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tony&rodney

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Everything posted by tony&rodney

  1. tony&rodney
    Well Falvey and Baldelli agree with you too, so you are not alone and I'm sure many others also agree with the low pitch count and third time through the order strategy. Matthews had a 9 pitch 4th inning and was looking sharper in that inning. Management is always edgy about extending the pitchers. A counter argument, not currently popular, is that starters often need an inning or three to get their mechanics and pitches lined up. In the 3rd inning Matthews was nibbling too much. Seemed like he was ready to go another couple of innings. However, you are correct that we shouldn't expect a pitcher to go much beyond 80 pitches until they are handsomely paid or well established and then it is 100 and go to the shower. But, hey, maybe Matthews told Baldelli he was gassed and couldn't throw any more pitches or Baldelli didn't want Matthews to face any batters for a third time. A continuing concern I have is how these 80-90 pitch outings wear on a bullpen as the season moves into August and beyond. I'm a strong believer in the Twins bullpen but 4+ relief guys each game is dicey. Hope is works out.
  2. tony&rodney
    Nice win. The strength of the team is definitely pitching. Matthews gives up 2 runs but it seems like 5 because runs are so dear. I think he could have gone two more easily enough. But the bullpen has been rolling so starters come out near 80 pitches unless Pablo is struggling giving up 1 run and even he is pulled at 100 pitches. As long as it works, it works. Whatever.
  3. tony&rodney
    Timing. Raya with 4 innings of no hit, no runs, no walks, 7 strikeouts on 49 pitches today versus a very good hitting Norwalk club. Timing is everything.
  4. tony&rodney
    Clemons has sure been a fine trade. I'm not remembering him looking anything but overmatched in his past MLB appearances. Nice to see the success. He is also playing an adequate second base.
  5. tony&rodney
    Well, selling tickets is important and so we need to give this a pass.
  6. tony&rodney
    Think of it this way, he is a closer. Is Duran useless the first 7 innings? Eventually teams will go to 12 pitchers and guys like Keirsey Jr. will have a job. In any event he is doing the best he can, like Lewis.
  7. tony&rodney
    Keirsey Jr. is a good late inning pinch runner and defensive replacement guy. That has value.
  8. tony&rodney
    Royce was recalled well before he was ready. Drafted #1-1, he can do no wrong. AAA pitchers were totally dominating Lewis much more than the MLB guys are now and his timing, according to Royce himself, was way off. The Twins want Royce up no matter what he does and so he is. Hope he can figure it out.
  9. tony&rodney
    Nothing wrong with Matthews. The position side is weak. Go through the lineups of Detroit, Kansas City, and Cleveland. Consider the bats, gloves, and legs. Would anyone take the Twins position players? There are arguments to make, for sure. Just looking at the game today, KC is better at C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, and probably one outfielder. The Twins will have a shot at a wild card imho; they have a decent team with pretty solid pitching. Players not on the roster now will need to make a difference if the Twins are to win the AL Central. I'm bullish on the Twins. They have a good squad. I'm also realistic.
  10. tony&rodney
    Third time, high stress (not really), yada yada .... .... Matthews could easily throw 110 pitches and might be more effective too. When Lopez gets lifted, automatically, when he reaches 100 pitches there is little chance others are allowed much past 80 in the current design.
  11. tony&rodney
    Rarely, very rarely, read the "funny" articles. Very few of the "just for fun" stories are funny. To be fair, this is likely similar to comedians. About 1% of comedians are actually funny. Take away making fun of people, sexual, racist, religious, gender, and size jokes and you are better off being entertained by the chatter in a grocery store line. Recently I read about a hilarious exchange in a Costco store.
  12. tony&rodney
    In a comment to someone earlier this week I said the same thing ... when. One wonders what Cleveland or Kansas City would do if they had McCusker. However, I'm a Twins fan since 1961 and despite not understanding much of what passes through Falvey or Baldelli's heads, I'm still hoping the team does well. Tough team to watch.
  13. tony&rodney
    Prielipp is likely going to get a week off from competition while working to tweek a couple of his pitches and further refine his delivery. It serves as a rest, recovery, and reset period. We all like to guess so I'm expecting Prielipp to resurface in St. Paul on June 2.
  14. tony&rodney
    I think what you meant to say was Happy Birthday Carson. McCusker is 27 years old today, finally, after being called a 27 year old for the last half year. I tell my mid 30s daughter that she is nearly 40 so it's all good.
  15. tony&rodney
    Hey now, let the young pup live in the present. He is 26 years old for another day.
  16. tony&rodney
    Totally agree. I love Target Field and the North Loop. I was merely trying to lay out the challenges faced with any consideration of a viable dome stadium, cost and space. I do think it is possible to build a stadium that has a roof which can be fully hidden, although it would likely more than double the cost. Yes, I'm a fan of outdoor baseball.
  17. tony&rodney
    The problems were twofold: money and a site with enough space. The city, state, and population did not have an appetite for the outlay for a dome and a more expensive site. The current site where Target Field sits is way too small to include a dome. A dome could be engineered that retracted significantly in order to give views similar to Target Field, but that costs much more. The Metrodome was built on budget, was totally a soulless space, but was spiced up enough and used often. The HHH Dome made money in the final report. My own take is that a futuristic dome that fully retracted out of sight could have been a real boon to the area and used year around. My only beef would have been a desire to have natural turf, which may have been problematic. Target Field is fantastic but rain, snow, and cold weather are alays going to be a thing. From my experiences it seems worse for the players than the fans. But, yah ... it is cold and very wet today.
  18. tony&rodney
    Morris and Prielipp have always been starters in their careers. Some pitchers have a difficult time transitioning to the bullpen because their arms need more than two days to recover before they can throw again. Currently, both pitch once per week which would not work in an MLB bullpen. Watch to see if either of Morris or Prielipp is used differently as the season goes on. This will give us a clue.
  19. tony&rodney
    110 mph off the bat beats every RF in Twins Target Field history save for Max.
  20. tony&rodney
    Looking for a very strong performance from Bailey Ober.
  21. tony&rodney
    Here's the thing, as a person who played , coached, scouted, and managed for 50 years and devised my own metrics I'm more interested in watching a player and seeing if they offer something and very much not into the analytics. It's just a personal thing and totally unimportant, but I'm always hopeful for the call-ups.
  22. tony&rodney
    Comparing anyone to Buxton? Hmmm? The most obvious comparison is still a rather loose comparison, which is Matt Wallner. There are some similarities including that Twins Daily was down on the lefty slugger when he arrived. Wallner is better at drawing walks by a smidge and gets HBP often helping his OBP. The minor league K rates are similar as are the power numbers. McCusker gets the edge in BA. Wallner has a better arm but Carson gets better jumps on fly balls. They are different players with SOME similarities. I'm not understanding the hangup a few people have with both age and prospect status. My personal take is that the Twins are in need of a bat with a little pop to it. The timing is perfect for McCusker and the Twins may have something in him. Nobody can be certain how he will produce at the MLB level but this is also true for guys like Jackson Holliday (he is having a fine year in 2025 thus far). Patience and positive thinking is my mantra for McCusker. I would really like to see him in the lineup every day until it is necessary to bring back someone from the IL or sit him due to a lack of performance. Giving McCusker plate appearances seems like a win-win to me.
  23. tony&rodney
    Would Bubba Chandler be a lousy AAA pitcher? I'm not sure what he can be but i have seen him light up some highly thought of AA and AAA pitchers.
  24. tony&rodney
    Yes, you could be correct. This may be especially possible because the Twins do not have much invested in McCusker. The Twins did call him up though and I laud that decision. My only thought on your comment or similar thoughts from others is one of curiosity .... how many times have you or anyone else seen McCusker play. Seems hasty to judge him if one has not seen a couple dozen games where Carson has played.
  25. tony&rodney
    Agree with this. McCusker has shown an ability to adjust to pitchers. His .350 BA is a sign of someone who can hit. Hitting the ball hard makes it nearly impossible for teams when the infield is in witha runner at third base. Carson has 11 doubles to go along with the 10 home runs and a pile of RBIs as well. The K rate is just under 30% this year. Comparisons to Judge are not at all a good idea but it is worth noting that Judge ran a 44% K rate in his first look at MLB pitchers. In any event, McCusker is not Judge but has some solid skills: he hits for average and power, runs the bases decently, and plays a very fundamentally sound defense in right field. Of course there will be rough spots but the payoff could be worth giving Carson an honest run as a regular. The Twins are not in a good spot in the outfield right now with Bader needing to heal and Keirsey Jr. looking overmatched at the plate. I like how Larnach is battling at the plate but he is very weak in the outfield. Finally, Castro is also banged up and not exactly at full strength.
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