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bighat

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Everything posted by bighat

  1. bighat
    If we're going to have a "low-leverage" guy, let's make it Balazovic, then. Or Sands. Why not? Let young guys get experience, see what they've got. Put them in low-risk scenarios and let them develop. Don't pay a veteran for that role. That's just my opinion, I didn't mean to sound too contentious when I quoted you, I think we may just disagree on this issue!
  2. bighat
    As Twins fans, we've let our expectations become so low that we think a guy who can ONLY pitch in low-leverage games where the score is 9-1 is "fine". Every bullpen pitcher should absolutely be able to go into a 3-2 game and get 3 outs. All of them. If they can't do that, they should not be on anyone's major league roster. Keeping Pagan so he can pitch for the Twins in blowouts is a complete waste of a roster spot. This is not a special or valuable skill in any way.
  3. bighat
    Color me shocked - a convincing win against LAD with timely two-out hitting and safety squeezes? What team are we watching? Great performance by Ober, really nice win. Please Rocco, let's go for the jugular today! Correa 1-for-5 and now batting .201 as we rapidly approach June 1st.
  4. bighat
    Great write-up, a shame it looks like I missed a good ballgame here on the East Coast. 11 straight losses to LAD, including a heartbreaker where they used up the bullpen in the opener on the road? It would be hard to not think the Twins get swept here. These aren't the Cubs. Great to see the offense continuing to put up runs, that's 3 games in a row. Larnach heating up and making hard contact. Would be nice to see Buxton start to heat up again, he's a difference maker when he's hot. Giffin Jax in May: 5.2 IP, 9 hits, 5 BB, and a 6.35 ERA. It might be time to start considering putting him on the St. Paul shuttle.
  5. bighat
    Pablo Lopez deserved better. Nice to get a win, but unfortunately there are no signs that this team is figuring things out offensively. It's just such a grind for them to get anyone across home plate. Don't see them scoring more than a run off Darvish today, have to assume at this point it'll be 3 straight series losses.
  6. bighat
    A lot of us predicted that Michael Wacha - a free agent who didn't find a taker until very late into the offseason - and his 5+ ERA would waltz into Target Field and dominate. This is a below-average team, folks and Cleveland is waking up. At this point the main goal for the season should be for Royce Lewis to solidify a starting position, make a decision on Kirilloff and Larnach, and maybe get Brooks Lee a cup of coffee. Ship out Polanco, Gallo, and Kepler (if they can get anything for him) at the deadline.
  7. bighat
    With all due respect, you wrote the same thing a month ago. Since April 8th, the Twins have been unable to score more than 3 runs in the following games, including the starting pitcher names: Michael Kopech (5.97 ERA) Peyton Battenfield (Who?) Logan Allen (Who?) Cal Quantrill (4.09 ERA) Jose Urquidy (5.05 ERA) Hunter Brown (Rookie) Dylan Cease (Fine) Lucas Giolito (3.87 ERA) Gerrit Cole (Fine) Domingo German (4.35 ERA) Trevor Williams (4.35 ERA) Patrick Corbin (1-4 with a 5.17 ERA currently) Brad Keller (4.67 ERA) I suppose it has to get better in the sense that it can't get any worse. But I don't know how anyone can look at the futility of this offense and think "they'll be fine".
  8. bighat
    An absolute embarrassment of a road trip. 2-4 against teams that had a combined record well below .500. Can't hit meatballers like Quantrill and Koepech, who have been throwing batting practice all season. Same goes for Sale in Boston, the guy's getting absolutely drilled out there by everyone, but the Twins come to town and he throws 7 shutout innings and strikes out 10. News flash: it's not the opposing pitching that's good. The Twins offense is downright horrific. It's been going on since Day 1 in KC. An offense with all the attributes of quicksand has the Twins solidly entrenched at the bottom tier of MLB offenses this year. And no, help isn't on the way. Kirilloff is rusty and while serviceable he's not a game-changer. Lewis has been out for a year, not sure how much difference he can make. There's really nobody else out there to help. Brooks Lee? I don't think so. It's going to be a long, drag of a summer. Watching a team that can't hit is about as bad as it gets.
  9. bighat
    You're not alone. The Twins 7th inning was horrendous in every way. But at least Correa and Buxton put the balls in play. Sure, they were tappers to the mound, but both of them put pressure (at least a little bit) on the defense. Larnach getting down 0-2 immediately and then striking out was much more painful to watch.
  10. bighat
    Great writeup, thank you! Twins need to win this series, would be nice to see a sweep. Boy is old Grienke cooked, sad to see guys like him and Kluber getting smacked around. It's interesting that many all-time great hitters can leave the game gracefully with solid stats in their last years (ie: Ortiz, Pujols, etc) but it's not as common with pitchers. Bux is really heating up. Keep him in the lineup, Rocco....anyone have an idea if he's going to play in the field at all this year? I mean, I can see the argument for continuing to DH him but it's frustrating to see such a dynamic talent being held back. Pitching injuries are everywhere. 2021 Cy Young Award Winner Robbie Ray of the Mariners is now officially out for the year, he made one start. Carlos Rodon hasn't even thrown a pitch. Names like Verlander, Woodruf, Glasnow, Wainwright, McKenzie, Severino, Taillon, and many more all on the shelf for long periods of time. That's an All-Star lineup.
  11. bighat
    Polanco coming back sure has helped - incredible difference. Let's hope the Yankees and other teams don't start pitching around him just yet. Gray has been amazing this year. Can this guy stay healthy all season? Still waiting for Buxton to catch fire.... Joey Gallo right now in the running for best cheap free agent signing of 2023. Twins may have guessed right on this one.
  12. bighat
    I'd like to see Kirilloff starting in RF every day for the Twins, effective immediately.
  13. bighat
    This type of statement has been said about Larnach for the past 3 years. He's been hurt a LOT, and the only times he's been given the opportunity to play for long stretches, he's been very bad. Anyone can cherry pick a couple good weeks - just look at the final stats he's put up any year he's played. It's not pretty! We are fans, sure. But we have to be adults and remember that just because you want him to be good, doesn't mean he is good or will be good. Let's all stop pretending that 27 year-old guys who have been in the league for 3 years are "prospects". If you put Larnach's numbers next to some unfamiliar name in the Pittsburgh Pirates system, and you wouldn't think twice about him. Look up Larnach's name in the similarity index on statcast, and you'll see: Kyle Garlic, Nelson Velazquez, and Kerry Carpenter as the most similar matches. Are we still excited? Why? Because he mashed college pitching at Oregon State 6 years ago? We've been saying "Wait and see" on Larnach forever. Dude, we've waited. And we've seen. And I don't think we're going to get much out of this guy and the sooner we all realize it, the better off we'll be.
  14. bighat
    Even if Kepler was the best defender in baseball, his offensive shortcomings aren't worth it. And, he's not anywhere close to the best defender in baseball - in fact, the whole "Kepler plays good defense" statement is debatable at this point. People keep saying that but only because it's something we've been told, there's really no hard data to back that up anymore. And he certainly doesn't pass the eye test. The guy's washed up and the sooner the Twins cut bait, the better - please, let's stop pretending he's Ozzie Smith already.
  15. bighat
    Gordon is out of options - Larnach isn't. Trevor should go down. No way the Twins can afford to lose Gordon, he's super versatile and he carried the team for the 2nd half of the season last year. You don't give up on him because he's had 3 bad weeks in April. Larnach has never blown the doors off, even when given long chances. Injury prone and flashes potential here and there, he strikes me as a Tyler Austin, Luke Raley, or Chris Parmalee clone - he'll find work for a few years but he just doesn't seem to be dynamic enough to become a pillar of any team's offense. Guys like Larnach are actually long-term detrimental to a team. Because the Twins will end up trying millions of ways to fit this guy into the heart of their offense, but he's just not "that guy". The Twins have let go Akil Baddoo for free and trade LaMonte Wade Jr. for a bag of balls - both because Larnach was seen as the better player. And now Gordon too? Best thing to do would be to trade Larnach while he still has some value. Unfortunately sending him down to St. Paul is only going to hurt that trade value.....argh! Like I said - it's just a no-win situation with him as long as he's on the team.
  16. bighat
    I'd love to see some more honest headlines! This one could have been: "Offensive struggles continue as Twins salvage a win against the worst team in the National League." It's hard to find positives even in victories these days.
  17. bighat
    ^^^^ Yep. This team isn't going anywhere this season - let's see some stolen bases, some big homers, let's see 'em lose a lot of high scoring games and go 62-100. It'd be much better than watching this dried-paint experiment go 75-87. Losing 3-2 because this team can't score against the worst pitcher on a 5-13 basement-dweller AT HOME is just super on-brand for whatever this Twins team has become. After going through this exact same thing for most of 2022. it's really hard to feel positive about anything on the '23 team besides maybe Pablo Lopez. Things are going to get very bleak by the time the summer's over. A lot of stretches of losing 5 in a row, followed by a win, followed by 3 straight losses, etc. And I'm pretty darn sure there's a 10-game losing streak in the mail and it'll get here by June.
  18. bighat
    Brent Rooker is carving out a nice little full time role for himself in the cleanup spot in Oakland. Batting .324 with 4 homers in just 37 AB with only 7 strikeouts. He just pulled a hammy and will be out a couple days, but it reports say it's not serious. LaMonte Wade Jr. is a fixture in the leadoff spot in San Fran. Off to a slower start but still has an OPS higher than Buxton's and is among the league leaders with 14 walks, which is nice to see from a leadoff guy.
  19. bighat
    Great write up @Thiéres Rabelo. Weird, we hear so much about all of our pitching prospects: Woods Richardson, Prielipp.....remember Jordan Balazovic? Then some guy we've never heard of comes up and has a very solid debut in Fenway Park. Huh. Good on him. Nice to see the bats wake up, really loved watching the highlights, can't beat homers from Larnach, Eddie J, and Gallo. Gotta mention they were going against Corey Kluber, who's "bien cocido". I don't see how that guy's going to stick with Boston. Red Sox are 0-4 in Kluber's four starts, losing 10-9, 4-1, 9-3 and 10-4. Tanner Houck pitches today for the BoSox and has also been hittable.
  20. bighat
    Agreed. Say what you will about the pitching, this team is NOT fun to watch. Aside from that 1st inning in New York last week, it's been complete torture watching this offense. And who's gonna save 'em? Gallo? Polanco? Kirilloff? Yeah they better figure this out. You'd have thought going against a pitcher coming in with a 16+ ERA would have been just the right medicine, but they couldn't even make contact against him. Same with Grienke when they faced him on opening day. Abysmal.
  21. bighat
    The good part about fan-run sites is that we don't have to pretend there was anything positive about this. The Twins got absolutely dominated by a washed-up old pitcher who carried a 16.48 ERA entering the game. Sale had been lit up all year before this. Over the past 2 games, the Twins have started the game 0-12 with 11 K's in the first 2 innings. Buxton struck out 10 straight times before grounding out weakly to 3rd base in his second AB last night. We don't have to pretend this is a good team that's just experiencing some bad luck. Everything about these hitting statistics tells you that this offense is the worst in the league. There's no reason to expect better - at this point guys like Michael A Taylor and Solano are carrying the team on offense. Nobody's hitting, especially if they somehow manage to get men on base. The pitching has been off the charts awesome. The opponent's bats are catching up, though, and it's more likely the team ERA ends up towards the middle of the pack. What then? Folks, last night was bad baseball by what appears to be a bad baseball team. At this point it appears the Twins' only hope is that Jorge Polanco and Alex Kirilloff come back from major injuries/surgery and start carrying the offense. Does anyone realistically see that happening? The worst part: it's absolutely excruciating to watch. This type of swing-and-miss offense is exactly what MLB's been trying to fix with all the rule changes, and just about every team's offense is improved. The fact that the Twins have yet to see any improvement is a bad sign. It's early, but hard to believe this team is going to improve on last year.
  22. bighat
    Nice "W" - am I getting too greedy to think that the Twins could possibly take 3-of-4 in Yankee Stadium? A win Saturday would be monumental, Twins are going against a very hittable Domingo German, who has a 5.87 ERA over two starts so far. Can't say anything more about Varland that hasn't already been said. Correa starting to come around. Nice.
  23. bighat
    He hit a rocket off IKF in the 9th, was sad that didn't fall for him. 0-for-5 for Nick. He came around last year, but it did take a while if I recall correctly.
  24. bighat
    Most enjoyable game this season by a long shot. Would like to see if Julien can stick around. Maybe the kid can learn to play outfield? He should at least get a couple weeks before Farmer gets back. Great game for Ryan. Vazquez filled up the stat sheet. Miranda a couple much-needed hits. And Michael A. Taylor might need to be moved up in the order! Really nice to see the offense clicking early,
  25. bighat
    Glad they got the win. Happy the Twins are pitching well. At this point they've got to be the most boring team in baseball to watch, and with this offense they aren't going anywhere. Just wait until they go into New York against Cole, I'm guessing it's even money on whether or not they'll get no-hit. This lineup wasn't hitting WITH its big names, and now the big names are already hurt one week into the season (which I must say is very on-brand, the Buxton collision today was just chef's kiss straight-out-of-central-casting). Is there any hope for an offensive spark? Are we waiting for Royce Lewis to come and save this team? Polanco? Kepler? Gallo? 'Cause that's all we got last time I checked. Honestly I'd rather watch the Twins score 6 runs per game and go 60-102 as opposed to watch whatever this is and see them go 70-92. I know as fans we're supposed to be hopeful and cheerful....but sometimes I feel like I'm not watching the same games as some of you. Is nobody else seeing how limp this offense looks, regardless of who's in the lineup? Is the 8-4 record enough to keep everyone else from being dreadfully concerned? Because I am pretty sure we're watching what might be the worst offense in baseball when the season's all said and done.
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