that could be something, but it shows how little actual relievers we currently have in the bullpen.

Most know my stance on Varland. That trade in a vacuum should not have occurred. Value wise yes decent value, but you are giving up 5 years of a player that could be your closer. I have a different stance regarding the draft. The best way to get elite talent is to draft earlier in the draft. So we will see what they do with the #3 draft pick. As to wins - right now that Abel and Tait trade is looking like a legit win. It only takes a bit of a hit if he has a UCL issue. They did use a cortisone shot, but it was for pain in the tricep area this time instead of the elbow. Tait power is starting to show but he does need to improve the hitting tool some. High A for a 19 year old is impressive. He is still on a very good track. Abel's arm talent looks legit though. Mendez is also a major win and maybe the best one. Mendez bat is legit, he just needs to improve his fly ball to ground ball ratio and slightly increase his walks. 4 home runs in 20 games is a massive improvement. If he can get in that 15-20 range he will be a great asset for the MLB team. Either as an oufielder, 1st baseman or true DH.

He had more control last year and the batters were swinging at more balls that weren't strikes. Give him a bit to start to get comfortable at the higher level. Yesterday's start was an improvement.

The end game is trading Ryan and Jeffers. We will have a Caratini and Jackson backstop for the last 2-3 months.

My stance stands. Prior to significant influence by Correa and our MLB staff - they were willing to spray the balls to all fields. Miranda's other issue is he only had significant success in 1 season. Both players became significantly pull happy and trying to go for the home run. Miranda also has a bit of an issue similar to Lee where the contact rates are decent and they tend to get weaker contact on pitchers pitches that either lead to increased ground balls or weaker contact. Lewis went from a hitter that could consistently spray the ball the other way to a pull happy hitter that can only hit a middle to inside pitch. Anything on the outer half he isn't getting to. Pitchers have just pitched him on the outer half except for mistakes and these are the results you get.

No its their rush to bring up players and play them out of position. He injures himself playing outfield in a position he has rarely played. He is your shortstop of the future and you complete derail it to try to get some short term gain. Then whatever has been occurring with the advice on his plate discipline is beyond comprehension. I truely think Correa got in his head just like Miranda. Alas, what could have been.