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jmlease1

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Everything posted by jmlease1

  1. jmlease1
    A fairly normal Rodriguez game, lol. When he makes contact, it's pretty loud. Looking forward to other affiliates starting their schedules so there's more than just the AAA prospects to look at. Wonder how long the leash will be for Outman and whether Roden will be able to force a call up? I've maintained that he has little to prove in AAA and it isn't telling us much about whether or not he'll be able to hit in MLB at this point.
  2. jmlease1
    Rough one for Ryan: 9 hits, 5 runs, and only 4 innings doesn't exactly position the team to win. Laweryson and Kent didn't do much to put the fire out either. And the with the offense mostly taking a nap until the 7th, it was a pretty ugly night. Hard to recall the last time the Twins drew 9 walks and struggled, but there it was. Good to see Bell get on the board with a dinger, and I like seeing Martin continuing to do Martin stuff by getting on base. I agree that Wallner needs to have his ABS privileges suspended for a bit. I disagree that Wallner doesn't know the strike zone: dude draws way too many walks to not know the zone, but that doesn't mean he's going to be good at knowing when to challenge a call or that he might not go on tilt about one and need to be reigned back in from challenging. It's going to be interesting to see how teams handle ABS challenges. Catchers are clearly the best at it, unsurprisingly. Pitchers are bad at it, and hitters are somewhere in the middle, with some guys good or great at spotting one and others legends in their own minds. Not sure Shelton has the best handle on this aspect yet; I mean, he tried arguing an ABS call, which was just silly.
  3. jmlease1
    Agreed. Winokur has the athleticism to by a good CF and it's not like he'd be blocking anyone. I guess I could live with him at 3B (especially with Amick having been pushed up), but hopefully the SS experiment is dead and dusted. But having him make a go of it in CF and spending the season working on his swing seems like the best way to tap his athleticism. I like De Andrade myself, but the Twins sure seem down on him. Really hope Soto is able to get back on the field by May; I'm still a fan of his talent but he needs to pitch this season. Having him and Hill together for a big chunk of the season could make Cedar Rapids pretty fun to watch.
  4. jmlease1
    With this roster construction, I think they're going to struggle all season against LHP. And sadly, they have too many LH bats that don't mash the RHP enough to make up for it. Good to see Wallner rip one, and I wasn't surprised the SWR looked solid (he answers the bell every time, seemingly always after he's doubted). The lineup needs to do better, though: they can't put up runs 1 out of 4 games...
  5. jmlease1
    Just stay healthy, Jenkins. You too, Rodriguez.
  6. jmlease1
    They're not, but they are trying to keep Arcia viable if they need a SS before they think Culpepper is ready. Giving Culpepper a start at 3B once and a while to keep his bat in the lineup and see what he can do there isn't going to hurt him. FFS, half this board has already started scheming Marek Houston into the Twins starting lineup sooner rather than later, so having Culpepper play a little 3B is exactly what he should be doing, right?
  7. jmlease1
    neither are significant prospects at this point, but Schobel had a fairly significant injury last season, didn't he? Love seeing the dinger from Culpepper. Fairly aggressive promotions do not seem to have fazed him at all. It's early, but I didn't think we'd see him at Target Field for more than a cup of coffee this season and I'm starting to revise that opinion.
  8. jmlease1
    Bradley had to battle through it, but dang he's got good stuff. Hopefully he can get deeper in games. Nice to see Royce crack one. He's a confidence player, so that could be the sort of thing that gets him on a roll. Was nice to see him swipe a bag too. Bullpen got it done. Funderburk was a bit unlucky; neither hit he gave up was especially hard hit. Good win.
  9. jmlease1
    I wasn't 100% sure where they were going to start Culpepper this season; it's great to see that they thought he was ready for AAA and even better for him to get out to a fast start. He's looking legit. The last step is the hardest, but Culpepper has smashed every challenge so far. Prospect summary is off though: Rodriguez was 0-4 with a run, a walk, and a K, not 0-5 with 2 K's.
  10. jmlease1
    Would not have minded seeing Klein on the MLB roster from the jump, but I think he will get chances to relieve this season if he keeps refining his pitching. He's got a power arm and we need more of that from the right side in the bullpen, so there will be opportunities.
  11. jmlease1
    He also has an agent that prefers to let players go to free agency, especially guys who have made enough or are eligible to make enough through arbitration that they're already set for life. Sucks to be a franchise that people treat as the stepping stone.
  12. jmlease1
    Love Joe Ryan. Really fun pitcher to watch work. Wish we could extend him.
  13. jmlease1
    At least there was a Byron Buxton triple to watch. That's always fun.
  14. jmlease1
    only teams that don't hype their prospects and hope guys break out are ones with payrolls over $200M.
  15. jmlease1
    I think Roden has to be listed as a loser out of this camp. He never really had much of a chance to earn a spot on the roster, despite having nothing left to do in AAA. His option year and Outman's lack of one is sending him to Saint Paul rather than give him a real chance to see if he can be an impact hitter. It's funny to see Wallner mentioned here, but it says something about how a sector of Twins fans view him. He's been a quality hitter over his MLB career, but his style is so despised by some that at any sign of trouble the pitchforks get sharpened and the torches lit. There was never any real chance that Wallner was going to be dismissed from his starting role, but you had people around here immediately jumping on a slow start to the spring training as "proof" that the Twins should move on from him.
  16. jmlease1
    Because being a wonderful defender means his hitting will improve? Look, I hope everyone is right and he becomes at least an acceptable hitter, but the early returns should make people nervous. His defense made him worth taking a flier on, and it's possible that will be enough to get him up to MLB. As a mid-first round pick...why not? Maybe the struggles in Cedar Rapids was just long season challenges. Maybe it was the stress of having to move...again. Maybe it was just small sample size. But maybe he's not a good hitter once you give him a wooden bat and take him out of the Wake Forest bandbox. I hope I'm wrong. I'd love nothing better than for him to hit .280-.300, take some walks and pop a few doubles if/when someone hangs a breaking ball or grooves a fastball. Notably, Greg Gagne never hit below .270 in A-ball, was in AA at 20, and hit quite well for a SS in those days for 2 seasons at AAA before installing himself at SS in the Twin Cities.
  17. jmlease1
    Props to Shelton for recognizing that "best shape of his life" needs to be retired.
  18. jmlease1
    That's a real possibility. Just because someone is playing doesn't mean they're truly healthy, and you do see with many injuries that it takes a long time to fully trust in it again. While I don't expect Wallner to be "good" defensively, landing back to where he was would be very helpful
  19. jmlease1
    Zero chance Houston is playing SS for the Twins in 2027 unless disasters have happened injury-wise. He simply has not shown he can hit, and he might not be in AAA in 2027 if he doesn't show real improvement at the plate. I get that everyone loves his D (and it's excellent), but he'd make Kreidler look like a fine hitter in comparison right now. To me this isn't a make-or-break season for Lee in terms of his baseball career, but it will likely show more about what his path is. If he takes a big leap forward at the plate, he'll stay on the path to be a starting infielder, even if it's not at SS. If he takes a solid step forward defensively while making modest improvements at the plate, he'll stay on that starting path. If the D doesn't improve at SS and he doesn't take much of a step forward at the plate, then he likely starts shifting towards a utility role. It's not the sort of thing where he's off the roster next season or heading overseas to play if this season doesn't go great: he's still cheap and shown some useful skills. But whether he's seen as a potential starter or a bench guy going forward is probably going to be clearer after this season. I hope he hits and figures out how to lay off pitches that he can make contact with, but not do anything with.
  20. jmlease1
    Wallner's defense will be interesting. He was far worse last season in RF than he's ever been before, but it wasn't just one thing that tanked him. So was it just a bad year, hampered in part by injuries and maybe him dragging his struggles at the plate into the field? Is it correctable where he goes back to be below average (but acceptable) instead of just kinda bad? I'm not going to pretend he's a good defender, but if he can get back to what he was the previous 2 seasons, both offensively & defensively, the only people who will be complaining about Wallner are the ones who hate K's so much they'd rather cut him than play him. Modest improvements from several guys would be impactful, even if it doesn't move them up to being plus defensively. But some of it is going to be challenging based on the roster design.
  21. jmlease1
    When you lump Wallner in with Larnach you lose credibility. They're simply not the same player in terms of style or value. Wallner has been far more productive than Larnach. (this is like the Sano v Kepler debates, where people kept trying to argue that Kepler was as good a hitter as Sano entirely because they didn't like Sano's K's....)
  22. jmlease1
    If Houston's hit tool is an honorable mention then either our system is utterly bereft of quality hitters or we need to change how we rank & evaluate them. Because right now, even excusing him from needing any power production, he needs a lot of work. He looked totally overmatched in his brief stint at High A and his total production in the minors doesn't scream top hit tool.
  23. jmlease1
    I think there's a fair amount of opportunity for Keaschall to improve defensively at 2B with reps. Because of injuries, he really hasn't gotten a lot of time there, and he has the physical tools to be at least average. Playing Martin more in LF would help; he looked good there last season in a limited role and has the speed and range to get to a lot of balls. (Even if Outman's defense in CF has slipped, he should be better than he showed out last season in the corners, right?) Lee's range is a concern still: maybe he's gotten quicker and can position himself better? Might be asking too much. He does seem to make the plays he gets to at least, which is more than you can say about some. But it's not a strong defensive team. It could get stronger fairly quickly if they hadn't committed to Larnach and formed a weird attachment to Outman, but we are where we are. (moving Wallner/Bell to DH and letting a better fielder take their spot consistently, whether it's Clemens or Rodriguez would have been nice) Lewis looked like a good defender at 3B last season at least? It was good to see him not drag his problems with the bat into the field, at least. I'd be more willing to accept the poor defense if they made up for it with superior hitting. We'll see if enough of the bats are strong enough to live with their limitations. Seems questionable.
  24. jmlease1
    with this roster construction, though, you have 1 of 2 choices vs LHP. stick one of them in-between a couple of righties higher in the lineup and roll the dice that it doesn't kill a rally, or stack a couple of them at the bottom and take an inning off. Wallner might be the least bad choice of our LH hitting OF/1B/DH types, because Clemens is unplayable vs LHP, Larnach stinks at it too, and does anyone have faith in Outman? one of them seemingly has to start against LHP. Which ain't great.
  25. jmlease1
    Always funny to see professional athletes lie about their height.
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