Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

Dman

Verified Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    5,786

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    23

 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

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by Dman

  1. Dman
    It was big to get the split with Boston. Only series loss was to the Dodgers and just two games. We need to be the better team in the division if we are going to go anywhere so those games will have added importance. I have to say Bundy has been much better than I thought he would be to this point. He has been an efficient strike throwing machine and very SSS but keeping the ball in the park to this point. I may be eating a fair bit of crow given my dismissal of his potential contributions to this team. Celestino had a huge at bat for essentially a Rookie. Getting behind in the count and battling back to draw that walk was huge. Polanco got the big hit but not making an out there saved the rally. Given his lack of experience I was happy he found his way on base. OK I am going to monologue a bit here. When the Twins sent Jax out for 8th inning after the big rally I thought that was a huge mistake. I thought for sure he would get lit up and either lose the lead or at the very least lose the cushion we had with the runs scored. I mean this is a guy who got pounded in his last spring training game and wasn't even added to the 28 man roster to start the season and this is the guy they run out there to protect the lead in an almost must win situation? In fact you run your weakest essentially last man out there not just for the 8th but the 9th as well? I get that we had a 6 run lead but with the lineup the Sox have no lead is safe with 6 outs left. Let alone against a pitcher who has been prone to give up big innings. Why allow for such great potential to give the lead back? Maybe he was on a fairly short leash but at the time I thought it was an unnecessary risk. In hindsight it worked out great for Jax's confidence and the team win. I just didn't have a good feeling about it though. This was an important win. If the starting pitching holds up you have to like this teams chances. Lineup still could use some help but they usually turn things around once the weather warms up. Very happy they got the win.
  2. Dman
    Interesting to me that both Rodriguez and CES were rested going into the day off. I guess they want to keep those two in tip top shape? Fort Meyers could have used Rodriguez's bat as they looked a little anemic without him in the lineup. Adams had a nice night on the hill. 7 K's in 5 innings keeping that ERA at a cool .90 with an even better WHIP to match at .60. I wasn't a fan of the pick when the Twins made it. Kind of thought he might be the weak link in their draft but he is off to a great start. When Prato is healthy he is a pest in the box and on the bases. His over 1.000 OPS is nice and it almost seems like it should be higher as it feels like he is on base all time. Mack is finally finding more contact and his 1,469 OPS puts him right there with Emmanual Rodriguez and CES. There are some Pretty impressive hitters at High A right now. Lewis with another multi-hit game keeping that OPS above 1.000 along with Contreras, Cave and surprisingly Baneulos. Miranda continues his slow start. Might have to wait for the weather to warm up before he gets going.
  3. Dman
    Jermaine Palacios had miself a game. Brought his OPS .958 level with a 4 for 4 night. He is right behind Lewis for OPS and he plays good D at short as well. Looks like he is starting to find his groove. Lewis Thorpe was Brutal again giving up 8 earned runs along with 2 Homers. I know it is cold in St Paul but he is making a case against himself at this point. Martin continues to come on strong A 3 for 4 day with 2 walks. He seems to be waking up to the season. Steer is still the best hitter with a 935 OPS. Sabato had more RBI's but Camargo went 4 for 5 with 2 HR's. Quite the day the young catcher. CES still went 2 for 6 and keeps his OPS in the .1300 range. Gipson-Long finally getting that WHIP below 1 with 9 K's in 5 innings and 0.00 ERA. He is becoming an elite pitcher. Got a feeling he will make it to AA after the all-star break if not before. The Twins might have something in Festa. He gave an inopportune 3 run HR but still managed 8 K's in 5 innings of work. The Twins might have something here. Another nice night for the MiLB system. Guys are going to moving up this year.
  4. Dman
    I knew Stankiewicz was good but man 11 K's in 6 innings with a .50 WHIP is utter domination. Nice to see another arm with a solid K rate. I don't know a ton about the guy but he has me keeping a closer eye on him now. Fedko is off to a hot start. Nice to see another outfielder swinging a good bat. I guess the former big east player of the year is trying to add to his resume. Man Rodriguez is hot. Even hotter than CES IMO. Two home runs last night and another walk the kid is turning into a very well rounded hitter earlier than I imagined possible. A couple of months away but he looks like he will move up this year. Fort Meyers has a fun team to watch this year. The farm is on fire this year except for Wichita where the lineup just hasn't done much until recently.
  5. Dman
    I agree. I am willing to wait. I think he is just one of those players that doesn't do well in the cold. He heats up right around mid May and once he gets going pitchers try to pitch around him and his bat becomes dangerous. I still think he will have a big year this year but we will see. We need to just hang on until he gets it going and all will be well.
  6. Dman
    Steer is the only AA bat that seems even remotely ready to start the season. Wallner has been miserable at the plate with a 50% K rate. Martin is off to a slow start as well. With Julien out it isn't surprising this team has trouble scoring runs. Thankfully Varland was back to doing his thing. Striking guys out and going almost 6 innings. Mooney got his typical number of K's but he was wilder than I remember from last year. First game out and he seemed to get better the longer he was out there. Cedar Rapids is building a strong lineup with Prato, CES, Mack and Gray all with over 1.000 OPS's. If Soularie and Morales get going that is going to be a tough lineup. Legumina looked really good the first couple of innings, but per usual fell apart late. These type of games continue to reinforce my belief that he is a better reliever than starter. We will see if he gains better stamina as the season moves on. He has the stuff it is just a matter of how long he can keep it going. Was hoping Ohl was going to do a little better than he did. After watching him in one of Seth's interviews he seems like a mentally tough young man. This is his first taste and I am sure he will get better was just hoping for him to be solid from the get go. Emmanual Rodriguez is having a great start to his season. He is doing much better than I ever thought he would for a 19 year old in a tough A ball environment. While his 389 batting average is really good the more impressive stat is that his OBP is over 200 points higher at .621. The big knock on him last year was the lack of patience and his K rate. He currently has more walks than strikeout's. If he maintains that with his contact skills he is going to be a really, really good player. Pretty excited about this kid right now. Long ways to go as pitchers adjust to his approach but just the fact that he can do it bodes well for his future. Also it looks like one of the problems he is having is pitchers not throwing him strikes because he is one of the few players in the lineup that can hurt a pitcher by taking him deep. They seem more inclined to work around him. If Fort Meyers can find some better bats to stack behind him maybe he can get more balls to hit.
  7. Dman
    Twins will probably take Susac if he is there I think Parada is going to go earlier. I really like the lefty Barriera. If he can hit 99 he should be able to maintain 94 -95 and for a lefty those are good numbers. He has three plus pitches already. Pitching currency is the gold standard I would double down on pitching. Especially since it is a weaker class for pitching. Lets zag instead of zig. The farm is hurting for up the middle players so I guess if they find a bat they like they probably go bat but like I said I really like Barriera. Good lefties are hard to find and the farm is in short supply as well.
  8. Dman
    The only real bright spot last night was Sands. He really has no fear sticking most all of his stuff around the strike zone. I just can't shake that his fastball looks kind of flat to me at times and the guy who hit the HR off of him got a flat one. If his fastball does play at MLB level I think he can make it as starter but I still sense he ends up a reliever. Will have to wait and see. Hard to argue with his results as he has been solid year in and year out in the minors. He will probably prove me wrong. I know it was just one game early in the season but have to say I was disappointed with Hajjar's debut. The 6 K's in three innings show that he has swing and miss stuff but the 2.0 WHIP and 4 runs shows he is also quite hittable as well. Only one game so can't draw conclusions just yet but those are Chris Vallimont type numbers and that is not a good thing. Also he was the only pitcher to give up any runs in that game at all. I can see now why they kept him in A ball instead of sending him to High A like Povich. Emmanual Rodriguez is looking really locked in. 2 more walks as pitchers appeared to be trying to get him to extend the zone. I believe he has the highest OPS on the team as a 19 year old. If the plate discipline is there the Home Runs will follow. I am getting excited about this kid. Rossario is a K machine right now with a K rate of 50%. There is some work to be done there. Not feeling real bullish on him right now but the OPS is OK for the moment. Only 19 so there is time but always kind of a bad sign when the K rate gets that high.
  9. Dman
    The Dodgers are a perennial division winner. playoff team, battling for a World series every year. I am not too surprised we had trouble handling them early this season with castoff pitchers and pen arms. Lot's of great lineups can get silenced by great pitchers and Kershaw was on today. Heck even this great Dodgers lineup can get silenced by great pitching. Not that the Twins lineup doesn't have a fair number of holes like Kepler, Sano, Celestino and even Gordon, but credit Kershaw with pitching well in the cold. All this series says to me is that right now early in the season the Twins don't appear to be able to compete with world series type teams. I expect they will have issues with Boston as well. Maybe it is my rose colored glasses but I do think they will grow with some of the young arms as the season moves along and I still believe in a lot of the bats they have. These were two games played in sub-optimal conditions and the Dodgers were just more ready and quite frankly the better team talent wise all the way through. The Twins will rebound and I still think if they stay fairly healthy they have a shot for a wild card spot.
  10. Dman
    I think over the offseason I forgot how valuable Luis Arraez is at the plate. I think right now he is a bigger part of this team than I thought he would be. With Kirilloff, Kepler and Sano giving fairly little at the plate thus far it is good to have a guy you can plug in that will have good to great at bats. I get that everyone is down on his defense after last nights game and generally I am not an apologist for Arraez's defense but the first ball was hit hard and he came in on it I presume to try for the double play. He misplayed it horribly. The other ball was scorched and he wasn't in great position to do much except glove it and he missed that one as well. The thing is the weather was poor and the field somewhat slippery. Not ideal conditions for great defense. Some players just don't do as well in wet or cold conditions. I just think the weather cannot completely be discounted as a factor in his defensive miscues last night. In other words I think he is better than what he showed yesterday. Arraez will never be much more than average defensively but the eye and bat are pretty extraordinary. He is and will be a difference maker for this team this season. I was one that thought trading him wouldn't be a bad idea but with Martin struggling to hit AA pitching and Miranda not off to the fastest start the Twins still need him pretty badly right now IMO. He has his plusses and minuses but we still need his bat.
  11. Dman
    Was hoping for a good outing from Povich and he delivered. Hopefully he gets to AA sooner rather than later. Encarnation-Strand has come back down to earth in a big way with three K's losing that amazing contact he was making on most everything thrown his way. This Emmanual Rodriguez guy is someone to watch. He has 6 walks already so his plate discipline is improving and 3 of his 4 hits have been for extra bases including two home runs. If that eye at the plate continues he looks like a star player to me. Some decent hitting at A ball this year compared to last years K team. I think the Twins might have broken Martin. He is really struggling to start the season.
  12. Dman
    Bad weather seems the most likely reason why the bullpen suddenly couldn't throw strikes it also was the reason they lost the game. Lot's of hard contact given up by the pen as well. If there is a positive to take out of last night it is that Archer pitched well and honestly all 5 starters have done well to this point. If we continue to get good starting pitching I like this teams chances to do well this year.
  13. Dman
    Nice sleuthing and I like Jarlin Susana as the most likely pick. First as stated he can't be traded until next month and second because he makes sense as a Petty replacement who they traded for Gray. No way to know if he will be the one but he makes the most sense to me.
  14. Dman
    FWIW I wasn't a fan of the Urshela Move. He is making me look like an idiot so far. It is very early and super small sample sizes but he has been solid at the plate and in the field. I am coming around to this guy.
  15. Dman
    Yeah unless Donaldson can pitch there wasn't much more he could do to help last years team. The starting pitching just wasn't good enough and with pen imploding early in the season it just wasn't going to happen. Buxton was also hurt a good portion of the season and a lot of our hitters started out slow as well. Donaldson had a a solid season last year and at times tried to fire up his team mates. He was far from the biggest issue with the team last year.
  16. Dman
    Encarnation-Strand has taken no walks and is now batting 900. This guy has amazing contact skills. Three home runs in Ten plate appearances. That is crazy good.
  17. Dman
    It was nice to see Miller and Cavaco get off to good starts going 3 for 5. They are both elite defenders that just need their bats to come around to make it. Last night was a good start. Encarnation-Strand was his usual aggressive self at the plate. I don't know if you can trust the MiLB gameday app for where pitches are thrown but both the HR pitches were right down the middle of the plate. They had no choice but to challenge him with the bases loaded but why they didn't nibble more and test his eye at the plate I do not know. Guessing team will be more careful from now on as he already did a weeks worth of damage in one game. I was not huge fan of that pick in the Twins draft as he looked like another slow footed bat first player but for a 4th round pick he is a huge find. He looks much better than our 1st rounder Sabato. Not sure how he does it but he has been amazing so far.
  18. Dman
    I don't know how much we can trust the baseball trade values site, but the according to it the Twins got 18 MTV versus the Padres 9 MTV. I think the money involved likely helps make up the difference for the imbalance in the trade value's involved. If that is the case then I wouldn't expect an overly high level prospect to come back to the Twins in this deal. Still you never know.
  19. Dman
    I agree it was a good game. Ryan with one mistake pitch and that was it. Duran when on looks very tough. Coulombe held his own. The big bats went missing today. Buc just didn't have the magic today. I will say Ray has some serious lateral movement on his pitches very tough. I was surprised how long they kept him out there but it worked out well for Seattle today. Let's go get'em tomorrow.
  20. Dman
    There seems like a fair bit of risk on both sides of this trade. I just don't love these Twins fix'em deals. The last deal with Anderson left a sour taste. They didn't really help Waddell or Gibaut either granted no one had to that point but that is my point. They were going to help Happ and Shoemaker too last year and well that didn't work out either. San Diego doesn't do this deal unless they think Paddack is who he is. I think that is a two pitch pitcher with too straight a fastball. With his potential elite change maybe this is Ryne Harper 2 where they can make things work but coming up with a third pitch this late seems a little pie in the sky to me. I guess we will see but I am not holding my breath that Paddack is much more than a tik better than last year. I am a little more bullish on Pagen since his main issue appears to be Home Run suppression they should be able to identify where he is giving up the hardest contact stay away from those pitches and those zones as much as possible. Still a Home Run prone reliever is not a guy you want coming in with a game on the line. Rogers only has one year left and it always felt like the Twins were going to try and deal him no matter what. Elite lefties are unicorns in Baseball so they usually fetch a hefty price especially at the deadline. I guess the larger question for me is could the Twins have gotten something better just by waiting? granted they were not going to get two MLB players at the deadline for Rogers but they might have pried away a top 5 prospect out of someone's system. If Paddack remains who he is they essentially got nothing for Rogers so I hope like heck they know what they are doing this time. I guess if Pagan returns to dominant form the Twins wouldn't have gotten nothing in this deal but still I think they could have possibly done better grabbing a top prospect from some other system. With Rooker who knows. Seems like a risky bet for the Padres but he does have light tower power and with the NL having the DH if he proves he can hit it could be a good pickup. He can play left but not well. He does even out the years of control for both sides as he will have 6 years of control add Rogers and it 7 total years of control. Twins get 5 total years and with the PTBNL potentially more but the odds are low that the PTBNL works out. It is a risk for risk trade and if the Twins do fix Paddack they win this in a landslide. Odds seem to be on the Padres side though as they got the only proven player in the trade. Granted only one year unless of course they can extend him. It is a win now move for the Padres versus a who knows for the Twins. It is an upside trade for the Twins I just hope this one works out.
  21. Dman
    Gore only needed 8 pitches in his first inning but then had to wait a long time before he got back out to the mound and had trouble throwing strikes. Seemed like he leaned on his fastball a little bit too much and it bit him in the end. It also looked like it was pretty cold towards the end of the game might have trouble gripping the ball as he did hit a batter as well. Cave looked really good tonight. I think all three hits came with two strikes. Last hit was more luck than anything as it was check swing dribbler but those count too. Sands was great. He worked fast didn't walk a batter, was efficient and K'd 7 batters for good measure. Still not sure I trust his stuff at the MLB level especially his fastball but can't argue his dominance tonight. Tough luck loss for Gore as he lost his stuff with the cold but when the weather warms up I am sure he will be his dominant self.
  22. Dman
    I am pretty sure they will go with a bat even though I wouldn't mind doubling down on an arm. Depending on how things fall I could see the Twins going young with someone like Cam Collier. He would fit in with some of the other young bats to create a second wave of hitters in Rosario, Rodriguez, Urbina and Cavaco. I like Berry's bat a ability to switch hit I just don't think he will fall to number 8 though either.
  23. Dman
    Thank you that makes sense!! They get to watch the players they agreed to and then they grab the one that looks most likely to make it or fits best. I knew there had to be something to it, just couldn't figure out why a team would wait for a player. So since PTBNL are not a named player I assume it is most likely a C prospect type throw in.
  24. Dman
    So with PTBNL is that ultimately decided by how the players do for their respective teams. If Rogers is lights out and Paddack stinks do they get a better guy. Or if Rogers sucks and Paddack performs well do they get a lesser guy? Is that how these deals work? Asking for a friend.
  25. Dman
    Given what elite relievers are going for with extensions I doubt the Twins have plans on extending Rogers. Twins need to get value out of that deal though and with San Diego to this point not willing to give up their top 3 prospects seems like it might be hard to find the right match. Gore was scary last year in a bad way. I don't think you want to risk a deal with one of the elite relievers in baseball for him at this point. At any rate I can see them trading Rogers now instead of at the deadline. This front office doesn't really seem to believe in closers and they don't like to park their money in the pen. If they find the right deal I could see them pulling the trigger.
×
×
  • Create New...