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jmlease1

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Everything posted by jmlease1

  1. jmlease1
    I thought this umpire was really inconsistent on calling low pitches around the corners. It probably evened out over the course of the game (Seattle appeared to benefit early, Twins benefited late) but it makes for a frustrating game and it's hard on the pitchers and catchers. Polanco was terrific again. 2 leg doubles? Does he have a bet on with Buxton or something? I'm glad May got the 9th, regardless of Rogers status. He needs to throw late innings and the teams needs to know if he's a guy who can close out a game. A bit wobbly last night, but the stuff is there. I feel less concern over this team facing a 2-3 run deficit than any Twins team in a very long time. Very hard to keep this offense down all game.
  2. jmlease1
    I'm not losing any sleep over going 3-3 in a full-on road trip week. It would have been great to 4-2, but expecting it on the road all the time is a little too much. We've still got a spectacular road record this season. We can definitely use some pitching upgrades; the bullpen is the bigger need area, despite the backsliding of Perez but i wouldn't say no to getting someone to improve the top end of the rotation. For me, that's the thing on upgrades for the Twins pitching: it has to move the needle on the top end, marginal improvement on the bottom edges of the staff aren't impactful enough for a team that's so clearly in postseason competition, even if it might squeeze out 1-2 more wins over the next 3 months. It's hard not to keep talking about the Twins being on a pace to shatter the team record for HRs, but we're also on pace to top the team record for doubles, set back in 2002. (record 348, current pace 354) The biggest thing that's going to stop this team from knocking off that record is the fact that we hit so many HRs! (btw, the 2002 Twins squad? hit 167 HRs for the year. the 2019 team might clear that by the all-star break!) We'll probably need Buxton to stretch some more singles into doubles to make it work. whee! (I love watching OFs when Byron hits a routine single and gets out of the batter's box quickly. There's this "aw, hell!" factor as they realize they can't jog in on the ball and flip it back into the infield that's freakin' delightful.)
  3. jmlease1
    Odorizzi just keeps on rolling. Except for one sequence where he kept gunning the fastball about a foot above the strike zone (except same spot in 5 pitches out of 7 or so) they made me go "what the hell happened to you?!?" he looked great. again. Duffey looked pretty good, i thought. Maybe he's going to be that additional late-inning piece to go with Rogers, May, Harper, and Parker? (yes, I know Parker blew up the other night. No, I'm not terribly worried about him) Of course, this is a win the Twin absolutely should have. Every spot in the lineup, we had a better hitter going: our worst hitter (Adrianza, a utility infielder) has a higher OPS than 2/3 of the Tigers lineup from yesterday. Detroit did have a single player with an OPS over .800 player yesterday, the Twins had EIGHT. And the bats spoke. Nearly half our hits were for extra bases, and I don't think anyone was surprised. I was a little amused at how much Dick & Bert kept talking about the twins "going the other way" yesterday, though. It was like they missed getting to use that phrase from the Gardy days and were using it sorta like a tribute to Gardy since he was there and all. That said, it does say something about the Twins hitting approach this year, which seems to be based around some simple principles: 1. make hard contact with the ball. 2. be aggressive in swinging at a pitch you like. 3. lay off the pitches you can't make hard contact on.
  4. jmlease1
    Eades was...fine? did a few things well, you hope that maybe his control was down a bit from being over-amped in his MLB debut, and maybe he can be a useful middle inning guy. Magill looks awful right now. I can't say I've ever been much of a fan, but I'm not enjoying being right about him. He's more combustable than Hildenberger was. Yuck. I think Gibson will be fine; the peripherals look pretty good and it won't take much difference to get him back to performing like last season.
  5. jmlease1
    wonder if having both Arraez and Nick Gordon on the same squad has been pushing both guys to play to their potential? Gordon has been playing pretty well too. Jhoan Duran looks terrific. mid-season promotion to AA? Seems like he'd be a good candidate.
  6. jmlease1
    The Buxton leg double was awesome. He's a total edge-of-the-seat player: when he puts the ball in plate, when he hits the basepaths, when the ball gets hit near him in the OF you move to the edge of your seat to see what he does. He's the most exciting player on the team and one of the most exciting in Twins history. I hope he never leaves. If someone hadn't been following the team and you told them Nelson Cruz was 7th in HRs, the first reaction would probably be that the signing was a bust. Instead, it just means he was a little nicked up and the rest of the squad is crushing it. Probably good for Astudillo to go down to Rochester for a bit. He's pressing right now and flailing at the plate (2 K's last night? very out of character). Time to reset and restart and see if he can get back to being a bat control god. Not a lot of options for relievers down there right now, though. Romero is a major disappointment.
  7. jmlease1
    Still no 3-game losing streaks for this team! That's a pretty good stat. May looks like he's rounding into form, which is good. Parker had a bad night in a goofy rain-delay game; the loss was a bummer, but I'm not too worried about him. Magill? Boy, I dunno. Never been a huge fan. FIP says he's been unlucky this year, but considering how much lower his HR/9 is compared to career averages, I think he's actually been lucky this year and his mediocre numbers could get a lot worse in a hurry. The K's are great, but the WHIP suggests he's a mop-up guy and that's not what we need. Would rather see more of Duffey than Magill. Great night for Kepler. That's a slump-buster for sure. Hopefully he gets cranking on another run. The contract extension on Max is looking pretty smart right now too, hopefully he doesn't fade late, because this is starting to look like the break-out year we've been waiting for.
  8. jmlease1
    Castro and Perez did not seem to be on the same page last night. Pretty bad throwing error by Sano (wasn't terribly close) and he'd already been bailed out by Cron earlier. Lindor sure is a beast, though. He's absolutely crushed us so far this series (5-7, 5 R, 2B, 3 HRs, 2 BB, 1 K). That's outlandish. Please take a day off. Please let us know how we have offended you so we can apologize. My goodness.
  9. jmlease1
    I think Larnach is putting himself up a notch. I think he's still tradeable (we have OF depth, Kirilloff is still higher on the prospect list even with the return to the injury list) but he's not going for a rental. he's not going for just an ok relief piece. He's showing a dominant hit tool and you don't give that up as anything other than the centerpiece of a major deal.
  10. jmlease1
    I think the point here is that if a player is going to be a superstar, you usually know it by his age 26 season. Which is...probably unfair? Joe Mauer had 2 batting titles, 2 all-stars, and a gold glove before embarking on his best season as a pro in his age 26. But Kirby Puckett didn't have his first all-star appearance until his age 26 season, which launched him into stardom. Carew was RoY and an all-star at 21, but didn't really start his run of greatness until the age 26 season, before peaking at 31 with the MVP year. Now these are all HoF type players (2 are in and one will at least get a very long look in 5 years), so is that the comp to make for superstar? Or is it more like Torii Hunter? Who was a great player for a long time, a deserving all-star, but seems almost certain to fall short of induction (lots of very good years, a few great years, no MVP seasons). 26 gets you into the prime years, where a player is almost certainly going to be at their best (absent *ahem* chemical assistance), so i think it's fair to say that the time is now for Sano. He's got to stay healthy and produce on the field. But he's certainly been productive this season, and while we're still in SSS territory the pace he's on would put him up with any of the top sluggers in the league. It's premature to call him "fading". It's fair to wonder if he can stay on the field enough to truly be a superstar; he's never played 120 games in a season and he's not going to play 120 games this season either. That's really the only barrier I see for sano to not be a superstar.
  11. jmlease1
    not thrilled to see Kirilloff back on the injured list. Blankenhorn continues to club the ball. never been so happy to be wrong on a guy. Love what I'm seeing from my guy Rortvedt. He has to have improved his prospect status, right?
  12. jmlease1
    felt like Smeltzer was getting squeezed a bit early by the home plate umpire; he had a few borderline pitches go the other way that Bieber was getting as strikes, but overall his command just wasn't as good as it was in his first start. Until he got chased late, he still really only made two mistakes, and they were to a guy who is pretty damn good. It'll happen. He's an interesting pitcher. Hopefully he learned a few things that he needs to work on and can go back to AAA and get after it again and be ready for the next opportunity. He's got some ability, and while I don't ever see him as a guy who will be a front end starter, he could be valuable chewing up innings on the back end. The offense didn't do much to pick up our starter either. When a team averaging 5.9 runs per game only scratches 2 past the plate, it might just not be your night.
  13. jmlease1
    Kirilloff seems to be settling in at AA now that he's shaken the rust off. Let's hope he stays on this kind of hot roll for all of June. repeating the level sure looks to be working for Nick Gordon. If he can stay healthy, it will do a lot to restore his prospect standing with him hitting so well. Frankly, it's exciting to see so many of the position players on the top prospect list just in the lineup after the rash of injuries that seemed to be rolling through. Congrats to Blankenhorn. I freely admit, I was about ready to give up on him, and he's proven me wrong. Sure looks like he's unlocked something and that's great news for him and the team.
  14. jmlease1
    Also, I totally agree with Bert: time to blow the Trop up! God, that stadium is a hole. Worst stadiums in MLB have to be Tampa and Oakland, right? I doubt anything else is even close.
  15. jmlease1
    3 out of 4 from the Rays? Its going to get harder and harder for the skeptics to claim this team isnt quality and/or will fall apart soon... That Polanco extension sure looks smart these days.
  16. jmlease1
    You can never have too many catchers who can hit. Twins have shown the advantage of having three catchers on the roster this year, so making sure we have more catchers in the pipeline is excellent, especially since we're seeing guys with success. draft looks solid so far, long way to go on a lot of these guys. Hopefully none of the top picks bust, few have to give it up from injury, and we have 1 or 2 late round guys rise up and become serious prospects.
  17. jmlease1
    Twins should get Polanco, Odorizzi, and maybe Cron. Rosario & Kepler are both very deserving, but at least one will get squeezed out, possibly both. Berrios is having another good season, but won't get in this year. Perez will need to get back on the field and have another dominant performance to have a chance: the bad bullpen outings will likely keep him off. In the end, i expect the Twins will get more snubs and only Polanco and Odorizzi will be representing the team at the all-star game.
  18. jmlease1
    The only thing bad about the Twins starting to get some national attention is the east coast writers treating Twins players like they're just on a farm club until the get snatched up by a "real" team. i.e., the jackhole on ATH who commented on the twins by saying, "Name to know: Byron Buxton. Some other team is going to pick him up and make him a star." I nearly threw my remote through the tv...
  19. jmlease1
    not really accurate. Rogers had an awful July (.994 OPS against), but was basically back to being the same Taylor Rogers after that in August/Sept. (August was in fact his 2nd best month in 2017) His 2nd half numbers are really skewed by that awful July where he gave up 4 dingers. I don't know what to say about Pineda. He started out looking good, had an inning where he looked terrible, then settled in to have a solid night for a 5th starter. Maybe he's just one of those guys that's always going to have a bad inning? I don't have a ton of confidence in him. He's not getting enough Ks, he's giving up a career high in HR/9...but he still is getting through 5-6 innings while giving the Twins a chance to win? I dunno.
  20. jmlease1
    I will admit, I was ready to give up on Blankenhorn. He wasn't impressing, wasnt great last year in high A (and wasnt super young for the level), had a rotten AFL stint...he just wasnt looking like someone who was going to pan out. He's put it together this year and seems to have unlocked his power potential. Happy to be wrong about him. Nice to see Rortvedt get that first XBH, he's looking very good so far at AA. Twins have to be pleased with his progress, dont you think? Remarkable performance from Duran. He's looking good, hope his pitches keep developing, because he might be a nice starter.
  21. jmlease1
    I love seeing the Twins smash the White Sox. Going back many years, they are the division team I love seeing us beat down. We really haven't played the division much, so there's plenty of opportunity to pile up wins there, and they all count. Odorizzi was excellent again. Maybe Duffey is the guy who can go 1-2 innings every few games? That would make it easier to get back down to a 7 man bullpen (I really dislike the 13 pitcher alignment; we are set up to handle it because Gonzalez, Astudillo, and Adrianza have good positional flexibility but it still limits you)
  22. jmlease1
    That's a really rough list of injuries! Hope Graterol's shoulder issues aren't serious, but we did hear some scouting reports that were concerned because hes a max effort guy to get that blazing speed. (No, that doesn't mean we should have already called him up to get what we could before the injury) Injuries are going to happen, unfortunately. For the Twins, it makes it harder to do a deal in June to add pieces, I think. Injured guys lose value (fairly or not) and its harder to send out some of the healthy guys before you really start worrying about leaving the cupboard bare if you strip out too many guys and have your prospect list dominated by guys coming off injury. Baddoo should have a shot to come back from his TJ in time for spring training; position players came rehab that one faster. Really tough break for Tyler Wells, good luck to him. Gonsalves injury...man, I dunno. Maybe this is where we find out whether the medical/training staff still needs more housecleaning/buffing up. Hope theyre right and the ligament really is intact, but how many times have we heard in the past "He just need a couple more weeks of rest" that turns into 2 months that turns into major surgery? Yuck.
  23. jmlease1
    I think its fair to describe Berrios as a little wobbly last night. He wasnt at his best, but with the offense clicking like this he didn't need to be. He settled down eventually and got through it. The bats just don't stop. I think we're seeing a Three True Outcomes out of Sano, which is fine considering the rest of the lineup. As long as he's hitting dingers and drawing walks, he's going to be fine. Looks solid enough in the field too. Gleeman said something the other day on PA's show on the Fan: with this team you just don't worry too much if they get down early, and it's the first Twins team in a long time you could say that about. A three run lead just isn't safe at all against this team.
  24. jmlease1
    A friend of mine is still struggling with the idea that this Twins team is good. It's always, "well, the lineup is ok, I guess." or "They should be able to compete for the division title, because the rest of the division is so bad." Or "Let's see how they do against good teams." Last night it was, "they only have like one guy hitting over .260." The great thing is, the more the Twins play, the dumber the excuses sound. This game was a total rout. 8 homeruns in the game...again?!?
  25. jmlease1
    Sammons has not been a guy on my radar, would like to know more about him. Is he a legitimate prospect, or just beating up on younger hitters in a league he might be too old for? Austin Schulfer is another guy I haven't been tracking, having a nice start to the season, but looks like he might be a little wild. Still waiting on that 1st XBH for Rortvedt in AA, but otherwise he seems to be adapting just fine to the new level. I too feel much better about our catching depth now than even last year. Last year at this time Castro was hurt, La Tortuga wasn't really on the radar, we didn't know if Garver could really catch well enough to man the position, and there didn't seem to be any help nearby. Now, we've got enough depth to not worry about Garver missing time and the minor league prospects appear to be developing well.
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