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tony&rodney

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Everything posted by tony&rodney

  1. tony&rodney
    Give a team six outs and ......
  2. tony&rodney
    Time for a pitching coach visit.
  3. tony&rodney
    Wow. 3 bad misplays in one inning.
  4. tony&rodney
    Inning should be over.
  5. tony&rodney
    Keaschall needs to make that DP.
  6. tony&rodney
    That is as insane as the idiots that think people were paid to protest ICE.
  7. tony&rodney
    Is anyone surprised that Manfred and the owners are insane?
  8. tony&rodney
    I agree that there are five decent picks. I don't think any of the players will be nearly as good as Bobby Baseball, but it never hurts to dream.
  9. tony&rodney
    Names. Be specific about what players could possibly be acquired and what you think are the costs. Falvey stood still. Did anyone think Tom Pohlad was actually going to get free agents signed? Who? Framber Valdez? It sounds good to suggest investment but the front office needs to identify players available in any transactions, whether that is a free agent or a trade. I don't think many free agents were looking to sign with Minnesota last winter. Of course throwing an absurd amount of money at any reliever may have convinced a signing or two but that is also fraught with peril. The selloff last July was responsible for the reduced strength of the bullpen. A few lucky draws may have begun a partial restoration. Maybe Gomez, Rojas, Morris, Banda, Paredes, Laweryson, and a couple of others improve the numbers going forward for the bullpen. The starting pitching could stabilize as well if Abel returns strong and Bradley and Matthews can go 5-7 innings. Ober? Maybe. A guy like Clemens may be a pumpkin but he is free, so ride him forward. Help may arrive in late July from a few prospects as well. The general trend here is that the Twins are not really going to benefit to any great extent from trades and they are just as likely to be decent as they are to fail. For better or worse, the Twins are going to need to play the hot hands and hope there is rapid development down below. I see very little change in the forecast for the organization, just shifting of the players. The one exception would be Ryan Jeffers and I don't have a name that he brings back, so I will keep him until I can find one.
  10. tony&rodney
    Do I view the Twins as buyers or sellers? TBD, as is stated in the article. Check back on August 1.
  11. tony&rodney
    Larnach is really hitting the ball well at this time. There really isn't any comparison between Jenkins, Rodriguez, and Larnach. They are all quite a bit different in their skill sets. The bottom line is that Larnach plays until such time as another player's performance pushes him off of the position. Clemens has been hot as well and he plays good defense at several positions, so he is getting a ton of playing time. Performance counts and it is sweet to see Trevor hitting line drives.
  12. tony&rodney
    Don't know about the legality of the draft but MLB would have to have the express agreement of the PA to refuse to sign anyone who is 18. That would raise all sorts of legalese. If what is reported is true, MLB leadership is working to bring back prior stupidity: collusion, color line, etc. Or is MLB thinking that all amateur players are free agents, which would be quite a wrinkle? I am a baseball fan. I only am minimally aware of what takes place in other sports via reading. I don't watch much other than baseball. I do wonder why baseball has such poor leadership. At this point Bowie Kuhn is the last reasonable commissioner (A. Bartlett Giamatti and Fay Vincent served short terms). Kuhn wasn't a great man.
  13. tony&rodney
    Not sure the Louis Varland comparison is valid. We should remember that Yoendrys Gomez had been on a difficult journey before he found his current success just recently with the Twins. As a follower of minor league baseball I was aware that Alan Roden and Kendry Rojas had/have potential. Still, there must be a point when a club needs to trust the abilities of the players within their system and allows the guys they have to gain experience and flourish if the team believes in the talent. That is why I'm opposed to trading Joe Ryan for anything less than a 60 prospect and I'm willing to add a player or two to acquire the top talent, which I also do not think is very likely because teams hold their top prospects these days. Love Rojas but the Twins had no need to trade Varland and if Gomez has that type of talent it doesn't make sense to consider trading him this season. Now, if the club believes that Gomez is operating on borrowed time whose sand is going to run out real soon .... sure. As for Zoll and Tom Pohlad, I have never met them. Zoll has not exactly been very visible or verbal. I'm not sure what his role was under Falvey. He should be able to forge his own path. Tom Pohlad seems to have been more interested than people want to believe. I'm willing to wait and see how he proceeds as the director of the Pohlad ownership.
  14. tony&rodney
    It is June 18, which means front offices are reaching out and having conversations. It isn't too early for clubs to be looking for what they can do at the trade deadline to improve their organizations. It is too early for the articles. Why? We don't know how the prospects will be doing in mid July or if a few of them are going to be ready to be good MLB baseball players. We have no idea, for the most part, what teams are going to be looking for what specific help. By late July we will know where teams have holes due to injuries and non performance and have needs due to their expectations to make a run in the postseason. As of right now the Twins are not in a clear sell mode. Ryan Jeffers is likely to be traded, if a return is reasonable. The return for most of Bell, Caratini, Rogers, Banda, Larnach, and Wallner doesn't look like it would be much. Gomez and Clemens are worth more in Minnesota than any expected return. Lewis should have been traded in November of 2023 but unless some team gets stupid, it is probably best to hold him now. Joe Ryan can be traded but it would be nonsense to trade him for a package of 50 grade prospects. If Ryan cannot return a top 10-20 type prospect, hold him and have further wider discussions in November. I will think about the possibilities in late July but as of right now I'm only thinking about moving Ryan Jeffers. There are more than six weeks before the trade deadline. No reason to push away anyone yet. There are 37 more games to assess players and look through other organizations for talent. When the time comes I want to read names of players that people desire in transactions and think about if both teams would be on board.
  15. tony&rodney
    Marek Houston is currently at Cedar Rapids, which is A+ ball. A leap to AAA would be quite a challenge since Houston had a difficult period of time getting familiar with A+ ball last year. 2028 would be an aggressive expectation for a Marek Houston promotion to MLB. The Twins are almost certainly struggling with how they can tweak the roster, maintain morale, and improve the talent on the team. They have a number of holes, which can be glaring in losses but seem less important after wins. Larnach and Martin have had games where their contributions were really good but it does seem like their long term standing on the roster could be in jeopardy at some point. When is a difficult decision and it is unlikely the team has received any worthwhile offers for either player. Luke Keaschall, as discussed at length elsewhere, also present management with tough judgments. I'm not sure we should expect much change until such time as a few prospects force their way on to the roster with prolonged excellent play while the guys holding positions at the MLB level struggle. Culpepper, Jenkins, Roden, or Rodriguez could be players who arrive by July or August.
  16. tony&rodney
    Morris is going to begin to receive better luck on balls in play. Part of that is due to the laws of things averaging out (does that happen in life) but a larger part of it is that the Twins are trending towards using better defenders in the field. For three years I have seen Morris give up "hits" due to both poor fielding and bad luck (broken bats and squib bloopers). A thing to remember is that the year started with Morris working on his pitches in AAA games. The changeup, cutter, and other breaking pitches are not yet refined. At the MLB level Morris is working to get outs and he has relied on the heat. In time there is a good chance that we see Andrew gaining further command of all of his pitches and finding success. I have seen a few comments that question his stuff (perhaps based on various metrics). I see really good stuff that is a work in progress. It was interesting to hear Glen Perkins, who may know a thing or two about pitching, state that Andrew Morris clearly has the best stuff of any pitcher in the Twins bullpen. Morris is trending up. Morris doing well has not surprised me in the least and he could still be a mid rotation starter at some point. Baseball goes through phases and we may be seeing more pitchers being used in relief before they transition to the rotation. Rojas may be another example for the Twins. We might also see pitchers push pitch counts up past 100 more often when they are rolling along effectively. In the short term Morris has been used in numerous high leverage spots and is gaining the confidence of his coaches and manager.
  17. tony&rodney
    Doubt the Twins make a move in the outfield until after the All Star break or into August unless there is an injury. This may be related to whether the Twins make any trades between now and August 3.
  18. tony&rodney
    True, Kody looks to be a better defender at 1B than Royce. Shelton is in a bit of a tough spot though. Royce hitting needs to play. Bell is the DH when Buck plays. Martin has cratered at the plate and while he has improved mightily in the last year as an outfielder I'm not sure he is better than Clemens in the outfield. In any case the farce of Big Matt is gone in RF. The pitchers are thankful. Shelton is balancing what is on the roster. If one of the AAA outfielders can play good defense and hit, we may see some further moves. But, yah, I too like Kody at first base.
  19. tony&rodney
    Mainly because they have never faced MLB hitters. The number of pitches that are thrown in the middle of the plate in the minor leagues is pretty high. Everything is more detailed and the punishment is more severe when a pitcher misses in the major leagues. Misiorowski throws really hard but most of his pitches are on the edge of the zone. Zebby Matthews gets torched in the zone but is very effective when he keeps the batters off balance and stays around the edges of the strike zone. Each level up the ladder is an adjustment. Some pitchers lose confidence in their ability and that is when things gets really tough. Conviction to throw more than one pitch in any count to any batter makes a difference and it generally takes a fair amount of time for every good pitcher.
  20. tony&rodney
    One of the knocks a few people have made against Kody Clemens is his age. I just don't see that as any problem whatsoever. He is not going to be around for 10 years. Only Rogers, Caratini, Bell, and Buxton have more than five years from the current active roster (Lopez and Jeffers are on IL). It is unlikely that more than a couple of players in the organization are here in 2036. Currently, Buxton (2012), Lewis and Ober (2017), and Jeffers, Funderburk, Larnach, and Sands (2018) are the longest tenured Twins and that is when they were drafted (not MLB time). Clemens looks pretty athletic and he may just be coming into his own. No doubt Clemens is on a heater right now and we don't know how the next few months will go for him. I won't be too surprised if he does well and continues to improve. Kody looks hungry. One must consider that despite growing up in a wealthy household, he paid his dues, playing 7 seasons (6 milb plus 1 Covid independent ball) before getting his shot with Minnesota.
  21. tony&rodney
    If there isn't, a few billionaires may jump off of rooftops. Just imagine the damage to the gambling industry alone.
  22. tony&rodney
    To be 100% certain, there is no such thing as too much pitching. Remember that before thinking about the current or future group at all times. That said Dman is right on when he states that thinking of the Twins pitching possibilities is a good exercise. We can line up Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Taj Bradley, and Connor Prielipp as one group. Mick Abel, Zebby Matthews, Kendry Rojas, Andrew Morris, David Festa, and Mike Paredes are decent. Dasan Hill, Charlee Soto, James Ellwanger, Adrian Bohorquez, Marco Raya, and others are coming and Jackson Flora could join the party. Watching Riley Quick today, one can see he just needs innings and opportunity. Like everyone else (except Doc Gooden and very few others) young pitchers have everything to earn. So Twins fans can have some fun thinking about the possibilities of where the pitching staff is headed. We can make outrageous claims and suggestions and push forward unlikely transactions too. The success of pitchers always depends on gaining experience with command and control and the maintenance of good health being paramount to actually fulfill any potential. I too like to occasionally wonder about how this staff will look. If Ryan must be traded, can the Twins add a couple of guys to him to pry away a top ten prospect? Would Milwaukee even consider an outrageous package for Jesus Made or Sacramento for Leodalis De Vries? Can the Twins find a way to acquire the struggling Jackson Holiday or is he even worth it? What about discussing Franklin Arias with Boston? Naturally, nearly every top guy is beyond reach but I'm hoping the Twins can build a team the defends and hits. Moving a couple of players, including a pitcher or two, may be a possible course of action. One can only hope.
  23. tony&rodney
    I meant "the moon" (my comment above) as an unknown hopeful. Doubt a big name comes in return for Jeffers. I'm ok with the Twins offering the QO, which is extremely and totally unlikely. and receiving a comp pick.
  24. tony&rodney
    Ask for the moon.
  25. tony&rodney
    I wonder how many times Buxton needs to tell people he signed to stay a Twins for his career.
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