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jimbo92107

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Everything posted by jimbo92107

  1. jimbo92107
    I'd just like to stop for a moment and ask everybody - did you notice how HEALTHY the Twins bullpen seemed? After Ryan exited, we got to see an extremely competent Michael Fulmer mow down a few guys, then Thielbar, then Duran, and finally Lopez. None of them appeared a bit shaky or dubious. Each one dominated for an inning. Especially sweet was Lopez. So efficient, so commanding. Not quite the sheer velocity of Duran, but almost no wasted pitches, no walks, and hardly even any foul balls. Faster than summer love, game over. Even without Mahle, this new pair of RP's will improve things vastly. As for who should be the closer, I see Duran as a young power pitcher whose overwhelming stuff allows him to dominate as a relief pitcher. Lopez is a star closer because his command of the corners with filthy stuff lets him snuff out three hitters in about two minutes. Until Duran can do that, I say Lopez is your closer, unless they want to give him a day off. Then Duran is fine, even if it takes him three times as many pitches to get three outs. In beer units, you could finish half a cup before Duran gets three outs. Lopez lets you have just a few sips. That, friends, is a closer. Jorge "three sips" Lopez.
  2. jimbo92107
    I agree they should be prepared to swap rolls as setup and closer. However, in his very first appearance Wednesday, Lopez displayed a level of command that we rarely see from Duran. He was picking low corners with both his fastball and his slider to end the game. Those Detroit batters looked absolutely helpless. What do you do when a pitcher can nail the corners at that velocity? Twins should offer this guy a new contract asap. They might just have another Nathan/Aguilera kinda guy (mediocre starter becomes star closer). Too bad they missed on Liam Hendricks, but on the other hand, he really, really wanted to be a starter, so the Twinkies gave him every chance....
  3. jimbo92107
    Great trade day overall because it greatly expands the options for how to use Bundy and Archer. In a playoff series both now can be either a starter or a long reliever if a starter exits early. Before today, your option was Griffen Jax, and then...who? Now they can turn to a couple starters, Jax, or even Duran, knowing that the ninth inning is pretty secure in the hands of Jorge Lopez.
  4. jimbo92107
    Good trade. Other than Povich, remarkably little bleeding. Cano has a lively arm, but was not reliable. Baltimore's pitching coaches must think they can solve that problem. The other two guys are just throwers at this point. Povich could blossom into a good starter. Good luck to him. Jorge Lopez was one of the prime trade targets, and they got him. If they trade for one good starter, then Twins can move Archer to the pen, where right now he might still contribute. That would largely fix the whole pitching staff with reasonable arms.
  5. jimbo92107
    Miranda could easily clear 25 homers this season, maybe even 30. Don't trade him. Don't trade him. Don't trade him...
  6. jimbo92107
    Bring up Spencer Steer and Matt Wallner. Plug Wallner into RF, see what he's got. Steer becomes another infield super sub. Hot bat gets to play in the field.
  7. jimbo92107
    Any good acquired starter will allow the Twins to put Archer in the bullpen as long relief. One more good reliever after that would change this staff a lot. DFA Sano? Not if I could include him in a trade package.
  8. jimbo92107
    "The dude is an absolute wall behind the dish." You had me at "The dude is an absolute wall behind the dish." Kid, you're hired. Have you ever waved a wooden stick at a baseball? 19 dingers, and fewer K's than BB's??? Shoot, bring him up right now! How'd a guy like this make it past the second round? Is he playing with one arm? He's playing with one arm, isn't he!!! Somebody count his arms!
  9. jimbo92107
    As loyal Twins fans, we should NOT endorse trading away players that constitute the identity of the 2022 squad. That is, you don't trade away Correa, Polo, Kepler, Miranda, or frankly any of the current position players. My one exception might be Larnach, because the Twins have a good number of at least decent outfielders. Trades of position players should happen only in the off-season. Otherwise, who are we cheering for? Prospects, yes. Of course you want to limit them to ones that are getting close to Rule 5 problems, but that's secondary to getting a deal done, especially for a stud starting pitcher. Unfortunately, some of the franchise's top pitching prospects, usually the most valuable trade pieces, currently are not doing so well, or are on the IL. Steer and Wallner stick out as trade bait, tho I'd just as soon not trade Wallner right now. He's who I think could replace Larnach. Same kind of power, better arm. Reading through other people's comments, it looks like people are ready to part with Steer, Ober, Larnach, and Martin. Would Cincy take that package for Castillo? That would give the Twins a pretty formidable top three in the rotation: Castillo, Gray, Ryan. Those guys could win a playoff series or two.
  10. jimbo92107
    Blaze, Martin, Obi-Wan and Wallner, all for just Castillo? Is he in contention for this year's Cy Young? If not, then that's too much. I could see maybe Cole Sands in place of Blaze, and Larnach in place of Wallner, who I think will be a better all-around player. Otherwise, I go talk to Oakland for a smaller deal.
  11. jimbo92107
    Like Kyle Gibson, once again the Twins bet on an injured college pitcher to become a bargain basement ace. Gibson panned out pretty well, and I suspect Connor Prielipp could be even better. A lot of us have bet on medical technology in our lives. I had my appendix removed by some Navy doctor with a sharp spoon. Lived through it to become a mediocre Coast Guardsman. Others among us have had surgeries to remove everything from tonsils to hamsters, to replace heart valves, brains with bits of sponge, etc. In contrast, professional athletes have access to some of the best surgeons in the world. I have heard brag that a repaired elbow tendon is actually stronger than the original because they use a larger piece of tendon as replacement. As with most eye surgeries these days, TJ surgeries are now very commonplace and well understood. Why did Prielipp fall to the Twins? Because a lot of teams still think of TJ surgery as the risky procedure from a few decades ago. That, and most teams don't have as much confidence in their coaches to tinker with a prospect's delivery to reduce further strain on that elbow, while actually adding a couple mph and better command. From the few pitches I saw, to me it looks like Prielipp could get more power from below the waist, that he's using too much upper body and forearm muscle to generate velocity. Twins coaches might be able to smooth that out for a healthier long-term future for this prospect. They have the technology. They can rebuild him!
  12. jimbo92107
    I remember Morneau's win over Hamilton, who was trying to set a record for most homers in the competition's history. As a result, Hamilton wore himself out with ferocious swings in the second round. By the final, he was clearly arm-weary, and angry. I felt a little bad for him, but not as much as I was happy for our boy. Morneau became an MVP partly because he was very smart.
  13. jimbo92107
    If Buxton can drag himself out there, he'll play. His career has been marred by so many injuries, nobody can say whether he'll ever be an All Star again. We all know he's got the talent, but then he collides with a wall or gets hit by a pitch... Buxton is built for extreme speed, but he's not built to take a lot of punishment. This is having a pronounced impact on his productivity. One of the best base stealers in the league has attempted just a handful of steals. He gets regular playing days off. He sometimes stops at second base when it looks like he could make it to third. On the other hand, he still covers tremendous ground in center field, and few runners challenge his arm. At the plate, when he barrels up a pitch, it goes a long way. Buxton continues to contribute in the main two ways: His bat and his glove help win games.
  14. jimbo92107
    Of course it's a snub, but it's an understandable one. Twins are a small market team, and they don't have a Stanton to hit home runs. We thought Sano would be that guy, but he didn't pan out. Prove me wrong, Miguel... Meanwhile, for Buck and Luis, the usual rec: Have a monster second half, embarrass the judges.
  15. jimbo92107
    I blame Dick Bremmer. Mid-game he starts going on about Minnesota's "smothering defense..." I yelled "Nooooooooo!" at the screen, but it was to no avail. The rest is history. Where is a duck? We shall use my largest scales!
  16. jimbo92107
    Agree with Darwin's comment about Jeffers calling for yet another big, slow vertical curve from Megill, when his heater was popping in at 97 to 99. In comparison, Megill's curveball had a nice, gradual bend and a big hump. When a pitch like that doesn't wind up in the second deck, I wanna know why. I feel kinda bad for Pagan, who clearly has very lively stuff. Wouldn't surprise me if somewhere down the line he becomes a total shutdown reliever. However, right now he's an inconsistent mess. Walks two, then a homer. Gives up a single, then a homer. Then he shows sizzling pitches that mow down the opposition. That's the guy we like, but his Evil Twin keeps showing up in the same inning. Hey, if you don't care who wins, this can make for some very entertaining baseball. But darn it, we're Twins fans, so we don't like the Pagan Sacrifice. This game was full of fun. Like a roller coaster, but at the end you find out lost your wallet. Well, maybe not that bad... At least Chicago's fans had a good time at the end. You can't always win, but sometimes you can make your opponents very happy.
  17. jimbo92107
    Players whose bats are dominating the high minors usually can hit at the mlb level. No magic required, just look at the stats. Plus, read the descriptions from pundits. Both guys are predicted to hit at the top level. Your point should be that there's usually a time lag before a rookie "figures it out" at the plate, and that's true. No problem there for Nelson Cruz. On the other hand, you could still bring up Spencer Steer, then platoon him with Kirilloff at DH and 1B. Another super-sub won't hurt, especially if he figures it out fairly quickly. Then you would have Steer and Gordon for IF, and Gordon and Celestino for OF. Three subs that can hit.
  18. jimbo92107
    When you have Spencer Steer in AAA and Matt Wallner in AA, why go outside for Nelson Cruz? Right now the team is practically overflowing with power potential. Both Kirilloff and Miranda are starting to pound balls over walls. Buxton is slamming. Polo is pouncing on paltry pitches. Kepler is heating up. Correa continues to bang line drives. Sanchez is hitting bombs. Garlick is hitting lefties and righties. Even Jeffers is waking up at the plate. Oh, I forgot Arraez. He's okay. Pro: Cruz is a veteran slugger, a dedicated DH that allows the rest of the position players have real days off. Con: Cruz ain't what he used to be, to the point that either Steer or Wallner could probably do his DH job, plus provide backup for IF or OF, respectively. Plus pinch running and hitting. I don't do this deal. As mentioned, acquiring at least one solid veteran relief pitcher is far more important.
  19. jimbo92107
    Nick Gordon is a gradual learner and a late bloomer. Some of that is due to physical ailments, which are now behind him. As a player, we initially expected Lewis to be an All-Star level shortstop. Then, injuries and sickness derailed his career for a few years, to the point where most of us figured he was just another Twins first round flop. Then a funny thing happened: The flop woke up. He made the team, and somehow stayed on the roster. Then he got a little better the next season, and a little better after that... Now he's being compared to Royce Lewis, whom most of us think is a potential superstar. Like Gordon, Lewis's early career is on hold due to an injury. Like Gordon, Lewis will need to heal and rebuild himself into the superior athlete he is. Gordon's "ceiling" may not be as high as Lewis's. However, Gordon today is a valuable member of this team, a super-sub with a respectable bat. Thing is, I expect Gordon to continue improving gradually. I expect him to get a little choosier at the plate, because he does keep working to improve. Don't be terribly surprised if his K's go down about 20 percent while his BB's go up about 20 percent between now and September. Gordon does keep getting better.
  20. jimbo92107
    Woof, I just read a few blurbs about the top 15 guys in the draft. Felt my enthusiasm deflating like a popped tire. The only one that sounds like a sure bet is Druw Jones. The rest sound like good to middling prospects, with no guarantees among them. As for Jacob Berry, I'm not sure what's the problem. Is he turtle slow? Hands of stone? Is there some reason he could not learn to man the hot corner if he worked with demon intensity, day after day for a couple years? Twins have drafted project fielders before, including Cory Koske and Justin Morneau. They're grooming a guy (Miranda) right now that needs a lot of work to be average at 3B. They draft the bat, then teach the glove. My only fear is, as mentioned in these comments, that they'll wind up with another Aaron Sabato. However, it sounds like Berry is already a pretty refined hitter. Okay, draft him, unless one of those pitchers falls to their spot.
  21. jimbo92107
    Zero, of course. Sano would be part of a package (plus a prospect or three) for a good RP from a team that has no chance to make the playoffs. Pittsburgh?
  22. jimbo92107
    Best thing for all parties would be: Sano belts some mammoth homers in St Paul, then gets traded in a package that gets the Twins a solid relief pitcher. Sano needs a fresh start on a team that needs a big bat and an okay 1B. He's still fairly young, immensely strong, and can hit those crowd-pleasing 450-footers...between all the KO's. He's just not going to be Frank Thomas 2.0, which was what some of us thought maybe he could become. But he'll always be a scary hitter, at 1B or DH. On this Twins team, Sano's place has been taken over by Miranda and Kirilloff, both of whom are better fielders and much higher average hitters. The Twins today are doing well with hitters that keep the runners advancing, stretching those 2-out situations into RBI's. They won today's game with just that - a line drive single to walk off the win. Miranda didn't need to knock one over the fence, so his good, flat swing was plenty to get the final run over the plate. Not ignoring Polanco's long ball, but even that was a calculated choice by a high-average hitter. Polo swung for distance because he knew at 2-0 the pitcher needed to throw a strike. This year's Sano might have swung at the first two pitches, trying to hit a home run from the get go. If Miguel Sano ever learns proper plate discipline, watch out world...
  23. jimbo92107
    Winder was a stud horse today. Looked like his future, which is an excellent MLB starter for years to come. Stood tall, good poise, Bert's "downward plane" mixed with high heat, excellent mix of pitches, stayed away from the middle, used a slow curve, a couple change ups, Also, he did a great job of executing from the wind-up and the stretch equally well. A lot of young pitchers look good from one, but not the other. Winder executed well while checking baserunners. On offense, well... wow. This lineup is capable of exploding for ten or more runs on just about anybody. So odd that they've been shut out completely a few times, but great pitching does happen sometimes, too. I know it's unrealistic, but six runs seems like a minimum for this offense.
  24. jimbo92107
    I think he helped revive the careers of a few Twins pitchers, including Duffey and Thielbar. Got a few more ticks on Jax's heater, too. He knows how to teach that specific kinetic chain required to throw a baseball in the mid to upper 90's. Maybe he even taught Duran to throw 103 without his arm falling off, I don't know. Anyway, a good pitching coach, but there are others. Not too worried. Good luck to Johnson at LSU.
  25. jimbo92107
    I am not so concerned with steals as I am with missed opportunities to advance after the catcher drops a ball in the dirt and it dribbles ten feet away. Any average speed player should be ready to break for the next bag after every pitch. Instead, I see guys just standing there, not even trying to take advantage, unless the ball goes all the way to the backstop. All I ask is that every player, even the catchers, do their three hops, landing the third hop just as the ball gets to the catcher. If the ball dribbles away, take off! Yes, guys like Buxton can steal on a clean catch, but a ball dribbling away gives you about two seconds to churn those feet. If you have any kind of respectable athletic speed, you should make it to the next base. That means everybody on the current Twins roster. No, I'm not saying a 270 pound, 40 year old DH should do this, or your player with a bad knee. Three skips is just what every kid in little league does, and it should work even better in the bigs.
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