Article: Blind faith vs. evidence and reason

[Alex]

It seems like everyone is making this a “Slama vs. Gray” debate. It’s not. Slama was removed from the 40 man last year – long before Gray came along. Any team could have claimed Slama last year. None did. Why do you think that is? Does anyone really believe that all of MLB is part of a conspiracy to keep Anthony Slama out of majors? Come on. Slama has put up some good numbers in the minors. But he’s put up some bad ones too. Specifically, he’s averaging over 4 walks per 9 innings. Add that to the fact that his fastball couldn’t break a pane of glass and you probably have your reason why he’s not highly regarded. His 7 walks in 7 innings/1.86 WHIP during his brief stint in the majors only reinforced that concern.

Regarding Gray – he has a decent arm with a fastball averaging about 93 mph per Fangraphs. This is the 5^th year in the row he’s pitched in the majors and with 3^rd team. So again – to make it sound like the Twins are the only people in the world who think this guy could be ok is incorrect. In a year where injuries have again taken a toll on this team, Gray has been healthy/available. He’s had moments when he’s been ok – especially at Target Field (27.1 IP, 18Ks, 1.28 WHIP, .245 BAA). He’s also had moments when he’s been horrible. But unfortunately, that’spretty consistent with the entire team. Bottomline, cutting Gray at this point would be the equivalent of throwing a deckchair off the Titanic to stop it from sinking. It wouldn’t matter.

Again – this should not be “Slama vs. Gray”. If the Twins wanted to see Slama this year,they could have called him up. Here is a list of guys who got the nod ahead of Slama: Jeff Manship, Lester Oliveros, Tyler Robertson, Kyle Waldrop, Casey Fien and Luis Perdomo. That's six guys who they called up ahead of him! And I'm going to guess that Vasquez will be #7.

 

And how have most of those guys worked out? Yep, Slama had a bad seven innings in the majors but since then he pitched well. I assume that if you're ready to make a judgement on Slama after that, you'd also like to keep Dozier where he's at?

[Buck Nasty]

And how have most of those guys worked out? Yep, Slama had a bad seven innings in the majors but since then he pitched well. I assume that if you're ready to make a judgement on Slama after that, you'd also like to keep Dozier where he's at?

 

You gotta let it go man. Slama does not appear to be part of their plans. Some of the other guys mentioned have done fine. Fien has actually been very good. Robertson has been a great situational guy on lefties. Manship had his moments as a long man - i.e. his last game here. Oliveros looked good before he got hurt. I doubt Slama would have added anything beyond what they got from those guys.

[freightmaster]

Question the competence of the scouting staff and decision makers for leaving Slama in Rochester ... but it makes no sense to me that any MLB team would leave a guy in the minors who could actually help our weak pitching staff.

 

So I can't accept the conspiracy theory.

 

Besides, peoples jobs depend upon smart and correct decisions that turn into W's.

 

Would anyone posting here be so foolish as to refuse to stock a roster with the best available players if it was their decision? I do not think so.

 

1-Slama was completely lost with the Twins, seemingly justifying their evalution, AND...if he is such a great prospect, why arent other teams trying to pry him away from the Twins? Seems an ideal trade chip, but I dont think his name comes up very often

[Shane Wahl]

Question the competence of the scouting staff and decision makers for leaving Slama in Rochester ... but it makes no sense to me that any MLB team would leave a guy in the minors who could actually help our weak pitching staff.

 

So I can't accept the conspiracy theory.

 

Besides, peoples jobs depend upon smart and correct decisions that turn into W's.

 

Would anyone posting here be so foolish as to refuse to stock a roster with the best available players if it was their decision? I do not think so.

 

1-Slama was completely lost with the Twins, seemingly justifying their evalution, AND...if he is such a great prospect, why arent other teams trying to pry him away from the Twins? Seems an ideal trade chip, but I dont think his name comes up very often

 

He pitched 7 innings over two seasons for the Twins.

[Jim H]

One last post on this topic. Slama missed 2 months of this season due to injury. He missed a similar amount last season. At least part of the reason he hasn't gotten big league opportunities is because he has been unavailable for at least 1/3 of the last 2 minor league seasons. You can't pitch in the majors if you can't pitch in the minors.

 

I have not paid much attention to the Slama/Gray discussion because I really don't think Gray has anything to do with Slama not pitching in the majors. But if you have to compare the two, well they have similar control(control being the major problem for Gray). Gray throws harder and is said to have better stuff, which having watched both only on TV, it seems likely or at least it looks that way on TV. Slama has managed better strikeout rates in the minors, but has a similar home run rate. Slama's deceptive delivery may help him but I really don't see any huge likelyhood that he is going to be a lot more effective than Gray. It could happen and really it would be good for the Twins if he was, but it really isn't all that likely.

 

 

If Slama is going to be effective in the majors, his control has to be much better than it has been in the past. Otherwise he is Jeff Gray, more or less. Now he may "deserve" an opportunity, and if he can stay healthy, he will likely get another one. Again and finally, he isn't any victim of a conspiracy, he isn't being held back because someone doesn't like him, he isn't a victim of faulty evaluation.

 

To pitch in the majors, since he is unlikely to improve either his velocity or his stuff, he must stay healthy and demonstrate improved control. That's it.

[Fatt Crapps]

I'm no big fan of Gray, but he did his job fine this year, eating innings and protecting other arms.

 

Actually, Gardy has used him multiple times when the game was tied. He's done a fine job by being the worst reliever in the majors? He's this years Dusty Hughes, but for some reason is still on the roster.