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JD-TWINS

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Everything posted by JD-TWINS

  1. JD-TWINS
    The starters have two 4 inning outings - an absolute outlier with Ober at 1.33 innings - two 5+ inning starts (average) and a 7 inning start. After 6 games, with 2 new starters, I don’t think it’s that unusual. Varland & Paddack had decent stuff - not very efficient - they’ll get better. Ober had a 3.43 ERA last year so he’ll at least be average in ‘24. Not worried until end of April……need to be hitting stride by then. Pen depth has been as expected - there to lean on as needed. Probably won’t continue an ERA under 2.00 but they’ll be good.
  2. JD-TWINS
    I agree with your first paragraph regarding velocity having become king! UCL injuries seem commonplace……….Cleveland stuff was TMI for me this morning…….my point, specific to these two guys in the Twins organization, not their overall approach with arms in the organization, is these guys are young and not needed any time soon. Why not let them get physically stronger for another year or two before pushing their innings total - don’t see the harm?
  3. JD-TWINS
    To contrast - Varland was a full grown man after attending college. Ober & Winder have both had multiple physical issues. Don’t necessarily think their innings lead to Ober & Winder’s problems but that may be why the organization is protecting these younger arms? Graeterol too has had arm issues. Raya - Soto aren’t fully grown ………no problem letting them slowly develop and have success at each level for an entire year. They need to mature - they don’t need to be Doc Gooden. There’s no need to try and push pitchers into the MLB grinder prior to being 23-24 years old. Right now they have Ryan - Ober - SWR - Lopez - Festa - Varland are all around, with a couple other guys in the organization, through 2026……….no big rush for these young guys. Festa will be up at some point for 6-12 starts this year. SWR will also see 6-12 starts. Things are progressing.
  4. JD-TWINS
    Kepler is on pace to thrill us with 5 hits in his first 100 AB’s………..the epitome of “Failure to launch!” Come on MAX!!
  5. JD-TWINS
    Julien struck out looking 42% of his high strike out rate last year - 6th most in baseball. Two AB’s in, on Opening Day at Target, he’s struck out looking twice………bases loaded with 2 outs the second time. Good Pitcher - I get it but it’s a bad habit. He needs to be more aggressive to protect the plate with two strikes - PERIOD. Don’t care about his high walk rate and low chase % - one can’t bat lead-off and strike out looking repeatedly.
  6. JD-TWINS
    Kirilloff seems to have his launch angle working!! Just tripled off the wall in CF v. Guardians - double/triple Wednesday - flew out twice to the Track in another game - batting near .500……..appears healthy!!
  7. JD-TWINS
    The GOOD news is Buxton - Correa - Kirilloff are healthy and doing their job at a good level through 5 games. Buxton got a DH start and went 2-5 dispelling the “he can’t hit as a DH” theory (it’s one game I know - he was hurt all last year while being DH). 75-80% of games with him healthy & in the line-up is huge. Jeffers - Kepler - Farmer - Castro will all come around. Wallner may need a break in St. Paul to “re-set” at some point. Larnach - Lee being hurt isn’t helping our current need for depth on the 26-man. Santana from the left side is tough to watch - particularly in the middle of the line-up. Yesterday Kirilloff could have been at 1B with Wallner in LF - not a good sign when Wallner is sitting in the 5th game.
  8. JD-TWINS
    Regarding Martin - that’s baseball. He’s the depth guy this Spring. Speed & defense is his current role to provide. He takes BP and he’ll possibly get swapped out by early May by Lee? I don’t think his playing a limited role for 3-6 weeks will set him back. He is much more active than if he was injured…. I like Kiersey’s speed and defense as well! Would like him to get a look at least by September if he keeps his bat progressing. Agree completely on Farmer & Castro, might take 3-4 weeks & some warm weather games to get going……..it’ll happen. Just developing Miranda for options as you state - not expecting him playing at Target any time soon.
  9. JD-TWINS
    Seemed to me he wasn’t being handled properly - he’s gotta do it, ultimately - but he was actually ahead a lot of the time and then nibbled his way into 3-2 counts…….time after time. Need to determine an out pitch or a pitch to weak contact offering. Change-up? Cutter in to lefties? Fastball up or away? There didn’t seem to be command with strikes. Just being an athlete & “throwing”. The Yelich at bat was typical outcome of going 3-2 way too often…………can’t go Middle-Middle to anyone, particularly the #3 hitter. He hit it about 425 straight away.
  10. JD-TWINS
    The Pen has thrown 15 2/3 according to my memory & they’ve given up runs in one of 4 games. 3 runs over 6 2/3 on Sunday. ERA 1.72 for the group…….Ober’s performance is the only discouraging one from the Staff so far. Pretty good overall performance. Gotta score to win. A comparison, to keep hopeful - Bryce Harper was 0-11 going into last night after 3 games. He went 3-4 with 3 HR in game 4. There’s reason to stay upbeat.
  11. JD-TWINS
    Lewis is a huge hole…….Wallner - Jeffers and a couple others aren’t going to hit ZERO so there is hope over a bigger sampling size. I thought Varland had good stuff! Velocity was good - change up looked good - cutter & slider had different speeds with movement. However, his command was not there. Actually, he didn’t miss spots that bad & could have gotten 2-3 calls that would have changed things. Can’t go 3-2 to guys routinely - his high fastball is a weapon but it has to hit the zone. Taking him out after 89 pitches was best physically early in the year and definitely best mentally for him.
  12. JD-TWINS
    I don’t think there is any distinction between 4 & 5 other than their first start. With innings being an issue there’s no reason to skip a guy to then have the other 4 throw sooner in the big picture. Seems any extra time between starts will be taken advantage of every time.
  13. JD-TWINS
    FYI - Wallner has 5 K’s in 7 AB’s through 4 games……….won’t get into Spring numbers. Margot is NOT a favorite of mine!! However, when he initially pinch hit he got on base. Can’t have it both ways…………I get the frustration.
  14. JD-TWINS
    Am through 3 innings of Varland’s first start & he’s not sharp. Up around 70 pitches through 3 innings. Going to 3-2 with probably 10 of the first 16 batters. Really good stuff!! Nice change-up …. good fastball …….Milwaukee announcers complementing his cutter/slider. Just out there THROWING. Does not look like a pitcher at all. His thoughts on location either aren’t there or he lacks command. I think he’s throwing it where he wants most of the time - I don’t think he has a very good plan. Looks like an athlete that’s never been coached. I like Louie but he’s not giving himself nor the Team a chance. Hope these 3-4 guys behind him have a better approach. A lot to expect with youth!
  15. JD-TWINS
    Are: Brave’s depth…….they can have 2-3 starters out of the line-up and the remaining guys will carry the club’s offense! They are really good & have mashers at least 1-6 in their line-up. They’ll piece together a Pen that’s at least average.
  16. JD-TWINS
    I like the focus the Team seems to have on slider - tough pitch to hit and can be tough to master. If the pitcher can use it around the plate consistently it makes a guy’s fastball that much more effective. No need to keep trying to find guys that can be moved into the 7th/8th inning (high leverage). If he can pitch effectively in the 5th - 6th to get to a clean 7th for another guy - that amount of value/niche is just fine for a guy that was 10 or 11 on the Pen depth chart 3-4 weeks ago.
  17. JD-TWINS
    New people are great. Bullpen is supposed to be (predicted by baseball people) to be the best in the A.L. - 3 of top 5 guys are hurt to start the season. They are OK with depth guys for now……should start returning in 3-4 weeks. Have a couple starters that are “hopeful” at the back of the rotation. One guy that’s “consistent” laid an egg Sunday. Generally, the staff should be top 2-4 in the American League.
  18. JD-TWINS
    Starting pitchers through 2 games: 12 1/3 innings - 10 hits - 1 walk - 2 runs - dozen K’s!!! 1-0. Not bad, even if against the Royals. Looking forward to Ober today.
  19. JD-TWINS
    No problem with replacing Wallner for key speed & to have the RH bat in line-up against Will Smith from the Pen, eventually. I didn’t get pinch hitting Margot for Martin - seemed unnecessary.
  20. JD-TWINS
    Played Correa 135 games and he had a hard time running in about 100 of those!
  21. JD-TWINS
    Last year the Yankees had 7 guys play 100 or more games. The Dodgers in ‘23 had 10 guys play 100 or more games. The TWINS had 9 guys play 100 or more games in ‘23. Gotta have “best guys” healthy to have them in the line-up. Buxton - hurt Lewis - hurt Farmer - hurt Polanco - hurt Kepler - hurt Mahle - hurt Maeda - hurt Tough to get guys on the field if they aren’t capable of playing! Good managers win with what they have……win when guys aren’t producing……Kepler - Buxton - Vazquez - etc. Nothing wrong with the Manager, IMO.
  22. JD-TWINS
    6-8 weeks seems probable the way he was hobbling at 3B Thursday.
  23. JD-TWINS
    On the bright side - Buxton just hit a one hopper over the 3B head for a double……..he looks like he’s 23! Knock on wood somewhere.
  24. JD-TWINS
    Glad he seems mentally prepared to be in either corner spot as well as CF. He’ll get AB’s and pinch run a bunch IMO. They now have an alternative for Kepler in RF v. LH starting pitching with Martin. Castro at 3B - Farmer at 2B - Margot in LF is a good line-up v. LH pitching.
  25. JD-TWINS
    Doubt he gets many - he may spell Buxton every 5th day? I think he pinch runs and plays OF defense after entering games. He’s insurance. He’ll get a few AB’s a week. Still behind Margot.
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