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jokin

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Everything posted by jokin

  1. jokin
    I hear you. The excuse for not replacing Wilson will be lost in the confirmation bias thing after he just drove in a run yesterday and caught Berrios in his career-high 12 K performance. Garver should have had a 1.5 year apprenticeship under Castro and see if he could pick up enough MLB catcher and hitting chops to stick. As of right now, his MLB performance makes one pine for JR Murphy.
  2. jokin
    Nothing wrong with Buck's wheels. Lack of pitch recognition and plate situational awareness appears to still be a big problem. Striking out a bunch? He's striking out at a 43.8% clip- against AAA hurlers. His career AAA OPS is .949 at half the current K% rate. I don't think whatever Buck's current problems are, they are likely to be completely resolved in just another game or two or three. Buck's lack of health as the only reason for his ineptitude at the plate can also be easily debunked. Here are his abysmal numbers in April before the injuries: BA .195 OPS .476 OPS+ 34 Better than his overall numbers, but you wouldn't need even one hand to count the CFers in all of baseball with worse offensive production in the first month than Buxton's first month of the season. For the season, with 210 or more PAs, the worst CF OPS, right at this moment, is Jarrod Dyson @ .540. In short, it appears to be a long way back for Buxton. The return of the leg kick could end up being the first hopeful sign of a return to late last season form when Buck appeared ready to break out in a very big way. But I think it would be highly premature and a big mistake to recall him on Tuesday- no matter how healthy he is right now. It's hard to write, utter, read or fathom the statement that "Jake Cave is the Twins best option in CF" at this very moment, but it's also obviously so, nevertheless. The International League starts their 3-day ASG break after Sunday, July 8. Is it optimistic, pessimistic, realistic or fantasy to think Buck will be really ready for daily doses of major league pitching in merely two more weeks?
  3. jokin
    The WAR I credited for Carew, Kaat and Blyleven was what was accumulated ONLY while they played for the Twins. All played on either or both WS, ALCS teams with the Twins. Blyleven additionally on the '87 champs. Of course Puckett is behind Mauer in WAR, his career was tragically cut short. You can die on your hill of Twins 21st Century play that ranged from stubborn immutability, mediocrity, to downright abominability. Face facts, the Twins failed to produce championships repeatedly this century, despite multiple Cy Young, MVPs and batting champions. Puckett is in the HOF, Mauer is a long shot at this point. By contrast to Mauer's individual excellence in his first 7 years, Kirby Puckett was a cornerstone for two objectively and obviously, less-talented World Champions than the teams of Joe's 2000s group. Again, Kirby's teams are the only WS winners in the team's history, Mauer's teams folded like cheap suits and curled into a fetal posiiton in each playoff run. Kirby openly told his teammates to jump on his back. Nuff said there, methinks. The guy that actually helped bring about the Twins the biggest hardware back home has to get the edge, especially playing for inferior teams. And when ownership and management appeared to surrender to an inevitable decade of mediocrity after 1992- Kirby took a public stand that that notion was not acceptable to him. By yet another contrast, Mauer has always shunned a public leadership role on the team, admitted to not being a Type A personality, and further, has steadfastly never publicly pushed management and ownership to acknowledge that during the bulk of the years of Joe's big contract they have never made a serious effort to be competitive. I mean, what was the point of that $184M contract, if they never even tried to put legitimate pieces around Mauer? And no knock on Joe, but if Kirby had been in the same situation, he would have publicly and privately pushed the organization to deliver on their promise to fans to raise their yearly competitive intensity based on the new stadium revenue streams. Joe has steadfastly remained silent on these last 8 years of futility- not necessarily a knock on him, but also not a credit to Hall-worthiness or "Greatest Twin not named Harmon".
  4. jokin
    Whatever stance he's using has produced a K% over 43%. That generally indicates that his plate approach isn't working too well yet.
  5. jokin
    Outstanding job, Nick. Much appreciated. Now, if only our intrepid beat writers, on-air talent and columnists have the guts to call Molitor on every one of his hypocrisies in his management tenure- using the facts of his own career against his current actions.
  6. jokin
    LoMO represented the winning run at the plate.
  7. jokin
    Many of your conclusions drawn in this article are debatable. (And this is coming from someone who shares your opinion that Jim Souhan is anathema to what it means to be a sports journalist.) I'll address this one for starters: Greatest Twins list who are better than Joe Mauer, besides Harmon Killebrew, has to include HOFers, Rod Carew, Bert Blyleven and Kirby Puckett. Jim Kaat, Carew and Blyleven all accumulated more WAR value while playing just for the Twins than Mauer can ever realistically reach; meanwhile Puckett's career, which was tragically cut short, still included starring roles in 2 World Series wins. If determination of greatest Twins player ever is based on quantifiable achievement and impact, all of the players above are clearly greater than Mauer.
  8. jokin
    It is. He won't.
  9. jokin
    Well, he trotted around the bases once on Friday night with a HR. On Wednesday and Thursday, he had his 2 other AAA hits so far, singles, and stole 2nd base twice. In summary, 3 hits and 7 Ks in 14 ABs. If Buck is the player elevated on Tuesday, it will be a real headscratcher, because he hasn't shown much evidence that he has cured, or even addressed, his hitting woes.
  10. jokin
    Slegers is pitching today for the Wings, and would line up perfectly with an Odorizzi trip to the DL. Based on recent outings, including last night, not sure if Gonsalves is quite ready yet.
  11. jokin
    Yes.
  12. jokin
    The explanation is that he really worked on hitting lefties in the offseason- anything to avoid the "platoon player" label that was beginning to be attached to his name.
  13. jokin
    $$$
  14. jokin
    I held your opinion until only recently. Why is that? - Buxton is still a huge "IF?", not a "WHEN?". He was one of the worst hitters in the league BEFORE he got hurt. - The Eddies have a history of streakiness, reversion towards the mean is more likely than their current phenomenal output. - Mauer's talent- and average- is fading fast. Don't we all collectively cringe every time he dives for a ball? - Dozier and Kepler haven't yet demonstrated they can go on a sustained hot streak at the plate. - Polanco may very well struggle initially. - Sano has shown nothing yet- against A ball pitching. - No other offensive help seems to be coming, from the farm, or via trade. - The continual baserunning blunders shows this team is either very poorly managed in that area or fundamentally unsound. Conclusion- this team will be in full sell mode by the ASG.
  15. jokin
    Your article compelled me to look it up. The Twins are tied at age 29.2 for the 4th oldest club roster in MLB (with Texas and the D-Backs). Amazingly, the New York Yankees are the 7th youngest roster- 27.6.... the Red Sox are averaging 28.0...
  16. jokin
    Molly is rewarding Motter for his 128' dash and catch last night.
  17. jokin
    Yesterday's homer was nice to see.... but his track record suggests not until August/September.
  18. jokin
    Unfortunately, Nick Gordon has yet to make his case for promotion in Rochester. It makes no sense to promote him to the Twins while he's struggling to hit AAA pitching.
  19. jokin
    I'm guessing you didn't watch last night....?
  20. jokin
    Ehh, is that a component of his own "tanking" strategy?
  21. jokin
    When the Twins have the temerity to put out a mock MLB lineup like last night, our time is better well-spent focusing on the 2019 mock draft and IFA period. After last night's all-around abortion, I've officially switched my opinion, it's time to tank 2018 and prepare accordingly for better draft position, more slot and bonus pool money.
  22. jokin
    It just goes to show what can happen when you get some kids with serious intent and serious talent together. I think it's no accident that bringing in practically all at once, Arraez, Kiriloff and Sano, has energized and intensified the focus on this squad. With the national attention on Sano, everybody on the Miracle no doubt feels they have a newfound spotlight and something to prove. Pure hitting talents like Arraez and Kiriloff are showing they can easily rise to the occasion... showing the way that anything's possible... for guys like Rortvedt, Contreras, even Lewin Diaz! (Meanwhile, the case of Sano is in danger of spiraling down from farcically sad to downright tragic. It's still too early in the reclamation process to press the panic button, but Dick Bremer's prediction of a possible Sano return to the Twins lineup after the ASG looks extremely remote as of today).
  23. jokin
    Yeah, it did. And you and I were worried about his .700 BABIP yesterday. Today his batting average is .733 and BABIP is .786.* He's played 1 of 4 games as catcher. *But, of course, it's singularly important to build up his confidence with a wood bat over anything else.
  24. jokin
    Worse. Virtually no hitting depth available any time soon.
  25. jokin
    Jeffers was 4 for 4 tonight with 2 doubles and 2 BBs. His LD% is near 75%. That's probably a higher percentage than a typical hitter performs in BP. I'm thinking his confidence level is off the charts at this point while sporting his current .733 BA. Oh, he's only caught one game out of 4 so far.
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