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jmlease1

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Everything posted by jmlease1

  1. jmlease1
    I thought the plate ump was poor last night, it just happened to work out well for the Twins. I mean, i guess he was at least consistent at calling pitches 4-6 inches off the plate on one side strikes? I don't know how much credit Vazquez should get for "framing" those, but it was one of those games. But I dislike it when obvious balls are called strikes even when it rings up a K for the Twins.
  2. jmlease1
    Well, I guess we'll see if this strategy works? (they sure aren't pushing it to 60 for Raya, though) I understand about the concerns related to injury for pitchers, especially starters. But much as I don't want to see anyone's arm get wrecked by throwing too many pitches in the minors and avoiding having guys keep throwing after a high stress inning certainly makes some sense...I do worry that we're putting guys in a position where they never learn how to work through 6+ innings and get through an inning without max effort on every single pitch. It's a little disheartening to see a supposed top prospect like Raya in AA and still getting pulled after 45 pitches or so. It's one thing for Soto at not even 19 and down in low-A and another for Raya at 21 in his 3rd pro year at AA. JMO. But it's still early, so maybe they're going to work him up more as the season goes along. (and they hopefully know a heck of a lot more than me about this)
  3. jmlease1
    He'll need to get something out of a breaking ball this season if he's going to stay effective; it's been his biggest challenge over his career: finding that 3rd pitch to keep hitters from keying on his fastball. Even if his velocity on the fastball is up, he can't just be a 2-pitch guy, so figuring out whether it's the curve or the slider is going to be important. The start against Balto was pretty awful, but there's been some things to like in the other starts (the one against CWS was quite good). He's got to be less hittable, though: 12.9 H/9 is going to get him bashed around, and it's not like it was just the Balto game skewing the sample. The velocity is encouraging, and the HR rate is doable. trade a few of those hits for Ks and he'll be cooking, but I think he'll need a sharper breaking ball to get there.
  4. jmlease1
    Ober was very good last night. no-hitter through 5! Great to see him get through 7 on a night when the bullpen needed some relief. He's a good pitcher and seems to be in a pretty good groove: only 11 hits and 4 runs allowed in his last 4 starts. And because I'm 13 at heart, his last 3 Game Scores have been: 69, 69, 69. lol I'd still like to see the lineup generating some more free passes, but they're finding grass right now when they put the bat on the ball and they're not flailing away, so I'm ok with it. been some good baserunning in there too. Bowman definitely wobbled out there; 3 walks is not getting it done, but against the Angels they got through it. To quote the great Eppy Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh: "I looove winning, man! You know? Like, it beats losing?!?"
  5. jmlease1
    well, you can't get Rocco & the front office fired if you start winning...
  6. jmlease1
    I don't are who you're playing, taking all 4 from any team in MLB, even a rotten one like the ChiSox is good work. SWR got the job done, which is great. nice to see the ball flying out of the yard, especially for Julien who is hopefully getting himself back on track. 10 hits, 2 walks, 5 HRs, 6 runs? I'll take that. It's only a handful of games so far, but nice to see Larnach doing some work. Jeffers absolutely the stalwart this season.
  7. jmlease1
    Keaschall seems to be rolling right along. saw he got CF duty, anyone know how he looked out there? I'm glad to see him getting regular time in the field, be interesting to see how much time he spends in CF this season.
  8. jmlease1
    Farmer looks completely lost at the plate right now. Just a brutal slump. I don't think he's completely forgotten how to play baseball or had his skills utterly wiped out by age yet, but right now he's so far inside his head that he desperately needs some kind of reset. If Correa were back I'd say it's time for the 10 IL stint with a "sore back". Maybe some naked BP. Throw yourself in the laundry machine with your uniform on. Call in someone to cast out the demons & evil spirits (I know a guy, Kyle!). Anything to get him out of his head. This is painful, and he's a good dude. The dingers from Ryan are concerning, but as long as he's not putting guys on in front of them, it can be managed. But that's a bit of a tightrope. He's still getting plenty of K's, so it's pretty clear that he just gets punished hard for his mistakes. But he still got through 6. Bullpen has been good. We thought it would be a strength and they're doing well. Bowman...the results have been good, but some of the underlying numbers make me a little concerned. Stewart and Jax, though: no worries there. Looking forward to adding Duran back to the mix so they don't get overused though.
  9. jmlease1
    He's a very interesting prospect and I'm intrigued that he's working with looks like a 5 pitch mix at his age and level. a lot of young pitchers start out with a fastball and maybe 1-2 off-speed pitches and they really spend a lot of time trying to add an effective 2nd/3rd pitch as they go through the organization. I think it's a little more unusual to be working with 5 at this level, but it does present opportunities to refine and remove pitches later as they discover what's most effective for him. Glad to see him working in A-ball and he'll be fun to track as he progresses. Lot of talent.
  10. jmlease1
    Twins seem to be pretty high on De Andrade; I'll be interested to see if he can hit enough as he keeps moving up in the organization. Cespedes is having an excellent start to the season at Cedar Rapids. He's a little old for the level, but it is his first experience at high-A, so maybe this is a breakout opportunity.
  11. jmlease1
    Lopez having a rough game against the ChiSox was the worst part about this game. We need him to be good and he wobbled pretty badly against a team he could have gotten well against. Hopefully it's more about the weather than anything else, because we're a bit thin in the rotation with Varland having been (deservedly) sent down. Offense scratched it through late, but the lack of walks in this one is the bad signal for me. 14Ks against 1 BB is not a good formula, but they were able to bunch their 10 hits together enough to get it done. Larnach is certainly seizing his opportunity, which is good to see and Buxton looks like he's heating up as well. And Jeffers certainly has picked up where he left off from last season, which is huge. Hopefully they can hold it together until Correa and Lewis get back. Sands seems to have found something this season. Still small samples, but he really does seem legitimately better. Okert & Jackson have been underwheming but it's still early. Funderburk got it done, but I'm a little concerned about how hittable he's been. the big K numbers aren't as impactful when you're also giving up a hit every inning; hopefully that's just sample noise. No style points, but a win is a win and we're not in a position to question how we're getting them right now. It's not like you get extra credit in the standings for making it pretty! Bet parking was a mess last night with the Wolves playing at the same time across the street.
  12. jmlease1
    Yes, it's the ChiSox who are awful. But even jaw-droppingly, historically dreadful teams win 30% of their games so you have to take them seriously and beat the team in front of you. It was very nice to have a easy win. Paddack did the job very well, kept the ChiSox locked down. The changeup has always been good, but the fastball seems to be holding that additional velocity and the curveball has been better this year. Hopefully this is a start he can build on. Good job by the offense jumping on the ChiSox early and keeping it going. Is Max Kepler back? Be interesting if he's the catalyst
  13. jmlease1
    Doncon is really raking to start the season. While I don't expect him to stick at SS, if he keeps this up that bat will play wherever he lands in the infield. Good to see Schobel and Winokur getting going. Keaschall is having a terrific start to the season. He looks really good so far. I'm really impressed with the 12-9 walk to strikeout ratio. He's also doing making good contact and doing damage when he swings. Not bad at all. He stays on this track and he'll be in Wichita this year for sure.
  14. jmlease1
    Dang it was cold at the game! pre-game on the mall was brutal with that wind. Ober looked really good early and was mixing his pitches well. Tough call on pulling him: he was still doing ok, but was starting to wobble a bit. But it was really nice to see him throwing that cutter down and then getting in that good fastball at the top of the zone, changing speeds and eye-level. Hope they've figured out what he's tipping for KC, because it's clearly something. Martin's doing pretty well for a rookie. Hopefully he can keep legging out some doubles. I would like to see him given the green light on the bases when he does stop at 1B: he's got good speed and the skill to swipe bags. (I would like the Twins to run more generally; Julien, Martin, Buxton, and Castro are all guys who can give us an advantage on the bases but so far we're not seeing much there. Some of it's probably situational, but getting more aggressive on the bases should help generate some more runs too)
  15. jmlease1
    Keaschall is having a really nice start to the season: showing good pop and patience, plenty of contact, swiping some bases...he's even getting time back out in the field again. Great way to start the year for him. He was pushed pretty aggressively, so it's good to see him doing well out the gate. Good to see Winokur have a good night; he's been scrabbling a bit. I'll be interested to see where he sits in a month
  16. jmlease1
    the team that wants to only need 6-7 starters to get through a season and have them throw enough innings that they're not hoping a couple of meh relievers can give them 70-80 innings of competent relief? At a certainly point we're going to burn through so many starters that the surest way to a winning season is keeping your rotation mostly healthy...even if they're not elite. Which will be better: 30 starts from a decent starter who can consistently throw 6+ or 10 from an elite guy, 10 from a decent guy, and 10 from a garbage fire? It's an interesting question. I don't think we're there yet, but it could be a real factor if trends continue. I suspect baseball isn't going to deaden the ball...
  17. jmlease1
    Yeah, I'm no longer surprised by it, but I still wonder whether it's going to be effective. And I do think it's almost entirely about injury prevention, but I don't know that this gets to the cause of those injuries. Doncon is having a nice start to the season. Be great if he continues to hit like this in the FSL. I don't expect him to stick at SS, but if he can hit like this he won't need to be a real prospect.
  18. jmlease1
    It's worth a try to see if Larnach can bring some offensive thump to a lineup that needs it. Wallner looks lost right now and with an option available it makes sense to send him to Saint Paul to try and work on some things and maybe rebuild his confidence. We'll see if Larnach can handle MLB off-speed stuff this time around. If neither Wallner nor Larnach prove able to hold down a corner spot this season, it might be a long year...but it'll also open up opportunity for Martin and Rodriguez. There's always someone else behind looking for a chip, a chair, and a chance.
  19. jmlease1
    It's not time to start worrying about the Twins INF defense. The problem at 1B isn't defense, it's offense, as noted in the article. Julien looks solid enough at 2B, so the right side defense is fine. And it's hard to get too spun up about our SS defense when Correa should be back soon and looked excellent before picking up a ding. Maybe you can wonder about 3B since Miranda isn't great there and we don't really know when Lewis is going to be back, but it's not like Miranda is a butcher out there. I'm not worrying about the Twins infield defense. I'm worrying about their offense. With Correa out, Santana awful, and neither Castro nor Farmer hitting anything, the offense is a problem. (Julien's lack of contact is concerning, but he's still producing. Miranda is doing a nice job in a small sample size at the plate) With Correa out, we're getting basically nothing from SS or 1B on offense. The defense is fine, but we can't afford to have half the infield stink on offense on a given night. And right now Castro, Farmer, and especially Santana are awful a the plate. (technically Farmer is "worse", but he's also hit a lot less and an OPS+ difference of 2 pts is meaningless) infield offense is also not helped by Vazquez being a zero again at the plate when he starts. (His defense is still quality, but he's been brutal at the plate)
  20. jmlease1
    I don't think this has much to do with service time manipulation, more about utilization of options to keep fresh arms in the bullpen. The good thing is with the AAA club being in Saint Paul, it's less of a burden on the player than it used to be getting sent down for a short stint and called back up or vice-versa. Between injuries and the doubleheader, the Twins were in a bit of a squeeze. I expect Alcala back soon. I've been pleased with his output so far, and I think he's going to be an impact arm this year. Is it worth sending a good arm down and having him not available until the recall time passes to have a fresh arm vs going short for a couple of days when that pitcher isn't available because of extra work? YMMV. Not sure if was worth it for a "fresh" Bowman, but who knows.
  21. jmlease1
    I think they'll look at it around midseason. He's still very young, and right now this is all small samples. If he's still rolling at midseason, then I could see them bumping him up to Saint Paul. It's certainly the problem I want to have and the conversation that makes me smile.
  22. jmlease1
    I hope it's not a minor league development rule. We see our starters going 6 or more in MLB, and while I get not wanting to overstress young arms and build them up, at a certain point they do have to get some game experience in trying to pace themselves through longer stretches. nice game by Keaschall. He's on a roll right now at the plate. Hasn't seen much time in the field though...wonder why?
  23. jmlease1
    The injuries are certainly buying Santana playing time. Because dropping Kirilloff in at 1B right now...we're a bit short guys at DH and corner OF spots. I think Wallner would get sent down for a re-set if Larnach was ready but he's just started a rehab assignment. I mean, right here you want to drop Wallner and aren't happy with Margot or Buxton...I totally agree with you about Santana, but we are where we are now, so until some guys get healthy Santana is going to get more chances to turn it around. Farmer has enough of a track record that tossing him on the trash heap this early doesn't make a lot of sense, and with Correa down we need him to be an option at SS with Castro (which also pulls Castro out of the OF a bit) The offense isn't where it needs to be yet, but let see where things land at the end of april and we're a little past the small sample size/overreaction phase.
  24. jmlease1
    Kind of a strange career indeed, but nice to hear he's continued to work in baseball and coach in the minor leagues. Did not realize he was from Venezuela, so appreciate learning more about him. I wonder what happened in 1989 that made the Twins decide that Shane Rawley was a better option than giving Straker another chance? The immortal Freddie Tolliver got 5 starts for the '89 Twins and they wouldn't take another shot with Straker?
  25. jmlease1
    The question is whether the MLBPA would fight for something like this, or if they'll spend all their capital on things that benefit the top players making the biggest contracts. It's why there's been a split in the MLBPA recently, including the current internal union strife. But something like this is achievable.
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