jimbo92107

Good lord, Kepler really does drill those low inside fastballs. Ball must be leaving his bat at 108mph. Line drive homers. Like a 2 iron.

I gradually changed my mind about Meyer's potential over the past couple years. Used to think he might be a front-line starter. Now it's looking more and more like he's got too many physical problems and possibly some emotional hangups keeping him from making it. Nolasco's deal works well for both parties. He's finally healthy and pitching pretty well, so I expect the usual thing to happen - pitcher leaves Minnesota and suddenly throws like an all-star. On the other hand, Twins get a new lefty starter with fairly good numbers. Twins sure like lefty starters for some reason...

Get ready for flashes of brilliance and frustrating inconsistency. Even great young pitchers rarely have it all right from the beginning. I kind of hope they send down Duffey. He needs to figure a few things out with less pressure. His 4-seam heater has no movement, so he needs to learn a cutter to bend left while his 2-seamer bends right. The 4-seam he can use for chin music, climbing the ladder, and pitch outs. I think Duffey has the physical talent to nick corners with fastballs, while his curves get whiffs and his change keeps 'em off balance. Meanwhile, bring on Jose!

I feel like Karma is kicking my ass right now. Ouch.

I really like Abad. Slow, tantalizing curves and changes, and a 93mph heater, which you may never see...

You know who else was a crappy third baseman at the beginning of his career? Greg Nettles. Kid couldn't keep from blowing grounders, so the Twins traded him to the Yankees.

Both guys threw out the runner by about six inches. That is NOT ironic, but it's a cool coincidence. What's ironic is when everybody on one team wears the same color shirt. What are the chances??

Just imagine when he learns to throw hard.

On the other hand, Max did pretty good just then... Huge grin.

Agreed, but he could improve his form. Kepler doesn't use his back and torso enough. He needs to turn his back more, tilt his head, then use the bow action of his back to create a full-body whip action. The best I ever saw at that was Dave Parker of the Pirates. He would literally throw himself off his feet and finish with a shoulder roll on a throw to home. The ball came out of his hand even harder than Michael Cuddyer's.

I hope Max Kepler was watching that. When he grows up and gets big and strong, maybe Max will throw baseballs like Adam Eaton just did.

I found out something very important today: Don't put eggshells and celery into your garbage disposal.

Congratulations to Eduardo Nunez. He's gone from a terrible situation in NY to frustration in Minneapolis, fought through it to emerge finally as an All-Star infielder with a hot bat. I hope he has a great time in San Francisco.

Beautiful pitching just met crappy hitting. Three K's in a row.

Quintana threw that jug-handle curve, looked like it caught the corner but fooled the ump.

Brian Dozier's trade value will be at its highest peak any moment now... wait for it... NOW! Trade Dozier, Polanco to 2B. Makes sense from player control, career arc, etc. Do it now, and Polanco will be a regular by the time the rest of the new wave gets comfortable.

I saw that throw. You're right, Nunez still gets his feet a little screwed up when he has an extra count to wait. Sure helps to have a serious glove at first base. On the other hand, Park blasted 3 homers in AAA today...

Kepler is starting to show traces of style. I like it.

Man, listen to Bert and Dick hawking Nunez for a trade...sigh.

Nice inning. Everybody hitting the Orioles' relief staff.

The whole article I kept thinking, "Why don't they make this guy a coach."

Great athlete, good student of the game. Kepler appears to be gradually gaining confidence in all aspects of his game at the mlb level. Unlike Rosario's first season, Kepler's approach at the plate is far more cautious, willing to take a walk, with a much smaller swing zone. This bodes very well for avoiding the sophomore slump suffered by Rosario and Vargas, both of whom were sent to AAA to reduce their high K rates. I don't see a major weakness in Kepler's hitting approach. His swing is quick, flat, and powerful. He appears very poised, before and after the swing. He doesn't fall off against lefties, and has been hitting righties about the same. In the field, Kepler is getting solid after some shaky moments early on. He is much better now at playing the carom off the right field wall, and he is getting very good at measuring his angles to fly balls. He still looks a little sloppy fielding grounders, but as he accumulates practice reps, I expect his grounder flubs will become rare. His arm appears to be about average, though I think his accuracy will improve on his throws to second, so he might catch a few guys trying to stretch singles. On the bases, Kepler so far has been pretty conservative, but his minor league career showed potential. He seems to be a technique-oriented player, so I suspect he will learn to steal bases about the way we saw with young Joe Mauer. Not as adventurous as Rosario, but probably a better percentage.

You used 'Kurt Suzuki' and 'white hot' in the same sentence. You know what that means, right? AXEBATS FOR EVERYBODY!!!!

Disagree. Park's reduced distance and exit velocity should have been dead giveaways that he was nursing some kind of injury. Meanwhile, Joe Mauer's reduced distance and exit velocity are due to...?

Twins still don't have a closer, but today it didn't matter. Good win, all eleven hours of it.