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tony&rodney

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Everything posted by tony&rodney

  1. tony&rodney
    Michael A. Taylor has been terrific for the Twins this year. Byron Buxton appears healthy and has been in the lineup most days. The Twins are above even in April. The Twins will need Buxton in centerfield at some point, however, because as much as we may like MAT for his current contributions there are better lineup combinations possible going into the summer. I'm not too worried about Correa but think he is more suited to hit in the 5/6 hole. The Twins will absolutely need one of their less experienced players to take a big step forward this year, hopefully two or three. The Twins are not going to be led by just four players if they hope to contend. I'm real hopeful for Buxton and keep saying 130 productive games, but both his health and production are always a question.
  2. tony&rodney
    Jose has had some decent plays this year. I'm not sure why he was unable to make the throw in the 8th inning last night. It wasn't going to be that close of a play. In the 9th inning, Miranda did get the out, but ironically the far easier play was at home for a quick force out. Those two plays and a very weak throw off balance recently obscure what has been mostly fair defense thus far this season from Miranda. However, one does wonder if his hitting affects his defense and whether the shadow of Royce Lewis is a thing. Miranda should be playing with a ton of confidence after the team cleared the position for him.
  3. tony&rodney
    Moran has not been good thus far but he is not totally getting lit up and often misses by inches. It is easy to see where people get frustrated with Jovani Moran but I'm still thinking he has the pitches to make a difference in the Twins pen. That said, his next two outings need to be in line with expectations; control the strike zone and limit hard contact.
  4. tony&rodney
    Salas just looks inexperienced and in need of repetitions based on watching him play thus far this season via milb.com. Confidence is a big thing in baseball due to the preponderance of times that one will fail at the plate. He has the physical skills but gets caught in between quite a bit. Like a previous response indicated, Salas needs to be more judicious in his swing decisions. Patience is a key if you are following Salas.
  5. tony&rodney
    I'm not ready to give up on Moran.
  6. tony&rodney
    Sonny Gray has been fantastic thus far. Let's hope he is in the discussion for a Cy Young at the end of the year. Gray deserves to test the free agent market though and he is likely to do so.
  7. tony&rodney
    Jorge Polanco is the Twins best position player until someone else proves them selves more valuable.
  8. tony&rodney
    I have been watching quite a few games on milb.com. Kirilloff and Wallner look really good at AAA. Brooks Lee (AA) is playing everything smoothly in the field. He has a little hitch pre pitch and his swing is inconsistent. He has had a few beautiful cuts that were textbook though. Rosario has had a number of good at bats at Hi A. Noah Miller is a true shortstop and has been steadily getting stronger with the stick at Cedar Rapids. He has had a number of weak base hits this season already, but his swing is certainly looking like his confidence has taken a step recently with a number of balls barreled. Jeremy, you do an excellent job of putting these reviews together, which is a quite a bit of work and a lengthy process. Thank you.
  9. tony&rodney
    Maybe it is time to play Gallo in centerfield against right handed pitchers when Kirilloff comes up. Taylor has done a good job out there.
  10. tony&rodney
    Alex Kirilloff should be called up soon, if not today. There haven't been any reports on his wrist, but the line drives and at bats should mean something. Kyle Farmer may need another week or three before he returns. And then there is Royce Lewis, who should be ready by June. Yes Nick, the Twins will need to prioritize some players above others. Activate AK now.
  11. tony&rodney
    Yes, I know "obstruction" ... I believe Baldelli was asking if the infielder was in the way as Castro first seemed like he was going to third (one step) and then had to step around the infielder. Impediment is always a judgment call. The It wasn't worth the argument. Not exactly good baseball this weekend by the Twins and Nationals.
  12. tony&rodney
    Time to assess whether AK is ready to play 1B for the Twins. He is swinging the bat well and being selective at the plate. Additionally, he is a good first baseman. Maybe the Twins feel that Kirilloff needs another week of swings for the Saints. I have no knowledge of how his wrist feels. That is a key. If he has zero limitations, he is ready now. He would be a big addition to the lineup.
  13. tony&rodney
    Good job by Ober. He looked like he could have pitched all day. Ober and Varland have shown they are ready for MLB starts. Still, both Maeda and Mahle deserve their spots. Good problems. What a difference Polanco can make. Like the first response indicated, Kirilloff is hitting the ball hard. He looks good on milb.com. The only issue he has shown thus far, both with Ft. Myers and St. Paul, is an occasional lapse going after the high hard stuff. He looks very smooth in the field. i believe the fielder tagged Castro, which would be interference, part of why he may have been so faked out.
  14. tony&rodney
    The Nationals are not a good team.
  15. tony&rodney
    Jovani Moran is still on the Twins roster. He will be fine. Of far greater concern .... the bats.
  16. tony&rodney
    Cold weather is tough for baseball but the mistakes are piling up. One of the things remarkable about major league games is how few mistakes are made, but those times when a player makes a mistake (not a physical error) it is usually problematic. I don't know what happened with Larnach's throws tonight but the brain fart by Kepler last night getting thrown out at third base was crazy. Smalley has the best baseball mind of any of the Twins voices, despite the problem with his voice. He simply does not have that radio voice which in no way detracts from whatever comment he is making but grates on many people hearing him. I always thought he would be an excellent manager or coach but the grind was likely not too appealing for him or maybe he wasn't favored in the same light as some other guys.
  17. tony&rodney
    The next six weeks will be important see if the guys counted on to provide some offense can find success. I'm going to find some patience because right now the team is a little frustrating to watch.
  18. tony&rodney
    Managed to see a few of Wallner's at bats and he is definitely working hard to control himself and have good plate appearances.
  19. tony&rodney
    I totally agree with your post concerning Pagan. But the Julien play ... I addressed this earlier and perhaps you did not see the play. There was not a miscue by Julien. No other player who is currently on the Twins roster would have even got a glove on that rocket off the bat. Julien has a quick first step and dove, a valiant effort. Now I agree that the young French-Canadien still has some work to do on his defense but credit where credit due must be given when it occurs. Julien made a great play just to get his glove on the ball. For what it is worth, we have seen Julien range far to the third base side of second base and throw out runners on a couple of occasions and though unsuccessful he showed good range going far into the outfield on a few broken bat/jam shot fly balls. Thus far his defense, after the first game, has been solid although he does look a little awkward at times. I'm sticking up for Julien as long as he plays decently.
  20. 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.
  21. tony&rodney
    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.
  22. tony&rodney
    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.
  23. tony&rodney
    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.
  24. tony&rodney
    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.
  25. tony&rodney
    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.
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