Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

Rod Carews Birthday

Verified Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,727

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    2

 Content Type 

Profiles

News

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospects Ranking

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Tracker: Picks & Bonuses

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by Rod Carews Birthday

  1. Rod Carews Birthday
    Figuring out potential relief pictures is an incredibly nebulous process. Bullpens across baseball are filled with failed starters whose stuff plays better in small samples, “mystery guys” who don’t seem to have great stuff but seem to get guys out, and lights out killers who just get up and blow people away. It sounds like Hoffman might have unlocked something, putting him in the first category, but I’m guessing we’ll learn a bit more in the next couple of weeks as he gets more use. If they have some faith that he could be effective, it makes a lot of sense to send Megill to St. Paul. It’s like having an extra reliever (and certainly more flexibility) for little to no investment. Psychologically, I feel better with this than I do with the continuing Pagan fixation, even if Pagan has the better stuff on paper.
  2. Rod Carews Birthday
    This has got to be one of Baldelli’s most difficult calls. Kepler’s great glove gives him a high floor such that he doesn’t hurt the team immensely if his bat isn’t working very well - even at a slugger position, but on the other hand, sometimes the bat gets so bad that the glove just can’t make up for it. He’s obviously the starting RF on opening day, but if things go South with his hitting, I think he’s going to get a lot fewer at bats as the season progresses. There is just too much depth behind him not to try some new players at the position.
  3. Rod Carews Birthday
    I think that Correa is happy, healthy, and comfortable coming into the year, which is already a switch from last year after signing a disappointing (length) contract at the last minute and having a short spring training to get his head, bat, and glove right. As a competitive athlete, he also probably would like to show the world (or at least NY and SF) that they made a big mistake by not signing him. All of those things point to a player who is likely to have a very good season, barring injuries. The Correa at the end of last season would be nice, but I would happily take the one from May and June.
  4. Rod Carews Birthday
    I think that this is the most likely outcome -- assuming no injuries prior to that time. Essentially, Ober "goes away" for a couple of weeks and shows back up when the overall pitching workload gets high, then sticks around for a while. I can't imagine that one of the pitchers wouldn't need a day off by skipping a start by the time we get to May either. No matter how I look at it, I don't see the Twins putting Maeda in the bullpen to start the season. It's possible through innings limits and ineffectiveness he may find himself there, but initially he's likely to start games. Too many effective starters in spring training. . . Wow! I never thought that would be a problem!
  5. Rod Carews Birthday
    Having lived near Chicago for the past almost thirty years, I can attest to the unpredictability of the White Sox with regard to projections, predictions, payroll, motivation, and every other variable you can think of. If sometimes you think that the Twins are maddening, just try figuring out the White Sox. Even in 2005, when they wound up winning it all, no one really saw it coming -- Frank Thomas didn't even play most of the season including the WS. They got hot at the right time and rode some amazing pitching performances through the series. They stayed "OK" for a bit but never really put it together again. The 2021 version that came from nowhere to win the division arrived at least a year earlier than they were expected to and probably overachieved because they didn't know they weren't supposed to be that good yet. Last year, injuries and ineffectiveness crept back in and they were a sub-.500 team (OK, they were actually 81-81, but they seemed worse!). On paper, with everyone healthy, they are pretty dangerous, but over the course of the season and minus Jose Abreu, things could go South pretty quickly. I think that no matter what kind of year Andrew Vaughan manages to come up with, the Sox will miss Abreu's presence in the lineup immensely.
  6. Rod Carews Birthday
    This is a terrific (re-)signing. Virtually no risk. While not a star, he has proven upside and has been effective for the team in the past. If we need him, he will likely be ready and able. I do agree with you. I wonder how many teams would have him active in their bullpen as a lefty right now?
  7. Rod Carews Birthday
    Agreed, although Camilo Pascual was fading hard by the time those guys got really good. Throw Dave Boswell in there in the latter part of the decade as well. It would be amazing to have several guys well over 200 innings like that. It probably made the bullpen a lot better as well. Comparing pitching across eras is pretty difficult though, plus in 1965 (especially) they really did have a murderer’s row of hitters — something like 7 or 8 well above average hitters even though Harmon Killebrew had an off year by his standards. I think an interesting study, although I’m not sure how to do it, would be to compare the really good Orioles rotations of the late 1960’s/early 1970’s with the Braves rotations that had Smoltz, Glavine, and Maddox. Unfortunately, I don’t think the Twins have ever had a rotation that compared to those.
  8. Rod Carews Birthday
    I believe the answer is two.
  9. Rod Carews Birthday
    I think Mahle could get a possible extension for probably no more than 4 years, which means the $$ will need to be pretty big on an AAV basis. Something like 4/$95 might be in the ballpark. Maeda and Gray are too old (and I don't think Gray is enamored with the Twins). If there is no Mahle extension, I could definitely see a qualifying offer for both Mahle and Gray, but probably not for Maeda. The pitcher(s) that I think are truly the most likely candidates are Lopez and Ryan. I think Lopez is young enough and promising enough (and they gave up a lot to get him) that they will want to lock him up for a while. Not sure on $$ because the resume isn't completely there yet, but he probably has more potential than any of them -- maybe 5/$125 (or maybe that's not enough, especially if he is very good this year). Ryan also doesn't have the long standing resume and is under team control for a while, which means they will try to get a more team friendly deal -- more than he would get through his league minimum and arbitration years, but less than true market value. At the end of the day, however, it depends on how much these pitchers want to go to free agency to chase the money vs. how much they would like to remain in MN (see Berrios, Jose). I think the tide may be changing a bit on free agents wanting to come to MN, as the Twins certainly seem to be trying very hard to build a winning team.
  10. Rod Carews Birthday
    As fans we almost always get excessively excited by prospects who show promise in the minors. Sometimes, we get lucky and it all works out, but just as often, we are left to wonder about what might have been if something had just worked out a little bit differently. Being a prospect is an uncertain thing! In Julien’s case, he had a good year and a tremendous AFL season, so we are all assuming that he could just show up at Target Field and rake. I really hope that is true, but I recall a couple of years ago we were all chomping at the bit for Kiriloff and Larnach to become big league power guys and fixtures in the lineup for years. . . still waiting on that. It might still happen, but I think our expectations have been tempered a great deal. All this is to say, relax about projecting the minor league guys into the majors and stop asking where we are going to put Lewis, Lee, Julien, et al, worrying that there won’t be enough spots for all of the star power. Give them more time to develop and we’ll see what it looks like then. Maybe they force their way into the lineup and never leave like Justin Morneau (although his second year wasn’t that great). Maybe something derails their path along the way, like has happened to Lewis (twice!), Balazovic (he could still make it), Kubel, and so many others. Let’s just hope they continue to develop and show up when they are ready to stay on the big club. Let’s get this season started!
  11. Rod Carews Birthday
    Great article Seth. While it sounds like he obviously has plenty left to do, he's young and very projectable. You can't really fake a strikeout rate like that - especially as a lefty. He is definitely a player to watch.
  12. Rod Carews Birthday
    The Twins did him no favors when he was rushed to the majors (out of necessity), and that has slowed his development quite a lot. What they did was find a guy seemed promising but needed two more years of school, hoping he could just skip those classes and succeed anyway. Unfortunately, now it looks like he is being punished and sent back down (after he heals) when he is really just getting in the classes and hopefully finishing the degree before he comes back. I understand why it had to be done, but now they are paying the price. The Celestino situation is EXACTLY why I am NOT clambering for Julien or Lee to be called up to the majors anytime soon. They are both incredibly promising but they need to put in the work and learn in a low pressure situation so that they can be called up, be successful, and stay up in the majors once they get here. Give them time to develop on the farm. Don't waste service time while they try to figure it out on the fly.
  13. Rod Carews Birthday
    Those would be amazing! I think Gallo and Lopez are most likely to actually happen with the Gallen trade the least likely. Buxton having a real season and finding a gem in Julien would be awesome but I'm not holding my breath. My fingers are crossed.
  14. Rod Carews Birthday
    I think it is interesting how much the Twins roster has changed in just the past few years. RF, LF, and 1B are three "power hitter" positions and we only sort of have that covered with Gallo/Kepler. Kiriloff might become that, but he's not there yet. I don't think that relatively a "2 WAR" player is bad, but those are the positions that tend to be occupied by stronger hitters than we currently have in place. So, compared to the rest of the league, we don't look very good here.
  15. Rod Carews Birthday
    Julien needs to at least begin the year in the minors. It will be better for his long term development. Playing well in spring training is great and useful but let him go down and rake for at least a half year. That will force the issue and be a wonderful problem to have on our hands. THEN, we can figure out who to trade/release (or who is hurt!) to make that happen. I want him to come up and stay up, not be doing the St. Paul shuffle because he can't figure out how to handle major league pitching.
  16. Rod Carews Birthday
    The problem with trading for a “#1/Ace” starter is that aside from a small number of names (probably less than ten - Johan Santana used to be one of those), you don’t really know what is going to happen and you wind up trading for the player that they were the year before . . . for another team. Pitchers are way too unpredictable and variable to bank on one name to do it all. In most cases, these #1 guys have a year or maybe two where they are that good (see Hughes, Phil and Mazda, Kenya) and are otherwise mortals. As I see it, the Twins have one guy in Gray who is going to be pretty good (but likely not an ace) and pretty predictable, one guy in Mazda who is recovering from injury and is a bit of a wildcard but could also be pretty good,, and three guys in Mahle, Lopez, and Ryan who are definite candidates to break out and be more productive than ever before. I prefer that to trading away half of the farm for a year or two of a guy who was previously really good for another team.
  17. Rod Carews Birthday
    As a manager, this has got to be the most exciting time for Baldelli. He is comfortably in his role. The team arguably has more talent than he's ever had to work with before. The key leaders are locked up for a few years. Whether that translates into playoff success is a great unknown, but it has to feel good going into the year like this. I don't think he's remotely on the hot seat either, nor should he be, but this really could be a time to create a legacy as manager of the Twins. Best of luck to you Rocco!
  18. Rod Carews Birthday
    Managing his workload will be the key. Obviously we'll be very happy if he gets to 120-150 innings with a reasonable ERA. For starter #5, that's pretty impressive and a lot better than anything that we have gotten from that spot the past few years (decades?). Somewhere along the way, he's going to need a break and a few skipped starts in order to limit his innings (assuming no setbacks/injuries). That will also be a great time to see what some of the starters down at AAA have to offer.
  19. Rod Carews Birthday
    In the short term, it would appear that Cleveland is our rival for the division, but don't count out Chicago. They could easily surprise if their young talent stays healthy. I've always felt that Chicago is the more traditional rivalry even though it doesn't really inspire the kind of other team hatred that is prevalent in other rivalries. As someone who lives in the Chicago area, I go to Twins/Sox games every year wearing my Twins jerseys and usually wind up in a really positive discussion with a random Sox fan about the teams this year. They are largely just real baseball fans who even cheer for the other team when something good happens. I guess most of the nastiness gets tied up on the other side of town for the Cubs and Cardinals.
  20. Rod Carews Birthday
    Thanks for an excellent breakdown. If he can maintain his late season numbers, Moran will indeed be extremely valuable and also be insurance in case there is any fall off from Theilbar from the left side. There are always plenty of innings to be taken care of by the bullpen so we’re going to need many good pitchers to step up and maintain consistency.
  21. Rod Carews Birthday
    Oops! Oh yeah. Forgot about that!
  22. Rod Carews Birthday
    Thanks for the update. My preference is generally for printed words but the little videos are a nice changeup from the usual fare. I would prefer some other background than walking around the outside of the stadium . . . maybe turn around and make a video with the game in the background? The Larnach injury could be concerning (or not, as they don't tell you the severity or nature of the injury). Hopefully it is nothing serious and he'll be back at it in a day or two.
  23. Rod Carews Birthday
    It seems like Cavaco and Sabato are already toast -- no reports of injuries, but no good production either. They would both seem to be on thin ice. I think Larnach still has a great deal of hope. When he has been healthy for brief periods Larnach has hit well and been a solid defender. Labeling him a bust is certainly premature, and if he doesn't make it because of injuries, that's not on the draft evaluators.
  24. Rod Carews Birthday
    First of all I think that Ohtani is an excellent pitcher. He was very good two years ago and excellent last year. I don't know if that makes him what people on the boards are calling a "true ace" or not -- 160 innings of 2.33 pitching in his very best year. $32M per year? Not sure. He's definitely not the workhorse that Justin Verlander is. As for a DH, again he is very good. $27M per year good for a pure DH? Also not so sure that's the going rate, and combining the two of those salaries puts it way too far over the top to be worthwhile. Someone may pay the man, but just because you can doesn't mean you should. Let someone else write that check.
  25. Rod Carews Birthday
    This is indeed encouraging for both of these pitchers. I am especially excited by Ryan continuing to develop (on the fly, in the majors!) into a better and better pitcher. He kind of strikes (pun intended) me as being particularly cerebral about his pitching, so I agree, with more pitches to go with his crazy good/deceptive fastball, he becomes a stud!
×
×
  • Create New...