Twins option Mejia to AAA, put Haley on DL

[KirbyDome89]

 

Can we really complain about the backstop corps considering how much this pitching staff has overperformed?

If they're given credit for Santana and Santiago so far are they not then responsible for Gibson and Mejia? 

 

The catching (at least defensively) isn't an area of concern right now but I would stop short of giving them that much credit for the start some of the pitchers have had. 

[Mike Sixel]

 

If they're given credit for Santana and Santiago so far are they not then responsible for Gibson and Mejia? 

 

The catching (at least defensively) isn't an area of concern right now but I would stop short of giving them that much credit for the start some of the pitchers have had. 

 

Could be partially driven by a 99% LOB rate for one of them.....which seems possibly, maybe, unsustainable.

[KirbyDome89]

I heard Berrios is still trying to get stretched out from that WBC run.....

 

Plus he abandoned his teammates during ST and he clearly doesn't care about the organization....

 

So be happy that Tepesch and his veteran leadership are joining the team.  

[Mr. Brooks]

LEN3 intimates that Tepesch is starting on Saturday.

He also hinted on kfan this morning that he gets the sense from the FO that Berrios will not be coming up any time soon.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

If they're given credit for Santana and Santiago so far are they not then responsible for Gibson and Mejia? 

 

The catching (at least defensively) isn't an area of concern right now but I would stop short of giving them that much credit for the start some of the pitchers have had. 

Sure, they're somewhat responsible for Gibson. How much? I'm inclined to say "not much at all" because we've seen Gibson pitch. Gimenez and Castro are not telling him to miss the plate by an inch twice to every batter. Kyle Gibson's problem is execution (in that he doesn't do it). The catcher can't do anything about that.

 

As for Mejia, he has made four career starts, only three this season. I'm going to need more information before I can say anything too positive or negative about him.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

He also hinted on kfan this morning that he gets the sense from the FO that Berrios will not be coming up any time soon.

Hmmm. Disappointing.

[KirbyDome89]

 

Sure, they're somewhat responsible for Gibson. How much? I'm inclined to say "not much at all" because we've seen Gibson pitch. Gimenez and Castro are not telling him to miss the plate by an inch twice to every batter. Kyle Gibson's problem is execution (in that he doesn't do it). The catcher can't do anything about that.

 

As for Mejia, he has made four career starts, only three this season. I'm going to need more information before I can say anything too positive or negative about him.

I don't think I can put any blame on either of them for the way Gibson has looked...

 

That was the point. You nailed it when you said we've seen these guys pitch. Gibson struggled before they arrived and Ervin was good the second half of last season. The backstops aren't turning coal to diamonds or vice versa. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

I don't think I can put any blame on either of them for the way Gibson has looked...

 

That was the point. You nailed it when you said we've seen these guys pitch. Gibson struggled before they arrived and Ervin was good the second half of last season. The backstops aren't turning coal to diamonds or vice versa. 

This is what I typed:

 

"There's something this front office likes about Gimenez and thus far, it appears to have worked in some capacity."

 

I don't think we're really disagreeing here. I'm saying the front office has gotten some decent results from a lackluster pitching staff and part of that is likely derived from their choice of backstop corps.

 

Out of all the problems on this team, I'm not going to raise my hackles over Chris Gimenez, a guy whose performance looks pretty acceptable and a guy who is on track to get about 150 PAs this season.

 

And even if I wanted Gimenez off the team, there was nothing "idiotic" about the decision, which was stated in the post I quoted.

[Brock Beauchamp]

As for Tepesch, I really hope the front office has Berrios working on something very specific that will make him a better MLB pitcher or it's hard to support that decision.

[KirbyDome89]

 

This is what I typed:

 

"There's something this front office likes about Gimenez and thus far, it appears to have worked in some capacity."

 

I don't think we're really disagreeing here. I'm saying the front office has gotten some decent results from a lackluster pitching staff and part of that is likely derived from their choice of backstop corps.

 

Out of all the problems on this team, I'm not going to raise my hackles over Chris Gimenez, a guy whose performance looks pretty acceptable and a guy who is on track to get about 150 PAs this season.

 

And even if I wanted Gimenez off the team, there was nothing "idiotic" about the decision, which was stated in the post I quoted.

No disagreement on Gimenez being on the roster but I'm not going to give him (or Castro) credit for the way Santana and Santiago have started the season in the same way I'm not blaming them for the performances of Gibson and Mejia. 

[mlhouse]

 

Except catchers, unlike position players, don't play in isolation. Can we really complain about the backstop corps considering how much this pitching staff has overperformed?

 

There's something this front office likes about Gimenez and thus far, it appears to have worked in some capacity. Given the lack of information I have on what Gimenez does and what Garver does/doesn't do, I'm not going to make claims about who should be catching every third or fourth game.

 

I want to see Garver join the team at some point but if the front office doesn't feel he's ready, then I can't really disagree because I simply don't know anything beyond a stat line.

 

And a stat line does not a catcher make.

 

Nothing about this situation is "idiotic" unless you're comfortable sitting at the far left edge of the Dunning-Kruger scale and making grandiose claims.

 

1.   It doesnt matter what our knowledge of Gimenez v. Garver.  We are rebuilding. A 34 year old journeyman is not even a potential piece of our future team.  The point is to find out what Garver can do, find out as soon as possible so that we can make a decision on whether he is going to part of it.  Successful rebuilds quickly move on from the players that will not work.  You move from Eisenreich to Pucket and from Lenny Faedo to Greg Gagne.  

 

2.  Pitching staff overperforming?  You mean Ervin Santana.  Take out Santana's innings at 0.77 ERA, and the rest of the team has an ERA of 4.58.   I guess that is an improvement over last season but thinking it is due to the catchers is stretching claims.

 

3.  As far as that, I believe that the research about "pitch framing" is overstated, and that even if it isn't, what a catcher like Castro gives you he more than takes away with his weak hitting.

 

Lets get Garver up to the big leagues.  Give him a significant portion of the ABs as a catcher and some other opportunities as DH and maybe even 1B.  

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

1.   It doesnt matter what our knowledge of Gimenez v. Garver.  We are rebuilding. A 34 year old journeyman is not even a potential piece of our future team.  The point is to find out what Garver can do, find out as soon as possible so that we can make a decision on whether he is going to part of it.  Successful rebuilds quickly move on from the players that will not work.  You move from Eisenreich to Pucket and from Lenny Faedo to Greg Gagne.  

 

2.  Pitching staff overperforming?  You mean Ervin Santana.  Take out Santana's innings at 0.77 ERA, and the rest of the team has an ERA of 4.58.   I guess that is an improvement over last season but thinking it is due to the catchers is stretching claims.

 

3.  As far as that, I believe that the research about "pitch framing" is overstated, and that even if it isn't, what a catcher like Castro gives you he more than takes away with his weak hitting.

 

Lets get Garver up to the big leagues.  Give him a significant portion of the ABs as a catcher and some other opportunities as DH and maybe even 1B.  

Bolded: So you, as a fan, believe that something that is widely accepted by most successful MLB teams - including the two squads who faced off in the last World Series - are overstating the importance of a metric.

 

You realize how that sounds, right?

 

As for finding out what the Twins have in Garver, exactly what makes you think Falvey and Levine aren't interested in seeing that as well? But, here's the problem... Catching is really, really important defensively. We've seen what happens when the likes of Suzuki, Doumit, et al squat behind the dish.

 

You see a pretty stat line that makes you want to see what Garver can do. That's great. I want to see what he can do as well. But I'm sure as hell going to defer to the front office on this one because if they don't feel Garver is ready, I literally have zero information beyond a stat line to argue with them over it. And a .935 OPS over 46 plate appearances in AAA isn't enough of a stat line to call their decision idiotic.

[drjim]

As for Tepesch, I really hope the front office has Berrios working on something very specific that will make him a better MLB pitcher or it's hard to support that decision.

Really hard to support this.

 

If not that reason, it is only to protect Tepesch from being exposed, which is a terrible reason.

[kab21]

 

I think our 1/1 draft pick this year will be in the mix late next season. I'm thinking McKay 

But you can see the extremes (signing the top FA pitcher, a healthy 34+ yr old, a prospect that does great and Hughes simply being effective) that were needed in order to have a situation where there was too much pitching. I would be surprised if more than half of those happened. Plenty of room for prospects to come up.

 

Arguments that don't make sense regarding Santiago

- prospects will be blocked (I yearn for the day that a prospect is blocked by a good pitcher)

- spend the money on somebody else (plenty of money to go around with an offensive core in pre-arb)

- the Twins can sign someone else decent later (if they could then they wouldn't continually have awful rotations)

[TheLeviathan]

"Not any time soon"?  

 

Sharpen those pitchforks boyos.

[kab21]

 

"Not any time soon"?  

 

Sharpen those pitchforks boyos.

Frustrating to say the least

 

[yarnivek1972]

What makes the decision to start Tepesch on Sunday even odder is that he has been up for more than a week and hasn't pitched. When was the last time he pitched? How can he be expected to succeed like that? If that is indeed the decision, it is poor roster management IMO.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Tepesch seems very much like a move the old front office would have made.

[Shaitan]

Berrios right now reminds me of Liriano, post-Tommy John.

 

If it were the old FO, that would mean they want him pitching with a chip on his shoulder, angry at not getting called up sooner. With this one, who knows.

 

[mlhouse]

 

Bolded: So you, as a fan, believe that something that is widely accepted by most successful MLB teams - including the two squads who faced off in the last World Series - are overstating the importance of a metric.

 

You realize how that sounds, right?

 

As for finding out what the Twins have in Garver, exactly what makes you think Falvey and Levine aren't interested in seeing that as well? But, here's the problem... Catching is really, really important defensively. We've seen what happens when the likes of Suzuki, Doumit, et al squat behind the dish.

 

You see a pretty stat line that makes you want to see what Garver can do. That's great. I want to see what he can do as well. But I'm sure as hell going to defer to the front office on this one because if they don't feel Garver is ready, I literally have zero information beyond a stat line to argue with them over it. And a .935 OPS over 46 plate appearances in AAA isn't enough of a stat line to call their decision idiotic.

 

Yeah, I do because I know more about statistics than any baseball executive and most of the guys doing the statistical research.  And it isn't even close.   

 

What the data shows is that Castro "creates" a net of about 1 extra strike per game for the Astros last season. Not one strike per at bat.  Not one strike per inning.  One extra strike per game.  According to their estimates this saves 12-13 runs per game.  I personally believe that is a very high estimate of the number of runs a SINGLE extra strike saves.  But, lets assume that this is the upper bound of the stat, that is a negligible .1 runs per game.  But again, I think the estimate of runs saved is over estimated because in the course of a game so many "strikes" are meaningless.  In an example, with a 3-0 count the pitcher throws a strike, then walks the hitter on the next pitch.  

 

Regardless, there is another issue with this data.  IT does not control for pitching quality, amongst other things.

 

SO, lets look at Jason Castro's statistics for pitch framing for the past three seasons.  In 2014, he created .61 extra strikes/game and that equated to 9 runs saved.  2015 1.04 extra strikes and 12.9 runs saved.  2016 0.92 extra strikes per game and 12.8 runs saved.  Assuming the estimate, those are pretty good stats.  IN 2016 amongst catchers with at least 3000 innings, he was 5th in the major leagues in runs saved.

 

But, lets look at 2017 now that he is the catcher for the Twins.  Suddenly, Castro's numbers are NEGATIVE.  He went from a catcher who created about 1 net strike per game to a catcher that loses 0.73 net strikes/game.  DId he suddenly get terrible?

 

ANd what about the despised Kurt Suzuki?  Last season with the Twins he cost the pitchers 0.40 strikes/game and this translated to an increase of 5 runs over the course of the season.  But now, with the Braves Suzuki is in Jason Castro land, increasing the number of strikes by 0.95 strikes/game.

 

Did Suzuki become good and Castro bad?   Or does the quality of pitching influence these decisions?  A good pitcher is going to be closer to the plate more often and throw with more control.  A poor pitching staff is going to miss their target, causing the catcher to move more and not be close enough to the plate to have a chance at a ball being framed a strike.  

 

Here is the data so you can look for yourself.

 

http://www.statcorner.com/CatcherReport.php

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

SO, lets look at Jason Castro's statistics for pitch framing for the past three seasons.  In 2014, he created .61 extra strikes/game and that equated to 9 runs saved.  2015 1.04 extra strikes and 12.9 runs saved.  2016 0.92 extra strikes per game and 12.8 runs saved.

 

But, lets look at 2017 now that he is the catcher for the Twins.  Suddenly, Castro's numbers are NEGATIVE.  He went from a catcher who created about 1 net strike per game to a catcher that loses 0.73 net strikes/game.  DId he suddenly get terrible?

You just answered your own question in the same post.

 

If a guy is consistently good in a statistic for three consecutive seasons, one month of fluctuation does not disprove the statistic's quality anymore than Buxton dropping three balls in a week of play suddenly makes him a bad defender or Dozier going three weeks without a homer makes him a bad hitter.

 

One of the merits of framing is how consistent it is. You just pointed out how consistently it tracks individual players year over year.

[mlhouse]

 

Tepesch seems very much like a move the old front office would have made.

 

Yep.  Instead of rolling with our own prospects, the old and new management seems enamoured with retreads.  I get that Tepesch has previous major league experience, but there are reasons why his previous teams let him go.  

 

As I have pointed out, the Twins history over this recent period of disaster is loaded with the Twins management bringing in other teams cast offs and medicorities rather than giving their own minor league prospects a chance.  

 

Starting from the first 99 loss season of 2011:  Jason Repko, Steve Helm, Jamey Carroll, Josh WIllingham, Matt Carson, Jared Burton, Jeff Grey, Jason Marquis, Ryan Doumit, Clete Thomas, Chris Colabello, Doug Bernier, Eric Fryer, Kevin Correia, Mike Pelfrey, Josh Roenicke, Kurt Suzuki, Sam Fuld, Kendrys Morales, Phil Hughes, Ricky Nolansco, Jordan Schafer, Tori Hunter, Shane Robinson, Juan Centreno, Logan Schafer.  And I am probably missing a lot of them.

 

I get trying to bring in Tori Hunter to salvage some respect to from the fans, but what is a 39 year old outfilelder going to do to help a team that has lost an average of 96 baseball games over the previous 4 years.  I get that we were bringing up prospects as we went but my argument is we gave too many opportunities to the list of rejects and non-entities above that should have went to the prospect, and they should have went to the prospects even if we were going to lose more ball games.

 

An example I have used is Adam Brett Walker.  Now, I am not claiming that he was ever going ot be a major league hitter.  His strike out rate probably meant he would flounder. But he had hit 25 or more home runs in each step of the Twins minor league ladder and an OPS of around 800. But we had plate appearances to give Logan Schafer, Jordan Schafer, and Shane Robinson who probably did not combne for 25 home runs combined.   Again, Walker is probably not going to work out but why not give him a chance and see what he can do?  Maybe he strikes out in every plate appearance and then you just waive him.  But, despite 124 minor league home runs in the Twins organization we did not even give him one sniff of the major leagues.  

[mlhouse]

 

You just answered your own question in the same post.

 

If a guy is consistently good in a statistic for three consecutive seasons, one month of fluctuation does not disprove the statistic's quality anymore than Buxton dropping three balls in a week of play suddenly makes him a bad defender or Dozier going three weeks without a homer makes him a bad hitter.

 

One of the merits of framing is how consistent it is. You just pointed out how consistently it tracks individual players year over year.

 

 

What, no I just said this metric had Castro as a positive player and now has him as a negative player.  That is the very opposite of consistent.  And he didn't suddenly lose his catching skills.  He jsut changed teams just as Kurt Suzuki changed teams and suddenly he did the opposite.

 

I am virtually certain you do not understand what you are saying.

[Brock Beauchamp]

What, no I just said this metric had Castro as a positive player and now has him as a negative player. That is the very opposite of consistent. And he didn't suddenly lose his catching skills. He jsut changed teams just as Kurt Suzuki changed teams and suddenly he did the opposite.

 

I am virtually certain you do not understand what you are saying.

I'm saying that if a stat is consistent over 110-130 games per season for three years and you're pointing to 18 games, it doesn't carry much weight.

 

In other words, SSS. Almost everything in baseball fluctuates over a 18 game data sample.

 

Also, good framers change teams all the time and stay good framers. The same goes for bad framers. Suzuki was also bad before he was with the Twins.

[yarnivek1972]

Yep. Instead of rolling with our own prospects, the old and new management seems enamoured with retreads. I get that Tepesch has previous major league experience, but there are reasons why his previous teams let him go.

 

As I have pointed out, the Twins history over this recent period of disaster is loaded with the Twins management bringing in other teams cast offs and medicorities rather than giving their own minor league prospects a chance.

 

Starting from the first 99 loss season of 2011: Jason Repko, Steve Helm, Jamey Carroll, Josh WIllingham, Matt Carson, Jared Burton, Jeff Grey, Jason Marquis, Ryan Doumit, Clete Thomas, Chris Colabello, Doug Bernier, Eric Fryer, Kevin Correia, Mike Pelfrey, Josh Roenicke, Kurt Suzuki, Sam Fuld, Kendrys Morales, Phil Hughes, Ricky Nolansco, Jordan Schafer, Tori Hunter, Shane Robinson, Juan Centreno, Logan Schafer. And I am probably missing a lot of them.

 

I get trying to bring in Tori Hunter to salvage some respect to from the fans, but what is a 39 year old outfilelder going to do to help a team that has lost an average of 96 baseball games over the previous 4 years. I get that we were bringing up prospects as we went but my argument is we gave too many opportunities to the list of rejects and non-entities above that should have went to the prospect, and they should have went to the prospects even if we were going to lose more ball games.

 

An example I have used is Adam Brett Walker. Now, I am not claiming that he was ever going ot be a major league hitter. His strike out rate probably meant he would flounder. But he had hit 25 or more home runs in each step of the Twins minor league ladder and an OPS of around 800. But we had plate appearances to give Logan Schafer, Jordan Schafer, and Shane Robinson who probably did not combne for 25 home runs combined. Again, Walker is probably not going to work out but why not give him a chance and see what he can do? Maybe he strikes out in every plate appearance and then you just waive him. But, despite 124 minor league home runs in the Twins organization we did not even give him one sniff of the major leagues.

 

The most notable one you are missing is Ervin Santana. Prior to his tenure with the Twins, he was a below league average pitcher in terms of ERA +. Should the Twins also not have signed him? But, that is what happens when an organization consistently fails at developing MLB talent through it's farm system. It is forced to overpay for mediocre retreads.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

"Not any time soon"?  

 

Sharpen those pitchforks boyos.

 

Given how bad Berrios was last season, I'm not sure this is the right reaction just yet.  I don't pretend to be excited if Tepesch is the call here, nor do I pretend to know what exactly it was that would have made a batting tee about as effective as Berrios last season.  

 

What I do know is that something was wrong.  Perhaps it was tipping pitches (certainly makes sense) or something else altogether, or more likely a combination of several things.  One month in AAA, even it was spectacular, may not necessarily be the cure for all things that ail Berrios, and I don't think pushing him off the deep end is necessarily the answer either.  I'm guessing the front office understands a bit more of what is going on here than any of us.  Berrios wasn't a victim of luck last season that will 'normalize' once he's out there more. He wasn't ready.

 

Let's face it, all we are doing is scouting the box scores.  Tepesch may have worse stuff, but he also may have some of the finer points of pitching down that allows him a better opportunity to get major league hitters out now.  We rightfully bashed the front office the last few years for yo-yoing guys around.  This front office may be taking a more patient approach here and forcing Jose to work on some of those things that made it difficult for him to succeed last season, and you and I won't see that b/c it doesn't show up in a minor league box score.  That's especially true if he's being asked to change a bad habit that he has had for several years. It's going to take some repetition to fix that, and the last thing he needs is to be thrown to the wolves before he's established a new good habit.

[USAFChief]

 

Yep.  Instead of rolling with our own prospects, the old and new management seems enamoured with retreads.  I get that Tepesch has previous major league experience, but there are reasons why his previous teams let him go.  

 

As I have pointed out, the Twins history over this recent period of disaster is loaded with the Twins management bringing in other teams cast offs and medicorities rather than giving their own minor league prospects a chance.  

 

Starting from the first 99 loss season of 2011:  Jason Repko, Steve Helm, Jamey Carroll, Josh WIllingham, Matt Carson, Jared Burton, Jeff Grey, Jason Marquis, Ryan Doumit, Clete Thomas, Chris Colabello, Doug Bernier, Eric Fryer, Kevin Correia, Mike Pelfrey, Josh Roenicke, Kurt Suzuki, Sam Fuld, Kendrys Morales, Phil Hughes, Ricky Nolansco, Jordan Schafer, Tori Hunter, Shane Robinson, Juan Centreno, Logan Schafer.  And I am probably missing a lot of them.

 

I get trying to bring in Tori Hunter to salvage some respect to from the fans, but what is a 39 year old outfilelder going to do to help a team that has lost an average of 96 baseball games over the previous 4 years.  I get that we were bringing up prospects as we went but my argument is we gave too many opportunities to the list of rejects and non-entities above that should have went to the prospect, and they should have went to the prospects even if we were going to lose more ball games.

 

An example I have used is Adam Brett Walker.  Now, I am not claiming that he was ever going ot be a major league hitter.  His strike out rate probably meant he would flounder. But he had hit 25 or more home runs in each step of the Twins minor league ladder and an OPS of around 800. But we had plate appearances to give Logan Schafer, Jordan Schafer, and Shane Robinson who probably did not combne for 25 home runs combined.   Again, Walker is probably not going to work out but why not give him a chance and see what he can do?  Maybe he strikes out in every plate appearance and then you just waive him.  But, despite 124 minor league home runs in the Twins organization we did not even give him one sniff of the major leagues.  

I'm with you on the quality of veterans the Twins have added, but I'd say the prospect problem is 99% a lack of them, 1% a lack of opportunity for the few deserving ones over the past decade.

 

 

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Given how bad Berrios was last season, I'm not sure this is the right reaction just yet.  I don't pretend to be excited if Tepesch is the call here, nor do I pretend to know what exactly it was that would have made a batting tee about as effective as Berrios last season.  

 

What I do know is that something was wrong.  Perhaps it was tipping pitches (certainly makes sense) or something else altogether, or more likely a combination of several things.  One month in AAA, even it was spectacular, may not necessarily be the cure for all things that ail Berrios, and I don't think pushing him off the deep end is necessarily the answer either.  I'm guessing the front office understands a bit more of what is going on here than any of us.  Berrios wasn't a victim of luck last season that will 'normalize' once he's out there more. He wasn't ready.

 

Let's face it, all we are doing is scouting the box scores.  Tepesch may have worse stuff, but he also may have some of the finer points of pitching down that allows him a better opportunity to get major league hitters out now.  We rightfully bashed the front office the last few years for yo-yoing guys around.  This front office may be taking a more patient approach here and forcing Jose to work on some of those things that made it difficult for him to succeed last season, and you and I won't see that b/c it doesn't show up in a minor league box score.  That's especially true if he's being asked to change a bad habit that he has had for several years. It's going to take some repetition to fix that, and the last thing he needs is to be thrown to the wolves before he's established a new good habit.

So much this. I'm incredibly disappointed that Berrios didn't get the call but given how he pitched last season and his apparent problems, I don't know if this is the wrong decision.

 

It might be the wrong decision, it might be a necessary decision. I simply don't know. But I can still be disappointed that the front office doesn't feel he's ready.

[yarnivek1972]

Given how bad Berrios was last season, I'm not sure this is the right reaction just yet. I don't pretend to be excited if Tepesch is the call here, nor do I pretend to know what exactly it was that would have made a batting tee about as effective as Berrios last season.

 

What I do know is that something was wrong. Perhaps it was tipping pitches (certainly makes sense) or something else altogether, or more likely a combination of several things. One month in AAA, even it was spectacular, may not necessarily be the cure for all things that ail Berrios, and I don't think pushing him off the deep end is necessarily the answer either. I'm guessing the front office understands a bit more of what is going on here than any of us. Berrios wasn't a victim of luck last season that will 'normalize' once he's out there more. He wasn't ready.

 

Let's face it, all we are doing is scouting the box scores. Tepesch may have worse stuff, but he also may have some of the finer points of pitching down that allows him a better opportunity to get major league hitters out now. We rightfully bashed the front office the last few years for yo-yoing guys around. This front office may be taking a more patient approach here and forcing Jose to work on some of those things that made it difficult for him to succeed last season, and you and I won't see that b/c it doesn't show up in a minor league box score. That's especially true if he's being asked to change a bad habit that he has had for several years. It's going to take some repetition to fix that, and the last thing he needs is to be thrown to the wolves before he's established a new good habit.

But, it wasn't just one month. It was a couple months in the middle of last year at AAA. Berrios certainly wasn't great in September last year, but he was considerably better than he was prior to that.

 

You are also ignoring that the FO explanation for why Berrios was starting the season in AAA is because he was part of the WBC and needed to get stretched out. He's been over 90 pitches in his last 3 starts. He's sufficiently stretched out. The Twins need to find out if Berrios is for real or not. That happens by facing MLB hitters, not AAA hitters. Sure, the Twins are still theoretically in contention. I still don't think that will be the case in July after this team has faced better teams, especially from the AL East. I still think the Twins are about a 72 win team. Santana and even Santiago aren't going to be this good all year. Gibson and Hughes are already pretty bad. The bullpen has been inconsistent. Sano is carrying the offense. That won't be allowed to happen by managers with brains if a guy with a mid .500 OPS continues to bat behind him.

[Mike Sixel]

I see no evidence this FO wants to give the youth a chance, unless that youth was already on the roster. They signed OLD free agents, and tried to sign more. 

 

So far, I'm disappointed in their actual actions.