jimbo92107

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.

As always, much depends on how the young guys develop in AA and AAA. If Nick Gordon finally has a healthy season, he's Adrianza's replacement. If one of the power arms in the minors finds better command, then that's a cheaper option than May. Likewise, the Twins have at least a few guys that might invade the starting ro with just a bit more refinement. But Odo will be hard to bump...

Buxton will be fine. They'll ease him into the lineup, platooning with Jake Cave. Even if Buck can't swing the bat yet, they'll still bring him in for late defense, until he feels fully fit. Cave has showed that he's a capable 4th OF.

I'm not forgiving and forgetting the horrid scandal Gonzalez participated in, but I don't want anybody to suffer like that. Good luck with recovery.

Man, I REALLY hope every Twins pitcher is watching this guy. Maeda is like an embodiment of the art of pitching. Hitters hardly ever see the same pitch twice. Just beautiful. Like watching a chess master.

2020 is a Win-Now year. That means the roster must be filled with guys that are at or near their very best, NOW. In order to have a chance of beating teams like the Astros, Nats, Dodgers, etc, you best bring your top-level game. Twins can't be a team trying to baby-sit the superstars of two years from now. Much as I like Lewis, Larnach, Rooker, Kirilloff, etc, these guys are all a couple to three years from nearing their peak level of performance. Meanwhile, the outfield of today is composed of guys that each have some years of experience. Rosy, Buck and Kep each have seen enough pitchers that nothing really surprises them. They know how to play balls off the Green Monster and all the other odd quirks of various stadiums. Crowd noise no longer bothers them. They now ignore catcalls and slurs. The Yankees are just another team full of tough bastards. So are the Twins, at this point. It's no knock on Royce Lewis to say he's not ready to play at Buxton's level. Same with the rest of the prospects. The Show is a tough place to exist, and the guys there now have earned their places. You want to force your way onto this squad? Bat .400 for half a season in AA or AAA. Dominate hitters with amazing pitching. Otherwise, the guy there now is still probably better than you. Best advice to the top prospects: Dominate. Your fielding routes better be efficient. Your throws best be right on target. Your at-bats better look professional. When you pounce on a pitching mistake, you better make that pitcher pay. If you see the defense let down just a bit, you better take that extra base. The Minnesota Twins have turned a corner, they're one of the best teams in baseball now. If your game isn't quite sharp, stay where you are and improve. Last year, Luis Arraez forced his way onto the roster with great at-bats and solid fielding. Dobnak forced his way into the rotation with fearless command. That's what it takes. Your can't just play okay at the major league level. Your play has to lift the team a little higher than it is now. Otherwise, no reason to make a change.

Man, this Twins organization could have the bestest kind of problem, a logjam of star-level talent. Could be a frustrating year for some of these guys, who on weaker teams would be starters right out of spring training. You could do a lot worse than having an outfield of Larnach, Rooker and Lewis, with Kirilloff at 1B, swapping with Rooker, and Celestino your 4th OF. All those guys can launch rockets, except maybe Celestino... don't know him, but he's fast. Almost the same deal with pitchers, tho not quite as dense a jam. Great arms coming up, but a little further back. I wanna see Durhan Durhan, and I've got my eye on Ober. Meanwhile, you could stash Colina in the pen right now, get him joking with the vets, insert in low-leverage, ease him into tougher spots... ah, spring!

Throwing straight over the top means more stress on the back, and tilting the head to get it out of the way of the arm. Some pitchers thrive on the bow and arrow back snap you can get from that motion (Sandy Koufax, Tim Lincecum), but you have to be pretty athletic to pull it off without losing command. It's also a motion that can hurt your back or your arm if not managed very carefully. I would be very surprised to see Smeltzer go full overhand. Not much point adding 8 mph if you wreck your body doing it.

Two things stood out from the prospects today: 1. Brent Rooker's double off the wall...not the sight of it, but the sound. BANG, like a firecracker. That's the sound of a focused kinetic chain transferring max energy to that poor little baseball. That last bit of uncoiling wrist action is how Eddie Rosario gets his shocking power from an easy swing. Rooker is going to be a good power hitter in the majors. 2. Edwar Colina's 100 mph fastball. Not the speed, but the smooth motion. Like Rooker's swing, Colina's heater is the result of a focused kinetic chain, in this case throwing a baseball with demon speed, yet not apparently a herculean effort. Colina's command was not as impressive, but he's certainly got the arm talent to cause some trouble for hitters.

I'm a big Dobsie fan. Downward plane, works fast, late break on his spinners, and built like a horse. But here's a key: "Dobnak is still working on things: “Today I was trying to get more depth on my slider. I've been working on that lately.” He added,“The changeup’s been working pretty well for me. Threw a few today that were pretty nice. I'm pleased with that. Next step will be the slider. Then I'll work on the sinker." Notice what's missing from his self-eval? Throwing strikes. Dobs is past that in his development. He's already got command of the zone; now he's working on how to exploit the zone with new tricks. To me, Dobnak is simply going to continue getting better. Might even wind up being an ace.

No doubt about the importance of speed to Rosy's game. He loves to toy with outfielders as he rounds first base, and when he's healthy, he catches up to fly balls on the sideline. Eddy with one less gear is not happy Eddie.

More likely if they needed to call somebody up, it'd be Larnach, with his big bat. Move Kep to CF, Larnach to RF, done city. More boom boom for the fans.

I have five jars of the best spaghetti sauce you can buy. Still, it's just not the same as having a steaming plate of spag at a trattoria, which is Italian for expensive Italian restaurant. Granted, I can add good stuff to a jar of spaghetti sauce, which is why Johnson is here. Can he make these $3 dollar jars of sauce taste like a hundred bucks? Yummmmm.

It's hard to see a down side to this catcher situation, other than the inevitable process of entropy slowly grinding all human endeavors to dust. Otherwise, I'm pretty chipper about it!

Kepler, Polanco, and Arraez. An embarrassment of riches for the Twins at leadoff.