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jmlease1

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Everything posted by jmlease1

  1. jmlease1
    You see what's missing from that long list of players, right? Starting pitchers. The team still had talent when Falvey came in (as evidenced by the surge under Molitor), but it was built on fog & mirrors, which was notable when the team went to hell the next season, and there were few reinforcements to be found in the minors. Gordon: injury riddled, had one solid season and 3 dreadful ones. Gonsalves: couldn't make the leap past AAA Romero: imploded Kirilloff: never healthy again after his breakout in 2018 I mean yikes. That was supposedly the best we had. How did Jay, Diaz, Stewart, Javier, Burdi, Palka, etc do?
  2. jmlease1
    I'm not particularly surprised. Falvey has rebuilt the farm system and the team has been substantially better under his watch than they had been in the previous regime. Rocco doesn't seem to have lost the clubhouse, and while I don't always agree with his tactical decisions (pinch hits the LH hitters a little too early, could do better with his bullpen, etc) he's been fairly good. Of course, I also think that most fans vastly overrate the impact the manager has on the team's success from a tactical perspective. There seems to be this belief that a "great" manager is worth a substantial number of wins all by themselves, just in how much better they manipulate batting orders, lineups, pitching changes, and/or calling for tactical actions with hitters/runners (hit & run, bunting, steals, etc) than the average manager. And I just don't think it's true. It hasn't been a great season...but it wasn't a bad one either, just disappointing. The injuries really hurt again, and a number of players struggled with performance. (i.e., Kepler & Julien, who were both important in 2023, were not very good this year) It's extra frustrating because they looked to have a playoff spot locked up for so long and just utterly failed down the stretch. If it sounds familiar, that's because it is: 2022, the Twins were in first place in the Central for a lot of that season before going 11-22 to finish out the season and crapped the bed. This year it's a 9-18 finish. Injuries ruined that season. Cutting payroll on top of injuries and poor performances wrecked this one, IMHO. My ranking for most responsibility: Ownership Players Front office Manager & on-field coaching staff Are you going to get better by firing the people who weren't as responsible for the collapse and keeping most of the ones who were? Because ownership isn't going anywhere (for better or for worse), and while some players will move on, most of them will be back for another shot.
  3. jmlease1
    And yet, some people will still claim that Calvin Griffith wasn't "really" racist.
  4. jmlease1
    SWR has been quite good this season, and while he's struggled to get to the finish line (I suspect if we'd had more options, like Paddack coming back or Ryan not being done for the season they would have found a reason to give him a break/skip in the rotation) he's shown plenty to be in the rotation for next season. I'm impressed with how he's stayed healthy this season and made adjustments to keep surviving out there. He's still got upside and growth potential as he refines his pitches and deploys them better.
  5. jmlease1
    Great beginning to his professional career by Beltre. I'm guessing he comes to the states to play in the FL Complex league next season? I think that would be a good step in his development: working with the Twins developmental staff more closely, access to the Ft. Myers complex, etc. It's basically the new version of rookie ball, right? Seems like a solid fit at 18. Mercedes had an excellent season and in other years might have been the pick. Nice to have both. Some talented guys have won this award before.
  6. jmlease1
    If the other team commits 4 errors and you don't win...man. Twins sure tried to kick it back with all the baserunning issues. SWR may be gassed. This is far and away the most innings he's thrown as a professional, and he's done that at the highest level of competition. He's not ending the season on a strong note, but he's still been a godsend this season and I hope a bad finish won't sour too many fans on him. He's just turning 24 (Happy birthday SWR on Friday!) and has shown he belongs. About time the offense puts 8 on the board, though. There's too much offensive talent for them to have been as bad as they've been in Sept. The bullpen gets most of the stick because of the high-profile implosions, but the offense put them in too many situations where they had to be perfect night after night. Be nice for them to finish the season strong.
  7. jmlease1
    Waiting For Topa has been the worst movie of the summer. It's extra frustrating because he's exactly what we needed. One more trustworthy arm in the bullpen that could keep the workload from getting oppressive on Jax & Duran, coverage for Brock Stewart getting hurt again, etc. Getting next to nothing from him hurt. This is where luck plays into the season: Twins made a bet on Topa & Stewart being factors in the bullpen this season, and it came up craps. He's definitely got the ability to be a very useful member of the bullpen. But health has ruined multiple seasons for the Twins recently, so you have to wonder if they can continue to take these risks on player health when it's gone to hell multiple times.
  8. jmlease1
    The hitters are fine choices. DeAndrade & Rosario need time at or around this level of competition because they missed so much time. Ross is getting a test to see if he can hit enough to make his glove play. I like it. The pitchers all seem like a bunch of guys who might be getting sent to see if they can break out a little. Lotto time?
  9. jmlease1
    Rod Carew is a nice guy and may have forgiven Calvin, and he's entitled to believe what he wants. but the dude said what he said and did what he did. Twins ownership has never been great. Carl was willing to have the team contracted, an unforgiveable sin. Jim was cheap, but at least stayed out of the way. Joe...I'm not entirely sure if he's really in control of the budget at the end of the day, but if he is...his tenure has started out poorly because the people that deserve the biggest share from this season's failure is ownership. For me it goes like this: Ownership Players Front office On-field staff All are culpable to some degree, the priority goes like this for me. Players at the end of the day can almost never be lower than 3rd, because they are so far and away the biggest deciders on who wins and loses. There's enough under-achieving, poor play, etc for them to get 2nd. I rank the front office lower because ownership's unwillingness ot spend put them in a position where they took more risks on health than could be borne. yes, they missed on a number of things, but were almost hamstrung. I still believe that the managers and coaches in baseball have less impact on the game than any of the major team sports, so while Rocco & company have some misses this season, they rank 4th for me.
  10. jmlease1
    So our only choices are cheap billionaires who maybe don't care about baseball or a racist garbage fire who didn't have the money to resource the team in the first place? Ownership of this franchise has never deserved statues.
  11. jmlease1
    I think the transition of Varland to the bullpen will be a good one. He'll be able to max his velocity and his more limited arsenal plays better in the bullpen. I understand why the Twins waited so long this season; when you're relying on so many untested young starters (SWR, Festa, Matthews are all in that boat) it's hard to move one out of the pool when one of those guys might implode so badly that they simply can't be used or an injury forces them on the IL for a week or more. I suspect that if Ryan hadn't gotten hurt we would have seen Varland in the bullpen sooner. Too bad.
  12. 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.
  13. 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!
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. 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?
  22. jmlease1
    Haven't seen anyone say we're WS bound, but can't we be happy about a win? I mean, dang.
  23. jmlease1
    Haven't seen anyone say we're WS bound, but can't we be happy about a win? I mean, dang.
  24. 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.
  25. 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.
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