Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

jmlease1

Verified Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    5,271

  • 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

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by jmlease1

  1. jmlease1
    Some good hitting from the Cedar Rapids prospects. Glad Kaelen wasn't out long, hope the same is true for Amick. Less excited about the hitting in Wichita so far, especially with Jenkins out. (hope he's back to full strength soon! sigh.) Good quantity of pitching prospects continuing to move in the system and show upside and success.
  2. jmlease1
    Reported by multiple professionals covering the team, not just people at this site. Saw the interest in Vazquez from the Padres as well. How much were they worth? We'll never know. Would we have had to eat some salary to move them? Possibly. But it seemed clear that they were moveable players and contracts by professionals in the industry, not just "rubes" on this site that you seem invested in crapping on.
  3. jmlease1
    Yep. Pretty poor offseason. Bader has worked out better than I expected, but France is a lot more what we thought he was likely to be (ok-ish on offense, meh on defense, and not a difference maker). We were told that Vazquez had value, and I think Paddack did too, and I was an advocate to move on from both of them to try and free up payroll and make a move to improve the offense. Instead both are eminently replaceable. There were prospects in the system and enough depth to make some moves and it feels like they didn't seriously get there. Hard to know for sure what was really out there as an option, but between ownership's miserly ways and the front office being slow and hesitant to move...the only help we're getting isn't going to come internally, and with our usual spate of prospect injuries, it seems we're not getting that any time soon either. The pitching is still good enough to get us back in this, and the offense is probably better than it's been (Wallner and Lewis returning will almost certainly help) but it's been a depressing start.
  4. jmlease1
    I see this a lot with the front office. If they have a success, it's luck. If they don't it's because they're stupid/incompetent/failures. Brooks Lee is looking fine, Matt Wallner is an absolute success. Buxton developed just fine as a hitter; it's not the front office's fault he's had so many injuries. (Same applies to Royce Lewis) Jeffers is certainly a success. They need more guys like that, but it's not like there aren't plenty of examples.
  5. jmlease1
    Nice to see the Twins get a win against a good lefty. Complicated day for Larnach, who should have gotten an error, but got a hit and a walk. Didn't feel like he was running on his own when he was thrown out on the steal attempt, so curious to know what was going on there. Jax giving up a dinger makes you wonder if he's just going to be the whipping boy in the bullpen this year, and get no breaks, but there's a lot of season to go. Varland seems to be fitting in just fine, though and Duran is coping with his loss of velocity without too much trouble. Bride looked helpless at the plate today, but not a lot of options. Looking forward to getting Lewis back. His relentless positivity probably can';t hurt the team either. Happy to see them win some close ones, especially after that frustrating series in Cleveland. Hells bells, they outscored Cleveland by 6 runs in the series and lost 3 of 4 because they couldn't win a close one. Two straight tight wins against Boston on the road helps.
  6. jmlease1
    Not wrong. Franchise really needs new ownership. The Pohlads have simply exhausted everyone. They're not the worst owners in MLB but they're not very good. They don't care enough about baseball, have mismanaged the business operations, and appear to be using the team as an asset to support their other businesses rather than one to be invested in and supported. They have no idea how to interact with the fanbase, let alone energize them, and there's literally no urgency associated with them. Blame for where the team current sits is a little complicated. Ownership deserves much blame for their miserly ways, inability to grow the franchise, and for reversing their small investment in payroll right at the moment where sustaining it would have had real impact. That also hamstrung the front office, who clearly built their roster construction strategies around sustaining that initial investment. I also blame ownership for not authorizing the minimal payroll increases we got this year until so late in the offseason, which left us dumpster-diving again. Falvey deserves criticism; the one season where our OF depth utterly collapsed has clearly made them very risk-adverse about depth, and they're very deferential to veterans and seem to have minimal faith in their own development of young players. But at the end of the day, players play. And they're the ones who simply haven't hit enough, have melted down in the bullpen, etc. Rocco will be the most likely scapegoat initially (easier to fire the manager than make wholesale changes to the roster), but the results of the last 2 years will probably doom Falvey as well with new ownership, even if Falvey has been hamstrung by the Pohlads and their poor ownership. And if we get good ownership, then it's not the end of the world. Unfortunately, I think actually selling the club is going to be harder than we hoped. The fact that the Pohalds seem to want not just the top of the valuation for the a sale but also for the new ownership to take on the debt that they've piled on in the last 5+ seasons (and it's questionable how much of that is related to baseball operations) makes it a much less attractive and more expensive property.
  7. jmlease1
    Lot of good hitting from the prospects in Cedar Rapids to start the season. It's going to be interesting to see who gets tapped for a call to Wichita if this keeps up through May? Culpepper, DeBarge, Amick, and DeAndrade are all positioning themselves to get moved up. (Winokur has a bunch of work to do) I suspect 1-2 will get the call, which will also open up some infield PT. But it's good to see them hitting well.
  8. jmlease1
    well, of course. why wouldn't a top Twins prospect have a lingering injury problem. hells bells we seem to be jinxed on this stuff. Maybe if the Pohlads finally sell the team it'll improve our karma.
  9. jmlease1
    Good to get the injury report on the MLB guys. would love to get a similar update from the team on the various minor leaguers who have headed to the injury list as well. Doesn't look like there have been any setbacks for Lewis, Castro, or Wallner which is good. Hopefully things stay on track. Really think we need the thump that Lewis and Wallner provide and Castro's flexibility is so useful. Looking forward to getting the team healthy again.
  10. jmlease1
    Excellent game for the Twins. Just excellent. I really liked seeing the offense keep piling on runs throughout the game and giving Ober more and more cushion. When your opponent is drowning, don't throw them a life preserver, throw them a bloody anchor. And that includes adding runs against the position player they tossed out there to save the bullpen. I don't care if he's throwing BP velocity, the runs still count. Give them all the misery you can. This ain't Little League! Ober was excellent. Scattered the hits, few of which were hit hard. Nice and efficient with easy grounders and pop-ups, he had CLE off balance all night. Too bad he couldn't finish the 8th, but a great performance to start the series. He's definitely in a groove right now. Good night for Buxton, Correa, and Jeffers three veteran hitters that the Twins need to perform, especially with Wallner and Lewis still out. They got it done.
  11. jmlease1
    I think that's good. nice from the Twins not to cut bait on a guy to save a little cash, and good that Canterino thinks well enough of the organization to stick here even though it hasn't gone well. I'm guessing they talked to him about it well in advance of outrighting him off the roster.
  12. jmlease1
    Injury updates would be great. But liking Kaelen Culpepper's performance after a short stint of the IL. Good to see Rosario having a good game, but he's been scrabbling out the gate this year. It's looking like his trouble making consistent contact is catching up to him.
  13. jmlease1
    I'd offer him the minor league deal. The talent is there and the price wouldn't be that high. But you have to treat him like a lottery ticket at this point. A real shame. He's certainly the poster child for treating your starting pitching prospects with kid gloves, limiting their innings, watching their pitch counts carefully, being careful about pushing someone after a high stress inning, etc. Had high hopes for him, but his bum wing let him down. I do think how they handled him at Rice had something to do with this, and they should be ashamed of themselves.
  14. jmlease1
    Appreciate the notation in the top 20 prospect lists where the guys were playing in Cedar Rapids. With several guys on the list all being infielders there it's nice to have a quick reference of which positions they were playing. (and happy to see Culpepper back after a short trip to the IL) Cespedes is having a nice start to the season in his first taste of AA. That's nice to see. Olivar's power isn't really showing out that much yet, but he's hitting well and I think we'll start seeing more and more of those. Happy for Preilipp that's he's healthy. Part of me thinks his destiny is still going to be in the bullpen, but I'd love to be wrong for him to be able to stick as a starter, because the stuff is for real. If he stays on the field, we will see him in AAA for sure this season.
  15. jmlease1
    Good grief, Rocco simply has no chance does he? He pulls the starter to snuff out a potential rally against one of the best players to ever play baseball (and who happens to be leading the league in homers), the bullpen gets the job done, and people are immediately jumping on him for burning out the bullpen. Pretty sure he would have gotten killed if he'd left SWR in there and the kid had given up a 2-run dinger too. Ain't no winning when some people just want the manager gone, I guess. I suspect they'd find a reason to hate the next guy too... Correa had a good game, hopefully this means that he's getting his swing back on track. No complaints if he got well against the Angels. 13 hits and 5 BBs...you'd hope the Twins could scratch out more than 5 runs, but it's a reminder that it's a lot tougher to small ball your way to lots of runs; they only had 2 xbhs (both doubles). I suspect that if the hits keep coming that the power will be there. Thought the team had a pretty good approach at the plate. Not a clean inning from Jax, but an effective one. Hopefully he's back on track. No complaints about him getting 3 K's. Still wish he had a guy in the bullpen who was trusted to go more than 1 inning; still feel like Varland could be that guy and it might ease things up a bit if he could go 2 innings from time to time, but if they're comfortable with him and other pitching so frequently, we might be ok. Liked seeing Duran be efficient and close it out like that.
  16. jmlease1
    The Keaschall injury absolutely sucks. He was off to a hot start and looked like a guy who was bound and determined not to go back to AAA. Liked that from him. The basestealing threat was a nice added dimension. Only good thing about this is at least there's no displacement (probably no surgery needed?) and it's an injury that shouldn't have any long-term effects on his career. But it really sucks. Pleased with the Twins offense last night. Take those walks and get guys across. Julien can keep leaning off when he has nights like this: 4 walks and 3 runs scored? I like it. Buxton and Larnach heating up as well. Pablo wasn't sharp, but battled through. Varland pitched a bit like he had a 15 run lead. Topa did well in finishing it off.
  17. jmlease1
    anecdotally, this feels right. but I don't watch enough other teams or track even during our games ho often the other team's 3b coach makes a gaffe. The many "what in the hell, watkins!" moments stick out, but i really have no idea how many terrible decisions there are in total, especially in context of the good decisions. feels bad. is bad? not sure. might just notice it more because it's my team.
  18. jmlease1
    Olivar doesn't look like he can stick at catcher. but it's good to see him hitting in AA this year. If he makes it, it's going to be with his bat. Who knows with McCusker. He's super popular with the instant gratification crowd, but he's a poor OF who should probably be a DH, and the jump from AAA to MLB is a really big one. Yes, he's doing great in AAA, but the calls to bring him up seem more like "eff it, let's see what someone else can do" than any real plan for him or an expectation that he can actually hit at this level. If he comes up and hits .220 with a pile of Ks, people will be screaming for him to be cut (and then get mad if someone else picks him up for not giving him enough time to figure it out). twins fans are mad because the MLB squad is playing like crap, our ownership sucks, and the weather is still cold. can't blame them, but lurching around chasing the new shiny object every day won't help much.
  19. jmlease1
    Hope to see Royce back soon. Happy to have him DH some and play 3B. I wouldn't expect him to be on a long rehab assignment: 7-10 days so he can get in some game time, get some ABs in against live opposition pitching to get his timing in place. the homestand vs Baltimore/SF seems like a decent target? A healthy Royce could put a jolt into this lineup.
  20. jmlease1
    Not enough hitting with runners on base from the Twins last night, should have been a laugher instead of tense. Wish Festa had been able to at least get through 5. Like Keaschall's aggression on the bases. He's not the fastest guy, but he's fast enough, gets good reads, and isn't afraid to get a good lead. (and he's quick enough to get back) Fun seeing him swipe bags, even if it hasn't always been impactful. Rough game for Correa. He is a mess at the plate right now, and I suspect he'd be looking at an IL stint if we had more guys available on the left side of the INF. Hope Willi gets back soon. Let's hope they keep it up on getaway day and can build some momentum. They dug themselves a big hole to start the season, this is a great stretch to get out of it.
  21. jmlease1
    Come on DeBarge! you skipped the easy part of the cycle?!? LOL but seriously: he's doing well to start the season, seems to be getting pretty comfortable in High A. lot of good in those stats
  22. jmlease1
    I think the Twins can pass him through waivers pretty easily right now and they probably should next time they need a 40-man slot for a position player. I wouldn't cut him outright or anything; there still might be something there, especially after the injuries he's had, but he was always a bit of a lottery ticket and those don't usually come home. Let him get healthy, get a re-set, play in AAA and see where he's at for next season. I don't think he's really blocking anyone in AA or anything. But he can slide of the 40-man.
  23. jmlease1
    Didn't Lee have a hit and 2 walks last night?
  24. jmlease1
    CWS is the team to get well against. Ober was a bit frustrating last night, just kept giving up hits early in the inning. He wriggled out of it because CWS, but he can't be too happy with his game. Was definitely not spotting his changeup well, which has been an issue this season. Keaschall looks like a guy who doesn't want to go back to the minors. Good for him. His speed definitely adds something, and he's getting on base. Nice seeing the big bomb from Larnach, And what else is there to say about Buxton? He's health and fielding like Buxton. Love it.
  25. jmlease1
    I don't get too spun up about the Mahle deal: it didn't work out, but we needed starting pitching badly at the time and if arm had held up it might have been not just a good trade but a great one. It was a reasonable risk. And hell, the prospect that i was the most high on (CES) is already looking like a 1B/DH at 25, isn't hitting anywhere near where he needs to be there, and has struggled to stay healthy. Twins traded from an area of strength to shore up an area of weakness and it didn't work out. they didn't move anyone who was a sure-fire MLB player or wipe the system of talent. If Mahle's arm had held up for either of the 2 seasons he'd pitched for the twins this might have worked out. As it is, it's a loss...that's turning out to be less awful that we thought because CES and Hajjar haven't done anything and Steer has been in free-fall since his rookie season in MLB. (maybe Steer pulls out of it, or maybe he's one of those guys who peaked early and never gets it back together)
×
×
  • Create New...