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stringer bell

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Everything posted by stringer bell

  1. stringer bell
    Blewett didn’t blow it!
  2. stringer bell
    Both teams pulling their starters early. Nobody get hurt and Louie goes 5 or 6 and Rocco will be happy.
  3. stringer bell
    I hope the team is ready for the regular season, that is what spring training is for. The results have been downright ugly, but all will be forgotten if they get off to a fast start in the regular season........Lets go!
  4. stringer bell
    I haven't been to Fort Myers since 2020, when my visit was shortened by the pandemic, but I hope to return next year. I want to second everything Brian has said. It's a great experience and the exhibition games are probably the least interesting part of it. I have fond memories of sitting next to Michael Tonkin (the day after he was sent to the minors) and close to an injured Miguel Sanó, having a great time with other Spanish-speaking minor leaguers. I stood adjacent to Terry Ryan, answering questions from fans, while trying to watch the action of two minor league games at once. My brother and I met Niko Goodrum's dad (at the time hoping Niko would get sufficient playing time at either AA or AAA) I got an autograph from Brian Dozier, the year he converted to second base. In 2020, I went to the complex only to find it almost empty. I walked to the park looking for sign and saw an elderly man walking back to his car. It was Tony-O and I have a selfie with him from the day that baseball was suspended. I hope the Twins keep things as they are in Fort Myers. It is a great experience not to be missed by Twins fans!
  5. stringer bell
    Rortvedt is out of options. I doubt he makes it to AAA with the Yankees.
  6. stringer bell
    Jax and Jeffers had their rookie seasons in 2021, they are hardly "sophomores". Given the injuries to the bullpen, I think Jax may be among the most important players for the Twins, especially in April.
  7. stringer bell
    Chavez signed a minor league deal with Atlanta. For the Twins and their fans, this story is over. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/03/braves-sign-jesse-chavez-minors.html
  8. stringer bell
    All three look the part of being on the rise. If two of the three are better than they were last year (in a full season), it bodes very well for the 2024 Twins.
  9. stringer bell
    Jake Cave traded to the Rockies. He'll probably get a pretty good chance to play in a great hitting environment, but winning is probably off the table. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/03/rockies-to-acquire-jake-cave.html
  10. stringer bell
    He caught a line drive comebacker, which deflected off his pitching hand (fingertips). He threw one or two pitches after that, then was removed from the game.
  11. stringer bell
    I saw somewhere that Alcalá avoided serious injury, but they gave no further information. He's listed as day-to-day on ESPN's injury report.
  12. stringer bell
    Last season, Santana hit right handed pitching at exactly MLB average (100 OPS+). He's not helpless against right handers, but he isn't an asset (according to last year) and his platoon splits are far less pronounced than the three lefties (Kirilloff, Wallner, Julien) last year. A lot of good switch hitters have their platoon split vary from year to year, others are always better on one side. Polanco had been consistently better against RH pitching until last year, when in a half season, he put up his best OPS+ versus lefties. Until proven otherwise, I would expect Lee to be marginally better against righties, but not a true platoon candidate.
  13. stringer bell
    Lee started at least two games at third base this spring.I believe that if Lewis had an IL injury, Lee would be promoted to take his place. He also played a few games at third in the minors last year. AFAIK he hasn't played second base in a professional ball game.
  14. stringer bell
    intertwingled--I don't know if that's really a word, but it probably should be!
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. 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.
  25. 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.
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