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stringer bell

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Everything posted by stringer bell

  1. stringer bell
    Phillies drop a couple soft singles and score Harper’s PR. 1-0 Philly.
  2. stringer bell
    Well, I’m in Clearwater. Beautiful drive from Tampa. 0-0 bottom 1. Harper hit by a pitch and left the game.
  3. stringer bell
    The only reason for adding him to the 40-man roster would be if he made the Opening Day (26 man) roster. Adding him only to option him would burn an option they don't need to use and leave one less spot on the 40-man roster for adding non-rostered players. Further, those not on the 40-man roster aren't in jeopardy of getting hurt and then drawing major league pay and service time on the injured list. It is likely the three potential sluggers (Kirilloff, Rooker, and Larnach) will get sent to the minor league side for more reps pretty soon, but there's no harm in having them around for now.
  4. stringer bell
    I see Larnach homered again today. Again, he was the DH (actually pinch hit for the starting DH). Does he have an injury that is preventing him from playing in the field? I haven't seen anything written that explains this, but it would seem to be the most likely explanation. If Larnach has an injury, is it something that might be chronic or is this just a short time issue?
  5. stringer bell
    With no Twins game today I was checking the box scores of other games. Detroit had a slugfest against someone and the first scoring was "Cron homered, Goodrum and Schoop scored". Three ex-Twins scoring on one swing of the bat.
  6. stringer bell
    It is still really early to include or exclude a player in an open competition. Dobnak has been very good so far, Chacín has a bad inning, Thorpe is just now back and Smeltzer has been OK, I guess. There are three weeks left, lots of time to shine or sink.
  7. stringer bell
    I think Arraez is the real deal and will continue to be a high OBP guy with adequate defense. If he is a flash in the pan, there aren't any immediate answers, but giving Gordon a shot makes sense. I don't think Gordon has proven anything about his hitting and his defense in the minors from what I've seen is pretty average. He does have good speed, an ingredient the Twins lack and he's played a lot of shortstop so far. I question whether he is a good enough defender at short, as well. I don't think we can dismiss Gonzalez totally as an option at second base. He played little there mostly because the Astros regular when he was there was MVP candidate Jose Altuve. He isn't ancient-he'll be 31 later this month, and he appears to be able to adjust to whatever position he's asked to play (third base last year after not playing much there previously). Last year, the Twins had Arraez, Schoop and Adrianza to fill second. If they only have one other option than Marwin, I would like to see if he would get some run at second.
  8. stringer bell
    All I have heard this spring is that Buxton is on schedule to be ready for Opening Day.
  9. stringer bell
    Each of the competitors for the fifth starter role should have three or four more appearances, yes? I think you can throw out a clunker inning here or there for all of them. So far, Dobnak has been very good, but it is way too early to think of each outing as an elimination outing. In addition, for Chacín, they have to keep him on the roster as I understand it, meaning if he loses the competition, he is lost to the team. Fair or not, that gives him a leg up in the competition.
  10. stringer bell
    Glad to hear it. I hope whatever it was, that the situation was resolved positively.
  11. stringer bell
    Please don't go there. Political posts will hijack threads. It will not be permitted.
  12. stringer bell
    This topic will be moved to Other Baseball. While it does refer to the possibility of the Twins acquiring the player. The bulk of the OP is the size of the contract and the status of the team issuing the contract.
  13. stringer bell
    Using the rules as they existed last year, the Twins’ bullpen was very durable and more effective as the year progressed. I would expect Rocco to continue to make moves that keep everyone fresh. If the current bullpen stays healthy , they should be effective, no matter what rules are in place.
  14. stringer bell
    From a payroll standpoint, Maeda ranks as well as any of those considered.Let's not neglect to mention that the "cost" of his acquisition also included Brusdar Graterol.
  15. stringer bell
    I think it is good to remind ourselves that these players are human beings with families who run into issues much like us. It won't do much good to speculate, but perhaps the distraction of an issue in Australia is more of a disruption that leaving camp to deal with it. Again, like Romero, Thorpe has options remaining and it won't be the end of the world if he is optioned and he could easily pitch himself back to the major league club at some point in the season.
  16. stringer bell
    I'll put it this way--how many players had their best season last year? For sure, Garver, Kepler, Berríos, Odorizzi, Polanco, May, Duffey and Rogers. Can we expect a number of these mostly young veterans to continue to get better? I don't think so, as a matter of fact, it might be a career year for a number of those guys. Among the players who were here last year,there aren't many who we can expect to be measurably better and there are a number of regression candidates. I think the Twins will continue to be good because they brought in more talent. They have a deep starting rotation, deep bullpen and a very good starting lineup. I doubt they'll win 100 again, but I think they should be favorites to win the division and perhaps get deeper into October. Nothing is guaranteed. They need to play with a chip on their shoulders.
  17. stringer bell
    Brian Dozier signed a minor league deal with San Diego and is invited to Spring Training. Dozier will have to compete with eternal prospect Jurickson Profar at second, with Profar having positional flexibility.
  18. stringer bell
    Barring injuries, I don’t see any chance for a rookie or non-roster position player to make the 26-man roster. The top prospects should get a fair amount of at-bats. I’d like to see them all rake.
  19. stringer bell
    Given the qualifications for the “title”, I think it will be Chacín. I’m pulling for someone to stake a claim to a bullpen spot. Thielbar and Hardy have the clearest path.
  20. stringer bell
    This would be much more concerning if Romero didn’t have an option remaining. Hopefully, he can thrive wherever he ends up after Spring Training, and be an asset for the Twins sometime this season.
  21. stringer bell
    I don't see "ample time" for whover is the 13th position player. With the versatile switch-hitters (Gonzalez and Adrianza) on board, it will be tough to get substantial playing time for the last guy. Niether Astudillo nor Cave would provide a platoon advantage to many situations, unless Cave replaced Buxton in the lineup. Cave was very good last year versus same-handed pitching, but pretty bad in 2018. Unless he can put up reverse splits again this year, I don't see opportunities for him to get much time.
  22. stringer bell
    I agree with the comments above. For the role of 13th position player, Astudillo is the better fit, although he's not the better player. Most likely, both guys will be in the majors more than the minors due to injuries.
  23. stringer bell
    I think what happened with Arraez is indicative of what could happen if a starting outfielder goes down. I assume that Cave and the recalled player would share at bats for a week or so and if someone emerges (as Arraez did) they will continue to get regular at bats. I think the question will be how long the leash is before Plan B is invoked. What I'm saying is that if for example Wade were recalled for a Kepler injury, that both Cave and Wade would get more than half the starts for a couple weeks. If Cave flashed some power and hit well, he might ascend to being in the regular mix (same for Wade), but it might only be for a week or ten days. If Cave performed as he did through August 1st of last year, then the team might consider someone else for regular or near regular duty.
  24. stringer bell
    I'm not biased against Cave. I think he's a major league player, for sure. As I've said before, I see him as redundant to the 2020 Twins. Of course, that could change over the course of the season, but he's a bit of a hit-first corner outfielder. He doesn't offer game-changing speed or power and he's not an on-base machine, but he's not absent of any of those skills. If the Twins keep a fifth outfielder (counting Gonzalez as the fourth), I'd like to see a right handed hitter who handles lefties very well and/or really good speed and defense and trading Cave to get such a guy would make sense. I do know the Twins were negotiating to trade Cave in the off season and I think it makes sense given the current outfield situation combined with the prospects in the high minors.
  25. stringer bell
    This is a hypothetical. First of all, if Kirilloff were recalled for a Cave injury, it would infer that he is hitting very, very well, given that he'd get the call over Wade, Astudillo, Rooker and Larnach. Wade and Astudillo have big league experience and both Larnach and Rooker are older (Rooker by two years). It would also necessitate a 40-man roster move. I would think that Kirilloff would and should get at least four starts a week. That could be done by resting all the outfielders and occasionally Sanó/Cruz. It wouldn't make sense to sit a Top 50 prospect on the bench using service time. We really don't know if there will be a platoon or other advantage (for example AK might feast on fastballs) but if Kirilloff were recalled, he really would need to be in the lineup more often than not. All players are not created equal. It is the job of field staff and front office to weigh the various factors, including potential when making roster and playing time decisions. 40-man status, service time, contract, options all fit in somewhere and it complicates decisions for promotion and demotion. Getting back to Kirilloff, if the club decides to promote him early and start his service time clock, they definitely need to have him on the field a lot, if not every day.
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