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Lazarus

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Everything posted by Lazarus

  1. Lazarus
    I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Hicks has finally figured it out - his history is that he has struggled with each promotion and needed extra time at each stop. With MLB being a significant step up from AA and AAA, hopefully only three times is needed. As additional prospects start to get here, we will probably see many of them bounce back and forth a little bit. I'm hoping that Hicks represents a full one standard deviation from what the normal time for adjustment will be. It will be interesting to see how long it takes Vargas to make the necessary adjustments to get back up. It seems that they have a longer leash on Santana to adjust while remaining in Minneapolis. I don't think that sending Arcia back down would serve any purpose (other than as a wake-up call to rein in his cockiness). Molitor seems to like Rosario a lot so I think he has a slim chance stick, but I would expect a return to Rochester will happen at some point to fine-tune some things before he's up for good. Finally, I think the Twins will wait a little longer with both Buxton and Sano because I believe that they want to promote them once and make sure they stick the first time (minus one standard deviation).
  2. Lazarus
    Now if you can get Parker added onto Jake's staff to help the hitter's with their stride and pitcher's with their release points by using the video...any maybe help them with analyzing the spray charts. Knowledge you don't get in college...
  3. Lazarus
    He pitched for the Kernels. Misidentified in the awards section at Lookouts...
  4. Lazarus
    History suggests that Ryan usually holds steady for the first 30 games before beginning to release the laggards and promoting prospects - sometimes it goes a little longer than that. The best hope is that our prospects in AAA and AA show consistent strong performance so they can be considered ready for a promotion. The AAAA club is currently unwatchable. Is it too early to be projecting who will go first overall in the June 2016 draft?
  5. Lazarus
    Reading this, Granite reminds me of Lenny Dykstra when he played for the Phillies. Takes good at-bats, hustles to pressure the other team, versatile defensively (although the comment that he profiles best in left leads me to believe he has Revere's arm). I see the Ben Revere profile here but I always struggled to like Revere mainly because I considered him a wasted first-round draft pick. Not his fault, I know - but it was just a mental block for me. Granite doesn't have that noose so he comes off as a scrappy underdog, a guy people can root for.
  6. Lazarus
    Lookouts Outlook was going to be my suggestion but I'm a little bit like the Twins today - just showing up now for the opening series... Hopefully some of the performances can be chalked up to opening night jitters. I will be very interested in seeing who gets off to a good start as I expect a lot of player movements this year.
  7. Lazarus
    This team is going to go through a LOT of starters and relievers this year. There will be sufficient opportunity for Milone, Pelfry, Nolasco, and the entire bullpen to save their careers or torch them. At least one of the above three starters (and maybe two) will pitch their way out of town in a couple of months. And probably two or three relievers as well. And this prediction doesn't even take into account the inevitable injuries we'll see. At least AAA and AA has more interesting prospects to draw from then we've seen in past years.
  8. Lazarus
    It looks to me that the Twins will be a reprisal of the 1970's Minnesota Lumber Company - trying to out-hit/score the damage done by their pitching staff. If this team doesn't come out of the gates hitting a ton, they will be close to 100 losses this season.
  9. Lazarus
    First bomb dropped - a lot of pressure on Nolasco now as the #3 starter. No doubt that we will see May and Meyer before mid-season if they do anything in Rochester.
  10. Lazarus
    I want to see both Burdi and Reed in AA - if they succeed, I think they'll find space on a Delta flight to MSP. Probably have to connect through Atlanta though...so they'd be up the next day after.
  11. Lazarus
    Starting pitching should be better which should take some stress off of the suspect bullpen, but the bullpen feels like it will be worse (at least initially). Runs scored should be in the top half of the AL, but defensively the outfield could be a real mess. Different in-game approaches by the new management team should be helpful this year. I don't see 85 wins this year but could see 78-80...with a LOT of prospects making their Target Field debuts during the last three months of the season.
  12. Lazarus
    Let May get stretched out in Rochester - don't need to see the bullpen guys in the 3rd inning in April because he's not ready. Once he's stretched out and gets on a roll, then you can make a decision on Milone/Pelfrey/anyone else on the major league staff. He certainly didn't overwhelm anyone in his last start against some real major league hitters - if he had been lights out against the Bucs, I'd feel a little differently. He also didn't overwhelm us in September - good K's but really wasn't that good otherwise against a mix of major leaguers and some September call-up's (slightly better than competition in early Spring Training). I sense that the leashes on the fringe guys on the major league roster will be very short this year and the prospects will be coming up as they show they're ready to come up and be assets to the Twins on an everyday basis. I'm tired of the promotions just being the next warm body but not major league caliber - I'd rather have a roster of major league-ready players in AAA and a couple in AA rather than the lousy situation we've seen the last four seasons. The MLB roster is likely to be very fluid this year.
  13. Lazarus
    I like these low-downside, high-upside international signings. His progress will be interesting to follow over the next couple of years as he develops.
  14. Lazarus
    Much of this offense has been generated against AA and AAA pitching. Beginning about a week from now, they will be in the spring training home stretch and getting more serious - let's see how the offense rounds into shape then. Same opinion about our pitching. However the roster is constructed on Opening Day, I'll be pretty disappointed if The Prospects don't force their way onto the roster during the year. The not-so-subtle hints from TR and PM suggest that they feel the same way. No excuses about buying the extra cheap year either - that's a non-issue before the end of April this year (if I have to listen any more to Cubs fans whine about Bryant spending the first two weeks of the season in the minors before coming up I think my head's going to explode).
  15. Lazarus
    It feels like this has been going on for months already, but it's still way too early to be making roster decisions or reading too much into performances - especially for veterans. The Hughes comments are a great example - just decided to work on his cutter when he got dissatisfied rather than go to another pitch. Once the minor leaguers are sent to the other side of camp and we get to the last 10 days of camp, then we'll see who will emerge. Not ready to get excited yet about either Milone or Pelfrey - but I admit it feels better than waiting for them to straighten out a lousy start of camp too.
  16. Lazarus
    This was the period when I started convincing my Dad to take me to a couple of games a year. We favored the box seats on the first base side - the cost kept going up though - I think they started at $6.50 a seat and went up to $8.50 over a couple of years. Kind of steep to be shelling out $30 for two tickets, a couple of dogs, and beverages... While this installment didn't comment on free agency, it should feature prominently in the next episode as the financial landscape began to substantially change during the upcoming period. Was not a good development for a team and owner who had no other means of financial livelihood.
  17. Lazarus
    I'm a big believer in making it a Pavlovian reflex instead of something that a pitcher needs to think about/remember. The half-second hesitation can be a big difference - the exception being a runner who can be described as "slow for a catcher". "Don't think, it'll only hurt the ball club."
  18. Lazarus
    Shane, where do you see the various catching prospects landing in 2015? Do both Garver and Turner move up one level? Where is the squeeze going to occur?
  19. Lazarus
    After Sano catches up to guys like Oliva, Morneau, Hrbek, etc., then we can include him in the same sentence or paragraph as Killebrew. I'm just anxious to get the Sano marathon started.
  20. Lazarus
    I'm a little surprised that Berrios is slotted behind Stewart in the ranking, given their respective performances in 2014. Also a little surprised to see Meyer drop out of the top 5 - I expect him to be on the Santana Plan in 2015 (Johan - not Ervin or Danny) where he starts the year in the bullpen and forces a move into the rotation by mid-season. Other than that little bit of useless nitpicking, the top 10 looks solid - Cody, thanks for taking the time to put it together!
  21. Lazarus
    If you believe that Sano can stick at 3B, then Plouffe should be traded by July. He'll be over 30 by then time the Twins are in a position to contend again - I believe his value is as high as it ever will be. If the outfield is still a mess at that time, trade him for a younger outfielder rather than force-fitting him into that role. Otherwise, trade him for pitching. If Sano doesn't come back strongly, you can hang onto Plouffe a while longer unless you want to slot Escobar in at 3B.
  22. Lazarus
    Nice that the back of the pen is shaping up to be dominant - just need to figure out how to get the game to them with the lead...
  23. Lazarus
    I have to agree with Mr. Pleiss - the proposed combination of PInto and Herrmann handling the pitching staff makes me queasy. I would go bold and trade Trevor Plouffe this offseason - his value has risen (we always trade players when their value has declined and expect great returns) and possibly could fetch the left fielder we are looking for. Slide Escobar to 3B until Sano comes up late-May/early-June - by then, we'll know if Santana is going to stick at SS. Escobar could go back to SS or return to being a very good utility infielder. I would rather go down this path than try to force Plouffe into an outfield role - I think it is a coin-flip on whether he would succeed in the outfield defensively while his offensive output would be about average (I see him as a poor man's Cuddyer). Plouffe's trade value will begin to decline withing two years as he hits his '30's so let's maximize his return now.
  24. Lazarus
    Interesting how Dave Martinez has disappeared from the conversation this week. He would check a couple of the boxes that many have been asking for: Latin/Caribbean manager, and from outside the organization. I would hope that his name at least comes up for an interview this week. I think the new manager needs to give strong consideration to retaining Bruno as the hitting coach. 6th in runs scored and improved approaches for several players as the season went on. I'm somewhat indifferent on the rest of the staff.
  25. Lazarus
    I think the biggest question that has to be answered with Dougie is his maturity to handle the pressures of a major league manager's job. His fight last year with an opposing manager leaves an open question on whether he is "ready now" or if he needs another couple of years. The pressures that he'll face from the media (traditional and social) and also from older players who are more likely to challenge him than the 19-23 year olds that he has managed in Ft. Myers will be a big change. At 58, I don't see Mollie staying as manager until he's 70 so Dougie could get another chance in a couple of years. In the meantime, he could be moved to another level in the organization to see how he handles another managing environment, preferably with older players. Whoever they hire, they need two things written into their contracts: 1) Have at least two coaches from the Caribbean/Latin America; and 2) A requirement to turn in the baseball to the team when the win the World Series.
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