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Kenny Powers

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Everything posted by Kenny Powers

  1. Kenny Powers
    I literally made a post about Acton on this site yesterday. His fastball was actually hitting 95 mph pretty consistently in his last outing per the game log stats. They might filter through a dozen bullpen guys this year. I like his chances as good as anyone else at this point. The high K-Rate in the minors makes me hopeful he can carry that over. Regardless, as I wrote in my post yesterday, this was a sneaky good depth signing (that cost them nothing).
  2. Kenny Powers
    Ha - I fixed it. I'm not clever enough for that sort of word play. 😁
  3. Kenny Powers
    Full disclosure - it's too early to get overly excited. But this is an under the radar guy that I'm starting to watch for the following reasons: 1.) Age. He's 27 (soon to be 28). Certainly too old to be a prospect. But it's not like he's one of these guys who's been around forever and has zero upside i.e. Matt Bowman. 2.) Velocity. He was hitting 95 regularly in his last appearance. I realize that's not overly impressive in today's game. But per Fangraph's, his vFA would put him at the top of the current bullpen guys (aside from Morris who was just called up). And again, higher than someone like Bowman or even Topa. 3.) K Rate. Looking at his minor league numbers, he had 287 Ks in 213.2 innings (12.09 K/9). So far he has 5 Ks in 4 innings for us (11.25 K/9) 4.) (Very) Early Returns. 4 innings. 5 Ks. 2.25 ERA and 0.75 WHIP. I hope this post doesn't jinx him, but just maybe we plucked a diamond in the rough. But even if we just ride an unstainable hot streak, it appears to be a good pick up for bullpen depth.
  4. Kenny Powers
    They have some high velo guys in waiting at AAA. But as others have mentioned....velo is only half it. They need to hit spots and mix speeds. Here are some of the high velocity guys I'm referring to in AAA: Kendry Rojas hit 98.5 mph Conner Prielipp hit 98.4 Kyle Bishoff hit 98.2 Trent Baker hit 98.1 D. Altavilla hit 97.9 Marco Raya hit 97.8 Zebby Mathews hit 97.8 Andrew Morris hit 97.7 J Merryweather hit 97.5 John Klien hit 97.3 *MPH data from Spring or regular season games this season via game data.
  5. Kenny Powers
    Looks like Kyle Bischoff hit 97.6 mph against his second batter last night. Worth keeping an eye out on him.
  6. Kenny Powers
    You certainly have a right to your opinion and how you arrive at that opinion. I view things a little differently than you though. I think on every team (sports or corporate) people have a role. Sand's role for this year was not to be the closer or set up guy. He was going to be a low leverage/middle innings reliever and he performed very well in that role. So I don't think his save totals matter much considering his role. But for the record, according to MLB, he saved 4 out of 7 (57%) which was only slightly lower percentage than Jax (62%). So neither guy was great using that measuring stick. And while Theilbar has had success in other years, I'm not sure he was viewed as "trusted" this season...his ERA was over 5. If he wasn't lefthanded, I don't think he would have remained on the roster. I believe there is a lot of value in what Sands brings considering his current salary ($750K). To be able to pull an in-house guy into that role is great for the organization. You wrote "there are quite a few guys around the league" like Sands. That might be true. But the Twins sure can't seem to find them. Think of some of the guys they traded for the last few years...they make Sands look like Rollie Fingers: Justin Topa Steven Okert. Trevor Richards. Jorge Lopez Dylan Floro Michael Fulmer
  7. Kenny Powers
    I think it depends on what measuring stick you use. You keep referring to blown saves. Is that the best? IDK. One could argue that using that is a very small sample (12 "chances" based on what you wrote). Should those 12 chances carry more weight than the total of 71 innings he threw? Not in my book. His 71.1 innings was most among the relievers (just ahead of Jax). Over the 71 innings he had a 3.28 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 10.72 K/9. Those a pretty solid numbers for an old school guy like me.
  8. Kenny Powers
    I'm sure Headrick will get another shot. But he's going to have to show he's healthy (and effective) first. Regarding Theilbar, he actually started pitching well in July: 10 games, 9.2 innings, 11 Ks, 2.79 ERA and 1.14 WHIP. These guys are so streaky...I think they just have to play the hot hands and rotate as necessary. I'd keep throwing Theilbar out there for now until he loses it.
  9. Kenny Powers
    I really dislike trading for relief pitching. It seems to cost too much and relief pitchers are so up and down, you never really know what you are getting. Often times, what you have at home is better (and free). Funderburk has nothing left to prove at AAA. He looked great last year (albeit small sample). I assume scouting caught up to him to start this year. But now it's time for he (and coaching staff) to make adjustments. I think he'll be just as good as some of the LH pitchers mentioned in the article. Theilbar is having a rough go. I think they should either DL him or option him to AAA to get his groove back. The velocity seems fine, so not sure if there is anything going on health wise or not? Also, I have not heard any recent updates on Headrick. But he would be another guy I'd like to see more of once he's healthy. I would assume he's getting close to throwing again - but again - I have not seen any recent news or reports. Down the road, I could see Jaylen Nowlin as another LH bullpen option. But with our limited Starting Pitching depth, they will certainly keep him as a starter as long as possible. Try our guys first - they might surprise us.
  10. Kenny Powers
    The bullpen has actually been a very nice surprise. We've made it through some injuries already and continue to rank towards the top of MLB in several noteworthy categories including: #3 (tied) in saves with 14 #2 in K/9 with 10.38 #2 in Holds with 33 #4 in LOB % with 76.0 #12 in ERA with 3.64 #10 in FIP with 3.68 #5 in xFIP with 3.66 #10 (tied) in WHIP with 1.24 And really, much of that was put together by not even their best options. Duran has missed time, Brock Stewart has been out...they lost Duarte who was looking solid - etc. Sands has really stepped up and filled the Pagan role. They seem to have a lot of options at AAA to rotate as needed. I think we might possibly have more complaints about how the bullpen is used this year vs. the actual players themselves. Lots of good arms in the system.
  11. Kenny Powers
    Personally, I would not be in any hurry to demote anyone for Topa (I see others have already mentioned this). I tend to look at Topa's season last year as an outlier. I don't see anything in his career (MLB or Minors) that would indicate he's anything special. It's only been two appearances at St. Paul. He has an ERA of 9.00 and a WHIP of 2.00. But even more concerning (to me anyway) is that his velocity looks like it's stuck in the low 90's. Last season he was averaging over 95. From glancing at pitch logs, he's struggling to hit 93 right now. I think there are better options than him right now. Why demote guys who are getting it done to make room for Topa?
  12. Kenny Powers
    A lot more fun to watch these guys lately. Martin did fine in his first taste of MLB. Now he needs to go back and dominate AAA. He'll be back. But hopefully we can keep this momentum going and get on a little run now with guys finally getting healthy.
  13. Kenny Powers
    I think the other guy hit on it. We've created athletic freaks of nature that are bigger/faster than ever so it would make sense that it leads to more injuries. Example: 24 year old Royce Lewis blowing out his quad just running the bases. I'm 100% confident that I (a middle aged man in slightly above average shape) could run the bases without blowing out anything. But I couldn't do as fast he does - that's for sure. It's become a trade off. But where the advancements come in is when you think of the surgeries and recoveries now. Example, Adrian Peterson blew out his knee and was back running for 1,000 yards the next season. Back in the 70/80's those injuries were career ending. Same with Tommy John surgery. It's like getting your tonsils taken out now - no big deal. Most guys come back better than ever where as before they'd be washed up. It's amazing.
  14. Kenny Powers
    This is where my head is at. Ideally, you'd have an established pecking order of guys in reserve (like we had last season). But we don't have anything close to that right now (aside from SWR). So you just have to run with whomever is throwing it best at the moment. It shouldn't be hard to improve upon what we've gotten from Varland so far this season as a starter. You have to have accountability. If a guy isn't getting it done - give someone else a shot.
  15. Kenny Powers
    I personally think it's time to move on from Santana. But the problem lies in who do you replace him with? We just don't have a ton of guys earning more ABs in the system right now. Most likely as guys start coming back from injury - Santana will be gone (barring an unforeseen turnaround in his hitting).
  16. Kenny Powers
    Oh man...what a horrible development. This really sucks. I'm assuming they will figure out a way to get him back on the field. But it just seems like yet another in a long line of really good prospects that get saddled with injuries. If we put our heads together we could probably put together a long list going back to Kubel tearing up his knee up along with Mauer doing the same - so on and so forth. Anyway...sports medicine has never been better than it is now, so I'm certainly not writing him off. But as many have mentioned...once you have back issues - it's sort of something you will continue to deal with the rest of your life. Ugh! Just a terrible break. No question the kid would be playing in the bigs right now had this not occurred.
  17. Kenny Powers
    This is just my own opinion....I think he got screwed up when they moved him to the bullpen last year. He immediately started throwing harder and lighting up the radar gun. There's nothing wrong with that had they intended to keep him there. But (again my opinion) I feel like he's still trying to throw it through the wall now as a starter instead of concentrating on hitting his spots and mixing his pitches. It's sprinter vs. a marathon runner mentality. When he first came up he had good success as a starter throwing around 93.8 mph average. He's up to averaging 96 mph this year. It's why I cringe when I see people suggesting moving Duran or Sands back to starting. I know some guys have been able to seamlessly transition. But I look at it more like splitting face cards at black jack. You already have a winning hand if they are successful bullpen guys. Don't get greedy!
  18. Kenny Powers
    On the surface, we agree. But...in keeping with the positives, I'd phrase it more like: Theilbar has dropped his ERA by 63 points over his last two outings! 😆 And in all seriousness, I'd say last night was overall another good night for the pen: 3.2 innings, 5 strikeouts, 1 earned run They've been holding their own. No complaints from me and it should get better with a healthy Duran.
  19. Kenny Powers
    Lots of good responses. But surprised nobody mentioned the bullpen? So far - way better than expected. And they have been doing it without our top guy Duran! Some bullpen stats I found from Fangraphs: #1 in MLB for K/9 (11.71). #5 in MLB for ERA (2.71) #8 (tied with two others) in MLB for WHIP (1.14) #3 in MLB for xFIP (3.34) I'm really liking what I'm seeing out of Cole Sands so far too.
  20. Kenny Powers
    The doom & gloom is starting to get to me. This thread is for positivity only. I'll kick things off by highlighting a few young bats that deserve some recognition: Alex Kirilloff. .883 OPS. Age 26 and is off to his best start ever. Honestly I wasn't counting on him much this year based on his wrist issues. Ryan Jeffers. .880 OPS. Age 26 and is picking up right where he left off after last year's breakout season. It doesn't look like last year was a fluke. Other young bats holding their own.... Jose Miranda. .773 OPS. Age 25 and is flashing again after a lost season last year. Edouard Julien. .687 OPS. Age 24. Leads team with 4 home runs. Austin Martin. .639 OPS. Age 25 and is getting his first taste of the show. Add in the injured Royce Lewis (age 24) and you have six young guys that can be the future core. This season should get better - especially as some of these injured guys start coming back.
  21. Kenny Powers
    Gleeman had a tweet that hit on what I was trying to communicate in my earlier post. From Aaron Gleeman: "Twins lineup's collective .193 batting average is the second-lowest through 17 games for any American League team in the past 50 years. The only team with a lower batting average through 17 games was the 2003 Detroit Tigers, owners of the worst record in AL history at 43-119."
  22. Kenny Powers
    I sure wouldn't mind running Simeon Woods Richardson back out there either. He looked fantastic in his last start. It seems like a crime to send him back after doing that while other guys continue to flounder.
  23. Kenny Powers
    Good stuff. For whatever reason, I just happened to look at the stats from an "old school" perspective this morning. I was shocked to see the following batting averages: .208 Buxton .189 Julien .189 Margot .135 Santana .133 Vazquez .111 Castro .080 Wallner .071 Farmer .050 Kepler I realize the new standard is OPS over AVE. But man...that's ugly. I think the boys need to spend some extra time in the batting cages 😆
  24. Kenny Powers
    Yuck. I think I'll just concentrate on the Timberwolves for now and come back to baseball in about a month. What a gross start to the season (at every level). Only positive thing I see is Austin Shulfer is back. Keep an eye on that guy. He has a good arm.
  25. Kenny Powers
    Yep. Yep and Yep. Oh well. They can't change the past - so let's see if they can fix things going forward. Both Varland and Paddock looked a lot better out of the bullpen last season. I was totally fine giving both a chance to show they can be starters this season. But (so far), it's not giving me a lot of confidence. If they can find even one decent starter to add to our team, they could move one of those guys back to the pen. Suddenly our pitching would be a lot better (starting and BP) Santana looks cooked. I scratched my head at the time of the signing, but waited to see if they knew something I didn't. This would have been the first move I would have made (over demoting Wallner). Santana has been getting consistent ABs (3rdon the team) - unlike Wallner. But the real problem is we have so many under performing bats right now - nobody is jumping out as a viable replacement. As far tendering Farmer...you can see why that made sense based on the current situation (Lewis hurt again, Correa out). He was solid last year. I think he'll be fine - just a very poor start. If everyone was healthy, re-signing him looks worse. But we have so many injuries, I'd give the Twins a pass on this one. He's just needs to get that bat going. And we need some guys to get healthy.
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