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Road trip

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Everything posted by Road trip

  1. Road trip
    Agreed. I mean it is just 1 of 162 games, but potentially losing today *feels* like it would be a pretty significant set-back. Losing 2 of 3 at home to a horrible Rockies team would be yet another indicator that this team is flawed (in a season that has had quite a few of these already). Twins are already closer to 4th place in the Central than to 2nd. 1st place is starting to look pretty distant.
  2. Road trip
    Yeah, seems likely, and also a little scary because Varland is not pitching very well at St Paul. Boushley has thrown quite a bit better and is on the 40-man. Festa of course is the hot young arm, but isn't on the 40-man and may not be ready, even for the Rockies.
  3. Road trip
    Interesting that from the samples provided it appears far more balls are mistakenly called as strikes, than strikes called as balls. If this is indeed true across all umpired games it does provide another factor as to why the league as a whole is well on the way to setting a modern-day low for batting averages.
  4. Road trip
    He's not a kid anymore at 24 years old. If you subscribe to the theory that there are only so many pitches in a human arm before it almost inevitably breaks down (and I think I do), then wasting further time dominating AA doesn't make much sense. Might just catch lightning if Twins move him up now. If he has a good June-July-August in AAA he's certainly old enough to be with the big boys. If he struggles a bit in AAA he can learn from the experience, and at least we won't go into 2025 wondering if he will be ready.
  5. Road trip
    Yup, probably quite a bit of extra $'s in merchandise sales. If only 1% of the fan base loves them and wants to buy a replica jersey, that's a significant financial windfall. 10,000 fans times a $500 jersey could help pay for a decent relief pitcher! Me, personally, I'm perfectly happy to wear a $20 Twins t-shirt, but I'm no fashionista.
  6. Road trip
    Apparently so do Margot, Farmer and various other vets, because they have forgotten how to hit. You can fill a MLB roster with these kinds of players and win 60 or so games year after year after year. Sounds like a great plan. Since you will forgive veterans any amount of poor play, perhaps the Twins should contact Terry Steinbach to see if he still wants to catch? He's still hanging around New Ulm and was a hell of player back in the 1990s. He might have something left in the tank...
  7. Road trip
    That didn't take long... only 3 games after Julien is sent down we have the dreaded "Farmer starts vs right-handed pitcher" scenario. Add in Lewis on the bench and I think I'll find something else to do tonight.
  8. Road trip
    Yes, Ramirez has a decent shot, and he shouldn't be overlooked. Right now he probably makes the "Hall of Very Good". JAWS and the BRef HOF monitor don't seem to love him, but he's young enough yet that a few more good seasons could get him in. He's one of those opposing players that I absolutely don't want to face with the game on the line.
  9. Road trip
    That's fair. The bullpen has mostly been pretty good, and thankfully the FO has been willing to swap out pitchers who were not working out (Jackson). I'm still not certain I trust Okert, and I had hoped Funderburk would be a little better. Bullpen losses are somehow more viscerally painful, but every team gets a few of those.
  10. Road trip
    Well, Cleveland is on a pace to win 107. In MLB history, only 8 teams have won that many, and they were all chock full of Hall of Famers. Cleveland likely has...idk, probably 0 obvious HOF caliber players. Also, all but two of those 107+ win teams pre-date the expansion era. Could Cleveland finish strong and win like 95-98 games? Yeah, I think that is possible. If that happens the Twins won't catch them.
  11. Road trip
    The good news: No chance Cleveland maintains this pace. The less good news: I kinda doubt the Twins maintain their torrid pace in one-run games. Even when Lewis comes back to form, I think the Twins offense is simply going to be mediocre or slightly better. Too many poor hitters (Vazquez, Santana, Margot, Farmer) with limited upside getting too many plate appearances. The starters have been a relatively pleasant surprise. Pablo hasn't quite met expectations, but SWR has certainly exceeded them. Must keep them all healthy! The bullpen certainly hasn't been "best in the league", or even close. Hopefully Alcala will be part of the answer for the duration of the season, and I hope Stewart's return comes soon, although the lack of recent updates is troubling. The bullpen is the spot where I have more hope for improvement. Defense is what it is. Buxton and Correa are outstanding. Kepler and Santana are good. Everything else is kind of meh.
  12. Road trip
    I suspect its Kepler for the high leverage at bat (good call)... Julien hitting for Margot shortly, Kepler to RF.
  13. Road trip
    Lots of borderline AAA/MLB catchers out there for backup duty. Sandy Leon just signed a deal with the Royals. Grandal to the Pirates recently. Curt Casali to the Giants a couple of weeks ago. Jorge Alfaro has an opt-out on June 1 with the Red Sox. Mike Zunino retired in March after nobody picked him up... bet he'd welcome a call. Are any of them better than Vazquez? Likely not. But they will all play for close to MLB minimum.
  14. Road trip
    Should they? Yes, assuming Kepler finishes a solid year. Sometimes you have to be willing to "spend money to make money". Possible outcomes/options: A. Losing Kepler as a FA without the qualifying offer is just that, a net loss in team assets. B. Losing Kepler as a FA after making a qualifying offer is basically neutral, and clearly positive to option A, as the draft pick has a value that *might* eventually offset the loss of Kepler. C. If the offer is accepted, keeping Kepler for 20ish million may seem like a bit of an overpay, but is still likely preferable to option A. The Twins have frequently paid players in the 5-10mil range that frankly were just not good or were injury prone. Might as well double the amount and get a reasonably sure thing. D. Not discussed (and extremely unlikely) would be signing Kepler to a longer deal. He's likely too old and expensive, with the next generation of outfielders likely ready by 2026. Will they make the qualifying offer? Hard to say at this time. I think its a little unlikely given their sudden reluctance to spend. Kepler seems well-liked by the fan base, but I don't perceive that he is loved like a Hrbek or Kirby. If he leaves he would be mourned a little by fans but they would move on to cheering for the next right fielder.
  15. Road trip
    If he stays with the Twins, it'll likely be some combination of 1B and DH, as I doubt Royce moves off of 3B. For either of those bat-first spots, Miranda's hitting will need to continue to show improvement to be a significant asset. His likely path to regular playing time may come via a trade to another team that really needs to upgrade their 3B. His bat will play there, and his defense likely grades as adequate. While I like Miranda in many respects he could bring back a valuable return to fill any of the Twins many holes.
  16. Road trip
    How can anyone believe Okert is a superior option vs continuing with SWR? Madness, even if it works.
  17. Road trip
    Many, many things have gone wrong this year. Injuries, poor hitting, odd playing time decisions. But for me the top of the list is a disappointing bullpen. I knew there would be injuries, because that's what the Twins always seem to have. I suspected the hitting would be middle of the pack at best, especially once Lewis was injured. Odd lineups? Well, yeah, Rocco's gonna Rocco, and the front office brought in a bunch of very marginal vet bats (Santana, Margot). But the bullpen...yeah, like many I thought they would finally be pretty solid. Nope, even Duran has had issues. On the positive side, the starting pitching at least has exceeded my expectations, at least at the back of the rotation (Pablo has regressed, obviously).
  18. Road trip
    Santana killed the Twins back in the teens, sure. He may be a good, even great teammate... I certainly can't judge that. His glove is probably solidly above average yet. I'd have loved to have Santana circa 2015. I'd have liked Santana circa 2018. But it's 2024. He's 38. Father Time is undefeated. I'm not sure it even looks like a decent signing now. I'll wager it'll look bad again by July, especially if he continues to get the majority of his AB's against right handed pitchers.
  19. Road trip
    Ouch, I mean, yes, he has thrown to the wrong base multiple times (lack of experience in LF) and doesn't seem to get a great jump on balls. But worst? Worse than Sano in RF? Worse than Delmon Young? Robbie Grossman? Worse than Ben Revere 4-hop throws to the cutoff man? And that's just in the past twenty or so years. Back to St Paul, yes, Martin's the logical person to send down at this point, but it is too early to lose hope for further development. He will have to hit much better to be a contributor. He may still get there, or he may not.
  20. Road trip
    I saw the article picture on the main page and immediately thought "Gaetti wearing #2"?? It just immediately looked wrong. I'd never seen the Hrbek and Winfield combo card before. That's kinda cool. Fleer did some interesting things in their short run..
  21. Road trip
    Great question. You inspired me to look it up: Killebrew, Kaat, Mauer, Oliva, Hrbek, Alison, Pascual (counting some years in Washington), Bush, Carew, Guardado, Hunter, Perkins, Puckett, Radke, Aguilera, Blyleven, Cuddyer, Hocking, Morneau, Buxton, Gaetti, Gagne, Perry, Polanco, Reese, and Smalley all got to 10 years or more. A couple of those names really surprised me. The vast majority of these guys are in the Twins HOF.
  22. Road trip
    Can't pass up the opportunity to bring up the 1987 Joe Niekro emory board incident, a great moment in Twins history... He was at the end of an illustrious ball scuffing career, and one of several desperation retreads the Twins tried that year (also a 60 year old Steve Carlton). Watch the video, smile, and be happy 😁
  23. Road trip
    That 2013-2015 run was brutal...and belongs to the previous front office.
  24. Road trip
    I dunno, Martin had to dive to get a glove on it. Not sure I've ever seen that scored an error. Now he may have gotten a poor jump... that I don't know.
  25. Road trip
    I don't personally believe that a pitcher must be drafted in order to "pipeline-qualify", but the draft record hasn't been terrible. They've hit on one or two good/useful pitchers every year that remain with the club: 2016: Jax 2017: Ober 2018: Sands, Funderburk, 2019: Varland 2020: only 5 rounds, weird Covid draft, anything more recent is too soon to judge. Meanwhile, they used a bunch of high picks to grab Lewis, Jeffers, Larnach, Julien, Miranda, Kirilloff, and Wallner. Sure, there have been some misses too, but I'm reluctant to complain too much about the draft and development record of this front office. I've seen worse eras.
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