twinstalker

LOL at Severino.

This is just a guess, but it appears that Julien sees the ball's path much better than he sees it out of the hand. Problem with that is the path is misleading if you aren't sure of the pitch itself, which seems to be the issue. And that could be total bunk, I don't know. The best hitters flirt with a 15% K rate in the minors. Julien's was never less than 24% in any year-level. EmRod's similar or worse than Julien in that respect. Take even a power hitter like Pete Alonso, his K rate was between 15-20%. So it's not surprising that MLB pitchers get Julien out. To strike out 25-30% in the minors means there's a hole in your swing. MLB pitchers inevitably find it. So last year during spring training when certain people were talking up Julien, you might have found a couple scoffing comments from yours truly. K rate doesn't lie, generally. 25-30% K rate in MiLB means there's a hole in your swing, and MLB pitchers will find it. 15-20% K rate in MiLB means you likely can pay attention to other predictors, such as exit velocity and such. No hard and fast rules, but that's my take from years and years of determining predictors of MLB success. Royce Lewis is going to be an interesting case study for many reasons. His K rate wasn't great, and it wasn't horrible, but his barrel rates and exit velocities are likely excellent. Nobody's had time to find his weaknesses. That portends early success, and from there it's all about his smarts, work ethic, and ability to adapt, which is far more likely than it is with Julien or EmRod, because he probably doesn't have a pronounced hole in his swing like they do. Honestly, if they could get real value (and $$$ efficiency), trading EmRod this year is probably the smartest move they could make. The question is if they could find that perfect player in return. I think a superb defensive CF like Ceddanne Rafaela has hitting chops that haven't been shown in MLB, but I doubt the Red Sox would give him up for EmRod, even with his slow start. Note on re-read: I've always like Julien and think he has a chance to be good. There are a lot of things to like and seemingly only one thing to figure out. He has power, speed, eye, and doesn't chase much. I just didn't think he'd slide seamlessly into MLB. On the other hand, I grabbed him early (years ago) on my dynasty teams.

First, no ERod. Do you know how many there are out there? The natural is EmRod. Listen, I have EmRod on 5 of my 6 fantasy teams. I'm hopeful for him, but as one or two have said above, the game isn't easy for guys who strike out at too high a rate in the minors. They don't really improve that without a complete overhaul. Or a long, steady working it out over many years. They do often make a splash, though. I think instead of promoting EmRod, they need to work on his K rate at AA. He clearly can mash what doesn't confuse him. That superpower will always be with him. He needs, in a non-pressure situation such as AA, to figure out why he can't stop striking out. He has to, or once pitchers figure out his weaknesses, it's going to be ugly. That's what should have happened with Julien, too. I just don't understand how teams can ignore K rate. Look at how they promoted Larnach all the way to the majors ignoring it, and now he's doing everything he can to finally learn before he becomes an ex-ballplayer. But doing it on the Twins time. Keep EmRod at AA until he proves he can solve the best pitchers there.

If he's a good player in MLB, we'll be lucky. Not saying he couldn't be, but data don't lie. His profile doesn't work well in the majors. I mean, who's going to walk him? He's interesting enough to get a little excited about, but I'd temper expectations. They're going to strike him out A LOT.

The past tense of lead is led.

McCusker: Numbers are really skewed by blowout, and he strikes out too much at AA. I would suggest waiting to see how he does in half a season. And he's 26 this year. Poncho: somewhat intriguing so far. Again, the question is how he'll do at A+, given he's 22. That he has a 16:15 BB:K ratio now when it was 16:36 in college last year tells me he's probably facing worse pitching. Promote him in a month and see whether he's real in the second half. Keirsey: well, his K rate is a little high, but it was better at AAA last year. It tells me he's letting loose this year. I think he gets his chance at some point. There's nothing to draw on to think he's worthy, but if he keeps up his current numbers for another month or two, he'll need to get a chance just to see. He turned 27 today. It's pretty much this year or never for him to push through. The guy I'm most excited about is De Andrade. I loved his swing when the Twins signed him, at the time they said he'd stick at SS, and he's finally starting to show his stuff in age-appropriate leagues. There's your real Twins prospect, the guy who takes over SS for Correa. (p.s. I don't really know how good a fielder he is, so grain of salt that comment)

Not sure whether Wild or Wolves are free agents.

Fubo good so far, but Comcast owns a chunk of it.

Fubo's 1000 hours of DVR storage should be enough, though I spent an extra $15 to get Showtime and MGM+ to get a library of movies for now (recording most of them). I've already recorded more movies on Fubo in five days than Comcast would allow me to store. I'm up to about 230 hours so far. Besides not having the TNT/Discovery stuff, Fubo doesn't have an option for MAX, but you can get MAX for $10/mo as a stand alone (I use both Fubo and MAX through my $50 Roku device). Currently, subscribing to MAX gets you the TNT for free, but it will cost you an extra 10 when they decide to end that. I would drop TNT channel as soon as Wolves are done, then add it for March Madness and possible Wolves playoffs next spring. But if you don't get MAX, you should. The programming and movies and everything HBO ever is awesome. My Roku remote is extremely simple and therefore more clunky than Comcast which was more clunky than my Tivo remote (do not get Tivo, trust me, though you need Comcast to use Tivo, so it's moot), so that's the main downside I've found thus far, but it still works well, and fast forwarding or rewinding is easy and quick or slow as you need (you just can't always see the show as you do so, just the time. Again, that's my Roku remote, the streaming device you use might have a better one).

Nothing like listening to John Gordon and not having a clue what is happening in the game as you hear the roar or groan of the crowd. The count? You might get it once during the AB, so listen closely! Oh, is he not still there? (Honestly, I have Roku and am switching out Comcast for Fubo. I haven't missed a game since I was shown the message on screen by Comcast on May 1. If you don't have a Roku streaming stick for $50, it will be one of your best investments for streaming anything on your TV. Fubo is $80/mo, I think)

Are you asking if we're old? Yes. Yes I remember ES. Unlike pretty much every Twin from 1970 on, though, I don't have any specific memories, even from radio listening. It wouldn't surprise me if he were non-clutch to go with his meh Twins career.

His nickname is already EmRod.

Really the only naysaying thing about him has been his too-high K rate. I didn't see that in the four bullet points.

Nice feature. Thanks. I remember that Ron Davis game well. We were very optimistic going into 1985, but then had 9-10ish game losing streak that this was probably part of, followed it with a 9-10ish game winning streak, followed by a 9-10ish game losing streak a month or so later. Ugh. Puckett was fun, but he had no power or patience. Another Twins who was a flash in the pan? We'd had a lot of them in recent years, but Puck already was a cult hero, and it did seem different. Ron Davis and Billy Gardner had to go. They really did. Butcher and Smithson, our lovely haul for Gary Ward, were suddenly not as good as in 1984, and it was reported/implied that Butcher was tipping his pitches, but nothing got figured out. Hrbek, Bruno, Bush, Laudner, Gaetti were in their fourth full year, and as a whole were disappointing. Viola was meh and had no help until we traded for Blyleven (a year late). Somehow Ron Davis lingered, but Gardner was fired for Ray Miller, who definitely was in over his head. Ron Washington and Houston Jimenez (gone) weren't as hustly and/or cute as they'd been the year before, and Tim Teufel simply wasn't the answer at 2B. John Castino had succumbed to his back pain by then, and basically the pitching sucked. I did a quick check, though, and as bad as the pitching was, they had 41 CG, including Blyleven getting 9 in his 14 starts. The other good news I recall besides Bert is Roy Smalley was back with the Twins, a young man with expansive range and a cannon arm took over SS for the next decade, and someone we all called Chief had a great season behind the plate, delegating young Laudner to backup duty the second half. Other than than, it wasn't anything to write home about. There was a young man listening to games on the radio in his Northfield dorm room, disgusted but having too much fun with friends and beer to really care as graduation approached. The Twins were doing well as finals finished, but KC was a number of games ahead, and then that second 10 game losing streak happened. It was all over by the time he emptied his four years into his little bedroom at home. The young man drank much that summer, crushed on a friend's girlfriend, bartended in a couple of meh bars in Maplewood Mall (remember Esteban's?), and watched Live Aid live on TV before heading off to grad school. Ultimately, Don Denkinger handed the Royals their first WS title in what would prove to be their last playoff appearance for 39 years. Is that right? 2014? The Twins' bats came alive that next year, but the pitching stunk (Ron Davis was finally fired!), and the manager was in over his head. If you don't think a manager matters much, remember to compare Ray Miller to his replacement, Tom Kelly. Sometimes it matters a lot.

No small feat for EmRod.

How is Yunior Severino a top 20 prospect? Did I miss something? Oh, the list of names that could hit straight fat balls in AAA: Randy Bass hit .321/.456/.560 in 1977 Bob Gorinski, Mark Funderburk, Boomer Wells (.941 ops in '82), Bernardo Brito, the law firm of Radmanovich and Rupp, Todd Sears, "Restovich and Ryan, LLC," Garrett Jones, Randy Ruiz, Brock Peterson. And Yunior Severino, who struck out 56 of 153 appearances at St. Paul last year in his age 23 season after K-ing 30% of the time at AA in his, um, age 23 season. They mostly all have in common a poor combination of defense, age, and strikeout rate vs league (or MLB) average. Oh, and most played in big-time hitters parks except for the Rochester guys. I have no doubt Severino will get a cup of coffee. He is likely one of those guys who finally gets a shot due to injury, he doesn't show much other than the Ks, and the Twins "lose" him to another team as they attempt to have him clear waivers. But that's who he is. It's ordained. He wouldn't be on a prospect list of mine if the list ended with the last player who might be positively impactful. The Twins system after #4 is super bad, but there have to be more than twenty guys who could potentially someday help after those four, and he's not one of them. I know the people doing this aren't lazy, but his placement at 16 is pretty lazy. This is his age 24 season. He would have to get his K rate under 25% at AAA and put up numbers consistent with last years AA for me to even consider him a prospect. Honestly, it would probably have to be about 20% at AAA for me to have hope he could stay under 30% in MLB at his age. On the other hand, the Twins system might be so bad that it's all darts after #15 or so. Without looking, I'll be shocked if Gleeman or Law had him anywhere close to 16. Ok, looked, and Gleeman had him 18 (boo!), and Law had him...not in his top 20 and not in his "others of note." To me that makes sense. But Gleeman's write-up on Severino pretty much provides no positive predictors for him. Gleeman's stabbing, too, probably because he's a Twins fan. I just don't remotely see it. Take a look at Randy Bass' career if you want some fun. He did make it to MLB but was horrible. Then he went to Japan, and for his 5-6 years there, he averaged an ops over 1.000. I might be wrong, but I sort of recall maybe even an MVP there. I don't predict the MVP, but Severino heading to Japan makes a lot of sense.

I don't think Sano's problem was injuries.

Why would Lewis need to spend the full 20 days on a rehab assignment? History shows otherwise. You really want him crushing homers for as long as possible in AAA?

Hatcher had another crawling-home fiasco with the Twins. He strained his hammy rounding 3rd and tried, unsuccessfully, to crawl home. His relative ineptitude on the bases and in the field accounted for many laughs and pokes at the expense of him and the Twins The Twins were 119 games under .500 the six years he was here, and that includes a year they almost won the division and another year the Twins only played 109 games. He was about the Twins most average player in 1981 and somehow survived the 1982 purge that saw Hrbek take over first, , Smalley leave SS for Washington, Gaetti taking over 3B, Brunansky taking over RF, Wynegar leaving C for Laudner, etc.

Smalley is the obvious comp. Switch-hitting college shortstop. Neither project(s/ed) as a star but might make an all-star game or two as an average starter having a good year. That's a pretty good player. Lee might have a hitting advantage if he plays primarily off short.

Honestly, I never thought anything but that the Twins took on a negative asset in DeSc. They had to take him to make the trade. That they pretended for a moment he might be able to pitch is their fault here, preying on a gullible audience. You don't think they'd have rather put $4 million towards a healthy pitcher who might start? smh

If only the Twins had checked with other teams on their interest in Polanco...

Stewart is the big one on the relief staff, because he's the one with superior stuff. He makes Duran's job so much easier.

Idiot, moron, bozo, dullard, sap. These don't make it funnier and actually make it less funny. (This is not about PC, I"m talking about writing satire). The "report" of this guy would never use these words. Certainly the writer of this article (in the fake world) needs to be credible for this to be funny. I've seen it before in this space and believe Stu wouldn't do this without a reason (because he knows this takes away from it all). But it's the same with feeling we need to make sure people understand it's satire by putting the definition up there, and maybe that's the point. It's sad. If it gets to the point where you have to explain it's satire once, much less multiple times, it's maybe time to stop. My guess is that Stu's talents in this arena can be much better used, more comedic. On Canis Hoopus you're not allow to explain the joke. If someone can't get it, that's their own fault.

'65, '67, '69, '87 (sort of), '88, '91, '92, '02, '06, '19 I was starting out to write there weren't six Twins teams better than 1970, but when started to list them, well, you get it. 1970 was the first year I remember watching them, and I wasn't the best judge of talent. I do know, though, that the schedule was unbalanced (IIRC), and the rest of the west was pretty bad. Angels meh, Royals bad, White Sox bad, Pilots/Brewers horrible, The A's were decent and would win the division the next five years. The division lost 54 more games than it won, and that's with the East having Washington and Cleveland. The '87 team probably wasn't better, but it's hard to argue with a WS. The lineup was certainly better, and the pitching wasn't far off, except that Tom Hall was something the 1987 team didn't have. The '02 team was probably the next closest. The Twins were sooooo good in 1988 until Gaetti got hurt and they just couldn't keep pace with the monster A's team. The '92 team was also better. Until the last two months, the '92 team might have been the best Twins team ever. I can't personally argue for '65 and '69, but it seems pretty obvious they were better. The '67 team was supposedly one of the best teams ever, but they faltered at the end and only won 91. Still, they finished one game out, whereas the 1970 team finished 10 wins less than the Orioles while in a weaker division. (Although that Orioles team was one of the best ever). Best Twins team ever? I think regular season it's the 2006 team very slightly over 1991, and I think the 1991 team was really, really good. Add winning mentality into the equation, and the 1991 team is superior and showed it.