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jmlease1

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Everything posted by jmlease1

  1. jmlease1
    agreed. If he can settle on a breaking ball that works for him he'll be in pretty good shape. He still seems to be searching for the right one between the curve, slider, and sweeper and hasn't figured out which it is. Maybe the sweeper is it?
  2. jmlease1
    True, but you can also expose a guy like that too because at age 20 is he going to be able to stick on a MLB roster for a full season, even as a reliever? Few teams are going to be able to hold the 26-man roster spot on a lottery ticket. He's definitely showing some signs, but unless he can get that walk rate under control he's going to definitely hit some bumps. He's not unhittable so it's a few too many baserunners right now. But he's doing well for a 20 year old at high A.
  3. jmlease1
    Enlow's outing was very impressive. It's great to see him healthy and pitching well. I think it's going to turn out well that he passed through this off-season and stuck in the organization, and I think there's an excellent chance that he's back on the 40-man next year. He's always had talent, now it looks like he's finally healthy again. Hope to see this continue and for him to finish the year at AAA. I'm very curious to see how Alex Isola ends up this season. He doesn't seem to be catching very much and while his hit tool isn't bad, I'm not sure it's enough to make it as a 1B/DH.
  4. jmlease1
    From this comment you would think the Twins are in last place in the division rather than first! Scoring runs by HR is a great way to put a lot of runs up on the board. Worked for Earl Weaver, he's only in the hall of fame. It's a long season. Twins (and this is an organizational decision, not just Rocco, it's everyone, including the players) are trying to keep everyone healthy and fresh for the full season, and one of the ways you do that is using your entire roster. Burn everyone up by the end of May and the team will collapse in September. Gallo has an OPS+ of 143. He's played excellent defense at multiple positions. Calling this one of the worst signings in Twins history is absurd. Batting average is not the only stat that matters. Correa has started out slow at the plate (his defense has been quality, though) but evaluating his signing and contract based on 30 games is kinda crazy.
  5. jmlease1
    I like Max Kepler just fine, but he is who he is at this point: a quality defender and around league average on offense. It's not particularly exciting for a corner OF, and there's not much upside left. At the same time the floor is pretty solid. I might have moved on from him in the offseason if the deal was decent, but I get keeping him considering all the injuries we've had. The Rosario stuff is pretty much nonsense: he wasn't worth another raise, and proved it after leaving. He wasn't starter-quality in 2021, and Atlanta overreacted to a great series by giving him a terrible contract that they've immediately regretted. Neither Larnach nor Kirilloff have performed as hoped over the past 2+ seasons and they've still added more value than Rosario over that period. Kepler isn't Rosario: even when he's struggling at the plate, he's adding value, but at a certain point there's going to be a question on whether or not he's producing enough at the plate to justify the roster spot and the contract, especially with other hitters in the minors pushing for a chance.
  6. jmlease1
    Brooks Lee continues to look like an outstanding draft pick. He just hits. Real possibility he could be looking at a midseason promotion to AAA, which would be pretty fantastic. Looking forward to seeing what Raya can do when he's a little more stretched out. The rubber meets the road on him when he's able to go 6 innings, I think. Really like his talent, but 3 inning stints don't tell us much.
  7. jmlease1
    Ober was excellent. I really wondered whether how deep he could go into a game and he did a really nice job on a night with very little offense. I was not terribly impressed with the Apple TV+ broadcast. The play-by-play guy was so unmemorable I can't even recall his name (Gary something?) and Dontrelle Willis was unimpressive. (He reminded me a little of Hawkins; pretty good when he talks about some of the specifics of pitching and terrible when he tries to go for laughs and go bigger than the game) Needed the big bomb from Kepler, hope there's more offense to take the pressure off the pitching tonight (especially the bullpen) but it's pretty wonderful to have starting pitching like this. It's been a while since we've had anything close to this kind of quality and depth, and it feels like they can keep us in any game. Up the Twins!
  8. jmlease1
    Any win is a good win. bummer that they had to go 12 (a bit odd in the "Manfred Man" Era); hopefully we can a) get a good long start from Ober tonight and b) maybe be in a position where someone like Winder can just clean up the rest of the game. The ChiSox have some issues, but they're a better team than their current record. I was nervous about this series coming in because their pitching was better than the early results, and at some point it felt like they would get on track. Of course, if we had squeaked out Game 1 it's a series win and most of us are happy. (some people seem bound and determined not to be happy this Twins season? I'm absolutely blown away when I see someone declaring the twins will finish 10 games behind Cleveland after a loss)
  9. jmlease1
    Great for him if this for real...not sure that it is. Let's see where he is in another month or two and no one bothers throwing him a fastball for a while. But maybe he can ride this for a while. Still feels like a AAAA player to me?
  10. jmlease1
    I hope Joey Gallo keeps proving me wrong all season. He's off to a great start.
  11. jmlease1
    He's doing great, but he still has stretches where he struggles to finish off a hitter (the Anderson AB last night was a perfect encapsulation of this) and he's been a little fortunate (which is why his FIP is sitting at 3.03 while his ERA is at 2.37). I'm still very happy with everything he's done this season, especially with how he's generally kept the walks and HRs down. If he can keep on this kind of a run, he's going to be fighting for an all-star slot, though!
  12. jmlease1
    Correct. It's a very reasonable strategy when you're the home team and can play for 1 run to win, but tactically it's a more significant risk for the team in the top of the inning to play for one run, which is essentially what you're doing with by bunting the Manfred Man over to 3rd and surrendering the out. Chicago could bunt the guy over because there was no risk for them to lose and one run walks off the game. The road team doesn't have that advantage.
  13. jmlease1
    yes. sigh. typos are not my friend!
  14. jmlease1
    Because the 3-4-5 hitters were up in the 7th? I'm sure the thought process was to have Lopez (who has been excellent this season) face the heart of the order while trying to preserve the lead in the 7th, have Jax take the 8th, and Moran available to lock it down in the 9th for the save. With the score tied, I'm guessing they were looking at Stewart to run the 9th so that if they scored in the 10th they could again have Moran nail it down for the save. This is all fairly normal bullpen management. The real issue is how little the offense did last night; 3 hits is pretty miserable. They've got to do better even in cold weather...but dang it Correa only needed about another foot to put that ball out and then we're in a whole different story. Ryan did very well last night overall, although i was a little concerned about his inability to finish off a couple of hitters. He got the job done, but there were a few long ABs in there and that's really about the only thing holding him back right now from taking another leap.
  15. jmlease1
    Hate to say it, but it wasn't really that big of a contract. Whether Lopez is actually an "ace" or not is almost immaterial, because that deal is more like the market rate for a #2 or #3 starter these days. Look at what someone like Marcus Stroman or Chris Bassitt is getting on the free agent market these days, and neither one is an "ace". (BTW, Buxton is sitting on a 143 OPS+ right now and is on pace for a career high in HRs. He seems fine, even without adding anything on defense so far) 2 games are a blip; everything in Lopez's peripherals suggest he's going to be just fine this season. Why evaluate Lopez just on his last 2 games? Why not his first two games? Or his middle two? If he fires 7 shutout against the ChiSox this weekend does the extension go from "bad" to "good"?
  16. jmlease1
    nice to see several of the college pitchers drafted in 2022 doing well to start the season. That said, I would hope that college pitchers would be able to push people around in low-A. Zebby Matthews has been very good so far, but he's also 23 and taking care of business against a lot of guys who are younger and less experienced. (same goes for Lewis and Jones) I am curious to see if the twins are taking advantage of some marketplace inefficiencies, though in targeting college pitchers in later rounds (often from smaller or northern schools it seems). There may be guys out there who if given more intensive coaching, training, and a higher level of expertise and attention can develop into quality starters from these late round picks and players like Matthews, Lewis, and Jones (much like the way Festa has developed or Varland) could become interesting prospects and potential major leaguers without ever getting very high on anyone's prospect list.
  17. jmlease1
    I normally root for the ChiSox to lose at all times, but I was weirdly happy to see them steal a win against TB. Just felt like it would be classic MN sports luck for a team in an epic losing streak to break it against us and win a series. Going into the season, I didn't think the ChiSox had done enough to address their offense and that seems to be playing out so far. Sure, they've had some guys miss time, but they're also just not very deep and it's showing. the pitching is a bit better than it's shown so far (Kopech is better than this and should get it going soon, hopefully not against us!) but they were always asking for a lot in counting on Clevinger and Lynn. The whole staff has been very very hittable, so if the twins batters stay within themselves, and stick to their plans at the plate, they should be able to pound out a lot of hits. they're clearly missing Hendriks in the bullpen, but adding one stud to the back end won't fix their problems. the team WHIP is just rotten. That said, a series win would be great. Go on the road, take 2 of 3 against a division opponent and life is good. Would love the sweep, but I'll be very happy with a series win. Especially looking forward to seeing how Varland does, assuming he's the one who slides in for Mahle.
  18. jmlease1
    Still on the injured list. fractured thumb, I think?
  19. jmlease1
    Severino is showing why the Twins went after him hard when the Braves cheating opened the opportunity. Yes, the Ks are something to watch out for, but he's also drawing walks, and the power is impressive. He was good last season at Wichita and right now he seems determined to prove it wasn't just small sample size. I expect Cossetti will advance quickly if he keeps pounding Low-A like this. Yes, he's a bit older as a college bat, but the FSL is still a tough league to hit in, so this is a good sign. (I wonder if this is the kind of production they thought they were going to get from Sabato?) Contreras is a tough eval. He's off to an excellent start, but he's also 28. He was just ok in AAA last season, and didn't impress in his short stint in MLB. But it's a great start. Does he just need an opportunity, or is he a AAAA player? Think it's going to be tough for him to get any run in MLB this season with Kirilloff and Wallner ahead of him as lefty OF bats. not surprised to see Wallner doing well in AAA. Probably good for him to draw even more walks. Shuffield is doing well, but at 24 he needs to get out of the FSL and needs to stay on the field if he's going to make it as a utility guy. But probably not a lot of time available in cedar rapids right now
  20. jmlease1
    Tough break for Mahle. I'll admit to being very concerned about this injury and whether he's able to recover from it with rest/therapy and avoid surgery. We've been through this dance before with pitchers where they try to shut it down for a while and get right and avoid the knife and eventually they end up having the surgery and get knocked out for the year, so I am afeared we're facing that again. (I'm not saying it's the wrong decision to try everything you can to avoid surgery; you should always try to avoid the need for surgery if you can. It's just that the odds seem poor.) Thank goodness we have the pitching depth for the rotation to deal with this. Thankfully, Sonny Gray got his regular program in and isn't already on the IL with a bum leg. Thankfully, Joe Ryan is a horse. Thankfully, there's been no problems with Pablo Lopez. We knew Ober and Varland were going to get chances this season. their time is now.
  21. jmlease1
    Not a surprise that the return of Polanco had a significant impact on the offense: he's a heck of a player and going into the season he was clearly the 3rd best position player on the roster. Losing him for several weeks was always going to be a bit of a drag. Great week for the Twins. 5-2 is a pretty nice record. Only blemish is Mahle: that injury doesn't sound good to me, and we're very fortunate to have Varland and Ober ready to go. (I'm a little less concerned with Maeda, who I always expected to miss some time and the injury feels less serious) Big week coming up with division foes, lots of opportunity to put some real distance between us and the rest of the central.
  22. jmlease1
    That does seem to be the way this team does things: if someone needs a kick in the butt or be given some pointed instruction, etc they do it out of the view of the fans and the press. They're much more of a " keep things on an even keel" sort of squad for the most part, especially for the coaching staff and front office. That's frequently less satisfying for fans, but it's probably seen as a real positive by the players. Disappointing loss, but hopefully the team comes out on fire on sunday and takes the series. a split would be disappointing, but taking 3 of 4 would be just ducky. Ober did pretty well, looks like a major-league pitcher. Can he have a healthy season? I'd feel much more confident in him if he could get through a full season and throw 140-150 innings...
  23. jmlease1
    I've been told repeatedly on this site that we must send starters deeper into games. I'm sure Rocco would have been absolutely buried if he had lifted Lopez after 5 innings and a low pitch count with a 6-run lead. I was surprised to see Lopez have two consecutive struggle innings in the 6th and 7th, and I'd argue that Vazquez didn't do him any favors by continuing to push the breaking stuff. Good to see the offense rolling a bit right now. Jumping on a pitcher early is never bad.
  24. jmlease1
    Is there a reason this post has been at the top of the website for like 3 days?
  25. jmlease1
    I think this is right. Even an utter trash fire of a major league baseball club is going to win 40 games from somewhere (which is pretty much the pace the Royals are on) and while I'd love to collect a sweep, it'd be no shame to take 3 of 4. KC's offense has been pretty rotten, but they're probably not as bad as it's been so far. The rotation isn't good, but it's not horrible (Singer has been their worse performer to date, but he's their best starter). Twins will have to be patient at the plate and not try to win the series on one swing. We are definitely sending out a good collection of starters to try and shut down the Royals! Good opportunity, be fun to see if the players can execute.
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