jimbo92107

Calling the MLB draft a "crap shoot" is a wild understatement. Try predicting a random number between one and 150. Even with scouting, you can't tell who is going to shine and who is going to flop after a draft. The Twins doubtless scouted Trout, and had him assessed as an athletic outfielder with not much power. How were they to know he would turn into baseball Hulk? Same with all these flop picks. Scouting will always be limited, and nobody can predict injuries. Wimmers went down from injuries. Gibson almost flopped from injuries. You just. Can't. Tell.

Taylor Rogers was reeeeally good in his bridge roll. Does he have the overwhelming stuff to be a great closer? Not quite. Hard slider, fastball. Sit on the slider, try to catch up to the heat. That's a pretty simple plan if Rogers is the closer. His heater is maybe a tick above average, so hitters will definitely sit on the slider. That could threaten to make his repertoire too limited. Contrast that with Trevor May. Hard heater, and he can pick corners with it, or learn to. Also has a hard curve, mostly a "show me" pitch to slow the bat down a bit. More like a traditional closer. Contrast that with Tyler Duffy. Used to have an extreme curve ball, mediocre heater. Now has a respectable 96 mph heater, and has dropped the curve for a hard slider. Also can pick corners with the heat, but Duffy can still surprise with his big bender now and then, and it can still be an out pitch. If Duffy can maintain his new-found velocity, then he has more tools than May to be a closer. I would certainly want to test that out.

Brent Rooker's wrist action reminds me of Eddie Rosario's. He keeps the bat head cocked until the last instant, and then it snaps around like a mousetrap. For that reason, the collision of bat and ball makes a sharp "bang" sound that signals ideal transfer of power from the body to the ball. That passes the ear check, and you can see the ball explode off his bat. No idea if Rooker's defense will be much good, but he's going to hit some baseballs into the second and third decks.

Maybe every team's taxi squad can play each other in Arizona. A few games a week, not too strenuous, no crowds...

Putting a knee down will help keep Garver's legs fairly healthy, while his approach at the plate will keep his bat explosive. I expect the Twins to platoon Garver with somebody like Ryan Jeffers to keep both men relatively fresh. The days of one guy catching 90 percent of games is over, especially if their bat is their ticket. I do expect to see Garver hit 40 or more homers in a season. Simple, powerful swing, quick to the ball, long through it. He might even become another Nelson Cruz as a DH.

Yeah, but by the time Mauer was moved to first base, most of his foot speed was gone, and his recovery from concussion was iffy, and never really complete. I just hope Mauer doesn't suffer later in life from those concussions. Speaking of Mauer's arm, does anybody remember if Mauer ever uncorked a truly wild and goofy throw? All I remember is an arm-cannon that shot straight and true. Maybe not quite the mph of Sano, but straight as an arrow and right on target.

Imagine if they'd kept Pierzynski, moved Mauer to right field, and built a team around that core. Even without Nathan and Liriano, the Twins would have been fun to watch. Mauer's good legs, rocket arm, and no concussions. His bat, healthy, for fifteen years. That's why the Nats moved Bryce Harper to the outfield.

MLB is suffering an existential crisis, just like other pro sports. In an "all hands on deck" situation like this, they should cancel all suspensions, to get every able player on the field as soon as possible. This is not my typical appraisal of fines and suspensions, but then, this is not a typical problem for the league. We'll be lucky to see baseball in any form this year. I'll take what I can get.

Berrios is a talented pitcher, but let's pump the brakes a bit. Relying on other guys to get hurt or choke is hardly a vote of max confidence. I would expect Jose to have a good year, if there's even a baseball season this year, which it looks like there won't be. Who's gonna want to sit in a stadium full of people not tested for our 2020 constant companion? Anyhoo, I don't mind admiring Jose's nice set of pitches. He does look like an emerging star. I hope that he, and every other pitcher in baseball uses this off year to work on getting more leg into their delivery, so fewer arms fall off. Maybe we'll be surprised by various hurlers suddenly developing a good change, a better curve, etc. Good time to work on form and fitness for 2021.

I watched a super-interesting video a couple days ago about Christiano Renaldo, the great soccer player. They were testing his skills, and one of the tests involved forcing him to guess the location of a soccer ball in flight without seeing it. In a field house they had a guy kick a ball as if to center it for a shot. Just after the kick, they turned off the lights, so he would have to guess where the ball was going to be, based on the passer's form and the initial flight of the ball. To everyone's delight, in darkness Christiano was able to accurately head the ball into the goal, whereas a normal player missed the ball by at least six feet. Then they made the test harder. They turned off the lights just as the passer made contact. Christiano shouldered the ball into the goal. In total blackness, having seen only the initial kick from about twenty five yards away, he still was able to predict when and where the ball would be well enough to direct it into a goal. This startling result suggests that great hitters are better than average players at predicting when and where a pitch will cross their hitting zone, based not so much on seeing the ball between the hand and the plate, as on predicting from form and release. You could add to that situational awareness, to narrow down the probabilities. At that point, swing mechanics and timing are all about putting the moving barrel where your mind already knows the ball will be. The exception to this rule would of course be...the knuckleball. With no way to read the final destination from form, even the best predictive mind won't know where the ball will be when in crosses the hitting zone. No wonder a good knuckler can make the best hitters look foolish.

The Arizona idea is impossible from a legal perspective. What does MLB do after a few ballplayers catch the virus and die during this scheme? Corporate lawyers will nix this.

Been drinking a few daytime beers myself, which I hadn't done literally for decades. Also figured out that any decent IPA will make a tasteless Costco brat into a good beer brat. But you needn't bother, if you can find Johnsonville beer brats on the empty shelves of your local store. Oddly, I found a treasure trove of them at Target. How bored am I? I just watched Trevor Bauer's entire video, and I was almost sad to see it end. Do all pitchers agonize over at bats this way?

I suppose you could change the last question to something less limited, like "...3 people from any time or place...per month."

A brother of mine drove limo for Kent and his wife during the '91 series. After a game, he drove them to a pizza parlor, I think Godfather's where Hrbek ordered a large with everything. When the pizza came, he looks at his wife, says, "What're you having, honey?" He meant it.

Let's remember that every other team is in the same boat the Twins are in. Also remember that the Twins set a major league record for home runs last year. Is that stout troop of loggers suddenly gone? No, says I, 'tis been bolstered by a new, rowdy 3rd baseman with the attitude of a hockey player. N'ery a powder puff in the lineup, and most of 'em can jack a baseball farther than I can hit a 5 iron...or could, when I could swing a club... As I peer through my nearly closed window blinds, shotgun at the ready, there are no zombies in sight. Nor a revenuer, or mailman. It's quiet, I tell you, but then I notice there's nobody else in the room. Whom am I addressing? Has it been that long? I slink back into my darkened kitchen, taking stock. Plenty of oatmeal, and the ice trays are full. I'll be just fine. The store room is stacked floor to ceiling with toilet paper, because, well, you know. Gunshots in the distance...cops must be clearing the beach again. I wash my hands thoroughly, while singing a Canadian folk song: When will my love deskend from heaven? When will my love rrreturn to me? Can't ya see? If I must wait (duh-duh du duh duh) At the gate (duh-duh du duh duh) Of heavennnn Then I'll stand by-eeee In the sky-eeee For theeeee.... Typically sung by a Canadian Mountie, on his brave steed, atop of a wind-swept mountain ridge, overlooking a vast forest of lonely blue-grey pines. Starts at the lowest note you can sing, ends with the highest. Test of lungs and larynx. I end up coughing. Is it the virus? No, just that damn high note. Getting a bit stir crazy around the old Jim-bode. I might just crack the door a whit, see if any laser dots decorate the furniture...clever humans... Baldelli can figure this stuff out. He's a smart dude.

Thorpe should practice juggling three baseballs on a unicycle. If his balance point is solid, he'll have the command he needs to make it in the bigs. Balance drills till they come out his ears.

This is a good reason always to stock your pen with at least a couple fringy starters from the minors. Same guys that are just barely getting by as a starter might turn out to be a star as a reliever. Plus, you can run them out as sport starters. That worked pretty well in 2019. Good times... sigh.

Against the fielders positioned above, Arraez would without hesitation hit a Mauer-style slash single over the 3rd baseman's head, into the left field short corner, for a jogging double. I think he finds that hole 4 out of 5 times, against an average mlb pitcher. The young man can flat out hit, and I don't think comps to Gwynn are at all far fetched. All last season i saw him scanning the infield before each pitch, then pop one right through the gap. Fantastic bat control.

This is an interesting topic, but the stats prompt what may be a far more important question: Why do so many young pitchers blow out their TJ ligament? Are there examples of power pitchers that never had elbow trouble? If so, what were they doing different?

I do think Dobnak has a good chance to become a mid-ro horse, possibly better. If he develops a high 4-seamer ala Odo's heater, that would make his low zone stuff even more effective.

Here's a website with the current COVID 19 numbers: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html If you must hole up inside for a while, consider purchasing a large bag of rice or some other starchy dry goods. Don't forget to buy some salt, too. And sugar. Black elderberry supposedly has some antiviral action. A bottle of 100 pills is about $8 bucks on Amazon. 2 capsules, twice a day. You can get the juice, too. I love baseball, even though I haven't played it since I was a kid. Can't even throw a ball decently now, with my crap shoulder. But I love the game, just like y'all do. I hope we make it through this reasonably intact. The beauty of baseball needs to be witnessed by big, raucous crowds of people on warm, sunny days. I hope we all get back to that. I miss it already.

Hate to say it, but C19 is going to disrupt pro sports for the next couple years, until everybody has been vaccinated. It's also going to kill foreign tourism worldwide. America will be lucky if only half our population gets it, which means millions could die, well before vaccines or cures are available. Black elderberry. Try searching on that, plus health benefits. Capsules are relatively cheap, per hundred.

From what I've read, C19 is much more contagious than SARS, but not as lethal, except for folks older than 60, and people already suffering from heart problems, lung problems, or diabetes. If you are elderly, this is a very dangerous time to be on an airplane. Mortality rate over 70 is ten percent; over 80 is fifteen percent.

From what I've seen of Lewis, Rooker, Kirilloff and Larnach, the Twins have at least four guys coming up that can really pound the ball, and each of them appears to have a plan at the plate. Should we start calling Royce Lewis "Rolls" right now? Rolls, Rooks, Killer, and... shoot, what for Larnach? Larnie? Lars? That's a tough one.

Regardless how teams stack their lineups, the 3 batter rule will prompt hitters to become more rounded in their approach. If somebody walks Cruz, the next guy better be pretty good at putting the ball in play, at least. There should be plenty of situations that don't call for swinging from the heels. Twins already have power hitters. Can these same guys tone it down to punish the intentional walks? Whatever side of the plate you stand on, contact hitting is going to become more important. This could also boost the value of subs like Astudillo, who can barrel up on almost any pitcher. El Cherubo might just wind up being a very important chess piece.