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Road trip

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Everything posted by Road trip

  1. Road trip
    3B is troublesome, but I don't know that it demands a trade this month, especially considering the candidates are marginal improvements with a low ceiling (Urias) or crazy expensive (Suarez, 15 million). Keep trotting Lee and Lewis out there. If both of them continue to flounder just stick Castro there most of the time. Castro soon won't be needed at 2b at all (Clemens and Keaschell by July), and I'm perfectly comfortable giving most corner outfield starts to Wallner, Larnach, and Bader. Of course, someone(s) will get hurt and render all of this planning pointless... I am a bit concerned about lack of hitting depth at AAA. ERod is hurt again, and the Twins apparently think McCusker is a mirage and not worthy of a real try out.
  2. Road trip
    Recency bias is a terribly powerful thing. Five months ago many were hoping to shed Paddack's salary for a semi-prospect, or a backup outfielder, or a bag of baseballs.. Two months ago many were hoping Paddack would perform well enough to be dealt to a desperate contender at the trade deadline. Five weeks ago we just hoped Paddack would be able to go longer than 4 innings in a competent start... because his April really wasn't all that encouraging. His ERA at the end of April was 5.60, and he never threw more than 5 innings. Recently... well he's had a great run in May. Longer starts, few runs allowed, and at times he's looked dominant. I didn't expect this. I don't think anyone did. It's been great. I hope it continues. But I don't expect it will... If some semi-desperate exec who needs a starter thinks this is a new Chris Paddack and makes a great offer... well, we best take it. Chris Paddack has a long track record and a significant injury history. He may continue his great run, but I suspect before the end of the year he will revert to being the same Chris Paddack he has been for the past half dozen years, which means a mediocre starter, and quite possibly injured. But I'll certainly be rooting for him... I just won't mind if he's traded for fair or better value.
  3. Road trip
    Back to the original topic... I like it. Sano was actually a FAR more established player when the Twins sent him to Ft Myers. He already had three years of mostly full time play when healthy, with well over a thousand plate appearances of pretty good, sometimes great hitting. It didn't work short term in 2018, but he was quite good the following year. Maybe it felt more like a "special spring training reboot" than a demotion to AAA? Lewis meanwhile still hasn't hit 700 MLB plate appearances, and the last 300 or so haven't been inspiring. Despite a brilliant start Lewis never really reached the "established MLB player" threshold. Sending Lewis to Ft Myers might work, might not, but at this point how could it hurt to try?
  4. Road trip
    I'm with you on the #64, but Jack Morris, Cory Koskie, and Francisco Liriano strongly object to throwing any shade on #47. Yeah, I'm also a uniform number geek...
  5. Road trip
    Paddack is at absolute peak value right now. Nothing in his track record suggests his frankly amazing 5 game streak is sustainable. If something like Paddack plus a prospect such as Raya can bring an impact bat that is controllable beyond this year.... well, go for it.
  6. Road trip
    I wish him the best, and hope for the best, but he's not a "freak" athlete anymore. Some combination of injuries and his body's natural maturing curve have taken that away. He's bulked up, but at the cost of 2 or 3 or 5 steps of speed. His movements have lost their smoothness and gracefulness. None of that is his fault, but his job (and his coaches jobs) now is to adjust to what he can and can't do and figure out how to be successful going forward. As others have mentioned, AAA may be the best place for this to take place, be it three weeks or three months.
  7. Road trip
    I strangely thought, perhaps, that McCusker might get a start on get-away day. Nope. I didn't expect McCusker would play much given Baldelli's past practices, and goodness knows he hasn't shown much in very limited opportunities, but getting only 5 AB over the last dozen days is going to create a layer of rust rarely seen outside an abandoned industrial park.
  8. Road trip
    After the pitchers and Buxton, I guess Jeffers would have a chance. Raleigh is clearly the best catcher in the league, but after that you have to look a little. Rutschman has been a bust this year for Baltimore. Perez rarely catches anymore for KC, and hasn't been good this year either. Narvaez has been surprisingly good for Boston, but he's unknown and doesn't have a track record indicating he will continue to hit. I suppose Langeliers may be Oakland's Sacramento's lone rep. Gotta figure the AL will take three catchers, and you could argue that Jeffers is as deserving as any of the candidates, especially if he would manage a nice little hot streak in June.
  9. Road trip
    Hm.... so he's abandoned his only pitch that drops, as well as his off-speed stuff (change and curve)? Avg speeds of his pitches weren't listed and I assume the 4-seemer is a few mph faster than the cutter and slider, but still, this seems like a mix that is going to struggle to succeed more than one time through a lineup. Long term, most starters need to at least threaten to throw a slower pitch to keep batters honest unless their fastball is just overpowering.
  10. Road trip
    On the "good story side": Glen Perkins. 1st rounder, failed as a starter but an all star reliever. On the "I can't wait till he gets here...whoops that didn't work out side": Jordan Balazovic On the "He sure figured out how to pitch after we gave up side": Liam Hendricks
  11. Road trip
    A few of other top names from the past worth consideration... Michael Cuddyer just barely sneaks into this century. He was a top prospect, considered a 3B in the minors but moved all over the diamond in the majors. He's almost certainly the UTIL player if we were to add one to the list. Denard Span - A better career than Hicks, but perhaps not quite as highly touted a prospect? Both were 1st rounders. Wilson Ramos was considered a top prospect at catcher. While certainly not of Mauer's pedigree, there was some discussion of moving one of them off catcher until Ramos was traded to Washington. Of course, shortly after that Mauer HAD to move off of catcher... bad timing. Ramos was another one of those "what might have been" guys whose promising career was largely derailed by injuries.
  12. Road trip
    McCusker will be back in AAA very soon, as a pending roster crunch is coming with Correa, Buxton, and Wallner all returning (we think). I don't think the Twins management ever intended this first trip to the majors to be a long one. I'd have liked to have seen more, but I've seen the Twins do this so many times that it doesn't surprise me. If McCusker continues to rake at AAA he will get a longer tryout at the major league level. It might be later this year if outfielders get hurt, or it might be next year. It's also possible that he will be traded in the off season. Someone will give him a chance if he continues to destroy AAA pitching. Then it'll be up to him, as his age and profile dictates that the chance will be somewhat brief when it arrives (unless he ends up someplace like Pittsburgh or Colorado...noncontenders can afford a long leash). I'll be interested to watch when it happens. McCusker is such an outlier in physical profile that I don't quite know what to expect from him, unlike other career minor leaguers like Fitzgerald or Bride who perfectly look the profile of "journeyman infielder". McCusker will probably never get 500 career at bats in the majors, but there is this small chance that he's a unicorn. That's part of what makes baseball fun.
  13. Road trip
    I can accept that... but if this is largely based on prospect potential then I wonder why not Brooks Lee or Keaschall over Dozier? Dozier was a great development success story, in part because he was a mid round draft pick and never really made prospect lists.
  14. Road trip
    The inclusion of Jenkins is a bit jarring amongst all the other big leaguers. It's just too soon to know if Jenkins will become a solid major leaguer. He could become the next Kirby Puckett if he develops, or the next David McCarty if he doesn't. I'd substitute Kepler who as I recall was always considered a very strong prospect. This is a sobering list to read. Mauer and Morneau reached their potential, prior to the concussions. Dozier was never really a top prospect so he exceeded expectations. The rest... well, they didn't quite reach expectations due to injuries or other reasons. A small-mid market teams has to grow their own players. I don't know that we can consider this a success story.
  15. Road trip
    France is my old '79 Dodge Omni. Not fast, not powerful, not safe, and most certainly not sexy. But it was cheap, it was reasonably dependable, and for several years it was all I could afford. There was value there, if you accepted all the limitations. I replaced the Omni when I could afford something better. I don't know when or if the Twins will reach that point for 1B.
  16. Road trip
    Weather forecast looks pretty wet for this entire series... maybe can sneak in a game tonight, and then a double-header Wednesday? Tuesday looks hopeless.. 🤔
  17. Road trip
    Agree. Given our dearth of options give him a few starts. How does his defense grade out? I've read so much about his bat, but haven't seen much about his defense. In the field is he more like fleet footed Aaron Judge or the statuesque Josh Willingham? If he can play a passable corner outfield I'd hope to see him starting in the field tonight against the lefty pitcher. If not, I guess I'd like to see him at DH.
  18. Road trip
    Glad the Twins kept them both, even if it could be argued that neither contract has worked out as fans and management would have hoped. Like others, I question the premise though. Take a look at the top 25 all time WAR leaders at Baseball Reference. Stars have been moved or traded from the beginning of MLB, with very few staying with one franchise. Among the Top25 traded from before the free agent era: Babe Ruth, Cy Young, Tris Speaker, Honus Wagner, Rogers Hornsby, Eddie Collins, Grover Alexander, Frank Robinson, Nap Lajoie, Lefty Grove. Great players who stayed with one franchise have always kind of been an anomaly. Most of them were Yankees, Dodgers, Cardinals, or members of other relatively wealthy franchises. Even all time Twin Harmon finished with the Royals.
  19. Road trip
    Neither is terribly likely to become the next Brent Rooker or LaMonte Wade, but both appear to rather desperately need a chance with a new organization. Whatever the Twins coaches have tried hasn't worked very well. Neither will bring a lot in a trade at this point, but hopefully the Twins can find another organization that has some similar slightly broken parts they would be willing to exchange, lottery ticket for lottery ticket.
  20. Road trip
    One would have thought so, but it's Julien who lost the spot, for now at least. The home run at Fenway was likely peak Clemens with the Twins. It was a good moment, to be sure. Clemens, Bride, Gasper... all will likely be in a different (minor league) uniform in 2026. "Enjoy" them while we've got them?
  21. Road trip
    So at first glance it appears the Twins are giving up on Julien (age 26) so they can keep journeymen infielders Bride (age 29) and Clemens (age 29). Yup, that's standard operating procedure for a FO that values veteran mediocrity for their position players. For all his many flaws, Julien has accumulated far more career WAR than either Clemens or Bride.
  22. Road trip
    Could do worse than imitating Cleveland (Hello Colorado!), to whatever degree the Twins do... Twins are a somewhat larger market than Cleveland, sure, but neither franchise is ever gonna spend like that Dodgers/Yankees/Mets/etc so they are more similar than different. Pitching development has been good. Position player development has struggled, as much due to injuries as bad identification of talent. Throw in a little veteran dumpster diving as a difference compared to Cleveland (hint: They rarely do it with their lineup, the Twins seem to specialize in it) Want to improve the team? Invest that spare change rolling around the Pohlad's couch in the best training staff that money can buy instead of spending it on a Margot/Gallo/Farmer type of player. Seriously, a significant portion of our lineup and our best hitting prospects were on the IL, again, for what seems like the 5th year in a row, before we even got to May. Find a way to prevent the rash of soft tissue injuries that are suddenly endemic to the franchise. That's the next competitive niche or baseball breakthrough to be pursued. It may well cost millions, but it'll be millions well spent if it keeps Buxton, Royce, Wallner, Jenkins, ERod, etc, etc, etc on the field and off the IL. This ain't football, but I swear the Vikings lose fewer players in a month of play.
  23. Road trip
    Given the options, I guess France was the best of an extraordinarily bad group of healthy position players. I'd suggest vacating the award for April, with hope that there is some actual qualified competition for it in May.
  24. Road trip
    He's been good. In April. So was Joey Gallo in 2023. Actually, Bader's bat was only exceptionally good through April 8 or so and mediocre since. Small sample sizes beware. His glove is possibly better than advertised though, and that's saying something.
  25. Road trip
    I agree with those who dislike seeing all the AAAA players in the lineup. Problem is right now there are a LOT of AAAA players on the roster. Heck, many here thought Lee and France were not deserving of roster spots coming out of spring training. Yet...with Wallner hurt, they are currently our two most productive hitters. It's a bad squad of position players right now. Really bad. Exceptionally good pitching and getting all of our injured players healthy for the duration of the year (both slim hopes) could save the season, but the position players we are currently rostering are a major weakness. We can rail against Rocco (which I do too), but he has almost nothing but bad and underperforming options right now to fill out the lineup card. Blame really should go to the FO.
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