Jump to content
Our first free agents ranking has launched, click here to see the top 40+ names in free agency! ×
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

Lazarus

Provisional Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    61

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 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 Lazarus

  1. Lazarus
    Not a surprise and probably correct. With the number of promotions of top talent, they had to drop. Notice that the Cubs and Astros have dropped out of the top 7 as well. Beyond Berrios, it's hard to pinpoint a "can't miss" pitcher in the upper minors and the "ready now or very soon" position players have either now been promoted or sent back to fix their exposed flaws. There are a couple of guys in the upper minors who will be up by the end of next year and contribute, and many who will get a taste but not grab the opportunity by the throat. Hopefully we can trade a couple of question marks for some immediate help.
  2. Lazarus
    I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Hicks has finally figured it out - his history is that he has struggled with each promotion and needed extra time at each stop. With MLB being a significant step up from AA and AAA, hopefully only three times is needed. As additional prospects start to get here, we will probably see many of them bounce back and forth a little bit. I'm hoping that Hicks represents a full one standard deviation from what the normal time for adjustment will be. It will be interesting to see how long it takes Vargas to make the necessary adjustments to get back up. It seems that they have a longer leash on Santana to adjust while remaining in Minneapolis. I don't think that sending Arcia back down would serve any purpose (other than as a wake-up call to rein in his cockiness). Molitor seems to like Rosario a lot so I think he has a slim chance stick, but I would expect a return to Rochester will happen at some point to fine-tune some things before he's up for good. Finally, I think the Twins will wait a little longer with both Buxton and Sano because I believe that they want to promote them once and make sure they stick the first time (minus one standard deviation).
  3. Lazarus
    Now if you can get Parker added onto Jake's staff to help the hitter's with their stride and pitcher's with their release points by using the video...any maybe help them with analyzing the spray charts. Knowledge you don't get in college...
  4. Lazarus
    He pitched for the Kernels. Misidentified in the awards section at Lookouts...
  5. Lazarus
    History suggests that Ryan usually holds steady for the first 30 games before beginning to release the laggards and promoting prospects - sometimes it goes a little longer than that. The best hope is that our prospects in AAA and AA show consistent strong performance so they can be considered ready for a promotion. The AAAA club is currently unwatchable. Is it too early to be projecting who will go first overall in the June 2016 draft?
  6. Lazarus
    Reading this, Granite reminds me of Lenny Dykstra when he played for the Phillies. Takes good at-bats, hustles to pressure the other team, versatile defensively (although the comment that he profiles best in left leads me to believe he has Revere's arm). I see the Ben Revere profile here but I always struggled to like Revere mainly because I considered him a wasted first-round draft pick. Not his fault, I know - but it was just a mental block for me. Granite doesn't have that noose so he comes off as a scrappy underdog, a guy people can root for.
  7. Lazarus
    May was at 33 pitches in his last start in FM. How long is his leash in the upcoming start?
  8. Lazarus
    Lookouts Outlook was going to be my suggestion but I'm a little bit like the Twins today - just showing up now for the opening series... Hopefully some of the performances can be chalked up to opening night jitters. I will be very interested in seeing who gets off to a good start as I expect a lot of player movements this year.
  9. Lazarus
    That is all about 1) having a better bat than many others on the team, and 2) being at least adequate defensively at multiple positions. Point 2 describes most utility guys - for most, point 1 doesn't describe them. Points 1 and 2 do describe Escobar this year, which is why Molitor likely will use him more like Madden used Zobrist. I don't think Zobrist was initially thought of as being a great utility guy any more that Escobar was going into last season - sometimes these guys elevate themselves above the prejudice of the utility position.
  10. Lazarus
    Molitor will need to use Escobar like Joe Maddon used Ben Zobrist the last few years - in the line up 5 out of 7 games all over the field. Or everyday when the inevitable injury occurs, or someone plays their way to Rochester. PM has a reputation for being cerebral - I think he can figure this out.
  11. Lazarus
    This team is going to go through a LOT of starters and relievers this year. There will be sufficient opportunity for Milone, Pelfry, Nolasco, and the entire bullpen to save their careers or torch them. At least one of the above three starters (and maybe two) will pitch their way out of town in a couple of months. And probably two or three relievers as well. And this prediction doesn't even take into account the inevitable injuries we'll see. At least AAA and AA has more interesting prospects to draw from then we've seen in past years.
  12. Lazarus
    It looks to me that the Twins will be a reprisal of the 1970's Minnesota Lumber Company - trying to out-hit/score the damage done by their pitching staff. If this team doesn't come out of the gates hitting a ton, they will be close to 100 losses this season.
  13. Lazarus
    First bomb dropped - a lot of pressure on Nolasco now as the #3 starter. No doubt that we will see May and Meyer before mid-season if they do anything in Rochester.
  14. Lazarus
    If May and Meyer needed more incentive to get stretched out and on a role in AAA, this should about do it. Delta's stock just went up on the news.
  15. Lazarus
    I want to see both Burdi and Reed in AA - if they succeed, I think they'll find space on a Delta flight to MSP. Probably have to connect through Atlanta though...so they'd be up the next day after.
  16. Lazarus
    Starting pitching should be better which should take some stress off of the suspect bullpen, but the bullpen feels like it will be worse (at least initially). Runs scored should be in the top half of the AL, but defensively the outfield could be a real mess. Different in-game approaches by the new management team should be helpful this year. I don't see 85 wins this year but could see 78-80...with a LOT of prospects making their Target Field debuts during the last three months of the season.
  17. Lazarus
    Let May get stretched out in Rochester - don't need to see the bullpen guys in the 3rd inning in April because he's not ready. Once he's stretched out and gets on a roll, then you can make a decision on Milone/Pelfrey/anyone else on the major league staff. He certainly didn't overwhelm anyone in his last start against some real major league hitters - if he had been lights out against the Bucs, I'd feel a little differently. He also didn't overwhelm us in September - good K's but really wasn't that good otherwise against a mix of major leaguers and some September call-up's (slightly better than competition in early Spring Training). I sense that the leashes on the fringe guys on the major league roster will be very short this year and the prospects will be coming up as they show they're ready to come up and be assets to the Twins on an everyday basis. I'm tired of the promotions just being the next warm body but not major league caliber - I'd rather have a roster of major league-ready players in AAA and a couple in AA rather than the lousy situation we've seen the last four seasons. The MLB roster is likely to be very fluid this year.
  18. Lazarus
    A positive promo piece, no earth-shattering revelations. Just a pleasant few minutes of video (except last year's collision). A LOT of Torii talking....
  19. Lazarus
    I like these low-downside, high-upside international signings. His progress will be interesting to follow over the next couple of years as he develops.
  20. Lazarus
    Much of this offense has been generated against AA and AAA pitching. Beginning about a week from now, they will be in the spring training home stretch and getting more serious - let's see how the offense rounds into shape then. Same opinion about our pitching. However the roster is constructed on Opening Day, I'll be pretty disappointed if The Prospects don't force their way onto the roster during the year. The not-so-subtle hints from TR and PM suggest that they feel the same way. No excuses about buying the extra cheap year either - that's a non-issue before the end of April this year (if I have to listen any more to Cubs fans whine about Bryant spending the first two weeks of the season in the minors before coming up I think my head's going to explode).
  21. Lazarus
    It feels like this has been going on for months already, but it's still way too early to be making roster decisions or reading too much into performances - especially for veterans. The Hughes comments are a great example - just decided to work on his cutter when he got dissatisfied rather than go to another pitch. Once the minor leaguers are sent to the other side of camp and we get to the last 10 days of camp, then we'll see who will emerge. Not ready to get excited yet about either Milone or Pelfrey - but I admit it feels better than waiting for them to straighten out a lousy start of camp too.
  22. Lazarus
    This was the period when I started convincing my Dad to take me to a couple of games a year. We favored the box seats on the first base side - the cost kept going up though - I think they started at $6.50 a seat and went up to $8.50 over a couple of years. Kind of steep to be shelling out $30 for two tickets, a couple of dogs, and beverages... While this installment didn't comment on free agency, it should feature prominently in the next episode as the financial landscape began to substantially change during the upcoming period. Was not a good development for a team and owner who had no other means of financial livelihood.
  23. Lazarus
    Schafer is a classic 4th outfielder. His playing time should be on par with what you'd typically give a 4th outfielder - spot starts, late-inning defensive replacement after pinch-running, and hold down a position when someone goes on the 15-day DL. That's his role - and that is a valuable role on the team if it is done well. I've had my fill over the last four years with 4th outfielder-quality players being passed off as starting outfielders. We know what Schafer is - let him be successful in that role. The Hicks question is different - is he a starting outfielder-quality player, a 4th outfielder-quality player, or a AAAA-quality player? He should be given one last chance to convince TR and PM what he really is. Pick your favorite day to call the trial complete - Memorial Day, first round of the amateur draft, 4th of July - but make a decision based on what he's shown. I know what I expect to be the result, but in the guise of fairness I won't put it in writing at this time.
  24. Lazarus
    Favorite part of the article was the description following Swing 9: "Bad, bad swing. Bad swing! Almost certainly ball four. The day after taking his best 3-0 cut of the year, Arcia took his worst. Chris Tillman almost looks like he’s upset with Arcia after the swing, but I think he was just shocked. Two outs, runners on first and third, early, in a 0-0 game. Twins had a chance to blow this one open. Bases would’ve been juiced had Arcia left the bat on his shoulder. Instead, he swung and gave Tillman the baseball equivalent of a cute little puppy on Christmas morning." I wonder if he took a tax deduction for charitable contribution for that gift...
  25. Lazarus
    I'm a big believer in making it a Pavlovian reflex instead of something that a pitcher needs to think about/remember. The half-second hesitation can be a big difference - the exception being a runner who can be described as "slow for a catcher". "Don't think, it'll only hurt the ball club."
×
×
  • Create New...