mac098

I got ya. Maybe it was just play on words that got me confused as well. It's all good.

I have a feeling he is our next Brent Rooker. Mashed at the college level for a school that typically has a solid baseball team year in and year out. But he just can't seem to put it together at the professional level. Now I hope I'm wrong and he can turn it around because he also reminds of Sano in that when he makes contact, EVERYONE turns their heads because it just sounds that good coming off the bat. If he start to put it together, I think we'll have a good platoon at 1B with Sabato and Kirilloff.

How can you see Lee is Busted or Bust? The kid has only spent half a season in our organization since being drafted...in 2022. He literally moved from Rookie ball to High A to AA in that short time. Baseball is not like football or basketball, where rookies/1st year players are expected to make an impact almost immediately. Very rarely do 18 yr olds or college drafted kids make it to The Show the same year they get drafted, let alone the year after they get drafted. Yes, are there outliers? Of course there are. But I wouldn't call Lee a Bust. Now Martin is starting to get to that point of Bust. He took a step backward last year, but maybe it was a step backward to take a huge leap forward. Kinda like a running start if you will. I hope that he can take off on our team, whether its somewhere in the IF or the OF. Heck maybe he's gotta be out UTIL guy until a spot opens up. Personally, I think he might be a better choice for OF than Celestino. After this season, quite a bit of contracts are up and we may be a few players short so that will open up some opening for the these young players to step up.

It is really nice to see young pitchers care about themselves and the team. Yes this helps the team as they develop better pitches and better mechanics. It shows everyone that our young pitchers are hungry and want to succeed. Joe Ryan reminds of Jake Odorizzi the first year we had him. Nothing overpowering, he just knows how to pitch and where to throw those pitches. If he can continue to work on the that slider and the split-change I think we'll see a very good #2/3 for many years to come. Just watching that video I was able to pick out that the release point was within a few inches of each other and that is going to look deceptive to a batter, regardless of which side of the plate they hit from. BUT he is going to have to establish that fastball early in the game to set up those other pitches. Mahle, if he can play with either of those sliders (the vertical break and the horizontal break) depending on the handedness of the batter, I think we just found our future #1. He's been shown he's lights out against lefty's but as was stated in article, he's struggled against righty's. I foresee solid things from both of these young men this coming year.

I think this, if it is what is happening, is allowing AK to work on getting healthy and make sure his swing is there and not hurting. AK might be out of options and this is just to platoon 1st. But if he does have options available, this might be a move to send him to AAA where the Twins staff can monitor his swing a little more. Of course, we will have to see come ST and end of ST.

Personally, I believe that day of "Aces" are over. There just aren't those with the will or drive to finish the game when they start. There are a few players that have that drive anymore (Verlander, Scherzer, DeGrom). Those pitchers are literally game changers when they take the mound. The refuse to come out of the game, they make sure their team is in it all the way, and most importantly, they have that knack to be able to work out of jams when it comes to it. They're able to dig deep down and find that extra level when needed. But it's also extremely hard to define an "Ace" with words. It's more or less something that you can see (kind of like a balk). There really is no true definition, but more or less of a visual queue. Now onto Sonny. Is he Ace material? No. Is he a solid top of the of rotation starter? Yes. He seems like he has a safe ceiling of being a really good #2, with a floor of a #3. And if we had an entire rotation like that, I would take it in a heartbeat over having a true "Ace" and a rotation of #5's or middling arms. He just needs to step up and claim that head of the rotation for himself. Make it undisputed that he belongs there compared to the rest of our rotation.

I see what you mean. I thought you were talking about those that struggled or didn't live up to expectations in NY. My bad. Makes sense when you put it that way.

I don't know. I would say we've had decent success working with former NYY players. Sonny Gray, Gio Urshela, Phil Hughes, Michael Pineda, and Jake Cave (albeit, it was only a partial year), I think getting out of the Big Apple has helped some of those players regain some of what got them to the Majors.

Like the old saying is said, "The season can't be won in April, but it can certainly be lost." Look at the 2021 Twins. That was a prime example of losing the season in April. If we can come out looking at a .500 record, I think we'll be sitting pretty good in a weak division. But I do think we need to look at the series against those top teams. If we can split or look at a 3-7/4-6 that will give us a really good idea of where we stand relative to some powerhouse teams. Heck, it might actually help us find where we need to improve.

I've never understood the idea of attempting to change a player's swing to make him more of a power hitter. If he is hitting for AVG and its working, why try to change that? I would take a player that hits .275-.290 w/ a OBP of .360+ over a someone who hits .210 but hits 30 HR's a season. Yes, homeruns are exciting, but so is a player beating out an infield single. Then they steal 2nd and are driven in with a single to the OF. As a team, you need table setters for the big guys to do their damage. It's pretty hard to win games if you're relying on homeruns (ask the 2019 Twins about their playoffs that year). But I think this is a make it or break it year for the Martin. He definitely needs to show us that he belongs in MSP.

This is the death of baseball to the youth of today. As a kid growing up, I was able to watch baseball all summer on FSN, which was provided with our TV package. Now, BSN+ isn't allowing us to watch our local teams w/o a current TV provider that has access to that team. No wonder why kids nowadays only want to play basketball, football, or soccer. They can easily watch those games without having to worry much. A few different options need to happen. 1.) MLB.TV needs to eliminate blackouts for local sports teams. I've been able to see the Saints on TV more than the Twins. 2.) BSN+ needs to allow the local sports teams on there without having a TV subscription. 3.) The Twins/Wolves/Wild need to partner with a local channel to have their games played on there. The Vikings do it, I don't see why the other major sports teams can't do that. 4.) Twins need to make their own network (similar to the Yanks and YES) and have that available on TV packages for people to watch. There is enough history and enough games for them to always have something be playing on that channel. Just my 2 cents.

I would say we are much stronger than last year. Is it going to be one of the best in the league, maybe. I would say over the course of a full season, we'll probably one of the most consistent rotations with a strong anchor in the bullpen. Now if we can convert some of our SP into LRP to take the reigns in the event of a short outing, I believe we'll have a very good staff. Now I agree that we need some pitchers to step up and take the ACE or #2 spot. But that comes down to who has post-season experience and right now, that looks like it isn't too many of our players outside of Gallo and Correa. We've got a very young and inexperienced team (in terms of playoff experience) If we can some of our veteran starters kick it up to another level, we'll have a team that can win a playoff series.

This was a very good move by the FO. Trading Arraez was the best move at the end of the day. Trading a player that was worth the most he may ever be worth right now is the best move we could have done. He's a player without a set position, little power, and no speed. He can play, but his intangibles leave little be desired.

This is well put. If the Twins can maintain a .600 winning percentage at home, there is a good chance they make the playoffs...if they can get a .500 percentage at home (I know its not possible due to the fact that they play 81 home and 81 away, so realistically going 40-41 or 41-40 away we would be okay as long as we get a minimum of 49 wins at home). So that would leave us around 89/90 and 73/72, which TBH, isn't strong enough to make the playoffs most years, but with a weak AL Central, I think we could win the division.

I say trade him. Now is the best time to trade because he is at the highest value right now. It's extremely possible that his knees give out this season. Also, we have Martin, Lewis, and Julien in the waiting to take over. Arraez has no defense, no pop in his bat, no speed, and no true spot on this team. Martin and Lewis at least have the fact that they can play in the OF to help them gain spots on this team. Julien, yes, is weak on defense, but has the bat to back it up.