Monkeypaws

Trevor May looks like he has a future in the closer role. 12.6 K/9 looks solid, and his 1.8 BB/9 is a career low. His demeanor on the mound is pretty solid as well. I heard the teammates call him Lurch, which is pretty hilarious.

That is a bit of an exaggeration there nick - they went overboard on relievers exactly once, the year before. Hardly a history.

Haha, #3. Yet, he got his batting average over .350 at the moment. With one catcher coming off a season-long injury, and another off a concussion, it would be criminal for the Twins not to keep this versatile guy around, despite his comedic factor.

Anyone who says Jay was a mistake from head to toe in hindsight has a short memory. He was an expected pick:

The Twins seem to be caught between two worlds in that spectrum. However, the new regime seems to have done better than average in the draft. Hoping they continue to put their energies that way.

Hildenberger has been square pegged intoa round hole by PM. He can still be an solid 6-8 inning guy. Just stop trotting him out there darn near every night like he was Sparky Lyle.

I think Bert just called out Molitor for pulling Stewart. 76 pitches.

Think it is time to give Hildy some time off

Guys like Willians Astudillo are reason I like baseball: Willie Norwood, Jose Morales, Ron Coomer, Mickey Hatcher: they bring a vaudville element to the game, 3 stooges-like at times, but they also have the ability to be excellent at the same time, and don’t take themselves too seriously.

Stewart is making a believer out of me. He has great stuff, and looks more relaxed with each start, well, primary appearance. Only 23, control getting better. He has upside.

Kind of odd to see him switch over to football given his knowledge of baseball - didn't he used to write for Baseball America?

He will be missed.

They took a surprise contender from last season, and added starting pitching in Odorizzi and Lynn, bullpen depth in Reed, Duke, and Rodney. They took a team with over 200 home runs and added a guy fresh off a 38 home run season. At the time I don't recall anybody complaining, except those who wanted Darvish and Ohtani(who in the Twins' defense they were in play for). The FO addressed glaring weaknesses on a competitive team, not much more to ask for. But the whole plan was undercut: I don't recall anyone expecting Santana, Dozier, Buxton, and Sano would all flop big-time, Polanco would get busted for PEDs, and Castro would miss the season. Hindsight is a funny thing.

Thx. He definitely flew under my radar.

So, I was looking over his career numbers and saw some things that surprised me: • Made his MLB debut at 20, just 4 years after signing out of the DR • Spent his 17-18 year old seasons in rookie ball and E-town, age 19 in the Midwest League. • 20 he went High A, AA, Majors, albeit for a cup o Joe. • Similarly, his age 21 season was AA, AAA, cup of coffee in the ML • Age 22 was 1/3 ML, 2/3 AAA. • By 23 he was a regular. This seems like an agressive promotion schedule. Surprising given the old Twins management's reputation for slow promotion. Was he ever a highly ranked prospect? I don't recall. Different regimes, but Lewis is ahead of him

http://mlb.com/r/article?ymd=20180912&content_id=294181356&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb Jim callis predicts baseball’s top 10 prospects next year. Wowza! I’ll let you enjoy the surprise

Dream Twins battery for sheer entertainment value: Samuel Deduno and Willians Astudillo.

How about drinking, then going to work? Shaping up to be a great game here

Astudillo’s hand-eye coordination is off the charts. His last at bat he hit breaking balls that Sano or Buxton would have missed by a mile

Hmm, whaddaya know? A little sour grapes piece in the NY Times about Tyler Austin. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/sports/tyler-austin-twins-yankees.html Can't lose em all I guess.

Pretty easy to imagine Cedar Rapids winning the Midwest with Lewis and Kiriloff. Glad to see these guys winning already. Hopefully irt will follow them around.

Absolutely!

So, are we excited about Jovani Moran? Don't know what he throws, but he kicked A ball's butt this year being 1-2 years younger that his competition. All told, 76IP, only 45 hits allowed, 107 Ks. 2.25 ERA. There are the 35 walks in 76 innings, but...impressive.

Not sure about Rooker - he faded big time down the stretch. There are the 22 dingers, but his OPS was only .798. Far more Ks than hits, 150 vs. 128. Granted, it was his full first year of pro ball, and he played in AA almost a year younger than league average. Still, Kiriloff is a phenom. Rooker projects more as a Brunansky than a Puckett.

"Hello Newman."