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jmlease1

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Everything posted by jmlease1

  1. jmlease1
    Hopefully he gets signed quickly, passes all the medicals and can jump into some rookie ball games in the complex league immediately and the teams can really get to work with him. Assuming reasonable health and so forth, I think it's likely he starts next season in Ft. Myers at Low-A and from there his advancement will be driven by his performance and development.
  2. jmlease1
    I do find it funny how several of the national prognosticators & evaluators were very sure that the Twins weren't going to take a HS player with their first pick because of their "clear preference" for college bats and were going to go off-script, blah blah blah overreachingcakes.
  3. jmlease1
    Nice tribute to Mike Radcliff, classy move by the Twins there. Nice group of Day 1 picks, should be fun to watch them develop. Glad the Twins didn't try to get too cute with their first pick and took one of the consensus top 5 guys. I get the strategy of picking guys based on slot number and using some early savings to get more highly rated talent later (and it's seemed to work for the Twins before), but there's also real advantage to getting one of the consensus 5 best players in a draft.
  4. jmlease1
    It would be great. I definitely had him in "bust" category going into this season, but maybe he's salvaging it.
  5. jmlease1
    I think it's kind of amazing that midway through Brooks Lee's first full season in professional baseball you've already decided the Twins blew it and his ceiling is only as a backup infielder/utility guy. He's the youngest player on the Wichita roster, he's barely played a hundred games in pro ball, and he's having a solid season in AA after hardly spending any time in A-ball. Maybe we could give him at least one full season in AA before deciding he won't be a star hitter.
  6. jmlease1
    It's all part of the package, and I think I do get to complain about it. It's not about whether it cost the game or the mistakes even out: it's about getting it right and getting obvious calls wrong is bad for baseball, especially when there are solutions to fix it that won't slow down the game. Gray might have walked in the run anyways, but we'll never know because the ump made a terrible call. He called an obvious strike a ball, and literally everyone knew it. But the only way we're going to see baseball (which is still the slowest to change of any of the major professional team sports) do anything about it it is to keep pointing it out and complain about it.
  7. jmlease1
    Odd game. All the O's hits were in one inning, and it's not like they were bashing them off the walls. Julien missed a play that he probably should have made. Ump makes one of the most inexplicable ball 4 calls I've seen this side of Phil Cuzzi. Frustrating. If you'd told me before the game that the Twins were going to out-hit the O's and lose by 4 runs, that the O's would have zero extra base hits and the Twins would have 5, my response would have been what in the holy hell happened in the game?!? And I was there today, and I still only kinda understand it. But you know what? Today was still a lovely day to be at the ol' ballpark.
  8. jmlease1
    The injury combined with the lost pandemic year really hurt Enlow, and makes it hard to evaluate where he really is right now. He's probably having some adjustment challenges to the new level, so let's see where he lands at the end of the season. If he finishes the year healthy and has some good starts to show his ability I think he'll get a lot of consideration going forward. If he can keep the walks under control I think he'll be fine. Schobel is definitely on a roll after a bit of a slow start: 4 XBH in April, 7 in May, 10 in June, and 3 already in July. Good to see he can be more than just a slap hitter. Same kind of progression on BBs: 5 in April, with 11 each in June & July. Multi-hit games: only 3 in April, but 7 in May, 8 in June (and that includes three 3 hit games and a 4 hit game), so it really looks like all the pieces are coming together at the plate for Schobel. He's even brought his Ks down every month. We're seeing a lot of early value emerging form the 2022 draft: Lee & Schobel, Morris, Jones, Lewis, Matthews (all interesting pitchers), Cossetti is doing well...Prielipp looks like he needs more time and rehab, but there's oodles of talent in his arm and he's the only guy who hasn't really performed yet. ben Ross has been solid, Jorel Ortega pasted low-A so hard he got a quick promotion. Could end up being a really deep draft, which is always exciting.
  9. jmlease1
    Seems like a zero chance he slips to 5, but I'd take him in a heartbeat if he's there. He doesn't have 2 above average pitches, he has 2 PLUS pitches in that fastball and slider. The changeup is useable now, if it becomes average to above average then he could be ridiculous (and changeups frequently take a little time to develop, so it's not surprising his isn't great yet). Terrific prospect. No chance he's here at 5, but I would enjoy seeing Twins execs stampeding to the podium to draft him if someone else screwed up (possibly trampling Manfred in the process).
  10. jmlease1
    This. It's the biggest difference between the MLB draft and the NBA/NFL drafts. there's almost always 2-4 years of development time even for top picks. Joe Mauer is one of the greatest prospects in Twins history and he still spent 280 games in the minors before debuting at age 21. Jenkins looks like a great prospect (I think I like Max Clark better of the two HS kids, but I'm basing this on my opinion of the aggregation of public evaluations of others, so...wtf do I really know?) but he's likely to need 3-4 years before he gets serious consideration for the MLB club. By then, who knows what the OF looks like? We might be clamoring for a LH platoon bat to pair with Kala'i Rosario in RF by then. there still seems to be a consensus top 5 and Jenkins is in there, so I'm good with picking him at #5 if he's there.
  11. jmlease1
    Clark seems fine? Lot of talent, lot of development that will need to happen. He won't be going to AA immediately with an ETA of arrival in MLB in 2025, so some patience will be required. (although that would be amazing if he starts off in Ft. Myers and just kills it) The tools are there. I'm not afraid of taking a HS player with a top 5 pick; I get nervous about players projected as being a reach. Haven't seen any of that on Clark. Right now I want them to take the best player available, because I'm hoping they don't have another year where they get access to the top 5 in a while.
  12. jmlease1
    Yeah, nice outing from Nowlin, but he definitely has some things to work on. WHIP isn't the end-all, be-all for pitching stats, but it does tell a few things and they haven't been good for Nowlin. Right now he looks like a pitcher who is struggling to consistently command his pitches, walks a fair number of guys, and then gives up hits when he tries to get over on a guy with a pitch well in the zone. a 1.4 WHIP just isn't going to get it done. be interesting to see if he can build on this very successful start. Salas had a really really slow start to the season. Hopefully that was more about adjustment period and he's starting to get on a roll. Big talent, but it's been rough so far. Good to see him have a better run.
  13. jmlease1
    Lopez was brilliant. Really fun to watch, he was pitching so well. With a nice lead and no more starts before the all-star break it made total sense to let him go for the shutout, especially after a pretty quick 8th. Didn't expect him to get through the 9th that quickly, lol! (Phil Cuzzi certainly helped him out a few times in another classic Cuzzi performance. KC got a few calls from him too, but the weight was definitely on the Twins side this time. Another game to put in the "we need the electronic strike zone" ledger) I've taken some shots at Kepler for his declining defense this season (and the stats back it up), so of course he makes multiple fine plays today. Maybe we should spend the week mocking his baserunning or something, see if that ticks up. Would have been nice to see a few more hits, but battling for 6 walks makes up the difference just fine. Buxton and Correa both drew a couple of impressive ones after falling behind in the count and that's usually a good sign. Jeffers is doing a very nice job this season, and it's great to see consistent offense from him, especially with Vazquez not hitting anything. This is why the Twins had zero interest on moving on from Jeffers: he's a good catcher. Sweep! I love a sweep.
  14. jmlease1
    Why are people so down on Kepler and ready to move on? because since his breakout year in 2019, he's been worse on offense every single full season since. (he's been really good lately, but still below league average for the season, so we'll see where this lands) he no longer plays any CF, which lessens his value, and his defense has often appeared to have slipped (he was pretty good last year, but the numbers this season look less than great, and he didn't perform particularly well in 2021). He's gotten dinged with injuries in 2021, 2022, and again this season. He's gotten increasingly frustrating as a player since his big year, and while it may be completely unfair to expect him to have another performance like that juiced-ball year, it's not unfair to wonder why we invest so much money and playing time in a corner OF who isn't much of an offensive player. Kepler has been a regular for 8 seasons (including this one) and been an above average hitter exactly twice (one year was the juice ball, the other year was the pandemic shortened season). Kepler isn't a bad guy or even a bad player...but should he be a starter? He's on pace for less than 2 bWAR this year and even with a hot few weeks is still below league average as a hitter. this team needs more offense, and we have hitting prospects in the minors that have little left to prove there.
  15. jmlease1
    River Town playing for the River Bandits is simply delightful. Yay, for Austin Martin being in the lineup. (It's a bit of a bummer to be so happy for someone to just be healthy enough to play, but I still believe in Martin's talent and really hope he's healthy the rest of the year and finishes strong) Zebby Matthews is one of those pitching prospects I'm still not sure how to rate: he destroyed low A hitters, but has wobbled a bit at high A. Is it better competition showing him up or did he just need time to adjust? It'll be interesting to see if this game is more of a blip or an indicator of him settling in. Only giving up 3 hits is a major improvement on where he's been since promotion, so hopefully he's made some adjustments and can start rolling again.
  16. jmlease1
    I think a lot of teams have handled veterans coming back from injury the same way, though. There's frequently deference to the veteran player (especially position players) in coming back from an injury on whether they go out on a rehab assignment. I also wonder if there's any rules about it in the CBA? For the Twins it's going to be easier to convince a guy to go down on a rehab assignment when they can just slide over to Saint Paul for a week, another potential advantage to having their AAA affiliate on the opposite end of a light rail line. This is one of those clubhouse management aspects. Easy for us to say "Go down to the minors for a week or two and get your timing back", but some of the veterans might easily respond with "I'm a professional, I'm ready to go, I don't need that, stop wasting my time." How you manage your way through those potential conflicts will matter.
  17. jmlease1
    I'm glad this is settled for the season. Can't say enough bad things about Sinclair and everything they do: they're the worst. And as per usual, in a battle between billion dollar businesses it's the regular people that suffer, with struggles to access the games they love, escalating prices, and more. It will be very interesting to see how this all shakes out with the RSNs. For a lot of people, live sports is the only thing keeping people tethered to cable, especially when most/all of their local teams are on a single network. I'm not a particular fan of the FSN/Bally's network (a lot of that is related more to the shoddy ownership than the on-air talent and production), but it's very convenient to have the Twins/Wolves/Wild all in one place. I'm unenthusiastic about potentially needing to ensure multiple channels/streamers/options to watch MN sports. Good news for the Twins, acceptable news for the fans for the 2023 Twins season. Lots of questions to be answered.
  18. jmlease1
    I don't care if he was facing the sorry, no-account (tm Mike Wilbon) KC Royals, Kenta Maeda dominated and it's great to see. You play the team in front of you, and you don't get extra credit for beating better teams. But Maeda did the job for 7 innings and it's exactly what what the Twins needed. Also, it seems like every time I crap all over Kepler and declare I'm ready to be done with him he does something great, so...guess I need to keep trashing him? I'm not convinced he can keep this up, but ride this horse all the way to the trade deadline Maxie! Sometimes beating up on a bad team can get a team on a roll that continues on after the garbage fore team leaves town. Hope that holds true!
  19. jmlease1
    some guys run faster when they're being chased? I'm still ready to move on from Kepler and give Wallner a chance or Larnach another one.
  20. jmlease1
    I'm surprised to see his defensive metrics haven't been very good, because he's got such a good reputation on that side of the ball, but maybe it's more a matter of playing a bunch of 1B early, the injury, and smaller sample size? If he improves the D back to his usual standards it'll help quite a bit. Yesterday we saw a reminder that he's a smart and heady baserunner with the way he went 1st to 3rd on Vazquez's bloop single, and that will help too.
  21. jmlease1
    Really happy to see Austin Martin back with the Saints. Hope his elbow is feeling good and he has a healthy second half of the season. He played really well in the AFL last year and still has oodles of talent. Congrats to Marco Raya on his promotion! Looking forward to seeing how he does against AA hitters (and hoping he can start getting into the 5th and 6th innings on a consistent basis). Like seeing Severino have a good contact day, be great if he can string together a bunch more like this and show that he can be successful without just being a K machine. There's real talent there, but it'll be interesting to see how high he can rise with his approach at the plate.
  22. jmlease1
    Boy, Ed Julien really got a hold of that one! That was a no-doubter from the second it came off his bat. Great timing and it ignited a great inning. Really good to see the bats pile on a bunch of runs late, that hasn't happened too much lately. Ryan pitched pretty well, but he is going to have to be a little careful about guys jumping on him. He's been way too homer-happy lately and while the solo shots won't do too much damage, you don't want him to start getting careless about leaving balls out over the plate in places where hitters can do damage. Great job by Correa in piling up the hits today. Love seeing a guy get a 4-hit game. Bullpen is definitely scuffling a bit right now and they definitely could use to get some guys back from the IL. Pagan giving the Royals hope in the 9th and the fans heart palpitations was disappointing, but Headrick giving up the bomb in the 8th was worse. Not convinced he's well-suited that kind of relief role. Balazovic, on the other hand, is starting to look interesting.
  23. jmlease1
    Cano has done quite well after solving his control problem for the first time in his life (note: he was awful for the O's in his brief call-up last season too). Good for him, but let's see if he can sustain it. Rooker had a great month and has been back to being a poor hitter who adds nothing else. (bad OF, can't really play 1B, no speed, etc) Cano in his current form would have been great in the bullpen, but let's not pretend Rooker moves the needle. He's a pretty bad all-star but Oakland has almost no one to pick from. (Noda might be the only other choice, and unless Rooker gets out of his tailspin he might be the only hitter worth anything on that horrid team)
  24. jmlease1
    I will say, I generally enjoyed the Peacock broadcast? The Apple TV ones have good production values and very sharp graphics, along with advanced stats and so forth. but the broadcast team has done nothing for me. I liked the Peacock formula quite a bit where they had Ben McDonald (who has plenty of experience with the O's) and Glen Perkins (who I like quite a bit on the Twins broadcasts) doing the analysis. It was like getting a little flavor from a road broadcast without too much homerism. Part of the problem with the Apple TV broadcasts was it seemed like the broadcast team didn't have a lot of depth with either team so a lot of the comments were very superficial, and Dontrelle did a fair amount of the "in my day..." stuff that gets old fast. Kinda liked the peacock broadcast crew and wouldn't mind a setup like that again.
  25. jmlease1
    As a college pitcher, the hope is that Lewis would come in and dominate and rise quickly through the ranks. So far, he has done exactly that. The only concern to date is how deep he's going into games; at Ft. Myers he was only averaging 4 1/3 per start. It's good to see him getting through the 5th more often now, but it's something that's still worth keeping an eye on. every other metric is looking good and he's setting himself up to be in AA no later than next season. be great if he can finish the season with 20+ starts and push 100 innings with these kinds of results. I wonder what the plan is on Yunior Severino? 2nd half call up to AAA? Wait until after the trade deadline to see where they have room for him to get consistent playing time? not sure he has all that much more to prove in Wichita.
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