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stringer bell

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Everything posted by stringer bell

  1. stringer bell
    intertwingled--I don't know if that's really a word, but it probably should be!
  2. stringer bell
    Any team without huge revenue has to develop talent within their system and the Twins have done that on the position player side for sure. Counting Jeffers as a starter, the Twins will have seven of their nine starters drafted and developed by the team. Not so much with the pitching staff. Depending on how Ryan is regarded, the Twins will have two starters and two in the bullpen drafted and developed by the Twins. A mixed bag of trades and signings has netted the majority of the pitching staff. From this core, teams add free agents and trade for players, most often by trading prospects. The Twins didn't spend much money this year to augment their roster and traded away one of their five best players in the last five years, at least in part to reduce payroll. This is the concern I have going forward. Will the Twins trade away major league talent because (in their analysis) they can't afford to keep them? This is the only way I can justify their approach in this off season. I don't want to see Jeffers, López, Lewis, Kirilloff, Ober or Ryan traded because their contracts are too big for the budget. Toronto has pretty much been able to pay their stars as their salaries increase. They haven't had any luck in postseason for a while, but I really think they've had sufficient talent to win. If the Twins want to stay competitive, they also need to keep their best players and augment the roster on occasion. To me, that will determine if the competitive window closes.
  3. stringer bell
    With an eight-man bullpen and pretty frequent off days early (as I'm looking at the weather reports, I wonder how many rainouts and snowouts the Twins might have early), I don't think a long man will be very necessary. Cole Sands IMHO has fringy major league stuff and fringy major league command. When he has command, he has enough stuff to be okay, but when he's behind on counts and not hitting his spots, he is very hittable, hence his inconsistent results in the majors. The Twins can do better.
  4. stringer bell
    It is pretty likely that DeSclafani will be on the 60-day Injured List, making the 40-man issue easy enough to get Duarte on the roster. Among the relievers with options currently projected to make it to Kansas City are Alcalá, Funderburk and Staumont. One of those could be sent to St. Paul to make a place for Duarte.
  5. stringer bell
    With opt-outs of minor league contracts being activated and a number of out-of-options players not making Opening Day rosters, there will be a fair number of experienced players available to be signed or claimed in the coming week. Is there anyone that the Twins should target? There are both pitchers and position players becoming available.
  6. stringer bell
    As we are going to see with Carlos Santana, switch hitters aren’t as readily platooned. Also, from what I understand, Lee did well against lefties in ‘22, his first taste of professional baseball. The Judge example shows the fallacy of using small sample sizes. I am not ready to give up on Lee as a good offensive player from both sides of the plate, but he has some proving to do.
  7. stringer bell
    How did Brooks do hitting right handed? My guess is that his to-do list at St. Paul would include getting experience at second base and improve his numbers against left handers.
  8. stringer bell
    Lee didn't hurt his case for a quick promotion during Spring Training. The fact that he played zero games at second base indicated to me that he isn't a serious option there and only a disabling injury to Lewis or Correa will see him promoted early in the season.
  9. stringer bell
    Lee was officially reassigned to minor league camp. He will start the season at St. Paul barring a late injury to a position player.
  10. stringer bell
    All three of these youngish left handed hitters are also handicapped by the perception (perhaps reality) that they are poorer in the field than their platoon alternates. When Rocco is faced with the choice to hit for Wallner, Julien or Kirilloff, the decision should be based on who has the better chance of helping the team win the game and that would include possible subsequent at-bats and plays in the field. It has been noted that Rocco believes in taking the platoon advantage in earlier spots (middle innings and deeper) because there's no guarantee that same advantage will be there in the later innings. I believe that is short-sighted because if he hits for two or all three of the lefties mentioned, the opponent has the advantage of knowing that the Twins will be going basically all right handed in the late innings. As Brian has noted, the left handed hitters in question need more chances than automatically being subbed for whenever a lefthander is summoned from the 'pen. Shielding a guy by resting him most of the time against lefties is okay if he still gets a fair amount of plate appearances against them. A greater percentage than last year would be the minimum expectation for the first couple months.
  11. stringer bell
    Gallo, Taylor, Julien, Buxton and Wallner were all well over 30% Ks last year. Granted, Gallo and Buxton didn't play much in the stretch but the Twins went with a lot of high K guys in their lineup last year and had a successful regular season.
  12. stringer bell
    When one of the starters is rested by being the DH, Kirilloff should be at first ( against RH pitching). I think that will happen a fair amount so that Castro can be inserted (at third, second or left field). AK should be starting at first about 50% of the time vs. RH pitching and maybe a half dozen starts in the OF.
  13. stringer bell
    FWIW, Kirilloff has had a quiet, but productive, spring thus far. He's hitting .324 with a .970 OPS. There doesn't seem any reason for him not to be in the lineup every day against right handed, whether it is as the DH, the first baseman or maybe at a corner outfield spot.
  14. stringer bell
    I don't think the game was broadcast. I know it wasn't on Bally. Eddie, Jesse Winker and Gallo are in a position battle, with likely two of the three making the Opening Day roster. Winker and Rosario have opt-out today (per BBRef.com) and one is likely to get cut loose. Gallo has a major league contract, so it's unlikely he is sent packing. Sands, IMHO, is the one rostered reliever who will be optioned to get to 13 pitchers, so Duarte has to be better than Sands plus one other guy. So far, Staumont hasn't been impressive, but neither has Funderburk and Alcalá overall. With the BP injuries, most of the perceived depth is gone for the moment.
  15. stringer bell
    Once the club determines a guy on the 40-man won't make the club, they send them down because they don't want them to get injured and then get major league service time while on the IL. If Lee were on the 40-man, he might now have ended up on the IL with his minor injury and his major league service time clock would start. The other issue is giving pitchers innings to stretch out and hitters more at-bats.
  16. stringer bell
    De La Cruz isn't going to be a superstar because of his line in Spring Training this year. And Wallner isn't a bust because of his results this spring. De La Cruz has superstar tools including speed and bat speed that make him a good bet and Wallner has less tools, but plus plus power.
  17. stringer bell
    Yep!! He’s the one I think very few remember.
  18. stringer bell
    The Twins are playing the Nationals in an away game for Minnesota. Position players making the trip (who will play for the Twins this year) are Kirilloff, Farmer, Wallner and Lee. The Nationals have three ex-Twins in their lineup. A bonus of 5 points (value of $0) to anyone who can pick them out without using a reference book.
  19. stringer bell
    I think a larger sample size will tell a lot about Matt Wallner. The range of projection for him could be from AAAA player to All-Star. As noted, there’s plenty to be concerned about, but also plenty that is vey encouraging. I think it is preposterous to send Wallner down based on a lousy Spring Training, but it is not preposterous to believe he could be in the minors by May Day.
  20. stringer bell
    Yes, he’ll start every time against left handed pitching and to start the season, he’ll hit lead off against lefties. It appears he’ll get “a lot” of starts vs. right handers as well. I hope it is less than half the time against righties but that is tbd.
  21. stringer bell
    There seems to be a mutiny going on with the MLBPA. While Tony Clark’s job has been directly threatened, his assistant seems to be under pressure. The complaints center on Scott Boras’ relationship with the top execs of the union—that they are too cozy with Boras and that he influences them too much. Several Boras clients remained unsigned late and into spring training and some have agreed to contracts far below projections, taking much luster off Boras' reputation. Perhaps not directly related to Boras, a player (JD Davis) won an arbitration hearing and then was ultimately released, costing the player several million dollars. I'm sure players don't want this to happen to them. I’m a fan of the Players’ Union. They have managed to win free agency for players and allow the average salary to grow, while leaving a framework that allows the small markets to have a chance to compete. They don’t have the parity of the NFL, but working conditions and salary for baseball players is far better than the other sports. I see anything weakening the MLBPA as helping the owners, who don’t need any help.
  22. stringer bell
    I'm not saying that Spring Training doesn't matter, but stats accrued are far less a direct indicator of whether the player can help the team. Willi Castro didn't hit a lot in the spring, but showed he was versatile and capable of holding his own at the plate. Hitting early in the spring isn't nearly as important as when major leaguers are pitching the majority of innings and using all their pitches.
  23. stringer bell
    Falvey has stated that Durán, Thielbar and DeSclafani are starting the season on the IL. With the roster players who have been optioned, there remain 27 for 26 players. There are 14 rostered pitchers, so one will have to be optioned. The players with options who haven't been guaranteed a spot are Staumont, Funderburk, Alcalá and Sands. The consensus is that Sands will be optioned. That would leave this active roster: Position players--Jeffers, Vázquez, Kirilloff, Santana, Julien, Farmer, Correa, Lewis, Castro, Kepler, Buxton, Wallner, Margot. Pitchers--López, Ryan, Ober, Paddack, Varland, Alcalá, Funderburk, Jackson, Staumont, Topa, Okert, Jax, Stewart.
  24. stringer bell
    Larnach's last option was just used. I expect he'll spend most of his 2024 in St. Paul, but chances of an injury to a corner OF are pretty high, so he'll get some time with the Twins. With Kepler likely leaving after this year, maybe the Twins will hang on to Larnach believing he can help them in 2025. There are DH at-bats to be had this year and next. Miranda and Larnach could be in line for many of those ABs. It will be a huge year for both of those guys and if they don't step up, they likely won't be around next year.
  25. stringer bell
    Since apparently all of the roster decisions have been made, which decision was made based on Spring Training stats in your opinion?
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