Lefty74

Watching Royce hit in 2025 was painful. His feet are moving all over and he seemed to make a swing decision almost prior to the ball being released. I don’t remember him doing that when he first joined the Twins. He and to an extent Wallner (who also was often out of balance) had swings that made me feel they were lucky to hit the ball. I also think Royce has maturity issues. That is why I believe Torii Hunter would be a great choice for manager. He has a positive personality but doesn’t appear to be the kind of guy to let things go. He’d force change and accountability IMHO.

It may be that Steer has benefited from a hitting approach that is different than Miranda’s. I’ve watched a few Reds highlights and the batters seem to be loose and confident. When I watch the Twins I see just the opposite. Not sure how to instill that confidence in Miranda or other Twins batters but need it for sure!

I like CJ but seems like $7-$8M is too much. Here’s a thought, trade with Yankees for a very controllable LH hitting first baseman, Mike Ford. LeMahieu and Voit provide Yankees with enough so Ford is expendable. Ford’s MLB stats in 2019: 143 AB’s, 12 HR’s, .909 OPS. Major League Mininum salary for a number of years; spend the savings on a pitcher and get a high upside player w upside.

Completely agree, Gibson may be older but he seems to have figured it out. It looks like his ceiling is way higher and he may now have a new floor as well. Very bullish on Gibby, may be a mirage but I think he has a chance to be really good for the next 4-6 years.

Totally agree that there have been some very strange moves. It would be nice if Flavine were a little more forthcoming as to their rationale. Seems very quiet over at 1 Twins way. One thing I do agree with is not playing Garver more behind the plate. I know many disagree with this sentiment as he clearly is a better stick than Wilson. At times Garver looks like he is trying to catch with a boxing glove. There have been many wild pitches that IMHO should have been blocked/caught and he consistently stabs at pitches. Does not have soft hands and at 27 I don’t think that changes. Catcher is such a critical spot we just have to find someone to man the position and I can’t see him being the long term #1 guy. Neither is Wilson but I have to believe the pitchers like him behind the plate more than Garver.

Life is a series of choices. I’ve been a big supporter of Sano and given him a pass on his weight. Now it’s clear that he is very immature and not very disciplined. Miguel talks a good game but he is clearly not backing up the words. From the accusations of sexual misconduct to not being able to step away from the dinner table to swinging at the same out of the zone pitches over and over it’s apparent he has a very long way to go. I hope he makes it but it will take major life changes for it to happen.

I agree, this is the same substance most Domincan players are caught with. Clearly not an iron supplement. Also important to note that the teams have supplements that they know are ok and are available for the players. They don’t need to get them from anyone in the DR.

Had a chance to be on the field during batting practice and was a few feet from Sano as he waited his turn. To put it in perspective, I am 6’3” and a soft 210 and it is not an exaggeration to say his leg circumference is at least double mine. He is a huge person, incredibly strong and will not see 215-230 anytime soon. He has also proven he can still run ok and seems to be quick enough at 3rd. Hoping he gets to 260 but still believe he has tons (no pun intended) of value as he is.

Rarely hear anything about Van Steensel and am surprised at how strong his #’s are. Why is he not considered a prospect? Is it velo related or something else? Seems to have a strong strikeout ratio. Thanks

And I should have added that in almost every category his #’s are down this year.....very troubling.

These guys are very hard to watch!! I don’t think Thibs constant barking helps, in fact I think he is losing the younger guys. KAT is going to continue to grow and get better every year. He has the passion/energy and talent to be a real force in the league. Should be fun to watch as he matures. Wiggins may be the anchor that keeps this franchise from accomplishing much. $150M for a player ranked 193 in Player Efficiency Rating! The biggest concern is he is NOT getting better. Examples: In his 4 years his shooting % has averaged .448, league average .458 3 pt shooting %. .310. .364 Rebounds per game 4.0 avg rebounds per game for a team = 43.3 so I would say he is way underachieving on this stat. He’s 6’8” and plays forward!! There is not any stat where he shines. He plays with a look of disinterest that is troubling. He stands straight up and down on defense and when rebounding; no athleticism even though it’s clear he’s a great athlete. 4 years is not a small sample size. He is not changing and due to his contract and the minutes he plays we are going to struggle unless he steps it up. The contract is our anchor unless he really changes his game.

Interested in your rationale for Tyler Jay making MLB by end of 2018. His stats at High A, around 3.00 ERA have been solid, but AA ERA of around 5.50 doesn’t seem to warrant the optimism. It may be that injuries have been the cause, but if so it’s rare that those things disappear. I hope you are right and everything lines up for him in terms of health and success on the mound.

I am surprised Slegers is so far down. Agree that his ceiling is low, but he has had a reasonable amount of success in MILB. Are there really that many pitchers in the system ahead of him....we will see. My impression is pitching is our weak link. I guess it is important to understand the methodology. Most rankings of top prospects are weighted heavily towards the "what if". What If the guy who throws 95+ starts hitting his spots, or the 6'6" pitcher is projected to add 5 MPH To his FB. In reality most often they don't achieve these projections, yet they are considered more valuable because if they do they are higher ceiling guys. Lots of Sleger types end up have MLB careers, but most often they are not highly regarded in these types of evaluations.

Recently spent 3 days outside of Cleveland watching Midwest League games between Lake County Captains and Lansing Lugnuts. Sitting behind home plate the first evening I glanced to my right and did a double take. There with a stopwatch in his left hand and radar gun in right was Terry Ryan. Watching him work gave me an appreciation of the hard work he puts in when watching a game. He had an 8.5 x 14" sheet for each team and he was evaluating every player. Every pitch he put the gun down and wrote something on one of the sheets. I approached him in between innings the first night and mentioned the fact I was from MN and a huge Twins fan. We talked for maybe 5 minutes. I told him he must be proud of the fact that many of the players performing so well were drafted during his tenure. He quickly said something to the effect that "many were involved" and "last year was so tough, really happy to see the success". He also received a call from a Twins employee while we were talking; he clearly still has strong connections to the org. Terry stayed at every game until the bitter end, writing on his sheets after every pitch. There are typically 5 or more scouts at all these games. Watching them work it was clear Terry takes his craft very seriously. Saturday, after the series ended, my wife and I were at the airport at 6:30am ready to head back to MN. I looked up and Terry was making his way over. We talked for awhile about many things and my last comment to him was, "well at least you get to go home for a 3 day weekend." His reply, "oh no, when I get to MN I'm grabbing a car and heading to Beloit to power scout a series this weekend"!! I just laughed and thought, yep he's a baseball man and lifer!

At current pace Twins win 84 games......... we can dream!

Am not anything close to a pro scout but saw McKay pitch and hit in 2016 over a 3 game series. He is VERY sturdy and I believe could be whatever a team wants to him to be. His swing is great and exit velocity is exceptional. Just very polished. As a pitcher very solid velocity with great depth on off spend. As stated by many his floor is #3. Probably never #1 but potential #2 and solid......low risk because he could do either. Not sure that warrants #1 pick in draft, but he would certainly leapfrog most of our current MILB pitchers.

Apologies--didn't see the Extension Candidates thread until after posting this one! Would have added to that one.

After reading Souhan's article on the Twins this a.m. I wanted to see if opinions have changed from this Aug 2015 article. I am very concerned about Sano's strikeouts and defense. He was out of shape last year, came to camp in better shape this year, however I get the feeling he isn't driven to be great. Souhan points out he (and presumably Twins front office/coaches) were expecting more leadership from Sano but he seems to spend all his free time in the locker room on his phone. Would really like to get a feeling that he was 100% all in as a MN Twin. All that being said I am in the camp that we should try to lock him up through at least a couple of free agency years. If he fulfills even 80% of original expectations he is well above replacement level. In today's market is that $100M+? With last years less than stellar year it may be the right time to strike.

Great article, this is very encouraging! It doesn't take a lot to make a big difference when it comes to pitch framing. It will be really interesting to see if Castro can put most of the Twins pitchers Strike % above the MLB average line as he did with Houston.

Great article! The heat maps clearly show there is a difference. I'm actually more encouraged by the fact that Suzuki seemed to dismiss framing as an art; he is one tough SOB, but old school. Since we don't have power pitchers any extra strike is huge.

Athletically seems to be a lot like Dave Winfield. He could have easily been an MLB pitcher. Dave didn't turnout too bad! Take Hunter Greene!

Not that I will be given the option to fill out the lineup card , but I would have Dozier in the lineup close to everyday. 2B, DH and even via giving him a 1B glove and telling him to spend time in spring training learning the position.

I think the Twins painted themselves into a corner and therefore Adrianza with likely stick on the 25 man. Having Sano and Polanco on one side of the infield is very scary for Twins pitchers. We don't strike out a ton of hitters and Polanco doesn't get to a lot of balls. My totally unscientific opinion is that it will be better for our pitchers to overindex defense at SS. Could be that Polanco starts the season at SS but after a short period of time will fill in at 2B and 3B, still getting plenty of AB's.