Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

arby58

Verified Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,516

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    8

 Content Type 

Profiles

News

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospects Ranking

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by arby58

  1. arby58
    It's the right move - both Funderburk and Sands are part of the Twins future, and Bowman much less so. I sort of expected Funderburk to do well and have been pleasantly surprised by Sands. Perhaps the idea of sending Sands down to 'stretch him out' has some merit, although Sands might be following a long line of so-so starters who did well coming out of the pen. Speaking of so-so starters, Louie Varland's first start at St. Paul went pretty well - 5 IP, 1 ER, 4 hits, 1 walk, 5 Ks.
  2. arby58
    White Sox had just swept the Rays.
  3. arby58
    Santana has 4 HRs in the last 5 games - maybe you're jumping the gun a little? The season doesn't end after the first 30 games, it's just beginning. Martin has a grand total of 62 at bats in MLB and around 250 at AAA - he's still got room to grow. For the good things he did while up, it worked out to a -0.1 WAR. MLB isn't a development league.
  4. arby58
    Count me among the surprised as well. It's the right move - he needs to keep playing every day. That said, 16 runs scored in 22 games is a lot, and 6 doubles in 62 at bats is pretty good as well. It's nice to have some more speed in the line-up - no doubt he will be back.
  5. arby58
    Santana now has home runs in three consecutive games - laugh all you want, Boof.
  6. arby58
    That's exactly what happened last night, when Julien pinch hit for Farmer in the 7th and Kepler for Margot in the 8th.
  7. arby58
    The underlying stats are really bad, which makes you wonder if it is fixable. Of course, Max Kepler looked really bad until his recent return, and now he looks much better.
  8. arby58
    It's hard to believe ANY option could be worse than Varland so far. The stats are mind-boggling bad: 0-4 record in 4 starts, just 16.2 innings pitched, 27 hits, 6 home runs, 9 walks, an ERA north of 9, and a WHIP north of 2.
  9. arby58
    You generally expect pitching to be ahead of hitting early in the season, with the cooler weather and hitters not having seen individual pitchers much. I'll feel more comfortable about the BP when Duran, Thielbar, and Topa return. The good news is those three (if healthy) shouldn't wear down as much later in the season - and some useful depth can get stashed back in St. Paul.
  10. arby58
    The Twins value position flexibility, which suggests to me it is Miranda or Martin. Probably Miranda since he's been up before.
  11. arby58
    These guys do plenty of stretching - go to any game early and you'll see most of the players on the field at one time or another doing stretching. Early in the season is always more difficult - the ramp up effect, cooler weather, for starters - and the Twins weren't the only team to have key players go down yesterday. In fact, CBS Sports recap headline read "MLB Opening Day 2024 winners and losers: Dodgers, Juan Soto, lefties have standout day, but injuries stack up."
  12. arby58
    Varland has upped innings each of the last three years - 103-143-150 - but I think 180 is where he would top out this year. Agree on Lopez - he threw 194 last year and 180 the year before. I've said many times I think Ober will have a break out year. He threw a combined 167 last year, so the range seems about right. Ryan threw 161 last year and 147 the year before, so the range seems reasonable. Paddock, though - I'm thinking getting anything over 100 is gravy.
  13. arby58
    I subscribe to Trade Rumors, and one of their experts was asked to rank the 'top 4' in pitchers in starting rotations in the American League. His answer: For simplicity’s sake, I’m going with RosterResource top 4s and throwing in a few contenders: Mariners: Castillo-Gilbert-Kirby-Miller (and I love Bryan Woo too!) Twins: Lopez-Ryan-Ober-Paddack (and I love Louie Varland too!) Blue Jays: Gausman-Berrios-Bassitt-Kikuchi Rangers second half: deGrom-Scherzer-Eovaldi-Gray/Mahle I’m pretty easily taking the Mariners for the best top-four rotation in the AL. I do think the Twins’ rotation is sneaky-good.
  14. arby58
    It just isn't that big or that fat a zero. No team hits on every acquisition, and he was third of four players that matter in the trade for Polanco. It's akin to counting paperclips.
  15. arby58
    Maybe wait to see how the trade works out, at least until they actually start playing real games? The 'needed to add a starter' relies on tunnel vision about how a team roster can be made up to win. They went deeper on relief pitchers, and teams with really good relief pitching can win a lot of games. It still feels like they have at least 5 decent starting pitchers - more than a lot of teams that are considered contenders.
  16. arby58
    Desclafani was not the primary return for Polanco, and suggesting 'the whole deal is looking like a fiasco' during Spring Training is jumping the gun a whole lot. My guess is Topa will be relied on even more so now that Duran is down, and Gonzalez is generally considered one of the Twins' top five prospects. This reminds me of fans who declared the Lopez trade last year a 'fiasco' when Arraez was hitting .400 and Lopez started off struggling a bit. Seemed to work out ok for the Twins.
  17. arby58
    There are various maps of MLB influence you can find with a basic Google search. It doesn't look to me like these other teams 'basically get to claim Iowa.' It is more about geographic location - northern Iowa shows up as more aligned with the Twins, and, not surprisingly, southern Iowa is more aligned with the Royals, while eastern Iowa is likely to be with the Cubs or Cardinals (again depending on proximity). It is also notable that the Cubs AAA farm team is in Des Moines, which will create some affinity. Besides, we're talking Iowa here - it's a state of 3.1 million population, which is hardly more than a blip on a media market map (and I live there, so I should know).
  18. arby58
    I posted elsewhere, since the Rays joined MLB in 1998, only 5 teams have won the World Series more than once. The Yankees and Red Sox had the most (4) and the Giants had 3, the Astros and Cards 2 each. Nobody else has more than one - including the Dodgers and Braves and other large market teams (Phillies, Cubs, White Sox). It's just not that easy to 'emulate the winners' - and last year's three largest payrolls (Mets, Yankees, Padres) not only didn't win the World Series, they didn't even make the play-offs. There's no 'secret sauce' - but being competitive, making the play-offs most years is far superior to the alternative.
  19. arby58
    This 'Rocco pull after five innings' claim has got to stop. The Twins starters were at or near the top of baseball in 2023 in average length of start for starting pitchers.
  20. arby58
    The difference is they traded away players they were about to lose (or likely lose) via free agency. That is not Royce Lewis. That is more what the Twins did with Polanco.
  21. arby58
    Since 1998, 16 teams have won the World Series, meaning almost half of MLB teams (14) have not (yes, Twins and Rays are among the 14). Interestingly, only 5 teams in that time period have won more than one - Yankees and Red Sox 4 each, Giants 3, and Astros and Cardinals with 2 - so it's not as if there are major dynasties in MLB in terms of championships. The big spending Dodgers have only won once, same with the Braves. The article's premise, that there are lots of ways to win a championship, is correct. Small market, small spending teams have won during this timeframe - such as the Royals, Diamondbacks, and Marlins.
  22. arby58
    I disagree - saying 29 of 30 teams each year are a failure is too extreme for me. I want them to put a competitive product on the field, a team I enjoy watching, and with a realistic chance to keep playing through October. Yes, they won just one series last year, but they were also 1-1 against Houston with a realistic chance to win the next series as well (until their best pitcher laid an egg in game 3). Meanwhile, Royce Lewis did the grand slam thing that had never been done before, young talent emerged that will be exciting to watch, and yes, they won a division, won a play-off series, and were competitive in the series they lost. I don't enjoy baseball only if my team wins the World Series - and if that is all that counts, you're not going to have much enjoyment in your life, whatever team you choose to follow.
  23. arby58
    Actually, the best thing MLB did for it on TV was last year's introduction of the pitch clock. I like to watch Twins games, but some of the interminable cat and mouse games in past years between pitchers stepping off, batters stepping out, pitchers throwing over to first base ad infinitum were akin to watching paint dry. Last year was much better. The influx of great young talent in baseball is real, and I expect the game's popularity to rise with a faster-paced product and young stars. Royce Lewis is the epitome of a young star the Twins can market around - as long as he stays healthy and performs. He is the essence of excitement in a bottle (see last year's grand slams and post-season HRs).
  24. arby58
    Teams have won the World Series 'the bullpen way' so I wouldn't categorically reject the approach. Besides, Sonny Gray was a great pitcher last year and laid an egg in his last start against Houston in a 1-1 series. I'm thinking Lopez-Ober-Ryan is good enough to go into a post-season with reasonable confidence IF the bullpen is lights out.
  25. arby58
    It's worth recalling that last year, Ober started in AAA even though he had a similarly strong spring training as Varland this year. Unless DeSclafani is on the IL, he's going to start for the Twins, and Varland is going to start for the Saints - that is the organization's modus operandi. It worked out pretty well last year when they need to bring Ober up early in the season. It's still worth noting that Varland had his share of struggles during the regular season as a starter last year (and, as noted, spring training games don't mean that much). Some more AAA starts may prove worthwhile.
×
×
  • Create New...