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jmlease1

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Everything posted by jmlease1

  1. jmlease1
    Pretty fair assessment of the season and the utter collapse down the stretch has unquestionably taken the heart out of the fans, many of whom have felt badly used this season to begin with. It's been a seriously disappointing season from a team that should be in the playoffs and even though they're technically not eliminated, they've felt like they've been on the beach for weeks now. I won't say the players quit or choked. That's far too harsh. there's going to be a lot of blame for such a disappointing season thrown around, and it's going to mostly be deserved. No one covered themselves in glory this season.
  2. jmlease1
    Always a little sad to see the end of the minor league season; there's always hope to be found within these reports and new prospects to envision as part of the MLB club. While the clubs didn't have the best seasons in terms of wins and losses, there was quite a lot of success in player development in the farm system this season. Looking forward to seeing where the next prospect list lands and what the community thinks of the top 30!
  3. jmlease1
    I hope Kiersey gets a legit shot to make the club out of spring training next season. The defense is for real and he's got nothing left to prove in AAA. Let's see if he can make it work in MLB. I'd much rather see Kiersey on the roster (even if he's LH) than Margot or a similar kind of veteran pulled from the bargain bin. Embrace the youth movement.
  4. jmlease1
    agree 100% with this article. Really poor decision-making by the franchise to sit on their hands at the deadline when it was clear they needed pitching reinforcements. I don't have a problem with them choosing not to add starting pitching: the options weren't that impressive out there and there's a wave of young starters in the system. Happy to go with the youngsters. But the bullpen unquestionably needed the help and there were options out there, and the Twins certainly had the trade capital to get it done. They needed a reliable LH reliever, they needed another consistent arm to bridge to the top guys and/or give Jax/Duran some more relief. And they didn't do it. Have to wonder if it was the front office being gun-shy or ownership refusing to add salary. I'm betting it's the latter.
  5. jmlease1
    nice work from Raya. It's going to be interesting to see who fills out the rotation in AAA next season! Real possibility that you have Festa, Matthews, Morris, Adams, Nowlin, Lewis, and Raya all battling. A couple of guys might get slipped back down to AA for a few weeks. Good problem to have, especially since it makes it easier to not spend money on a back of the rotation veteran, since I expect the ownership to cut payroll again.
  6. jmlease1
    Man, the offense really needs to find itself. I mean, great that they pulled it out in the 12th, but how about scoring 6 before the late innings and giving the pitchers a nice lead to work with? But right now you take a win however you can get it. Festa did ok. He's got things to work on for sure, but you can definitely see him being a real guy in the rotation in the future. Hopefully he can keep improving and refining, but I think he's learning some important lessons right now.
  7. jmlease1
    Santana has done a fine job this season after a horrific start. But I think I'd rather roll with the young guys next season than gamble that he's going to beat Father Time and be able to repeat this performance again. for all that we've loved his defense, it wouldn't take a lot for him to fall off significantly on that side, nor would it take that much to drop well below acceptable on the offensive side of the equation either. And one thing we know is this franchise will not let a veteran go early, even if they're a disaster. sometimes that works out, and sometimes you have a black hole for an entire season. Miranda's splits against LHP this are a little out of whack this year, but it's still a fairly small sample size. I suspect he'll be fine. No, he's not great defensively, but he can improve. And he hits. Julien can get some time there, heck have Larnach pick up the glove and work on a little 1B in the offseason. Jeffers can fill in there too. I think roster spaces are going to be at a premium next season, and I'd rather ride with the younger guys. We need them to play well anyways, because I don't expect any investment in the team from ownership, who almost certainly are going to botch up the tv deal and streaming rights and cry poverty.
  8. jmlease1
    The first one would probably help. Owners might go for it, but players would have to give something back in the CBA. The second is one I want no part of. The pace of play has drastically improved and if you give managers more options for platooning and longer bullpens, they WILL use them. I have zero interest in seeing game after game with 12-15 pitchers being used and sub after sub coming in.
  9. jmlease1
    Eeles is a heck of a story. Good for the twins in giving him a chance out of an independent league. Better on Eeles for taking the opportunity and running with it. He crushed A-ball and has been great in AAA. he's essentially created a career for himself in professional baseball. That's pretty amazing. If he can keep hitting like this he's going to get a chance. The next leap is the hardest one, but who can say? he might just do it. I'd love to know more about his defense: he's playing all over the place and seems to be doing ok? The Twins prize positional flexibility (I'll admit, I'm a big fan of it too) so that certainly will help his cause if he can function in a lot of roles. He's taking walks, swiping bags, and there seems to be enough pop in his bat that he's not just a no-threat singles hitter. Short doesn't mean you can't play. I doubt they bump him up to AAA if they didn't think he had a chance.
  10. jmlease1
    It's a complicated issue. Is it max effort stressors as players continue to push the tolerances of the human body, or repetitive stress issues from year round training? Both? Are we seeing the results of playing so many more games at younger ages and getting into travel teams and so forth at younger ages? What's the impact of kids specializing in one sport at younger and younger ages? I don't have kids and I'm not involved in youth sports any longer and even I hear about coaches pushing kids to pick one sport over another as they're hitting middle school FFS. May have been real benefits to kids playing different sports or just having an actual off-season where they weren't constantly playing and/or training. i think it's going to be hard to regulate at the MLB level via rule changes. Maybe the real solutions start much earlier?
  11. jmlease1
    Haven't seen anyone say we're WS bound, but can't we be happy about a win? I mean, dang.
  12. jmlease1
    Haven't seen anyone say we're WS bound, but can't we be happy about a win? I mean, dang.
  13. jmlease1
    A good win. Nice job by Matthews; it would be awesome if he's figuring some things out and forces hitters to adjust to him down the stretch rather than him needing to adjust more. I would still like to see more from the offense; 4 runs isn't bad, but sure would be nice to see the team put up 6 again and make it a little easier to breathe when the bullpen is trying to hold the lead.
  14. jmlease1
    Really tough beat for the Twins offense, getting runners on base and doing little with them after the initial flurry. Have to do better than the 3 runs. I'm also going to take a moment to bash the tv broadcast duo: Provus decided to try and be funny last night, comparing a Cleveland hitter to Jeffrey Jones, the actor who played Ed Rooney in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Nice try, except that Jones is a convicted sex offender. Maybe don't comp a player to a criminal like that, my guy. The ed Rooney comp might have been a little cringe, but specifically calling out the actor by name and comparing a player to a convict is bad form. Maybe less funny from you, more call the game, especially if you're not doing the research. less gross, but still problematic: Perk confessing that he's never seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Oy.
  15. jmlease1
    I think there's a decent chance that both start back in AA, just because of the crowd in Saint Paul. I'm expecting Varland to graduate into the bullpen and SWR has done enough to earn a presumption for MLB rotation in 2025, but Ryan and Paddack are going to be back so that would mean Festa, Matthews, Morris, Adams, and Nowlin might make up the initial AAA crop. That would keep Raya, Lewis, and Culpepper in AA to start. but regardless of how it shuffles out, I'm pretty excited to have that many starting pitching prospects in the high minors for 2025.
  16. jmlease1
    Is it no leash, or they're just running too far out on it? If they're needing 20+ pitches to get through every inning, then no, they're not lasting out there. Festa 72 pitches and 3 BBs in 3 2/3 SWR 69 pitches and 3 BBs in 3 Zebby 61 pitches and 2 BBs in 3 1/3 They haven't exactly been efficient lately. Festa's the only one who has done 3 scoreless to start. but this is also the Kobayashi Maru for the manager: if he leaves Festa, SWR, or Matthews out there as their pitch counts rise and they wobble through innings and they get hammered, he's a fool for not pulling them sooner as they "obviously" didn't have it; if he yanks them before they collapse and the bullpen fails, he's a fool for not rising with his starter.
  17. jmlease1
    Dang, I kind of forgot about Culpepper! I expect he'll start back in AA, but if he stays healthy he'll be Saint Paul next season as the pitching pipeline continues to roll on. Wish Walker Jenkins had more time to get acclimated to AA before the end of the season. Really wonder if they'll send him to the AFL since he missed a big chunk of time at the start of the season or if they'll just let him have an offseason. He might not have immediately set Wichita on fire, but I think he's probably ready for it next season. What a talent.
  18. jmlease1
    Hopefully we can get Correa back on the field so he can help steady the defense. He's so steady back there, so smart with his positioning that it helps everyone. he's definitely been a little more nervy for us lately, but a lot of the underlying numbers are still very good. He's had a bizarre level of balls drop in for hits when guys actually manage to put one in play lately, and you have to think that will even out. I also have to keep reminding myself that this is only his 3rd season in MLB!
  19. jmlease1
    Glad to see Cory Lewis finishing the year strong. he certainly looks like he's back in the groove and I expect we'll have him in AAA next season. It's going to be very interesting to see how the Twins figure out the back end of the rotation in MLB and staff AAA to start next season, but there should be very good depth from the jump and if/when we need starting pitcher reinforcements in MLB we're going to be drawing on real prospects again, which is exactly where we want to be. (My guess on the rotations as of right now: MLB is Lopez, Ober, Ryan, SWR, Paddack and AAA is Festa, Matthews, Morris, Adams, Lewis, Nowlin. yes, i think they'll run a 6-man in AAA. But maybe Nowlin or Lewis starts in AA. I think Varland is done being a starter; he's been passed by SWR, Festa, and Matthews and there's enough other depth that they're better off moving him to the bullpen and letting him be a force there. I'm betting Raya repeats AA at the start of the season.) That's real depth. will any of the AAA guys emerge as a playoff-caliber starter? we'll see but there's plenty to like from guys like Festa, Matthews, and Lewis. Lot of good development being done in the the minors. Now, if we could just keep the hitters healthy...
  20. jmlease1
    Glad to see Rosario healthy to finish the season. I'm a fan of his and he's had a solid enough season despite the injuries in his first crack at AA. I think winter ball might do him some good since he missed so much time. Noah Miller is showing exactly why the Twins traded him. He just can't hit much. Nice for him to get a couple of doubles, but overall he's not much of a threat at the plate and pitchers are treating him accordingly. The glove is excellent and the only reason he's in AA, but he'll be back in Tulsa next season. he's still young enough to develop into a better hitter, but he's got a big hill to climb.
  21. jmlease1
    As noted on the broadcast, Matthews appeared to be having a blister problem last night. That might have been part of his struggles last night as well as the early hook. I'll take the series win: if the Twins get back to winning series down the stretch they'll be in the playoffs for sure, where they belong. Nice to see Royce bust out last night, although it's too bad he didn't convert the Grand Slam. Missed it by THAT much. Keep grinding, boys!
  22. jmlease1
    I think this is the issue: we're seeing too many guys get thrown out where the play isn't close. If it was a bunch of close plays and the ball gets there just in time or it was a perfect strike or a great tag or something...that's one thing. Even if all of them happen to go against the team then you're talking about great plays by the other team or bad luck and it's ok. but it's not just one or two memorable ones where the guy is out easily. There's a whole litany at this point. Maybe it means that the players need to know when to take the foot off the gas earlier coming around second knowing they won't have enough in the tank to make it home...but it sure feels like Watkins needs to have better judgment and be a little more conservative in sending our fairly slow and oft-injured roster.
  23. jmlease1
    Winning is the best deodorant. Nice to see the bats get going early and often. The big blast from Farmer made a difference. Pablo looked pretty good, so it was a bit odd to see him have the wobbly inning, but still nice to see him roll through 7 with good efficiency. His velocity looks good, the movement on the sweeper is pretty nasty. I'm terrible at estimating HR distances. I would have thought that Wallner's was longer, because boy howdy that was a blast. Certainly no doubt about it!
  24. jmlease1
    Rocco Baldelli has a .529 Win % with the MN Twins (as you noted: 2019 counts). Since that fantastic season, he also had a .600 Win % in 2020, then 2 losing seasons, another playoff team in 2023 and despite the horrid stretch their in right now, the Twins are still likely to finish with a winning record and still have pretty good odds of making the playoffs. But I find it interesting that you so easily find a way to discount Baldelli's best seasons with the club? Let's take Ron Gardenhire if we want to a) do the "how's he been lately?" bit, and b) address the issue of whether Rocco would get another managing job if he wanted one, since that was the point I was trying to make anyways. Gardy had a .507 Win % with the franchise in 13 seasons. 8 winning seasons, 5 losing ones. he never cracked 60% wins in his career, though he came close a couple of times. Following the 2010 season, easily his best season in several years, the team absolutely cratered and Gardy never had another winning season as Twins manager. Rocco may have had a couple of poor seasons after his initial success, but the team also rebounded to win their first playoff series in over 20 years and first playoff game since Gardy's 3rd season as manager. YMMV on whether the Twins stuck with Gardy too long or not, but the reality is Gardy had 10 consecutive seasons to end his tenure with the franchise where they did not win a playoff game. That said, Gardy, despite his exceptionally long tenure and relationship with the Twins and being more than 15 years older than Rocco is now got another chance to manage in MLB. It didn't go well for him, but that's another matter. The case for Rocco not getting another chance to manage in MLB if the team fires him at the end of the season is basically a group of fans saying "I don't like him".
  25. jmlease1
    The fact that you think a former AL Manager of the Year with a quality record and win % and a sterling reputation around MLB won't get another chance to manage says a lot. If Rocco loses his job in the offseason, the only reason he won't manage another team is if he decides he doesn't want to do it. He made good money as a player, has made good money as a manager and doesn't need it. But if he's willing to go to Miami or Texas or Anaheim etc he'll definitely be managing again. If he wants it.
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