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jmlease1

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Everything posted by jmlease1

  1. jmlease1
    Best part of this week was seeing the top 20 prospect list and realizing that they all played. Huzzah for health!
  2. jmlease1
    I'd agree if he had been playing consistently in the field. Only been in CF 4 times in July, which suggests they're watching him carefully after the injury to make sure he's fully healthy. I'm ok with them doing that in Ft. Myers where they have a more extensive organization and medical setup. (we've had so many top prospects deal with significant injuries that I'm happy to be cautious there) From a hitting perspective, though I agree: he's ready for promotion. Happy to see Culpepper back; looks like he had no problems easing his way back in, so I'll be looking forward to seeing how a regular start goes. If he and Cory Lewis can stay healthy and finish the season strong it'll be a good sign for the Twins pitching pipeline.
  3. jmlease1
    Elite work by Ober. Love seeing that from him, and I don't care what kind of lineup Detroit was running out there. Dominating that much is impressive as hell. I really hope Miranda is ok; seems like the cheek guard absorbed a lot of it? But it may be an issue that MLB has to look at with the Player's Association in the offseason, because with so many guys throwing so hard now, hitters are in the firing line. Concussions are awful and ruin careers, but beaning a guy even with no intent at all can wreck a player's career too. Gotta protect them all, from themselves if they have to.
  4. jmlease1
    From a reputation standpoint at least, Margot is seen as a better fielder than say, Wallner (or Larnach) especially in terms of catching the ball (clearly Wallner has the stronger arm). I'm guessing it's partially a defensive replacement situation where they feel like they can ensure more outs this way and keep the other team from getting back into the game. I'm not sure it's all that impactful, but YMMV.
  5. jmlease1
    Thought Brooks Lee looked pretty solid at SS, that was nice to see. Nice outing for the Twins offense. Good job jumping on the Tigers early and often and never letting them up off the mat. Wallner certainly seems to be back to the guy he was last season. Hope he's worked out all the kinks!
  6. jmlease1
    What a disaster this has been. The scum who run Sinclair and generated this scheme to create Diamond/Bally in the first place need to be run out of town on a rail. I'm sure they've been able to feather their nests quite comfortably and will be untouched in the bankruptcy, of course. Terrible results for Twins fans for most of the season, huge drain on the fans. Way too many people haven't been able to watch a fun and very likable team this year. Hope that is finally over, but I never underestimate the power of greed to screw things up again.
  7. jmlease1
    Miranda is a more than reasonable choice to backup Santana this season (while backing up 3B and DHing) and should be back this weekend. He looks like a fine choice to start next season and has pretty neutral splits. Severino could get his chance if Kirilloff falls out of the picture (that will be a shame, but if you can't stay healthy and aren't producing it doesn't matter how pretty your swing is, and the hidden back injury isn't going to play in his favor), and regardless of Julien's improvement at 2B he's a better fit at 1B than Brooks Lee, who will need a spot next season, either at 2B or 3B. I'm not super worried about it; I suspect Wallner or Larnach could learn the position as well.
  8. jmlease1
    nice promotion for Mercedes. Interesting prospect there and was hitting very well in rookie ball. Looking forward to seeing how he manages in Ft. Myers.
  9. jmlease1
    nice day on the farm for a bunch of guys. It's going to be very interesting to see if Olivar can stick as a catcher. Obviously, it's his bat that's going to get him to MLB if he makes it, but if he can become a solid catcher, good enough to split time with someone there and not frighten the horses with his defense it's be a significant developmental win. He's having a very nice season in Cedar Rapids at the plate after an impressive season in Ft. Myers. Wouldn't be surprised if he gets a later season call up to AA. Jenkins is rocking a 12-game hitting streak right now in which he's also collected 15 walks. I think this kid understands the strike zone! I'm assuming they're DHing him more right now since he missed a big chunk of time early and want to keep him healthy? No arguments from me. I suspect the lower power output has more to do with seeing fewer pitches to drive. Glad he's healthy and playing. The talent is massive and he seems to know what he's doing out there. GG has been in a bit of a dry spell, so nice to see him have a big day at the plate. Hoping he can get back in a good groove in august after an unimpressive July. Real power outage for him since the injury put him on the shelf, so that's worth watching. Severino is an interesting player to track. awful start to the season. Got on track a bit in May. Went nuclear in June. Real power outage in July overall. Hard to go to guys whose seasons are predicated on one great month; he needs to find more consistency, I think. August could be a very important month for him.
  10. jmlease1
    Or Brad Radke.
  11. jmlease1
    Overall it's a fair issue to have concerns about, I agree. In this specific case, it doesn't seem to apply. first, because he's just moving to AAA, and second they have promoted Matthews pretty aggressively, having him go from low A to AAA in 1 1/2 seasons. If he was sitting in AAA while bad/retread veterans were flailing in MLB, then I think there's a better case. I preferred the Twins go with the kids rather than bring in vets like Margot or Santana. I was clearly wrong on Santana (especially considering how Kirilloff has run this season) and while the record on Margot is decidedly mixed (at best)...he has hit LHP like he was supposed to. I'm trying to be a little more judicious in my second-guessing, especially as it runs to prospects.
  12. jmlease1
    This is a weird shot to take at the front office. They moved him through 2 levels in his first professional season, which was LAST YEAR. He's now jumped 3 levels in year two, and has moved into AAA. How exactly is the front office holding him back? Sure seems like they've handled him well: promoted him aggressively while improving his stuff, increasing his workload while trying to avoid overstressing his arm.
  13. jmlease1
    Well, it's a lot easier to get excited when you're picking in the top 10. or top 5. As a second round pick, Hill should put about as much charge into you as Soto, but YMMV. Looks like a good Day 1 to me, but they're prospects so Goldman's advice on Hollywood applies here too: "Remember, no one knows anything."
  14. jmlease1
    Looks like a very solid pick. I don't mind rolling the dice on a high school pitcher, you just can't put all your eggs in the basket. Twins have been careful to not load up too much on HS players recently, and seem to be pretty judicious about when they go that way. Hopefully it works out, but there's a lot to like about how this kid could project and there are definitely traits in him that they've had success in building on before. But high school pitchers will need time, so gotta be patient here. I certainly don't mind some investment in a LHP prospect.
  15. jmlease1
    Maybe this will calm people who think the Twins only take big slow strikeout prone sluggers? (Probably not) See how he lands once he gets in the pros. I kind of like using comp picks to take fliers on high school pitchers, high-risk, high reward guys, but continuing to add players who are likely to have positional flexibility and at least one known high-level skill works too. So much of the draft is an unknown and depends on development and luck.
  16. jmlease1
    I thought KLaw's analysis of Culpepper was interesting. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5638783/2024/07/15/mlb-draft-2024-analysis-first-round/ Seems like he's got the defensive chops to stick at SS and the kind of swing that will get a lot of hits, and if the Twins can work on getting him to be more selective on what he offers at, they'll have a real player. A reasonable choice at 21. Janek might have been an interesting pick in a weak catching class, Caminiti is a higher-risk, higher reward player, but Culpepper looks to fit a lot of what the Twins try to do and has a lot of potential. I never mind drafting position guys at SS, C, or even CF; where they finally land defensively works itself out and I don't know that you can ever have too many options in the system at those spots.
  17. jmlease1
    Keaschall has been doing everything you'd hope for in his first full pro year. He's hitting like crazy, looks polished and is handling the changes in level without a problem. It's absolutely great. Full marks. Is he the fill-in for Brooks Lee in the Futures Game? He deserves it, though there are other contenders. I'm going to be very interested to see how Severino finishes out July. he had a monster June, but he's drifted back down (not that he's been bad). If he puts up an OPS over .800 for July, that would be a good sign for him. I mostly want good healthy stretches for as many of our top prospects as possible TBH.
  18. jmlease1
    They've always seemed to prefer projection over production as much as anyone too, which I'm less enamored of, considering how many obstacles are on the path for most players as they rise through the ranks. It's understandable that you might get excited about a young athletic pitching prospect who is hitting 97 on the gun at 19, but when they are only 12 starts and less than 60 innings into their career at rookie ball I have to wonder a little. At the same time, once you start getting into the teens on prospect lists the difference between 17 and 25 really might just be personal preferences on which prime skill they have that you like...
  19. jmlease1
    He's been great and really improved his prospect stock. But it's still a relatively small sample and he's already rising very fast in the organization. It won't impact things significantly to have him roll a while longer in AA and figure out his defensive options, which are still a little unclear. He's not getting called up to MLB unless utter catastrophe happens so whether he's playing every day in AA or AAA for an extra month or two won't really matter much. He jumped up 2 levels in like 20 minutes last season after he was drafted, and been promoted already this year. He's doing great.
  20. jmlease1
    Feels like catcher development is something that MLB is struggling with overall. It's so physically demanding, requires a diverse and well-rounded set of skills, and there's a huge mental component on top of it...and that's just the defensive side of things. You also need these guys to develop as hitters and because of the demands of the position it's harder to get them in the lineup as often, so they might not get as many consistent ABs. Tough one to crack from a development standpoint. I think the Twins have a few options in the system now, but all of them are incomplete in one way or another. But at least they have some guys with upside and possibilities now; things got real thin for a while in the system. Interesting question on how much impact a quality catcher has on pitching development: The Bull Durham Theory?
  21. jmlease1
    What a great game by Miranda! He's definitely playing like he never wants to go back to AAA. Good to see Kepler get a couple of knocks as well; he'd been scrabbling for a while. The offense really picked it up. Just keep winning series, boys. If they keep on that path they'll be in the playoffs and be a team to contend. You can't control what Cleveland or anyone else is doing, so just keep winning series. Brooks Lee doesn't look scared, either. Keep it up, make the decision as hard as possible mah dude.
  22. jmlease1
    Glad to see GG back and doing well. He's having a solid season, needs to show better strike zone control and draw some walks, but he's developing and showing good pop in his bat. Doncon had a nice night. Seeing him flash that power stroke is important; he had been hammering the ball in Ft Myers so it's good to see him starting to swing with authority more in Cedar Rapids. Lot of upside here. Gotta love what we're seeing from Zebby Matthews. The utter lack of walks is great (lot of guys at that level are still having trouble commanding the zone) but what's better is that he's not giving up hits either. That WHIP is fantastic. He's getting Ks, he's eating up innings, and he's having a great season. I expect him in AAA next year as one of the top potential callups
  23. jmlease1
    Bummer for Royce going to the IL again, but good luck to Brooks Lee. I hope he plays so well they can't send him down. I think he's going to do just fine and it's going to be fun to see him up. I have tickets for sunday, hope he starts!
  24. jmlease1
    It's always complicated: you want guys getting stronger, being in the best possible shape, but that combined with the grind and strain of playing can lead to injuries. Some of it can be about the way they play: you love seeing a guy make a great play in the field by stretching way out and doing something amazing...but sometimes guys end up pulling something when they try to beat out a throw. I find the idea that the twins have been ignoring conditioning or not investing time in trying to keep players healthy baffling: despite what many around here may think, they're not objectively stupid and they haven't been trying to run things like their medical and training operations on the cheap (even if they have had a long history of going cheap on payroll).
  25. jmlease1
    Wallner makes sense in that we could use a LH bat with real power to balance the lineup a little against RHP, he's performing well at AAA, and played very well last season for the team. The only real call for Julien right now (who hasn't been great in AAA) is to go INF for INF without adding anyone to the 40-man. I'd add Brooks Lee to the 40-man and give him a chance to show what he can do. He could play both 2B and 3B and Castro could still get plenty of time in the OF. I'm not worried about burning an option year with him; if we need to run him back down to the minors in 2025 and 2026, then we have bigger problems. He looks ready, so let's see what we've got if Royce has to miss 3-4 weeks. But calling up Wallner wouldn't be a crime with Miranda playing so well and able to slot in at 3B again, and Castro able to drop in there too.
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