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jmlease1

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Everything posted by jmlease1

  1. jmlease1
    well, most of the people complaining about his "bad managing" here are the ones that already agreed with you before the season started about him as a manager. but you are correct: nothing will change unless the front office goes as well. I'm not advocating for that, just stating a fact. Rocco's in-game decisions are part of an overall organizational philosophy. I don't really blame the manager for the fact that we only have 2 hitters with an OPS+ over 100 right now. I don't blame Rocco for the fact that Wallner, Julien, Jeffers, Kepler, Castro, Santana, and Vazquez have all been bad at the plate so far this season: I blame the players for that. They've been bad on offense, and as a result we're 3-5 when we could easily be 5-3. I assume the "we trade away hitters" comment is another Arraez lament? (he's off to slow start too, BTW) If we hadn't made that move we wouldn't have our ace, and Lopez has a nifty 135 ERA+ and we'd be in trouble without him. If ownership hadn't cut the payroll like they did, we might have gotten better reinforcements. That said, Margot is now putting up a 142 OPS+, because it doesn't take a lot to turn around a small sample size. (and he's certainly not a "bomber" even if he did hit a HR yesterday)
  2. jmlease1
    At least it was nice to see Buxton making a diving catch and immediately bounce up like nothing had happened. I'm so happy to see him playing healthy. The offense disappoints right now, and outside of Royce being on the IL they're pretty healthy, so no excuses. They're just not playing well enough. 2 runs or less in 5 of the last 6 is not going to win very many games. Jackson may have a good slider, but if he flings it in the heart of the zone, he's going to get punished. He was way too middle-middle for success.
  3. jmlease1
    I do not know much about Doncon, but after this fast start, I'm certainly interested in learning more! It'll be interesting to see where he lands at the end of the season in comparison with Noah Miller (also off to a nice start, but still showing absolutely zero power). Chourio is also rolling early and if he can hit like this, maybe people will stop complaining about trading Arraez. (Let's be serious: people will never stop complaining about losing Arraez). I mean, it's only 3 games so you have to pump the brakes on both of these guys, but I'd rather have a fast start than not, especially for a guy like Chourio, getting his first chance at A-ball.
  4. jmlease1
    Schobel struggled a bit at AA last season, but seems to be adjusting nicely. Good for him to be off to such a fast start.
  5. jmlease1
    Fajardo is off to a nice start at AAA; I have to assume that he'll improve the OBP and take walks like he has through his whole minor league career and if his improvement in power production is for real then he's a very nice minor league Rule 5 grab. Could be a fun guy to watch and a useful depth piece. Wichita lineup should be pretty damn good this year. Rosario is looking good so far, it'll be fun to see if he's able to keep making good contact all year and slamming the ball like this as he's rising in the minors. Rodriguez is definitely a beast. Lot of good hitters down there, and if they impressed in AA it's a really good sign.
  6. jmlease1
    These are two really hot prospects and should be a lot of fun to follow throughout the season. I suspect Jenkins will advance faster than Soto, but it's kind of exciting that that Twins felt Soto was ready for full-year baseball in Low-A this season. I hope he gets a little rope on his innings and pitch counts so we can see what kind of starter he might be. Jenkins is just so exciting as a prospect, it's hard not to have insanely high expectations.
  7. jmlease1
    What about Molitor's time as manager makes him superior? Because while he may have played winning baseball, did he manage winning baseball? He managed 3 pretty average teams and one bad one. Looking at the pythagorean numbers, his teams were +2, -7, +2, and +1 against their projected W-L based on runs scored v runs allowed. Was he really out there stealing wins for the Twins based on superior knowledge and execution of strategy in games? Or was he (like most managers in baseball) not as impactful as fans believe? I recall Molitor as being decent enough, with some strengths and weaknesses. his lineups mostly made sense, his bullpen management was not very good. He was a little behind the times on data integration, but a step up from Gardy. For all that Molly was a great baserunner himself, his teams didn't suddenly become substantially better running. Like most managers he looked good when his players were healthy and playing well, bad when they weren't.
  8. jmlease1
    The K's aren't great, but the inability to draw walks yesterday is what really sunk the team. They need more baserunners. Didn't see the first half of the game, but hated the "strike zone" for the last 3 innings, where the ump added 3 inches to the bottom of the zone, and then did the same for the outside part of the plate as well. I'm so ready for the electronic strike zone. Happy with the bullpen performance so far, they've done well. Liked what we saw from Funderburk and Sands; Funderburk is a guy I like as a second lefty and his pitches looked good overall. Sands I was less convinced on, but he did well and looked like he might have a little more going on. Small samples, but it'll be interesting to see where they are at the end of april Hope the bats wake up and get things going. Too soon too make any calls about anyone, but they're capable of much better than this. Some slow starts in here and only a few bright spots.
  9. jmlease1
    I think you're right about Miranda: the Twins definitely prefer to have players that can play multiple positions, even if they're going to most likely play at one. Having Miranda ready to play 3B if needed even if they think he might end up getting most of his time at 1B makes sense, especially if they think he can handle it defensively. I disagree with you a little on Martin: he's had a fair amount of experience in the OF already; he's had about 2100 innings of pro ball and 1400 are on the dirt and 700 on the grass (most of it at SS or CF). He's a more than reasonable OF replacement.
  10. jmlease1
    I'm happy to see the velocity staying up, and I've always liked his changeup. For me the key is going to be whether they've unlocked the slider/cutter as an impactful 3rd pitch, especially against righties. I think it's going to need to be more than a "show-me" pitch, so we'll see where this lands. The first start wasn't a disaster. I will be interested to see where he is at the end of the month, what the velocity and pitch mix looks like, and how deep he's able to get into games.
  11. jmlease1
    I get the idea of trying to take advantage of the opportunity to break open a game, seize the lead, etc, but I agree that the 4th inning is probably too early to make that kind of move, especially when you have such a small bench. It might be different if they were carrying 15 hitters, but that's not how we roll. I don't like the risk-reward on pulling a player like Julien, who is a superior hitter against RHP so early just to get the platoon advantage. I do think it's a little funny the face of the people complaining about Rocco "throwing away games" and "not trying to win" though, because this is the sort of playoff baseball move managers make when they absolutely need a win...
  12. jmlease1
    Good to see the bats break out and bunch up some runs. Kirilloff had a terrific game at the plate. He's always hit when he's been healthy; as soon as he got dinged up with the wrist or the shoulder his power fell off and his performance at the plate really fell off, but it was always an issue with injuries not ability. If he can stay healthy (and it's a big if with his history until he actually does it) he'll be a weapon at the plate. Nice to see Jeffers get off the schnide too. You could see the relief in him as he ran the bases, and hopefully this gets him settled in. His power production at the bottom of the lineup can be impactful. Bullpen did well again. Paddack is going to need to be less hittable and hand out fewer walks to be successful this season, but it's early. Bullpen picked him up, but 4 inning starts from Paddack and Varland won't work.
  13. jmlease1
    heh. I didn't mind the Santana signing, but I'm less thrilled the more clear it became that they planned on him being the every day 1B and not a platoon guy to deal with LHP. Think he's going to be overexposed and they'll justify his no-bat performances with florid praise about his defense. that said...Miranda does have a ways to go to be a competent 1B. If he does figure it out and stays healthy, then I'm excited for him to hop the light rail and go to Target Field.
  14. jmlease1
    Interesting player. Probably just organizational depth, but good organizations can find hidden gems this way. he hit well at AA and seems to be a solid enough defender in the corners. It'll be interesting to see how he hits this season: he did a nice job getting more power production last year while still making tons of contact and did a good job taking his walks as well. If he can repeat it, he's got a chance. If not...well, not that many guys even make it to AAA! I'm not going to start planning around him, but should be a fun player to keep an eye on. Nice to see a minor league Rule 5 advance in the system after selection.
  15. jmlease1
    Nice start for SWR. It'll be interesting to see where he's at by the end of April. Hopefully, he'll be able to keep the velocity up all month and reposition himself as being one of the first options if/when the Twins need reinforcements for the rotation. It's just one start, so I'm not going to get ahead of myself here, but happy to see the touted velocity increase from spring training carry over. Hopefully he's able to keep the walks manageable as well. Miranda is off to a good start as well, hopefully this means his shoulder is feeling good and he's fully recovered. He's absolutely important depth this season and could be an important role player in the future if he finds his stroke consistently. I'll be curious to see where he's at towards the end of the month as well. At some point he'll need to start taking some walks, right? lol.
  16. jmlease1
    It's still early, but the offense needs to get it going. Yes, losing Lewis hurts but they still should be able to do better than this. Hopefully they'll be able to get it going soon. I'm glad to see Alcala have a solid start to the season and showing good velocity. I'm a fan of his, think he can be a real contributor.
  17. jmlease1
    wouldn't surprise me a bit, but that's more about how awesome Jenkins is than anything else. Real chance Jenkins flies through A-ball this season and gets a cup of coffee or more at AA. He's soooooo talented and appears ready for anything Keaschall is still a really interesting prospect, though and had a very nice start. I could see him in AA by midseason if he keeps beating up on pitchers in Cedar Rapids..
  18. jmlease1
    I'm going to wait a bit before getting on the Duarte train. It's good to see him throwing well and he certainly has good stuff, but he's struggled to not hand out free passes at higher levels, and walked a guy in his first appearance as a Twin too. Of course outside of last season he's never had more than 20 appearances in a season in the minors/majors, so it's not like we're working with big numbers. He's an interesting addition and did fine in a low-leverage first outing. But I would count his season a success if he can replace some of those Pagan innings effectively, rather than look to him to be a late inning weapon.
  19. jmlease1
    Keaschall has 3 years of collegiate experience behind him already. Not really a surprise that he'd get pushed up faster than Winokur or Jenkins
  20. jmlease1
    Where is Cory Lewis starting the season? Didn't see him on either Cedar Rapid or Wichita rosters here. I hope it's Wichita; would love to have Lewis, Raya, and Ohl pitching there. Call it a hunch, but I don't think Walker Jenkins is going to be at Ft. Myers more than half a season.
  21. jmlease1
    well, we might get to see more of the 2025 Twins OF alignment early: Wallner in RF, Buxton in CF, and Martin LF... guessing the knee swelled up after the game, hopefully if he goes on the IL it'll just be a 10-day stint
  22. jmlease1
    You're really harsh on a rookie playing in his first game in the field in one of the larger outfields in baseball. And MAT won a Gold Glove (and should have won another); are we really at the point where we're ready to call judgment on a rookie after one game if he's not up to a Gold Glove standard in CF? He's a quality fielder who unfortunately couldn't come up with the big play in his very first start. Holy cow. it's like the Twins went 0-3 in KC to start the season around here...
  23. jmlease1
    Well, it depends on how you look at it. If the expectation is that the rotation should always have the same level of depth that we had last season, where 2 younger guys with MLB experience, are waiting in AAA for no other reason than the team had better options ahead of them...then yeah: the rotation depth is thin and we might not have anyone capable of stepping in if Lopez or Ryan go down for an extended period. But isn't that the case for most teams? How many teams have two MLB-ready starters with a ceiling of being at least a #2-3 guy just hanging out in AAA? 2023's rotation depth was the aberration in that we had Ober and Varland ready to go in AAA. But it's also important to remember that behind them the rotation depth was arguably worse than what we have now. Sure, we're running Headrick back again as an option, but we've also got Festa in the mix, SWR seems better positioned than last season, and Dobnak looks like a much more reasonable option as well. And we certainly didn't have the depth in the bullpen last season to handle a loss like Duran last year. We're now in the world where we're taking some risk on in the rotation and expecting that some of our pitching prospects will step in if called upon. This year, it's Festa. Next year it might be Raya, Lewis, or Ohl. (Much as I wish it was Canterino, you simply can't make that bet) I feel like that's the kind of bet you make when your rotation is all under 30? I think who gets called up depends a little on timing, but the most likely choices are SWR and Headrick, unless it's already June and Festa's command and control look good. Dobnak is less likely to get grabbed for a spot-start because of the 40-man issue, but if he's pitching well and say Paddack goes to the IL, I could see him being added to the 40-man and given a chance if he's pitching well in Saint Paul. I still like SWR's talent and with Festa...either you believe in him as a prospect or you don't. If you do then he's a legit option. If you don't, then you're probably going to spend most of the season mad at the Twins, because you don't agree with their prospect investment or development...
  24. jmlease1
    But this Sunday's lineup certainly wasn't a "getaway day" lineup: the only real change was Martin starting in CF to let Buxton DH; Castro was an injury replacement. The only "starter" that didn't play was Kepler, who is dealing with a knee after the foulball off it. So it wasn't an inferior lineup. And I'm willing to bet people would have jumped on Rocco for leaving Buxton and Correa in the game down 10-0 ("how dare Rocco leave 2 players with major injury history in the game and risk injury when the game is already over! Fire the manager, he's terrible!"). He pulled Correa in the bottom of the 5th and Buxton in the top of the 6th. Seems fine...unless you've already made up your mind that Rocco is a bad manager. Then, he can't possibly win in this situation.
  25. jmlease1
    why? because he's not Buxton? He didn't come up with the incredible catches today, but I don't think that would have saved us. He's a good OF, but those catches against the wall weren't run of the mill.
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