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jimbo92107

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Everything posted by jimbo92107

  1. jimbo92107
    Wait a minute, I remember what Thorpe looked like when he made his debut. Clearly he was having trouble controlling his emotions. He was sailing balls and over throwing, seemed like a majority of pitches. Pitching coach spent most of his time trying to calm the kid down. This should be great news for us fans because it means this season it will no longer be a whole new world of pressure for Thorpe. He's done it before, so now he can relax and just pitch his game. And of course, kill Superman. That's all we ask.
  2. jimbo92107
    Compromise. Re-name the city "Jr. Ulm."
  3. jimbo92107
    With our lineup, plus electronically stealing signs, the Twins can play even with Houston!
  4. jimbo92107
    I do not subscribe to the belief that a baseball team needs chippy players to win playoff games. The 2020 Twins squad will include several young, impressionable players that do not need lessons in emotional maturity from Josh Donaldson. That said, some of these clips were hilarious. Note that in all cases, Donaldson (and his opponent) had somebody, usually several persons between them, making a real fistfight very unlikely. I can't imagine a hockey player watching this action without laughing.
  5. jimbo92107
    Thorpe is an athletic young arm with good upside, but he lacks consistent command of the strike zone. Right now, he's mostly a thrower. Dobnak already has good command of the peripheral strike zone, and he is working to refine it further. Dobnak also has a game to get hitters out. Dobnak is a pitcher. Which of them will contribute more innings? Dobnak will pitch more innings than Thorpe and Smeltzer combined.
  6. jimbo92107
    I think Dobbs is a stud horse in the making. 147 innings is his low end. The man is built to chug along like a diesel engine. Easily could go 170 or more this season, then top out at over 200 innings for several seasons.
  7. jimbo92107
    It all comes down to Twins management still thinking of themselves as a "small market" team. Working from within, I see some combo of Smeltzer, Dobnak, Thorpe, Stewart, Stashak, plus maybe Gonzo getting early season tryouts for the fourth and fifth spots. Of these guys, my favorites are Dobnak and Stashak. Smeltz intrigues, but he will always be a tightrope walker. Twins have had some luck with TJ specials, so Taijaun Walker sounds plausible. Otherwise we might also see some innings from Alcala and even Balasovic. I have no problems with these experiments. If the Twins really have some innovative pitching coaches, this is exactly when those investments should start paying off. Fernando Romero would be a good test case. If they can teach him consistent mechanics, they've got a stud horse. If not, they have a low-leverage relief pitcher. Same with Thorpe and Alcala. Activate the Bat Signal for Wes Johnson...
  8. jimbo92107
    So true, although "surfeit" sounds more fun... Plethora just kind of spills out over the table, like chunks of tainted meat later that day.
  9. jimbo92107
    As long as this plan is the product of intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, and not the desperate lurchings of panicked pants wetters, then I'm okay wid it. Just don't do to this guy what they did to Trevor May. Graterol is a good kid that can flip the ball up there at decent speed. I think he trusts Twins management to chart a smart course for his career. Let's hope that trusting Twins management isn't a foolish move, as it sometimes has been in the past.
  10. jimbo92107
    Well, this IS the Twins, so whomever they sign will need to be a bargain basement special. I'm surprised they don't stalk every Tommy John case around their hospital, asking if they're sure they'll get their fastball back, and that the Twins would be willing to make a speculative deal... Or they could look on Craigslist for Used Pitchers. Realistically, they'll probably go with a big rotation of Dobnak and pals, hoping the offense can sustain their 10 runs per game pace. No problem. Right?????
  11. jimbo92107
    Agreed. As much as the Twins were not a good match for the Yankees, the Bronx Bombers will be diffused by three Cy Young winners in Houston. Showdemfreud!
  12. jimbo92107
    Excellent season for the 2019 Minnesota Twins. Next goal: Build a team that can win playoff games. How to do that? I have no idea. However... The whole team needs to work on their fielding. Besides setting a home run record, I'm pretty sure they also set a record for fielding errors by a Twins team. Better fielding would help Twins pitchers feel a bit more confident against a tough opponent. Start stealing bases again. Besides getting runners into scoring position, this will set a more aggressive tone for the whole club. They really, really need to be more than a station-to-station offense. Stealing bases puts more pressure on the opponent's defense, sometimes disrupting their pitcher. In short, Twins players need to become more rounded in their skills and their play. I hope to see signs of this progress by next spring.
  13. jimbo92107
    Totally agree. If Dobnak were a regular cabbie, that's one thing. But let's face it, Uber was concocted as a scam to avoid all the fees and regulations that come with driving a cab. Thinking that Uber would somehow help the Twins beat the Yankees was, frankly, ridiculous.
  14. jimbo92107
    Okay, let's start talking about 2020. Dobnak, Littell, Duffey and the boys should burn this drubbing into their memories. Don't forget the bitterness, the embarrassment, the humiliation, etc. Instead, use those awful feelings to bolster your resolve to become far tougher next year. It is time to murder, dismember and bury all the emotional vulnerabilities you brought to this humiliating mismatch. Time to get tougher than rawhide. Time to chew nails and spit out carpet tacks. I don't care if next year's team sets a record for home runs. What I don't want to see is a Twins squad that can't field their positions. I don't want to see Twins pitchers throwing meatballs down the middle, or issuing free passes to hitters. I also don't want to see enemy hitters leaning out over the plate without getting a 95 mph reminder why you don't do that to Twins pitchers. Enough Minnesota Nice. Time for the baseball world to find out what Minnesota Mean looks like.
  15. jimbo92107
    As Sun Tsu once said, "If your enemy wants help with a selfie, be sure to cut off his head." Now, during the game I admittedly lost my cool, and there's really never a good time to do that. With regards to pitchers throwing their first pitch at the head of a Yankee batter, I hope nobody took this seriously. I meant it as a metaphor for the general practice of using violence in sports. That said, none other than Uncle Bert has often advocated "pitching inside," which assumes a certain risk of going a little too far inside. If guys like Stashak and Littell and Graterol and Duffey pitch inside to the Yankees, it might reduce the size of their smug grins as these hitters lean out over the plate, ready to extend their arms for yet another home run. On such occasions I ask nobody deliberately to harm a fellow baseball player. All I ask Twins pitchers is to consider what really good pitchers have done about such things in the past. What would Bob Gibson do?
  16. jimbo92107
    Let's remember that there is a public perception of the Yankees, but it can be very different from how the players themselves view this match up. The Bombas speak for themselves - Yankee pitchers know damn well how the Twins won 101 games this season, just as Twins pitchers know how the Yankees got here. The players know that this is going to be a hard fought slug fest. For that reason I would suggest that Baldy's boys should work the count in Game 1, other than that first pitch, where the leadoff hitter should try to take that first center-cut heater well over the fence. Yankee hurlers probably will start off nibbling around the edges, seeing if they can get excitable Twins hitters to bite on sucker pitches. Be ready to take a few walks, then cash in!
  17. jimbo92107
    If Garver puts in more defensive work this off season, he might start 2020 as a top defensive backstop. At that point the Twins should let Castro go, then bring up Rortvedt or Jeffers as the #2 catcher.
  18. jimbo92107
    So, you're saying pitcher's duels....maybe not in this series.
  19. jimbo92107
    One step right, one step back for Stanton. I see a role for Alka Smeltzer in this matchup. On the other hand, Berrios better avoid throwing flat. And keep Perez away from these guys, he already throws too flat.
  20. jimbo92107
    I look forward to the Twins/Yankees series. Two good teams, pretty evenly matched, and both setting records for home runs in a season. The series will depend quite literally on which players get hot at the right time. Berrios could pitch a shutout, or Sano could hit ten home runs. Or it could go the other way.
  21. jimbo92107
    Damn Yankee hackers!
  22. jimbo92107
    Here's an innovative idea: Just let the darn pitcher catch the ball. We're treating them like babies out there. These guys have been catching pop-ups since they were little kids. The pitching mound is not an obstacle course from American Ninja. Baldelli can solve this problem pretty easily. Just tell them that pop-ups in front of the rubber are the pitcher's call. Behind the rubber, it's the shortstop's call, and he's not going to give it to the pitcher. This particular pop-up would have been an easy catch for Duffey, but he's not going to stand there and get sandwiched by Torts and Arraez, so I don't blame him for bailing out.
  23. jimbo92107
    Twins site says Arraez has a sprained ankle, and is going to have further testing. All fingers crossed at this time...
  24. jimbo92107
    A team needs to be pretty darned good to win 100 games. Now try doing that while finishing the season with only 2 of the season's initial starting pitchers still performing well, while the other 3 are either sick, out of whack, or suspended. What's their secret? Nelson Cruz tipped us off early in the season when he said opposing pitchers were going to fear the Minnesota Twins. Indeed, even while getting surprisingly good performances from its starters, the Twins often buried their opponents under tons of runs. When you're ahead by four runs in the second inning, it's easy to attack the zone. On the other hand, we must give full credit to the Twins pitching staff and the amazing coaches that re-formed, re-claimed, and resurrected some guys that surprised the league. Tyler Duffey and Trevor May both looked like they were about to become ex-Twins, before Wes Johnson taught them the mechanical magic tricks that nudged their heaters well over 95 mph. In addition, both men reduced their repertoire of pitches, becoming two-pitch monster relievers. Who'd of thunk? Same deal with Zack Littell - a low-90's heater got boosted to mid-90's with a good slider. Another monster two-pitch reliever. Then there's That Dobnak Show. Unlike most magicians, Randy Dobnak appears to have pulled himself out of a hat, with the help of Wes and the boys. Together they have conjured a third starter, just before they needed one for the Tournament. Where'd that squirrel go? We need somebody low to the ground, for squeeze plays!
  25. jimbo92107
    If the situation were a bit more normal (no colitis for Gibson, no suspension for Pineda), then there would be no Perez vs. Dobnak debate. Unfortunately, here we are, with just two good starters, headed into a playoff series against the Yankee lumber company. Now, Riverbrian tossed out as a joke that with Dobnak's 2.0 ERA, all of 20 innings, maybe he should start Game 1 vs the Yankees. If we look at HOW Dobnak got his very low ERA, that idea doesn't look quite so silly. Randy Dobnak is never going to pitch pretty, like Cole Hammels. Dobnak looks like he sneaked onto the field straight from a pre-game tailgate party, stole a uniform, then talked his way onto the mound. The only thing missing is a mustard stain on his chin. But then when you watch Dobnak pitch... Compact delivery. Good mechanics. Consistent release point. On balance. Good rhythm. Attacks the strike zone. Hard to read his pitches. Bulldog tenacity. No apparent fear. Good movement. Avoids the middle. Good hop on the heater. I have a feeling that this guy is just plain a major league pitcher. He belongs here, at the top level of competition. Randy Dobnak could be the All American mutant mutt that Bill Murray hails in Stripes. He don't look like much, but the man gets it done. Around this time a year from now, I don't think people will be wondering if Dobnak can pitch in a playoff game. I bet a million dollars of Pohlad money that he'll be just fine out there against the Yankees. Go get 'em, Randy!
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