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jmlease1

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Everything posted by jmlease1

  1. jmlease1
    I have my doubts about Fedko as well (even after an insanely massive game, he's only hitting .219 and has drawn 1 walk all season), but the bar is set so low right now by Outman that there really isn't much to lose. The only real question is whether or not you're going to need that spot on the 40-man down the road to call up someone else on the position side, but with GG and Rodriguez already on the 40-man, it seems unlikely. If it's for Culpepper, it likely means an infielder has gotten injured...or maybe you just bounce Kody Clemens or Tristan Gray and not worry about it too much. Since Fedko can play both CF and 1B and bats RH...why not?
  2. jmlease1
    I actually think the system has been showing the umpires in a pretty good light? When the "misses" are mostly coming in at such a fine line, isn't it showing that the umpires are pretty dang good at their jobs? There's not been a ton of reviews on egregious misses, because there aren't a lot of those (we just remember the bad ones that end up costing a team and make it to SportsCenter a lot more) and when an ump gets overturned on a call that's 1/2 an inch it's not an insult. The NFL's review system is not a great model to be aspiring to. Their reviews take forever sometimes, and NFL fans are more confused than ever as to what actually constitutes a catch and what doesn't. VAR in the premier league does fine on offsides, I think, but has similar issues with time spent on review. The speed of what they're doing in baseball is part of what is making this work. I'll be interested to see where this lands at the end of the season. I suspect by the end of the year you're going to see almost no pitchers ever challenging a call (they're bad at it, and the catchers are far better), and fewer hitters. There's some tweaks to be made, perhaps, but it's been pretty seamless so far, and there's been some good humor in seeing a hitter get mad and challenge a call entirely because he's on tilt and get rung up anyways.
  3. jmlease1
    what a useless comp. Why not say runner on 3rd in the top of the 9th with 1 out and the Twins ahead by one run, who do you want in RF? Unless you're talking about super-duper stars, you're pretty much always going to be able to find a scenario where one player is "better" than the other. How is this helpful? Martin's a useful player, as long as he can keep getting on base: avoiding outs is incredibly important to having a good offense. For him to be more impactful, he'll need to be able to apply his speed better on the basepaths and in the OF. He's shown flashes. I don't have a problem with the Twins looking at adding some power to his approach in the minors. That's what the minors is for: to try and perform player development to maximize their success. It's difficult for players with basically zero power to make it and sustain it; it's why we talk about them like they're unicorns. If you're not a threat to turn on a ball and punish a pitcher for throwing a meatball or hanging a curve, you need to get on base a LOT to compensate for it, and if you're not adding another tool to the bag, then the floor might be ok, but the ceiling is not very high. If they could have added a little more pop to his bat, maybe we're looking at more of a Shannon Stewart type on offense. There's not a lot of comps for what Martin is doing right now. He's not going to maintain the .500 OBP; even a .400 OBP is elite.
  4. jmlease1
    It's why they say There Is No Such Thing As A Pitching Prospect. Be a bummer is Raya flames out, but it happens all the time. Hopefully he can figure it out. But this is also why they traded for more starters at the deadline, because you can never have too many options coming out of the minors, because guys can and will continue to flame out.
  5. jmlease1
    A very nice win. Last year, this was the kind of game where Bradley gives up 6 or 7 and can't get out of the 4th, but despite really struggling with his command on the off-speed pitches, he was able to battle his way through it and not give up the killer hit (usually a homer). Morris did fine. a little too hittable, but he did the job, which was to chew up innings. I hope they don't punt him back down to AAA, because I think he could do this role and the team could use that on the roster. Because of Ryan's long start and Morris' solid work, pretty much everyone is rested and they should be able to get through the next few games without Morris, so why not keep him around? Good job by the offense stringing together hits despite a getaway day lineup that was missing Buxton. They weren't piling up the walks like they have been, but the two HBP helped: get on base however you can, boys. Nice series win.
  6. jmlease1
    DeBarge has been a little all over the place to start the season. Good to see him get some hits back on the board after a rough series vs Arkansas. He can't seem to do much against LHP this season and not being able to mash LHP dragged him down a bit last season too. Another error early in the season to go with getting nabbed on the bases isn't great. Diaw's going to be interesting to watch this season; Tait will get more attention, but there might be something there with Diaw and he could move quickly.
  7. jmlease1
    Is he? Or is he off to a poor start defensively, in part because we have sub-par play at 1B? Because he was just fine at 3B last season (and showed out well in 2023). But sure, write off his defense after 100 innings in 2026.
  8. jmlease1
    I think we're all aware of Kreidler's history. He's clearly here for defense, and I'm betting the Twins aren't expecting Lewis to miss a lot of time either, so he probably won't be here long. (he's also a guy they can drop back from the 40-man if they need to with little risk of him getting grabbed right now) There is depth at AAA, but they're clearly not looking to bring up Culpepper unless they think it's a position where he won't be going back down. The rest of the depth is really in the OF, or did you expect that the Twins had AAA depth 3 deep at every position?
  9. jmlease1
    I'm less enthusiastic about Rogers, who hasn't looked great IMHO: far too hittable, and eventually that's going to catch up to him. But Caratini, Bell, and Orze in particular have looked good so far. I always felt like Bell was going to be a good signing: dude can hit. He's not impressive defensively, but we need the offense. Caratini isn't setting the world on fire, but the bar for offense at catcher is so low that he's clearing it easily. But the more he plays at 1B the less exciting his .300 SLG looks.
  10. jmlease1
    Excellent start by Joe Ryan. Love seeing him complete 7, keep us from needing too many outs from the bullpen. Toronto has a talented lineup (even if some guys might be scrabbling a bit), so holding them to 2 runs over 7 is a very fine outing. When the Twins lineup is working the walks, they're putting runs on the board. Nice to see them string together 6 more free passes (and then back them up with some power). Larnach has been very effective so far this season, and maybe getting a couple of big blasts will get Lee on a bit of a run. Martin is doing a great job of getting himself on base, and making a case to see him leading off. Didn't love seeing Sands make it harder on himself by giving up the dinger, but there was enough room for error that I'm guessing he was challenging hitters a bit more than he might have? Would love to see Taj win the duel and the series tomorrow. Hopefully the team won't treat getaway day as a time to take an early nap...
  11. jmlease1
    It'll be interesting to see how they use Morris: 1 inning at a time, or will he be asked to go 2+? I think I'd like to see how he does going 2 innings or so twice a week in this bullpen. You'd think he wouldn't be placed as a classic long man, but if they're hoping to have his stuff play up more they might be looking to see what he looks like in 1 inning stints. It'll be interesting. Good opportunity for Morris; we'll see what he does with it. Bummer about Laweryson who was doing well and looking effective.
  12. jmlease1
    Nice start to the pro career for Quick. I'm not going to be too bothered if they keep him down in Ft. Myers for a while (he simply hasn't pitched a lot, so I won't be surprised if the Twins are very careful with his workload while building him up) but he's clearly got real talent and could end up being a fast riser once he demonstrates that his arm can handle the workload. Hard to find any complaints in Culpepper's performance so far. It's tempting with Lewis going down to call him up and see if he's ready (wouldn't be hard to slide Lee over to 3B, where frankly he'd be better) but I don't know that the Twins are ready to throw him in the fire yet. Might depend on how long they expect Lewis to be out? Bohorquez and Hill kind of nuked themselves with the free passes. Love the talent, but there's a reason they're in A-ball right now. Got to find the zone, boys. Very pleased with Marek Houston's start. I was one of the ones sounding the alarm about his bat after he looked lost after promotion, but so far he's doing his level best to make me look like a foolish alarmist. Would be thrilled to have him make me look like a moron. He keeps hitting like this (we already know he can pick it) and he'll be in Wichita real soon. Maybe fewer on the K's, but hard to get mad at anything when he's got a 1.015 OPS.
  13. jmlease1
    Boy, Wallner better not make another mistake or strike out for a while, because the knives are out for him. It was a team loss, with struggles all over the place. Wallner may have misplayed a ball in the OF, but SWR was getting hit hard in the 4th. Banda struggled (that's 2 straight in the stinker column, which isn't great). The offense vanished once Corbin left. (nice to see Jeffers on such a hot streak, but he needs more help) I think this was the kind of game going into the season we thought we'd see a lot from the Twins: if the starting pitching was off then the bullpen would just make things worse and the offense wouldn't be enough to bail them out and the defense wouldn't impress. The trick is for this not to be a pattern and hopefully they come back this weekend and get at least one win. Bummer about Lewis and Laweryson. Royce was starting to look like he was settling in and was doing some damage at the plate, so it's bummer to lose him, and any injury to him just feels like "here we go again". Laweryson had been one of the brighter spots so far in the bullpen and it was nice to see him getting a chance. Forearm injuries frequently seem to be a precursor to elbow problems these days, and I hope it's not that.
  14. jmlease1
    I'm not sure why Ellwanger moves faster than Quick. Neither one is particularly old, neither one threw a lot of innings in college, both have some development ahead of them, especially in showing that can pitch more than 4 innings and hold up over a full professional season. I suspect both will be spending a decent chunk of the season in Ft. Myers and if they are really looking good and have stayed healthy, they might get a bump to Cedar Rapids at midseason. But I wouldn't be shocked at all if they spend their first professional season in Ft. Myers.
  15. jmlease1
    In principle I agree with you, but GG hasn't exactly forced the Twins hand so far this season (quite a few cold bats in AAA so far). But I was on the no to Outman train this season too. His defense has been fine, but not impressive. As a baserunner, he's fine, but won't get many opportunities. He's looked utterly lost at the plate in his fortunately few opportunities. His role has been limited a bit by circumstance and roster construction, but sadly that's been a good thing. We probably would have been better keeping Arcia around...
  16. jmlease1
    Seems unlikely in his first pro season, especially since he didn't pitch a lot in college only 81 innings in 2 seasons!). I suspect the Twins will want to keep him in FL where they have additional staff and facilities for most if not all of this season. They'll probably monitor his workload carefully. I could see him rise very fast in year 2 if he shows he can keep the free passes off the board, though.
  17. jmlease1
    Reminds me of the old story from former Twins manager Ray Miller, back when he was pitching coach for Baltimore. Dave Stanhouse was on the mound, and was driving Earl Weaver crazy with walks and he yelled at Miller "just go out there and tell him to throw strikes!". Miller said he thought at the time that Stanhouse already knew that, but Earl was the boss so he trotted out to the mound. When he got there, Stanhouse sneered at him, "what are you doing here? You gonna tell me to throw strikes?" So Miller responded, "Nah, I'm just here to tell you your fly is down."
  18. jmlease1
    well, the green light still appears to be on for DeBarge? That will be fun all season. Nice job by Ellwanger. Curious to see how is control looks in this first season. He's got a live arm! Need to get some guys on track in Saint Paul.
  19. jmlease1
    It's funny that you think there's been this big organizational shift in the use of starters when the pitching coach didn't change.
  20. jmlease1
    It's sort of incredible how many LH starters we're facing to start the season.
  21. jmlease1
    first pitch strikes to 19 out of 25 batters for Abel today. That's going to improve the outcomes...
  22. jmlease1
    Gallagher is off to a nice start. Be nice if he turns out to be somebody? He'll have to watch the free passes, but everything else is going nicely so far. Liking the usage of Winokur so far this season: split between 3B and CF seems good and he could actually have a future at either, so I like seeing him work there. Think this means the SS experiment is done? I like seeing DeBarge draw a bunch of walks, but I will be watching to see where the batting average is shaping up by midseason. Solid start for him overall, and he's a guy I was skeptical of going in. Would love to be proven utterly and total wrong about him. Less thrilled with an ofer from Houston, but again: let's see where he's at with the bat around midseason. One bad game in what's been a good start isn't anything to panic over.
  23. jmlease1
    The trade I didn't love was Varland for Rojas; that was the one that was the most questionable IMHO. Considering the length of team control, the need for relievers with velocity and high-end potential...that's easily the most high-risk of the deals. We'll see how that one works out. The Jax for Bradley deal was one that I liked better from the jump. Much as I liked Jax, I definitely despised the conversation about converting him back to a starter (I think it's pretty notable that's all died out: literally only Twins fans & Jax himself ever speculated on it and I've give you all the money in my pockets against all the money in yours if Jax ever starts a game for TB as anything other than an "opener"). And as I've noted elsewhere: Jax as a reliever had 1 great season, and 3 good seasons as a reliever. He hasn't shown that he's a dominant, consistent reliever. Yes, 2025 had some strong underlying numbers that weren't matched up with results, and the stuff still looked great, but results also tell some things too, and the reality was Jax was walking more guys and giving up more hits, even as he was ringing up more K's. I think the use of Bradley's ERA after he came over to the Twins is factual, but not really descriptive of where he was as a pitcher? His Game Scores are a little more instructive, and show how much inconsistency hurt him. In the six starts, he's got 2 disasters, 1 that's a bit below average, 1 solid start and 2 very good ones. That's a pitcher who has talent and can find consistency. You look at a 6.61 ERA (which he absolutely had) and you might think "this guy is crap!", but the ERA doesn't really describe him effectively. Especially when the Twins almost certainly were less concerned with protecting him from a blow out and just wanted him to pitch some MLB innings. In his 6 starts he threw 80+ pitches in all of them, struggles or no. It's too early to be sure whether Bradley has figured it out, but it's a very nice start, and he's got the potential to be a frontline starter. He's got the stuff, he's added velocity, he's kept the ball in the park, and he's limited the free passes. If he can get a little more efficient in finishing off hitters, he's going to be going deep into games consistently as well. these are all good signs. Small samples, very early in a season. Absolutely. But also good reasons to feel positive about this trade.
  24. jmlease1
    [insert ESPN Voice] "What if I told you that a Twins roster loaded with LH hitters and who suck at facing LHP took down two top LHP in 2 games?" It's a good win, even if the bullpen wobbled with the big lead. Nice to see Ober have a good result. Definitely people around here who want to jettison him into the sun, so I'm hoping he makes them eat their words, possibly with a side of rosin. Can't complain about the offense too much, with the exception of Brooks Lee, who continues to struggle. Good to see see Buxton and Lewis with multi-hit games; be great if they were both locking in and get on a run. Buck has looked close recently, and Royce has hit the ball hard as well, so good for them to get some good results. 3 straight against Detroit and a series win going into get-away day. Why not a sweep? Why the eff not?
  25. jmlease1
    I hope he can figure it out. I do love that change-up.
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