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Dman

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Everything posted by Dman

  1. Dman
    Rosario getting some respect here. Sending out a special lefty to face him.
  2. Dman
    Wow what a nice pro debut for Sands! K's the first 5 and 8 total. It is early but if Sands and Balazovich keep this up the pitchers in High A better be up to the challenge (I'm looking at you Tyler Watson) because those guys are looking like they are going to move up quickly. My boy Ernie is having a tough start at AA. I hope he can turn it around or he might get demoted. Gelly is looking really good starting the season in AA and Hamilton is off to a hot start as well. Two players Cabbage and Blankenhorn I had given up on are off to good starts. Here is hoping they can keep it up.
  3. Dman
    I am not a huge Adrianza fan but he had a really good spring and I trust him at 2nd, 3rd and SS more than Marwin at this point. I would hate to see him go at this point. But your point is valid. Once Sano comes back he and Marwin are a bit redundant and they have Torreyes at AAA so technically a replacement player if needed. I guess we will find out soon enough.
  4. Dman
    Really appreciated Rosario's HR. One missed pitch in the ninth with 3 - 2 lead and it is a tie game or a loss. Nice to see Max finding his power stroke. It seems like he is hitting the ball hard all the time now. Still a bit unlucky with BABIP but hopefully that comes around. Was happy to see the La Tortuga put one in the seats and even better take a walk. Seems like other teams might be a bit scared of the Turle these days and don't want to give him strikes or good pitches early in the count. Felt like the bull pen was shaky but it is a young group with guys getting adjusted etc. I think over time we will be alright in the pen. Pineda was the star for me though. Coming in and shutting that high powered lineup down today was huge. He pitches the same no matter the team it seems with excellent results so far. Very relieved that we will have at least one win in Philly with a chance for two. Also nice to see that we can play with the big boys.
  5. Dman
    Not surprised by this move. He just doesn't fit with the long term plan for this team. I just hope we can get something decent from another team for him. I think he is a nice asset for a rebuilding team. He was good this spring and not bad in his debut this year. I do think that if he can get the playing time he can be a good player in this league. Needs to work on the K rate if he gets that under control he can be really good. That being said I actually like Luke Raley as a 1st base\outfield option better than Austin. His Minor league K rate\Slugging are similar to Austins but he is a better defender and he has options. If you want an Apples to Apples defensive comparison then Rooker should be able to replace him as well. They are both more limited to just 1st base and have power bats with a 30% K rate and Rooker has options. As a long shot you have Zander Wiel whose K rate in the high teens makes him more MLB ready but he hasn't had the home run power of the other guys listed. Still a nice slugging percentage and he can actually take walks. Any of those three seem like as good if not better long term options for us than Austin IMO and they all have options so can be sent up and down at will. The issue is you have find a 40 man spot for them.
  6. Dman
    Very impressed with the four walks Severino took tonight. Take what they give you and they will have to throw strikes or put you on base. balazovick what can you say. He should be in Fort Meyers I think. Nice to see the pitching take over in these games.
  7. Dman
    I've always liked the way Blankenhorn attacks the game but to me he has always been contact challenged. To much swing and miss, too many strikeouts. You can't have a K rate approaching 30% and think you are going to make it to MLB. His BABIP is around .300 for his carreer his walk rate is around 7% so he is in decent shape there. If he can get his K rate into the teens with another point or two up on the walk rate he will have a fighting chance. If the K rate remains where it is I don't see him making it. The pitching only gets tougher as you move up. If he doesn't conquer High A ball this year I see him dropping off prospect lists and into obscurity.
  8. Dman
    That is a good list. Some nice young pitching in that top 20. Only change I might make is swapping Ober for Stashak. Cody has been pretty lights out as a reliever and I expect him to dominate again this year. Even Eades could be in this list somewhere but I guess when there are only 20 slots it gets hard to pick and choose who you like for those final spots. Thanks for putting this together it is nice to see what we have for pitching in the system.
  9. Dman

    Ouch

    Dman replied to denarded's topic in Minnesota Twins Talk

    I get it they lost a couple of winnable games to a team that put lot's of guys on base but couldn't drive most of them in. Yeah some bloops and bleeders but they also absolutely scorched some balls as well. Feels like a bit of a sour grapes response to two tough losses. I agree the Twins aren't in the top ten of well known clubs but is anyone in the central a team you can remember? Sure the Royals have had some recent success but they also were the laughing stock of all baseball for about 20 years. As for the 4-1 and nobody remembers anything they have done so far, wouldn't that pretty much apply to all 30 teams. It is the start of the season so these early game don't mean that much just yet. I don't get the point they are trying to make. I guess when your team doesn't win you have to find something to bring the other team down?
  10. Dman
    I like the list and I have virtually nothing but stats and hearsay to guide my opinions but do you feel Willie Joe Garry is currently a better hitter than Ricardo De La Torre? They both struggled in short season ball but I thought Ricky held his own there while Willie had a pretty brutal start. If Raley is there how about GRZELAKOWSKI. He is a bit K prone but can take walks and had a nice OPS for High A. I am biased but I like Ernie De La Trinidad better than Pearson at this point. I know Ernie doesn't have Pearsons power potential but he has a better eye at the plate and better hit tool IMO. I really like where you put Helman and I would have him even higher. I think he will prove you right in the end. I know it was a small sample size but he hit well in Rookie Ball and when he got moved up he hit better than pretty much everyone else at A ball. There has to be something in his approach that makes him that successful. I will be watching him closely this year to see if we got a steal in the 11th round. High A is typically the toughest jump for hitters. If he does well there I think he makes it.
  11. Dman
    I was surprised and encouraged by what Garver did today with the bat. I think I under estimate his hitting sometimes. Although I know spring training doesn't mean anything he looked like he was struggling. Guess I was wrong. With the Turtle and Garver hitting like this we have great options off the bench. Kepler sure seems to have a good eye at the plate but he has some of the worst luck getting hits I have ever seen. Here's hoping he can get hot and get more confident. I love it when Rosario in on. He makes games fun. But he needs to let the game come to him. Several pitchers strategy seem to be getting him to chase pitches out of the zone which he happily does far too often. If he takes his walks they will start throwing him better pitches. Can't say enough good things about Cruz. He really makes the lineup more dangerous. If he stays healthy that signing looks huge for this team. Very happy with the start. Hoping we can steal a game or two from the Phillies.
  12. Dman
    After they had the bases loaded with no outs and didn't score I determined that the baseball gods were against us and they were going to let the Royals win the opener. We left a lot of guys in scoring position on base it was tough to watch that. Some how some way they did just enough to get the win. Felt a little bit bad for KC as they thought they had escaped another jam only to lose the game. Granted I think the umpires got the call right but it is a tough way to lose. Cruz is the real deal. I hope we can keep him healthy all year as he is a tough out. Given how Marwin has been playing I would rather have Sano back at third right now. Maybe it is time check out Adrianza at third and see what he can do. It seems like Marwin has been swinging at a lot of ptiches out of the zone. Very happy they got the win. Hoping for another win today before they head to the red hot Phillies for three games.
  13. Dman
    That lineup has star potential. 8 of the 9 positions are top 30 guys in the Twins system. If you still believe in Diaz as top 30 player then make it 9 out of 9. The pitching is better at High A so I would expect some of the younger players to struggle but what a fun lineup to box score watch.
  14. Dman
    Not a ton of star power in that lineup but a lot of those guys are sneaky good. Kiriloff and Arraez are the only young bats with star potential in the lineup. I really like Ernie De La Trinidad I know he is most likely a 4th outfielder type but he is a tough out and I like the way he plays. The Gryzz has some decent pop and a fairly good eye at the plate. A bit strike out prone but he has backup catcher\utility player written all over him. I have always been a big Jordon Gore fan. Not a great year last year but solid and he jumped levels. He too should have a shot to be a good utility player, maybe something more if he can find a bit more power. I like Kransons bat but he needs a bit more power if he plans to make it any further. It is a good group but the star power is a level below this one. There are a lot of interesting pitchers at this level and hard to say who will be able to perform or not. Should be a fun group to watch but as the article suggests there are players with greater potential already on the way.
  15. Dman
    I had Barnes in AA as he was pretty dominant the second half. My dream of Enlow, Balazioic, Duran and Graterol starting coming up together appears to be dead. Enlow and Balazovic start in A ball which stinks but it looks like Graterol will be AA bound so that is good news. Will be interesting to see how Jeffers, Larnach and Helman do in High A. I am hoping for good things from those picks. I also thought Ernie would start here but he must have made it to AA so that is good as well.
  16. Dman
    On my list I had Leach likely starting and Villalobos as a catcher but I guess the Twins must think they are not quite ready or have things to work on. I also had Enlow and Balazovic in high A. Enlow wasn't lights out in A ball last year so I can see that it makes sense to give him more time but Jordon dominated so not sure why the need to keep him down there. Do they see something they didn't like this spring? All in all It's a nice group of guys. Will be a fun team to watch again this year.
  17. Dman
    He's a fun guy to root for. You look at that body and say no way could that guy be a good baseball player. He didn't get perfect gene's but he does everything he possibly can with what he has. I love underdogs and Astudillo has that in spades. I hear you though. Defensively the only decent spot for him is catcher and the Twins at this point seem to like Garver and Castro better. He can play third but Sano's power bat plays better there at least in theory. He can play second but Schoop is much better there defensively and should give us decent offense as well. He can play first but Cron is better in that spot as well. At DH we have Cruz. So yeah I see your point. His best chance to make a difference defensively is at catcher. At this point I would rather see Garver go down than Astudillo just because he such a good PH threat. He puts the ball in play better than anyone in baseball. That skill has to be worth something, most likely a better BA with a greater percentage of BABIP luck. I hear you but I like this guy and hope they are writing his name in pen soon.
  18. Dman
    While I understood the Pineda move I didn't understand the Pineda move. He was absolutely just cruising through 4 innings on a low pitch count and they pulled him, I don't get that. At least let him pitch the 5th and have a chance for the win. If Pineda was struggling or the pitch count was high I could easily rationalize what the Twins did but I have to agree with Tom that it seemed like this game was more about getting both guys equal work than worrying about winning the game. I am not a big Perez fan but I like what the Twins have done with him so far. His velocity is outstanding but his control doesn't look MLB ready to me. Watching the game he was all over the place. Granted some of that is by design but it looked to me like he didn't really have a money pitch today. Every inning felt like a disaster waiting to happen to me. If you have good stuff you don't have to throw 80 pitches in a little over three innings of work. So my question right now would be is he really a good pitcher? I get it, he is a work in progress and likely to warm up with the weather but I just didn't care for the way the Twins went about getting him into this game. Yeah they had a huge 5 run inning and in the end it didn't matter as they got to have their cake and eat it too, but a couple of bad bounces and they could have lost that game. Ok enough complaining. I was very happy with how well they hit the ball today. This really could be a tough lineup for pitchers to face with lots of bench options that aren't that far off in quality at bats. Not sure how long that bench stays that way but I think it gives them a leg up over other teams right now. I kind of like how they got all three catchers involved early. Catcher is a physically demanding position so if they can keep those guys fresh maybe we can get a bit better production out of that position by platooning them a bit. Very happy with the win and getting the series win at home. If our pitching holds this team might do better than I thought they would.
  19. Dman
    When Marwin came up to bat I was saying to myself automatic out here, rally over. He hits a pitch out of the strike zone all the way to the wall. I guess you have to leave spring training behind at some point. I was happy to be wrong and that was a huge, huge hit under pressure. Berrios was on fire and K machine today. I hope this team continues to perform like this. Very fun to watch. That was a good game for both teams just glad we came out on top especially on the opener
  20. Dman
    I really thought Austin was gone so a bit surprised he made it. Hopefully by keeping him a little longer they get something better back in trade. I just don't see him as long term fit on this team. Harper was a surprise as well. I fully expected that even though he earned the spot the Twins wouldn't want to put him on the 40 man and make him prove it for at least a month in AAA. Good for him and good for the Twins. I have no idea if he will be good in MLB or not but he was the best guys we had out there this spring IMO. I like the roster decisions they made knowing they are a short term solution as guys get healthy and I hope things work out well for everyone. I am still concerned about the pitching on this club no one has seemed lights out this spring other than Harper. I hope that changes with the start of season.
  21. Dman
    I totally agree with your line of thinking. I wasn't digging that deep in my analysis. Just comparing the two players current ability and ceilings. Reed is fast, has decent OBP numbers and seemed to be gaining HR power. I don't know much about Andreoli but a quick look at his numbers and he appears to have good speed and likely better than average defense and that is about it. So his ceiling appears limited IMO. That's why I initially felt the Giants won that deal. You are correct though that the Twins couldn;t justify keeping Reed so maybe it is a more even deal than I thought at first. I guess you could say they traded Granite for 700,000 in International bonus and then got Granite back again in the form of Abdreoli. Not a bad get for just claiming a player. Here's hoping they signed a decent international player or two with the money.
  22. Dman
    This looks like a something is better than nothing trade. Reeds profile is significantly better than Andreoli but Andreoli doesn't take a up a 40 man spot and he could help the MLB club in a pinch. He is a no power onbase guy in the mold of Zach Granite I presume. This deal is better than nothing but the Giants are the clear winners here IMO.
  23. Dman
    Had no idea who Harper was until this spring. I love the movement on his pitches and his K rate is nice as well. He has been good at getting out of jams with guys on base, too. It would be nice if he got the call but I can also understand if the Twins send him down and keep Moran or Guilmet to start the season. Harper hasn't had any MLB success yet and it might be nice to see he keeps throwing this well for another month before adding him to the 40 man and if he doesn't pitch well after being added risk losing him. He has proven he has the stuff to get guys out. Here's hoping this is the year he breaks through.
  24. Dman
    Hard to say what those 30 players would be making. That number 30 spot could be an 8M DH\Pinch hitter or a 4M platoon partner.
  25. Dman
    Fantastic article. Thanks for this. I have been wondering about all of those players and how they ended up playing for the Twins this spring. Their performances have been eye opening for me. I know it spring training and a SSS but I really like what several of the relief pitchers they brought in have done so far.
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