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jimbo92107

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Everything posted by jimbo92107

  1. Maybe Brandon Poulson could pitch for the St. Paul Saints. Pitching every day to live hitters might make him throw strikes, and then work his way up... Or not.
  2. On the other hand, the Twins now have the opportunity to stash two perfectly good young starters in the bullpen, thus pissing off both May and Duffey, while overpaid, mediocre veterans win at best half their starts with ERA's over 5.
  3. Well shoot, those are reasonable points. I hate that!
  4. In Centeno's case, maybe he figured something out. Or maybe he's sitting on multiples of the same pitch while a pitcher sharpens his stuff. Three hooks in a row? Please do! My point is that we're looking at a fairly young, good D catcher that's clearly seeing the ball well right now. Since we're talking about Suzuki's backup and it's early in the season, what do we care if the backup is him or Murphy?
  5. Given Centeno's spring numbers, why not go with the hot hand and keep Centeno on the roster as a bench bat/3rd catcher? Or maybe Murphy's the one that needs a little work in AAA. You can always swap them later, if Centeno's bat goes cold. Meanwhile, you've got a hot bat with good D in Centeno. What's not to like?
  6. Let's all hope this kid is a late bloomer. Something seems missing in his attitude.
  7. "They defined success as return to the same level of play for at least 1 season." As Thrylos indicated, surgery basically resets damage in the UCL area to nearly zero, including scars and micro-tears. Granted that the recovery rate may be shorter for non-surgical treatment, but I also would like to find out about the success rate for n+1, n+2 seasons, etc. We at TD have soured a bit on therapy because we have seen multiple instances where it did not work, where a previous partial tear came back, flared up or tore completely, requiring surgery. In a developing pitcher this can mean two year-long interruptions rather than one. Another confounding factor is player quality. We can't know from this information whether a pitcher popped his elbow from overwork or poor mechanics. Did they fix the mechanics post operation? Were the ones that didn't "succeed" fail because of the operation, or because they wouldn't have made it anyway, healthy elbow or not? Did some of the "failures" fail because the UCL tore again, or because the player couldn't learn to trust the repair?
  8. There's one sure way to figure this out: Trade Kennys Vargas to Boston. If the Twins are doing the same thing to Vargas that they did to David Ortiz, then Boston could have their next Big Papi for practically nada. It's really kind of silly to keep Vargas around anyway, if they want him to be a line drive hitter. In Boston they'll tell him, "swing for the fences and have fun, big guy." Like they did for Ortiz. Some guys just aren't built for small ball.
  9. Excellent report Seth. Your descriptions get me almost smelling the grass. Thanks, man.
  10. Agreed. The Twins still have a good portion of their future contending roster in AAA and AA. If you guess forward 3 years, that should be the beginning of the peak for this wave of players. By that time, Mauer will probably be replaced by either Sano or Vargas or Park. Plouffe will be gone. Dozier will be replaced by Polanco, and even Escobar might be replaced by Nick Gordon. I'm hoping by that time we'll finally have Rosie, Buxton and Kepler in the outfield.
  11. They'll start Over, then go Under. Then next year they'll really have to start over, and the under will be about 70 wins.
  12. I think Papi mentioned also that outfielders run to back up other outfielders and to back up throws to the infield. You might be able to double that 234 number as far as mileage. We will know by mid-summer how the outfield affects Sano's hitting. The hot months of June and July should tell the story. If Sano is looking leg weary by mid game, they should just swap him and Plouffe in the field, and don't sweat too much about the defense at 3rd.
  13. This also means the #5 spot is between Nolasco and Milone, with Milone the odds on favorite because he's a better pitcher. So Nolasco will wind up in the pen, where he will stew and mutter to himself.
  14. Nunez is the only major leaguer I know that needs a chin strap.
  15. I look for signs of improvement in how players are handling aspects of their game. Park's homers actually are encouraging, even if he was getting multiple fastballs. At least now we know he can hit a ball going over 90mph. The cat and mouse of regular season is the next hurdle. Same with Byron Buxton, who has reportedly showed better plate discipline, as has Oswaldo Arcia, who also slimmed down and looks better in the outfield. Even within the assumed roster, there are interesting details to mull over. I'd love to hear more about Miguel Sano's progress in RF. Is he getting it? Does he look as athletic as we hoped? Also, I don't discount promising performances by guys on the outside looking in. Even if a guy like Burdi doesn't make the final cut, if he's buzzing high-90's heaters past hitters, that's a good sign for his near future. Same with Berrios and others. If they're pitching really well in spring, that bodes well for this team, whose pitching staff is rather underwhelming. Meanwhile, as Mike indicated, the lack of drama this spring is a sign that this team is at least pretty solid. I don't mind that.
  16. I like SydneyTwinsFan's roster except for a couple guys. I would DFA Nolasco and replace him with Nick Burdi. Then I'd send Danny Santana to Rochester and replace him with Jorge Polanco. Nolasco has nothing to offer as a reliever but crappy command and a lousy attitude, so bring on the kid with the flame-throwing arm. Santana just seems too high strung, and his bat has flailed too long. Polanco can hit, and he looks like a smart ballplayer.
  17. Seems like Santana covers all the ground Nunez does, except third base, and Sano can step in there if needed. So you say bye to Nunez, use Santana as your super U, and you can platoon Arcia and Park in RF and DH. You could even rotate Park in as a first baseman to spell Mauer, especially if you want to bring all the big knockers in at once. This all depends on if Santana shows he can hit a lick in ST. If not, I say ship him to Rochester and bring up Jorge Polanco. He can hit.
  18. Yeah, but I assume Buxton can get over his hitting problems, and that appears to be happening with better plate discipline. Stealing bases is a completely separate art from the others. My concern is that Buxton may not have an aptitude for that aspect of the game. There are a lot more fast guys in MLB than there are good stealers. What most guys don't seem to realize is that the threat of a stolen base can be more disruptive to a pitcher than actually giving up the bag. Buxton already draws a lot of throws, even with his short lead. But if he actually steals some bases, he will drive pitchers crazy. Somehow he has to find that extra half step of a lead, drop his right foot back towards the outfield, etc. If he starts getting decent jumps, he could reach safely at a monster clip.
  19. Actually, the biggest problem I saw with Buxton last year was his base stealing. The guy seemed to rely entirely on his speed, rather than getting good leads and reading the pitcher's move. Even with his great acceleration, Buxton can't out-run a good professional catcher's throw if he has a six-foot lead and no read on the pitcher's moves. I'm hoping Molitor can get Buxton looking a bit more clever than that. I've seen 12 year olds that had better timing stealing bases than Buxton. Of course, they needed better technique because they didn't have his blazing speed.
  20. Joe Mauer: How does he plan to incorporate a pull power swing into his repertoire? Usually he lets a pitch get deep, then slashes the ball oppo, but a pull swing has to be met a couple feet forward of that contact point. Is it a different swing, or just his regular swing met farther forward? I don't see how a flat swing has much chance of lifting a lot of balls over the right field fence.
  21. Glenn Perkins might not be the best comparison here, but there is one similarity. Perkins made a mid-career shift to the bullpen, even though he really didn't want to do it. He went from a starter that rarely broke 90mph to a closer that blew heaters by guys at 96mph, with a hot slider and a good slow curve. Ricky Nolasco isn't a control pitcher the way Perkins was, so maybe he can't pick corners as a reliever. However, he may be past the starter phase of his career, so a shift to the bullpen could be in his own best interest. I have yet to see him look good as a starter for the Twins.
  22. I have a good feeling about Arcia. I think he's decided to really take that professional athlete thing seriously. He spent all winter pounding his body into shape. He's lighter, stronger, faster... Cue theme from 6 Million Dollar Man... If Arcia really does show better plate discipline, maybe this is the year he becomes a real live pro baseball player. A legit lefty power bat that plays respectable left field... The Twins could use that.
  23. If Sano can play conservative right field, then use his powerful arm to gun a few guys out trying for second, the Twins will be very happy. I'm not so worried about his health out there. Football players his size have good careers, and nobody is smashing into Sano's legs.
  24. Wow, thanks! Arcia's hip doesn't look like it hurts, but we can't see the tissue, so we don't really know. His swing seemed okay, at least for now... Doesn't Park have a gorgeous swing? I cannot imagine that he won't be able to hit MLB pitching with a swing like that, even though he opens up the cock just a little before the snap. Timing mechanism? Walker just looks like a beast at the plate. Must be frightening for a pitcher. Mauer looked like he was pulling some pitches, but not lifting them. Maybe lifting the ball is just too different from his normal swing. I'm not sure where Buxton's power comes from, but he's go it. Rhythm and sweet wrist action. His bunts looked good. The guy's a real worker.
  25. I'd like to see what Arcia's swing looks like, if he is able to crank his hip without pain. I suspect that his hip injury lingered the whole season. I'd love to see Phil Hughes whip some heaters around 94mph. That would be very reassuring. I'd like to see Joe Mauer turn on a fastball and hammer it over the right field wall. Then slash a single down the left field line. Buxton take some walks on outside curves. See him get better leads, show better timing on his breaks from first. Kepler continue to mash balls to left. See what his fielding looks like. Can he throw somebody out rounding first to second? I wanna see Rosario look even more clever. Guy's a playah. Can Sano catch a baseball in the outfield? How far can Park actually hit a baseball?
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