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jokin

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Everything posted by jokin

  1. jokin
    Here, here, Doc... I too, have been clamoring for hiring a veteran Latin hitting coach for years- and whoever has been coaching Vargas' approach, Latin or Anglo, deserves mention in terms of Kennys' quality approach. But based on this evening's Gardy post-game presser, he and his lieutenants are having a hard enough time communicating and relating better with the Anglo 2nd baseman on precisely when and how to move closer in to the infield during a shift and with a runner on 2nd base (according to Gardy, tonight's occurrence in the 8th inning was the second time it's happened with the player in question, and he was obviously frustrated that his directions weren't being followed properly).
  2. jokin
    Send back a report if you have the chance,aastyer.
  3. jokin
    According to BRef, Kepler is actually younger for the FSL than he was for the Midwest League. And presuming he moves to New Britain next year, he'll go from 1.3 years too young in A last year, to 1.6 years too young for A+ this year, to 3.7 years too young for AA next year. I agree with you though, in the big picture, Kepler's still a work in progress, and his translation to a better power output can't be truly determined from one year in the FSL, and he's had a career characterized by fits and starts. And only playing in 61 games last year in Cedar Rapids hasn't helped his progression any, either. Yet the Twins are still showing faith in him by again sending him to the AFL. Clearly, staying healthy and continuing to show signs at the plate- like the ones he's shown since July 13- are going to be critical for Kepler in 2015- for the Twins to continue to show their confidence in his prospect status. Before this recent run, I gave him quite a bit less than a 50-50 shot that he can ever become a contributing major league starter. As of now, this latest run has been encouraging enough that I think he's now closer to 50-50 at becoming a contributing platoon starter, who in that role can potentially give you low-double digit HR and an OPS+ in the 120s. Hopefully, something clicks this fall and next spring and he raises the odds of reaching his full potential
  4. jokin
    Bad contracts from bad teams that maybe the Twins should consider among players who have cleared waivers? Shin-Soo Choo Curtis Granderson Trevor Cahill Alex Rios These four could probably be had for very little in return, If the Dodgers were desperate enough to get Correia, they could possibly jump at the chance to move Kemp for Nolasco.
  5. jokin
    The pitching quality definitely improves in AA, but the FSL park conditions make for the worst possible minor league in terms of run production and home run production and next to worst in hits/game, the former 2 areas are where Walker excels most. The Cedar Rapids park in the Midwest League was an absolute launching pad compared to Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, yet ABW is close to matching his 2013 HR total. By contrast the Eastern League ranks near the middle for runs per game and hits per game, and is right in the middle for HR/game. I'd say there's at least a decent chance that Walker can actually increase his overall production in the EL, particularly with the power-packed lineup that projects to start out the season in New Britain. No doubt, the frightening, and steadily increasing K rate will be telling in the long run, but Walker has these other areas to consider that could mitigate some of Walker's main underlying problem to his game. Baseball America has an excellent mathematical analysis on park factors and aggregate minor league variations from league to league in terms of offense: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/season-preview/2013/2614870.html
  6. jokin
    Well yes, those two, and Zach Jones should also have a shot, if it's a reliever for that fourth slot. Assuming he's fully healthy now, he's one that can clearly use the innings.
  7. jokin
    Turner's season is a little misleading. If you throw out his absolutely horrendous April- where he had a debut month that even Aaron Hicks couldn't imagine in his own worst nightmare, he's actually having a pretty good offensive season in the pitch-happy Florida State League: April Slash line: .182/.239/.212/.452 ISO .030 OPS+ 37 May-August line: .266/.345/.411/.756 ISO .145 OPS+ 117 By contrast, the top OPS+ by any catcher in the FSL (with over 250 PAs) is 127.
  8. jokin
    Phil Miller updated the situation on the AFL picks today, in a summation that took more page space than the game summary of the Twins walk-off loss to KC. Mike Radcliff was the source for some in-depth commentary on the big announcement and the Burdi snafu: This explanation invites more questions than it answers. Such as.... 1) How did the Salt River team know to post Burdi to their roster? 2) Dustin Morse made the official announcement online, sans Burdi. Exactly when was he officially removed from the remaining spot?... and more importantly, why? 3) If the three pitchers that did make the cut are "serious candidates to be in Mpls. soon", where does that leave "only one of several candidates", Nick Burdi? http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/272818871.html
  9. jokin
    You are correct, sir.
  10. jokin
    How about the Cubs? They only spent 9 yr/$30M on Soler, he is slated to be called up this week at the age of 22.... and he appears he's going to be a monster.
  11. jokin
    And ensuing confusion reigns for all Twins fans offline. Seems like this could have been handled a little better.
  12. jokin
    Or that they aren't willing to take the risk that Hahn was willing to take.
  13. jokin
    And here is Rick Hahn's rationale and 2014 expectations, stated on the day of Abreu's signing, for why he did the deal and why it made sense for the White Sox:
  14. jokin
    IIRC, there were about a dozen teams early in on the Abreu hunt, which was later whittled down to just five or so. From Baseball America, an explanation seems to be based on limited immediate organizational needs at 1st or DH. The Twins seem to have no problem with Mauer and Vargas in the lineup simultaneously, so this shouldn't have automatically precluded them from considering a strong bid for Abreu. The article concluded that the the five teams for whom signing Abreu made the most sense were: Nats Pirates Red Sox Rangers White Sox Credit to BA author, Ben Badler, who in the end got it right, even though other lower payroll teams like the Astros, Marlins and Giants were also in to the end of the bidding battle.
  15. jokin
    Because they're in the mix of this conversation as teams for the Twins to consider emulating?
  16. jokin
    I gotta trust that the Twins know what they're doing with Burdi, he's not like a typical overused college starter. And his pitching motion isn't all that violent. The prospect of pitching 5-10 innings or so and facing a bunch of Top 100 prospects is too much to pass up. Assuming Burdi does well here, he's the one guy from this group that can have much chance for a first half of the season impact for the Twins in 2015. I'm still scratching my head about Dustin Morse tweeting the official roster announcement and leaving Burdi's name off of his tweet. It seems like one hand isn't aware of what the other hand was doing.
  17. jokin
    I think we agree with the Twins apparent conclusion that he probably isn't a ML SS, but you still haven't made the case of how he gets into a game. Dozier, presumably, is going to be playing virtually every day at 2nd until at least 2019. Escobar, Nunez, and the other utility candidates will have to have moved on, or Michael has to outplay/outproject the other comers to get the utility role
  18. jokin
    Yes, I called for it earlier. Combined with his Louisville college numbers, he's only thrown 53 innings this year. And his numbers and stuff indicate he's as close to a finished product as a relief pitcher coming out of college as is humanly possible. Isn't the 7th AFL guy kind of a swing roster player, anyway...?... ie., just there to fill in when someone else isn't available. I doubt whatever few innings he throws would be deleterious to his pitching health, and on the positive side, it might give him a chance to match up with some of the best prospect hitters who are knocking at the major league door.
  19. jokin
    I'm sure there are guys even more speculative than Castillo, but the narrative on Abreu was more like picking a ripe apple off of a tree. His comp numbers to Cespedes and Puig, both in-league and in international play suggested that he was a very good value and risk for what the White Sox were willing to pay. What did Rick Hahn and staff know that the Twins didn't? For starters, they had developed a Cuban contingent of players and a reliable scouting report, that apparently others were severely lacking.
  20. jokin
    And the Rays were an expansion team, so of course, their first few years were "tanked", in those years, they played in clearly the best division in all of baseball, the AL East. They've averaged 92 wins per year since 2008, usually with a microscopic payroll and attendance figure. By contrast, the Twins have had a much higher payroll and usually finished in the top quartile in attendance- and have averaged 77 wins per season.
  21. jokin
    The Cardinals last LOSING season was in 1999. Since 1978, the Cards have had ONE season of losing more than 90 games (1990 when they lost 92 games). By contrast, in the same time frame, the Twins have 11 seasons of 90+ losses. (on the way to possibly their 12th season of 90+ this year?).
  22. jokin
    Nice dodge. Let's compare the results on the field, To suggest that these 3 teams only do a "decent" job qualifies as the baseball understatement of the year. These teams all have to play the game with one hand tied behind their backs and up against spend-thrift inter-division rivals. If you can demonstrate how in-demand our insular little community is, from the front office developmental staff, all the way down to the lowliest scouts, are in such demand and "just as likely to benefit by hiring away" by these very successful teams, I'm all ears. Links please.
  23. jokin
    Here're two videos just released: Pretty impressive looking at this stage of his rehab.
  24. jokin
    Which behooves the Twins to hire some scouting/development talent from the A's, Rays, Cards, et al, and maybe in the process expand their philosophical horizons a bit in both regards.
  25. jokin
    Berardino reports that player #7, the PTBNL will also be a pitcher.
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