jimbo92107

Imagine how good Tyler Robertson would be if he just had good posture. His stride would lengthen by over a foot, and his fastball would speed up by 4 mph. Right now, his tail bone is tucked under. This does several bad things. It eliminates his ability to rotate his hips to get much more power from his stride, it decreases his lung capacity, it disallows him from separating his drive leg from his torso. The result: he's an arm thrower with severely reduced leg drive, limited to one inning against lefties. Learn better posture, Tyler Robertson. Pee straight down.

Mauer hitting 2nd instantly puts pressure on the pitcher to get Hicks out, which should give Hicks more hittable pitches. Unfortunately, Hicks is starting the season with a lot of whiffing. That should change as he settles down. Already the few walks Hicks has drawn have paid off, with Joe Mauer right behind him.

Figured out why Hicks wasn't hitting from the left side. In his stance, he's twirling the bat in the wrong direction. Seriously. If you want to create an inside-out motion, you can't twirl the bat to brush up your hair, or when you bring your hands forward, the bat will open up early in a big, lazy loop, the "waving a garden rake" swing. You wind up fighting the bat. If you think I'm dippy, check out vids of Ruth and Ted Williams. If you brush back your ear with the twirl, moving your hands towards the pitch will compress the bat down and in, so you get good lag, which keeps you inside the flight path of the ball. Then you get outward snap at the ball, which translates into everything you want - a controllable swing with lotsa pop. It also creates natural lift, which comes in handy if you like hitting the ball over the outfielders. Florimon's throwing problem was indecisiveness. All he needs to do is pound the glove really hard, then fire a laser shot. Don't pat the glove, pop it sharply, so everybody can hear! Based on what I saw today, it wouldn't surprise me by mid season to see Escobar at SS and Brian Dinkelman at 2B. Dinkelman hit .300 last year (small sample), and Escobar looks to have more of a bat than Florimon. He and Dozier better find some hitting rhythm before their easy outs pile up and start to smell bad. Too bad about Tyler Robertson. If he simply learned good posture, he'd be a great pitcher. Guy's been slouching in chairs too long.

I'm not worried about Aaron Hicks. He has developed three aspects of poise that will carry him through rough patches. Physically he is always on balance, and his mechanics are sound. Emotionally he appears to be quite calm and centered, able to avoid temptations like trying to swing harder and harder after every strikeout. Intellectually he appears well aware of the tactical context of the baseball situation. Hicks plays the game looking for opportunities to put pressure on the other team. A guy like that is always more likely to make smart decisions in the field and at the plate. I'm not worried about Aaron Hicks. He's got the baseball sense of a Kent Hrbek, with the physical gifts of a Carlos Gomez.

I like watching baseball because, when played well, it's fun to see how a team like the Minnesota Twins can beat a team of bigger, stronger, more physically gifted superstars like the New York Yankees. Baseball is great because its structure allows a great variety of players to participate and win. Baseball is both an athletic sport and a strategic game. What other form of competition allows such a diverse mix of people to compete on the same field of play? Baseball shows us that money does provide advantages: The Yankees and Dodgers will, over the years, win more games than teams with smaller payrolls. But a $200 million dollar team still can lose if they get outdone by a well-timed bunt, a finely tossed curve, or little blister on your star pitcher's middle finger. So many things can happen over the course of a season that we talk about baseball in nautical terms, referring to the manager as "captain" or "skipper." Fans banter, do we want a calm hand at the helm like Ron Gardenhire, or a bold and wily captain like Joe Maddon? The equipment itself is a study in contrasts and contradictions. A baseball bat clearly is a savage war club, adapted here for placing a bunt within inches of the third base line as well as smashing a home run over everybody's head. Both in their own way are glorious, as is the contrast between the two. A baseball is a pretty little artifact, a four ounce leather egg, held together with pretty red stitches, packed tight with fiber and cork. Tossed lightly, it can still deliver a pesky bruise; at 100 mph it can break a rib or fracture a skull. Our species has been bashing things with clubs and beaning things with rocks for millions of years. It's fascinating to see how these tools of war and hunting have been adapted for what is considered a civilized, genteel form of competition. Yep, baseball is fun to watch.

One thing I've already noticed about Aaron Hicks at the plate: He really battles. There is no 1, 2, 3 and yer out with this guy. You can see Hicks studying the pitcher, looking for a weakness, some little hint what the next pitch will be. The approach Hicks uses puts maximum pressure on the pitcher. That Aaron Hicks guy is going to be one helluva ballplayer.

That's why I like watching Sam Deduno and Cole DeVries. Both guys juggle chainsaws while riding a unicycle on the high wire. Sure, sometimes the result is untidy, but as Russell Crowe said in Gladiator, "Are you not entertained?"

In the art of pitching, Cole DeVries has shown better mastery than Liam Hendriks, who has better stuff, but less consistency. Meanwhile I still think Sam Deduno could be one of the best late-blooming pitchers in the league. If he's finally found a way to throw his crazy fastball for strikes, he could really shut down some teams. The Benson/Hicks competition is nonsense. Aaron Hicks clearly is the better ballplayer. Either send down Joe Benson or make him the fourth outfielder. Darrin Mastroianni is pretty good too, but with Hicks leading off, you want your other outfielders to have more pop. Benson can drive balls over the fence, while Masto is mainly a slap hitter. In any case, if Morneau gets traded mid-season, they'll just bring up whoever gets sent down now, and move Parms to 1B. I haven't seen Escobar try to play catcher, but with so many mediocre arms on the staff, seems to me Gardy will want a third backstop that is more than an emergency fill-in. Past balls, bad throws and crappy handling of pitchers could lose more games than an average bat can make up for. If Butera's not on the opening day roster, I'll still be surprised. Who ya got that's better? We sent him to the Nationals for Matt Capps.

Teflon's comment suggests a more general point... Statistical regression is difficult to predict with a pitcher whose success depends on a certain degree of natural unpredictability. Sam Deduno's style indeed hinges on peppering the area in and around the strike zone with sliding, ducking fastballs. The downside of such a style is a high walk rate; the upside is a lot of whiffs and really lame contact. One thing I've noticed about Deduno, and the reason I find him fascinating, is that he appears to have developed a style that fits his abilities. He's an excellent fielder, quick as a good shortstop. His whippy arm motion is unusual for an overhand delivery, but it appears not to damage his shoulder or elbow. Ever notice that his throws to first and second base are straight as an arrow and pinpoint accurate? Deduno knows very well how to throw a ball straight. Whether his new, more whirly deliver results in better accuracy is yet to be seen, but it's not impossible. The fact that he falls off so far to his left indicates that he is accelerating in that direction from the start. Does that delivery really look more repeatable to you than his supposedly more disciplined finish from last year? Throwing a baseball combines straight line and rotational movements. When you find a good recipe of such whippy movements, you can wind up with a Roger Federer forehand, or a Sam Deduno fastball for a strike.

I'd keep Hicks on the MLB roster for two big reasons. First, he's clearly ready. Not completely polished, but far ahead of Benson and far more talented than Mastrioanni. Second, putting Hicks in CF now would be a big boost for the kids coming up through the minor leagues. Guys like Kepler and Arcia want to see that the Twins put performance ahead of team control. Even Joe Benson down in AAA will know that if he starts playing great CF and banging hits, he'll be headed for the show. The Twins have a ton of guys coming up that are watching how management handles Aaron Hicks. Will they respect his accomplishments, or stash him in AAA like a can of soup to be opened at their convenience? Ballplayers want to be treated like persons, not human resources. Fair play says Aaron Hicks is the best player at CF. If you want your team to be a merit-based system, then Hicks is earning his shot. If Hicks finishes the spring well, then reward him with a roster spot.

I don't expect Hicks to have another day like this in spring training, but this would appear to make it harder to send him down to AAA. However, I did see Hicks completely blow a couple fielding plays. He missed a cutoff man, and he overran a one-hop fly ball. All in all a pretty good day for Aaron Hicks.

If you get over your skis with swagger, you could tumble into the gulley of false expectations and land on a tuckus of embarrassment. Pretty soon you'll be limping around with hang-dog case of mopies and get shipped off to Boston, which isn't a metaphor - ask Danny Valencia. On the other hand, if Berrios is a good pitcher, what's he supposed to do, apologize?

If the Twins send Hicks to AAA, then they should give Joe Benson a real shot at CF, and have Mastrioanni be the fourth outfielder. Only problem then is, who will be the lead-off? Maybe that's why they're trying out Benson in the first slot.

That's the only sucky part. Appel clearly was an ace before this season. If he looks like a superstar ace, he'll get snapped up with the first pick irregardless of Scott Boras and the astronomical cost of the young man's services. And even if he does fall to #4, isn't he going to want Joe Mauer sized money?

Maybe if Masto is on third with a guy on first, and the pitcher tries a pickoff. That's how Bryce Harper did it.

Parmelee may also be the starting 1B at some point this year, if Morneau either gets injured or traded. That would leave room in the outfield for one of the fast guys, whichever one is still in AAA. Mastrioanni, Hicks and Benson. Three Speedos!

Disguising his changeup may be more important than locating it. Hitters depend so heavily on timing that Worley may be better off working on making his change look more like his fastball, and don't worry so much about pinpoint location. In fact, scattering his change around the zone might actually make it more effective, especially if it takes a fraction of a second longer to recognize it.

If you're going to play Rosario, then why not Sano and Buxton? Heck, the latter two are more prepared to play their natural positions of 3B and CF than Rosario is ready to play 2B, where he shifted to last season. Rosario is a talented guy, but he made a ton of errors while learning 2B last season. He belongs in the minor leagues, where his rough edges will not become an embarrassment in front of 25,000 fans per game. I would spare the young man these humiliations with a normal development time. Meanwhile, the Twins have a serious logjam of talent in the outfield right now. If I were Ron Gardenhire I would seriously consider keeping both Aaron Hicks and Joe Benson up with the team to start the season. Given all the dubious and marginal talent on the pitching staff, it may come in handy to have available the 3FCFD (3 Fast Center Fielders Defense). With Masto, Hicks and Benson (Benson and the Jets?) out there, an awful lot of fly balls will get caught, and all three have arms that are either good or great. Thus we derive the equation: 3FCFD=FBOx3. If we extend the equation to include Willingham's role, we get 3FCFD+H@DH=FBO(n)+RBI(n), with n being a lot more than before. By extending this equation to full bogosity, we can include all other possible DH possibilities, thus: 3FCFD+H, M1, M2, P, Dsub@DH=FBO(n)+RBI(n). Luckily, this is easy to understand. Ten points for the first person to spot the Sheldon joke.

FBOs43CFs. lol.

I think I see the flaw in his mechanics. Starting at 2:56 in the video, notice where his throwing hand lines up with the vertical pole in the background. It's a subtle point, but when your hand travels backwards as your body travels forwards, the sudden change in direction puts a lot of stress on your shoulder. Manea's hand travels backwards against his body's motion only about six inches, but guess what - that's enough to put a sudden jerk into his shoulder joint every time he throws a pitch. Ideally, his throwing hand should either remain still or travel forward slightly along with his body. A tennis coach taught me this technique when returning a high-speed serve. If you swing the racket back, you'll never be able to get it around in time to hit the ball straight ahead. Better is to move forward and pivot around the racket, never allowing the stick to move backwards. Turns out this same idea works great for throwing a baseball and swinging a bat, too. The infamous "hitch" in a batter's swing is the act of moving the bat backwards, creating momentum in the wrong direction, which results in a late swing. Conserving momentum is as old as Judo, but it works in a lot of different activities. As for how to correct this problem, techniques vary. I favor holding a rattlesnake's head just behind the pitcher's hand. Obviously he won't move his hand backwards with a poisonous snake there. Others may favor a Taser or a sharp nail on a stick. One way or another, the young man's got to learn that it's important not to move that hand counter to his momentum.

Excellent point. Meanwhile, his almost perfect mechanics remind me of Mariano Rivera. Appel is definitely going to be some team's ace, maybe a half tick below Verlander's level.

That's another thing. When people talk about "doing the little things well," it sounds like they think that if we bunt well enough, field well enough and don't walk anybody, we'll be able to beat the Yankees. Problem is, the Yankees do the big things well. They hire pitchers that mow down your bunters. They hire hitters that bash baseballs past your contact pitchers and your diligent fielders. And of course, their fielders do most of the "little things" well, too. Maybe our problem is we just hear what we want or expect to hear from our middle market team. Truth is, if you want to win pennants and championships, you need a team with a lot of guys that can do the little things well, plus do the big things well. If you're wondering why the Twins installed Trevor Plouffe at 3B and now are trying to install Brian Dozier at 2B rather than Jaime Carroll, it's because the young guys hopefully can learn "little things" like consistent fielding at the same time they drive baseballs farther than Carroll ever will. I just can't see blaming Gardenhire for managing a team that's transitioning from an indoor small-ball club to an outdoor club in a bigger park, while at the same time trying to find a winning roster that keeps changing, too. It's a very stressful task, and frankly my biggest concern is if Gardenhire still has the physical endurance to put up with it.

Quote me all you want, just don't make a big deal about my hair color... ;-)

Ben Revere will never average under .265 unless he's injured. Flat, quick swing, bent over like Carew.

A lot of things will need to go right for the Twins to do well this season. Here's a list of things I think are possible but could just as easily go wrong. Twins long-shot list: Harden revival, healthy for whole season Gibson wins 15 games Deduno wins 15, cuts walks in half Morneau hits 30 taters Florimon hits .250 Butera hits .225 DeVries wins 12 Hendriks wins 10 Plouffe hits 28 taters, healthy for the whole season Dozier wins 2B, hits .265 Benson beats out Hicks for CF, stays up and healthy Mauer plays healthy all year If most of those things happen, I think the Twins could compete for a wild card. Most of them are physically possible, but of course some of them are less probable than others. Frankly, if they all stayed healthy, that would be a major accomplishment.