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stringer bell

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Everything posted by stringer bell

  1. stringer bell
    Regarding bat-first guys, Julien probably fits that description and maybe Miranda, as well. Lewis, Lee and Martin all would profile to be decent defenders higher on the spectrum than Julien and maybe Miranda.
  2. stringer bell
    I think he will be sent to Triple A and I think that is the right call, as well. If he does well, the Twins possibly could promote him before midseason. It will probably help Julien to face AAA pitching and also work on his defense.
  3. stringer bell
    It seems to me that the Twins chose to blame the injury woes on the training staff. I don't know if this is scapegoating or if last year's head trainer did a poor job. Baldelli seems to be a players' manager and there hasn't been scuttlebutt of discontent from the players. I do think that the teams that he has had since taking over fit with his plan to rest everybody in the course of the season. However, every single year Rocco's teams have staggered at the end. This is particularly true of the two playoff teams and 2022. They weren't healthy going into postseason and didn't really have a chance to advance. Apparently, resting didn't get the desired result of having the players stay healthy through the season. Bad luck? Bad training staff? Poor management? I think it is a little bit of all three.
  4. stringer bell
    Cody Christie article today says that Kirilloff is taking live BP and feeling no pain. That is an improvement from a week ago when he was facing pitching machines and still had "discomfort". If he has no setbacks and can get ten days to a week of games in, I think he can make the club. I don't think the Twins really pushed him last year. He started out hurting and was on the IL in April and then when recalled, he raked until the wrist dogged him again. I'm convinced he can hit if healthy. I want Larnach on the team from the start as well. He has a higher ceiling than Kepler and Gordon and showed last year, before injury, that he can both hit and field. The word is he's playing tomorrow. I hope he rakes and forces his way on to the Opening Day roster. BTW, there are already three injury questions (beyond Trevor) that need to be answered (Kirilloff, Gordon, Miranda) and if any of them don't make it by Opening Day, there is a clear path for Larnach to make the team.
  5. stringer bell
    I think Farmer and Taylor are excellent pickups. Farmer kills left handed pitching and is a versatile three-position infielder. He probably isn't a full-time starter on a contender, but he's solid and a real asset as a short-side platoon option. Buxton's history and Celestino's struggles necessitate getting a capable center fielder. While I have my qualms about WAR, his 3.2 BWar would have been exceeded by only Buxton, Arraez and Correa on the 2022 Twins and he only played in three quarters of the Royals' games. I agree that having both Gallo and Kepler on the team seems unwise, but given all of the outfield injuries last year it might make sense to keep major leaguers rather than entrusting regular at bats to unproven players. Solano has had a good run as a hitter in his 30s. He's also versatile and hits righty giving the Twins another weapon against left handed starters.
  6. stringer bell
    While it is fun to predict the roster, the reality is that composition of the roster will change through the season. I’m pretty sure Polanco and Buxton will be on the roster and in the Opening Day lineup. I’m not so sure that Kirilloff will be ready. I think about three of the bullpen spots could be classified at TBD.
  7. stringer bell
    Well, I hope he doesn't lose the whole year with Tommy John surgery. Tough break for a guy who seems to have the skill set to really help the Twins.
  8. stringer bell
    After listening to Bonnes and Nick Nelson today, I feel like there is a bit more clarity in regard to the bullpen. There are four guys comprising the high-leverage (back end) of the bullpen--Jorge Lopez, Caleb Thielbar, Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax. They are locks to make the team and will be the guys to get most of the wins and saves. The second tier will be guys occasionally in high-leverage, but often in middle situations. Jorge Alcala, Emilio Pagan, Jovani Moran, Trevor Megill and Dennis Santana. They will sometimes be asked to get more than three outs. Someone else could also join this group and not all five will go north for Opening Day. Finally, Rocco would like to have a guy who is really a long reliever, perhaps nominally a starter. This was Josh Winder's role early in 2022, but eventually he joined the rotation. Cole Sands, perhaps Winder again or a host of non-roster pitchers could figure here. As the season progresses, there doubtless will be changes and adjustments. It would not be a surprise to see several guys using up their allotted number of optional assignments and a lot of names not shown here to get opportunities.
  9. stringer bell
    I think it's not really fair to imply that Jeffers is injury-prone. Last year's injury was a rather freak broken bone and he is a catcher. It appears Jeffers will get most of his plate appearances against left handers as long as Vazquez is healthy and it wouldn't surprise me that he thrives in that role.
  10. stringer bell
    Lots of nuggets provided. Thank you! Really appreciate your observations about the bullpen. Is it too early to point out a dark horse to make the Opening Day roster? Is there anyone that has really caught your eye as a prospect?
  11. stringer bell
    Well, Megill has an option. I really believe Celestino will be assigned to the 60-day IL for one spot. Rocco has directly said that he would like at least one multi-inning reliever (Rodriquez, Hoffman, Sánchez, de Leon, and perhaps Oliver Ortega could step in). Dennis Santana can’t be optioned, so if he doesn’t make the team, that will open a roster spot. Lots of balls in the air and decisions to be made. The only sure thing is that there will be a lot of changes in the course of the season.
  12. stringer bell
    Glad to hear that. I confess I didn’t see the velocity on every pitch, so I may well be wrong about his velocity.
  13. stringer bell
    Megill looked good yesterday, probably the only guy in competition for one of the last spots that has so far (I think Moran is a near-lock so I am not considering him). I hope someone(s) steps up and that Winder and Henriquez get healthy.
  14. stringer bell
    Agree. It looked like Alcala was throwing high 80s meatballs yesterday. I didn’t see a single pitch with velo above 90. It is early and he is coming back from surgery and missing virtually a whole season, but I’m not confident that he will help the club early.
  15. stringer bell
    With his R/L splits, Farmer should be starting against lefties all the time. Not as a good for him to fill in against right handers. He’ll get quite a few at-bats filling in anyway. I guess I’d prefer him at third and Miranda at first.
  16. stringer bell
    The best thing for the bullpen would be success from the current deep and relatively experienced rotation. Two things the Twins FO and field staff had to like about Pagan were his willingness to take the ball on consecutive days and ability to throw multiple innings. I hope that Pagan is infrequently used in high-leverage situations. The last two or three in the bullpen already look a bit shaky (I know it's early!). Alcala gave up several base runners, Megill got knocked around and both Winder and Henriquez are dealing with arm ailments.
  17. stringer bell
    The injuries to Larnach and Miranda are concerning, of course. I'm sure that in Spring Training, the Twins aren't going to take any chances with anyone. Any complaints about having competent veterans on board bring me back to last year when the not-ready Wallner plus Cave, Celestino and Contreras were playing regularly in the outfield. I'd much rather have major leaguers playing and if the prospects come through, they will get their chance. If Rocco can get the veterans at-bats where they have the best chance of success, they will be fine, but I doubt the club will suddenly believe they are foundations of the team. There is a jumble of young, ready or nearly-ready position players without clear places where they will play. It's up to the field staff and front office to handle this, but the time is in the future. Goodness, guys like Kirilloff and Larnach haven't established themselves and a bad season could change the opinion of Miranda and Gordon.
  18. stringer bell
    My thought was that the Dodgers might be interested in Gordon to fill Rojas’ utility role, with Rojas moving in as the primary SS.
  19. stringer bell
    As far as strategy for extra innings goes, I don't think a bunt is in order very often if you are on the road. First of all, playing for a one-run lead when the opponent will get a runner on second with none out really isn't a great percentage play. Secondly, there aren't many good-enough bunters to get that runner to third and quite often two strikes or an out will be given up without advancing the runner. Third, and probably most important, getting the runner to third with one out is far from a guarantee that he'll score. Strikeouts are at historic highs, infield flies seem to be up as well and I have to believe that it is far less than 50% of the time that when a runner on third base and one out the runner is scored without benefit of a hit.
  20. stringer bell
    I think with a larger sample size that the "ghost runner" rule would hurt the Twins because of the makeup of the team and the flaws therein. They were far below average the past two years at advancing runners with outs and hitting with runners in scoring position. They were noted as among the very worst base running teams and their team speed is quite a bit below league average so stealing a run to score a win was pretty unlikely to happen. When it comes to the pitching side, their candidates for pitching the extra innings were not high velocity and strikeout guys and mostly right handed, so the chance of advancing a runner on a pulled ground out would be a bit higher than average. That said, the rule is the same for everyone and really the key thing will be good hitting with runners on and a deep enough bullpen that the guy who goes out for the tenth or eleventh is as good a shot as the opponents for throwing a goose egg.
  21. stringer bell
    Minor league contracts don't bother me much at all. Santana, OTOH, bothers me some, in that he takes a spot on the 40-man roster and has no options. There will be plenty of transactions, but right now the current 40-man is tight and several players that are pretty desirable could be lost to get a relief pitcher or catcher on the active roster.
  22. stringer bell
    Definitions seem to be the debate here. Positionless would infer that there isn't a position where the player can thrive or least defend acceptably. Utility would be where the player can defend acceptably at multiple positions. Positional flexibility would infer that the player can defend acceptably at multiple positions. Clearly, the organization doesn't want to bring a bunch of positionless players (DHs) on board. It seems the headline is misleading. I'd be willing to predict that Austin Martin, Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee all will play more games at other positions than shortstop, at least as long as they are playing for the Twins. I don't think that is a failure of the organization, but rather a plan of keeping players at the high end of the defensive spectrum as long as possible. The three guys I mentioned haven't played many games outside of shortstop and that is a concern because they all could be in the majors this year.
  23. stringer bell
    Not so easy to be “on the shuttle” when he has no options. If he is DFAed any club can claim him and if unclaimed he may be able to claim free agency. That would be the case whenever he would be sent down.
  24. stringer bell
    The rules are the rules. The Twins may have already made roster changes that will benefit them in extra inning games. First, they have at least one backup OF who could pinch run (Taylor and/or Gordon) and they have what profiles to an excellent bench with pinch hit possibilities to give a platoon advantage in those run-scoring opportunities. I would hope there would be improvement in those situational hitting instances in extras. That was the most glaring problem last year.
  25. stringer bell
    Using Buxton as the DH frequently bugs me because he is such a great defender. I know it is about keeping him healthy. I also know that using him (too) frequently last year was an attempt to get him through the season with an ongoing knee injury. I am not sure if he needs that DH time this year to protect that injury or anything else that is an ongoing issue. Hopefully, this year, using Buck at DH is a way to give him a half-day off for rest. In that case, it shouldn't be more than 10-20% of the games. I agree that the poorer defenders would be optimum DHs. That would include Miranda most likely, but really no one else as long as health isn't affecting their ability to defend. I have believed that Farmer should be in the lineup most frequently at third base against left handed pitching, with Miranda either moving to first base or DH. As far as having a "permanent" DH, they need to be really good offensive players. Being a full-time DH implies the player can no longer adequately play a defensive position (think Giancarlo Stanton's misadventures at Target Field last year) and provides no place to get other good offensive players off their feet for a break or to deal with nagging injuries. There aren't many guys like Thome or Cruz to fill the full-time DH role and giving the role to a younger player diminishes their value long-term.
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