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Old Twins Hat

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  1. Let me help you with the syntax on that quote: I'm not sure how he continues to be someone we can't count on.
  2. The Twins are not a great team, but pitching, defense and 3-run homers can carry anyone.. Still tinkering with the bullpen, but Morris looks like a keeper. Sometimes a group of young guys start to believe, in themselves and something more. One or two rookies show up, a couple of veterans step up, make a trade for another pen arm -- pretty soon, you become a surprise team, dangerous and fun to watch.
  3. I didn't care for Correa, or his attitudes about wealth and how much he deserved to be lavished with money -- despite having been "in" on that cheating scandal. What was that quote about him comparing himself to Christian Dior jewelry? Yuck. I don't think he was good for the Twins clubhouse, with all the young players coming up having to listen to his bossy chatter about every little thing. I'm not saying he's a bad person; maybe especially now that he has found more religious purpose in this life. But, having someone like Correa over the top of a team was not, in my opinion, good for morale or infused with the scrappy, underdog aesthetic that I appreciate in a small-market team.
  4. With Ober, now he is throwing under 88 on his four-seam, and still occasionally getting a swing and miss. If you watch closely, he's got great movement on the slider and change, but as he goes along, the movement in the 5th and 6th gets loopy and now he's vulnerable. I understand the arm, the legs, a pitcher starts to labor, and that is something that can't be helped. But, if he can hold up the other team's offense with that off-balancing act into the 5th or 6th, that's enough to be effective. The bullpen will have off-nights and the Tigers were smelling blood in the water. We still need one or two more guys who can get outs reliably, maybe even strike-outs. Drew Smith and that Bash fella' are in line to get a shot at filling those spots.
  5. Twins are off to a bad start, not just cold. Neither Buxton, nor Keaschall are hitting the ball. Jeffers is a no-show, Lewis, sure, a couple dingers and doubles, but questionable on defense and he can't hit a single. Wallner hogging challenges when he lets good pitches go by, then takes the cake by K'ing five times in a game. The lefties, Clemens, Larnach, Outman -- just not enough talent there. Lee not good on offense and worse on defense. There's just no where to go with this line-up. The pitching is competitive for the most part but where's the heart in this team? Shelton talks about "intention" but it sure looks like the coaching and management are the ones with no intention to make this team better. Roden is the best lefty outfielder in the organization but he's got options so he plays in St.Paul, while the Twins have no option except to take it on the chin. Not going to waste any more time on this team until they bring up their youngsters and quit putting such a lousy product on the field. Are you watching Joe Pohlad? You said you would make the Twins competitive? It's not happening.
  6. Another ugly game among many. Shocking how awful the Rays look and have played this early part of the season -- leading the league in errors, and in bullpen ERA. Junior Caminero with 7 errors already? Kevin Cash, longest tenured manager in MLB, must be feeling insecure. Sorry, but Ober's velocity does matter. The Rays had four hard-hit doubles in four innings. Ober threw 80 pitches before being pulled. We can hope that a 6' 9" right-handed Jamie Moyer will be able to hold a spot in the rotation, but, reality is, with fast ball velocity dropping below 90, below 89, it's just not going to play against good teams. I have loved watching him pitch, but now, it's cringe-worthy. Wallner? Five K's, some in big situations, and the Twins still score 10? What an ugly game, only slightly more palatable than the 12-9 disaster in KC amidst a typhoon. Will see what happens, but Keaschall is the Twins best player, and the next best 3 or 4 are currently playing in St. Paul. Hope Buck is okay but he has been striking out all spring, in WBC and now in the regular season. Not a good look, and not looking good for the Twins -- terrible baserunning, indifferent defense, spotty hitting with RISP -- the best part of their team, hilariously enough, has been their bullpen!
  7. I don't mean to be negative, but, the Twins didn't play a good game today. Three homers in the 9th is what people will focus on but prior to that, except for Bradley's pitching, they were pathetic. The Twins scored a run when Cody Clemens looked for all the world that he lost track of the count to Royce Lewis, thought he had struck out and was reaching to remove his batting gloves and walking toward third when Salvador Perez threw the ball to 2B to pick him off. Cody realized that he had made a mistake and broke toward 3B, the throw was high and glanced off the 2nd baseman's glove and Clemens scored. Clemens' mistake was trumped by Perez' bad throw or this would have been a totally different game. Tristan Gray played SS for Lee, who has been poor at fielding and not great at the plate. Results: Gray struck out three times and popped out, made one bad throw to 1B allowing Perez to reach, and in the 7th, made a terrible throw on a Perez ground, which, without a stellar reaction play by Keaschall would have been a game changer. Clemens by the way dropped a pop-up off Witt's bat with the tying run on base, and muffed the poor throw by Gray, and, as well, bloodied his face in an awkward slide into 2B. Caratini made a stupid baserunning blunder in the second and was out by a mile at third. On and on. They don't look well-coached. They don't seem to know the most basic things about how to win at this level. WTF? They haven't had a lot of luck to start the year, but they aren't creating and cashing in opportunities either. Hope something changes or this team will rise to the level of their talent, which in this case means: no-wheres-ville.
  8. Using Caratini to generate a RH bat against Lefties. So, Jeffers and Caratini and Bell and Lee against Lefties. Sorry, that's weak, slow and lacks power. Throw in Martin in LF -- if I am the opposing manager, I would bring up a AAA lefty to face that lineup. They need a RH stick, like GG or Culpepper, and in general, they need some better energy, talent, speed and even body language. I mean, I am happy Royce has two dingers, but he runs around the bases as if he has just single-handedly won the World Series. If I am a major leaguer, and admittedly I am an old timer, but if I am on a losing team, I don't go wild celebrating until we start winning games.
  9. Prospect Promotion Incentive whereby a team loses a year of player control by bringing in a rookie to start or almost start the year, but because of their performance in Rookie of Year voting, the team gets an extra draft pick. How high? How close to Rookie of the Year to win it? No idea, but, it's out there and both Cleveland and Detroit are going for it with De Lauter and McGonigle now in the lead. How crazy if the Twins could win the PPI with someone like Culpepper but give up on it without even trying.
  10. Kind of funny that every baseball expert, and much of the TD illuminatti, bashed the Twins as losers because of trading their Bullpen at the deadline last year. Zero percent chance of making the playoffs, and less than that of winning the World Series. (Trump math.) It's early, but the Twins bullpen, affectionately known as the Pagans, after former reliever Emiliano Pagan, is doing okay. And for those who want to continue to bash the pen, there are potentially high-end replacement parts: Prielipp, Klein, Raya, and now Drew Smith, formerly a pretty good Met, Altavilla, Bowman, Brebbia, and in the mother of all coincidences, a guy named Bash. So, go ahead, bash the Bash, or, I guess the Pagans, but this is why insiders keep saying it: rebuilding a bullpen in MLB is a hell of a lot easier, cheaper, quicker and generally more doable, than trying to put together five good starters. And the Twins may get to five good starters yet, even without Pablo. Can Sands close? Maybe. Will Drew Smith? Who knows? We just know that over time, quality will rise to the top and they will have credibility as a group. It's the offense that will need to step up. And if they don't? There's Jenkins, Culpepper, Gonzales, Rodriguez and Roden waiting in the wings. Could be an exciting year. And yes, in the immortal words of Tom Pohlad, another guy whose name is regularly "bashed", a competitive year. Go Twins.
  11. No panic. Baltimore got a couple seeing eye hits; the Twins swung early with runners on base and hit it right at 'em. No one wins a game by going 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position, and usually they are massacred. Twins need a RH bat, one that is hitterish and can put the ball into gaps. That means Gabby Gonzalez needs to play, even if mainly DH. We got to hope an outfielder in MLB gets hurt and the team and will take Larnach or Outman for a single A pitching prospect. Also, and obviously, Twins need someone who can throw hard in the Pen, preferably Right Handed. The bullpen will be a season long project to rebuild, and while that's doable, it will mean incurring some losses on the way. But, it's a lot more exciting to be rooting for young guys on their way up, like Keaschall, Martin and Wallner, plus guys who should be better, like Lewis and Lee. Come on guys, put on your big-boy pants and prove you belong.
  12. IT's not just Royce's spring struggles, it's his struggle in general, to stay on the field, to hit the baseball, to become a positive contributor to the team. That's the issue(s), and they all point to a basic question: is Royce going to make it as a baseball player in this league? I hope so. I root for him. I believe if the Twins are going to go anywhere in the next number of years, they sure need him to be at least average. So, Royce, bring it baby. And be a sturdy member of this squad.
  13. This year's team is way more exciting than last year's team, for me. Baseball has become a young man's game and we got that. No more Carlos Correa ruling the clubhouse. The kids have to step up and play like men, hit like men. And if not, there are young guys behind them to take their place. No excuses, no man-splaining: it's do it or back to the minors. Well I remember when Gaetti, Hrbek, Larkin, Bartlett, Pucket -- they all showed up and you could see that there was potential there. Every win, every home run, every rally -- you could see that they were coming up and would be a force. Two World Series later, we had an era that will never be forgotten. Keep an eye out for kids that can play.
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