Game Thread, Blue Jays v. Twins May 21 1:10pm

[Danchat]

 

Game Thread, Blue Jays v. Twins May 21 1:10pm

 

Starters: Happ (5-1, 3.40 ERA) v. Dean (0-1, 4.50 ERA)

1: Pat Dean
So, who is this Pat Dean guy? Let’s take a look at this AAA numbers from 2015 and 2016.

AAA 2015 – ERA 2.82 – H/9 8.5,  BB/9 – 1.8, K/9 – 4.9
AAA 2016 – ERA 3.00 – H/9 8.2,  BB/9 – 1.8, K/9 – 5.0

The first thing that pops out to me is that K/9. In a full season of AAA last year, Dean struck out 4.9 per 9 innings (for those who don’t know, 4.9 is inordinately low). And this is in AAA! Yikes. This is one of the prime reasons why many people here at Twins Daily didn’t want Dean to be added to the 40 man roster. In my opinion, Dean definitely deserves a cup of coffee in the majors – he did have a great ERA with precise control and three shutouts – I don’t think he belongs in a major league rotation. Dean reminds me of a couple past Twins, namely:

Anthony Swarzak: (career numbers) 4.45 ERA, 9.9 H/9, 2.6 BB/9, 5.6 K/9
Tommy Milone: (career numbers) 4.04 ERA, 9.5 H/9, 2.2 BB/9, 6.5 K/9

Yeah, I think Dean’s numbers might end up like these. Maybe he can hang on as a long reliever, but I don’t think he can do much more than that. But I do hope that he can show some promise for now, as the Twins desperately need whatever pitching they can get.

Does anyone remember the last time the Twins faced J. A. Happ? I didn’t have the time to fact-check this, but I do believe it was last season when he was playing with the Mariners, starting at Target Field. I was actually at the game, and the Twins shelled him for 7 runs over 3.1 innings. Happ gave up home runs to Dozier, Rosario, and Hicks. Eddie Rosario also hit a 2B & 3B and ended up a single short of a cycle. Too bad only Dozier’s with the team right now.

Happ was traded to the Pirates in what I thought was a head-scratching move, but the Pirates coaches are pitching wizards. Happ turned his Mariners 4.64 ERA – 10 Hits/9 – 6.8 K/9 into a 1.85 ERA – 7.4 H/9 – 9.8 K/9. Then he parlayed that success into a multi-year deal with his former team, the Blue Jays. So far Happ has performed pretty well, with a 3.40 ERA – 8.9 H/9 – 5.7 K/9. He’s not throwing quite as many strikeouts right now, but outside of that, he’s a solid starter who’s not going to wow you. The Twins will have their chances to hit off Happ, hopefully like they did last year.

3: Lineup
Twins
1. Brian Dozier ® 2B
2. Eduardo Nunez ® SS
3. Miguel Sano ® DH
4. Trevor Plouffe ® 3B
5. Byung Ho Park ® 1B
6. Robbie Grossman (S) LF
7. Darin Mastroianni ® RF
8. Kurt Suzuki ® C
9. Danny Santana (S) CF

Blue Jays
1. Jose Bautista ® RF
2. Josh Donaldson ® 3B
3. Edwin Encarnacion ® DH
4. Justin Smoak (S) 1B
5. Troy Tulowitzki ® SS
6. Michael Saunders (L) LF
7. Russell Martin ® C
8. Kevin Pillar ® CF
9. Darwin Barney ® 2B

My thoughts: Oh goody, Brian Dozier is back to leading off while batting .208, but at least his OBP is .292. Dozier’s been pretty terrible since July of 2015, and he’s still batting leadoff… I don’t get it.
Joe’s got a day off, and he probably needs it. No complaints there.
Finally, we get an outfield of Grossman-Santana-Mastroianni. Yikes. I’m fine with Grossman getting another start, but Mastro has never shown an ability to hit in the majors. I don’t think he’s suddenly going to start hitting major league hitting.

4: The Twins Bullpen

Ugh. I don’t want to be negative, but I want to take a closer look at the Twins’ bullpen and where their issues are coming from. Let’s take a look at stats from our struggling relievers:

Kevin Jepsen: ERA 4.96 (FIP 4.93), H/9 11, HR/9 1.7, BB/9 2.8, K/9 6.6
Trevor May: ERA 5.14 (FIP 4.76), H/9 9.9 H/9, HR/9 2.1, BB/9 3.9, K/9 12.9
Ryan Pressly: ERA 5.25 (FIP 5.13), H/9 9.8, HR/9 1.5, BB/9 5.3, K/9 9.0
Michael Tonkin: ERA 3.43 (FIP 3.85), H/9 7.7, HR/9 1.3, BB/9 3.0, K/9 10.7

Analyzing these stats, I’m seeing a couple trends here. First off, everyone but Tonkin is giving up too many HRs. May especially. Another problem is with walks – Pressly has been struggling massively with giving up walks, and May’s numbers are troublesome, too. Tonkin’s numbers look fine, but he’s been a disappointment in pressure situations.
I know May, Jepsen, and Pressly can be good relievers. But what’s going on? Have they thrown too many innings/pitches? Does Eddie Guardado have no idea how to coach the bullpen? Was the loss of Glen Perkins this devastating?

 

5: Not So Fun Fact!
According to Baseball-Reference.com, Brian Dozier has a WAR of 0.2. After one game with the Twins, Robbie Grossman’s WAR is also 0.2.

 

Anyways, thanks for reading. Enjoy the game and stay classy!

[Blake]

Good job. 

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Good job.

Concur.

[Twinsbar107]

Well on my way to the game... but squad today?

[jokin]

 

5: Not So Fun Fact!

According to Baseball-Reference.com, Brian Dozier has a WAR of 0.2. After one game with the Twins, Robbie Grossman’s WAR is also 0.2.

 

Good catch. Slice that stat up from either end of the comp and you get a misleading handful of nothing for the bWAR stat. (What does Dozier have to [not?] do to become a below replacement value level player?)

[USAFChief]

Concur.

Concur, on the concur.

[jokin]

 

Concur, on the concur.

 

Of course...

[sampleSizeOfOne]

....

 

 

Anyways, thanks for reading. Enjoy the game and stay classy!

Hold on a moment... My license says class d.

 

Not sure how legal it is for me to pretend to be classy...

[jud6312]

There are many days during the baseball season that I'm jealous of people heading out to the ballpark.

 

After seeing that lineup, I've decided that today is not one of those days. 

[Danchat]

An addition for the Not So Fun Fact: Juan Centeno also has a 0.2 WAR.

[jokin]

 

There are many days during the baseball season that I'm jealous of people heading out to the ballpark.

 

After seeing that lineup, I've decided that today is not one of those days. 

 

As stated in the other thread, this is the season where no satire or attempt at gallows humor in mocking a Twins lineup is safe from actually becoming reality. You post the most outlandish prediction for a starting OF you can think of the Twins ever putting on the field in 2016, "knowing" it's far too absurd to ever come to pass... Mastro/Grossman/Santana... voila, your "dream" comes true.

 

It's like the Twins are breaking the 4th Wall of Comedy- you ask for it, you get it.

[jokin]

 

 

An addition for the Not So Fun Fact: Juan Centeno also has a 0.2 WAR.

 

Come now.. the funny just writes itself. (Zuke is sitting at -0.1 bWAR).

[jud6312]

 

As stated in the other thread, this is the season where no satire or attempt at gallows humor in mocking a Twins lineup is safe from actually becoming reality. You post the most outlandish prediction for a starting OF you can think of the Twins ever putting on the field in 2016, "knowing" it's far too absurd to ever come to pass... Mastro/Grossman/Santana... voila, your "dream" comes true.

 

It's like the Twins are breaking the 4th Wall of Comedy- you ask for it, you get it.

Today's OF or a "Twins Legends OF" featuring Mark Davidson in LF, John Moses in CF and Randy Bush in RF. And I'm not talking about these guys in their prime, I'm talking present day. I honestly think the only thing today's starters would have on them is foot speed.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

It's like the Twins are breaking the 4th Wall of Comedy- you ask for it, you get it.

If only the players were allowed to address the fans directly, we might actually find out what the hell is going on.

 

(and by players, I mean the younger, mostly Latin American players)

[jokin]

 

Today's OF or a "Twins Legends OF" featuring Mark Davidson in LF, John Moses in CF and Randy Bush in RF. And I'm not talking about these guys in their prime, I'm talking present day. I honestly think the only thing today's starters would have on them is foot speed.

 

I literally LOLd at your post... so true.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Concur.

Ditto.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Good luck to Dean today. I will be following from a distance.

[formerly33]

... Brian Dozier is back to leading off while batting .208, but at least his OBP is .292.

That's when the sad truth struck home. We as Twins fans have degraded ourselves to an abominable level.

[spinowner]

 

 

So, who is this Pat Dean guy? Let’s take a look at this AAA numbers from 2015 and 2016.

AAA 2015 – ERA 2.82 – H/9 8.5,  BB/9 – 1.8, K/9 – 4.9
AAA 2016 – ERA 3.00 – H/9 8.2,  BB/9 – 1.8, K/9 – 5.0

The first thing that pops out to me is that K/9. In a full season of AAA last year, Dean struck out 4.9 per 9 innings (for those who don’t know, 4.9 is inordinately low). And this is in AAA! Yikes. This is one of the prime reasons why many people here at Twins Daily didn’t want Dean to be added to the 40 man roster. In my opinion, Dean definitely deserves a cup of coffee in the majors – he did have a great ERA with precise control and three shutouts – I don’t think he belongs in a major league rotation. Dean reminds me of a couple past Twins, namely:

Anthony Swarzak: (career numbers) 4.45 ERA, 9.9 H/9, 2.6 BB/9, 5.6 K/9
Tommy Milone: (career numbers) 4.04 ERA, 9.5 H/9, 2.2 BB/9, 6.5 K/9

Yeah, I think Dean’s numbers might end up like these. Maybe he can hang on as a long reliever, but I don’t think he can do much more than that. But I do hope that he can show some promise for now, as the Twins desperately need whatever pitching they can get.

 

Reading this made me think of Andrew Albers. He was great for three games. And I understand he's back in Rochester again.

[mickeymental]

maybe it's time for the old billy martin trick of drawing the lineup out of a hat?

[jokin]

 

Good luck to Dean today. I will be following from a SAFE distance.

 

Fixed that for you...

[Platoon]

Reading this made me think of Andrew Albers. He was great for three games. And I understand he's back in Rochester again.

Next week him and Dean will be exchanging living quarters.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

If only the players were allowed to address the fans directly, we might actually find out what the hell is going on.

(and by players, I mean the younger, mostly Latin American players)

 

Not sure that will work out well.  Did you see Aaron Rodger's recent address of a fan on Twitter?

[Craig Arko]

That's when the sad truth struck home. We as Twins fans have degraded ourselves to an abominable level.

So, it's Russian novelist time again, you say.

[jokin]

From the OP:

 

 

So, who is this Pat Dean guy? Let’s take a look at this AAA numbers from 2015 and 2016.

AAA 2015 – ERA 2.82 – H/9 8.5,BB/9 – 1.8, K/9 – 4.9
AAA 2016 – ERA 3.00 – H/9 8.2,BB/9 – 1.8, K/9 – 5.0

 

 

Next week him and Dean will be exchanging living quarters.

 

Seriously, Dean's major league numbers thus far don't exactly line up as a significant predictor for success against the suddenly re-awakened Blue Jays bats (who already are historically strong in Target Field)-

 

Avg- .389

WHIP- 2.00

GO/AO- .50

BABIP- .464

Pull%- 51.4%

HardHit%- 41.4%

H/9- 15.8

 

I get the sickening feeling that more than a couple of Jays are licking their chops right about now.

 

 

[Platoon]

This is the lineup that will break the streak. I heard tickets are going fast . . . ! Some are being tossed out car windows, the light rail tracks are reportedly littered with them, men are sitting on street corners holding cardboard signs: Will work for food! But not for Twins tickets! And some have found it necessary to recycle their tickets. Apparently there are some things that even Waste Management will not handle!

[formerly33]

 

So, it's Russian novelist time again, you say.

No.

 

I think in this case it should be Beloved by Toni Morrison or Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

 

Last year I read Crime and Punishment to help get through the Twins' June swoon (reverse psychology and all that, y'know).

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Not sure that will work out well.  Did you see Aaron Rodger's recent address of a fan on Twitter?

recent? No...

 

was it another one spelled R, E, L, A, and X?

 

Of course he would still have 135 characters to explain himself

[HitInAPinch]

Bert giving us info about the umpiring rotation, while missing Donaldson getting ejected.  sigh...

[jimmer]

remember all that quality depth at OF and SP so many pointed out before the season started?  Pat Dean and Grossman.