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jimbo92107

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Everything posted by jimbo92107

  1. jimbo92107
    Mahle's shoulder injury is far from mysterious. Either it's a torn rotator cuff, a torn labrum, or both. Get it sewed up, and maybe he'll be ready to pitch around mid season 2023. If not, it will bite him again inside the first month.
  2. jimbo92107
    That play by Brooks Lee showed a very high level of athletic ability. Most mlb-quality players can throw from their knees, their butt, etc. But Lee's throw was dynamic, whirling his torso while it was still in motion, yet able to nail the 1B's glove with remarkable accuracy and decent velocity. How many mlb SS can do that? A handful, maybe. This guy is a future star, and his stardom is not very far in the future. I'd invite him to spring training, and get his butt to AAA in a hurry. You never have too many position players that can really hit, and really field.
  3. jimbo92107
    If the Twins would just make one move, I'd be a little happier: Move Archer to the bullpen as long relief. Then DFA Pagan. Well, that's two moves. Aim high!
  4. jimbo92107
    He's not a downward plane kinda pitcher, more like Cole Sands in that his whole delivery seems to happen down low. Louie Varland looks legit to me. When I saw his compact delivery, it reminded me a little of Bartolo Colon, who looked like a converted catcher. The tight snap from behind the ear, no big, loopy wind-up, is a style that works well for some good pitchers, like Grienke. The quick delivery and up-tempo pace will help him surprise some hitters, who are accustomed to a more relaxed pace. Less time between pitches means less time for the hitter to process the pitching sequence and predict the next one. That and the compact delivery also means less time for a runner to read the pitcher's move to home...or not. One thing that really impressed me was his K of Judge in the first. Got him with a beautiful diving change that caught the inside corner. He could throw a dozen of those to Judge, and I bet the guy still couldn't straighten that one out. Especially if he also can zip a heater high in the zone just previous. Point is, it looks to me like Varland can do just that. His command of several pitches is better than Joe Ryan's, not counting Ryan's heater, which is his one great pitch. Varland doesn't appear to have one great pitch, but he's got several very good ones, which bodes well. If his arm doesn't fall off, keep this young stud in the rotation. Twins have found themselves another good young pitcher.
  5. jimbo92107
    Ted, this is an excellent write-up. I was a tech writer in a previous life...your writing here is tight and punchy, with just the right amount of baseball jive to bring a smile to my face. Best of all, there's very little excess verbiage. Your "sports writer" voice is spot on. Great job. Jimbo And now, for my pyrate voice: Har....
  6. jimbo92107
    Glenn Perkins said it pretty well about Joe Ryan. He needs to throw his off-speed pitches with the same conviction and commitment as his fastball. Have faith that your breaking pitches will break; don't try to steer the ball where you want it to go. This is the sort of thing a pitcher can work on during the long off-season practice sessions. I do believe Joe Ryan has the potential to be close to an ace. He's got the physical tools and the poise. But he needs to have three off-speed pitches that he can throw for strikes, so he doesn't have to throw over ten pitches to get one guy out.
  7. jimbo92107
    Excellent debut by Louie Varland, who looks like a rotation horse. If his arm is okay, I see no reason he can't finish the season in the starting rotation. Who ya got that's better? Note to Megill: Please learn to finish your follow through in position to field a ground ball, rather than doing an embarrassing little dance to avoid the ball hitting you in the ass.
  8. jimbo92107
    So, here's how you train a pitcher to finish ready to field his position. He's got a bucket of balls to pitch, while you've got a bucket of balls standing just in front of the mound. Kid throws a pitch, and just as he finishes his follow through, you roll him a grounder, right between his legs. Keep reminding him to finish with his glove out front and on balance. By the time the buckets are empty, the kid will be reasonably ready to field his position after delivering a pitch. What a shame Trevor Megill has received no such training from professional pitching coaches. Instead of finishing on balance and ready to field, he finished whirling around like a drunk, totally helpless to stop a medium speed ground ball.
  9. jimbo92107
    Poise on the mound, and his follow-through. If Varland keeps his head and just throws whatever his catcher asks for, he could do well. Otherwise, if he over-throws his heater, he'll barf up some damaging walks and leave the team in a big hole. The Yankees are as good as anybody at picking on a rookie pitcher. Whatever happens, it'll be interesting.
  10. jimbo92107
    But wait! He's got Electric Stuff (tm)!
  11. jimbo92107
    Wow, sometimes it's almost like they're listening to us... On the other hand, the team's options were getting pretty limited, with all the injuries. Good luck, Louie Varland. You will have everybody at TD pulling for you.
  12. jimbo92107
    I'm all for seeing Louie Varland fill Mahle's spot. Why not give the kid a cuppa? MiLB Twins pitcher of the year last year, probably will be this year, too. Reward the young man!
  13. jimbo92107
    Before consummating any trade for a pitcher, the Twins should require that he throws a full game bullpen session (100 pitches), timing every pitch and verifying that he's got good command. I have a feeling that Paddack and Mahle would have failed those tests. I can hardly wait to read that Mahle's torn labrum or rotator cuff is detected on a subsequent MRI. Get it fixed; see ya next year. Meanwhile, I wouldn't mind seeing if Louie Varland has something special he'd like to show us...
  14. jimbo92107
    Nick Gordon has discovered upper-deck power, and folks, it ain't going away. We have all seen how the ball has been exploding off his bat lately. Gordon has purified the mechanics of his swing to get max power at the contact point. He now faces some of the same dilemma as Dave Winfield. He can mash flat line drives and put dents in outfield walls, or he can elevate, strike out more, but hit long range dingers. I'm guessing he'll try to keep his BA up and just drive the ball flat most of the time. Tuesday he golfed a low heater with a Tiger Woods 2-iron swing. This is much more than gap power we're seeing. Fun stuff. The more he plays, the better he gets. Archer needs to go to the pen, so Twins can DFA Pagan. They can't keep running him out there when the game is already decided. They need guys that can deal with pressure situations for one or two innings. Archer can do that. Bring up Winder for the fifth starter. Larnach or Cave to finish the season? Tough decision.
  15. jimbo92107
    Gio Urshella has changed my mind. When the Twins originally made the trade, I thought Urshella would be blocking Jose Miranda from the position he's probably destined to play, if not Royce Lewis. But Urshella's play has been good enough to earn him the job until somebody takes it away. Good range at 3rd, good arm, makes the barehand bunt throw, and at the plate the man is a legitimate threat. He can do damage in the gaps and sometimes over the fence. Solid ballplayer.
  16. jimbo92107
    The problem with Pagan is pretty simple. Every batter walks up to the plate knowing that the guy has a high walk rate for disciplined hitters, and he throws one or two pitches right down the middle during just about every at bat.
  17. jimbo92107
    When I think of all the talented young players either coming off the IL or emerging from the minors, it looks like the Twins are in for a tsunami of talent in 2023. In no particular order: Winder, Sands, Maeda, Paddack, Buxton, Jeffers, Larnach, Lewis, Balazovic, Canterino, Wallner, Martin, Varland, Alcala, Richardson... and of course Brooks Lee might just bash his own path through the minors faster than expected. 2022 looked like the Twins were loaded, until they weren't. 2023 looks like a big overload.
  18. jimbo92107
    LOVE that video with Jeffers and Lewis. Two great young guys having a happy day at the State Fair, meeting people, joking around, just having a good time. Very refreshing. I wish the Twins would do something like this at least once a week.
  19. jimbo92107
    Actually Aaron Sanchez has been pitching about as well as Bundy or Archer, maybe better than the latter. He has a live heater, and tight spin on his off-speed stuff. Seems to have good command of the zone down low. Not an ace, but he looks like a mid-ro starter. Pop Quiz: How many Twins pitchers have thrown a no-hitter? A: Aaron Sanchez.
  20. jimbo92107
    Sounds like he merits an early callup. Give the kid a cuppa. It'll whet his taste for the Show next season.
  21. jimbo92107
    The Twins are fried. Time to call up bullpen arms on merit in AAA. Moran had his shot, now call up other candidates. For the sake of Yog, Monster from Space, DFA Pagan. Let other teams try to figure him out. If they can, fine. So done with that guy. Next, I'd tell Chris Archer that he's done being a starter for this club. Bullpen or go elsewhere. Ryan needs to hone his curve or his slider to be as deadly as his heater, or he'll never get to late innings. Bundy needs to get in better shape before his fastball is in the mid 80's. Gray needs to come to spring training in the best shape of his life, ready to challenge Mahle for #1. Meanwhile, it is time for us at TD to let go of 2022. Not worth the heartache to watch this team slowly sink into the icy waters of September. Can you believe the NFL preseason is already almost over?
  22. jimbo92107
    Incentive clauses? What do they matter if his knee is wrecked for 2023? Shut him down. A few more futile home runs won't put this injury-plagued team back in contention.
  23. jimbo92107
    To be the best, you've got to beat the best. Unfortunately, the Twins are not a healthy enough ballclub to beat their best competitors. Starting today, they will probably get chewed up and spat out by most of the teams on this list. On the other hand, 2023 looks very promising...
  24. jimbo92107
    What's this about his heater - struggling to get into the low 90's? That doesn't indicate a pending rotation horse. I thought SWR could pop the glove as hard as most. If that's so, then I cannot predict great success for this young man. The vast majority of successful mlb pitchers can get at least 94 or better on their heater, with good command. The only exceptions are control wizards, which are rare. Even the great Greg Maddux hung 'em up after he couldn't throw it 89 anymore. At 88, even his miraculous cutters were getting spanked. At that speed, might as well throw a knuckler.
  25. jimbo92107
    Agree with Bean. At the end of the season the FO should ask Duran what he wants to do next. If he wants to start, then he can spend the winter getting his body ready for the long haul, and prepare to pace himself for six innings. He appears to have better than average command, even at 103. Can he be a better than average starter? If he backs off a whisker on his heater, can he spot it around the zone? As a long-term Twins fan, I don't mind these experiments
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