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bighat

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Everything posted by bighat

  1. bighat
    Hope I'm wrong. Alas I fear it's more likely that I'm insulting Chris Parmalee. Sorry Chris.
  2. bighat
    Agreed. The Front Office (and many Twins fans it seems) appeared to be operating under the foregone conclusion that Alex Kirilloff was a set-it-and-forget-it part of the OF this year. Remember when the Twins gave up Eddie Rosario the FO convinced themselves and many fans that AK was just going to pick up the slack? Ridiculous. And going into 2022 did nobody ask themselves "Hmmm, I wonder if maybe a 2nd year player who hasn't played in 9 months, coming off a chronic injury might not be that good and/or reliable?" I'd frankly take Garlick over Upton right now, but the Twins are going to have to address this problem rather than try and fix it with bubble gum and duct tape. Larnach isn't the answer, he's looking at a Chris Parmalee ceiling at this point in his career. His window seems to have passed.
  3. bighat
    I hear you, but I suppose when it comes to right-handed DHs, I'd prefer Urshela rather than Sanchez.
  4. bighat
    Yeah, I mean on the plus side he definitely had a "trial by fire" and was quickly schooled by the highest level competition. The walks, then that double-steal on him was just brutal....I'd have thrown my glove down and ran up to the stands looking for mommy. The strikeout was nice, but after that even the outs were hard hit balls. That sac fly would have been a sure home run if it weren't 41 degrees and raining. To his credit the kid sucked it up and got out of the inning giving up just one run. The next time he gets out there he'll think to himself "I got Mookie Betts out with a man on 3rd base, I can do this". There's gotta be some silver lining.
  5. bighat
    Gary Sanchez 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. First two ABs he didn't even take a pitch, just swung and missed at 3 straight pitches and sat down. He took 5 pitches his 3rd at bat but never made contact (not even a foul ball) and also went down swinging. Seven swings - not one of them drew iron. Would like to see the Twins rotating Arraez and Urshela between 3B and the DH role. No reason the backup catcher should be DH'ing anyway. Speaking of Arraez, I don't see how Rocco can keep him out of this lineup, whether it's a righty or lefty on the mound. Winder didn't look great, but hey, it was the kid's first ever game and he's out there pitching to Mookie Betts. The loss of Alcala is looming very large right now. Here's hoping the Twins have a live arm to replace him because it looks like they'll need all the help they can get.
  6. bighat
    Yeah, I agree. My main reason to throw cold water on the "Duran is our closer" philosophy is.....what about his career as a starter? We can't forget that's who we've all expected him to be until this spring. Imagine getting 5-6 innings of Duran to start a ball game for years to come? Wow.
  7. bighat
    I think Kepler and Sano - guys we used to rely on as major offensive pieces to this team - are probably the biggest concerns we have on offense right now. Defensively both look good, but they may have to be hitting 7-8 in the order for the foreseeable future.
  8. bighat
    Royce Lewis tearing it up in St. Paul, heck yes.
  9. bighat
    Arraez looks to be a guy that Rocco can't afford to sit, those ABs were incredible. Buxton is as locked in as he's ever been, it's can't-miss baseball when he's at the plate. Cy Bundy looked as good as we can expect, nice work on the mound. Sano's baserunning mishap wasn't exactly his fault, he was waved home after all. Kirilloff's, not sure. Either way frankly I don't mind the aggressive baserunning. Half the time those throws home miss the mark or the catcher can't handle them.
  10. bighat
    I hear ya - I mean, that's really a much longer discussion than we can have on a post-game thread about the 3rd game of the year. Short response is that honestly I think they're going to have to move the mound back, but it'll probably be 10 years before they are going to even seriously discuss it.
  11. bighat
    Donaldson's "walk off" was a seeing-eye dribbler that squeaked through the infield, after a man had automatically been put on 2nd base for him. Sanchez breathed life into a winless team with a 2-out grand slam, rallied the crowd with the no-doubt blast. I'll take that any day over a weak ground ball through the shift.
  12. bighat
    Great interview with Buxton, "Go Twins!"
  13. bighat
    Problem is that Kirilloff is looking just as bad as Sano. And you can't sit both of them, which I think in a perfect world would be the best thing to do right now. Plus we're going to have Sanchez catching on Sunday.
  14. bighat
    Yep, this is exactly what was happening last year. If I recall the Mariners came to Target Field in April and took 3-of-4. I hate to say it, but I think Ober gets rocked tomorrow and I wouldn't be surprised if the Twins got swept. It's not "early". Early is March, when they play practice games. These games count just as much as the ones in September. This Twins team isn't ready, tied for Cleveland for last already. To blow this game after Bux hit the go-ahead HR in the bottom of the 8th has the stink of 2021 all over it.
  15. bighat
    As Morneau said, in month that ball Sanchez hit in the 9th is 5 rows deep into the seats. Tough way to end it. Maybe Kiriloff should flip spots with Kepler in the batting order. Looked overmatched today, and not just against Ray. Duran looked like the real deal, what a day for him. Fantastic AB from Luis Arraez in the 9th, the guy can just flat hit. Let's hope Bux didn't leave everything down in Fort Myers. Very disappointing day for Byron and the rest of the bats.
  16. bighat
    To sum up the last month: Twins trade Garver: "Oh no! Now weak-hitting Ben Rortvedt is our #2 catcher? Ugggh!" Twins trade Rortvedt: "Noooo! He was awesome defensively! Why!?!?!" Twins get Urshela, Sanchez: "Still no shortstop, this team is cooked!" Twins sign Correa: "Ugh, waste of money, this team still has no pitching" Twins trade for pitching: "Season's OVER! Terrible trade!" Good lord people.
  17. bighat
    I'm with you. Twins are ushering out their 30+ year old aging stars who were on their way to be free agents (Garver, Donaldson, now Rogers) and they've received younger players back with more years of team control. Rogers was awful in 2020 and while he rebounded in 2021, he wasn't exactly lights out. Then came the injury - don't forget he'd have been traded last July if it weren't for that. He hasn't pitched in an MLB game in a long time. Rogers isn't a sure thing for San Diego, gang. Twins needed starters guys & gals, and say what you will, they're doing what they can to go get them. Let's wait until we see how Paddack looks before we boo this trade, gang.
  18. bighat
    Awesome, so thrilled to see Lewis back on the diamond. Balozovich on the DL to start the year already? C'mon man.
  19. bighat
    Yeah I notice that too - specifically pitchers. It does seem very strange for the Twins to draft a DH-type in Sabato, out of college, and then let him marinate for 5 years in the minor leagues. Especially with their FIRST ROUND pick! Pick college guys all you want, but if they're not ready for prime time, wait until the later rounds. That said, this Mark Contreras guy seems like a fantastic athlete, good dude and it looks like he has the tools to make the majors. Nothing wrong with having guys like that in the system, it means we can trade maybe bigger names like Larnach, et al, for pitching and still have Contreras ready to contribute. Great interview and here's looking forward to seeing Contreras in St. Paul and maybe in MSP this season.
  20. bighat
    Gary Sanchez was going to make this team no matter what. Speaking of which, I was watching some YouTube highlights of a condensed game against TB a couple days ago. Sano comes up, bases loaded nobody out. Strikes out. Sanchez comes up right after him and HE strikes out too! It was the first inning, Twins ended up not scoring after having the bases loaded with 0 outs. Rocco can't bat Sano/Sanchez 4-5 in the order during the regular season, please no. They should be batting 6th and maybe 9th, just keep them away from each other in the order so we never see those guys strike out back-to-back this year with men on base and less than 2 outs. To be fair I like both players but those kind of ABs just make it so hard for me to continue to support the Twins' offensive strategy.
  21. bighat
    So Coulombe over Godoy - who got DFA'ed and then they signed another catcher to replace Godoy at St. Paul....does that mean they assume Godoy will be claimed on waivers? Or did they just outright release him? The Rooker v. Garlick question is a big one. Garlick is 3 years older than Rooker, but if you read the tea leaves, Rooker doesn't look like he'll ever be as valuable as Garlick is now. I can see why the Twins don't want to lose Rooker, but at this point I don't think he'll ever be a major contributor on this team. And they don't have room for prospects who hit .200 right now, and even if they did they've already got Trevor Larnach to do just that and he's next in line. Kohl Stewart was a sunk cost and the Twins just let him go. I'm thinking they should do the same for Rooker. Who knows, maybe he hits 23 HR for Baltimore this year, or fills in as a 4th outfielder in Oakland. If that's the case, the Twins should be OK with that and wish him the best. Garlick should get the job.
  22. bighat
    Yeah, Sanchez just came taped to the side of the box. Nothing the Twins could really do there, but now that they've got him they're going to at least see if he works out. He's a 2-time All-Star still on the right side of 30, Roll the dice with the guy, I don't think it's unrealistic to think he could duplicate Garver's numbers if things go right. Considering the mess the Twins were in at the end of last year (89 losses, no shortstop and no pitching) I think they got pretty creative and did the best they could. They are clearly trying to be competitive, let's see how this works.
  23. bighat
    Pretty much my thoughts too. Off the top of my head, I can't remember the last time Lewis Thorpe had a stellar or even memorable outing. If the guy was on the bump it was 4 innings, 5 hits, 3 ER and a strikeout or two. Then there was that bizarre story from last year's Spring Training when he just left camp for "personal reasons" for 10 days last year. Don't get me wrong, everyone should be able to take time off for their mental health if needed, but we really never heard what exactly was going on there. Some very cryptic quotes from both Thorpe and Rocco surrounding that issue as well. The MSP media isn't New York and they never probed or speculated, but other team executives have done their homework and they know what happened. It's possible they view Thorpe as someone that might prove to be a problem, and since his numbers aren't outstanding nobody wanted to take a flier on him on waivers.
  24. bighat
    Great write-up, thanks for keeping us informed on our farm system's best and brightest! Henriquez, Ryan, Woods Richardson, Martin, and Strotman all made the list and have been acquired via trade. Can't wait to see some of them this year in Target Field (fingers crossed).
  25. bighat
    For sure. We're all worried about the 5th starter here, but what happens when starters 1-4 get their doors blown off in the 2nd inning? Because that's gonna happen. Here are the lines from 3 starts in a row from Bundy's last year: 3.1 innings, 6 ER 4.0 innings, 7 ER 2.1 innings, 4 ER That's our number two guy! Egads! Meanwhile, they won't even let Ober or Ryan throw 5 innings? Madness. So what happens if Bundy, Ober, and Ryan start to majorly tank at the same time? Heck, even if one or two of them hits a rough patch it's going to be trouble. Imagine Gray regressing or god forbid going down with an injury? Rocco's been known to quickly "forfeit" games in short order when the team gets behind by more than 3-4 runs. So if things go south, we might see position players pitch or just let a bullpen guy 'wear it' for the night, resulting in a good many 16-4 or 12-2 losses for this team. When they lose, they're going to lose big.
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