New Closer Please

[Pardon My Dinger]

 

Not living in Minnesota I don't get to read to listen to Sid.  Therefore I am almost certainly missing some critical details and I turn to this board.  

Let's see if we can't get you caught up on the Sid takes. 

 

1. Joe Mauer is good. 

2. Target Field is new and nice. But the music is very loud, if you want to call it that. 

3. I don't know what everyone's complaining about--we won the World Series, didn't we? ...Didn't we? 

4. I am so tired. 

5. The Twins play baseball. 

 

Hope that helps. 

[Thrylos]

 

Well at least the Twins lead the league in something - that being BS.

 

FTFY

[Ultima Ratio]

 

Some woman asking for my credit card number....

Oh good... it works.

[lukeduke1980]

 

All of the best "closer" candidates are young and/or still in the minors and I think we have a pretty good idea at this point how Molitor likes to use young pitchers, that is, he doesn't.

 

If it's not May or Pressly sometime soon, I wonder if a Hughes/Nolasco/Gibson may be the closer if the rotation gets back to full strength, Jepsen still struggles and Perkins is AWOL.

Hughes might be worth a shot - he worked in relief with NYY, and could maybe get back up to 93 mph if working relief.  And we would get to hear about how he has that bulldog mentality that a closer needs.

[Mr. Brooks]

All managers are leery of using young pitchers. they do have a job to look out for.

 

That being said, I like Pressley and O'Rourke as dual closer. Both have been called on in tough situations.

Then why are there so many young bullpen guys pitching in high leverage roles these days?

 

If I recall Trevor Rosenthal went pretty much straight from the minors to closer.

 

Dellin Betances in New York had all of 7.2 career innings when the Yankees decided to make him an all star set up man.

 

The Royals built a perennial WS threat with a bunch of hard throwing young relievers.

 

There are many more that I'm sure others can add.

 

Im seeing managers around the league embrace young late inning relievers, BECAUSE their job is on the line.

 

Young equals live arm equals missing bats.

[ScrapTheNickname]

Try throwing it underhanded as an OUT pitch. That might surprise them.

[Thrylos]

If I were Molitor, I'd let Duffey and May close every other day each, until one of them wins it.  I'd rather see Hughes do it, because he has proven that he can, but would hate to yank him off the rotation the way he has been pitching lately... 

[Thrylos]

 

Try throwing it underhanded as an OUT pitch. That might surprise them.

 

And they might hit it at the Kirby Puckett bar thing

[COtwin]

Please he pain to a different role. Go to committee with matchups. Jepson doesn't have the stuff.

[HitInAPinch]

 

Then why are there so many young bullpen guys pitching in high leverage roles these days?

If I recall Trevor Rosenthal went pretty much straight from the minors to closer.

Dellin Betances in New York had all of 7.2 career innings when the Yankees decided to make him an all star set up man.

The Royals built a perennial WS threat with a bunch of hard throwing young relievers.

There are many more that I'm sure others can add.

Im seeing managers around the league embrace young late inning relievers, BECAUSE their job is on the line.

Young equals live arm equals missing bats.

Because they're better pitchers than what the Twins have?

[Platoon]

We are doing with Jepsen, what we so often do. Trying to turn someone with a history of not being something, into that something.

[Riverbrian]

 

Any ideas who the new closer should be? There aren't any obvious candidates on the Twins roster.  I looked at the Red Wings site and it shows JR Graham with 2 saves and Meyer with 1.  No other saves. Chargois and Marcus Walden (?) are the only guys with saves in Chatanooga and it's hard to see Molitor taking a rookie reliever making the jump from AA and installing him as the closer. Also, it does kind og smack of rasing the white flag if we bring up a guy from AA and make him the closer. It's a little early for that even our record does stink. What are the realistic choices - May, Pressley, Meyer, Graham, Chargois?  It's hard to see a good candidate there. I agree that Jepsen is the wrong guy; it's just hard to see the right guy.

 

I think it should be May

 

and we will have to wait until the young guys are called up because I don't think we will be trading for anybody at the deadline. Other teams will be trading for big bullpen arms at the deadline and most teams are much more aggressive. 

 

I wish I knew more about the Farm Arms... Looking at stats and scouting reports... It looks like Chargois might be the most immediate consideration.  I'd like to hear from Seth Stohs on the subject. 

[Platoon]

Let's see if we can't get you caught up on the Sid takes. 

 

1. Joe Mauer is good. 

2. Target Field is new and nice. But the music is very loud, if you want to call it that. 

3. I don't know what everyone's complaining about--we won the World Series, didn't we? ...Didn't we? 

4. I am so tired. 

5. The Twins play baseball. 

 

Hope that helps.

 

Huh?

[Pardon My Dinger]

 

Huh?

Yuh.

[Hambino the Great]

I miss Joe Nathan

 

That motor boating bastard that my wife had a crush on

[TheLeviathan]

Bah...the bullpen is fine.  Way too fine to drop some dollars on helping it.

 

You guys must've missed that memo.

[Rosterman]

Joe Nathan IS Available! He can't throw, but he is available.

 

[Twinfan & Dad]

I'm sure they aren't grooming May to be the 7 or 8 inning guy forever. If they haven't moved him back to the starting rotation by now it's not going to happen. He is the future closer but when who knows. With the circus that Terry Ryan is running maybe he can bring

Eddie Guardado out of retirement he's already hanging out in the pen.

[Hambino the Great]

 

Joe Nathan IS Available! He can't throw, but he is available.

 

 

Don't tell my wife that is available as she is likely to leave me.  On second thought shout it from the roof tops.

[John Kelsey]

 

Don't tell my wife that is available as she is likely to leave me.  On second thought shout it from the roof tops.

 

This guy is on fire. 

[Mr. Brooks]

Because they're better pitchers than what the Twins have?

I was rebutting a statement that all managers avoid using young relievers.

My post had nothing to do with specific personel of the Twins.

[d-mac]

 

How about Abad?  He has been the best out of the pen, we have O'Rourke to be the lefty specialist.

 

He can't be that bad. Ba dum tsss.

[d-mac]

 

Then why are there so many young bullpen guys pitching in high leverage roles these days?

If I recall Trevor Rosenthal went pretty much straight from the minors to closer.

Dellin Betances in New York had all of 7.2 career innings when the Yankees decided to make him an all star set up man.

The Royals built a perennial WS threat with a bunch of hard throwing young relievers.

There are many more that I'm sure others can add.

Im seeing managers around the league embrace young late inning relievers, BECAUSE their job is on the line.

Young equals live arm equals missing bats.

 

I think the key take away is that nobody's job is ever on the line at 1 Twins Way.

[d-mac]

Every time Jepsen blows a save, I tweet at the official Tampa Bay Rays twitter account asking if we can have Chih-Wei Hu back. I haven't gotten a reply yet...

[strumdatjaguar]

Keep Jepson as closer for now.   Nevertheless, the Twins should know that they are currently auditioning their closer of the future.  Who is it?  Chargois? Meyer? May? Burdi (not doing well so far in his audition)?  Tonkin (ditto the Burdi comment)? Maybe one of the starters not named Milone, after being dumped from rotation?

[nicksaviking]

 

Im seeing managers around the league embrace young late inning relievers, BECAUSE their job is on the line.

 

 

 

I think the key take away is that nobody's job is ever on the line at 1 Twins Way.

 

I think it's quite the opposite.I think a reluctance to use young players in any sport often stems from job insecurity. If a veteran blows up and fails, well the veteran gets most of the blame as he is experienced and has expectations to succeed.

 

If a manager uses young players, it's often viewed as a risk the manager is taken on. When they blow up and fail, the manager gets the blame as "he should have know the kid wasn't ready!"

[Mike Sixel]

 

I think it's quite the opposite.I think a reluctance to use young players in any sport often stems from job insecurity. If a veteran blows up and fails, well the veteran gets most of the blame as he is experienced and has expectations to succeed.

 

If a manager uses young players, it's often viewed as a risk the manager is taken on. When they blow up and fail, the manager gets the blame as "he should have know the kid wasn't ready!"

 

Correct, just like NFL coaches punting on 4th and 1....they do it to keep their jobs, not because it is right over the long run.

[d-mac]

 

I think it's quite the opposite.  I think a reluctance to use young players in any sport often stems from job insecurity. If a veteran blows up and fails, well the veteran gets most of the blame as he is experienced and has expectations to succeed.

 

If a manager uses young players, it's often viewed as a risk the manager is taken on. When they blow up and fail, the manager gets the blame as "he should have know the kid wasn't ready!"

 

I don't think that's the point Mr. Brooks was making with his original post. He was saying that young, hard throwing relievers are exactly the type of relievers that most GM's and managers are preferring today, because they give them the greatest chance of getting outs- and that's precisely because their jobs are on the line. Aging, washed up vets in the pen aren't some sort of market inefficiency. 

[d-mac]

 

Correct, just like NFL coaches punting on 4th and 1....they do it to keep their jobs, not because it is right over the long run.

 

Well, compared to the rest of major professional sports, the NFL is in the stone age when it comes to statistical analysis. 

[KirbyDome89]

 

Perkins was not Perkins in the back half of 2015... Perkins still hasn't been Perkins

 

Jepsen... Is a Vet... Usually Decent... Happy he is here... but has been on the fringe of set-up roles of every squad he has been on. What he did for us last year was much appreciated but it was a little out of character. He's a Nice Bullpen Arm but not anyone other teams would try to acquire to fill a closing role. 

 

May... Could be a Closer Eventually... He's our best option in my opinion right now... But if you move May to Closer... And Perkins not being Perkins and Jepsen... really a fringe set up guy. 

 

Then

 

WE ARE REALLY WEAK AT SET UP IN COMPARISON TO EVERYONE ELSE.

Agreed 100%....if only there was some period of time between seasons in which teams were allowed to address needs and acquire new talent...hmm