Time for Gibson to go/Gibson optioned to AAA

[Otto von Ballpark]

Is there an issue of Berrios and service time? Might the Twins delay his promotion in order to keep him under team control for another year?

Berrios had 74 service time days last year. They would have to keep him down until pretty much July to prevent him from getting a full service year before the end of the season (172 days).

[drjim]

FWIW, I think Alex Wood was rumored to be a possible extra piece available in that deal. He would look pretty good on our staff right now, even if DeLeon hasn't done anything.

I'd take some Wood right now.

[strumdatjaguar]

DFA Tonkin, demote Gibson to the pen, bring up Berrios with Duffy waiting in the wings.  Next question will be what to do with Adrianza!

[yarnivek1972]

DFA Tonkin, demote Gibson to the pen, bring up Berrios with Duffy waiting in the wings. Next question will be what to do with Adrianza!

I think a transaction involving Pressly is more likely. Perhaps DL. Perhaps AAA. But something is definitely not right with him.

[Mike Sixel]

I think a transaction involving Pressly is more likely. Perhaps DL. Perhaps AAA. But something is definitely not right with him.

He's not all that good.....

[EddieMatthews]

Whew!  A very hot topic.  

 

A big part of the conundrum for the Twins is that, in addition to questions about their fifth starter (Mejia) and their fourth starter (Gibson), they have serious concerns about their third starter (Hughes).  Add to that, Berrios is not a guarantee to successfully replace any starter.  Hence there are 13 pitchers on the 25 man roster based on the expectation that starting pitching will break down.

 

Looking at the pitchers formerly on the roster, they have made good decisions in discarding Pelfrey, Nolasco, Milone, Dean, Albers, Meyer, etc.  They still need someone who can start and make it to the 6th inning.  

 

Just as important, the hitting has been mediocre and trending downward.  The expected leaders, Sano, Dozier, Buxton, Mauer, Rosario, are all underperforming.  They may not improve a lot from current performance.  Could be a long season.

 

 

[Mike Sixel]

Sano is 16th in fWAR, how is he under performing?

[Thrylos]

 

 

 The expected leaders, Sano, Dozier, Buxton, Mauer, Rosario, are all underperforming.

 

 

Sano with his .990 OPS, .415 w0BA, 177 wRC+, and 182 OPS+ is not underperforming by any means.

 

The rest are, but Buxton and Rosario are not yet "leaders".  Mauer and Dozier, off-course.

[yarnivek1972]

He's not all that good.....

No one is going to confuse him with Dennis Eckersley. But 3 HR and 3 doubles in his last 4 outings. He's also not THAT bad.

 

We saw this with May last year. He went on the DL a month later. Never pitched well after that and now TJS this year.

[70charger]

I'd take some Wood right now.

Seriously, are we not doing phrasing anymore?

[Thrylos]

 

No one is going to confuse him with Dennis Eckersley. But 3 HR and 3 doubles in his last 4 outings. He's also not THAT bad..

How much worse can you be as a reliever if in 75% of your outings you allow a double and a HR.  That is about 15 xBH and 7.5 HR / 9 innings.   Pretty disgusting actually

Even Mejia pitched better than that...

[Champuckett]

Just as important, the hitting has been mediocre and trending downward.  The expected leaders, Sano, Dozier, Buxton, Mauer, Rosario, are all underperforming.  They may not improve a lot from current performance.  Could be a long season.

Buxton, Mauer, or Rosario were not expected to be leaders by a significant portion of Twins fans.

 

Sano is right about where you would hope he would be, hitting home runs and driving a lot of people in.

 

Dozier is doing his standard half season underperforming routine.

[USAFChief]

Yup.

Believe me or not, but keep in mind that 90% of the ball games I goto I'm sitting 4 rows behind home plate in the "scouts" section, so clearly I have the sources (and track record on 3 other pieces of breaking news) to know that the other offer was on the table.

Either way, even if you don't believe me which is fine, the reality is the Twins are still an awful team and have a terrible pitching staff across the board. New regime has done absolutely, positively, zero to improve it. Berrios still sits in AAA and guys like Gibson is getting starts h doesn't deserve.

Perhaps the Twins shouldn't have gone the "cheap" route in hiring a new GM and VP and paid market value for a solid one?

What do I know thoigh? (Other than a 8.00 era from a starter is bad!)

I plan on Twins-Dodgers in LA in July. Can you score me some ducats?

[DaveW]

I plan on Twins-Dodgers in LA in July. Can you score me some ducats?

Yes, a pair is easy to come by, anything more is a little bit harder. PM me about 6 weeks out.

[notoriousgod71]

Other guys that I've heard the Twins claim have the "best stuff" on the team: Joe Mays and Rich Robertson.

 

It seems to me they just say that as an excuse to run out garbage pitching.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Hopefully that is the LAST we will ever we gibson in a Twins uniform. Goes down as another bust in a long list of Twins first round busts. Berrios time!!!

 

I believe the correct words are "stick a fork in him". 

[David HK]

I have been so done with Gibby for the last couple of years.  I was hoping and praying they'd pull the trigger on that erstwhile Tulo trade back then.  And when they were jerking May around to the BP, I wanted Gibby to be the one to give up his seat (because we had that Pelfrey mirage going on just then...heh...).  

 

He needs to go to the pen.  I don't think AAA is the answer for him.

 

These dang day games- they happen in the middle of the night for me.  Fortunately, I have a terrible cold, so I was up for a while last night.  Put the radio feed on, and my Gawd, you could hear the smack of the line drives he was giving up.  They were teeing off on him- again.  Thankfully fell asleep during the pitching change- but strange dreams I had...

 

 

[Joe A. Preusser]

Attacks?  Nope.  My position has been that flaunting his personal religious beliefs at a workplace is a. unprofessional and b. divisive.   Period.  Nothing less nothing more.  His beliefs belong in his home and place of worship not in a baseball game.   If that is considered an "attack", it is a comical hot take.  I have no issue with anyone's beliefs, if kept where they should be, in private.

 

Jorge Polanco was a better hitter than Brian Dozier in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and will be a better hitter than Brian Dozier in the future.  I stand by this position.  Of course a player on his prime will have more power than a 22 year old, which has been Dozier's single advantage against Polanco last season. 

 

Especially in high leverage situations (*).  Again:  Dozier's career year (2016) slash line when the game was on the line: .192/.288/.384.  That's not comical, it is tragic, as is the fact that Dozier will never have as high a value as he did last off-season and the Twins did not get rid of him...

 

(*) Polanco's career slash in high leverage situations is .309/.359/.527

Dozier was an elite power hitter last year. The idea that Polanco was a better hitter last year is patently false.

[Thrylos]

 

Dozier was an elite power hitter last year. The idea that Polanco was a better hitter last year is patently false.

 

.192/.288/.384  in high leverage situations, when the game mattered.  "Elite power hitter" when it did not matter.

 

And nothing "elite" about his .886 OPS.  Above average for sure, but 4th among MLB second basemen and 26th overall among qualified hitters.  That's not "elite", because the 3 better than him second basemen would be what? "Eliter"?

[TheLeviathan]

Leave him in the rotation, getting the first overall pick again next year seems like our only way to add pitching.

[DaveW]

No such thing as clutch, as history has proven. Smells like you are using a SSS to make your (crazy) point.

 

Saying polanco > Dozier last year can't be defended. At all.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

.192/.288/.384  in high leverage situations, when the game mattered.  "Elite power hitter" when it did not matter.

Dude, you really need to stop cherry-picking stats. And yes, I'm going to keep calling you out when you do it in hopes that, after a half decade of calling out this nonsense, you'll stop doing it.

 

Dozier had a tragic high leverage season in 2016. Before that, he was pretty much the same guy in leverage situations that he was in other situations.

 

Yet you focused on 2016 with absolutely no mention of his previous numbers. Huh, funny thing, that. You dig around until you find a statistic that suits your purposes and then you post it. Change "high leverage" to "RISP" and Dozier, for his career, has been pretty good. If those stats were reversed, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind you'd ignore high leverage and only post RISP numbers.

 

Stop. Trolling. This. Forum.

[Joe A. Preusser]

Thrylos, I'm not saying Dozier doesn't have his flaws. He's certainly not perfect. You just have to acknowledge Dozier had one of the best years a Twin has ever had last year.

[snepp]

Now that Dozier has, selfishly I might add, sent this thread off the rails, let's get back to the task at hand.

 

 

Burning Kyle Gibson at the stake.

 

 

/modhat

[Joe A. Preusser]

Now that Dozier has, selfishly I might add, sent this thread off the rails, let's get back to the task at hand.

 

 

Burning Kyle Gibson at the stake.

 

 

/modhat

Oh ya. Send him to AAA already.

[jun]

Berrios and Mejia should be recalled, Gibson could be the long man with Haley out. Pressly should be demoted.

I really don't understand why D Santana is still on the roster. 0 for 4, 2 more strikeouts and 1 error today.

Escobar and Grossman can play corner outfield.

[bird]

 

Good thing they still have Dozier and didn't trade him for pitching.

 

Yeah, well, they WOULD have traded him for pitching, but they have to operate in the Major League instead of the Dynasty League.

[TheLeviathan]

 

Berrios and Mejia should be recalled, Gibson could be the long man with Haley out. Pressly should be demoted.

I really don't understand why D Santana is still on the roster. 0 for 4, 2 more strikeouts and 1 error today.

Escobar and Grossman can play corner outfield.

 

 

That's one loose definition of "play" ya got there....

 

[bird]

 

The market has already bottomed out, since Dozier predictably return to his old usual self...

 

 

How come I'm feeling like we've pulled out some old comments and substituted the name Dozier in where Cuddyer's name used to be?

 

Is it just a coincidence that you feel the same way about media darling Dozier like you did about media darling Cuddyer?

[Taildragger8791]

It's jarring how a few weeks of actual games played is all it takes to knock the rosy glasses off and remind everyone that bad players are still bad. Gibson only ever showed a glimmer of success and some fringe MLB qualities and that earned him a pretty lengthy leash in a lot of minds. The extreme cesspool of pitching we've been subjected to for over half a decade has apparently biased our judgement of what good pitching actually is. Sure, send him to long relief or AAA if you can since you have to pay him this year anyways. But he needs to be replaced at the earliest opportunity to upgrade or extend a tryout.

 

Unfortunately we may not even have an opportunity with the pitching pipeline looking pretty barren and broken. Berrios is the only hope for upside for this year, and maybe Mejía. Both are gambles at this point. Gonsalves is a major question mark with both health and his 'stuff'. Romero is off to a tough start. Stewart is probably calling up Russell Wilson for advice on going back to football. Woof.

 

Weirdly enough or strongest organizational position is suddenly middle infield and we can't even trade any of them for pitching help. Just a snake bitten team this decade.