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tony&rodney

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Everything posted by tony&rodney

  1. tony&rodney
    The move from AAA to MLB is almost always a difficult learning process for players. Whether Andrew Morris is ready or not depends on how one viewed others, like Festa, Matthews, etc., as usable. It is a step. When people comment on minor league players I wonder if they have watched them play or have looked at numbers. I have watched (via milb.com) most of the innings that Morris has pitched this year. I'm not privy to the accuracy of whatever system is used to gage velocity or how one places the dots on a Gameday box. I am able to discern that a routine fly ball that gets lost in the lights is recorded as a hit and that routine ground balls to infielders very frequently get recorded as base hits. Watching the games gives one some realistic idea of the players, at least in the context of their competition. In yesterday's outing Andrew Morris was pushed to 97 pitches. He sat 95-96 MPH and hit 98 numerous times with his FB. He did give up a home run in the first inning. Thereafter one run was directly due to a misplay and the last two were let in with two outs by the relief pitcher. Morris was really good yesterday. The ABS challenge system is very problematic in my view. I have mentioned my objection in the past. Yesterday, in Morris' outing, provided a fair example of my objection. The Saints lost two challenges early in the game and thereafter I counted 7 of Morris' pitches where an apparent strike was called a ball. These hurt Morris in pitch count and walks. Either use the system or do not. I continue to suggest a form of bonus payments for excellence and retraining and demotion for those umpires who do not meet an expected/agreed upon level. Finally, I do believe Andrew Morris projects as a #3-5. starting pitcher and he still has more refinement to accomplish before he is ready to succeed in MLB. Morris, if he must be called upon, would work best with Christian Vazquez.
  2. tony&rodney
    Tony O was my favorite player ever in baseball. An incredible ambassador for the game and as fine a human being that I have ever met and visited, I was at that game. Tony stomped on first base and came out of the game for a pinch runner I believe. memory is funny though and I did not look it up. The best hitter ever for my money.
  3. tony&rodney
    Individual arms respond completely differently to pitching. Very few pitchers have what old timers called rubber arms, capable of throwing 20-30 pitches 3 out of every 5 days if needed. Michael Tonkin at his best approximates this player. Most relievers can go 10-20 pitches for 2-3 days but then need to be shut down fo acouple of days. . Some athletes never can transition to shorter periods between throwing. These guys can go up to 120+ pitches but need 3-4 days between starts. The 4 pitcher rotation was probably a fair system but when pitchers began to make big money management wanted to protect their investments. Turns out that 5 man rotations and max effort doesn't really keep the elbows and shoulders immune from injury even with the exaggerated pitch counts. So we see a continual dance and experimentation for what will work. It's complicated.
  4. tony&rodney
    Just an L in the right hand column, no worries. With our G. attempting a copy/paste of 1930s Germany, baseball is a pleasant diversion no matter what the score.
  5. tony&rodney
    I have not seen one name included in suggestions to bring in a top pitcher or middle of the order bat. Furthermore, I cannot think of a single player available who is someone who makes a difference. I'm wondering how making a trade for a back end veteran starter or a bat to hit in the 6, 7, or 8 spots in the order is worthwhile.
  6. tony&rodney
    Depth and core players - these are misunderstood by me or misused by folks. Looking quickly down the pitching and hitting stats for the Minnesota Twins, I see nearly identical statistics for two players. One is a core player, the other now in AAA and reviled by most on Twins Daily. My own perusal of the Twins roster brings me to the conclusion the team has real depth at DH.
  7. tony&rodney
    The fail has been not gambling big in the past 2 offseasons.
  8. tony&rodney
    Watched the game and felt that Festa worked well with Vazquez. Didn't look at comments last night but wondered how many wanted Festa sent back to AAA after he gave up 2 runs. Great game by Buxton which highlights in bold what a healthy Byron does for his team. The Twins continue to receive solid pitching. The prayers of many posters (not me) were answered late last night with Jorge Alcala being traded to Boston for a Level A+ unranked prospect. All the best to Alcala. His 8.88 ERA is super lucky in China.
  9. tony&rodney
    Derek?
  10. tony&rodney
    Raya pitched well this afternoon. He has stuff.
  11. tony&rodney
    My guess is that Boston still believes they have a shot at a playoff spot this year. Also the Red Sox have a strong collection of young position players and pitching prospects in their system. Thus a team asking for Jarren Duran may need to cough up an MLB pitcher. Boston will want Ryan but might consider Ober plus Jax. The price would be dear and I doubt the ask includes anyone from the minor leagues.
  12. tony&rodney
    Sorry to include a negative comment but Jose Miranda had a horrible plate appearance in a situation where he could have sealed the game. The pitcher gave him four grooved pitches to hit. A sac fly was what was needed. Miranda took huge line drive hacks and grounded into a DP. He needs a complete reset in Ft. Myers.
  13. tony&rodney
    The Twins have exactly the players that Falvey wanted. He has said so on numerous occasions. The transactions and trades since 2017 reflect his wishes. We get to follow the outcome of his design.
  14. tony&rodney
    Andrew Abbot, a 26 year old LH SP in his third year as a Cincinnati Red, threw 110 pitches in a complete game shutout last night.
  15. tony&rodney
    I really tuned in to C. J. last season. He looked good and was coming along. The one quibble i had with him is that he throws 6 or 7 pitches and he was not developing at a rate which I would expect from his arm. That may be unfair but it takes quite a while to command and control any offering. Starting pitchers hope to harness 2-4 pitches. The ability to master twice the number of offerings is a huge task for a young pitcher. He had a very nice outing yesterday though and we will need to see how he does going into the summer once he (Culpepper) transitions back to AA and possibly AAA by August.
  16. tony&rodney
    We are probably on the same page. I wanted the Twins to be aggressive trading a few guys (Lee, Julien, even Lewis and Wallner, but of course not all) the last few off seasons to target more talent. Naturally that is difficult to pull off and Falvey is risk adverse to the max. To be fair, one never knows how things would turn out. When I watch Hill and Soto I can see the potential but they clearly need time. Prielipp is closer and ready for AAA. I wonder when that move will come. I do like how the Twins are having Prielipp use/ develop all of his pitches as opposed to just mowing down the weaker part of the AA lineups. Certainly he goes to AAA in July if the next couple of starts go well. The Twins may wind up trading Morris this coming winter if Adams and others develop. I think Morris could easily slot in as an above average #4/5 starting pitcher next year and a pile of teams could use that skill. The Twins may be content to hold their top 3 and let Festa, Matthews, and Woods Richardson fill the bottom. It should be interesting to see where Prielipp is a year from now. I don't see Raya in the SP picture or anyone else. The pitching has been enjoyable to watch. The bats and defense, not so much.
  17. tony&rodney
    If we are talking absolute ceiling only then you are likely correct, which is what I also suggested. However, pitchability is still a thing and for now I'm sticking with Morris until such time as Prielipp gets past 60 pitches and resides in St. Paul as successfully as he has in Wichita. No doubt that Hill and Soto have loads of potential but they are a ways away from MLB conversation. Morris will almost surely never rise above a mid to back end rotation piece in the majors but there is real value in a guy who gets outs and stays off the barrel. I will continue to tune in every time he pitches
  18. tony&rodney
    Nice home run by Wallner, but slow down a bit and wait a while, say about 2200+ more plate appearances before you compare big Matt to Miguel Sano. Wallner could go on a sweet run here with the Twins but he currently sits at 33 bombs and has a few to hit to reach Sano's 164 blasts. I will be cheering Wallner on but we sure have forgotten #22 pretty quickly. Maybe revisit Wallner and Sano in 3 years and the numbers could easily favor Wallner at that time.
  19. tony&rodney
    Fun to watch all four of these pitchers. One could make an order on ceiling or where they are at the present time. Based purely on my views of their games: Prielipp, Hill, Soto, Morris for ceiling. I would go Morris, Prielipp, Hill for performance to date based mostly on the level of competition and considering I have not seen Soto enough times. Morris has usually been around 94 MPH and has hit 98 MPH in the games I have seen him pitch. I have watched Morris 8 times. It seems like Morris works quite a bit on his pitches for development as opposed to just trying to get outs. The number of poor plays behind him has been discouraging to watch with Miranda and Julien being particular bad. Prielipp should be ready for AAA by July. I agree with the careful approach at this time. There are times when he just toys with AA batters. I have watched 5 of his starts. I have only watched Soto once. He looked really good but I would like to see him more times before jumping all in. Dasan Hill looks really good too. He is an exciting prospect. I have only seen him pitch four times. Pretty cool to watch and know the Twins have some fun talented players to watch in their minor league system.
  20. tony&rodney
    Well, this explains quite a bit. When you haven't watched anyone it isn't a good idea to have thoughts on that not knowing. BTW, the minor leagues is almost exclusively for development which is why players work on specific skills in game action. This is similar to Spring Training in some ways. If you had an mlb.com account you could watch minor league games. If you have internet there are quite a few games that are free on both mlb.com and milb.com. The other MLB teams and the minor leagues are very entertaining for a hardcore baseball fan. You are not incorrect that many players are or seem less accomplished in skills at the MLB level than we would hope. My take is that they are doing the best they can do. All of the former or current players I have known are total workaholics. Remember there is money to be made if one is successful. The Twins are an organization that values bats more than speed, defense, and small ball. It is what it is.
  21. tony&rodney
    This more clearly represents what I feel is the most accurate picture regarding Eeles and his prospects for becoming a Twins. What I wrote above in the comments needed a sentence that states that it is totally unlikely for Eeles to get a roster spot soon. As others noted, his knee injury knocked him out of competing for a slot in March. Eeles is down the list now.
  22. tony&rodney
    Agree with your take. I wanted to add that Jacob Wilson might be the new standard for swing and hit. Wilson's .372 average with 16 Ks, 14 BB, and 23 XBH along with 5 SB while playing a decent shortstop is really something. Watching him is nearly comical as he hits bloops, blasts, frozen ropes, and broken bat hits all over the field on every type of pitch in crazy locations. There was an interesting article on Fangraphs on May 23 about his batting stance and The Athletic had a good article on him on June 2. Wilson was picked 6th in the draft immediately after Walker Jenkins. Arraez has fallen below .280 AVE sadly. He might struggle to get a decent contract next year as a slow DH who doesn't hit many XBH and provides next to no defense.
  23. tony&rodney
    Eeles still needs some time at AAA St. Paul. If he is needed the exchange would be Eeles for Bride. No reason to DFA Fitzgerald because Bride cannot be retained at AAA so he would be DFA. I'm not sure Eeles would be used much but he can play everywhere at a Twins level defense and does provide some speed which was lost when Keirsey Jr. was returned to St. Paul. The Twins will wait for an injury before making a move and even then they might prefer Miranda.
  24. tony&rodney
    In reverse order: I would agree that a multiple inning relief pitcher would be a good idea. Sending down Adams does seem strange except one must recognize that Jorge Alcala has a great arm despite his faltering ways meaning the Twins are not ready to DFA Alcala just yet. There are still decent arms at St. Paul. Andrew Morris is not on the 40 person roster and he is still working on a number of pitching details, but I would suggest that Morris is as strong a starter as Woods Richardson minus the MLB experience which is actually important. St. Paul also has Darren McCaughan, Ryan Jensen, and the rehabbing Michael Tonkin. For now, pitching is not the biggest concern for the Twins.
  25. tony&rodney
    The Twins should be alright. In early June after an early drought and a couple of weeks of miracle the team are above .500 and have the promise of holding their own going forward. Those who are wanting purity and sustained runs of winning games will find themselves in disappointment. The Twins have pitching, pitching, and a group of pretty average position players willing to find their place in baseball. I'm expecting Correa and Buxton to lead the way in support of the pitching staff. The Twins currently have the same record as Tampa Bay and Toronto and are a half game up on Cleveland and Milwaukee. Really good spot. Considering all things this is a very solid position at the moment. There are frustrations to be sure, but most of those are simply a difference of philosophy. Defense, base-running, and small ball are accepted if it happens for the current management but not a focus. So fans need to see the focused plate appearances and unselfish play from today. Buxton taking a base on balls instead of flailing at pitches out of the zone was a run. Make the plays possible and have grueling at bats - this will need to be the way the Twins win games and stay in a race all summer.
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