tony&rodney

My experiences as a visitor are similar to yours. I have a good friend who moved there in 1985 and he loves the area. My son, who accounts for my visits, also lives in Portland. He loves it and bought a house in the city. Lastly, I have known numerous people who attended one of Lewis & Clark College, Reed College, and Portland State University and absolutely every one of them loved the city. It is too rainy for me. I also can see the potential problems connected with the lack of big corporate businesses and how this can be a significant barrier to getting a team. Lastly, your point about the population and government going all welfare for billionaires as most communities do will certainly not sell in Portland imho. I'm always surprised how easily billionaire business people manage to collect welfare in the United States. But oh well, whatever works. All of that said, I don't really have a good enough feel for Portland to know if the community would support an MLB team by filling a stadium on a consistent basis similar to Seattle.

The issue is not about the individual speed of specific players. One can look over all of the stolen base numbers for teams and individual players and see instances of success for teams as well as slow players with less speed than the Twins. It is a team philosophy. The Twins under Falvey/Baldelli do not run. Now we don't have to agree or disagree with this strategy but it is the plan if one can accept years of data. The final grade is how the team fares in their season and we will see how 2023 plays out over the next months. The Twins believe their best chances to win are with their bats, fielding, and pitching. They have put together a team with pretty solid depth to cover for a number of injuries or poor performances. Thus far this season the won - loss record is decent. For those who feel running is a substandard or relatively unimportant factor in winning baseball games because outs on the bases are too valuable to risk, the Falvey/Baldelli plan is your team to follow. For those who feel running is a valuable factor in winning baseball games, watch the results of this season for Cleveland, Baltimore, and the Yankees. It is obviously an open question still, because not all teams are running. The Twins are not on an island with their current strategy.

There have been a couple of times this season where the Twins ran aggressively thus far, but mostly we still see the team quite apprehensive if not dismissive about the running game. Any personnel changes may result in a change in strategies, but this has not been a pattern of this management team. Paul Molitor was fast but he also, arguably, possessed the greatest baseball intellect of the current era. His numbers would have him as the Twins leader in runs, hits, doubles, triples, stolen bases, and fourth in home runs among a few stats worth noting. He played with reckless abandon and missed a ton of games with some bad injuries in a long career. Hopefully a few of the Twins pick up a tip or two from Paul because any knowledge he passes along is gold to be cashed in when put into play.

This topic was covered in another post last week. The Twins have average speed. The season is young, such that we cannot definitively state that the Twins will finish the season as the worst base running team in MLB again. However, based on all available data from the Falvey/Baldelli era, the Twins have made a conscious choice to not run. As a related aside, I either missed it or it is still unclear .... wtf happened at the end of the game yesterday (4/20)? Two outs, two strikes, and a line drive into centerfield. The centerfielder was playing fairly deep. Kepler's run is meaningless, thus he either scores easily standing up because he was off with the swing or stops at third base playing it safe. This is one of the easiest base running plays in baseball. What happened? Does anyone know? Did any writer or reporter cover this play? I missed it.

Julien is not an accomplished defensive player at all, but he has a quick first step (why he can steal bases) and that ball was smoked. Eddy was lucky to get his glove on that ball. It was a helluva effort. None of the guys who play second base for the Twins would have caught that ball. Poor Pagan has excellent stuff that so many guys barrel up consistently or so it seems.

I noted the eery similarity between Sano and Gallo when the Twins added Joey this winter. It is a little weird actually and a reason I wondered how the signing would work. However Gallo seems healthy and does add some versatility. I think the post was positing whether Buxton was becoming too one dimensional and the mention of Gallo's OBP as an improvement, while inaccurate for their careers, is not totally pertinent to the Buxton-Sano similarity as a DH thought. The fact that it is April makes this a pretty quick idea, particularly as Sano and Buxton are different types of players overall. Good to note the OBP as a general thought on Gallo and Sano. It is hard to imagine that Sano couldn't get a look anywhere, which makes one wonder about his desire to actually play baseball professionally any longer. It is a grind. Franmil Reyes is still playing.

Sorry, I forgot to add that I used 2019 FBI UCR stats. There may be changes from later reports. I was curious and quickly used what popped up.

I was curious and looked a few things up .... statistics ... U. S. violent crime per 100,000: Minneapolis = #43, St. Paul = #62, Portland = #78, Nashville = #21, OKC = #34, Charlotte = #45, San Antonio = #55, Salt Lake City is not in the top 100, and St. Louis is #1. Looks like Portland, Oregon is among the safer places among U. S. metropolitan cities, although it rates highly for motor vehicle thefts.

Yes it is early and unlikely to see trades completed in April. Still, if the two teams are going to make a trade it is more likely that the Cardinals would want want Mahle for O'Neill, which might be interesting. However good O'Neill might be as a RH bat, there are a pile of outfielders on the Twins roster already, further complicating any possible exchanges.

Swing path is my guess. It seems like Buxton often has a severe upper cut, which makes it really hard to find the ball. Last night (4/19), Buxton doubled to right center and he had a noticeably flatter (not flat at all) swing at the ball. Buck does what he does and the adjustments seem slow. He sure has a quick bat though and it would be nice to see more contact.

Brooks Lee had his best swing of the year, very smooth.

Jax was terrific. Mistakes by Vasquez on the catcher's interference, Solano suffering a brain blip, and Gordon's poor throw home were all tough, especially the latter two. Moran draws a ton of heat but as brutal as that inning was, it is over if Kepler catches that ball. A weird ending of a game where the Twins strike out 16 times. As good as the pitching has been, winning is really tough when the bats are flailing in such a severe upper cut style. The mathematics makes contact probability odds slim. Better days ahead. Kirilloff hit the ball hard three times tonight and made a couple of good plays at first base.

The national writers look at prospects from a more distant view, without the interest in how a player helps their favorite club. Prospects are very difficult to forecast but those with physical skills stand out and are noted. Byron Buxton was an example of someone rated highly no matter the initial results. Emmanuel Rodriguez gets love this year. Players that show a specific skill also receive some print. Julien hitting for a high average with power, walking, and stealing bases with average speed put him on the back half of lists. Brooks Lee is seen as a guy who is capable of being a decent starter but not an all star because he does so many things well but does not have notable athletic talent. Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff have been injured often and missed too many games to retain their former high status. Among the players mentioned in the post, these two (RL & AK) have the greatest probability of becoming all stars if they break through to play every day because they possess the skills and talent to impact games.

Brooks Lee has looked better than I anticipated in the field. He has shown range to both sides and come in on slow rollers past the pitcher with an accomplished aggressiveness seldom seen from someone with little pro experience. Lee fields everything with confidence. At the plate, Lee fights with two strikes and puts the ball in play. I wish the Twins would incorporate this into their batting style. Brooks does look a little rough with a bat despite decent numbers. The swing looks choppy. He needs experience and repetitions. I will gladly take the results however. My amateur impressions are based on watching most of the Wichita games thus far and made with a grain of salt. The comment in a post above about seeing Brooks Lee at Target Field is right on, in my opinion. If the Twins call up Lee in June, so much has gone wrong that the season is likely well off the rails with the team hoping for another high draft choice in 2024. I do think a call is possible in August or more likely September.

The ability to watch the minor league games on milb.com has made for some interesting views in recent years. One can easily see both the athleticism and inexperience of the younger players. For example, Emmanuel Rodriguez has an impressive OPS but a near 50% K-rate. He looks both intimidating and hopeless at the plate because he needs a ton of polish to unlock his gem of a swing. Lee looks like he has trouble with his bat quite often and then has other moments like he knows what is coming. Young Brooks has looked very smooth in the field. I would say his glove is well ahead of his bat. Is anyone else concerned about the strikeouts? 41 in three games yesterday seems like an issue. Of particular interest is how futile Joey Gallo looks right now. The Twins saw his value early in a single game, but now minor league pitchers are throwing the ball right down the middle and dispatching him in a quick fashion. Sure hope an adjustment can occur because three or four pitches and back to the dugout looks bad and the Twins could sure use some offense.

The Twins made really solid decisions to trade for Farmer and Taylor and then to add Solano and Castro. Despite these additions, the team desperately needs some bats to step forward. Gordon, Wallner, Kepler, and Gallo are all looking overmatched. Correa, Buxton, Miranda, Larnach, Farmer, and Taylor are mostly battling but having a difficult time. Julien is pretty new and adjusting slowly in a situation where contact is needed. Polanco and Kirilloff don't appear to be real close, a week or two at the earliest. Who knew that the catchers would be the strength of the team of the position players? The pitching, on the other hand, is looking really tough. The Twins need to recognize their strengths and limitations and play accordingly. The best scoring opportunity today was when Julien bunted (hoping for a hit) Taylor into scoring position. Unfortunately Correa missed two pitches in the zone, but it felt like an opportunity to score. The lack of moving runners along via contact or bunting and the refusal to hit and run or attempt to steal a base now and then is handicapping the team. We can point out issues of team speed but when the Yankees and many other teams hit and run and send runners aggressively with no more speed (I'm looking at Rizzo and Cabrera as examples), it is easy to see a massive hole in team strategy. I'm ok with a player taking a rip or two, but with two strikes winning teams shorten their stroke and go the opposite field. Witness the recent White Sox series for the positive effects of putting the ball in play. Winning baseball uses more than the three outcomes or massive upper cut swings where contact is a mathematically inferior outcome. The Twins must discover the lost arts of successful baseball to complement their much improved pitching staff.

Thank you. I have mlb.com. Does this mean that I access the minor league games on mlb.com? Last year I went to milb.com to watch minor league games. I am signed into both mlb and milb, but the milb just spins whereas in prior years I did not have any problems. Thank you again. I just was able to get a feed now. There was a verification process that I missed even though I was already signed into my account. I appreciate your help.

I'm not kidding. I was opposed to signing Gallo because of the strike outs, but have stated a number of times that he does add depth to the team. In fact, just recently I wrote that Gall would get 100+ at bats before he was even re-evaluated by the Twins and stated my hopes that he could be a positive addition. I will still not be a Gallo fan at any point just like I have never apologized for being a Jorge Polanco fan. I don't believe you can put all readers ("everyone") of Twins Daily in one column. Perhaps someone could put up a poll to indicate to some degree where those who visit Twins Daily Gallo stand on Joey Gallo. My own take is that once he was signed we had to view him in the most positive light, hoping that Baldelli would consider his swings when putting his name in the lineup. The use of a pinch hitter in game two was a very small clue that Baldelli is watching the match ups and game situations.

Once again today I was NOT able to access a video of the game. I have no idea why as I have watched games at all levels in prior seasons on milb.com on numerous occasions since they started showing video of the minor league games. Any ideas?

That is not even remotely close to a representative thought of those on Twins Daily. Yes, there were some totally opposed to his signing and just a few who have been a little quick after two games to draw conclusions, but most people have applauded the depth signing and held out some hope that Gallo would be useful and were especially lauding his defense and utility playing first base. More to the point it was a given by the vast number of posts that I have read that Gallo would not be even evaluated until June if things were poor and more likely July. It is a long season and the depth of the team will be important. Starting with this week, the Twins will get tested by a series of decent teams and pitchers. Hopefully nobody jumps before July due to the short term results. Relax and settle back.

LaTroy Hawkins, among many others, has talked about this a fair amount on past Twins broadcasts. Essentially, Hawkins calls bs on pitch framing, suggesting that umpires see the ball and not the glove. An entire industry has grown up to argue that catchers do steal strikes here and there. Subsequently, armed with charts, graphs, videos, and data a large number of people totally accept the concept of "framing" as factual when it remains a concept, albeit an alluring one. That umpires may be influenced in a split second is not chronicled very completely due to a lack of published comments from the umpires themselves. What is not in dispute is that umpires are human. Human beings make mistakes. Who hasn't vociferously argued for a point where it was proven beyond any doubt that they were 100% wrong? The question then becomes how far to slide the bar of technology into baseball. It is interesting that the vast majority of players prefer the human element. Fans will have their opinions and goals for the game of baseball now and going forward. The decisions by MLB are made when there is the thinking that changes will appeal to a wider audience because MLB is a business. Change happens and some we eagerly and enthusiastically endorse while some we disagree with. We may like or dislike the rule changes but the games will go on.

The Twins spent a record amount of money (for them) to put this team on the field. They will both want to see what these guys can do and be more proactive if the results do not meet expectations. Any combination of players could be used by June to produce lineups conducive to competitive games. It should be a fun and interesting year.

Perhaps people vote for Cleveland because Francona is the best manager in baseball. I would never argue that point. I do think Cleveland is a really good baseball club and they do benefit from recency bias having won last season. However, many writers do not have a very strong understanding of some critical Twins players who fly under the radar. The Twins starting staff is pretty good and mostly acknowledged. What is overlooked is the talent in the arms of Alcala, Jax, Thielbar, and Moran in support of J. Lopez and Duran. Additionally, the Twins have depth on the roster with help on the way in the youth of Lewis, Julien, Ober, Varland, and Wallner. Not all of the young pups will be stars but I'm pretty confident in their abilities to support the current roster. Finally, we hope for a return of two very strong baseball players in Polanco and Kirilloff. The Twins may have some rough moments but there are some guys who can step up this year and bring the AL Central flag back to Target Field.

The Twins are not going to release Joey Gallo before June, which is a long time from now. So it then becomes important how he is used if he is the 2022 Gallo, someone who should not be in the lineup. The hope is that Gallo can be a rebound player and that is quite a gamble. He will get 100 at bats before any serious evaluation. There is value in a guy playing good defense and hitting the long ball, even at a .210 BA. While I was not in favor of the signing, I'm more interested now in how he does combined with how Baldelli uses him. It was interesting that he was pinch hit for in the first game. We need to be patient and hope for the best.

Was not able to use milb.com to watch the game. Did anyone else have that issue?