Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

jkcarew

Verified Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2,624

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    2

 Content Type 

Profiles

News

Tutorials & Help

Videos

2023 Twins Top Prospects Ranking

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

Free Agent & Trade Rumors

Guides & Resources

Minnesota Twins Players Project

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by jkcarew

  1. jkcarew
    I would have gone with Earl of Weaver as manager.
  2. jkcarew
    120 games to play and 52 against Detroit, KC, and Chicago. That’s 43% of the remaining schedule. Of course Cleveland has basically the same schedule, and the Twins are 6 back in the wild-card...so, not in a great spot to be sure. But, if this team could get its act together...particularly offensively...it’s still possible that wins would come in bunches.
  3. jkcarew
    It’s probably good for all of us to remember that some scouts questioned the upside of his bat right from the beginning and maintained that stance even when he was raking in the minors. Probably also worth reiterating that he doesn’t have to be a league average hitter to be a good player. If he’s within 10% of that, he’s a good player. If he’s an OPS+ 95 guy, he’s basically Paul Blair...a near perennial all-star. Hype aside, that would be a good outcome even for a number two pick.
  4. jkcarew
    In the 7 games Buxton has started in Center since his return, he’s had 22 fly balls caught and zero assists. It would be a stretch to say he’s save the Twins 2 outs and 4 bases in that time (relative to what, say, Kepler would have benn able to accomplish in those games). Meanwhile, he’s had 24 plate appearances resulting in 3 bases and a walk. That’s about 5 extra outs and 6 fewer bases than a league average hitter. It’s a fallacy that good defense has the same value as a good bat. It doesn’t...not over time. It a matter of opportunity. On the other hand, he doesn’t have to be a league average hitter to have value...but he has to be way closer to league average than he’s been this year to have value.
  5. jkcarew
    Not really...was a 3rd round pick.
  6. jkcarew
    A lot? Right now? No.
  7. jkcarew
    Most recent...yes...sadly. Although I would say Hicks will end up close to ‘average result for #14 pick’....before Joe it would have been Hunter at 20 overall. Buck just needs to be within shouting distance of a league average hitter...seems doable...but right from the start, hasn’t been one once better than he was three years ago.
  8. jkcarew
    No words.
  9. jkcarew
    We don’t see when the real trying is supposed to be happening. I’m not giving Buxton points for gripping the bat into sawdust or looks sad when he fails.
  10. jkcarew
    There's been some really cheap no-hitters late in seasons with eliminated teams playing minor league line-ups and/or veterans only interested in getting to the airport. But this was a perfect game just entering the heart of the season. So, it's an accomplishment to say the least. But if I were Wells, I'd have the line score and a photo in my trophy case...not the box score. Here's why... The Twins had 3 legitimate major league players in the lineup. Matt Lawton, 42-year-old Paul Molitor, and Ron Coomer. A fourth, if you want to count Marty Cordova,...but this was not 1995 RoY Cordova...this was I'm on my way out of the league Cordova, batting clean-up, on his way to a 10 HR, 84 OPS+ year. The others 5 in the lineup? I bet not one Twin fan could name more than 2 without cheating. Pat Meares batting 9th and Brent Gates batting 2nd (for god's sake). Those were the easy ones. Alex Ochoa batting 6th. Javier Valentin batting 8th and catching. And something called Jon Shave batting 7th and playing 3rd base. On the bench were Terry Steinbach, Otis Nixon, David Ortiz, and Todd Walker...the latter three sporting OBP's well above league average. Of course Ortiz and Walker were lefties. (Toiling in the minors, just a few months away from getting a taste, were Corey Koskie, Doug Mientkiewicz, Torii Hunter, and A.J. Pierzynski.)
  11. jkcarew
    Twins need to be thinking about making a change regardless of Santana's return. Need to be thinking about moving Romero out of the 5 spot and into top 4 so that he's starting every 5th day no matter what. Even if there's an innings limit, you don't defer the innings of one of the best pitchers. The only way to make sure that there are important games in Sept and Oct/Nov, is to win games today, and hope good fortune and hot bats can bring you home. Unless the Twins think that extra rest between starts is going to be the difference between Romero struggling and being great, they need to consider moving him into the top 4.
  12. jkcarew
    Agreed. There's no such thing as a valuable position player OPS+'ing 23...or 60 or 70. Even in center field there are not enough opportunities (that average defensive players wouldn't make) to make up for outs at the rate he's made them for long stretches of his career to date. He could be a combination of Usain Bolt and Lou Brock on the bases, wouldn't matter. Too many outs. But, if he hits balls over the fence 15-20 times each year and improves the obp part of it even moderately, he's a star. And that's what he looked like he was going to be capable of at the end of last year. We'll see. Regarding the rest of the team...other than CF...1B, DH and SS are the positions with probably the biggest offensive delta between the Twins and league average. Theoretically, SS gets fixed when Sano comes back (and/or Polanco comes back), DH is trending in the right direction. And nothing's going to be done about 1B. So...let's hope the guys start hitting!
  13. jkcarew
    I want Lewis to stay at Cedar Rapids!! I think that would be best for his development...SS, age, etc., etc. I might feel differently depending upon how things go over, say, the next two weeks. In totally unrelated news, I have tickets to the Kernels Memorial weekend home-stand. 5 games in 3 days!
  14. jkcarew
    Born and raised on Chicago's south side in a neighborhood that had always been heavily Italian. Two hits off Drysdale in game 1 of the '65 series, and one of the Twins 3 hits against Koufax in game 7. Had a ton of respect from the likes of Killebrew and Carew. He was a baseball guy. A life well lived. Rest in peace, Frank.
  15. jkcarew
    Because we're making it part of the story. The strike zone can be a story 162 games a year.
  16. jkcarew
    Stop with the strike zone. Unless you're willing to argue that Barrios has had tough strike zones for 4 straight games. His issue is command. Always has been. And, when looking at larger samples, you can argue that he's trending still in the right direction. I don't think he'll fail for either lack of work-ethic or lack of stuff. It's just can he find the consistency in all the mechanical stuff that results in throwing the ball where he wants to most times he goes out there.
  17. jkcarew
    My feeling would be that Buxton seems to start out about 2 for 50 with 25 K's in any scenario...might as well get it out of the way as fast as possible. Have to just give him the at-bats even though it's horrifically painful to watch. We're in year year 4 with both Buxton and Sano, and due to injuries and uneven performance, we're still in "need to find out" mode with both. Frustrating.
  18. jkcarew
    Well the Twins were 2-4 in the first 6 games without Sano, with half of those games against the likes of Cincinnati and the White Sox. But yeah. We’re a much better team when we replace Sano in the lineup with Ehire Adrianza.
  19. jkcarew
    Baddoo hasn't been swinging and missing as much as you might think. He is an extreme example of the approach that prefers going as deep as possible in the count...looking for specific pitches/mistakes. Results in a high rate of walks, and also strike-outs that may only involve one swinging strike, if that. His OBP is basically 400. So, lets not mess with him radically right now. I think as he continues to progress...basically learns where/when more aggressiveness pays off...we could have a good one with him. And then there's Rooker. While I don't think 23 is young for a AA player that's supposed to be considered a real prospect, I do think it's a huge adjustment to be hitting with the real bat against AA prospects only 11 months removed from SEC play. But forget the strike-outs and (lack of) walks...he's only hit 1 home run in his first 100 plate appearances. That seems really weird.
  20. jkcarew

    Sano and Judge

    jkcarew commented on mikelink45's blog entry in mikelink45's Blog

    I don't mind the strike-outs that much. That doesn't mean that the game wouldn't be in a bit of a better spot if strike-out rates came down a bit. Or at least quite growing exponentially. But, I see the strike-outs as a symptom, not the disease. The disease is that players are getting to the major leagues with one-dimensional offensive tool-sets. It's as if there's a new rule somewhere that says you have to try to lift and drive the ball every swing you take? No, the rule is that all players must employ the same officially-sanctioned swing...always. No matter the pitcher, no matter the pitch, no matter the count, no matter the game situation, no matter the defense, no matter where I bat in the lineup...we're going to stand there and take our one-and-only perfect-plane swing looking to drive and lift the ball; that swing that has been coached to perfection since the age of 4...by a generation of coaches that have all read the same white paper on hitting (probably made worse by the fact that American coaches have now infiltrated...otherwise known as "organized" the central american youth ranks). Until such a point arrives in the evolution of baseball where bunting, putting the ball in play, hitting the other way, do not materially impact the winning/losing of games...even in 10% of at-bat scenarios..then, this is a problem.
  21. jkcarew
    My goals for the season have shifted from playoffs to simply wanting to see as many of the younger guys as possible pull it together and show progress...including some promotions for the prospects. Pretty much all of the young guys on the big club (except Kepler) have taken steps backward so far this season. Not good. Having said that...we're 3 1/2 games down with 139 to play. Stranger things have happened. Maybe Cleveland isn't going to be as good as we thought. But first, we just need to see a month of decent to good baseball.
  22. jkcarew
    The eskimo thing is hard to interpret. But I think we can all agree that Seth needs to leave Sano alone, and let him focus on hitting. Let's hope this is the turning point that we've been looking for with Miggy.
  23. jkcarew
    Lot of things working against the club right now with the injuries, struggles, weird schedule, etc...and now the very back end of the rotation getting exposed, followed by a trip to Yankee Stadium. There are points, even for contending teams, where it's good enough to simply avoid the catastrophic losing skid. Feels like that's where the club is right now. And so far, so good: six of the last seven starters faced by the Twins: Verlander, Keuchel, McCullers, Kluber, Carrasco, and Archer. Record: 3-3. Survive to thrive. Live to fight another day. It's a marathon. What am I forgetting?
  24. jkcarew
    Strange season so far, to say the least. But it's nice to be banking wins (and against some good opponents) when so many things are...not ideal.
  25. jkcarew
    This is a funny joke, but for those bringing up the rear when it comes to linguistic buenoness...we should set the record straight... EL NINO means 'storm'. and LA NINA means 'bad storm'.
×
×
  • Create New...