Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

jmlease1

Verified Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    5,457

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    30

 Content Type 

Profiles

News

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospects Ranking

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by jmlease1

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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?
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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?
  13. 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!
  14. 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.
  15. jmlease1
    Considering how often the ump was giving Eflin K's 2-4 inches off the plate, I can't exactly blame any of the Twins for swinging more at stuff inside and outside the plate. Justin Morneau was getting so annoyed those strike calls that even Dick Bremer noticed, and Dick usually doesn't comment on umpiring.
  16. jmlease1
    I'm not going to claim that Rortvedt should rank above Jeffers, but it feels like based on age and level performance they're not all that far apart as prospects, albeit for some differing reasons. Beyond that, developing quality catchers that can actually use the bat effectively sure seems to be a challenge for MLB, so if Rortvedt really has taken a leap forward with his hitting there's a ton of value there. but I freely admit I'm on Team Rortvedt. I'm concerned about Blankenhorn. It's hard not to think of his season last year as a disappointment; Arraez has clearly passed him at this point and we simply didn't see much of that power potential in Ft. Myers. Maybe he and Lewin Diaz just hit that FSL wall we've come to expect and Alex Kirilloff is an even bigger outlier? Strong "next wave" of talent clustered at Ft. Myers right now, which is a place where I feel like we really start to winnow out who are actually going to be real prospects vs JAGs. Should be an interesting season.
  17. jmlease1
    I seriously disagree with leaving Rortvedt out of the top 20. In my mind he's at least top 15 and after last season's success at the plate in high-A deserves consideration as a top 10 prospect. He's a better receiver than Jeffers and is actually younger. I'm a little baffled by Jeffers at #6 and Rortvedt not cracking the top 20. Rortvedt deserved to be ranked, especially if someone like Blankenhorn cracks the list. (I'm not wild about Blankenhorn, who struggled to hit in Ft. Myers and didn't do well in the AFL either. Maybe repeating a level will get him back on track, but he's clearly being passed by other prospects at 2B and is starting to look like he won't hit enough to play 3B)
  18. jmlease1
    I still wonder if the recovery is hurting Gibson a little on the stamina side? I'm not going to worry about Gibson yet. But we seem to be managing just fine with 11 pitchers. Day off tomorrow, so probably the only guy not available in game 1 against Philly is Mejia? Bats are starting to get going a little too: 7 runs on 11 hits with 5 BBs? That's winning production. And boy oh boy, it's getting harder and harder to suggest that Astudillo is a fluke. Gotta love a guy who hits his way into the lineup. I appreciate Baldelli putting Kepler in CF. He's got the ability to play there and I like the positional flexibility. Good wins. Good test coming up against Philly.
  19. jmlease1
    Berrios didn't have a high pitch count, but he'd had some wobbly innings. I don't mind protecting your starters a little early while they continue to get stretched out. I'm not worried about Rogers usage yet: he's made 3 appearances in 6 days, hasn't pitched in back-to-back games...you can start worrying if he comes out of the 'pen again tonight. So far Baldelli is doing fine. He'll look even better when some of the bats heat up (Rosario, Kepler, Gonzalez, and Schoop are all off to slow starts). Cron is really looking sharp, and I was really pleased with his defense last night. Hope Kyle Gibson is recovered from the E.Coli enough to get through 5-6 innings!
  20. jmlease1
    I feel like there's good depth with upside to draw from in starting pitching. definitely some prospect potential in the INF & OF, but more in the OF (JMO). I would feel better if we had another bullpen arm besides Romero with the kind of upside to come up at some point this season and blow some guys away. Maybe Vasquez can be that guy? Not sure he has the control to survive. Maybe Duffey can get it back together? not sure he has the pitch mix to survive. Reed? The relief corps is not exactly making my socks roll up and down.
  21. jmlease1
    Hard to complain about much here. Some really good looking prospects. Love it!!
  22. jmlease1
    I'm really rooting for Rortvedt to continue developing well on offense. I'd love for him to get a mid-season promotion and stay on a good path to the majors. Looking forward to seeing how Larnach does in what's generally seen as more of a pitcher's league. He was expected to crush it in cedar rapids (IMHO); the jumps get a little harder now, but he's got the talent to succeed.
  23. jmlease1
    I think the health and performance of the back of the rotation is going to be key. If we get through the season without having to use 9-10 starters (main rotation inning eaters?) and getting enough quality from positions 3-5 in that group we could win a lot of series. Nice to see the offense break out in game 3!
  24. jmlease1
    Wow, loads of overreactions on this board. I guess that's a good sign, people care enough to massively overreact? Yeah, sucked that Blake Parker wild pitched us to a loss but weird things like that happen in freakin' March especially to pitchers when it's 39F out there. It's one outing. Maybe we can hold off on the panic until he''s blown up a few times in a row? I'm a little surprised people are already outraged that the bench hasn't been completely emptied by Game 2. Which came after an off-day. When we have 4 new regulars in the lineup anyway. And frankly, betting on Tyler Austin as a savior is going to result in a lot of disappointment. It may make sense to be more more aggressive in using ol' Willans as a PH in close & late situations because of his ability to get a bat on the ball, but I think Im ok with letting some guys play early in the season. I'm also not going to start getting on Baldelli's choices based off one game, either. I'm going to wait for a pattern to emerge to see if he's making decent choices. Holy cow. Game 2 and people are already crushing him. Bauer buried our lineup, he's a terrific pitcher. That's the story...
  25. jmlease1
    Is it really fair to say this is Pineda's first year after Tommy John, though? He did pitch (a tiny amount) last year. He's not a guy who just got back on the mound in spring training, I'd argue he's going to be further along than a lot of the guys we normally think of as "coming off TJ". Frankly, I'm more worried about his knee and other injury history than the TJ at this point. Odorizzi may be the best beneficiary of the opener strategy, and as a 4th or 5th guy I think you feel ok about him. He's certainly someone you'd have to feel fairly confident he'll be able to take the ball for 25-30 starts in the season and there's value in that. I also feel better about the options for replacements if/when guys get hurt. Gonsalves, Thorpe, Stewart, Littell are all guys who could break through this season and give you internal options if Gibson needs more time to get back into game shape after the nasty illness or Pineda can't stay healthy, etc. None of them are sure things, but there's better depth options for the starters than we've seen.
×
×
  • Create New...