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stringer bell

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Everything posted by stringer bell

  1. stringer bell
    Yup.
  2. stringer bell
    He was born in Austin. There aren’t a lot of cowboy boots and 10-gallon hats in the capital city.
  3. stringer bell
    Paddack threw like a relief pitcher in the ninth inning after the first two guys reached. Don't know if he can sustain that.
  4. stringer bell
    I guess I'm puzzled by the Buxton injury. He has no structural damage according to the MRI, only inflammation. I'd think there would be some warning sign, but AFAIK there were no warning signs.
  5. stringer bell
    I just saw that Stewart is on the IL with shoulder tendinitis. Ugh. I know the club has been careful with him, but more than most, he seems to be a ticking time bomb (for injury).
  6. stringer bell
    Bowman traded to the Snakes for cash. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/05/d-backs-acquire-matt-bowman-from-twins.html
  7. stringer bell
    The bar will be raised against the Rose Hose, but I think the Twins will be up to the challenge. I hope the crowds are up in numbers and enthusiasm.
  8. stringer bell
    Stewart has been excellent and earned the Pitcher of the Month recognition. The pitching group has been pretty good, with the bullpen better than the rotation.
  9. stringer bell
    There are some insane BABiP numbers that definitely will regress to the mean. Strikeout numbers are way down and the slugging seems more generated by doubles and triples than solely home runs. The competition will be much tougher and it is foolish to think they will sustain offensive production at this level regardless. There seems to be a bit of adjustment particularly in two-strike approach. It's a long season and there are peaks and valleys for all players.
  10. stringer bell
    If Rocco Baldelli ran out the same nine game after game, I might agree with you. However, he's pretty likely to use his whole bench several days in a row. Add on the impact of injuries and having a truly versatile player to fill the slack at as many as seven positions is worth Kyle Farmer dollars. I've mentioned this before. I think there's a chance that Willi Castro is better than a typical utility player, but more of a Tony Phillips/Ben Zobrist/Whit Merrifield type that becomes a tenth regular, filling in wherever there is need without much loss at the plate or in the field. I don't think there's enough evidence yet one way or the other, but with this year and next coming under team control, I think there will be evidence of how good and how important Willi Castro is to the team. Castro just turned 27 a week ago, so he would be in his age 29 year for free agency--on the young side. As long as he's a plus runner, I think he can be very valuable.
  11. stringer bell
    Let's wait until there is some clarity about the injury, OK? The word I have been dreading with Buxton's knee is "chronic" with the runner up being "arthritic".
  12. stringer bell
    Willi Castro is currently on a roll. He has essentially doubled his batted average, halved his strikeout rate and continued to play good defense all over the field. With the injury to Byron Buxton, there has been discussion whether Willi should become the primary center fielder in Buck's absence. What I would like to discuss here is what the best role for him is going forward and what has changed since he was signed to a minor league contract just before Christmas in 2022. First and foremost, he has earned the trust of the manager. Rocco Baldelli trusts Castro to handle several positions defensively, make good and aggressive base running decisions and handle himself against left and right handed pitchers. This has won Castro lots of playing time. He currently has played in every game, starting 26 of 30 and is among the top three Twins in plate appearances. Secondly, he has picked up his hitting against left handed pitching. Willi is mashing to the tune of 1.250 OPS versus southpaws. Last season, he lagged against lefties with a .636 OPS. On the other hand, Willi's OPS against right handers has suffered (only .646 to date). I would expect regression to the mean in both, especially given his career platoon splits are basically neutral. Finally, and maybe because my expectations have changed, there seems to be a downturn in both defense and base running. Castro has been guilty of a couple of notable base running mistakes, he's been nabbed stealing three times already and has more bobbles and bad routes in the outfield than I recall from 2023. He's still a good defender in left field (the best the Twins have) and is a good fielder at third base. He has already played much more shortstop in 2024 than he did in 2023 and he's no Carlos Correa at short (not many are). In summary (and IMHO), Willi Castro has followed up a breakthrough season with another solid start and has attained the status of a regular at the age of 27. While it is early in the season, he has thus far shown that 2023 wasn't a fluke and that he can do a lot of things to help the Twins win ball games. He appears to thrive playing wherever he is needed and looks to be an asset that the Twins would be smart to keep, maybe for more than his years of team control.
  13. stringer bell
    Agree, but I think sometimes the difference is hard to discern.
  14. stringer bell
    The loss of Miller is mitigated by the acquisition of Doncon, who when I last checked was hitting quite well.
  15. stringer bell
    That is assuming there are no other position player injuries in the meantime. Very likely that someone else is injured and on the IL when Lewis is ready to return.
  16. stringer bell
    The combination of Miranda and Larnach have about the same number of plate appearances a full-time player would have gotten. Their stats combined are very good, but neither has approached full-time status. Jeffers was #1 (IMHO) by a considerable margin. Julien's snags were a bit deeper and he strikes out at a higher rate. He's produced fewer runs with his seven homers than Jeffers has with five.homers. Julien has been fine, Jeffers has been better.
  17. stringer bell
    IMHO Castro is a far better left fielder than he is in center. Some guys are like that. I think Martin can develop into a really good center fielder who also would be fine in left. Frankly, I don't trust the hitting of Miranda. A week ago, he was hitting .200 with weak exit velocities and little plate discipline. I'm not ready for the team to hand him the keys at third base although he's looked okay there for the last several days.
  18. stringer bell
    It seems that the Twins have an excess of relief pitchers, but we thought that in the last week of spring training when Topa, Staumont, Thielbar and Durán all went down. Right now the bullpen options are all healthy, but it could be a completely different story in a week.
  19. stringer bell
    Taylor was asking for much more money than he ended up with. Could the Twins have waited him out? Maybe, maybe not. If the Twins wanted to get a corner OF that hits right handed, getting Pham, Grichuk, Robbie Grossman or a couple of others would have been preferable to Margot IMHO. BTW, the Twins traded for Margot and are paying for only a portion of his contract.
  20. stringer bell
    This list is an illustration of how long the season is and how much things can change in ten days. Castro and Santana have gotten going catapulting Willi to the heir apparent in center field and keeping Santana in full-time regular status. Farmer has gotten a few hits and played quite a bit while Thielbar closed out a couple games and Jackson threw scoreless ball. The only guy that hasn't improved in this streak is Margot (3-14 .214 BA).
  21. stringer bell
    AFAIK all that is known of Buxton's injury is "right knee soreness". I think a more complete diagnosis and prognosis is needed before making decisions about who to replace him. I agree 100%. If Margot isn't the replacement for Buxton, the Twins could have and should have gotten someone with a bit more thump in their bat or just saved the money and gone with Martin in the first place.
  22. stringer bell
    He's a good all-around player who always takes good at-bats. He's never broken through to where he plays a lot against left handers, but has shown his value through the years.
  23. stringer bell
    He lost to the Royals for the second straight time as I was composing this and his numbers for the month aren't exactly correct. He pitched well again in that game, giving up only a two-run homer in six innings.
  24. stringer bell
    The thing that made Willi so valuable last year was that he could play almost anywhere, but wasn't assigned to any one role. I hope he isn't the six-day-a-week center fielder, but rather starts games at third, in left and in center with some of the other players also moving around. It also probably wouldn't hurt to give Correa a bit more rest than he would like, with Castro playing short on those days.
  25. stringer bell
    Plouffe is a lot of fun on the broadcasts, but I'm glad he's not on for 50 or more telecasts. The Twins are on a 10-game winning streak, but he and LaTroy probably pointed out more mistakes than Morneau points out in a season. The 11:11 stuff with him and Kirilloff is great!
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