ashbury

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that the Twins have taught me how to hit the curveball." Well, we can dream, anyway.

Concur, concur, concur. Just to be clear, the area entirely past the stadium is for the minor leaguers. There is limited but fun opportunity to interact with a few major leaguers when they pass between the one practice field (batting practice before the game, mostly) adjoining the stadium, but if you have your heart set on one major leaguer it may not work out that day - they do have their perks at that level of achievement, and aren't fully accessible. I enjoyed watching Alex Kirilloff interact with a few kids, in transit, last March. You can also watch from behind a barrier fence into the batting cages. I gravitate toward the minor league fields. There are warmups and drills during the mornings, and then other nearby teams send their spring squads of A and AA and AAA players for early afternoon games - usually two games running concurrently, and I've seen instances of three games at once. The fields are set up in a cloverleaf shape so that you can be in the middle and pivot from one game to the next as your interests dictate. Oh, bring water and snacks/lunch because there are no concession stands back there. There's a simple rule of thumb: eye contact. Inside the playing field, the players rarely make eye contact with fans, so keep to yourself. If you see them looking around for interaction, you can sometimes engage them through the fence, but take it in stride if you miscalculate and get no response - it's not rudeness, it's discipline. If your 5-year old is outgoing, help encourage him to walk right up to one of the players in the public area, at an appropriate time during a game or drills. During a game some of the ones who aren't playing sit in the metal stands behind home plate of either of the back fields. Or if you're there in the morning during drills, he can take a chance on approaching a player who is moving through the public area, from one field to another or from the fields to the clubhouse building. Either way he'll likely get at least a friendly acknowledgement. I'm not the outgoing type so I didn't bug Jose Berrios back when he was a single-A player, but then I wasn't a kid and being a fanboy at my age wasn't my style; I still immensely enjoyed the atmosphere my own way and it remains a fond memory - the personality we all saw on TV was the personality he had back then. If your kid talks to some 19-year old God Who Walks The Earth In Metal Cleats, he'll follow that playing career all through the minors. Go ahead and buy tickets for the major league game inside the stadium (get them ahead of time, they do sell out), and he might surprise you how long he stays interested in it, if he got a taste of things on the back field the day (or morning) before. Once the starters get pinch-hit for, you might be ready to leave before he is anyway. "Is This Heaven?™" "No, it's the fields behind Hammond Stadium in March."

Are they clones of one another? No. Is the philosophy behind the signings similar? I'd say yes.

Mark Prior wound up with the second most Wins Above Average (b-r.com version) for his career among all pitchers taken in that draft. He weren't a big nothing.

Number One pick overall, and they snagged the one Hall of Famer. Good job.

I'm sure he'd welcome you but just be aware: it's a long way from his place to Dodger Stadium and many of the others. / edit - I feel as though I have somehow threadjacked this discussion. How 'bout that Joey Gallo?

Have I ever mentioned that my older son lives across the street from Nationals Park? He can go upstairs to the community entertainment room in his building and watch the game; living his best life. I'll have to ask him how excited he is over Joey.

Bat him leadoff, like the Twins did a few times this season. Once or twice he'll get ahold of one in the bottom of the first and stake his team to a 1-0 lead, giving the sparse crowd something to cheer right away. (Unless the dinger merely pulls them to within a 2-1 deficit.)

The Nationals are a sad sack team trying to pull themselves back together. Joey Gallo is their Josh Willingham. He won't hold back Dylan Crews. He won't hold back James Wood, He won't hold back Elijah Green. He won't hold back Daylen Lile. He won't hold back Robert Hassell. He might sell a few tickets. He won't affect anything.

After careful consideration, I am going to have to say yes. 😀 I want to add, the occasional article for Caretakers isn't the reason to support the site. Those articles are just a small thank you to those supporters.

I don't know if it's my "favorite", exactly, but when asked for a memory, Phil Cuzzi's name always comes up for me. A clear cut choice for the Hall in the minds of many. Congratulations to Joe!

Babe Ruth was on a Hall of Fame path as a pitcher when, at age 22, his team said, "you know what? No."

Short answer: no. Longer analysis: no, of course not.

Pablo Lopez faced 801 batters in 2023, and he didn't even finish in the top ten in MLB in this regard. No batter in the majors had that many plate appearances.

Then you are asking the FO to change their organizational philosophy. The majority of the time they reserve first round picks for sure-thing bats like Aaron Sabato. And if by chance they do draft a valuable pitcher, they immediately trade him away for 2 years of a good established major leaguer rather than gamble on getting 6 years of something possibly better. Wonder how long Charlee Soto lasts in this farm system? For trivia buffs: who was the last pitcher before Chase Petty taken by the Twins in the first round? The immortal Tyler Jay, by the prior regime, 2015.

"Son, didn't anybody in your prior organizations teach you how to hit the dang curveball? No? Well, listen closely, because I only tell people this once..." 😀

How many millions are you expecting Bubba to earn in 2024? 😀

Seems to have good defensive skills, bat may be AAAA quality. But with open 40-man spots, you can always claim someone, then later on waive him and see what happens.

Then who covers center? That's a lot of money to spend if we already have an in-house solution. (And my original question remains, would he come here to play left if a similar money offer came in where he could be the man in CF?)

Money aside, would Bellinger even want to come here, knowing that his assigned role will change with the whims of fate (AKA Buxton's health)?

FSL, or FCL?

Care to correct some misinformation with facts?

Then in 2023, you took more losses. In Vazquez's starts at catcher the team went 44-47.

... written by someone standing in a room. Probably a hipster but I can't know.