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jimbo92107

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Everything posted by jimbo92107

  1. jimbo92107
    A couple seasons ago I declared Brian Dozier the best player on the Twins. Some people laughed, some scoffed, some asked the waiter for the bill. Today, I'm starting to see a shift in my personal power rankings. I'm seeing the emergence of a new boffo hero, Eddie Rosario. To me the two players have some definite similarities. Both are heady, opportunistic players that work their butts off to win. Both do everything with professional intensity. If there is one thing in Rosario's favor, it appears to be natural aptitude. Eddie appears to see the game better than most players. He notices when other players have little lapses of attention, and then he instantly takes advantage. He also appears to have fantastic hand-eye coordination. I saw him aim a hit today against Washington into the gap between the right and center fielders to score a couple RBI, missing a triple by a tenth of a second. Later, I saw him pull a ball for a triple, driving in more runs. Thing is, on the almost triple, Rosario saw the outfielder bobble the ball at the wall, and instantly bolted for third base. Not many ballplayers do that, other than guys like Bryce Harper. Rosario thinks like Harper, always looking for a way to apply pressure. It would not surprise me a bit to see Eddie Rosario play at an all-star level in this, his second year.
  2. jimbo92107
    Santana is an excellent baserunner, good stealer, very fast, with a strong, accurate arm. The only thing missing was hitting. Now this spring Santana is getting good leg drive and hip turn, so he's driving the ball much harder than last year. He's hitting scorching line drives, which means he will be getting himself on base and knocking in runs. If he keeps this up, he could be one of the most dangerous players on the team. Pretty soon the question could be, who do we move out of the way to make room for red hot Danny Santana? PS: Today DSan made a beautiful barehanded scoop-throw on a bunt by speedster Trea Turner. I'm not sure Plouffe gets Turner on that play.
  3. jimbo92107
    His "idea" at the plate - a plan he figures out before stepping in the box may be what separates Park from other "rookies" like Buxton last year, who did look over-matched. Park has already spent years planning to attack professional pitchers, some of whom presumably had semi-MLB stuff. While it's true that a lot of MLB pitchers can throw the ball a few mph faster than in Asia, the rest of the package is not completely alien to Park, who dominated his league. The question going into ST was, can he hit a major league fastball? We now know the answer is yes, he can. The next question is, can he formulate a good plan for attacking MLB pitchers during a 162 game season? Well, it's the same mental process he's been doing successfully for several years, so my guess is that he will not look like a typical rookie out there. He knows situations, how to work a count, how to look for certain pitches in certain counts. If they try to feed him all fastballs, we know he can hammer a fastball. If they feed him a curve and it hangs, he can hit those a long way, too. If Park has any weaknesses as a hitter in this league, it will be the same pitches that other major leaguers have trouble with. He might even surprise some people with his ability to hit pitches he sees more often in his former league. He has played the cat and mouse game for quite a while now. It's not going to intimidate him.
  4. jimbo92107
    From what I see of Park's hitting form, I'm optimistic. He has excellent balance, a good sweep through the zone, meets the ball out front, and finishes with an upper cut. Park's home run swing reminds me a bit of Torii Hunter's, and Park's plate discipline looks very good. Mid-20's home runs or better, depending how well he adjusts to MLB off-speed stuff. He does not appear over-matched at all.
  5. jimbo92107
    If all that happens, they could beat the Vikings!
  6. jimbo92107
    Just been watching the ST game against Toronto, where Santana had three hits. Very different at the plate this year. He looks a little bulked up in the upper body, and he's leading his swing with a good, hard hip turn. Turn the hip and let it rip. I sense the influence of one Tom Brunanski. Last season Santana was an arm hitter. This year, he's getting power from his legs and torso. Much, much better. I'm really liking what I'm seeing from a lot of the Twins's hitters. They're swinging the bat harder, with better power mechanics. Santana looks like a good example of this positive trend.
  7. jimbo92107
    Byung Ho Park is looking more and more like a really good baseball player, not just a big guy that swings for the seats. He appears to be a very solid first baseman, actually looks more natural there than Joe Mauer does. If for some reason Mauer couldn't go for a while, I'd be very comfortable with Park at 1B, then Sano DH and Arcia RF. As others have mentioned, it was a pleasant surprise to see Park adapting to the extra few MPH on the heaters from major league pitchers this spring. The sweep of his bat stays in the hitting zone a long time, so he's going to get a lot of fat contact. With that nice uppercut finish, he could jack quite a few dingers. So, if Park is hitting for serious power while Mauer is banging singles, at what point do the Twins consider a change? This would allow Sano to do more DH while Arcia plays RH, with his power lefty bat. Boom, boom, boom.
  8. jimbo92107
    This has the makings of a very interesting baseball team. Not an overwhelming pitching staff, but most of them seem solid. Very good infield, two young stars in the outfield in Rosario and Buxton. At the plate this team could really be special, with several guys that could hit 20 plus home runs, and three (Sano, Park, Arcia) that could clear 30 home runs. Depth is the other factor in their favor. They've got a couple fire ball relievers (Burdi, Shaggy), a couple very promising starters (Berrios, Duffey), a fine young infielder (Polanco), and a top-flight young outfielder (Kepler). Rochester is going to be a very good team this season, if they can keep some of this talent trapped on the farm.
  9. jimbo92107
    If Sano actually stays healthy and has around 700 at bats, he could easily clear 40 home runs. 35 to me is his baseline. Under 30 would indicate something physically wrong with him.
  10. jimbo92107
    I'm not even going to worry about Buxton's hitting until after the All Star break. What worries me is that he apparently doesn't have a knack for stealing bases. How can a guy who runs that fast get caught that often? I remember Greg Gagne was like that - super fast, no knack for stealing bases. After a while, he just stopped trying. I hope that doesn't happen to Buxton.
  11. jimbo92107
    I see a lot of batting order flexibility. You could easily bat Rosario 1 against a RH pitcher. Dozier could back up Sano, or you could have Park back up Sano. This roster is loaded with potential 20+ HR guys, and a few (Sano, Park, Arcia) that could ding over 30 at any time. Sano will hit at least 35 for sure. Twins could wind up platooning Arcia and Park depending on RH/LH pitcher to back up Sano. Imagine all three of them in the lineup, Park giving Mauer a day off... Against a RH pitcher... 1. Rosario LF 2. Dozier 2B 3. Park 1B 4. Sano DH 5. Arcia RF 6. Plouffe 3B 7. Escobar SS 8. Catcher 9. Buxton CF That's a whole lotta boom in the room.
  12. jimbo92107
    Of the three, only Perkins worries me. His velocity is down, and he broke down in the second half of the past two seasons. If Perkins wears out again, fortunately the Twins have Jepsen and May to fill, and a couple young flame throwers in Nick Burdi and J.T. Chargois that are just about ready to hit the bigs.
  13. jimbo92107
    Duffey is a better pitcher than some people realize. He throws multiple types of curve ball, with excellent control of all of them. He's also got both a two-seam and four-seam fastball, though they're not as effective as his excellent curve. He's been working on improving his change-up, which I think accounts for the one time he got pounded this spring. It will be interesting to see what Duffey does today against the Pirates. No more tinkering with the change up. Today he needs to win a game. Back to his formula from last season - lots of curves. We could see a lot of silly looking whiffs today.
  14. jimbo92107
    Swimming lessons. You want him stronger, lighter, but minimum impact on his body, get him to start doing laps in an Olympic pool on a regular basis. Never seen a serious swimmer with an ounce of extra fat, and there's no pounding on the feet with swimming.
  15. jimbo92107
    Great comparison video clips. You can see how Carlos Gonzalez starts his kick much earlier, dwells longer with his knee up, glides forward more slowly, then cocks his wrists tighter before pulling the trigger. It's all very deliberate and unhurried. Those things allow Gonzalez to deliver more power to the point of contact without subtracting from his ability to check his swing. I hope Max Kepler continues to study videos of Carlos Gonzalez. If he gets some of that unhurried rhythm in his swing, the league better watch out for Der Kid.
  16. jimbo92107
    I'm very optimistic about Eddie Rosario. He's not high-strung like Danny Santana. Instead, Rosie is completely engaged in finding ways to beat the opponent. For that reason the way to get him to show more plate discipline is to put it in terms of applying pressure to the pitcher. If you swing at junk, you're letting the pitcher off the hook. If you refuse to swing at junk outside the zone, you can force the pitcher to throw you better pitches to hit. Be just as aggressive, but make your swing zone smaller. Don't give the pitcher so many gifts. Rosie is smart. I think he'll learn to play the strike zone game better this year, and get himself something like a .289 average with about 25% fewer KO's. He's got 25 home run power, and he could easily steal 22 bases. Hard to believe he can pile up so many triples per game, but I'll say 25 triples over a full season. Not as many assists in the field; opponents can't be that dumb. One thing that surprises me is that there are still people around here who contemplate trading Rosario because of the apparent glut of outfielders. This is one of the premier young players in pro baseball. He's one of the main reasons to watch the Minnesota Twins, just to see what Rosie will do next to beat the other guys. He has an opportunistic approach, looking for little gaps in attention that let him steal an extra base, etc. Almost every game, Eddie Rosario does something that makes me smile and think, "That's the way to play baseball!"
  17. jimbo92107
    A particularly short rope for Milone around June, if Tyler Duffey and Jose Berrios are pitching well in Rochester...
  18. jimbo92107
    If Buxton wants to crank up his average, he can do what players have always done: Swing flat with a smaller bat. Especially now in his first full year, Buxton's greatest value to the team offensively is for him to spend a lot of time on base, then use his speed to apply pressure. The home runs can come later, after he's familiar with major league pitching.
  19. jimbo92107
    The toughest part is getting to that bat flip at the end. Takes confidence.
  20. jimbo92107
    I'd rather see Duffey start in AAA than go back to being a reliever. Seems like such a huge step backwards for him, the one time the Twins succeeded in making a college reliever into a MLB starter.
  21. jimbo92107
    My god, I think you just wrote Adele's next hit song!!!!!!!!
  22. jimbo92107
    I hate that they're doing this to Trevor May AGAIN, but he really is a valuable piece in the bullpen. What I'm hoping is that at some point this season one or more of the top minor league relievers will be so hot that the FO can't keep them down on the farm, easing the need in the pen for May. Unfortunately, if a starter gets injured or completely flops, the first one to take their place will probably be Duffey or Berrios, not May. The confluence of events for May to get a starter roll seems very unlikely. Injuries, flops, and rising stars in AAA. All three would be needed.
  23. jimbo92107
    From Duffey's words I gathered it wasn't a problem with mechanics, but rather a problem with strategy. Maybe he assumed AAA players would be suckers for his curve out of the zone, and then they didn't swing. The good news is, this problem can be fixed with a little chat with his catcher or the pitching coach. As Duffey said, throw the curve for strikes, then you get ahead in the count. It's always going to be a game of cat and mouse. He got too predictable.
  24. jimbo92107
    I watched Nolasco's highlight video. He really did look sharp with his jug handle overhand curve, and he polished off his last batter with 94mph smoke on the outside corner. Maybe the guy is finally getting his good stuff back. That would be huge for this team. Would we really object to having another good starter, even if his name is Nolasco?
  25. jimbo92107
    I'd like to see JR Graham stretched out as a starter. He's got such a live arm, and a good mix of starter-quality pitches.
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