jimbo92107

If Miggy-San plays well, it's bye-bye to Adrianza, then Cave for a 13th arm. Gonzo can cover most of that, and El Cherubo gets the rest. Shop Castro, too. Garver and Torts can do the catching, and those guys can hit.

That's more of a personal/personnel question. I'm sure Pineda did not come to professional baseball as a gelding... ;-)

Looks to me like Pineda is gradually getting stronger, but it will take time for him to refine his command as he throws the ball harder. He had it before; he'll have it again. Prognosis: Stud horse in development.

The good news is, this team isn't doomed to a season of futility. Two or three savvy moves, and the Twins could be very competitive.

I blame CJ Cron. Even a first baseman should be able to run over 12 miles per hour. Nah, kidding. Wish I'd seen the game. I'm getting the impression that Gibson may require another few starts to get his mojo back. Sounds like Trevor May is flaming out, Tortuga is slowing down, Marwin is seeing the ball, Rosie and Buxton are on fire, Hildy is human, and Bender is back distorting space and time with his curves. Interesting teams don't always win, I guess.

Instructions: After running headlong into a wall, take two aspirin. Repeat if needed. Wait...Byron, that doesn't mean run into the wall again!

Ironic, the day after we're discussing Buxton's ability to stay healthy...he runs headlong into the outfield fence and...this time, he gets back up healthy. A lot of things are different about this year's Twins squad. Buxton seems to have confidence now that he lacked last season. Garver looks like a real live pro catcher, complete with one knee down and a compact, dangerous swing. Polanco's new sidearm throw actually looks stronger than his 3/4 delivery. Kepler looks like a solid player in all aspects now. Rosie looks like an All Star. Pineda looks like he's going to be a stud horse. Berrios looks solid. Hildy is well nigh unhittable, as is Rogers. The new guys all seem competent and smart. The bullpen still may need some help. Romero or Stewart? Both? Much, much more interesting team than last year. These guys could cause some trouble, be disruptive, possibly be a bad example for the children. Carry on, 2019 Twinkies.

You guys are totally missing the point about Buxton. Despite all of his speed, Buxton has very little confidence in his technique. It was Paul Molitor who taught Buxton how to steal second base at the pro level. It will take a similar effort to teach him how to steal third base and how to steal home. Meanwhile, you are also missing the point about why stealing bases is valuable. Applying pressure to the opposing pitcher is the point. When Buxton steals a base, it pressures the opposing pitcher. He steals third, he applies more pressure. When Buxton threatens to steal home, it applies even more pressure to the pitcher, which may induce a wild pitch, or a nothing ball right down the middle. Most pitchers perform worse when runners are on base. Crank that irritation up several notches when a good base stealer is aboard. Ricky Henderson used to drive pitchers crazy with his running game, and it paid off in wins. You guys even said it yourselves - the Twins will probably get most of their runs via homers. Well, when Buxton is on base, the pitcher's attention is divided between the runner and the batter. If that helps induce a pitching mistake, the next pitch could wind up in the stands. Stealing bases helps make that more probable.

Those of us around and aware at the time may recall the long discussions about what type of stadium to build. Old Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington was notorious for slow drives to the game, rain postponements in spring, great baseball in summer, decent football in the fall, and then football in snow during winter. I remember as a child sitting in a sleeping bag during a Vikings game when it was -10F. I loved it. The Vikings won, while the other team huddled around propane heaters. Well, Minnesotans finally had enough of ritual suffering, and decided to build a new stadium closer to the middle of town. Everybody knew the best kind of stadium to build was a retractable dome, but that was twice as expensive as an inflatable dome. So penny-wise Minnesotans opted for the Metrodome, despite the earnest protests of "real baseball fans" like local TV anchorman Dave Moore. It didn't take long to discover that the playing field was too hard. It was murder on football players, and it created a new way of getting a hit in baseball, pounding a pitch into the dirt for a super-high bounce. A few years later people noticed that the dome material started to darken from cigarette smoke and indoor air pollution. The dull gray tinge made it very difficult to track a high fly ball to the fence. Twins players became experts at that very niche skill. By the time the Hump was torn down, pretty much everybody hated it. However, the inside structure of the place was in almost perfect condition. A brand new inflatable dome could have been installed, plus a new playing surface, for far less than the cost of a new stadium of any type. There were even proposals to retrofit the Hump to be an outdoor stadium, or even an outdoor stadium with a retractable roof. Architects these days! Nawww, said the billionaire owners. That's not expensive and vain enough! They wanted separate new stadiums with hyper-pricey, enclosed box sections for millionaire fans of the Vikings and the Twins, or they'd all leave town! Took about ten seconds for the legislature to fold on both threats, and here we are...rain postponements again, just like in the old days at Metropolitan Stadium. I never went inside the new Vikings stadium, but I've been to several Twins games at Target Field. A standing room ticket goes as low as $12 bucks some days, and you can post yourself almost right behind home plate at a hot dog stand. Beautiful field, but those TVs and PA system are too much noise and distraction. My dad hated them, before he died, but I think a younger version of him would have liked the place. Dave Moore would have liked it, too.

I'm still hopeful for Kohl Stewart. Excellent athlete, but he's just not a natural pitcher. He will need to work hard and long on every aspect of the pitching game, because nothing will come easy. That said, I still believe he can keep honing and sharpening his skills to the point that he may well perform like a "natural" pitcher, like Jose Berrios. Only thing is, Berrios himself works hard as a sled dog on his own game, too. That said, there are "natural" pitchers, guys that simply grow up with stuff that's almost unhittable. Walter Johnson had an effortless side-arm sling that amazed the world for twenty years. Other than a few guys that look like they're just skimmin' stones, most humans really have to work at their pitching technique. I hope the Twins coaches keep these learning hurlers from breaking their arms.

Tyler Austin looks to me like a 1B power hitter, period. Decent glove, but the big question is, will he hit 30-plus home runs per season with an acceptable OBP? If so, then the Twins possibly blew it. CJ Cron appears to be that guy, but just older, and maybe a little slower. Might not matter anyway. Twins could bring up a prospect that's better than either Cron or Austin. Brent Rooker should be that, if he works his butt off at fielding first base. Or they could stand pat for now, using Astudillo to back up Cron. Whatever gets El Cherubo on the field is okay by me.

Hey, if Mejia was starting every five days, 91 pitches doesn't look that bad. Kind of a lot for a bullpen guy, tho...

Not as disciplined and precise, but yes, Jordan Balazovic does look like he's doing a good impersonation of Verlander's throwing motion. Not a bad guy to emulate. Let's hope he refines his game the same way that Verlander has done. On the other hand, then the Twins won't be able to afford him...

OMG, look at that pitching motion of Jordan Balazovic. Loose, easy arm whip. Hard to read the pitch at the release point. Effort per pitch looks well below maximum. This guy could be a serious stud horse starter. I saw what looked like two plus pitches for sure, a hard overhand curve and a major fastball. If he develops a decent change, he'll be making a ton of money in the bigs very soon.

El Cherubo, El Peloton, La Tortuga...I just like cooking new nicks for him.

Well, to be truthful, I was imagining pool noodles behind a perforated barrier, itself protected by rugged cast iron spikes. You don't want these players getting spoiled!

Actually, this could be a very good idea. First, if you looked at a combined spray chart of all hitters, I'm guessing you'd see more balls hit to the corner OF areas than to CF. Second, if you shift outfielders to compliment shifting infielders, you could use Buxton in RF to ease the need for pull shifts to that side because he covers so much ground. Third, the oblique wall collisions you mentioned, tho Buxton would have more chances to get hurt on foul balls down the line. Arguing against is the obvious reduction of coverage in CF with Kepler back there, tho he is in fact a rather good, reliable outfielder. Also, Buxton does appear to be getting better at timing and mitigating his wall collisions. Then there are collisions with the walls in foul territory. Third would be collisions with 2nd basemen streaking out to make a football catch in shallow right. Would he even hear Buxton shout "I got it" before they collided? They would need to train very carefully to avoid that scenario.

I can't claim credit...somebody else got there in a previous thread. I forgot to give a hat tip.

Moar important question: Why doesn't MLB insist on better cushions for its outfield walls? When million-dollar athlete/entertainer collides with brick wall, the wall wins, but the rest of us lose. Major League Baseball has it in its power to solve this problem. Hell, they could pad the walls with pool noodles and prevent a few injuries that way. Or have some public-spirited mattress company showcase its products in every park. We have the technology to prevent bone-breaking collisions with outfield walls. Why not get it done?

B Squad games normally are kinda lame, but in this case it was fun because we didn't know what we had on the bench. We still aren't completely sure, but Garver, A-Stud and Austin can sure swing the lumber. Austin's late hit was like a knuckled 3-iron. Garver's swing spells long career, and El Cherubo is going to give opposing pitchers chaos headaches. I think I saw Grande Tortuga whiff on one swing the whole game. Seeing Astudillo makes me wonder, why do all these other professional baseball players miss the ball so often?

Astudillo gets a clutch hit and scores the winning run in the 10th. El Cherubo continues to impress and entertain. This is a team where a lot of players step up at key moments. I really like the look of this squad overall. Very selfless, smart baseball.

Right now I'd be looking at ways to get Astudillo batting right behind Buxton. I'd have Buck bat 5th or 6th, with Tortuga right after him. Hot bats in order, great contact behind blazing speed. That might mean sitting Gonzo so Torts can play 3B. So be it. Not quite ready to bat Buck at 1, but if he keeps hitting, he's designed by nature to be a leadoff. At that point, I do believe I'd bat the little chubby guy 2nd. El Cherubo?

This should be another test of Wes Johnson's heel drive efforts. If we see an bump in velocity from a few of these guys (especially Gonsalves), that makes the whole experiment worth it. Else, it looks like a very solid AAA roster. They could dominate.

La Tortuga may not be the best nickname for Astudillo. How about "Pelotero?" The man is a ballplayer, pure and simple. He hits the ball, catches the ball, throws the ball, and understands the game as well as anybody I see out there, including Rosario. If you're wondering about his catching, ask CJ Cron. Astudillo not only fielded Polanco's throw off the fence, he then quickly gunned the ball exactly where it needed to be for Cron to make the tag. That's a ballplayer, my friends. That's a guy you want on your team...playing, not on the bench. Otherwise, I like watching Pineda pitch. Something comforting about a big man that just flips the ball down at the strike zone with so little effort. Perez looked good, too. You really see him driving off the heel the way Wes Johnson says. Ryne Harper I do not understand. I know, I know, his low velocity is fooling people...for now. Hard to believe it will hold up, but baseball does have room for peculiarities. Falvey and Levine seem to like players with high baseball IQ. This team looks smart in the way they move and play. They seem to like each other, too. Baldy might just have himself a good team.

Tom, those charts are amazing, and revealing. If this trend continues, the Twins might wind up with the whole starting rotation competing for most K's in the season!