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Steve Lein

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Everything posted by Steve Lein

  1. Steve Lein
    Just one clarification on Royce Lewis: "He then started primarily out there in the Arizona Fall League, where he looked like a natural and was voted MVP." This is not true, he played primarily 3B, with 17 total games in the infield (4 at 2B, 1 at SS), and played in CF only 5 times. They gave him some exposure there, and he's certainly athletic and fast enough to be good to great out there, but the Twins haven't exactly made OF any type of even second priority for him yet (that said, I still believe OF is where he ends up playing for the Twins).
  2. Steve Lein
    Dobnak was awesome when I saw him on Tuesday last week, and that was followed up by Chacin looking terrible on Friday. They were complete opposites in terms of the contact they gave up. Predominantly weak for Dobnak, predominantly crushed against Chacin. I think you can confidently put Dobnak in the 5th spot right now, and for me it would not be particularly close.
  3. Steve Lein
    Colina went 99-100-100-99 on the sequence of fastballs I was watching on the stadium gun. Big fan of his potential for the bullpen. Imagine he'll get sent across the parking lot to get stretched out soon, but theres a lot of similarity to Graterol with him.
  4. Steve Lein
    From this list I'm a big fan of Hackimer's results. Mason is an intriguing one to follow. Clay also has some interesting results. You're missing the obvious choice for something like this to me, though I'd argue it would be more along the lines of how Brusdar Graterol reached the majors last year. That guy is Edwar Colina.
  5. Steve Lein
    This is a great look at why Arraez is a great hitter. It is not, however, showing anything about his power potential (unless maybe you're prognosticating for doubles). His barrel % last year was 2.7% (that's "Not great, Bob"). I think it's an extremely fair and accurate description to call him a "contact hitter," and he doesn't need to change in any way.
  6. Steve Lein
    It is strange though, as you could easily apply my assumptions to the 3-batter part instead of the end-of-the-inning if the guy comes back out... I've read about 30 articles/etc... on the rule, and am astonished I haven't seen this scenario discussed.
  7. Steve Lein
    To question 1: Yes, I'm saying because he fulfilled the "pitch to the end of a half-inning" part he can be removed whenever the next inning. To question 2: I think they would have to include such wording in the rule for that to be the case, and it's not there (from what I've seen).
  8. Steve Lein
    The rule doesn't state this scenario from what I've seen, so I would assume it is taken care of by the pitcher has "pitched to the end of a half-inning" portion and he could be removed at any time beyond that.
  9. Steve Lein
    Honestly, I believe shifting was born out of encouraging batters to try and pull and launch every pitch, not the other way around. I think the premise is the opposite of what you're arguing.
  10. Steve Lein
    I'm a fan of the 3-batter minimum. What gets annoying in games is when 3 pitching changes are made in a single inning. I think it also adds depth to the strategy of deploying your bullpen, not takes it away. No more LOOGY easy button. I also dislike shifts. There's nothing exciting about a liner through/over the dirt getting picked and throwing the guy out at first from a shallow outfield. I hate that. Now, that doesn't mean I'd want to ban it, but do think the area an infielder can start should be loosely defined, and I'd like to see that not include the outfield. I'm okay with shifts being geared to cut off ground balls, but not your textbook line-drive singles.
  11. Steve Lein
    "However, none of his injuries have any connection to the others. They are all, in essence, freak events." Disagree with the above 100%. Buxton is the best outfielder on the planet when healthy, but because of those skills (speed, fearlessness) he puts himself into the situations to get himself injured. He has literally hurt himself multiple times by running into walls. This is an event that has been repeatable with him, so sorry, it's not a freak thing. There have been multiple plays I can recall where my response was "Byron, you had no business even trying to make that play." The one that sticks out to me is he got burned on a liner to center, no chance to make the catch, but instead of holding up and playing it off the wall, he kept going back and slammed into it at full speed after the ball bounced off it and away from him.... He didn't hurt himself bad on that one I don't think, but he literally rammed himself into the wall for no reason. He needs to reign that in some to stay on the field.
  12. Steve Lein
    I give them a solid B+. I love the transition from pitching to Donaldson to bring in an "impact" player. However, I don't grade trading for Maeda that well. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have him here, but as others have alluded to, I don't necessarily think he was the right type of target. The cost is probably right on it's own in the trade, but I loved the potential of having Graterol (even as a RP), and if I were making such a trade, I would have thought much bigger and probably just held off on it until July. Granted, you certainly can say that another big fish can still come in July now, but then in that perfect world I don't think Maeda ends up starting a playoff game for you (traded for ace, Berrios, Odo), so the move is sort of a wash for me either way. They didn't need pitching help to win the division, they need it to win a playoff series. All that said, I will gladly eat my shorts if it plays out differently. Definitely a different type of offseason for the Twins!
  13. Steve Lein
    Never trust the sites that track MiLB stats on a prospect's physical measurements. They use what they went into the draft as, and never update until they make the majors.
  14. Steve Lein
    Don't make this trade worst, Minnesota Twins. I already have stated I hate losing Graterol for Maeda already, but I will hate losing a Balazovic or Duran just as much. Throw in a lottery ticket if anything else has to come from Minnesota, and certainly not anymore pitching. If they want a prospect starter to replace Graterol, the best I'd be offering is Blayne Enlow, and maybe that means someone else gets added from the Twins too.
  15. Steve Lein
    Doesn't have to be Graterol. In this reference I'm just using his name as the type of chip he could be. I'd rather lose him or his type as a part of a bigger deal for a better player.
  16. Steve Lein
    Agree completely with this statement. Don't care if it's as a reliever.
  17. Steve Lein
    Mostly why I hate it. This is a move that didn't need to be made now. You very likely could have gotten more in July for Graterol as well if he was performing, or you know, because he was performing you don't move him. I would much rather trade a Graterol + Larnach + Gordon + Baddoo type package for an ace at the deadline that's a clear attempt to help the team win a title, than Graterol for Maeda right now for what I see as a an attempt to help win the regular season. I don't think they needed that help, and they paid a high price for it. Also, in general, I don't think Maeda is as good as everyone is trying to make him out to be. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any questions about why he wasn't starting. I could argue he was the 7th best starter on the Dodgers out of anyone they had start games. Moving from NL to AL, 32 years old...I just don't see the thinking here, it doesn't match a need.
  18. Steve Lein
    (I'm very late to the party, but) Graterol's 100 MPH fastball is far from straight.
  19. Steve Lein
    White Sox don't worry me for this year. In my opinion, they've blown their wad of cash too early in their rebuild. This was trying to buy a winner instead of continuing to develop one (which I think they were doing good at), which I don't feel ever works in that first season. I think they're about where the Twins were in 2017. They probably win 80 games, but I don't think they take a huge step forward to challenge for the division.
  20. Steve Lein
    They used to have a right-handedness deficiency with mostly lefties in the lineup, but that's no longer the case. They're extremely well balanced now.
  21. Steve Lein
    Pass. Never was a fan of Archer, all flash no substance. Also has one of the oddest/worst mound presences I've ever seen. Musgrove is a Kyle Gibson clone. Nothing more, nothing less.
  22. Steve Lein
    When Dobnak got called up, he was on an incredible run of consistency dating back to the 2018 season, and that streak is still going even after his performance in game 2 of the playoffs: There's potentially more here than he gets credit for, but still a lot of unknowns as he sees more MLB lineups and more data gets out on him. He's going to be a fun one to follow this year wherever he's pitching.
  23. Steve Lein
    I find myself going back and forth between "like" and "hate" this when it comes to a plan for Graterol in 2020. I would rather the plan be use him as a starter until you have to limit his innings out of the bullpen, but that likely means he's not on the opening day roster, so there's the tradeoff. But I would also consider that I don't really see him as being needed out of the gate in the bullpen, or that this scenario is likely to happen. I certainly don't take 9.2 innings in September/October as gospel for what he could or could not do out of the bullpen. Thus, if he's not going to crack the opening day roster, he should be starting to begin the year.
  24. Steve Lein
    I mean, your quote was followed up by "they certainly can do that again," so you've purposefully taken that first part out of context. Of course they have to play the games.
  25. Steve Lein
    Exactly my philosophy at this point. You already won the division in the regular season thanks to the lineup, they certainly can do that again. Work to improve your playoff chances in July, because that's when you can do the most with higher confidence (https://www.mlb.com/news/last-8-world-series-champs-made-impact-trades-c283986762) And what happens when you wait for the deadline, is more guys in theory, become "available." I'm also in general against trading prospect capital in the offseason in part because of the reasons you mention.
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