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jmlease1

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Everything posted by jmlease1

  1. jmlease1
    It's certainly possible that Jax's move back to the rotation has unlocked something for him and he'll be cruising as a starter for the rest of his career, but I think it's notable how careful TB has been with him in this role: hasn't thrown over 90 pitches, only gone past the 5th inning once, etc. And it's not about him needing more time to get stretched out: he's almost 2 months into this change in role. The reality is, Jax is 31 and Bradley is 25. Jax is more expensive, with less team control. Those are not small things. But for me, Bradley also has higher end potential. 8 of his 17 starts he's put up a Game Score over 60, with half of them over 65. Bradley has over half his starts going 6 or more innings. He's had some stinkers (4 with a Game Score of 40 or less), but 3 of those were in his first 4 starts coming off time on the IL. Bradley has looked like a frontline starter, someone you would be very comfortable starting Game 1 of a playoff series. He's 6 years younger than Jax, significant cheaper, and under team control for longer. The upside looks higher, and I feel pretty good about this trade.
  2. jmlease1
    You're the king of bad takes lately it seems.
  3. jmlease1
    Oh, boy Winokur just crushed that one. When he gets ahold of one it can be downright majestic. I like him getting promoted with Houston, hopefully that means he won't play any more SS. ;) The walks from Quick aren't great, but I'm not worried yet. Give him more innings and let's see where he lands. the stuff can be absolutely overwhelming, so it'll be interesting if it's an issue of he doesn't know where it's going when he throws it or he's trying to be too fine in hitting his spots over trusting his stuff? I like the arm talent and feel like he could be a guy that will take a big leap at some point when he finds a groove. Houston is doing just fine in AA so far. Wouldn't complain about him ripping a few more xbhs, but I think he'll get there, and with his glove the floor is pretty high. A future infield mix of Culpepper, Houston, Lee, and Lewis would be intriguing...
  4. jmlease1
    I think that's right. If you do this too much it's probably not going to work; guys might start repeating stories (is it hilarious a couple of times a year to bag on Plouffe for eating the dirt chasing a foul? Sure is! Is that funny 10 times a year? Not really.) Letting them play around with the format and do some different things is fine, especially when you can tell the guys are also having fun with it. What it can't be is fake. It has to come from them and they have to be bought in and enjoying it. Do I want this every series? No. Do I want it every week? I doubt it. But 3-4 times a season should keep it fresh and fun. It's not going to be for everyone...but not everything has to be for everyone. If they get worried about turning off the grognards, I'd say put the radio broadcast on as a secondary audio that people not into it could switch to...but you'd probably just have the grouchy people complaining about how that's too hard too. I do think they should make sure to note pitching changes, pinch hitters, defensive replacements, etc when they happen regardless of a bit they're doing. That's important to know what's going on, and I want to hear what kind of impact these guys think the move will have (I kind of feel like they're a little more willing to question stuff when it's just a bunch of ex-players in the booth?). But as long as they keep updating the graphics, we can see what the count is, what pitch was just thrown, etc. I don't want it all the time, and they need to be careful not to overexpose the bit...but it's been fun. Change is good. Don't fear change, embrace it. Because the world spins whether you want it to or not.
  5. jmlease1
    Any win over Cleveland is a good win. Our luck the past few years there hasn't been good, so nice to see a few breaks come back our way. Roden with a nice return to MLB. Will be interesting to see how he does while Buck is out, but would be nice for him to make it a hard call about who to send down when Buck is back (and make it so there's no need to rush him back but make sure that he's feeling good). Not Prielipp's best start, but he did enough, and he's been important in patching the rotation together through a lot of injuries. Funny that a guy who struggled so much to get healthy and on the field is now a key guy in holding the rotation together through other injuries. I believe that's 4 straight series wins? Love to see it. You keep winning series and you can become a serious team. Here's hoping they stick a knife in Cleveland with a sweep, but thrilled with a series win. I like how this team grinds out games.
  6. jmlease1
    Glad to see Houston get some xbhs; I wasn't terribly worried about it after so few games, but part of what made his time this year in Cedar Rapids notable was he wasn't just slapping singles. He showed enough gap power and the ability to occasionally drop one in the seats to go along with good contact skills and an understanding of the strike zone. Hopefully he continues on as he settles in at AA. He's raising his ceiling nicely this year. DeBarge is having a good week; now let's see if he can turn it into a good month. He hasn't had a particularly good season, but a strong second half will make a difference. Amick is not going to be popular around here with that BA, and he's definitely taking a "3 true outcomes" approach at the plate right now...but it is working for him which matters after a rotten AFL stint and some injury issues in A-ball. We'll see if he can make enough contact consistently to keep going. Congrats to Alan Roden on his return to MLB!
  7. jmlease1
    Bradley was terrific. Game Score of 77, a season high. Really liked how efficient he was. Seems to have gotten back in a good rhythm again. Was nice to see someone else's defense let them down for once too. Don't usually expect that from Cleveland, but their infield in particular really kicked it around, and it was good the Twins took advantage of the extra outs by putting 2 on the board. Fedko does not look confident at the plate. He's pressing looking for that first MLB hit and it shows.
  8. jmlease1
    ok, so it's a "first team to give us something for this guy before we have to release him" trade. you're not exactly worrying about who gets him at that point.
  9. jmlease1
    Tigers wouldn't have any idea where he was going to go when he exercised his "promote me or release me" clause. It's not a trade. He's been good in the minors this year, he was good in the WBC, why not give him a shot?
  10. jmlease1
    This is the basic problem with the Bell signing in the first place: it really reduces the roster spot availability for the bats that are the most ready in AAA. Without Bell, Larnach DH's much more and there's playing time available in the OF for Roden (or Mendez, or GG, or Jenkins, or E-Rod, etc). It was the biggest issue against keeping Larnach (which I was against; clearly I was wrong) or signing Bell (I was ok with...but I also wanted Larnach gone, so in my formulation the roster spot would have been available. Probably wrong on that one as well). Going into the season the Twins clearly favored keeping/adding veterans over turning over more roles to inexperienced players. It's mostly worked out...for now. But there's little chance Larnach is with the Twins in 2027; he'll be in line for a bump to $8M+ in arbitration I would think and how is this team going to pay that for a platoon-ish corner OF/DH who is merely ok defensively and adds little else? Bell won't be back either, especially with Royce fitting in at 1B. But Larnach is hitting very well and they need that production, and Bell is on one of his hot streaks and mashing away. If we were 10 games back of the division/WC they'd be easy sell candidates...and might even bring things back of real value, not just A-ball lottery tickets. But selling to open things up for an unproven Roden is a lot harder when the team is only 4 games back of the division (which isn't much) and 1.5 in the WC with only other 1 team ahead of them (a team the Twins just took 2 of 3 from on the road). I think you still move Roden up, but unless Buck goes on the IL it'll be hard to find a lot of ABs for him, which isn't great. But I'd much rather have Roden in CF than Kreidler, who I would prefer take all the SS innings and sit Gray down until Culpepper is ready. There's a lot of CW in what I'm saying, and little of it new. So what's holding up the Twins front office? What don't we know?
  11. jmlease1
    Would like to see Roden up; it'll make the team more LH, but they're not really using Fedko anyways so what difference does it make? Would also like to see Culpepper up ASAP and to end the Tristin Gray experiment, sliding Kreidler into the role he's best suited for: defensive minded utility guy who can crank a homer if a pitcher hangs one/doesn't take him seriously at the plate. Need to find out what we have in him, but also need to have guys that we are actually going to play in every roster spot, and Fedko doesn't seem to have much trust from Shelton.
  12. jmlease1
    I think the jury's still out on Houston as a hitter, but he's done a lot this season to show that he'll be able to compete. It was very reasonable to be concerned that those college homers would just be easy flyball outs in the pros, but he's shown he has the ability to be a solid gap hitter. So far in AA there's been no pop, but it's still early and a small sample. He's not hitting well, but he's not getting killed. He's still got some real work to do, but what he did in Cedar Rapids suggests he can make adjustments. The defense is for real, but he's unlikely going to be ready for MLB in 2027. But his floor is a defensive-minded utility guy, and if he hits at all he can be a starting SS. We'll see how he does. I was a doubter, but he's been proving me wrong. AA should be a good challenge for him.
  13. jmlease1
    You also seem to get off on insulting a beloved player for the Twins, and act like his injuries over the years are some personal failing, which is damn stupid. That's what is offending people.
  14. jmlease1
    Joe Ryan was awesome. Love seeing it. Any road series win is great, but against the hated Yankees? Outstanding. Brooks Lee had a nice game today. He's been scrabbling a bit at the plate but his season has improved after the move to 3B. His RH swing has been good this season, not sure why he's struggling so much overall from the other side, but days like this have to help him. Cleveland series is a pretty big one. If they can pick up some games here that would be a real move if they plan to be in this division race and/or push for a WC.
  15. jmlease1
    Any win against NY is a good win. Hope the foot injury Zebby picked up isn't serious; would have been nice for him to get through 6, and I think he could have done it before dropping out with injury. Ah, well. Only thing the pitching really did wrong was hand out too many free passes; even the homers I can live with. In that bandbox of a stadium you're going to give up a few. But 6 walks means we dodged some bullets. Loved what we saw from the offense. Lots of hits, lots of walks, lots of homers. But also liked how they took advantage of some extra outs and had some good baserunning. Would love it if they take the series. Winning a road series against the hated NYY? Let's gooooo....
  16. jmlease1
    Twins really do need to figure out what they're doing with their OF. They have AAA guys that need to be tested in MLB, but they currently have no spots available, and with Keaschall moving out there now they have less innings available it seems. Larnach is hitting too well to dump unless the team does a sell-off at the deadline and they're far to adverse to losing an asset to DFA Martin (who would get picked up by someone else despite a 2 month slump and getting wiped out by RHP). But at the same time, they need to make some calls with guys like Wallner, Roden, Jenkins, GG, Mendez for the future and they don't have any MLB innings available to do it. Nice to see Amick & DeBarge have good days at the plate. Be very interested to see where they are at the end of the month; Amick's had a power explosion this season so his overall numbers look fine but the low BA and high K-rate will be unpalatable to many, and hanging around the Mendoza line with that kind of K-rate in AA doesn't suggest a workable approach as the pitching gets better. DeBarge is about a year in to his bat struggling now over 2 levels, and needs to start finding another gear or he'll be off the top prospect list completely. He adds some things with speed and defense, but has to hit better than this: he's striking out a lot, not making a lot of contact, not getting hits, not showing power, and not even getting on base enough. Still not sure what to make of Gallagher; outing like this is encouraging! But he's done this before, and then gone out and given up 7 runs. The consistency is not there, and there's too many walks overall. But he might have a chance, which is pretty good for a guy we collected for a pending free agent who wasn't even playing well.
  17. jmlease1
    The guys who put up huge innings numbers in the 70's are also something of a fluke, but the reality is pitchers today are throwing harder by a lot and causing more stress on their arms. You're also ignoring the guys who blew out their arms early and never made it because they were expected to throw 250 innings every year and had pitch counts going past 140. Hells bells, just look at what Lasorda did to Fernando with those kind of inning and pitch counts. Done as an elite pitcher at 27! But hey, he threw a bunch of complete games. Did you work on the coaching staff at Rice? (still haven't forgiven them for wrecking Canterino's arm)
  18. jmlease1
    do you really think it's a good idea to have him throw 115-120 pitches to get through 6? And 130-140 to get through 7? Taj pitched effectively but not efficiently, and I don't think he had a single inning under 15 pitches. It made perfect sense to pull him after 5 with a 6 run lead and him at 97 pitches. (Especially considering about a month ago he was on the IL) If he'd been around 70-80 pitches through 5, he'd be out for the 6th, and if he was still under a hundred after 6 he might have gotten a 7th if he was in a groove. But he didn't and wasn't, having walked a guy in the 5th and averaging nearly 20 pitches an inning. The math isn't that hard, and the last thing this team and it's injury history needs is someone doing a Tommy Lasorda and running our starters out there for huge pitch counts.
  19. jmlease1
    I think DeBarge got too much hype last season because of all the steals he was piling up in Cedar Rapids, along with the minor league gold glove. He hit a wall last season as a hitter and they promoted him anyways, and he's predictably struggled. He's been correctly moved down on the top prospect list, and will likely move off it soon unless he starts hitting again. Which may take some time and significant adjustments. They took a risk on him and it may not be playing out, but he's still got time, since he really hasn't spent that much time in pro baseball yet. There's a lot of misses at #33, more than say the NFL.
  20. jmlease1
    Nice to see Quick have a good start. Honestly, I haven't been that worried about him. The stuff is excellent, I think he just needs innings. He's really pitched very little at the college/pro level so far, so there's going to be some bumps and he'll need development time to find consistency. But the pieces are there. It's ok if he pitches the year in Cedar Rapids, IMHO. Like seeing Winokur hitting. Not enthusiastic about him still getting run out at SS. He's having a pretty good season overall. Nice to see Diaw get an xbh in AA; I'm sure there will be more coming. he's doing just fine on promotion I think. I find him fascinating as a player with the C/CF split. If he keeps hitting they'll find a spot for him. Glad to see Mercedes have a good day. He's struggled with the new level a bit; he's not getting wrecked, but he's clearly getting a challenge. Will be interesting to see where he lands at the end of the month.
  21. jmlease1
    Morris is doing a nice job; starting to look like we've got something there. Still need to get some more help there, but nice to see that he might be a guy who will be cheap, effective and under team control for several seasons. Liked seeing the offense pile up the walks again; feel like that's been a consistent good sign for them. If they're taking those free passes, making the opposition pitchers really work, get lots of baserunner, and good things will follow. Excellent run support. I continue to be a Taj Bradley fan. Would like to see him get more efficient to get deeper in games, but he does have dominance in him. He's been a little less consistent since coming off the IL, but might have just needed some games to start getting a rhythm again. Series win is always good. Road series win is even better.
  22. jmlease1
    good grief, he might actually BE Captain America! :D
  23. jmlease1
    Please don't be injured Culpepper, please don't be injured Culpepper... Have to admit, I'm starting to get intrigued by this Fragoza kid; it's been quite the power explosion in Ft. Myers for him! Very nice game by Walker Jenkins. Please stay healthy, mah dude.
  24. jmlease1
    Fragoza will have to control the strike zone better as he advances, but a .619 SLG% in the FCL is no joke. That's some loud contact. He's playing all over the place right now, wonder what his future position will be? Good start for Sprock, but college hitters should be able to perform out the gate in Low A.
  25. jmlease1
    Sure is nice to see fewer prospects on the IL! Here's hoping July is a hot month for a lot of guys.
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