Aerodeliria

I've been sort of 'meh' on Kepler for quite a while. I remember in 2019, the hitting coaches were trying to get Kepler to hit to center and somewhat to the left side. It appeared to be working. At some point after that, this idea was trashed for some reason and he reverted to dead pull hitting once again. It's a pity because I thought he would eventually be a about a .270 hitter and hit about 25 home runs each year. His defending has also dropped off a bit as well, but he's much better than the alternatives.

Four ⭐⭐⭐⭐ review!

Nick Gordon for all of his charisma is a hitter with poor plate discipline and in the field, a jack of all trades, but really a master of none of them--except maybe 2nd. Unfortunately for Nick, these types of players are available if not in spades at least in clubs. I don't see the downside to DFAing him at this point because even as trade bait, what would you get in return?

Even if Maeda returns after the 15 day IL, they need to pay closer attention to his form. Clearly something was askance in his delivery to the plate in his last appearance. I don't want Mahle to be indefinitely injured because then I'll start imagining that the Reds screwed us just like the Giants did with Dyson...

Hard pass on all of these options. Correa will make people forget their complaints once the weather warms. We have short memories. We're flush with starters? We just lost two of them and Lopez has looked shaky in consecutive starts.

Dittos!

+100 but his fastball had very little movement.

Good win! I hope Mahle not on the IL for an extended period of time. Starters are dropping like flies. BTW, I noticed that the Royals pitchers did not throw a single fastball to Miranda. Maybe the MLB rumor mill says he can only hit fastballs well? Has anyone heard anything about this?

I think we have short memories if we say that Maeda has been trash since returning. He struck out nine in 5 & 1/3 against the Marlins in his first outing. Unfortunately, the Twins couldn't muster a run in that game. I think it's much more plausible that he is actually injured and at the very least be put on the 10/15-day IR or even the 60 if it's the elbow problem.

He has two wins against the Empire. I give him a deep bow just for that alone.

I finally figured out what fantasy baseball is. Don't wake me up please.

I like their chances...even though I often complain. I am eating a plate of crow here because I really didn't believe that Baldelli would let starters come close to hitting 100 pitches...he seems to have abandoned the idea that twice through the opposing team's line-up means that the pitcher probably needs to come out if there is even a whiff of trouble. Granted, the starting pitching quality is looking pretty good. The pitching looks good-to-go for now--the bullpen could be better, but I am not complaining yet. I looked again at the games against the Yankees. No walks again today. That's how we can beat them. In the four wins, I think we have issued two walks. In the one big loss, six walks. As for the hitting, it has kind of been all or nothing. I am still high on Larnach because he gets on base even when he is slumping a bit. I have been all in on Gallo as soon as we grabbed him. He's good on defense and he gets a ton of walks. He is also still feared by opposing pitchers, and when he does get a pitch he can handle, it usually means 'runs.' I can live with the strikeouts. Michael Taylor has performed better than expected and has surprised me with his power. Is he good at bunting? I'd like to see him on 1st base more often because he seems to be an exceptional base-runner. Correa has been disappointing thus far, but he did almost single-handedly win that second game in the Death Star. I recall that he also started very slowly last year (maybe not this slow, but slow). It's good to have Polanco's bat back in the line-up. The catchers have over-performed at the plate. Miranda has not looked good; neither has Gordon; and neither has Kepler. Buxton has been hit and miss, but he hasn't been sidelined, so maybe this strange experiment is working (but I still think it's very strange). Overall, the defense has been better than I expected it would be, but Miranda still looks a bit shakey at 3rd (better than last year?), and amazingly, Kepler hasn't been that sharp in right field. Polanco is a sub-par infielder, but we hate to lose his bat, so we live with it. At least he's not at SS. So, I think the outlook is upbeat. We're going to need someone who can get on base more consistently; otherwise, we live and die by the HR, but 14-10 and taking out the Yankees? I would have never predicted the latter. April has been good indeed! That's my two-yen's worth.

Pretty ugly stuff, but the Twins stayed the course. Gray was (is?) a stud.

I really appreciate these posts about the minor league action and players. I have gleaned so much additional knowledge from the game analyses and from the various posters. Thanks to everyone who has their fingers on the pulse of what is happening. PS-I have been following Rosario for awhile now. I'm not sure why...maybe it's his first name, which I've never heard before (but it may be a common Hawai'ian name for all I know) or his last name, which evokes memories of days gone by.

I think Seth nailed it. He just needs to be a bit more patient. He's not the type of hitter who is going to excel by offering at pitches out of the zone.

Although I mentioned this on the wrong thread, I feel there is no reason to keep Gordon. There are Nick Gordon clones available here and there. He is taking up a spot that could be filled with a more productive option. Bring up Julien. His OBP will be much higher in the long run and you don't lose that much flexibility.

Good question. Maybe I was woozy...it was 2:00 am here, so that's my excuse. (But since you asked, I'm OK with letting him go. Some folks may think there is a higher ceiling on Gordon, but I have strong doubts. He's an impatient hitter and what we need from him is just the opposite.)

DFA? I know it's harsh and I love Gordon's hustle but I dunno, he's just an automatic out.

Demoting Gordon is needed. You lose nothing with Julien except perhaps some of the glove skills (but not that much) and you gain a much more patient hitter. Gordon is flailing. He needs playing time.

I'm sure glad we've faced a lot of those Cy Young candidates already...

LOL! Thanks for covering for my supreme laziness of not searching it myself. I'll say this to the Royals... we're coming for ya!

Look at the BAs. When Gallo is your most consistent hitter, then the Twins are in trouble because they will simply walk him as they have been doing. We must have the worst BA in the league at this point, don't we?

They have this rule now if a reliever comes into a game and pitches poorly but manages to finish the inning and his team rallies in the bottom of the inning and takes the lead and holds it that official scorers can opt to give the W to a different pitcher. Why isn't the reverse true? (It seems quite harsh to give Mae-ken the loss after two innings when Pagan imploded.)

I was all in on Gallo, so I'm excited to see him blasting away. It's kind of fun to have a guy who makes contact less often, but when he does, the ball jumps off of his bat. SSS but the lineup just feels more potent with him on the field.

That was the worst the Twins have played thus far IMHO. After the Twins scored two in the 10th, I was quite surprised it was Moran, who has not done much so far. I actually hoped it would be Pagan. In any case, the Twins were not sharp in the field. Even that fly ball by Verdugo was weird. Kepler jogged over that way nonchalantly, like the ball was going to be 30 rows up in foul territory when clearly he could have made a play even if he thought it was going foul. Maybe he didn't see it well? That was just one of the examples. Boston tried to give us the game, but we refused once too often.