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tony&rodney

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Everything posted by tony&rodney

  1. tony&rodney
    The Twins will not even think for one minute about picking up Polanco's contract; it is a sure thing. Teams around baseball have a high opinion on Jorge. Polanco has tremendous value for the Twins but not enough future value to be a part of a major trade to acquire pitching. Think about the Arraez-Lopez trade to have a guess at who might be valued if the Twins attempt to find a team to replicate that transaction. I would be shocked if Polanco was not still with the Twins in 2024. I do think the Twins will try to trade Farmer for an arm, similar to how Kyle was acquired last offseason.
  2. tony&rodney
    Baseball is a difficult job which holds very little permanence to all but the stars. The promise of making a large salary creates stupendous competition. Larnach had some opportunities but none that allowed him any status to play through poor performance. Both injuries and the previously discussed holes in his batting profile made him easy to send to AAA. I hope Trevor Larnach gets a chance with another MLB team, similar to the chances afforded to Brent Rooker. He doesn't have much value right now and may only be a throw-in if the Twins can swing a trade. Larnach has made a tidy pile of earnings from his job, however, and should be able to live comfortably if baseball no longer is a viable profession for him. There is more than an even chance that Larnach is able to play baseball for another decade though, so I'm not too worried about him. He just hasn't worked out as a Twin.
  3. tony&rodney
    Emmanuel Rodriguez is ice cold right now. The Kernels need him to reset before Thursday night.
  4. tony&rodney
    I agree totally. Sure there are times a pitcher is giving up line drive after line drive and the manager should get out of the dugout faster. Tonight was a good example of how a great pitch can get golfed for a go ahead two run home run. Littell made his pitch, but Castro hit it. The players know when to tip their caps and when they made a mistake. Julien and Pinto hits pitches that both Littell and Ryan would like back. Lowe looked pretty confident versus Ryan and Baldelli made the call for Varland. Today it worked, but managing is tricky.
  5. tony&rodney
    This Twins team competes. They are moving away from the .500 mark and playing more consistent baseball. Joe Ryan was tough out on the mound and Varland, Thielbar, and Duran sure closed the game neatly. Littell looked very unpredictable and only was beat by Castro launching a down and away pitcher's pitch that followed a battle by Kepler to reach base. Maybe Julien saw the ball better tonight. It was sure nice to see him get a hit before he added another walk. Even the struggling Wallner had some fun finally. He sure looked relieved to hit the ball and showed off some speed on the hustle double. Good game for the Twins against a very good Tampa Bay team.
  6. tony&rodney
    The options for Jorge Polanco are a bargain unless he is suddenly beset by injuries that reduce his availability to much less than it has been this year. On one hand you have a 10 year average that is good and easily worth his contract. On the other hand Polanco could have a resurgence of health and production to near 2021 levels. In either case, Jorge is valuable. I'm not too sure how much trade value Polanco has in terms of bringing back a player that makes a difference. The Twins do not need to trade a player of Polanco's talents for a lower tier prospect because the team is focused on winning. If the team were to totally tank, as it did last season, a trade would make sense. The larger recurring question relates to how other teams view various players within the Twins system and how willing a team would be to part ways with a talented player in order to ostensibly improve their own team. This was the crux of the Marlins-Twins trade last offseason; a trade that benefitted both teams. I'm not sure Polanco works in that scenario, but others may.
  7. tony&rodney
    Unless Polanco suffers an unfortunate injury at some point from now until the end of the Twins season, there is no way that the team passes on the option. There are many variables, but Jorge as the most valuable Twin for 2024 and 2025 is still real. Health is the ticket. Will Polanco (or any player really) be fully healthy the remainder of this year and then through next season?
  8. tony&rodney
    Julien is a rookie. If you take all the rookies off of the Twins roster, what then?
  9. tony&rodney
    Did you miss the 9 walks or the long at bats. Those make a huge difference towards the quality of pitches that the batters see who follow Julien. He needs to hit better, he is inexperienced, but he is still providing opportunities for the team to score runs.
  10. tony&rodney
    I'm not disagreeing with anyone that we want Julien to be more aggressive. I saw those two pitches as well .... and audibly said, "hit that pitch." I'm saying that Julien has an approach that works for him and he does swing when he recognizes a pitch. He does not swing when he is fooled. He does not expand the zone. Another thing to consider is that Julien likely has less experience playing baseball than any Twins player on the 40 person roster. It really shows at times. Has his weaknesses been exploited now? I guess we will need to see, but this year Julien has been a pretty important part of the Twins offense and a real annoying batter for opposing pitchers. Where does Julien rank in importance thus far for the Twins offense in 2023?
  11. tony&rodney
    I did not understand why the Twins kept Floro. Now in a game that is worth competing for I do not understand why the Twins chose to use Floro versus Tampa Bay. There is a reason that Miami no longer wanted Floro on their team. The Marlins are trying to make it into the playoffs and Floro is not a guy who is helpful in an MLB competitive game.
  12. tony&rodney
    This has been discussed a hundred times. We all want Julien to hit some of those pitches. However, Julien does not hit pitches out of the strike zone or on the border of the zone very well. He will be out of the league in no time if he starts swinging at borderline pitches, so he takes those pitches.
  13. tony&rodney
    A right-handed pitcher not covering first base in time on a ground ball to the first baseman?
  14. tony&rodney
    Rays are not offering at many pitches out of the zone, the Twins did in the first inning. Swing at strikes and let the balls go. A very difficult task to be sure.
  15. tony&rodney
    The playoffs are for the best players. Unless Ober has not been helped by the recent respite from pitching there is a clear starting pitcher order: Lopez, Gray, Ryan, Ober. Nobody needs to go on short rest. Our starters have been good all year. The bats need to show strong.
  16. tony&rodney
    FWIW, Paddack finished his start last week with two outs and two on base. The relief pitcher gave up a three run home run, thus the two runs given up by Paddack. We cannot know what Paddack offers until he has appeared in several games for the Twins. which seems unlikely.
  17. tony&rodney
    The Twins will be challenged by Tampa Bay because the Rays are among the top five teams in baseball and attempting to catch Baltimore in the standings. The offense needs to keep scoring a bunch of runs and the White Sox series should allow them an opportunity.
  18. tony&rodney
    Noted. Interesting to an extent.
  19. tony&rodney
    Did Gladden or Provus comment on it? Dick is pretty clueless and the camera did not show us anything to show a mistake. Perhaps someone else saw something to indicate what happened but it was a big out and tough for Kirilloff to lose a base hit too.
  20. tony&rodney
    Pablo is so much fun to watch pitch and he is also such a well spoken person in interviews. Wallner seems to have forgotten about left field and has resorted to more uppercuts as well. He doesn't look like a tough out right now. Julien is in a slump but still is giving pitchers a headache by fouling off pitches and taking walks. He sure is missing some pitches that look like he should mash though, which means he is in a slump.
  21. tony&rodney
    While I'm hoping he might swing at that pitch in that situation, Pablo Lopez proved what happens when most batters swing at pitches out of the strike zone. Even pitches a half inch off of the plate reduce chances for contact. Julien does not successfully hit those pitches in any event and he is in a slump right now making it even more unlikely. Hitting a baseball is really hard. Although we all might want Julien to swing in that situation, the pitch was not one he is likely to hit so he takes it.
  22. tony&rodney
    Pablo Lopez has proven himself to be the pitcher the Twins hoped he would be. What an excellent performance today.
  23. tony&rodney
    Wish Julien would get hot in time for the playoffs but his ability to make pitchers miserable is still quite valuable.
  24. tony&rodney
    That may have been a part of writing the article ... the Twins certainly could use a left-handed pitcher in the bullpen capable of getting outs. Even with such a limited usage, Funderburk appears to be the only option right now. No question, the Twins need to put Funderburk on the mound as often as possible to determine if he is going to be a viable relief pitcher for the team in October. A series of good outings from Funderburk will make his name worth more discussion though. FWIW, Funderburk was excellent in AAA this year and it is somewhat confounding why he was not considered for MLB duty earlier this season.
  25. tony&rodney
    Totally agree. Ober deserves an MLB uniform. I do believe he needed a little time off. He is ready to pitch now though.
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