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Jham

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Everything posted by Jham

  1. Jham
    Interesting... Here's footage from a 2011 Under Armor showcase. Apparently Buxton once had an open stance, stride, and toe tap. Probably helped his timing but maybe further elongated his swing. Might be worth going back to, although I'd like to see the Soriano closed stance approach.
  2. Jham
    There's a lot of draft picks between #2 overall and signed to a minor league contract out of the independent leagues as well. Potential matters. Perhaps Buxton was over-hyped. Perhaps he has failed to develop. Perhaps success is right around the corner. Pretending all prospects are on the same success vs. failure scale is a bit ridiculous though. Simone Biles was disappointed with a Bronze medal for completing a routine that I'd be ecstatic with simply not dying if I attempted it. Success and failure is always relative.
  3. Jham
    I think his dominance of the minors was always a bit overstated. You can amass some pretty sweet OPS numbers against minor league defenses (extra bases, extra hits). His HR totals were pretty meh for an elite prospect other than a couple nice runs. But with his speed, an OPS over 1.000 would be considered dominant. Especially in SSS. From an eye test perspective, his swing looks not only long, but difficult to time up and repeat. It's not the most natural looking swing with a lot of moving parts and seemingly low back elbow. I think attempts to get him to shorten up have caused the Danny Santana effect: he's lost aggression and more importantly bat speed, when his problem to begin with is bat speed. This causes a loss of power, a loss of contact, and subsequent loss of confidence. He also seems to open up to a rather extreme degree. His uppercut swing reminds me closest to that of Alphonso Soriano. He had an extremely closed stance which I think helped him stay closed when contacting the ball.
  4. Jham
    If Dozier is an 8/10 on a fictional player scale,* Polanco is a 6/10, our starters 2-5 are all maybe 5/10** and we can obtain a pitcher who is an 8/10*** we've just gone +1, a 10% gain on that transaction. * Fictional player scale already adjusted for differences in position. ** Assuming practically all starting pitchers provide decent team value, less of a guarantee these days especially with this team. *** an 8 for an 8 representing a perfectly fair trade.
  5. Jham
    I dunno. I think Eades made the right play. The tag is a much safer player than a throw which would score a run with an error. Runner was going to 3rd either way. Batter had given himself up. Sort of a freak incident in my eyes.
  6. Jham
    If we had 9 Rosarios on the team Buggs Bunny could strike out the entire team on 1 pitch...
  7. Jham
    Decent point by Bert... I wonder if Zuke's well publicized issues with framing might have something to do with the relative wildness of our pitching... right on cue...
  8. Jham
    I was just wondering why he wasn't throwing more change ups when his slider was giving him so much trouble with location. 1 mystery solved. Bigger mystery of how he was the organizations #1 pitching prospect still remaining...
  9. Jham
    Hmmmm.... Grossman.... hmmm... I'm going to have to think about that...
  10. Jham
    Does Gibson tip his pitches? His slider has a ton of table-top break to it, and his fastball has run, yet the K's never came to the extent projected as a prospect.
  11. Jham
    Plouffe should have turned and ran after that ball instead of backpedaling...
  12. Jham
    Milone has a pretty decent track record of success. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a bounce back season and still has a productive career. It's not his fault that the Twins didn't have better options. We picked him up for Sam Fuld, and have paid him very little for a starter. He's a perfect type to have if you're trying to bring up young talent, because he's, no offense to Mr. Millone, expendable. The guys who were supposed to come up and replace him and the veterans who were supposed to hold down pretty much all failed. I ain't mad at Millone.
  13. Jham
    Wait, were the Twins wrong about Slowey? He ended up being pretty terrible after that breakout season right? Just because a starter had immediate success doesn't mean they'll have sustainable success. Slowey wasn't better than pavano or duensing or Blackburn despite having 1 good year. May should start, but i think we need to be realistic about our expectations regarding his results and health.
  14. Jham
    I guess I'm most interested in seeing which catcher is brought up. I would guess it's JR Murphy, but if it was Garver, that would certainly send a message. O'Rourke, Buxton, and Park for sure. Dean should get the call as an extra innings eater. Beresford and Wimmers as rewards. Possibly Palka.
  15. Jham
    They're up by 5, they lose by 8, they score 2, they give up ten, Eduardo Escobar's pitching... they're all over the place....
  16. Jham
    When he first came up and mashed, I thought he looked quicker to the ball. Smalley commented on that. Then last week I watched him, mired in a mini-slump and it looked like he had a slight hitch again. http://m.twins.mlb.com/min/video/v1038645783/houmin-vargas-hits-two-homers-for-the-twins/?affiliateId=clubMEGAMENU Here's the clips of his HR's. You can see from both sides of the plate, he brings his hands back noticeably before beginning his swing. Not the biggest deal in the world, may help him with timing and loading, but it's significant and detriment when he gets tired/lazy/aggressive and his swing lengthens. Not surprisingly, both HR came on off speed. Both swings were fairly quick to the ball once his hands were in position, with his swing from the left side being a little loopy and long (but generates a ton of power) while his swing from the right side was picture perfect as far as plane, and staying compact. Coincidentally or by necessarily, his hitch is shorter with the longer swing from the left. Hand placement can be tinkered with rather easily without changing the swing. Cudduyer's career took off when he lowered his hands to get into position sooner. There's hope and reason for optimism, but as others have posted, this isn't much we haven't seen before.
  17. Jham
    Hey, Tonkin is pretty decent in no-leverage situations. Maybe he should have a beer or two during the early innings to relax. I can't figure out why Boshers was out of the league for 2 years... At lease we've got like a 2 hour break before our next game to regroup.
  18. Jham
    I've never really heard of a move to the pen causing an injury. Starting is almost universally more strenuous. If May can't hold up in the pen, I can't see him staying healthy in the rotation either, but it's certainly worth a shot.
  19. Jham
    I think that's a possibility. But that logic is incomplete as it is premised on the idea that the Twins had the exact grades and predictions as the publications and experts. Often not the case. In fact, I'd be extraordinarily disappointed if the FO used expert prospect lists over their own evaluations, at least when it comes to our own talent who we can work with every day. EG, I'm guessing the Nats did not have Alex Meyer ranked as high internally as the experts, lists, and rest of the league.
  20. Jham
    Well 2 years $12 mil is mind boggling, What do you think he ends up getting open market? Last year David Freese got 1 year for $3 million. Juan Uribe got 1 year $4 million. Apparently there was no trade value anywhere either. Freese has OPS .811 this season, btw. Freese has a better track record, was better this season, and is only 3 years older than Plouffe. Look at last year's FA market, look at the trade market for 3B, look at next year's FA crop at 3rd. Exactly how much do you think Plouffe is realistically expected to make?
  21. Jham
    Obviously, it HAS to be the organization. Otherwise these publications, prospect lists, and experts would be wrong in their player evaluations and projections which is a virtual impossibility as we all know.
  22. Jham
    Are there automatic raises for service years in arbitration? Twins agreed to 7 mil last year right? Presumably we offered something significantly less. I'm less than sure that he sees his FA year as a big pay day. The season he's had, doesn't give him a lot of leverage in front of a arbitrator if the Twins go low on him... so maybe that's an important question. What is plouffe's value in arb and on the open market. Perhaps i assumed his value is lower than it is.
  23. Jham
    Dear goodness, John Lackey AND Jared Weaver are still in the league, and halfway decent...
  24. Jham
    Waiting for swearing over the Dozier sweep-tag and show-the-ump....
  25. Jham
    I guess I don't see Plouffe as overly expensive. I would not go a $1 over $12 mil for 2 years. So money aside, perhaps a big aside, Plouffe offers much more defensive value and probably as much offensive value. I mean, we'll have places to save money. We're only going to keep 1 or none of Santiago and Milone. Would I rather have Plouffe than either of them.... Hard to say. Milone and Plouffe or Santiago? Right now I'd say Santiago... maybe... I guess I'm envious of your confidence.
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