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jmlease1

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Everything posted by jmlease1

  1. jmlease1
    That certainly what Morneau was comparing it to on the broadcast! Kepler's blast did have that same majestic arc we used to see from Thome, that's for sure. Petrez looked pretty good last night. I tend to be more encouraged by guys who make some specific and consistent adjustments in looking at whether it will be sustainable. Much like with Gibson last year, Perez is doing it differently this year and getting better results.
  2. jmlease1
    1) I'm happy with Cron so far. I've been very impressed with his defense, but I wouldn't put him in the conversation with Mauer yet. Joe should have won 1-2 GG's at 1B and Cron isn't quite at that level. But it's looking like a smart pickup overall. Need to see that OBP start sliding up, though. 2) Schoop does play a nice 2B, and has made some very nice plays that show good awareness of what's going on around him. (That throw he made after chasing down a wild throw into short right was fantastic, would have loved to see him rewarded with the out) He's healthy this year, which is a big deal. He's looking good. I doubt anyone is on track for a sudden contract extension right now: Schoop bet on himself and I'm sure is going to want to test the market. If he hits like this, he'll get a nice deal. But thr reality is we're still in SSS territory, so the guys who might be struggling aren't going to accept a "buy low" offer, and management isn't going to buy high on the guys who are killing it right now until they see more.
  3. jmlease1
    It's nice that the Twins are relevant enough for people to wildly overreact to the results of a game and/or every managerial decision again. Stewart was the logical guy to start, and had some success last year. And despite his poor command, he showed some flashes of how he could do that in MLB even last night, inducing some weak contact with that sinker. But he has to hit his spots to be successful and he couldn't do it last night and has struggled with it so far this season. He needs more work, but there's some interesting talent there. It's not like this was an "abandon all hope" lineup; Astudillo is someone people clamoring to play more, so he got a start. And I'm totally on board with giving Buxton a day off against Verlander's slider. Heck, half of our hits came from the bottom three guys: the top 6 are the clear starters right now, so why not complain that Nelson Cruz left his boomstick at the hotel? Gonzalez isn't hitting right now, but Seth is right: he's been making better contact lately and doesn't look like he's flailing at the plate. Moreover, he's been playing pretty excellent defense overall. (yes, he had the throwing error, but he's also the only guy on the team that would have been in a position to make that throw in the first place) The reason it felt like a give up game is the offense produced 4 freakin' hits. Against Verlander, being down 4 runs can seem like 40. Let's come home and get well against Baltimore.
  4. jmlease1
    Jax might my favorite prospect outside of the consensus top 20. I really like this guy, and this feels like it's going to be a major breakout year for him. The fact that he can concentrate on baseball full-time and not have any of that uncertainty hanging over him is bigger than people realize, I think. And he can really pitch. No need to muck around with him right now, just keep running him out there on his turn in the rotation and evaluate around midseason whether to fast track him up a level.
  5. jmlease1
    FSL has traditionally been considered a pitcher's league, which is why it was so amazing to see Kirilloff just destroy it last season. I'm not too worried about Royce Lewis yet. Great news on Thorpe, nice to see him having success at AAA. He keeps going like this, we'll be seeing him in MN sooner rather than later.
  6. jmlease1
    Kimbrel is a reasonable fit on this team because the offense appears to be good enough to keep the twins in most games even when the starters aren't clicking. So even if he only wants to be out there in save situations, he's going to get used this year (we hope) and not have too many of those weeks where he only gets in 1 game. I suspect he can still pitch, and the extra month or so off probably isn't going to hurt him much (and might even help keep him fresh down the stretch). But again: what the hell does he actually want, and would he be willing to come here? is it 1 year and $15M? $18M? $20M? $13M? I have no idea at this point. (hell, it might be 1 year $18M, but it's pro-rata and we'd only have to pay $14M.) Is it a multi-year deal of at least 3 years? Where's the AAV on that one? I wouldn't mind adding him at all, he'd be a guy you'd be hard-pressed not to rely on. But I have no idea if what he wants is even in the ballpark or if he'd come here.
  7. jmlease1
    Littell seems the most likely? Stewart has struggled out the gate, so i'm not sure they'd swing him up to start right now, otherwise he'd be the next most likely. I think we'll see Thorpe at some point this year, but I suspect they're not looking for him to make his MLB debut on a Rochester-Houston-Rochester shuttle job.
  8. jmlease1
    Schoop made a really nice play after the error on Gonzalez in the 7th (which was a really tough play in the first place) chasing down the carom and nearly nailing Springer at 2B. Really heads up play, even if he didn't get the out. Am I crazy or does Trevor May just not really look right out there? His command and control look out of whack, and I'm wondering if it's a confidence issue. Kinda feels like he needed another 2 weeks of spring training, just throwing at guys. Hope he pulls out of it, because he has the ability to be a terrific reliever. That contract extension for Polanco just keeps looking better all the time. I know he's not going to hit .420, I know he's going to get into a slump at some point. I know he's probably going to drive me crazy by air-mailing a couple of relatively easy throws, but I still love the guy.
  9. jmlease1
    Because it matters for recruiting via free agency. It matters for retaining our own guys. If success in the twin Cities can't get you any sort of national recognition, it means it's much harder for those players to generate significant income through endorsements and build their own brand. Agents know it and so do the clubs in the bigger media markets. Plus, people get sick of hearing about "Yankees win" or "Yankees lose" leading every sportscenter.
  10. jmlease1
    Oof, dunno if i can get with the Blyleven-Kaat pairing. waaay too much "In my day..." in regards to how coddled pitchers are today. Did not love. I did appreciate Dick making sure people knew who some of the players they were talking about; I know who Earl Battey was and when he caught for the Twins, but a lot of people watching would have missed on stuff like that. Agree on Garver. He's hitting so well that you can forgive his lesser ability at blocking pitches. A strong bat is really an advantage at catcher, and he's good enough behind the plate that I'm not worried about anything else. he seems to set up well back there and the pitchers don't seem to struggle with the way he calls a game. I was on board with Cron from the start, and while he was a bit slow-starting with the bat, he can definitely hit. His defense is better than advertised and he's really made a lot of very fine plays around the bag. I would think the left side of the infield is going to have a similar level of confidence gunning the ball over to 1B that they did when Mauer was there. He's doing a nice job and I'd take him over Austin 10 out of 10.
  11. jmlease1
    well, outings like this will do wonders to put Poppen on people's radar. Hard to tell what kind of prospect he really is: he seems to be moving his way up through the minors at a pretty steady pace, but he's not been particularly dominant? Really want to see Kirilloff, Javier, Gonsalves, and Gordon playing soon.
  12. jmlease1
    Romero didn't look ready. pretty blegh outing from him, but he got through enough to save us from needing another pitcher, so we're in decent shape in the 'pen for sunday. The bats were certainly booming. The boomstick arrived too, and Rosario continues to crush it. Garver is confirming he's got the stick to play here, regardless of his catching, but hes been good enough behind the plate to be a real asset. I'm impressed with what Cron has done at 1B. He's saved quite a few outs already and I think he'll be a nice hitter all year too.
  13. jmlease1
    Not ready to believe in Cabbage yet. He's on his 3rd stint at Cedar Rapids and is older for the level: if he wasn't hammering these pitchers it would most likely be a sign he was going to be out of pro baseball soon, I'm afraid. What position is he playing? B-ref lists him at 3B, 1B, and OF; if he's defensively sound at 3B that would certainly help his cause.
  14. jmlease1
    Odorizzi was really good except for one thing: he couldn't finish off hitters efficiently enough. He had his curve going nicely, but struggled to get hitters to offer at it out of the zone with 2 strikes, and it ran up his pitch count. He did a nice job of getting Ks up in the zone with the fastball, but seems to generate a lot of foul ball down in the zone (also running up that pitch count). I can't figure out if he needs to adjust location or pitch mix, but the stuff was certainly good enough last night. Man, that Polanco contract extension sure looks smart right now, huh?
  15. jmlease1
    Glad Thorpe had a good outing. He's got a real future, i think. Glad Smeltzer is ok. Not happy Kirilloff and Gonsalves are still on the injured list. Not happy Jeffers and Rortvedt are splitting time in high-A. That can't be great for the development of either of them, can it? Both guys need to catch.
  16. jmlease1
    This is satire, right? Twins had 14 hits yesterday and half of them were for extra bases (5 doubles and 2 HRs). Guys were making lots of hard contact and it was paying off for them. 2 walks, only 4 Ks from the lineup with 6 runs on the board.
  17. jmlease1
    Can't say I love them splitting time. They both need to be catching, not sharing the role. Maybe one of them will get an early promotion (Rortvedt would be my choice) so they can both get the time behind the plate they need.
  18. jmlease1
    I dislike having 4 of our top 15 prospects on the injured list. hope they all heal quickly and well. Nice start for Griffin Jax. He's a guy I like quite a bit, and I think he's going to be pushing his way into the top 20 list this year. You have to think that having his status resolved and being able to really focus on baseball is going to help him develop.
  19. jmlease1
    The issue with Kimbrel remains the same as it was in the offseason. Yes, he could help this team and would be a positive addition to the bullpen. But at what price? The understanding seemed to be that he was looking for a 5+ year deal and expected something around $20M AAV. That's still asking a lot and probably a contract that he's worth in no more than 3 out of those 5. Beyond that, does anyone here really think that Kimbrel would have come into the game in the 5th inning last night? He's also a guy who expects to close. I have a bit more confidence in the starting pitcher options at Rochester than the relief options. Thorpe, Stewart, and Gonsalves are all guys that could have success in MLB. Littell is someone Im not as confident for longterm upside, but could contribute. Theres a solid group of guys who are all younger and should compete. We'll see if Reed or Romero or Duffy is an answer. But I won't be surprised or even all that upset if we wait another 8-10 games before making a final call on some of this. It's a long season and we're not all that far along.
  20. jmlease1
    weird inning. it happens. I wanted to argue that Twins pitching was getting squeezed on the zone by the ump, but at the same time...you can''t expect to get the benefit of the doubt on the edges if you cant throw strikes. and they just weren't throwing strikes. They've got some things to figure out on the pitching side, but I think there are some options there.
  21. jmlease1
    except he wasn't mediocre last season. He was almost as good as Berrios, and nearly racked up 200 innings. He also reinvented his approach pretty thoroughly last season, so it changes our information about his track record, and Im sorry, it's absolutely absurd to judge anything about him based on his first 2 starts when it's obvious that he's not fully recovered from the E.Coli. It takes time to rebuild stamina, especially when you drop that much weight in a hurry.
  22. jmlease1
    His illness and sudden 20lb weight loss was predictable? You've closed the book on his season after a couple of starts? Good lord.
  23. jmlease1
    Fun game tonight, if a bit long. Great to see Schoop get that first dinger out of the way; I'm betting he was starting to press a little bit. The only regular really scuffling right now is Marwin, and he's a solid enough veteran I'm not really worried about. He'll get there. Gibson is going to be ok, he just needs time and more starts. When you lose that much weight that fast via illness, it really does take a while to get the stamina all the way back up. It's going to take a little time before he's able to go deep into games. That extension for Polanco is looking pretty smart right now, huh?
  24. jmlease1
    It's nice to see Kohl Stewart missing some bats. If he can increase the K's a bit while keeping that really high GB ratio, he's going to have success. Balazovic impresses me. He's definitely a guy to watch, and I'd give him the award on best performance on this list, but there's quite a few to choose from!
  25. jmlease1
    I'm a little concerned about having Rortvedt & Jeffers both in Ft. Myers at the same time. would like to see them both doing full time catching and not splitting time with each other behind the plate. I wonder if either will be a candidate for an early call up to AA? How long is Kirilloff going to be out? Really want to see him hit at AA and see if he can stay on that fast track. Glad to see Rooker showing some skill in the OF. Positional flexibility may be important for him. I'm not worrying about his K rate...yet. But hopefully he gets more selective at the plate and has better contact, because the power is absolutely for real.
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