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Althebum82

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Everything posted by Althebum82

  1. Althebum82
    Great article! I found myself agreeing with each grade. The game has evolved into the search for “value discoveries “ and it’s cool when you find one, but too commonly a futile exercise that looks incredibly stupid.
  2. Althebum82
    You know he has not publicly complained this year about playing second base but last year he expressed his displeasure pretty succinctly. After three seasons of offensive performance below expectations (conceding that injuries partly contributed to that), it’s time to move on. He is what he has been, and it’s unrealistic to project any further improvement.
  3. Althebum82
    Begrudgingly have to agree. As bad as I thought the decision was to bring him back I thought it was even worse to give any runway to Outman and Roden . But because they were acquired at the trade deadline it was pretty clear they had to have every opportunity to prove their inadequacies. Happy to have Larnach prove me wrong, but sadly stills waiting for Roden to go away.
  4. Althebum82
    Fans used to grumble about Mauer as a first baseman, but since he retired we have had 33 different guys play first base now over 8 seasons. Only Sano and Kiriloff played there in half of those seasons, cementing the apparent franchise mentality has been that first base is a throw-away position for which we do not intend to pay top dollar to fill. Why would we expect to have any long-term solution in 2027?
  5. Althebum82
    Those are some pretty damning numbers for Wallner's last 30 games especially in an offense-happy league. Rogers was a reasonable signing off of a decent, although past-his-prime, 2025. Just watch the Cubs sign him next year and squeeze one more great season out of him before he reverts back to retirement-ready numbers in 2028 (a la Caleb Thielbar). All Josh Bell has done is lead the team in RBI for the season. I really hated the signing the first two months especially, but it seemed like once they removed the glove off of his left hand his offense took off. Do I think he should come back? Not really. It is becoming harder and harder to watch one dimensional players, even though they have clearly been a part of MLB since it began, even before the DH role was created. Sigh. How much patience can Royce Lewis be shown? Remember the comments from Derek Shelton that once he was announced as manager Lewis was one of the first players he contacted? So, yes, he will be back. We have seen him more healthy this season than previous years. It seems hard to expect, though, improvement despite his gaudy entrance into the league. I do not expect him to survive 2027, however.
  6. Althebum82
    Sure, why not? Unfortunately, we have three regulars in our starting rotation that either need to be replaced or significantly improve next year. Unless Raya as a reliever is the next coming of Jhoan Duran (maybe he is), his proposed future is of little relevance to filling a most critical need for this franchise.
  7. Althebum82
    Given the state of this team's current starting pitching rotation, Kremer's effort this game is a very welcome sight. Four games away from the wild card spot and four teams ahead of us....this club is not dead yet, but also does not have enough juice to look full of life either. If they can take the series today, we can at least still consider them somewhat entertaining.
  8. Althebum82
    I am, by nature, an "it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings" optimist. But, I concede that this loss broke my spirit. Has this team had its hot streaks, even against good teams? Actually, they have. Just not enough of them to call the Twins a good playoff team. And, weirdly, some of those hot streaks were, indeed, on the road. Weak schedule the rest of the way be damned, I felt a series win in Chicago was essential. We didn't have the talent to pull that off. Yes, this is still technically meaningful September baseball, which was not true last year. But.....please do not take that concession being the same as watching enjoyable baseball.
  9. Althebum82
    Boy, did I get disheartened easily when I snuck a quick look at my phone to see we were down 3-0 in the first inning. This is against a good team at their home park after our favorite team showed limited offensive prowess the previous night. The next peek revealed us up at 5-3! Culpepper is showing he is the real deal and positioning him behind a very hot Keaschall in the line-up sure looked like a great move tonight. Hope it continues. Bullpen really did come through. Minter, while facing a limited number of batters each outing, seems to really dominate. Impressive win, but we are in a position where we need to string a whole bunch of wins together (impressive or not) to undo a terrible August.
  10. Althebum82
    The team really has no other option but to give him a chance to figure it out. For Pete’s sake we are listing Morris as our starter tonight.
  11. Althebum82
    Thank you for the background on Anthony Felston. I had to look him up. According to Baseball Reference it appears he struggled a bit in his second season of AA New Britain (1999) and then his career ended. I could not find where he played in any other country. What amazing stolen base totals, though! I also see that Ben Ross got the starting assignment in CF with no Jenkins in the line-up. I have only thought of him as an infielder....so is his skill set in CF more like Keaschall or more like Clemens?
  12. Althebum82
    Yes, the potential still exists to still upgrade the bullpen even though much progress was made at the deadline.. It is clear that a poorly performing left-handed Rogers will hang on due to sentimentality. Adams has a great ability to get strikeouts, but has otherwise been too hittable all season. It is now too late to wait for him to "come around". Acton, Merryweather or maybe Anderson should replace them. Sadly, those type of changes at this point that are like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. We really need a heathy Joe Ryan in addition to somebody better than Prelipp (god bless him for giving it everything he's got) in the starting rotation. Unfortunately, there are no candidates beating now the door as an upgrade to what we now have.
  13. Althebum82
    Bell played over 600 innings at 1B before June 1, and has only played 15 innings since then. It could be just a coincidence that his offense thrived when he no longer had to worry about his defense? Maybe. But let's not test that theory, it appears he is one the better players for whom the DH role was created.
  14. Althebum82
    The roster expands in 12 days to 28 players. Therefore, no one would need to be sent down to add Rojas. Whenever Ryan does return, then someone will be cut.
  15. Althebum82
    Nice idea trying a short Jack Anderson start, but not with promising results. Sigh. The Saints are hitting so many home runs that apparently starting pitching is irrelevant. Rojas is an obvious pitching call-up twelve days from now. Jenkins the hitter? It's too bad that we can't find a way to trade some of this offensive talent (Wallner, Sabato) for a pitcher with even a modest future. Lastly, sure would like to see Acton and Merryweather brought up in the bullpen some day.
  16. Althebum82
    One has to wonder how Larnach landing in Houston might have created the desired "roster construction". Guess we'll never know. But, boy has the decision on Culpepper looked great so far. We are still carrying baggage on this roster. But we are also now definitely a lock for the playoffs so guess I better stop complaining! 😁
  17. Althebum82
    Who'da thunk throwing in Randy Dobnak of all people last year at the deadline was going to burn us before this year's trade deadline? While he underperformed last year in St Paul and seemed like a tiresome and mildly expensive liability, his role with this organization would have put him ahead of all three of these names. I like Anderson and Rojas, kudos to what the Twins have gotten from them so far and I hope they return soon to show us more, in whatever role. The reason why the Padres gave up on Marquez was that in his last outing he faced 8 batters with 4 of them scoring. However, the prior game he was brilliant earning a five inning save. He's a safer gamble than Dallas Keuchel was. The opt out dates are pretty ridiculous, though. Let him walk if he wants to do so.
  18. Althebum82
    Nice article. Fastball speed is the only metric where Ober has underachieved expectations. We are all learning that today's standard fastball speeds are leading to more injuries to starting pitchers. Ober did get hurt, but came back relatively quickly. The Twins cannot yet afford to give up on him. Larnach has been a total surprise, and is the type of asset that has max trade value right now. He will not be back.
  19. Althebum82
    When Martin got hurt the radio announcers speculated that Roden might be dealing with an undisclosed physical issue temporarily. Something annoying enough to keep him off the field but not serious enough to disclose. It’s a fair guess,, but an unsubstantiated one for now. By the way, we trust Kriedler to play center but he can’t come off the bench and play left? Moving Clemens seems unnecessary to me. Anyway, thankfully we got to hang on to Jackson.
  20. Althebum82
    Kriedler with his three strikeouts got his first action of the season at 2B today. The way he started this year it looked like he could be the next Kody Clemens, but his last 30 games show him hitting worse than his horrible career MLB stats. We are clearly in trouble now at 2B if he is getting a start. Morissette in St Paul has started over 40 games without an error at 2B. Ben Ross has been floated as an overlooked infielder. Both have hit well. Dang it, even with this ugly loss we are still only a half game away from making the playoffs. Please tell me we can do better than Kriedler at 2B if Clemens cannot start there for some reason. We already have proof that Keaschall and Lewis can't handle the position. Please find someone that can.
  21. Althebum82
    Somebody’s gotta be in the market for a competitive defensive catcher who bats over.300. Sure hard to imagine him staying with this organization for another tour of duty.
  22. Althebum82
    Looked at the "last 15 games" numbers for Roden. Surprisingly respectable! Did the same thing for Martin......and he is doing even better. If recency has any relevance, we need to ride Martin and his strengths/weaknesses through the end of the season.
  23. Althebum82
    Kind Mr Donaldson seems like such a nice young man so nicely sharing his nice thoughtful observations and opinions about our nice fans. But I think I am mediocrely ambivalent at best about ever having his name invade my consciousness ever again. And, I mean that, of course, in the nicest way possible.
  24. Althebum82
    So, we DO still have a former Twins closer on our roster who has recorded two saves this season.... unfortunately, those were in back-to-back appearances in May and he has been pretty unreliable ever since. Middle inning usage has charitably vultured him with six wins, further affirming that if we have to hang on to him in our bullpen, he seems to have enough luck to have a role on the team as far away from a closer role as possible.
  25. Althebum82
    I just don't have the stomach any longer for the two we saw last night. Acton and Merryweather are both back healthy and proving ready to step up, and Jack Anderson has shown promise at both levels that the Twins need to further test. It looks like they are trying to stretch Rojas into a starter, but he has already contributed well as a long man at MLB, let's roster him where he really belongs. All are on the 40 man.
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