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jimbo92107

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Everything posted by jimbo92107

  1. jimbo92107
    I had exactly the same thought regarding Freeland's control. How do you spot the ball within inches when you're spinning and falling off laterally? Francisco Liriano is a good example of what happens when that kind of motion gets a little out of whack, and meanwhile nobody is accusing Freeland of having Liriano's kind of raw stuff. I suspect Freeland is benefiting from being a lefty and keeping the ball low. He may be throwing strikes down there, but I doubt that he's picking corners with consistency. The other issue is what happens when Freeland does learn a more conventional follow through? Could be that he's also throwing a sweeping slider that wouldn't sweep so much if he doesn't do his frisbee spin. In contrast, Nola is getting guys out right now with a much more relaxed, under control delivery.
  2. jimbo92107
    I don't like the way he finishes off balance. A hard-hit line drive could hit him right in the butt, or in his throwing shoulder. I also don't like the recoil on his follow through. Inconsistent finish, falls off towards third base with recoil, off balance, not ready to field his position. Once again, Aaron Nola looks a lot better than this. The one thing Kolek has over these other guys is that he throws a lot harder, and his motion appears good. But Nola could step in by late season, then be your Jared Weaver for the next decade. He seems like the surest bet among the pitchers.
  3. jimbo92107
    Why would you take Beede over Nola, a guy with an effortless delivery and pinpoint control? Go with the guy that's ready to throw strikes and miss some bats!
  4. jimbo92107
    Nola reminds me of Jered Weaver. Easy slinging motion, pinpoint control. See how he bent that ball from just outside the zone to nip the inside corner? If that's typical of his command, then this guy is going to win a lot of games.
  5. jimbo92107
    If Kolek falls to the Twins and they don't pick him, I have a term for that: Too dumb to live. I usually reserve that term for the guy in a slasher flick that goes to check out that sound in the basement. Passing on Kolek is like passing on CC Sabbathia. Too dumb to live.
  6. jimbo92107
    When a ball is in motion, intellectual processing is too slow. Nobody thinks his way through hitting a fastball. You don't even have time to vocalize "see it, hit it," before the ball hits the catcher's glove. After a player spends a ton of time learning the proper swing mechanics, during a game all you have time to do is react to what you see, try to limit your trigger to an area of the strike zone, then put a swing on it. If it's not in that zone, you check your swing. If you understand the situation well enough, and if you read the physical cues well enough, then your zone of expectation is pretty narrow. At that point, you might just be able to hit a baseball with that stick.
  7. jimbo92107
    Since we know everybody in baseball has these same heat maps, then it becomes like a game of poker, except it's zone hitting. Plouffe needs to learn to cut the outside pitches out of his trigger zone temporarily. This will result in some walks and some standing strikeouts. However, once he sees a pitcher starting to throw a lot of outside strikes, then he needs to pounce on one of those outside pitches, thus creating doubt about that strategy. Plouffe seems like a pretty smart guy, and he's got a lot of smart coaches. He'll adjust.
  8. jimbo92107
    A lot of this depends on Joe Mauer's sore back. At C you've got Suzuki, Pinto and Escobar in an emergency. That does leave room to rotate Parms at 1st/RF while Arcia does LF/RF, Colabello at RF/1st, Kubes at RF/LF, and they all take turns at DH.
  9. jimbo92107
    Agreed. Perfect time for Parmelee to have another shot at 1st and RF, while Herrmann goes down to regroup. With Arcia I'd rather have Darnell go back down with a nice cuppa coffee, as Tonkin is looking pretty good.
  10. jimbo92107
    Makes me wonder if Jason Wheeler could learn the same kind of three-finger changeup grip that Alex Meyer is now enjoying. With Wheeler's assortment of modified fastballs, a sudden drop of 8mph would really have hitters off balance.
  11. jimbo92107
    At baseball, at writing, and at being a cool dude, we're all wondering just how good this AJ Pettersen kid can be. Pretty darn good I think, as long as he believes in himself, and as long as he savors every moment like a big old dog gnawing on a ham bone. Tear it up, AJ!
  12. jimbo92107
    My two favorite stories are Colabello and Deduno. Late bloomers!
  13. jimbo92107
    Exactly. Let the kid work on his fielding without so much pressure. It takes a huge amount of time and reps to become a major league fielder. Let him bust his butt and make his mistakes in the low minors, then see how he responds after a season or two. No rush with Polanco.
  14. jimbo92107
    I saw the whole game from the Legends Club. Dickey's knuckler works best at about 81 to 82mph, but on this 31F day, he was throwing it around 75 to 76mph, so it wasn't behaving the way he wanted. As a result he was having to throw his alternate pitches, a so-so curve and a BP fastball. Twins hitters were simply looking for the knuckles at release. See knuckles, don't swing. Don't see knuckles, sit on the curve. Ka. Boom. Even worse, Dickey really has to hump it up to get 87mph out of his fastball, which hitters can see. If that knuckler isn't working right, it's a long day for Dickey.
  15. jimbo92107
    Just figured what Aaron Hicks is doing rong at the plate. In the movie "Blazing Saddles" there's a dance scene where gay dancers push their hands forward while pushing their asses backwards, singing, "...that's why they're doing the French Mistake..." Yup, Hicks is doing the French Mistake. It's not as obvious as in the comedy, but the effect of letting your rear hip trail behind the swing accomplishes the same thing: no power, no reach, lots of weak pop-ups. The rear hip has to torque in front of the swing, dragging your hands along for the ride. Right now Hicks is faking it, trying to make it look like he's turning his hip, but it's actually trailing. The result is a weak arm swing, not a body swing. The only real way to cure the French Mistake is to whip the bat thru the zone as hard as you can, over and over, then do that when you're at the plate. Turn the hip, then let it rip.
  16. jimbo92107
    Of the three you listed, May is the most likely to implode, given his prior reputation for shaky control. Deduno isn't a precision pitcher either, but he misses bats better than any other Twins starter, and he manages to work around his walks. Luckily there's no reason right now to make any changes. The starters are showing signs of life. Gibson looks like a young horse, Correia looked good in his latest, Pelfrey is gradually finding himself, Nolasco is a bulldog, and Hughes needs to mix it up a little better. I'd still consider swapping one of these guys, maybe Hughes, with Deduno, just so the staff doesn't look too similar.
  17. jimbo92107
    How fleeting is fame. Has everybody forgotten about Ryan "Elvis" Pressly? Last year they were talking about him like a Trevor May type developmental prospect. Great stuff, lacks polish. Seems to me Pressly should be on the list of possibles, at least as likely as Trevor May.
  18. jimbo92107
    Fly ball pitcher. Good grief, why does a major league baseball team want a pitcher whose stuff winds up going over people's heads? Is there no way Tevor May can throw a pitch that results in a grounder? Or do they plan to use him in short relief after several innings of Gibson's sinkers, hoping for a bunch of pop-ups?
  19. jimbo92107
    Not quite ready to give up on Florimon. Late last season his stance and decision making started looking better at the plate. This season he got a slow, delayed start because of his appendicitis. I had mine removed a long time ago by a monkey with a dull spoon. Yes, having your appendix removed can screw you up. I was physically useless for about a month, and I wasn't trying to swing a 32-ounce bat suddenly at a major league fastball. Florimon's swing might not be "normal" even for him, until mid-season. A hole in your stomach can do that to you.
  20. jimbo92107
    Kubel: We got lucky. His injuries are healed, and Kubes is now back to his form from a few years ago. Looks like he's in good physical shape, and I always thought his arm was above average strength and very accurate. Dozier: His work with Bruno is paying off. Dozier now uses his legs to generate a more powerful swing. It's a beautiful thing to see his compact upper body with some leg drive added. No way that power is going away, Dozier from now on will hit no less than 20 homers per year, probably more. And his defense is superb. Right now he's the best player on the team. Plouffe: Watch what happens as Plouffe's pitch recognition gradually turns into him pouncing on situational pitches. Kaboom. Too bad about the iron glove. He needs to work on better balance with his fielding footwork. Some of his throws look awkward. Mauer: This troubles me, because Mauer is trying to transition from a line drive hitter into a power hitter, and the change in his approach does not look good. Just go back to driving it flat, Joe. The uppercut swing is not your style, and an in-between swing is no good. Pelfrey: No worries here. Pelfrey's still figuring out how his arm reacts to a little more velocity. His mechanics and balance are too good to lose it for long. It's more about his pitching strategy now, how to approach middle innings. He will be good. In fact, this staff is going to be pretty solid after a rough first month.
  21. jimbo92107
    Kyle Gibson now passes the eyeball test. He throws on a good downward plane, gets good sink while bending it right or left. His ability to change speeds is key because it gives his stuff one more dimension to worry about. Frankly, I'd like it if he mixed in some four-seam fastballs, maybe half a dozen per outing. A "sinker baller" that sometimes throws a straight one could also induce some whiffs and pop-ups. With a bit of luck, Gibson could be a good starter for quite a while.
  22. jimbo92107
    Pelfrey's got good control of his two-seamer, but he's throwing waaaaay too many of them, and hitters are adapting. He's got to start mixing in a cutter that bends the other way. Even if he can't spot the cutter as well as his 2-seam, it would throw off hitters that are looking for the ball to bend right with a similar looking pitch that bends the other way. I could see the Twins swapping Pelfrey and Deduno right now, but I'd work Pelfrey on throwing a cutter, then bring him back into the rotation.
  23. jimbo92107
    Chris Colabello sounds like the kind of man you'd like to have on any team, any sport, in any capacity you can get him. The best thing about Twins Daily really is not just baseball news, but also finding out about the fascinating people in the organization. Guys like Colabello, AJ Pettersen, Tim Shibuya, and others have shown themselves not only to be talented ballplayers, but also eloquent and expressive diarists of their experiences in their quest to reach the Show. I really hope the staff at TD continues to encourage these young men to share their experiences and their opinions on any subject they care to discuss. The connections they forge with fans are so much better than just watching the Twins on TV. These are people just like us, struggling to find their way through all the uncertainties of life. Doesn't everybody here just feel like giving Chris Colabello some kind of trophy, just for being such an awesome dude?
  24. jimbo92107
    Wow, do I like Colabello's attitude. I hope he's seen some footage of Manny Ramirez. There's a guy that could blast to all fields and adjust to different speeds better than just about anybody.
  25. jimbo92107
    First legitimate use of Google Glass: Project a strike zone rectangle for umpires to train their eye.
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