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jmlease1

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Everything posted by jmlease1

  1. jmlease1
    4 BBs for Wallner! He's got a pretty dang good eye for the strike zone, I'd say. He's got to be on the list for potential promotion to AAA, right? I feel like we'll know more about him the more advanced pitching he faces, but if he's able to continue to make this much contact (because it always seems to be hard contact) and draw this many walks, he could be a real asset.
  2. jmlease1
    They're all perfectly fine players, but Castillo is the only one I might be interested in to enhance the rotation. And frankly, I'm more interested in a bullpen arm than any position players right now. yes, it would be great to get more offensive production out of jeffers slot in the lineup but a) we also have Sanchez who is doing fine, b) I'm not sure I'm ready to give up on Jeffers, and c) this would cost a lot. With 1B, we have Kirilloff looking to return at any time, so why would we fling a bunch of prospect capital to upgrade there when the best option might be in-house? I'd like to add a bullpen arm, especially with Alcala not rejoining the team any time soon. A power arm to add to Duran/Pagan/Jax on the righty side would be a significant help, and I'm not sure we have the right blend in the minors to step in to high leverage spots.
  3. jmlease1
    These "Rocco only does what the computer tells him" type takes are getting really old, really fast. Basically the equivalent of Joe Morgan complaining about Billy Beane writing Moneyball. I'm ready for Kirilloff to come back and I think there's enough ABs for him. But the roster is getting a little tight when Garlick comes back, especially if Miranda is still hitting well. (I would still pick Kirilloff over Miranda right now because Miranda is meh defensively anywhere and Kirilloff could be great at 1B...)
  4. jmlease1
    Always happy to start a series out with a win. I wonder if the solution on Archer is to pair him with Winder and let them do piggyback starts, trying to get 4 innings out of each of them? (once Winder is back as well) Emptying the bullpen like this is going to be a bit harder once they have to reduce down to 13 pitchers. The schedule is unrelenting; except for the all-star break we're looking at only 2-3 days off a month for the team. But I thought Archer pitched pretty well; he's still finding his command and how to pitch without as good a stuff as he had early in his career, but the slider definitely still plays. As a 5th starter, he's a nice option. Arraez just keeps it going. Opposing pitchers have got to be sick of seeing him come up to the plate. (if he's able to punish mistakes with XBH a little more often that'll be even better, like we've seen recently) He's just a really tough out, and hitting him in front of Buxton, Correa, etc should put a lot of runs on the board. I'll take the win!
  5. jmlease1
    He's doing pretty well, and I'm pleased with the results and the fact that he seems to be staying healthy. He's become one of my favorite interviews on the team; he's interesting and thoughtful. I could see him being awesome in the booth when he retires. As a back-end starter, he's a solid fit for us I think and I think he's someone who can figure out ways to compete even with lesser stuff than he used to have. And it'd be fine if he's more of a "5 and Fly" guy, if that means he's able to take the ball ever 5th day.
  6. jmlease1
    I'm less concerned about the results with Enlow right now, just that he's pitching. Looking forward to him starting to pitch 5-6 innings this season and hoping that he has an injury-free season. The results will come, IMHO. CES is doing everything he needs to do at the plate to earn promotion, but he probably needs to do more in the field as well. He's playing 3B like he has a frying pan for a glove and a shotgun for an arm, and needs to improve there. A-ball is the right spot for him until he starts making a little more progress there, I think. I think Kirilloff is coming up when they have to add a position player to the 26-man, but it's going to get tight with Garlick coming off the IL soon and Miranda swinging the bat so well right now. Garlick destroys LHP and fills a role, Miranda has more positional flexibility. Kirilloff is superior 1B and would tighten up the INF defense. Feels like 3 players 2 spots right now?
  7. jmlease1
    Duffey certainly has pitched himself out of any high leverage situations. It's too bad. I'm not sure we have enough quality options right now that dropping him from the roster does anything; might as well see if he can work out of it in low leverage roles while other guys get healthy. Sands still needs work, but I wouldn't give up on him after his first stint in MLB. He's certainly got more upside than Charlie Barnes ever did. As guys get healthy in the rotation, I expect he goes back to AAA, where hopefully he applies lessons learned up here and improves. He's got some pitches that can play in MLB, but he's going to need to command them better to have success and he's not there yet. defense was a bit rough, would like to see that cleaned up. But it's also evidence that Miranda is still learning 1B. A bit disappointing to see the team so flat against the Rays; a sweep would have been great. But any time you win a series, I'm not really going to complain. Now we go on the road, and see if we can win series against a beatable Seattle team and an equally beatable Arizona squad.
  8. jmlease1
    Kirilloff looks like he's either finally fully healthy or has just figured out how to play with his wrist being what it is. Regardless, he's looking like the elite hitter we hoped he could be again, and I look forward to seeing him back in MLB. Arraez has done a great job filling in at 1B, but I'd be perfectly fine with sliding him in to DH and letting Kirilloff play 1B, especially since Larnach and Kepler have both been good in the corners. Pretty soon the Twins will have to drop a pitcher for a position player, right? Maybe that's what they're waiting for on Kirilloff. typical Wallner game: 1-3, BB, K. But if that's his new baseline, he's going to be all right. Balazovic has so much talent, but he needs health and innings. His struggles are another reason why the Twins were trying to line up so many options to start this season. You just don't know when (if at all) you'll be able to count on a guy like Balazovic. Hope he can find a run of good health and opportunity to pitch some innings. I still believe in his ability, but he's got to start getting some consistent starts in.
  9. jmlease1
    Arraez is obviously the hero of the day, but how delightful to see Celestino continue to hit. I've been a fan of his and thought he might be the ideal 4th OF for this team going into the season, and the way he's playing it doesn't look like he's ever going back to the minors. Sure, everything is falling in for him right now but last season he looked almost completely helpless against MLB pitching and this season he looks like a MLB hitter. The offense is starting to click like we hoped it would at the start of the season. If we can get our pitching healthy, we should have a lot more series like this: wins.
  10. jmlease1
    Oof. that's asking a LOT out of Varland. He's been having a good season and he's on a good developmental track right now, but it's not like he's been unhittable in his 10 starts in AA, and his control has not always been there. Is he really going to be that much better than Sands at this point, and do you want to throw him in the fire for one game, having him make a 2-level jump? (It really didn't go well for Celestino last year) He's also not on the 40-man, so you'd have to make a move there too. I'd say no to this idea. CES is definitely butchering it at 3B right now, but this is what A-ball is for. Probably too early to move him off there already, but if he has to move down the defensive spectrum, he's got the bat to do it. Hopefully he shows some signs of improvement by the end of the season.
  11. jmlease1
    My goodness, Byron Buxton is amazing. Hopefully, he's going to stay on this tear for a while! Smeltzer did a nice job, but I'm a little worried that the shine is coming off from him. The FIP suggests he's been a bit lucky, and it's just tough when you're not getting Ks. I'm not saying I expect him to fall apart completely, but I also wouldn't put too many hopes on him. Hopefully he can find ways to get more easy outs. But he's still done a good job stepping in at a time when we needed someone to do it with all the injuries.
  12. jmlease1
    What a bummer. Royce seems like such a good dude, and did such a great job coming back from the first knee injury. He did everything right, had a great start to his season in AAA after a long layoff from actual games, did a terrific job when called up for his first taste of the majors, and now he's back dealing with another significant injury. Terribly unfair. But one of the reasons we're all so drawn to Royce is that amazing attitude, and right out the gate he seems to be handling it as well as anyone could hope. If anyone can bounce back from this, you just feel like it's Royce Lewis. Hate that this happened for him, it's monstrously unfair. Good luck to him in his recovery.
  13. jmlease1
    we do have to keep reminding ourselves that the Twins currently have 9 pitchers on the IL (not including Kenta Maeda). For comparison, the Yankees have 3, none of them starters. The injury bug has hit us hard right now; just as our lineup is getting healthy (only 3 position players on the IL, and only 1 of them on the opening day roster) our pitching is pretty depleted.
  14. jmlease1
    This loss wasn't great. Bullpen didn't have it. Bundy was bad (unsurprisingly, but until they get guys healthy again, cutting him doesn't make much sense: we'd be rolling a lot of dice to try and fling someone else from the minors up right now). Even Joe Smith couldn't get it done, and he'd been very reliable. For those that like to crap on Rocco at every opportunity: he went to his most consistent guy in Joe Smith in the 6th and his most dominant guy in Duran in the 7th to try and stop the bleeding and hold the lead and neither guy got it done. If they get Alcala back, that will definitely help the bullpen, and if Maeda returns, maybe he's in the bullpen to end the season rather than try and stretch him back out as a starter, so it's not like things are totally dry. But a midseason/deadline acquisition doesn't seem out of the question, and it's not the the team doesn't have assets. It's hard to blame the offense when they hang 7 on one of the best pitchers in MLB, but one baserunner in the last 5 innings sucked. When your enemy is drowning, don't throw them a rope, throw them an anvil. It's one game, but it would have been good for the psychology of the fanbase to win the series against the Damned Yankees. (I don't think the players are impacted much if at all)
  15. jmlease1
    Bundy's leash is directly tied to the health of the rotation. If we had Ober, Ryan, & Gray healthy right now, he would be potentially getting skipped and they would be looking at whether he could function as a long man in the bullpen. With all of the injuries, they're going to try and see if they can get enough out of him to keep the team competitive. If he doesn't, then I suspect they will cut bait on him if/when more guys get healthy. I mean, in another month Maeda might be throwing off a mound again. At least there's almost no chance the team picks up his option. I wasn't a fan of the signing, but as a veteran depth option to battle for the 5th spot...well, ok. He's not looking like he can get it done, and the leash is getting shorter. I'm fine to move on from him, but might as well wait to get some more guys back first.
  16. jmlease1
    LOL, Cole Sands did pitch: he got he butt kicked in MLB. Glad to see Noah Miller get a hit; he's been scrabbling at the plate recently. Reminder that he's still just a kid and is going to have some struggles. Wallner keeps getting it done: will he get promoted to AAA soon?
  17. jmlease1
    It's an interestion question as to whom to name. I think Arraez & Buxton need to be in there: Buxton started hot and his bat always seems to put a charge into the game when he's on, and his D is so consistently great. Arraez has turned into the toughest out in the baseball (against RHP, at least; while the sample is small he's not a great hitter against lefties. it's ok.) Ryan deserves a mention because he's been so consistently good as a starter where we needed someone to step up; I'm not going to downgrade him for some recent missed time. Correa is the same for me: sure he started a little slow at the plate (as did most of the league), but his D has been awesome and he was really starting to get rolling before having to miss time recently. He was one of the players that was making you sit up and take notice. Kepler probably gets the 5th slot for me because he's played more, over Larnach...I don't think people expected this improvement at the plate any longer. We thought this was who he was, and it turns out he's still able to make adjustments. maybe Sonny Gray? He's been really good for us and looks like a playoff starter every time he goes out there. Let's hope he's able to go out there late in the season.
  18. jmlease1
    Steer certainly didn't need an adjustment period! It's a reminder that sometimes when guys get locked in they're just going to keep on rolling. Good for him. Always fun to see a guy take the opportunity and run with it. It'll be interesting to see how high he can fly. His development speaks well of him, but also of the twins system: this was a 3rd round pick that a lot of people thought the twins might have reached on. Developing picks like that into legit MLB prospects is really important to sustain your pipeline of players. SWR is a pitcher I really like, and the twins have handled him very well since trading for him. remember he was tossed in at AA at age 20 by Toronto after a lost year of development, and then had a screwy time between struggling to find his footing in AA and going to the Olympics (and not pitching). The twins did a good job in getting him reset last season and he's come into this season looking confident and strong. I'm hoping he keeps on like this and starts consistently getting deeper into games, but he's got his command back, he's missing bats, and he's keeping the ball in the park.
  19. jmlease1
    Except of course what catapulted Duffey to prominence in our bullpen in the first place was his ability to strand runners. So which is the fluke: Duffey then or Duffey now when it comes to runners on base? (or more likely: he was never as good as he seemed before, nor is he as bad as he seems now with runners on base, but small sample sizes are a bitch with relievers...)
  20. jmlease1
    And if Smeltzer had handed out another walk and a subsequent dinger to George Springer (or maybe it's Bo Bichette), the same people ripping him for pulling Smeltzer "early" would be crushing him for leaving him out there to get beat up. Smeltzer has thrown over 100 pitches for the Twins and gone into the 6th in every start before this one, but can you honestly say he was looking great out there against the Blue Jays? especially against the heart of their order? His command wasn't great, he'd given up some loud outs and with an off day we had a lot of bullpen options. It's not a "red flag" at 70 pitches, it's trying to find the balance between getting a guy too early vs too late. When you get the guy early there's no way to prove you were "right", but there's a reasonable case to be made that the Twins made a smart call. Would I have let Jax go a 2nd inning? Probably. But if Duran doesn't take a fluke liner off his leg/knee then it's unlikely Duffey ever comes in and this lines up nicely with Duran being the guy who gets the extra inning this time and we're never having this conversation about the bullpen.
  21. jmlease1
    I'm baffled by all of the angst directed towards our manager after a win. A win! It sure feels like a subset of Twins fans has decided that Rocco = Bad, period, and comes here looking for something to be mad about. Pulling Smeltzer an inning "early"? seemed reasonable considering he didn't have great command, with Springer coming up (who had been killing him). I might have gone with Jax a 2nd inning myself, but with the day off pending, I get the mindset. It was disappointing to see Duffey implode with the big lead, but rolling him out there to mop up the game in the 9th made perfect sense. The strategies for the bullpen were fine. Some of the moves worked great. Some of them didn't go as well. But nitpicking every. single. move! the manager/pitching coach makes in every game all season is exhausting. Rocco's fine. He does a good job in managing his clubhouse and roster (his primary strength) and is decent enough strategically. Managerial performance is overrated, usually by people needing someone to blame for stuff. Every season you have 5-7 managers who are obviously superior and really impact their team's season, 5-7 who stink and hurt their team's chances, and 15-20 who fall in the middle who either seem interchangeable or whose true value is unquantifiable. Put Rocco in the middle group. It's fine. He's not in the basement crew, and the people who think he is are not going to be satisfied with the next guy either. A fine win against a really good club. Toronto has some terrific players. Nice to see a few guys for us step up with big bombs; Sanchez just missed one and then got it back in the next AB by hitting it to a slightly smaller part of the park. Larnach hit a missile. Arraez is so hard to keep off base, I love it. He's a nightmare for RHPs.
  22. jmlease1
    It looks like Kirilloff has his swing back and is producing the power he needs to be an effective hitter again. I would think they could find a spot for him on the MLB squad, seeing as how the offense has been so erratic. Arraez playing 1B isn't really a problem: one of them can shift into the DH role, and frankly Kirilloff is a more natural 1B anyways. Wallner continues to roll. If he has a June like his May he's going to be pushing for a promotion. I wonder if there was anything behind his awful start? (nagging injury he played through? significant adjustment made by him & the coaching staff?) He's mashing it right now, for sure.
  23. jmlease1
    Not a great time to be missing guys for vaccine "hesitancy". Pagan seemed to realize it, at least, but I'm tired of the rationales being based on the quackery that runs rampant in the "wellness" industry and on the internet from people with no real expertise. (This is also one of the ways that guys keep getting busted for PEDs, taking supplements that aren't vetted or pushed by some guru) Garlick keeps doing what he's supposed to: make lefties cry. What a great platoon player! (his splits this year are hilarious in how extreme they are) Jose Miranda looks like he might be settling in a bit at the plate: he's been swinging the bat well lately and it's great to see his skill taking over. He's been doing a nice job over the last couple of weeks and looks like he can be a contributor. If Urshela needs a week off to rest that ankle, we're going to need him. Moran is a pitcher I like, but his control is going to keep him more high leverage situations: he'll K the side for you with that wicked changeup, and then walk 2 guys because he can't locate his fastball. But he'll be able to work around walks with his ability to hunt Ks. Just prepare yourself for the ride, because it might be bumpy.
  24. jmlease1
    I agree: having Alcala throwing 96mph and touching 99 is a great sign. I hope he feels great today and doesn't have any lingering problems. Can't wait to see him back up with the Twins. Rodriguez: wow. really impressive start for a guy in his first year of full-season pro ball. Be great if he and Noah Miller push each other all the way through the minors as elite prospects! The only concern I have about him right now is I'd like to see him make more contact? the SLG% is really impressive for the FSL and his ability to take walks at 19 is pretty remarkable, but I always get a little twitchy when I see the lower BA because sometimes that drops off more as guys advance and the ability to make enough hard contact is the sort of thing that limited Rooker and gives everyone pause about Wallner. (Rodriguez has tools those two guys did not, of course). It's the one area he hasn't really nailed yet. Which is saying something. he could be really, really good. It'll be interesting to see how aggressive the team is in pushing him up. Glad to see Enlow have another outing. I just wish good health for him this season and maybe by the end of the year be back to full strength. I still believe in his talent, so hopefully he can stay on the comeback trail. Sawyer Gipson-Long gets more interesting all the time. Glad to see another starter in the pipeline! He's certainly in line to get a look in AA this year.
  25. jmlease1
    very exciting to see Noah Miller off to a really good start in his first year of full-season pro-ball. You never know with the high school picks how long it's going to take them to adjust (and some of them never do) and while Miller wasn't bad in rookie ball, he didn't light the world on fire either. He's getting hits, he's getting walks, he's showing decent pop for the FSL (and power is a tool that often develops later), and the speed is very good. he looks like someone who can stick at SS. Wallner had such a dreadful start to the year that you had to wonder if something was wrong. Apparently he just needed time, swings, etc. I'm always going to have some concerns about his ability to make enough contact, but months like this make you think that he can do it. The power is tremendous, he's not a bad OF and the arm certainly plays. His comps are somewhere in the Brent Rooker-Adam Dunn zone, and it's hard to know where he'll land. If he can finish the season with a BA over .270 I'd feel more confident? he had a terrific May and if he hadn't gotten off to such a horrific start I think we'd all be feeling a lot higher on him.
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