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jkcarew

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Everything posted by jkcarew

  1. The last time Balazovic had a good season it was 2019. Come next season, that will have been 4 seasons away in the rear view mirror. Hard to keep him on the 40-man is it not? You can’t consider him an option in 2023 anymore. He’s much closer to AA than the majors at this point.
  2. One of two things needs to happen for Julien…. Either he needs to be serviceable at a defensive position (hopefully other than 1B)…or he needs to improve his splits against lefties. No position and big splits are a tough combo…nobody wants a platoon situation at DH given how pitchers dominate active rosters these days. To be a fair, he has been getting on base against lefties, but with zero power.
  3. It’s hard to believe that it took this long for Joe Ryan to arrive. He’s 26 years old. I guess he was unlucky with COVID and a deep organization combining to really slow him down. Hopefully, it’s full speed ahead and he still has some unrealized upside…not that I don’t like what he is. I do.
  4. Did I say he can’t be mad? I edited my post to make clear(er) that I didn’t say that. There’s a difference between being upset with a decision in a professional setting and sulking like a child. He took a few steps on the wrong side of that. He’s young. It’s ok. He’ll be fine.
  5. Rocco looking out for Rocco there. Nothing in it for him if Ryan throws a no-hitter. Meanwhile, if Ryan comes up with a bad arm a couple weeks after throwing 136 pitches (that was his pace)…Rocco looks like an idiot. Also…Joe. You can not like it (I certainly wouldn’t), But gotta grow up a bit. This is professional baseball in 2022.
  6. Better than could have been expected (or at least better than I expected)… Miranda, Gordon, Arraez (despite the drop off in 2nd half), Lewis (for a short time). About as expected… Starting pitching, Polanco, Buxton (this is what he is, a good, not great, overall player who plays about 100 games), Urshella, Sanchez (this is why the Yankees parted ways). Worse than expected… Bullpen (even worse), Kepler, Sano, Kirilloff (for a short time), Jeffers (bad enough that it didn’t hurt much to lose him), Correa (slightly…still the club was infinitely better at the SS position than they were in 2021) I figured around 500…and they probably finish a little worse than that.
  7. Sano, Kirilloff, Lewis, Buxton, Polanco, Mahle are the only needle movers here. (In the cases of Mahle, Kirilloff, and Sano, we can call them ‘potential’ needle movers. Maeda doesn’t count, you knew you’d be without him.) Of those six needle-movers, for half of them, Buxton, Kirilloff, and Mahle, you HAD to know the risk. Meanwhile, Sano has been on the brink of collapse since 2020. That leaves Polanco (healthy for +80% of the season) and Lewis. Yes, The sheer number of injuries would have tested the depth of any roster. But, I’d say the long, slow collapse was a combination of some bad breaks AND a head-in-sand approach to roster construction by FO. (Additionally, IMO, Baldelli does not contribute to wins on the margin, but that seems like a different topic.)
  8. Only in Twins-land can we consider it ‘aggressive’ to move this player to high A: considered a steal at #8 overall…65-70 hit tool…college bat who will be 22 before next season begins. Sigh.
  9. Yeah. It’s usually only late in the game or extras, where one run wins the game. Who cares about that.
  10. Exciting for Balazovic. Hopefully he can build off of this in final start or two. AFL candidate?…if he is truly healthy. They don’t throw many innings…it might be a chance to get his head/confidence back and build some momentum for next year? I can’t remember if the AFL has an age limit that would disqualify Balazovic?
  11. It’s frustrating watching this short-handed lineup, but it could be worse. Just think where we’d be without Fullmer, Mahle, and Lopez. No, wait.
  12. In a recent critical game against the White Sox, Chicago played a lineup without Anderson, Robert, Jimenez, and Moncada. It’s not just quantity, it’s quality. If everyone had been healthy all year, Chicago, Minnesota, Cleveland, 1,2,3. Although, this probably sells short the advantage Cleveland has in the dugout…which is very significant.
  13. We control our own destiny. And that’s the problem. Cleveland and Chicago can’t loose every game if the Twins keep showing up on their schedule so frequently.
  14. 4 runs allowed on the first 15 pitches. Stunningly efficient. Look for the Spiders to continue to swing early in the count in the hopes that Rocco doesn’t pull Bundy until the spreadsheet-mandated 5 inning mark.
  15. Also…If I understand the restrictions…here is what the Twins would/should do against a dead pull lefty…. Buxton plays center, left fielder (especially if you have someone with infield experience in left field like Arraez, Gordon, or even Kirilloff) plays deep second in the pull hole. Right fielder plays ‘normal’ right field, second baseman plays a straightaway second. And we’ll see if the batter tries to hit it enough the opposite way that Buxton (or any fast CF) can’t track it down. Spoiler alert: 90% of today’s batters won’t even try. It’s not in the toolbox. Only happens by accident when they slice something. Also, fwwi…this lengthens the game to the extent that we see more ground balls through the hole…which will be hit primarily by guys that don’t or can’t steel bases, regardless of whether it becomes marginally easier to steal…because you’ll have more and more launch and pull guys and because analytics will still say a 2-run HR (which, if anything, will be more likely under the restrictions) trumps multiple successful steals.
  16. Banning the shifts is the exact opposite of what is needed. Long-term, it will further incentivize batters taking pitches waiting for one they can pull and launch. Look for even more long at bats, more strike-outs…all for the benefit of a small number additional ground balls through the hole. Dumb. Batters are NOT going to start trying to hit the ball on the ground. Yet another step toward the extinction of guys that have flexible approaches, can handle the bat and hit the opposite way…all so guys like Kepler can hit 240 instead of 225.
  17. Since May 24, the Royals have more wins than the Twins (as do teams such as the Reds and the Diamondbacks.) 2022 Twins are 655 win pct against the Royals and Tigers… 462 against the rest of the league. But, if we can just find a way to come back and win this one…
  18. Silver lining: with these lineups, Rocco can plan for the staff to only cover 8 innings on the road. (It’s a bold strategy, Cotton.)
  19. Yep…couldn’t throw the slider where he wanted at all the entire game. Change up only ok. IMO, it’s a testament to how good the FB is (movement/delivery) that he can scuff along as well as he does sometimes.
  20. I like Ryan…still high on him. But…assuming for a moment that my view is the ‘correct’ assessment…whose pipeline would he represent? ?
  21. That’s 18 innings of Twins scoring with one swing of the bat for that bad guys.
  22. Aaron Judge has more than twice as many SB as any Twin? Don’t they know it’s not worth the injury risk?
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