Perkins

[DaveW]

Time to call a spade a spade, he has not looked good since the all star break. He is one of my favorite players but the fact remains, he is a huge reason why the Twins now trail in the playoff run. Time to shop him?

[Rosterman]

You have to admit that the Yankess are a tough team, period. 

 

How much has Perkins pitched since the All-Star break. 

 

No relief pitcher is perfect (well, there are a couple, but...)

 

The game was lsot with Gibson, and Duening didn't help matters. O'Rourke almost blew it.

 

How do you get thrown out three times stealing.

 

And we even broke the Yankees pitcher nose.

[twinsnorth49]

Hate to say it but the dude has turned into Matt Capps. I have zero confidence in Perk right now.

[Twodogs]

I was worried about it when I was in Minnesota this summer at my wife's lake cabin and they have no TV and I was watching the Twins vs Oakland on my phone.  At that time I was shocked that Perk wouldn't throw his fastball in that game, that was his first blown save in a long time.  But it seems that he hasn't been the same since. The Twins should have gone after Paplebon, I know, hindsight.

[Vanimal46]

May be time to name May the interim closer for the next couple of opportunities... Let Perk figure out what's going on in the 7th/8th inning.

[Danchat]

Shop him? C'mon, you can't trade a guy when his trade value is the lowest!

 

I have no idea what the Twins should do in this scenario, though... maybe Perk's arm is tired, like Boyer's and Hughes'? Didn't he get fatigued near the end last season, too? Maybe he's just gotta take some longer breaks - he can't pitch three days in a row.

 

 

[howeda7]

Shop him on August 17th? That's not how this works. But it is concerning. Nothing to be done about it at the moment.

[Twodogs]

Yeah, I think it is too late to shop him, looks kinda like a dead arm situation again?  I mean he was lights out at the beginning of the year and now he is just average, or maybe a little worse

[Kwak]

People are spoiled because first half was perfect.  Fact check:  Perkins wasn't perfect before nor should he be expected to be perfect.  Better defense might have made a difference tonight.  Then again, give the chances the hitters generated it seems they should have scored more.

 

As an aside, did anybody else notice the Yankees not bunting in situations the Twins invariably bunt?

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I have an idea on this. I don't know if I'm dreaming it or if it is based in reality somewhat.

 

All Star game. Dozier homers in top of the 8th. Twins fans feeling good.

 

Top of the 9th and the beast comes in, Aroldis Chapman. He's throwing 103 mph, consistently 103, and everybody is just kind of watching him slack-jawed. I think Chapman struck out the side on 9 pitches or something stupid like that.

 

Bottom of 9th and Perkins comes in. I'm kind of feeling bad, as Chapman is a tough act to follow. I was watching Perk, and I wonder if he didn't try to overthrow his fastball those first few pitches, just to look the part of an all star, and ended up pulling a muscle or joint somewhere. All I know is he hasn't been the same since the All Star game.

[rghrbek]

I think the Perkins situation is somewhat alarming.  Trading him while still under a team friendly contract?   Let's not be prudent.   Something is clearly not the same with Perk.

 

More alarming is that our starting pitching is in the tank.  Guys we thought we could count on, are simply not stepping up.   It's not a good sign when our most recent effective starters are Pelfrey, Duffy and Milone.  I would like to think Santana, Hughes and Gibson would be more consistent. 

 

We already kind of knew our bullpen is a mess, Perk included.

[DaveW]

By no means do I think Perkins is the only or biggest reason why The Twins have struggled and been the worst team record wise since the all star break. But I think he deserves a solid chunk of the concern/blame, for better or worse he is the "veteran" on the twins entire pitching staff period (when it comes to years spent with the Twins) and is only behind Mauer and Hunter overall.

 

He isn't the worst player since the break by any means, but I will be damned if he hasn't been the most frustrating.

[curt1965]

Perkins was not good tonight, no question about it. But it's not surprising: you can't expose a below average bullpen to the abuse they have been under lately. The problem has been the starters, as mentioned above.

You could have all the stud stoppers in the world, but if you are expected to throw 20+ pitches for 3 days in a row, you are a disaster waiting to happen.

Hughes has not had a good year, but he at least throws strikes. I think I noticed that Gibson was at like 90 pitches in the 4th inning! That's a problem! I would hope the Twins pitchers would trust their stuff more, and throw the effing ball over the plate!

[DaveW]

 

Perkins was not good tonight, no question about it. But it's not surprising: you can't expose a below average bullpen to the abuse they have been under lately. The problem has been the starters, as mentioned above.
You could have all the stud stoppers in the world, but if you are expected to throw 20+ pitches for 3 days in a row, you are a disaster waiting to happen.
Hughes has not had a good year, but he at least throws strikes. I think I noticed that Gibson was at like 90 pitches in the 4th inning! That's a problem! I would hope the Twins pitchers would trust their stuff more, and throw the effing ball over the plate!

Yeah, Gibson was pretty awful tonight. Every batter seemed to have it 2-0,3-0 or 3-1 at some point tonight.

[DiscGolfer]

Perk has a bad outting so get rid of him?  Really!?  Take the best arm out of THIS bullpen?  If Perkins isn't your closer then who is?  I wouldn't worry too much about Perkins yet, this was his 3rd day in a row pitching, maybe he was just gassed today.

[DaveW]

Perkins since July 18th-

10 IP 9 ER 18 H 4 HR

 

Something is really amiss.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Honest question:

 

Do you think Ryan is embarrassed right now? Because he probably should be embarrassed.

 

Perkins needs a breather or a DL stint. Something is wrong with him. But the Twins can't do that because they have so few acceptable arms in the bullpen so they continue to throw him out there and he continues to get shelled.

[nicksaviking]

Every year Perk's strikeount numbers plummet in the 2nd half.  Even if in past years he has held on to his other attributes, his diminishing strikeouts were bound to become a problem.

 

This isn't new.  If there's anything we can take away from this, it's to trade him come the deadline next year after he regains his value. 

[DaveW]

 

Honest question:

 

Do you think Ryan is embarrassed right now? Because he probably should be embarrassed.

Honestly, I don't think he is. This is very unfortunate, Ryan had a great reputation as a GM, he did some good things and built the Twins into a contender, however all of that good will is getting wasted by his sudden refusal to "evolve" with the game.

[DaveW]

 

 

Perk has a bad outting so get rid of him?  Really!?  Take the best arm out of THIS bullpen?  If Perkins isn't your closer then who is?  I wouldn't worry too much about Perkins yet, this was his 3rd day in a row pitching, maybe he was just gassed today.

I wouldn't trade him just to trade him, however, since he is on a very team friendly deal and is still one of the better closers in baseball, I would look to move him this off-season or next year. I think closers in general are a bit over rated, so if you can get a top 50 prospect back in return or a high upside SP prospect, I think you have to consider it.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Every year Perk's strikeount numbers plummet in the 2nd half.  Even if in past years he has held on to his other attributes, his diminishing strikeouts were bound to become a problem.

 

This isn't new.  If there's anything we can take away from this, it's to trade him come the deadline next year after he regains his value. 

The thing is that his strikeouts never diminished to the point they became a problem in years past. Is Perkins getting old? Yeah, I suppose that's a possibility but he has so few miles on that arm, it shouldn't be a problem at age 32. 

[Dantes929]

 

By no means do I think Perkins is the only or biggest reason why The Twins have struggled and been the worst team record wise since the all star break. But I think he deserves a solid chunk of the concern/blame, for better or worse he is the "veteran" on the twins entire pitching staff period (when it comes to years spent with the Twins) and is only behind Mauer and Hunter overall.

He isn't the worst player since the break by any means, but I will be damned if he hasn't been the most frustrating.

I guess you could say the rotation or the offense has been the culprit but if you are looking at one guy, then yeah, it is Perkins by far that has been the biggest reason.    5 blown games and an ERA of 8 in the last month.    Its demoralizing to the team.    Nothing against him since he was one of the biggest reasons for the good first half but it is what it is.    Nathan was a very big reason for the Twins success last decade but he was also the biggest factor in the lack of playoff success (yes, it was Nthan that blew the leads against the Yankees, not Gardenhire).     The young guys don't feel the stress of playing the Yankees but maybe Perkins still does.   His bad streak really pretty much started against them and now it continues..  

[jimmer]

Our starting pitcher gave up 6 ER and only went 5 innings.  Our manager likes to give up outs on the basepads. If one needs to put blame on a loss on one or two people (as opposed to it being a team thing) think the loss is on those two, with an added bonus of Duensing (though that could also fall back on Molitor).

[DaveW]

 

Our starting pitcher gave up 6 ER and only went 5 innings.  Our manager likes to give up outs on the basepads. I think the loss is on those two, with an added bonus of Duensing (though that could also fall back on Molitor).

I agree, but Perkins didn't help matters any.

[nicksaviking]

 

The thing is that his strikeouts never diminished to the point they became a problem in years past. Is Perkins getting old? Yeah, I suppose that's a possibility but he has so few miles on that arm, it shouldn't be a problem at age 32. 

 

Seems to me, most modern closers fall into one of three catagories.  The kind that miss bats until the day they hang up the glove (rare these days, but Billy Wagner for example) the kind that start to lose the ability to miss bats but figure out how to get outs other ways (Trevor Hoffman, Jon Papelbon) and the guys who start to lose the ability to miss bats and ride out the rest of their career on a series of rebounds and busts (Francisco Cordero, Jose Valverde, Troy Percival).

 

Perk looks almost certainly to be in one of the later two catagories.  As he tends to have pretty good control, one would hope that he can learn to pitch to his limitations, but there is a long history of pitchers flaming out once their velocity leaves them.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

The thing is that his strikeouts never diminished to the point they became a problem in years past. Is Perkins getting old? Yeah, I suppose that's a possibility but he has so few miles on that arm, it shouldn't be a problem at age 32. 

I'd say his strikeouts "diminished to the point they became a problem" last year (2014).

 

First half K%: 30.1%
Second half K%: 17.5%

 

Compare that to this year (2015):

 

First half K%: 25.2%

Second half K%: 14.0%

 

League average for AL relievers is 22%.

 

Agreed though that from 2011-2013, his second half performances were not an issue.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Nathan was a very big reason for the Twins success last decade but he was also the biggest factor in the lack of playoff success (yes, it was Nthan that blew the leads against the Yankees, not Gardenhire).

I would dispute both points.  Nathan was a very good closer, but he's well behind a lot of other guys as reasons for Twins success those years. Heck, in our 5 best seasons by regular season winning percentage for the decade, Nathan only pitched in 2 of them.

 

And the 2004 Game 2 blown lead was clearly on Gardenhire.  It would be like if Perkins had mowed down the Yankees in the 10th and 11th innings last night, and then lost the game in the 12th -- you wouldn't honestly put much blame on him after that, would you?  (The 2009 Game 2 blown lead was all on Nathan, however, and predictably he was hiding an injury at the time.)

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

I'd say his strikeouts "diminished to the point they became a problem" last year (2014).

 

First half K%: 30.1%
Second half K%: 17.5%

 

Compare that to this year (2015):

 

First half K%: 25.2%

Second half K%: 14.0%

 

League average for AL relievers is 22%.

 

Agreed though that from 2011-2013, his second half performances were not an issue.

Good catch. I got lazy and looked up K/9, not K%.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Good catch. I got lazy and looked up K/9, not K%.

Even by K/9, he was down in the 6's in the second half of 2014 too, same as now.  That's close to Brian Duensing level (career 6.0 K/9 in relief).

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Even by K/9, he was down in the 6's in the second half of 2014 too, same as now.  That's close to Brian Duensing level (career 6.0 K/9 in relief).

Ah, yes. I glanced at 2013, not 2014.