jimbo92107

Liam Hendricks looks like he spent a couple years pumping iron. Pretty beefy. Also added a few mph to his heater. Looks good.

As soon as Buxton made contact I said, "Triple."

Good to see Vargas getting the green light for a nice, hard swing. I was afraid he'd try for a gapper, then try to leg out a triple!

I look forward to Perkins in the broadcast booth, helping Torii Hunter figure out tough words.

This probably is the best observation so far, in that Pedroia, an experienced 2B, must make some move to get out of the path of Machado's expected take-out slide. Standing on the far side of the bag is nowhere near sufficient, as any trained MLB runner is going to slide THROUGH the bag and keep going at least a few feet. Machado's job was to break up the double play by undercutting Pedroia's feet. Pedroia's job is to make sure his feet aren't there when Machado's spikes come through. The 2B must either leap upwards or move to the pitcher side of the bag as the throw comes in. Even as a little kid I was coached to avoid the take-out slide. I played second base, too. I was also coached to try to break up double play attempts, but of course my technique wasn't as polished as a professional's. The Twins had a Japanese player, Nishioka, that wasn't trained to avoid the take-out slide because such slides were not part of that country's game. The slide that took him out was also on purpose, but part of the norms of the game. He didn't last long in MLB. For sure, Machado did slide past the bag with his foot raised, but I don't think he expected Pedroia to be there when his foot spiked Pedroia's leg. Why wasn't Pedroia moving past the bag? I can't pin this one on Machado. It was a clumsy play on Boston's part. After that, throwing at Machado's head was completely uncalled for. Shame on Boston.

Last season it looked like Berrios was slinging everything in a low plane, making it too easy for hitters to swing back along that plane. Major league hitters often greet such offerings with flat line drives hit right up the middle at high speed. I hope Berrios has found a slightly higher release point this season. I also hope he finishes his follow through with his glove ready to pick off line drives.

Niko Goodrum belting home runs and drawing walks... Please continue, young man.

USAFChief, on 30 Apr 2017 - 8:07 PM, said: They gotta find someone else to hit behind him, but yeah...pretty nice start to 2017. Agreed. Two candidates are bashing balls in Rochester right now. Either of Palka or Park would be fine with me, whichever is hot. I suppose Palka might have a slight edge because of positional flexibility, and Palka is a lefty power bat. The Twins would dearly like Vargas to fill that roll, but he seems to have settled into more of a line drive hitter than a tater smasher. I'm afraid the Twins have converted Vargas into a gap hitter, rather than Big Pappy 2.0. Sigh. Oh, I just noticed a couple other factors in Palka's favor. He's on the 40, and Park is on the DL.

Miguel Sano's incredible average exit velocity is a testament to not just the mammoth power of his swing, but also the precision of that beautiful beast. He's not just making hard contact; he's putting the sweet spot of the bat onto the ball with great consistency. The result is still only part of the story. The other part is all the pitches Sano does NOT swing at. All those low, outside curves, balls in the dirt, high and in... Sano is no longer swinging at junk. This leaves a pitcher in a terrible predicament if he's serious about pitching to Sano. In fact, I'm seeing more and more semi-intentional walks when Sano lays off the first couple junk pitches. At 2 balls and no strikes, very few pitchers want to give this man something in the strike zone. Miguel Sano makes a lot of pitchers act like Mister Nibbles. It's understandable.

Speaking of "exit velocity..." Heh-heh, I'm so clever. One guy that will miss Gibson is Royals catcher Salvador Perez. He just loves Gibson's stuff, like a hammer loves nails. Question is, can Gibson be "fixed" in the pitcher sense of the word? You can tell a guy all day not to be Mister Nibbles, but maybe Gibson does that because his only other option is to throw it right down the middle. Maybe Gibson lacks the consistent command that it takes to be a reliable starter. Maybe his future is in the bullpen, period. At this point if I were Molitor, I'd try swapping Gibson and Bender. Let the curve ball specialist try his hand again, and see if Gibson can be useful in shorter duty. Tyler Duffy could still be a good starter, and his stuff plays better than Gibson's over several innings.

In the famous Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex, the protagonist gouges out his own eyes after watching a couple relief pitchers implode. This situation is roughly similar.

First, Haley didn't hit JaCoby Jones on purpose. In fact, the pitch may have gotten away from Haley for the very reason he went on the DL - a bicep injury. Try throwing a baseball really hard with an injured bicep. What happens? It's flies out of control. Second, the unwritten protocols of baseball do not require retaliation by throwing a fastball behind the intended victim. Rather, in this situation a nice, slow curve ball at the butt would have been acceptable. A 60 mph rainbow to the fanny would satisfy the gods of testosterone without seriously endangering Sano's life, or even his left butt cheek. Two things actually were done wrong in that situation. Molitor should have sent the pitching coach out right after Haley hit Jones. Pitching coach tells Haley to grab his pitching arm, like it's hurt. Pitching coach waves to Molitor, bring in a reliever. Get Haley out of there. As for Sano's reaction, it was limited to shouting before McCann shoved his catcher's mitt in Sano's face. Ever had a catcher's mitt shoved in your face? I have. It's a punch in the face. Jason Turbow clearly is a homer for Detroit, so he was blind to that action, just as he overreacted to Sano shoving McCann after McCann shoved his glove in Sano's face. The guy that should have got suspended was McCann.

Two good things happened for Buxton at the plate today in Tuesday's game at Rangers. First, Buxton took a walk against a pitcher that was having command problems. At his worst, Buxton was swinging at crap, even from a struggling pitcher. Second, Buxton got a scratch hit _to the opposite field_. Very important because Buxton has been trying waaaay too hard to pull everything...over the left field fence. This time he slapped the ball to right center. Very good sign. Also, I noticed on playback that Buxton did a much better job following the ball into the bat on his single, rather than looking ahead where he hoped the ball would end up. Better use of the eyeballs. Keep it up, kid!

This is still a bad team rebuilding. Why not DL Gibson for a few weeks, then bring up Felix Jorge for a few starts? He's on the 40, he's #6 in the system, and he's a control pitcher.

Actually, the Twins have a very good replacement for Buxton in AAA: Zach Granite. Send down the struggling young superstar and bring up a very fast CF with a decent bat and good base running skills. Granite is not considered a stellar prospect, but he's currently #22 in the Twins system, and he certainly won't do worse than Buxton right now at the plate. As others have observed, Buxton's main problem is confidence, but it now manifests itself in a terrible approach at the plate. Let him break it down to the fundamentals in Rochester, then gradually build his confidence back up. We all know Buxton can hit at this level from that hot streak he went on at the end of last season. A month in AAA without the pressure of big crowds and TV cameras might allow Buxton to get his smile back. Remember, Torii Hunter was up and down several times before he finally caught on for good. As for Gibson, I'm not sure what he needs. He's a veteran pitcher now, yet he still seems to lack command of his arsenal of pitches. What is the key variable between a good and a bad outing for this guy? It's tougher to analyze than Buxton because Gibson's difficulties don't seem to be consistent. He either shuts a team down, or he gets completely hammered. Assuming Berrios replaces Mejia, the only starter still available on the 40-man roster is Felix Jorge down in AA Chattanooga. Jorge currently is #6 in the Twins system, so he's considered a very good prospect. Give him a taste? One good thing about Jorge is that he has been a very good control pitcher his whole minor league career. I could see the Twins bringing him up for a few starts if Gibson goes on the DL for a while. Shoulder soreness, whatever.

Is that a new site? Interesting...

Protecting Sano with Joe Mauer? That's got to stop. Same with Grossman as DH. With power bats like Vargas and Park available, it's time to get some pop in the order.

Agreed. Mejia is a big, strong young man with some nasty stuff. However, he still has some things to work on. He is not far from being a decent mlb starter.

Let the debate begin anew: Is Mauer's glove good enough to justify his fading bat?

Note to Polanco: Keep pumping iron, kid. Those balls will start going out.

Oh jeeze, I hope Jones isn't hurt too bad. Did that catch him in the jaw?

Hey, Molitor got smart! Mejia looked gassed from that previous inning.

Whoa, Mejia totally frisbee'd that slider. That kinda pitch can go a loooong way.

I'm getting an almost Rosario-sized man crush on Jorge Polanco. It's kind of embarrassing. We gotta couple real ballplayers in these two guys.

Hate to say it, but Buxton needs a little AAA vacation. It's just too painful watching him beat himself up at the plate. He needs to find his smile again, like his mom told him last season.