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jmlease1

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Everything posted by jmlease1

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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?
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. 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?
  18. 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!
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. 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)
  23. 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.
  24. 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!
  25. 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.
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