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DJL44

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Everything posted by DJL44

  1. I agree that the comments are worrisome, especially when paired with the immediate embrace of Ty France. They suggest that Rocco does not know how to judge talent. I think Austin Martin can improve in the outfield, mainly because it would be difficult for him to get much worse. He had a Delmon Young caliber season last year and I don't think he's that bad. However, he doesn't even have the physical tools (speed, arm) to be a "defensive star". He's 26 in March, he's not going to get faster, and he's had nearly 1400 innings in the outfield as a pro so experience should not be an issue. I would put his upside as "adequate".
  2. The Astros are looking for a lefthanded bat who can play infield so they can move Altuve to the outfield. If Julien has trouble making the roster he could find a home elsewhere.
  3. I disagree that Brooks Lee is likely to be an elite defender at 2B. He's probably going to be good enough, with good hands and an accurate arm, but I don't think he has elite range (not enough foot speed). That said, I don't see how Julien makes it to the top of the defensive depth chart at 2B above Castro or Lee. I don't see a long or short-term future for Julien at 2B. I think he needs to learn how to play 1B. If he can't improve his performance against breaking balls, then his career is over. I don't think he's ever going to be as good against breaking pitches as he is against fastballs, but it's possible he makes a marginal improvement this season. If you're going to bet on an offensive profile, his career numbers (.235/.343/.399) are a good place to start. That's good enough to contribute at the MLB level, but not good enough to be an everyday starter.
  4. Miranda can play worse than he did last year and still out-perform what Ty France did in 2024.
  5. Nearly everyone was better than Varland last season. Henriquez and Headrick were better than Varland last season and they were both cut off the 40-man roster. Louie was lousy. BTW - both Henriquez and Headrick were cut to keep Castellano on the roster. They're going to give him a fair shot.
  6. Correa seems pretty active in this new approach. I wonder how much of it was spurred by his feedback.
  7. That's more like the game of the 1970s and 1980s. 20 years ago was 2005 - Mike Piazza and Derek Jeter were active players. The Twins used Matt LeCroy at catcher in 2005. Catcher defense declined significantly before the "framing" revolution of 2011. The 1920s and 1930s had their share of up-the-middle run producers. The 60s-80s were low run-scoring and defense took priority. 1990-2010 was a big offense era. We're currently in a low-offense era and defensive value has been quantified with statcast much more precisely than ever before. However, we also have fewer balls in play than any time in history (so many strikeouts) so the impact of elite defense is minimized.
  8. I have more confidence that he can provide value as a hitter than I do that he can provide value on defense at 2B. I don't think he has the athletic ability to play 2B in the major leagues except as a fill-in. If he hits like he has shown in the past, he has enough bat for 1B/DH. If he doesn't, then he doesn't have enough bat to overcome his defensive deficiencies at 2B.
  9. Flights to Denver are cheap and I haven't spent much time exploring that part of the country.
  10. Thinking about a Colorado trip to catch one of those Twins-Rockies games
  11. They added one more last year (Lopez with 185). Ober was close with 178. I don't think the Twins want ANY of their starting pitchers to throw 200 innings.
  12. Interesting that ZIPS projected Rodriguez to have the highest OPS+ of any prospect on the list.
  13. Paddack is going to be difficult to trade while Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, Jose Quintana and Andrew Heaney are still looking for work.
  14. Always willing to miss the point in order to bash someone using a small data sample. Never change.
  15. I don't disagree. I was commenting more that 350 PAs is a minimum expectation for Bader. I don't think he'll get 500 mainly because I don't think Bader can stay healthy for a whole season.
  16. You need one full month of Correa, Buxton and Lewis together - in October.
  17. Freddie Freeman shouldn't be disqualified. He's an MVP caliber player, probably a future Hall of Famer. Plus, he was the actual World Series MVP in 2024.
  18. 1B is basically the last position to try before making him a full-time DH.
  19. It is a meritocracy, however it isn't? Bad teams who don't want to contend will play veterans hoping for a bounceback season so they can trade them. If they are playing Paddack just to pump-and-dump his trade value, then they're not trying to contend.
  20. Willi Castro is stretched at SS but he can play 2B and 3B. He should be in the infield much more often this season. Even with Castro at 2B, this infield defense will be below average.
  21. He'll get 250 at-bats just playing when Buxton is injured. Then another 80 when there are lefty starting pitchers.
  22. Julien only has 1 option left so I am guessing he has the inside track to one of those spots. They will give him another chance in MLB before they exile him back to St. Paul. Lee vs Martin is a decent battle for Opening Day, but we're sure to see quite a bit of both of them this season.
  23. I don't understand what they see in Ty France. I don't see him as a better 1B than Miranda or a better DH than Miranda or Larnach. I am hopeful that Zoll takes that toy away from Rocco at the end of spring training because it seems like he will play with it way too much.
  24. That's not a bad decision. If Bader is in the lineup, he'd better be in the outfield. There's no reason to have him as the DH. With Bader in LF and Buxton in CF, they can cover a lot of ground and make RF even smaller for Wallner.
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