Ncgo4

All joking aside. Where did the ball go? I’ve watched the thing over and over and canot find the ball.

A key issue here is just how much work did Sano do this off season? If last year he went from 300+ down to about 275, what if this year he shows up at 250 or 260? If so, his movement in the field could be significantly different. Is it possible that Sano has gone from being a good time fun person to someone totally dedicated to maximize his baseball career? I don’t know the answer, but if it’s yes, we may have something special in the house.

My grand daughter was an International Elite gymnast with a ripped body like Buxton. She was, at age 13, in line to compete for the Olympic team. I spoke with her coach, an old time Russian, and he told us that she would never stay healthy. She had already had a run of stains & things. He said that many great athletes with that kind of “no fat” body just could not stay healthy. He was right about our youngster. She remained in a consistent state of recovering from sprains and strains. Ended up with a nice Division 1 college scholarship. This may be Buxton’s situation. I’m not talking about the running into walls those are careless and fixable. I more worried about diving for catches or slides and pulling ribs or shoulders. I hope I’m wrong, but if I were betting Buck or Sano, the next 5 year contract would go to Miguel. No one could mistake him for a low fat body. Plus he’s had a great year, missing 50 games and playing his first few weeks through his own spring training, he’s had a crazy good year. He’s going to end up with about 35 Hr’s in 102, or so games. This was an eye-opening feat and should, along with Rosario, be rewarded with a long term deal this off season!

I’ll not be surprised w/no further trades. Neither will I be disappointed. These last minute moves are a crap shoot and we could make a big mistake for a short run hope. Next year is when I expected us to compete.

These games in NY shape up potentially as a season defining week-end. If we can take the series, it puts us in position to have a truly important month. Everything right now is working. By the way, the signings of Polanco and Kepler, seem like great moves. How soon until we lock down Berrios?

While we're all crazy over Astudillo, please remember we've got another one almost like him on the 40 man roster, Luis Arraez: Minor League stats: Astudillo Arraez At Bats 2266 1223 Average .306 .330 K's (#) 81 114 K's (ave) .036 .093 Both are not fast and both are not svelt. But wouldn't it be fun to have turtle 1 and turtle 2 batting about .320 never striking out and putting lots of men on base for the meat of our order? By the way Astudillo is hitting .500 right now, but Arraez is clocking in at .571. Forget about Kirilloff, Larnach and Lewis, we've got "Dos Tortugo"! Just saying.

Remember Buxton was a great pitcher in high school throwing one of those high school measured fast balls in the mid to high 90's. This, of course, could mean he threw it in the high 80's, but still was a very good HS pitcher and we've seen his arm since he first got called up. This was a great game, let's hope the big "B" is tossing flames tomorrow. Would be a big time statement to go into Philly and take this early season series.

He’s a better hitter than Ty Cobb for gosh sake, not to mention, a much better person. Put any one else on the bench! When you have the greatest player of all time on the roster, ya gotta go with him! What doesn’ this management understand? Jeesh!

I think Arraez could be the biggest surprise in the Twin's Minor League system. His hit tool is very, very good, maybe even special. He, Alex K and Lewis are the hitters I always look up on the minor league stats every day. As he's moved up in the minor league system he's had adjustment issues at almost every stop. But then has hit absolutely lights out. My guess is that if you take out the first 2 weeks after a promotion, his career BA would be at least 30 points higher.

I hate phat Pat, always have, always will. But what I really hate is having to say that this column was dead on accurate. In addition it was well written and somewhat amusing. Well done Mr. Reusse. Nuts, but I had to do it!

Arraez is listed as 5’ 10”. Means he’s actually about 5’ 8”. When the Twins signed him as an undrafted player for, I recall, $40,000, the comments were that he didn’t have speed, had no power and just an OK arm. But our scout talked the Twins into signing him, describing him as a “Hitting Savant”. Could be a real good call. If he hits in Chattanooga like he has everywhere else, how long before Max gets a bit nervous. He was the youngest in high “A”, how young will he be in double “A”?

If our German friend doesn’t start hitting Arraez may end up in left field.

I very highly doubt there are any HOF ball players who weighed 300 lbs at 24 years of age. I also doubt a minor league salary will motivate a change in his behavior with the $ millions he has already made.

Just did some manual calculations on Arraez. 1st 20 games: 75 AB's 14 Hits .186 BA. Next 56 games: 141 AB's 55 hits .390 BA. Season: 216 AB's 69 hits .319 BA I apologize if I missed counted (but don't think I did). Looks like we've got a 2nd baseman.

All this talk about “speculation” about Sano’s character being out of line is correct. Let’s stick with facts. He’s a way, way over weight young man. That’s a very bad thing. It affects were, if anywhere, he’ll be able to play in the field. It’s been the situation for several years. He’s now suffered a major injury and has a metal rod in his leg. This exacerbates his weight issue. What’s Sano going to do about it? We don’t know, but the Twins have gotten him into the best possible situation in which he can get his life under control. Let’s hope he does so, but it will not take too much time to figure ou haw he’d doing. Bottom line a 325 lb DH’er that smacks 40 dingers a year with 100 rbi’s Isn’t a bad thing. But a 225 lb all star 3rd basemen with a rocket arm is a whole lot better. Both are better than a 375 lb 26 year old former MLB player living in this DR. Right now I have no idea which he will choose to be.