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MGX

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Everything posted by MGX

  1. MGX
    I know it's early so some of the struggling hitters will get better & our offense will be better. With that said watching this team right now makes me think same thing game after game... Lack of awareness, lack of execution & lack urgency. We make inexcusable mental mistakes & then the player who made them is not only in the lineup, but batting leadoff in the next game. We have a manager who feels it's perfectly OK to just throw away games. I'm not talking about the lineups, but the late game decisions in close games. Refusing to use Buxton (who was hitting at the time) in the 1-0 game in Miami, not allowing RP's to get more than 1 IP so you're forced to leave a struggling Moran in. Where is the urgency to win games regardless of what time of year it is. As a manager one of your primary responsibilities is to put your players in the best position to succeed. For me Rocco fails in this repeatedly.
  2. MGX
    For roster moves this would be my guess Gallo - Julien Polanco - Castro Kiriloff - St. Paul until he forces his way onto the roster (hopefully this happens quickly) Farmer - Garlick Playing time should go to those are producing the most. Give all 13 a chance to work their way into more playing time, but the bulk of it needs to go to whomever is producing.
  3. MGX
    Lack of awareness, lack of execution & lack of urgency.
  4. MGX
    We're only 12 games into the season, the team looks to me as expected - Very good pitching & D with a questionable offense that needs people to step up. I'm not overly concerned after 12 games & happy to see them at 8-4. If we can stop losing people on a daily basis due to injury that would help to.
  5. MGX
    IMO it's way too early to evaluate this trade, but if you're going to at least base your evaluation on facts... Encarnacion-Strand is currently a minor leaguer with 208 PA's at AA & currently on the IL. Presently, his defense will limit him to 1B/DH Steer is in MLB & so far in his young career his OPS+ is 82. Hajjar is currently a minor league pitcher. How do any of these players currently look like productive MLB players? Mahle is clearly a productive MLB starting pitcher. Now of course those three could develop into something, but as of right now how can the Twins complain about this trade. Additionally, in our system we had multiple players ahead of both Strand-Encarnacion & Steer so the odds of them contributing at the MLB level here in the next couple of years were slim at best.
  6. MGX
    We didn't get Gallo in the Arraez trade. He was signed a month before the trade. For me the trade was fine, you give something of value to get something of value & we got a couple of prospects.
  7. MGX
    In your previous post you said after two games emphasizing an over reaction. In this post you say from day one.. I've been critical of the Gallo signing since it happened & am still skeptical about what we'll get out of him this season. With that said seeing him make hard contact in three consecutive PA's & draw a walk all while not striking out was great. That was indeed a monster game as you said, but it is just one game the same as his first two games weren't good offensively, but were just a couple of games. He is going to play a lot & a couple of months down the road the results should determine what happens. I suspect most people are concerned that if he were to struggle this year like he has for the past season and a half, hitting far below .200, OPSing below .700 how long do they stick with him. If by June he has an OPS north .800 & is playing well in the field (which everyone believes he will) I'm guessing most TD posters will be thrilled. I know I would be.
  8. MGX
    Why do you assume strikeouts would go up? Why do you assume it would be an advantage for pitchers? The message you have always heard from both hitters & pitchers is they want a consistent strike zone. Assuming it would benefit pitchers is speculative at best. The important thing is consistency & calling balls & strikes accurately.
  9. MGX
    Any pitch that travels through the strike zone is hittable as are many pitches that are out of the strike zone. Players like Clemente, Puckett, Vlad Guerrero Sr. rarely saw pitches they couldn't hit. The bottom line is consistency which isn't something human umpires provide.
  10. MGX
    I'm all for an electronic strike zone. Certain teams get an unfair advantage due to human umpires. There are 30 teams in MLB & "miraculously" the Yankees have finished in the top 5 for drawing walks in 18 of the last 25 seasons. They led MLB in 6 of those seasons, including the last three in a row.. There is no way this should happen with the amount of turnover of players & coaches over a 25 year period. Can't wait for some consistency on balls & strikes.
  11. MGX
    This was a bad signing to begin with & I don't think anything has changed. He's on our team & is going to get playing time so I hope the unrealistic turnaround happens, but just don't see it. As I said he is going to play so I hope provides good D and at least some offensive production.
  12. MGX
    Agree with this Maeda should pitch where he is the greatest benefit to the team without regard to his contract. We need to field the team that gives us the best chance to win. Even if you were taking his contract into consideration... - The Twins didn't sign him to that contract - The Dodgers did & used him out of the bullpen in every season from 2017 - 2019 & they don't seem to have any issues attracting free agents - The part of the contract being talked is an incentive bonus. Aren't you supposed to earn a bonus? If you can't make the starting rotation you don't deserve it. If he pitches well enough to deserve the spot that's great for everyone. If not he should be moved to the bullpen.
  13. MGX
    I like the optimistic view. Here is how I see your 4 predictions in order based on the likelhood they will happen... 1. Jhoan Duran an All-Star - Defintiely can see ths happening. 2. Byron Buxton plays 115 games - This is possible & critical to the teams success 3. Joe Ryan finishes Top-5 for the AL Cy Young - It may be a bit of a reach, but possible. I believe Ryan can take it up another notch this year. 4. Joey Gallo - This is a tough one because he may do this & it still might not be a positive. He was awful last year & he hit 19 HR's in 350 AB's so he would have hit 30+ HR's last year had he been given the playing time. He's here & going to play so I'm hoping for the best, but to me he is the biggest potential issue on this offense. He's been at the same level of production since the middle of the '21 season. If he continues to struggle how long do we give him playing time over others?
  14. MGX
    Poor comparison - other than BA your looking at counting numbers & not factoring in the difference in AB's. For example - Matt Chapman hit 27 HR's in 538 AB's. Buxton hit 28 HR's in 340 AB's. A better comparison might use something like OPS+. 2022 OPS+ Buxton - 135 Chapman - 115 Raleigh - 122 Brown - 116 Wisdom - 102 Ozuna - 89 Buxton was more productive offensively then every player you listed.
  15. MGX
    Good article. As was pointed out Buxton's career has changed quite a bit over time so quoting career numbers as if they tell you a lot about the player Buxton is today is misleading. If you look at his last three seasons you get a much better picture of what type of player he is today. 2020 - .254 .267 .577 - .884 OPS - 130 AB's - 13 HR's 2021 - .306 .358 .647 - 1.005 OPS - 235 AB's - 19 HR's 2022 - .224 .306 ..526 - .832 OPS - 340 AB's 28 HR's 3 seasons - 705 AB's - 60 HR's - The Twins are trying to continue the trend of increasing his AB's like he did from 2021 to 2022. If he gets an additional 100 AB's in 2023 he may hit 35+ HR's while OPSing over .800. He can still step into CF & play GG defense & has speed on the bases even if he doesn't use it to steal bases (with the rule changes maybe we get more aggressive stealing bases in '23). The Twins need his offensive production in the lineup as much as possible. As valuable as he is defensively, on this current roster his offensive production is far more important to this teams success than his defense. This year for better or worse our roster is constructed differently. We have a number of good, great & even Gold glove OF's on the roster. I've voiced concerns with the offensive production of the starting nine as it stands multiple times (making Buxton's production even more important). Buxton is the primary DH to start the year. It doesn't mean he won't play in CF at any point. The team is built so we have flexibility there so we can use him at DH periodically to limit how often he plays CF while still having his offensive production in the lineup on a regular basis.
  16. MGX
    It looks like both Polanco & Kiriloff will open the season on the IL, so we'll two spots available. Castro gives the team even more flexibility, he's young, athletic & has had some success at the MLB level (2020 shortened season). It's possible we keep Hoffman as the 13th pitcher which likely means Ober is in AAA, don't want to see that. If we keep Ober then there is another spot open for a position player & not sure who that goes too, maybe Garlick.
  17. MGX
    A platoon of Gordon/Farmer seems to be the best option. If Larnach is taking Polanco's spot he covers the OF/DH vs RHP that Gordon would have been covering.
  18. MGX
    The Twins won 78 last year with a weaker pitching staff & a lot of games lost to injury. With that said I'm not sold on the offense. It's nice to see Kepler having a good Spring, but it appears him & Gallo will get a lot of PA's & that means we're looking for a major bounce back season from both corner OF positions, A good team needs offensive production from the corner OF positions. Hoping that is offset by continued development of players like Miranda, Gordon & others. Like any other season to be successful we'll need key players to play a lot. 85 feels like a reasonable number for this team as it stands now. Hopefully, things (health, performance, key additions/subtractions etc.) go well & then maybe we exceed 90 & win the division. That would be great.
  19. MGX
    Good article. The WBC is a lot of fun to follow. Many great story lines, I mentioned a few in another post - Also, the Nicaraguan pitcher striking out - Soto, J-Rod & Devers in the same inning & then getting a contract with the Tigers after the game. Of course what's mentioned above with Julien & De Leon. If you're a baseball fan you have to be enjoying this!
  20. MGX
    He fits as an insurance policy for Polanco, as Seth mentioned they plan to bring Polanco back slowly. Also, he's a good platoon option for Polanco & Kiriloff. Against LHP both Solano & Farmer may get a lot of work. This likely means Larnach is playing in St. Paul until we need him due to injury/underperformance/trade. Can't imagine they'll go with more than 13 position players. Infield - Jeffers, Vazquez, Kiriloff, Polanco, Miranda, Correa, Farmer & Solano Outfield - Buxton, Taylor, Kepler, Gallo & Gordon
  21. MGX
    If we're already saying what he does now is likely impossible then who cares what his stats are in the Minors. You're post is exactly what I was referring to. Getting lost in the numbers when we're talking about a prospect developing while playing in the minors. OPS is slanted towards power, it's doubtful Martin will ever be much of a power hitter so his OPS numbers won't be that great. His value lies in his ability to get on base & being a good base runner. In todays game that doesn't make you an MVP candidate, but you can be an effective offensive player.
  22. MGX
    It seems in todays world with the never ending amount of data we have access to people have very little patience with prospects/players in general. In Martin's case he supposedly had one bad year - '22 in the minors & dropped in the prospect rankings. In his "disappointing" season he played the year at AA & had a .368 OBP with 35 SB's. Then he went on to play in the Arizona Fall league & hit .374 with a .936 OPS in 97 PA's, he also added 10 more SB's. In AA his BA was only .241 & his OPS only .683 so I guess that is what is being called disappointing. For a guy who is known for getting on base & being a very good base runner I'm not sure I see it as a disappointing season. IMO seems he's on track to be a good ballplayer.
  23. MGX
    I guess we see things differently. Rodriguez, Lewis & Julien are a major part of the pipeline IMO. You're right on the Brewers - there is no reason for them to trade Burnes as there staff alone should keep them competitive. For my taste big trades for pitchers are too risky. We need to develop pitching from within.
  24. MGX
    No way! How will we ever have a good prospect pipeline if we drain it every time we think a SP might be available.
  25. MGX
    Fair enough - valid points, but to me that's a part of any young hitters maturation process.
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