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jokin

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Everything posted by jokin

  1. Talk about damning with faint praise.
  2. You've made a good case for a strategy of humiliation towards the "real" players. Kind of like when a college basketball coach puts a walk-on in the game in the first half when the scholarship athletes are stinking up the joint.
  3. Tough crowd on a rookie who demonstrated previously he wasn't ready for low-, mid-, and especially high-lev situations. This was a job for Busenitz or Curtiss, not Littel. How about Rodney and Astudillo? Seems like your blanket statement lets them off the hook.
  4. You mean BESIDES firing the manager?
  5. So, the number is Extremely Low. I thought of the Royals and Tigers catcher of a few years ago, Brayan Pena. He weighed about 240, but he was closer to 6' than 5'9". I can't think of any current OF or recent OF with such short stature carrying that kind of weight. Perhaps the key part of Puckett's mass appeal was the unlikely teddy bear body producing such amazing results. Astudillo's body is even more unlikely. It's a great, happy story in a very unhappy, disappointing season where multiple, can't-miss stud athletes have fallen flat on their faces. I hold no illusions on it all ending with any earth-shaking success, but right now he's the best source of entertainment on the entire roster at the moment. Our group was laughing as he flawlessly charged and barehanded to first base that dribbler today, and doubled our LOLs when he hit his StandUp Triple.
  6. So the over/under is "one"?
  7. His size at catcher should be just fine. 3 teams in 3 straight years got a full season look and said thanks, but no thanks when it came time to promote and/or retain. The fact remains, with his hit tool potential there for all to see, and with a severe shortage of quality catchers who can hit, why didn't the best GM eye for talent, Theo Epstein, sign Astudillo instead of Chris Giminez?
  8. Those weights would have been recorded when both Puckett and Hrbek at call-up were 24 and 21 respectively. Astudillo is 3 months short of 27. Lots of pizzas, brats and beer between 21 and 27. And I"m giuessing Astudillo isn't at 225, probably at least 10# more.
  9. If he's above average defensively, then talent evaluators on a bunch of teams have a lot of explaining to do. 9 year career minor leaguer at a position of scarcity? That does not compute.
  10. Especially at Wrigley with prevailing southwesterly winds from the Gulf of Mexico in the summer months. Following the Cubs for decades, I've seen hundreds of series like this. I'm thinking thre was a 21-15 game vs. the Phillies in the 70s. HOF Cubs pitcher Ferguson Jenkins had a 9-8 complete game win vs. the Reds back in the day.
  11. Considered an average catcher? By whom? Baseball bloggers? There apparently must be a lot of clubs who do NOT have that consideration about his catching skills. 9 years of toiling in the minors, I think I can safely say with the shortage of average or better MLB level defensive catchers, Astudillo would have been on a major league roster before now. Especially since average defensive catchers with above average hitting skills are practically an extinct species.
  12. Anyone got the over/under on how many major leaguers listed at 5'9" and 225 #s have ever played in CF? For that matter, how many with his body measurements are currently on major league rosters?
  13. Although his body type suggests that "Strudel" would be a great nickname, his last name is actually devoid of the "r".
  14. Well-said, RB. The contrast with his apparently imminent health situation and Rosario's in the 5th was quite revealing. Cannonball to the left leg???? Rosario asked to be removed for what appeared to be routine cramping up of his left leg. Watching Wilson at first base, and clearly in dire straits, you just knew wild horses couldn't drag him away. He's playing in the major leagues (for now) and they were going to have to carry him off the field horizontally to remove him at that point. (He saved Molly a pinch hitter or maybe a pitcher by avoiding the use of a pinch runner).
  15. Great point. Probably equal.
  16. Isn't it obvious that Falvine are looking for that same veteran pitching presence that has served the Twins pen so well with Belisle?
  17. Is it "mold-defying" or "mold-'breaking"? Either way, Astudillo's sudden improbable debut mid-inning appearance was an absolute top highlight in an-otherwise catastrophic crash-and-burn of a game, and who knows...? He and Wrigley Field actually make for compelling Twins viewing for one of a very few times in 2018. This guy looks like an all-grown-up castoff from The Bad News Bears movies. It wouldn't have surprised me one iota if he'd have brought out to Left and Center Field and somwhere draped in the Wrigley Ivy a lit cigar and a beer caddy to enjoy between ABs.
  18. Absolutely none. No one blocking at Ft Myers. He's improved at the plate each month from April to May to June. It would be nice to have him working with Arraez at 2nd, and batting 2nd , sandwiched between Arraez and Kiriloff at the top of the Ft Myers order. His June split is .339 BA/.984 OPS. with 5 of his 8 HRs in June. 20 2Bs and 19 SBs on the season. Ridiculous at 19 years old. They are being very cautious on his ongoing physical condition with his over-use injury. So maybe that's the reason. Disappointing, because his current trajectory could put him in place to become Twins starting SS, possibly by opening day, 2020. (Which means they would not be forced to re-sign Dozier long-term, especially if Gordon can stick in 2019).
  19. I think we saw the Wilson veteraniness today. I think we should call a one-day moratorium on complaints about Wilson. The dude literally risked his life on Saturday. And made a great read on the tag-up advance to 3rd base, despite obvious physical distress, It wiouldn't surprise me if he was hospitalized for observation of heat stroke symptoms.
  20. Maybe because Wilson can actually catch, they don't particularly have much confidence yet in Garver behind the plate... and that Astudillo is a man without a true position? /
  21. Many of us noted that his mean reversion was inevitable. Just look at his career progression for all the evidence you need... hot stretches at the plate interspersed with longer stretches of mediocrity. He's a great guy to have in the extended utility role and the clubhouse, it's unfair to ask him to be Manny Machado.
  22. I've said it dozens of times before... A guy on a $184M contract should be able to afford a PR spokesperson.
  23. Now that's the kind of wry, pathos-laced ironic wit best remembered from the darkest end days of the Ryan/Gardy era. Kirby, let's just say the plain truth hurts so good. And here, we thought the days and months of head-scratching fringiest of veteran personnel moves were a thing of the past.
  24. When it comes to the Twins, truth can be stranger than humor. Unless Jorge is permanently damaged goods, I bet more than just the Dodgers will be ready and willing to try to restore his MLB potential.
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