jimbo92107

Congratulations to E Rod. Hope he bangs a hit in his first game!

Keashall needs to work his ass off learning to optimize his play in Right Field. His arm may never get much better, but the clumsy plays on bank shots off the wall have got to stop. Jenkins...well, shoot. He's the future in Center, so just keep playing him. E-Rod should be brought up immediately. What team needs a great young outfielder more than the Twins? This Twins team isn't ready to make a serious run, but they are on the verge of opening a new window. If an when they fall out of contention, then it's time to trade Buck, Larnach and Jeffers. Let them go join serious teams. Meanwhile, it is time, once again, to see what the new kids have to offer.

Spot on analysis. Brooks Lee was a step slow at short, but fits almost perfectly at the hot corner. He's a smart ballplayer, positions himself well, and almost always makes the right play. That's the profile of a solid MLB fielder. Frankly, now that he has found a position, I would not be surprised to see Lee start rounding out his game at the plate, too. Hard to say what will happen after Houston arrives, sometime in 2027. Lee is a good fit, right where he is. You don't change that unless you really need to.

Aaaand then, Nance throws another football spin.

Ichy fish. I must cleanse myself in the waters of river lethe...

Anybody know the last time Jeffers threw out a guy stealing 2nd?

Nance now is being very sure not to throw another football spin.

The hope here is that Detroit's RP's are as bad as ours.

Whoops, Nance threw the football spin. Nice and straight.

Keashall is Dan Gladden 2.0, if he learns to play outfield better...

And yet, Culpepper has played a full rung above the rest at SS. We can wait for Houston. The middle of the field is now decently shored up. Next, get ERod up into RF, even if just for a better glove.

Emmanuel Rodriguez needs to come up now, even if it's just to stabilize a chaotic outfield. Put ERod in RF, so there are three competent gloves out there.

Many years ago, I spotted a couple of what I thought were obvious tells in Francisco Liriano's setup. He would literally line up his leed shoulder with the side of the plate he was aiming for, and he would stand there with his leed shoulder lower when he planned to throw his slider. Just knowing that, I could call his pitches about 80 percent of the time. After a while, I got tired of talking about it. If anybody paid attention, clearly is wasn't the Twins. These days, tells tend to be more subtle, but they are still detectable. Like it or not, people communicate non-verbally, all the time. We are constantly sending signals, consciously or not. I can read some guys lateral location by subtle body lean as they stand at the set. A one-inch lean is all you need. By the way, pitching from the set makes it much easier to read a pitcher. You can see if they lean, or point their shoulders, or if they have some physical tick, like tightening their jaw if the catcher is calling for a pitch the guy doesn't want to throw. If a pitcher is losing confidence in his slider, he may frown as the catcher asks for one. If a pitcher frowns and shakes off a pitch, guess which pitch he's rejecting? The one that isn't working, of course! Which pitches fail most often? As one might expect, it's usually not the fastball, the one pitch every kid figures out first. Opposing coaches will have charts on every pitcher, which includes WHEN something like a slider stops working (later in a game, when he's getting tired of that extra wrist snap). Curves and changes can go out anytime. When you see that happen, you can sit on other pitches. When you see that happen, that's when you start looking for the telltale grimace. I don't see those tells very often, becauses the camera usually is pointed at the back of the pitcher's head.

The team's outfield has been disappointing. At this point, having called up their top prospect, why hold back with another top outfielder? Bring up Emmanuel Rodgriguez.

Congratulations to Walter Jenkins. Promotion well justified. Probably too late to save the season, but that's okay. Now, there's little pressure, other than for Jenkins to show off some talent. Tally ho, young man.