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Road trip

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Everything posted by Road trip

  1. Road trip
    Soto...wow... is this a typo? "a 17.1 inch horizontal break on his changeup"??? That would be elite even at the MLB level.
  2. Road trip
    Arguably the most pleasant surprise of 2024. I expected him to be only a "break glass in case of emergency" starter this year. Well, the glass broke, and he has surpassed all expectations. Here's hoping he has another good two months this year.
  3. Road trip
    Twins are forced to pick between two unappealing lefty options at this point. You could make an argument for Thielbar being more effective, or you could make an argument for Okert. Neither has been good this year. Frankly, I trust neither. At this point I'd rather just go with the best available right-hander, platoon splits be damned.
  4. Road trip
    Really early for this discussion, but I'll be surprised if Santana fits into the budget next year. Heck, many on here think Castro won't be back because of the raise he will get as an arbitration eligible player. If money is tight, they have to keep Castro, Duran, and other young but increasingly expensive players over a soon-to-be 39 year old Santana. If somehow the Pohlads get lucky and hit the lottery 😁, maybe then the Twins can bring everyone back.
  5. Road trip
    Exceptional game for Julien last night, if you ignore some outcomes (two hard hit outs) and look at the process. With a bit more luck he'd have been 3 for 3 with a walk. Solid glove work as well, nearly bailing out Santana from his error (alas, followed by another error from Zebby). Was it an outlier....blind hog finds an acorn, or the start of a trend? Too soon to know. However it is the first sign of hope in a very long time.
  6. Road trip
    With Boras for an agent, I think Kirilloff would be told to sign elsewhere were the Twins to non-tender him, even if it were another MiLB offer, and he would almost certainly get those.
  7. Road trip
    Jax has been very good, indeed. MVP? Tough to give it to a reliever. Having said that, the Twins are incredibly balanced and get contributions from a wide variety of players. The established stars (Buxton and Correa) do just barely lead the team in BWAR, but with both of them currently injured it is entirely possible that the Twins will win 90+ games without having a single player reach 3.5 WAR. That's amazing. So, sure, Jax is in the discussion for the team MVP, along with a dozen other players.
  8. Road trip
    Not a standard lhp lineup 😵 M Margot (R) CF C Santana (S) 1B M Kepler (L) RF R Lewis (R) DH J Miranda (R) 3B M Wallner (L) LF K Farmer (R) SS R Jeffers (R) C E Julien (L) 2B
  9. Road trip
    Never have I attended a game in any sport to watch the umpires. At best they are invisible. More often they detract from the experience. The human elements are the players. The arguments in favor of human umpires is akin to saying that food isn't as good because farmers now use tractors instead of horses and oxen.
  10. Road trip
    If 1 WAR is worth $8 million, Margot is worth -4.8 million this year. I'm not a financial advisor, but that seems like a poor investment.
  11. Road trip
    Sigh... a few days of rest for Correa has turned into quite a few weeks. Hope Buxton isn't heading down the same road but the Twins are the Twins and I no longer expect any player to return soon. https://www.si.com/mlb/twins/minnesota-twins-injuries/byron-buxton-lands-on-the-injured-list-because-of-hip-pain-01j5bx1zfzb8
  12. Road trip
    Agreed... Lee is off the charts defensively, apparently no matter where he plays in the infield. But he's not a normal MLB player. It would be nice to have a team full of Brooks Lee's to spread around the diamond, but unfortunately a tiny percentage of MLB players fit this mold at such a young age. Hopefully his bat will be adequate soon at this level.
  13. Road trip
    Over the course of his career (which is now a pretty good sample size), Castro is roughly an equal hitter vs right and left handed pitching (.707 vs .701 OPS). This is actually a good thing, especially for a utility player. Currently he's struggling a bit against lefties, but 38 at bats is a blip in a career that already has totaled nearly 1800. He'll make adjustments, and will likely continue to be at least the hitter he has been in the past. He might even continue to improve a bit.
  14. Road trip
    The key problem is bolded. Royce has barely played 3b and is still learning and becoming comfortable in the position. In unfortunately typical Twins fashion they almost never played him at 3b in the minors (a mere 15 games). It is little wonder that even Miranda looks better right now at 3b, as he has played it much more. However Royce appears to be the superior athlete, and likely will become a better fielder at 3b as he gains experience. His arm is strong enough and his range is adequate, so there is no reason he can't become an above average defender there with a little more work and experience. Think back to Koskie, who was brutal when young but eventually became an above average fielder at 3b. Royce should be more than capable of the same evolution so long as he stays healthy.
  15. Road trip
    This is exactly what I was thinking. Zebby is now going to need a 40-man spot this winter, as he can't be removed with out losing him. There is a real cost to this promotion. Yes, he was likely going to be added at some point next year, but that could have been done after spring training. Twins now have one less roster spot to play with this winter as they decide who will be protected. Having said that, if Zebby is the best possible option to start on Tuesday (and perhaps beyond) then I can't argue with the decision. Twins have a pretty good chance at making the postseason, but they may need every win they can get.
  16. Road trip
    I think it is a lot of #3, with sequencing and pinch-hitting strategy. Setting up a lineup to try to trap bullpen arms into unfavorable platoon scenarios via pinch-hitting seems to be his primary in-game tactic. It works wonderfully (sarcasm... see Margot's pinch-hitting numbers). The right handed corollary to this article would be "Why does Margot always lead off vs LHP?", when it seems Willi Castro is better suited to the role, and has a higher OPS than Margot against lefties (.766 vs .728). Yet Castro usually finds himself in the bottom third of the lineup vs lefties. Go figure...🤔
  17. Road trip
    Somehow, both teams could be losers on this trade. Mariners got a mostly ineffective and injured Polanco, failing to fill their infield hole, while adding a decent sized salary to their payroll. Twins traded an asset for... well, it is starting to look like nothing. Maybe Gonzalez or Bowen will be better next year. Sometimes prospects don't develop, and veteran players always eventually succumb to injuries and/or Father Time. Looks like that is what has happened here.
  18. Road trip
    Well done Farmer, but failing to ph for Margot is a mystery to me.
  19. Road trip
    Yup, gonna have to use some of the good relievers this game unless the offense puts up some more runs.
  20. Road trip
    At the rate things are going the Twins might need both.
  21. Road trip
    That was the narrative for a while, but he's been slumping lately. His season OPS against lefties is now down to .709, which is just slightly below league average. But I get playing him, because if you don't use him vs lefties what purpose does he serve?
  22. Road trip
    Think that makes 10 guys who would normally be on our 40-man roster that are now on the IL, including 6 - 7 pitchers who were expected to be on the MLB club back in March (Duarte being a borderline case). Tough run of luck, but its almost become normal.
  23. Road trip
    Apparently "TBD" throws left-handed... M Margot (R) LF B Buxton (R) CF R Lewis (R) DH J Miranda (R) 3B C Santana (S) 1B R Jeffers (R) C M Kepler (L) RF W Castro (S) SS B Lee (S) 2B
  24. Road trip
    These are all unfortunate choices. Farmer's performance fell off a cliff. Had he repeated his 2023 line he would be a perfectly adequate utility infielder....but he didn't, and likely won't going forward. MLB pitchers pretty quickly figured out how to exploit Lee's weaknesses as a hitter. He has some things to work on, and didn't get all that many at bats at AAA (237, to be exact). A little more time there would probably help his long term development. Martin isn't very good defensively anywhere, but he's kinda sorta adequate at several positions, if you accept below average play as adequate. He runs well though, seems to take intelligent at bats, and his hitting has been roughly equivalent of Lee's thus far. Like Lee, he hasn't had a ton of at bats in AAA (267). One of these guys is gonna play pretty much every day in the middle infield until Correa gets back....someday, hopefully very soon, but that's just hope. None of them would be considered solid MLB starters at this point. Lee is likely the closest to this (if healthy), so I'd keep him up and rotate him with Farmer at 2b/SS. I guess that means Martin goes down until Sept 1.
  25. Road trip
    I can accept the need to rest pitchers and limit innings because pitching styles have evolved (more spin, max velocity). I have a much harder time accepting the substantial rest days for all of the hitters when they are healthy. Castro and Santana are the only Twins that are pretty certain to surpass the 400 AB mark this year (Kepler might). The 1991 Twins had every starter surpass this mark except for Pagliarulo, who was platooning with Leius.... and most of the starters blew way past 400 ABs. This was in an era when weight lifting and training was in its infancy, "nutrition" was whatever they felt like eating, and postgame beers in the clubhouse were a standard practice. Heck, most of the players on that team were in their early 30s, and they still managed the daily grind just fine and continued to play for many more years. I'm not blaming the individual players here, as it isn't their decision. However I do wonder about how training methods are leading to all of these injuries, and the resulting belief that 5 games a week is all a position player can handle.
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