tony&rodney

I watch specific players quite often and watching the games one can see various players improve and sometimes hit bare spots. Cedar Rapids has Kala'i Rosario and Ben Ross as their two best bats. Noah Miller is smooth in the field but has a weak bat again after swinging better in April. A number of pitchers look promising but still a ways to go with command and control. I like Jaylen Nowlin and Regi Grace among others. Wichita has Yoyner Fajardo leading the offense with Brooks Lee looking decent and DaShawn Keirsey improving. Blayne Enlow and David Festa are looking good among the hurlers. Julien leads St. Paul on the hitting side getting on base often and both Headrick and Balazovic have looked good on the mound.

June will be a pivotal month for the Twins and their usage of a couple of younger players. Lewis will need to show he is ready before he automatically gets handed third base. Miranda will need to turn things around to get recalled. Some people have called for Brooks Lee. Have they watched his at bats for Wichita? He still has a long way to go before he is ready for MLB pitchers. June should give us all some idea of the possibilities for the remainder of the year. I'm thinking Lewis should be attuned to making his time with the Saints display his talents and he will fill third base for years. We'll see.

Tune in to Bob Marley, "Don't worry about a thing, cuz every little thing 's gonna be alright..."

I have been against pretty much all replay. I believed that salary increases and a grading system that held umpires to a high standard in order to keep their jobs was a better path. The players lose their jobs. Every single day an MLB player is demoted, dfa, or released. The umpires seem to have absolute job security. Now I think the quality of MLB umpires is far superior to basketball or hockey. I don't follow football so out of the loop there. Still an evaluation system should have the teeth to comb through those who do not meet a standard. That is what I thought. Now, let's see a challenge system on any play. Two per game with three challenges on balls and strikes. The challenge must be made with five seconds or immediately on balls and strikes. The umpires will not give up total security so a challenge system needs to be implemented that can include any call.

The Twins do need to get some runs in with the bases loaded and too many walks will hurt any pitcher. However, the gloom today should not forget the giddiness of the prior night. The Twins are fine. The have some decent players, they have been working hard to have good at bats and pitch well. Sometimes baseball is really hard. The talent level is unreal. Consider that the best SEC players often start in A ball and that D1 baseball teams are basically pretty close to very good town ball teams and the rookie leagues. There are wins for the Twins just around the corner and they have competed well with some of the best teams in MLB.

Ober was so focused last night and put on quite a pitching display last night. The pitchers have been keeping the Twins around in most every game. Moran showed again why he deserves his roster spot. Yes, he wobbles with his control but hitters struggle against his pitches. The Twins have been having good at bats more consistently and making the opposing hurlers work hard. Kershaw needed 90 pitches to complete four innings. The base running and situational hitting has improved dramatically from last year. When was the last time the Twins had four stolen bases and really another when Kershaw threw to first base three times. That was a real display of professionalism by Kershaw, knowing his catcher has arm issues right now. Bunting and running are good options to use and it is encouraging to see the Twins use every strategy possible to score runs. Correa has struggled to bring in runners in some important at bats but is also running into a little hard luck. One thing not to be overlooked is how often Correa is involved in a difficult play that results in an out. His play at shortstop this year has been absolutely terrific.

Yes, they have their top three starting pitchers via trade and before injuries the entire rotation had been acquired via trade. I'm not sure one can do any better than 5/5 to start a season.

Maybe, but he is better at third than he was at first base. At third a player is involved in less than three plays per game whereas the number is close to eight for a first baseman.

The Twins are doing well and the pitching has carried the team mostly giving the offense time to warm up. I was pretty sure that two young guys were big keys for the Twins this season. Both Alex Kirilloff, already showing his glove and stick matter, and Royce Lewis can be dynamic. I did not think we would see both Bailey Ober and Louie Varland this early, and man have they been good. The season is young and counting out Cleveland, or any team, is looking for bad luck. The Twins need only to take care of their own fortunes. Right now I'm not seeing consistently good swings from Brooks Lee at AA, and Jose Miranda looks like he is still searching for the ball at AAA. Eddy Julien looked pretty good for the Twins in his very short stint with the team and continues, even in a minor slump, to have good at bats, get on base, and hit for extra bases. Julien does not have a golden glove but all talk of that shortcoming has been blown way out of proportion. Eddy gets to most balls and make the plays. He just isn't as athletic and always looks a little stiff. Matt Wallner may have a rough time getting his next opportunity. He has done a fine job working on his defense and his speed is more noticeable in the field as he has become more comfortable out there. Something tells me that he always believed he would be a pitcher/DH and never worked as hard at playing defense. I think the Twins are sitting on a decent roster collection right now. If Buxton, Correa, and Polanco reach expectations, we could begin to see how good the young guys (Kirilloff, Larnach, Lewis, Julien) are as compliments.

I agree that it would be ideal and wonderful, but he may be a top ten pick. Teel does not compare to the top five though, according to every scout or baseball draft writer.

Disagree. I like a batter who can hit the ball.

The Cubs seemed to sit on a pitch on Friday night and yesterday afternoon, which did not work because both Gray and Ryan varied their routines and hit their spots. This is the typical life of a pitcher, needing to be effective with at least two and hopefully four offerings from the mound. I think Varland has looked good thus far and he seems committed, mostly controlling the at bats and making the batter work. Louie sure does pitch quickly, no nonsense or hesitation. Today should be another good test for Varland. I'm real big on his potential to have a good year because he seems to improve in small ways each time out.

Watching on milb.com yesterday, Lewis looks strong and that double seemed to get to the wall in a hurry. Festa pitches so quickly and simply overpowers batters at times. He is definitely a strong prospect with a bright future if he can harness 3-4 pitches. The Saints missed on a number of chances to score. Helman out with an injury hurts their lineup. Miranda and Garlick are searching for the ball. Always enjoy these reports on the minor league games. Thanks.

Those who have traveled and watched each of the consensus top five and seen many other players as well all suggest that the top five would all be good number one picks in most every other year in the last decade. I haven't personally seen any of these ballplayers, so I will take the word of scouts and the writers. I have seen several games and at bats watching via the internet: LSU, Tennessee, Florida, and a couple of others. The Twins cannot get cute with the #5 pick. They must choose the last of the five left for them. It is a win, win. I'm hoping it is Max Clark. Paul Skenes would be nice but it would be crazy if he was still available at #5. None of the other college pitchers are top ten picks.

The Twins have been putting together teams in hopes of competing for an AL Central crown during the Baldelli years with ownership spending much more money on the rosters in addition to the acquisition and signing of players to improve the team. There have been some disappointments to be sure but the Twins have not been in a rebuilding phase where younger players and prospects are given extended stretches to play. Thus, the young guys need to put their best foot forward and keep their performances at an expected standard that helps the team win games. The signing of Carlos Correa is the most noteworthy example of this trend. The Twins could have used Kyle Farmer as a hold at shortstop until either of Royce Lewis or Brooks Lee was ready to take the position. This makes it difficult for young players and bad luck can also be an impediment. Krilloff has been badly impaired by injuries for a couple of years and we can see the potential right now. Hopefully AK remains healthy in the front of the batting order. Trevor Larnach has also had some health setbacks and slumped lately. He has to make the final adjustments at the MLB level because AAA does not provide the challenge or repetitions that he needs against top off speed pitches. Larnach is in a tough place because he must prove he can recognize and react properly to breaking balls or he will lose at bats to someone else. Matt Wallner faces long odds because he just hunts fastballs. Currently he is working hard to learn at AAA, and he is doing well. Wallner will need to wait for an injury or trade before his name is called again. Similar in some ways to Eddy Julien, Wallner will need to crush AAA pitchers for a lengthy period of time as he waits for an opening. Jose Miranda presents a different scenario than the others. Miranda looked like he could be a fixture on future Twins teams last season. He just needed to work hard on his defense. Jose reported to camp in excellent condition and hit. Then .... the bat went sour and so did the glove. Miranda has not looked good (on milb.com) for the Saints. He may need a mini reset in Ft. Myers to work on his swing. The swing vacillates from at bat to at bat and Jose looks desperate to punish the first pitch. His sequences at the plate are out of sync. Miranda has really good hand eye coordination and can become a high average extra base MLB bat, but he needs to reset his mechanics and develop hitting plans that he adheres to at the plate on a consistent basis. Perhaps Miranda turns it around quickly. We hope so, but baseball is tough.

Turning Nelson Cruz into Joe Ryan stands out. The one curious move, which befuddled me at the time, was giving up on Nick Anderson.

Hard to make any comments on the season, team, or individuals if you haven't been watching the games. For example, I don't watch football at all, so I'm not going to suggest that the Vikings ......

Just my observation from watching the Wichita games on milb.com. Brooks Lee is not ready. He looks smooth at shortstop, so fielding is not a problem. Lee is swinging better versus fastballs. He has had some struggles against breaking balls and pitchers attack him. There isn't any reason to have Lee face MLB pitchers at this point. The guys who look the best at the minor league level are Julien, Larnach, and Helman. A host of others are having good days, but those three stand out.

If the Twins are counting on their pitching staff to keep opponents to a single run or two in every game, it is going to be a very long season. I wasn't in agreement with the pitch selection by Jax and felt that one inning from Alcala was enough, but nothing the bullpen does matters if the offense is good for four hits. I'm expecting some different approaches to at bats, but maybe that makes me insane. I'll expect more offense tomorrow. Relying on four or five pitchers to shut down the opposition is not realistic. I'm not sure who is available to exchange for Alcala from St. Paul. Henriquez was just optioned, Sands and Winder do not look good right now, and Headrick threw five solid innings tonight. That leaves Balazovic.

Yes I know that, but Solano would be taking for Buxton to run. Byron had a huge jump. Situational. It doesn't really mater because the offense was stalled tonight.

Smyly gets by on opposing batters salivating to hit the long ball. We saw big swings, line drives foul, and hacks at high pitches. I am amazed that Smyly gets away those pitches.

Taylor and Buxton running was the right move. Pinch hitting Gallo was not, because Solano will take several pitches. The offense continues to struggle but tomorrow they get another chance. The pitching continues to be good. Gray is having a fine year. Alcala struggles after 20 pitches. I thought Jax could have frozen a few guys with his fastball because they were clearly sitting on the slider. Moran is an enigma from pitch to pitch. No matter the six runs the pitching is not a concern at this time.

"It does not matter, it's in the past." I'm interested to see how Falvey approaches the trade deadline this year. Bold is the way to go even if it hurts sometimes.

The Twins got really lucky drawing the #5 pick. Every team always needs pitching but with four outfielders among the top five expected draft choices, the Twins are going to get an excellent athlete. Having only seen video of the top outfielders, i don't see a bad choice. Most people expect both Crews and Skenes to be gone by the time the Twins pick leaving three outstanding outfielders. My initial thoughts were to choose Max Clark because his swing is short to the ball, he is fast, has a big arm, and is uber competitive. The pick could immediately become the Twins #1 prospect.

Excellent post. Count me as one who simply cannot understand people who find some joy in being mean. There is a saying, "Mean people suck." Why pull yourself down to a base level by booing the player who is currently the face of the team or really anyone for a physical error. Melissa writes a far better argument than me, but fans need to consider whether they are contributing to positive entertainment or attempting to make a strong negative statement of disagreement of a player as a member of the game. The booing at Yankee Stadium always bothered me. There may be a time for booing but it seems like most every athlete is harder on themselves than is necessary already. The piling on by fans at home does nothing to motivate or make one feel better. The booing and harassment of opposing players is simply a mirror of the character of the voice. I wish people would just enjoy the setting, the company of others, and the displays of expertise within competitions.