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jimbo92107

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Everything posted by jimbo92107

  1. jimbo92107
    Gibson's got the stuff to dominate. He's got the build to last into late innings. Make a whinny, ya big stud horse!
  2. jimbo92107
    AJ, after reading this, I'd like to meet you just to shake your hand for this perceptive essay. It's so true that we can miss much of the experience of life, as we do so many things by habit and training. I know exactly what the old man at the park was doing. He was experiencing the sweet purity of throwing a baseball, the feel of nice mechanics and rhythm produce a satisfying whack against the old wall. 'You can beat the wall, but you cannot defeat the wall,' I sometimes say to myself as I hit a couple hundred easy slice backhands against a wall on some dreary summer day. The experience is the endless pursuit of perfect synchronization with the forces that exist around us. The hand produces an easy flip, the ball sails through the air just so. It hits the wall in exactly the right spot, then returns to you for the next one. It is a blissful to perform this ritual, whether or not it helps you win something. Is that why some baseball players love to practice?
  3. jimbo92107
    Parmelee should stay. Much as I liked Kubel in his previous stint with the Twins, it's Parms that is more likely to find his form and go on a tear sometime during the season, and he's a better defensive outfielder at this point.
  4. jimbo92107
    I like the photo...tending to the temple. Aaron Hicks, y'all! This is the year, when he steps up and starts bangin. I can just feel it!
  5. jimbo92107
    Not backwards at all. From a developmental standpoint this seems completely logical, assuming the team wants to bring along young players and possibly help older veterans regain their previous form. I agree completely with your take on this stuff. Older vets like Kubel should go down to AAA and see if they can dominate, like well over .300 against minor league pitchers. Meanwhile, guys like Hicks should be given extended chances to see if they can find a groove against MLB competition. I would say the same thing about marginal guys like Scott Diamond. He should be able to dominate AAA before he gets another shot at starting here. And he should dominate for at least seven innings, not four or five. There's not much point keeping around "starters" that can't finish six innings without getting pounded.
  6. jimbo92107
    I've always liked Jason Kubel but right now his niche is the same as Parmelee's, and Parms wins that battle.
  7. jimbo92107
    I've always liked Jason Kubel but right now his niche is the same as Parmelee's, and Parms wins that battle.
  8. jimbo92107
    So now the Twins start the year with a whole bunch of mediocre pitchers. Is a .500 season their lofty goal? Hurraymeh. Wowmeh. Yippeemeh.
  9. jimbo92107
    I get the impression that Meyer still needs to work on being more artful with his heater. If batters can tell when he's about to unload a fastball, then maybe the answer is to learn how to add/subtract from the velocity, how to vary the grip a little, vary the placement, etc. The margin of error for hitting a line drive is about the thickness and length of a pencil. When they say "pitch to contact," what they mean of course is that the bat can hit the ball, but the ball misses the pencil-sized area in the center of the sweet spot. Kind of amazing how often a good hitter can hit the ball on the pencil. A guy like Meyer has spent years learning how to throw a baseball with just the right mechanics to send a mid- to upper-90's heater to a very small target. Now he has to learn the next level of control, the little shades of variation that will put his heater in slightly different spots that batters have trouble squaring up on. Batters spend years learning to time a nice, consistent fastball. Even a power pitcher like Meyer has to learn to mix things up.
  10. jimbo92107
    I liked the action Gibson had on his sinker. He had it running to the right and down, almost like a lefty slider, but of course from a RH release point, so it's harder to get batters to wave at it. I wonder what would happen if Gibson started pitching from the 1st base side of the rubber. Would that make his tailing sinker more effective? Maybe he could do that against LH batters...
  11. jimbo92107
    Don't see much harm in giving a guy like Santana a cup of coffee. Maybe he'll get jazzed and look like a superstar, maybe he'll get over-excited and look like a fool. Either way it will provide some memorable moments, and then he can go back down after Florimon is ready.
  12. jimbo92107
    I've got nothing against Kurt Suzuki, but he's definitely not the future catcher for this club. Why not start Pinto, who may be the future backstop, and have Herrmann or Fryer back him up? What's the downside, not making the playoffs? Twins have got that covered for at least the next two seasons no matter who is playing C. Might as well give the kids some playing time, see if they can hold up over a full season.
  13. jimbo92107
    What Gibson said reminded me of early Frank Viola. In his first year he was clearly over-anxious and didn't pitch very well. After he learned to relax, he became Sweet Music.
  14. jimbo92107
    And who names a ligament Ulnar, anyway? Hey Ulnar, get a clue! Yeah you, ya weak little ligament that likes to pop, just to piss me off! Hey Ulnar, Thor called, he wants his hammer's name back! Stupid ulnar...
  15. jimbo92107
    John, thanks for writing something upbeat in the wake of this bad news. I'm sure Miguel Sano will get a hug from Joe Mauer, another superstar prospect that lost a year right at the start of his wonderful baseball career. We all know that injuries are a part of sports, but it's especially painful when it happens to a great athlete and a good guy. Okay Miguel, your job now is to get better. Learn some more English, stay in shape, watch your calories, and buy yourself a nice, safe Volvo. Drive carefully, kid. The roads around Minnesota are terrible.
  16. jimbo92107
    Seems like the worst case scenario for an elbow is a slight tear of the ulnar. Will it heal, or should they repair it? So they opt for a few months of see what happens, and usually what happens is that the pain goes away...if you don't use the elbow. Unfortunately, Sano is a pro baseball player, so not only will he use the elbow again, but he'll be putting max stress on the ulnar, which is how he originally injured it. Besides getting the elbow fixed, Miguel Sano should use this time to go to school. Learn better English, learn enough math to do his own taxes, learn to drive a car, etc. I hope he gets a Volvo. Boxy, but nice.
  17. jimbo92107
    So you're saying he should spend this season as Anthony Swarzak's shadow. I like that idea. May could learn a lot from Swarzak, whose pitching style relies on mound poise, quick delivery, and hitting his spots. If May could learn to do that, plus a few more mph, he'd be a pretty valuable asset.
  18. jimbo92107
    Pretty good model for the rest of our economy. A handful of billionaires horde all the money while treating the rest of us like peasants. Isn't this what the Founding Fathers intended? Isn't this the American Way?
  19. jimbo92107
    I don't agree with plugging Willingham in at LF until the deadline. Teams already know that he's slow, got an iron glove, but otherwise has an accurate, average velocity throw to second, cutoff and third. That impression won't change at the trade deadline. In fact, potential trade partners might prefer if the Twins don't wear out Hammer's somewhat vulnerable knees by mid-season. The best technical outfielder of the three is Kubel, by a good margin. He positions himself well, anticipates well, takes good lines, and his arm is very accurate, tho nothing intimidating to a guy rounding first base. Arcia looks to have good potential, but needs a ton of repetitions and needs to work on his footwork throwing. Otherwise he's got very good velocity, and reasonable accuracy, but not as consistently accurate as the other two. I'd go about half and half with Hammer and Kubel at DH, and play Arcia in RF as much as possible. Should be really interesting how things shake out in spring training. If Buxton looks as good then as he did in the minors, why send him down? And if Hicks also has a good spring, then what does that do to the outfield? It would be nice to have two or three legit outfielders for a change. Buxton, Hicks and Arcia. I'd buy a ticket to see that right now.
  20. jimbo92107
    The least likely scenario is that everybody pitches just great. Most likely somebody will look awful, another guy will hurt himself, etc. We've all seen Gibson's stuff, which is borderline electric. He throws harder than the three main 5th starter candidates. In fact, he may be the guy that takes the place of one of the top 4, if one of them falters. That said, with so many unknowns it's kind of futile to guess how it will shake out this spring. The Twins now have even more borderline starters, so worrying about one guy getting hurt isn't quite such a big deal. Shoot, they're going to lose at least 85 again, aren't they?
  21. jimbo92107
    I'm a Josmil Pinto fan. His hitting approach to me looks very advanced, excellent poise and zone coverage. I think he's going to average close to .300 on a consistent basis, with occasional power. He sprays line drives to all fields in a way that reminds me of Mike Redmond, plus he can elevate his swing when he's got a notion. Given that Gattis is a hit-or-miss guy, I'd pick Pinto over him in a fantasy league.
  22. jimbo92107
    Same here. Any team with a little leeway at #5 could throw Deduno out there. I've seen him shut down the Texas Rangers. I've also seen him walk himself into trouble. Fifth starters are like that.
  23. jimbo92107
    I'd work Swarzak into the rotation as a forth or fifth starter, but that would depend partly on spring training and on early season results with the other guys. Clearly Swarzak is a valuable asset as a rubber-armed short reliever, long reliever and spot starter. He works quickly, delivers the ball in a flash, and he attacks the zone as well as anybody on the staff. That said, he definitely wants to be a starter. Why would he be better now than before? If he pans out, it would come down to better controlling his emotions and further refinement of his approach. To me he looks like a better pitcher now than he did a couple years ago. His poise and mechanics look more consistent. Pitching exclusively from the stretch was a good decision. I'd let him try his hand at starting as a reward for getting better. It's important for a team to show that a player's improvement is respected and rewarded by chances to move up. Give him a fair shot to start, and if it doesn't work out, Swarzak himself will be the first to admit it.
  24. jimbo92107
    The neat thing about Kolek is that if he indeed throws 99mph "with ease," that indicates that he has excellent mechanical efficiency. If he doesn't require max effort to reach that kind of velocity, then it implies that he could ease off to a mere 94mph and pick his spots, much like Verlander learned to do. Then, if he really needs it, ramp up to the high 90's. I'd rather see a pitcher do that then try to blow everybody away with non-stop heat. Good pitchers always mix it up. Even Mariano Rivera changed location of his magical cutter.
  25. jimbo92107
    I can relate. With just fifteen minutes warmup, I can hit 65mph with ease. And my curve is deadly - hits the batter right in the side of the head. Luckily it's going only 45 or so...
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