Minnesota Sports Forum

Thought I put spot for spring Training notes

Edward Julien 2-3 today with 2 bombs (Polanco will be expendable soon)

Mahle hit 95 on the gun today and has a new slider that looks great.

Max Kepler was 2-3 yesterday 2 balls that would've been caught by the shift and third one was to the second basemen who was shifting him. Hopefully this is a good sign to come.

Winder having shoulder problems again

Our man Jordy Blaze out because someone sucker punch him at a a bar for no reason supposedly.

My favorite for the last bullpen spot Ronny Henriquez is having elbow problems.

Average game with the new rules 2 hours and 37 mins sounds great to me.

I had it in my mind Ronny was already a guy destined for the Pen but I forgot he was still a starter last year. I like him also.

Winder's shoulder issues was something known for a while so he is a bit behind but hopefully ok...

When Jordan first had his mouth wired shut after the incident the Twins...did not seem too pleased. I wonder if it went down the way Jordan said and did the Twins get evidence to say it wasn't provoked? Either way it sounds like he is doing ok and should be able to ramp back up relatively soon.

The Twins theoretically have a few guys in the Minors that could take Polonco's spot at 2B. That's good because unfortunately I don't have a lot of faith in him staying healthy. They will likely need someone else to be able to play there for more than a few games. I'll be happy if a young guy get a shot at some of that playing time but it's nice to have Solano as an option in addition to Farmer. Idk what Polonco would bring back in a trade. A random prospect and saving money to increase the ability to sign other players wouldn't be to bad of a deal especially if someone really stepped up and took the job. I'll be happy if I see it but not expecting it...this year.

Noting that Bailey Ober struck out the side in his one inning yesterday with more velocity than last year, and that he had a 3.21 ERA as a starter last year and gave up 0 runs in 2 of his last 5 starts, I ask 2 questions:

1) If we have 5 starting pitchers ahead of him on the depth chart, how good is our starting pitching going into the season?

2) Should the Twins send Ober down to AAA, or keep him as a reliever if he can't break the starting rotation?

Bailey Ober should remain stretched out in the likely event that a starter gets injured so I don't see how he isn't at Triple-A to begin the season. Molding him into a reliever would be shortsighted given that it's March.

Camden wrote:Bailey Ober should remain stretched out in the likely event that a starter gets injured so I don't see how he isn't at Triple-A to begin the season. Molding him into a reliever would be shortsighted given that it's March.

Agreed. It's not a guarantee but I've seen enough from Ober (I'm kind of a big fan of his relatively speaking) to say that if he can stay healthy he is a legit MLB starter. Maybe he isn't anywhere near a top end guy but he isn't a guy that's a 5th starter type either...you know one of those guys that is there because they don't suck or the team doesn't have any better options. Ober profiles as certainly better than that. The Twins do have plenty of questions about health in the starting rotation and Ober himself is a question about whether or not he will stay healthy. There is a reason why starting pitchers get paid a bunch of money they are pretty valuable. Keep Ober as a starter and convert other guys that maybe aren't even able to make it as starters in terms of getting guys out.

I think a guy that has zero expectations (rightfully so) is Dobnak. It also feels like if he can actually be healthy he MIGHT at some point be able to help out somewhere this season. It's just been so long since he actually pitched effectively it's hard to hope for anything at this point. Someone in the comments section of an article I read recently said they thought one thing about Dobnak that could be sort of a positive is that they could call him up and then send him down since probably nobody is gonna claim him and his contract. Is that how his contract still works even though he passed through once already? I'm not doubting it just asking because I'm curious. Honestly I doubt we will see him in the majors this year though so this question is probably just simply curiosity.