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jimbo92107

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Everything posted by jimbo92107

  1. jimbo92107
    Great comparison video clips. You can see how Carlos Gonzalez starts his kick much earlier, dwells longer with his knee up, glides forward more slowly, then cocks his wrists tighter before pulling the trigger. It's all very deliberate and unhurried. Those things allow Gonzalez to deliver more power to the point of contact without subtracting from his ability to check his swing. I hope Max Kepler continues to study videos of Carlos Gonzalez. If he gets some of that unhurried rhythm in his swing, the league better watch out for Der Kid.
  2. jimbo92107
    I'm very optimistic about Eddie Rosario. He's not high-strung like Danny Santana. Instead, Rosie is completely engaged in finding ways to beat the opponent. For that reason the way to get him to show more plate discipline is to put it in terms of applying pressure to the pitcher. If you swing at junk, you're letting the pitcher off the hook. If you refuse to swing at junk outside the zone, you can force the pitcher to throw you better pitches to hit. Be just as aggressive, but make your swing zone smaller. Don't give the pitcher so many gifts. Rosie is smart. I think he'll learn to play the strike zone game better this year, and get himself something like a .289 average with about 25% fewer KO's. He's got 25 home run power, and he could easily steal 22 bases. Hard to believe he can pile up so many triples per game, but I'll say 25 triples over a full season. Not as many assists in the field; opponents can't be that dumb. One thing that surprises me is that there are still people around here who contemplate trading Rosario because of the apparent glut of outfielders. This is one of the premier young players in pro baseball. He's one of the main reasons to watch the Minnesota Twins, just to see what Rosie will do next to beat the other guys. He has an opportunistic approach, looking for little gaps in attention that let him steal an extra base, etc. Almost every game, Eddie Rosario does something that makes me smile and think, "That's the way to play baseball!"
  3. jimbo92107
    If Buxton wants to crank up his average, he can do what players have always done: Swing flat with a smaller bat. Especially now in his first full year, Buxton's greatest value to the team offensively is for him to spend a lot of time on base, then use his speed to apply pressure. The home runs can come later, after he's familiar with major league pitching.
  4. jimbo92107
    The toughest part is getting to that bat flip at the end. Takes confidence.
  5. jimbo92107
    I'd rather see Duffey start in AAA than go back to being a reliever. Seems like such a huge step backwards for him, the one time the Twins succeeded in making a college reliever into a MLB starter.
  6. jimbo92107
    My god, I think you just wrote Adele's next hit song!!!!!!!!
  7. jimbo92107
    I hate that they're doing this to Trevor May AGAIN, but he really is a valuable piece in the bullpen. What I'm hoping is that at some point this season one or more of the top minor league relievers will be so hot that the FO can't keep them down on the farm, easing the need in the pen for May. Unfortunately, if a starter gets injured or completely flops, the first one to take their place will probably be Duffey or Berrios, not May. The confluence of events for May to get a starter roll seems very unlikely. Injuries, flops, and rising stars in AAA. All three would be needed.
  8. jimbo92107
    From Duffey's words I gathered it wasn't a problem with mechanics, but rather a problem with strategy. Maybe he assumed AAA players would be suckers for his curve out of the zone, and then they didn't swing. The good news is, this problem can be fixed with a little chat with his catcher or the pitching coach. As Duffey said, throw the curve for strikes, then you get ahead in the count. It's always going to be a game of cat and mouse. He got too predictable.
  9. jimbo92107
    I'd like to see JR Graham stretched out as a starter. He's got such a live arm, and a good mix of starter-quality pitches.
  10. jimbo92107
    Maybe Brandon Poulson could pitch for the St. Paul Saints. Pitching every day to live hitters might make him throw strikes, and then work his way up... Or not.
  11. jimbo92107
    On the other hand, the Twins now have the opportunity to stash two perfectly good young starters in the bullpen, thus pissing off both May and Duffey, while overpaid, mediocre veterans win at best half their starts with ERA's over 5.
  12. jimbo92107
    Well shoot, those are reasonable points. I hate that!
  13. jimbo92107
    In Centeno's case, maybe he figured something out. Or maybe he's sitting on multiples of the same pitch while a pitcher sharpens his stuff. Three hooks in a row? Please do! My point is that we're looking at a fairly young, good D catcher that's clearly seeing the ball well right now. Since we're talking about Suzuki's backup and it's early in the season, what do we care if the backup is him or Murphy?
  14. jimbo92107
    Given Centeno's spring numbers, why not go with the hot hand and keep Centeno on the roster as a bench bat/3rd catcher? Or maybe Murphy's the one that needs a little work in AAA. You can always swap them later, if Centeno's bat goes cold. Meanwhile, you've got a hot bat with good D in Centeno. What's not to like?
  15. jimbo92107
    Excellent report Seth. Your descriptions get me almost smelling the grass. Thanks, man.
  16. jimbo92107
    Agreed. The Twins still have a good portion of their future contending roster in AAA and AA. If you guess forward 3 years, that should be the beginning of the peak for this wave of players. By that time, Mauer will probably be replaced by either Sano or Vargas or Park. Plouffe will be gone. Dozier will be replaced by Polanco, and even Escobar might be replaced by Nick Gordon. I'm hoping by that time we'll finally have Rosie, Buxton and Kepler in the outfield.
  17. jimbo92107
    They'll start Over, then go Under. Then next year they'll really have to start over, and the under will be about 70 wins.
  18. jimbo92107
    This also means the #5 spot is between Nolasco and Milone, with Milone the odds on favorite because he's a better pitcher. So Nolasco will wind up in the pen, where he will stew and mutter to himself.
  19. jimbo92107
    I look for signs of improvement in how players are handling aspects of their game. Park's homers actually are encouraging, even if he was getting multiple fastballs. At least now we know he can hit a ball going over 90mph. The cat and mouse of regular season is the next hurdle. Same with Byron Buxton, who has reportedly showed better plate discipline, as has Oswaldo Arcia, who also slimmed down and looks better in the outfield. Even within the assumed roster, there are interesting details to mull over. I'd love to hear more about Miguel Sano's progress in RF. Is he getting it? Does he look as athletic as we hoped? Also, I don't discount promising performances by guys on the outside looking in. Even if a guy like Burdi doesn't make the final cut, if he's buzzing high-90's heaters past hitters, that's a good sign for his near future. Same with Berrios and others. If they're pitching really well in spring, that bodes well for this team, whose pitching staff is rather underwhelming. Meanwhile, as Mike indicated, the lack of drama this spring is a sign that this team is at least pretty solid. I don't mind that.
  20. jimbo92107
    Seems like Santana covers all the ground Nunez does, except third base, and Sano can step in there if needed. So you say bye to Nunez, use Santana as your super U, and you can platoon Arcia and Park in RF and DH. You could even rotate Park in as a first baseman to spell Mauer, especially if you want to bring all the big knockers in at once. This all depends on if Santana shows he can hit a lick in ST. If not, I say ship him to Rochester and bring up Jorge Polanco. He can hit.
  21. jimbo92107
    Yeah, but I assume Buxton can get over his hitting problems, and that appears to be happening with better plate discipline. Stealing bases is a completely separate art from the others. My concern is that Buxton may not have an aptitude for that aspect of the game. There are a lot more fast guys in MLB than there are good stealers. What most guys don't seem to realize is that the threat of a stolen base can be more disruptive to a pitcher than actually giving up the bag. Buxton already draws a lot of throws, even with his short lead. But if he actually steals some bases, he will drive pitchers crazy. Somehow he has to find that extra half step of a lead, drop his right foot back towards the outfield, etc. If he starts getting decent jumps, he could reach safely at a monster clip.
  22. jimbo92107
    Actually, the biggest problem I saw with Buxton last year was his base stealing. The guy seemed to rely entirely on his speed, rather than getting good leads and reading the pitcher's move. Even with his great acceleration, Buxton can't out-run a good professional catcher's throw if he has a six-foot lead and no read on the pitcher's moves. I'm hoping Molitor can get Buxton looking a bit more clever than that. I've seen 12 year olds that had better timing stealing bases than Buxton. Of course, they needed better technique because they didn't have his blazing speed.
  23. jimbo92107
    Glenn Perkins might not be the best comparison here, but there is one similarity. Perkins made a mid-career shift to the bullpen, even though he really didn't want to do it. He went from a starter that rarely broke 90mph to a closer that blew heaters by guys at 96mph, with a hot slider and a good slow curve. Ricky Nolasco isn't a control pitcher the way Perkins was, so maybe he can't pick corners as a reliever. However, he may be past the starter phase of his career, so a shift to the bullpen could be in his own best interest. I have yet to see him look good as a starter for the Twins.
  24. jimbo92107
    I have a good feeling about Arcia. I think he's decided to really take that professional athlete thing seriously. He spent all winter pounding his body into shape. He's lighter, stronger, faster... Cue theme from 6 Million Dollar Man... If Arcia really does show better plate discipline, maybe this is the year he becomes a real live pro baseball player. A legit lefty power bat that plays respectable left field... The Twins could use that.
  25. jimbo92107
    If Sano can play conservative right field, then use his powerful arm to gun a few guys out trying for second, the Twins will be very happy. I'm not so worried about his health out there. Football players his size have good careers, and nobody is smashing into Sano's legs.
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