Front Page: Week in Review: Closing In

[h2oface]

"Willians Astudillo's (0-for-6) at-bats have become so uninspiring I had to finally pull the plug on the Willians Watch weekly tracker."

 

Thank you.

[Vanimal46]

"Willians Astudillo's (0-for-6) at-bats have become so uninspiring I had to finally pull the plug on the Willians Watch weekly tracker."

 

Thank you.

I've got a feeling Astudillo will be an "obscure" jersey at Target Field in no time.

[Old Twins Cap]

Writing is on the wall: Sano to play 1B in 2020.

 

Twins will need a 3B, to be in the mix with Marwin.

 

As to why Lewis is playing CF, could be a realization that SS is not his best position, or Buxton insurance, or someone is going to get traded for Starting Pitching.

 

With Kiriloff, Larnach, Wade, Kepler, Rosario, Buxton and Rooker -- we got a logjam even without Lewis.

[jimbo92107]

 

Gibson and Perez should be nowhere near the playoff roster. Their most recent starts were absolute disasters, against terrible teams.

With Perez it may depend on how well he absorbs Wes Johnson's coaching. When he does it right mechanically, Perez is great. If he can get that back, I'm fine with him.

 

Gibson, on the other hand, should not pick up another baseball until he is fully recovered from his terrible problem with ulcerative colitis. He looks gaunt, weak, and I am frankly worried that he might have some kind of physical collapse if he exerts himself, especially at a pro baseball level. 

[h2oface]

 

Writing is on the wall: Sano to play 1B in 2020.

 

Twins will need a 3B, to be in the mix with Marwin.

 

As to why Lewis is playing CF, could be a realization that SS is not his best position, or Buxton insurance, or someone is going to get traded for Starting Pitching.

 

With Kiriloff, Larnach, Wade, Kepler, Rosario, Buxton and Rooker -- we got a logjam even without Lewis.

 

In the AFL.... with the redundant position players, it is more likely that he can, and still be in the game, and someone that can't is playing SS that game. It makes me nervous, because of injury possibilities, and these games mean nothing, other than getting more at bats to improve against good pitching. I am not a fan of it, myself. I would rather he be progressing and playing a different position under the Twins watch, than someone from another team.

[Mr. Brooks]

But I think they really want him for game 1 unless Berrios suddenly turns into Justin Verlander 2019 in his last start.

He'd still be on normal rest to start game 1, if he starts Sunday.

[Cap'n Piranha]

 

At this point, there is no way the Twins can leave Stashak off the postseason roster. Omitting him from that was either an oversight, or something else. One of, if not both, Gibson and Perez will be left off. I am thinking Perez makes it, just as a 2nd lefty option in the pen.

 

Who's spot is Stashak taking?  If the Twins are truly doing a bullpen game in Game 4, and knowing that 5 innings is about the most they can expect in games 2 and 3, while also knowing that their ace bullpen guys are not great when not rested, length becomes very important.  You have to have at least 2 long guys in the bullpen, if not 3--at this point that's Perez, Gibson and Thorpe (assuming Dobnak goes in Game 3).  If the Twins are carrying 12 pitchers (which has to be the maximum), the 9 in the bullpen would for sure include Rogers, Romo, Duffey, May, and Littell.  Add in the 3 long guys above, and you're now at 8, so the choice would come down to Graterol or Stashak.  I prefer Graterol, due to his upside, but I would not be opposed to Stashak.

 

Also, saying it's an oversight or something else is completely meaningless.  For example, should you respond to this, you will either use your keyboard, or something else.

[SpicyGarvSauce]

 

Who's spot is Stashak taking?  If the Twins are truly doing a bullpen game in Game 4, and knowing that 5 innings is about the most they can expect in games 2 and 3, while also knowing that their ace bullpen guys are not great when not rested, length becomes very important.  You have to have at least 2 long guys in the bullpen, if not 3--at this point that's Perez, Gibson and Thorpe (assuming Dobnak goes in Game 3).  If the Twins are carrying 12 pitchers (which has to be the maximum), the 9 in the bullpen would for sure include Rogers, Romo, Duffey, May, and Littell.  Add in the 3 long guys above, and you're now at 8, so the choice would come down to Graterol or Stashak.  I prefer Graterol, due to his upside, but I would not be opposed to Stashak.

 

Also, saying it's an oversight or something else is completely meaningless.  For example, should you respond to this, you will either use your keyboard, or something else.

 

I love your responses - you take them so personal.

 

Gibson isn't being put on the roster over Stashak, and Perez & Thorpe aren't sure things either. In fact, Thorpe over Stashak would be a total mistake. Thorpe has only pitched 4 or more innings once over the last few months, so it isn't like he is able to give you a ton of innings either. Plus, he has been pretty bad in September.

 

Oh, and he isn't good against LHH either, which is where you could theoretically find a role for him.

 

Stashak isn't being left off the playoff roster. If you want to place a wager on this, send me a message.

Edited September 24, 2019 by SpicyGarvSauce

[Cap'n Piranha]

 

I love your responses - you take them so personal.

 

Gibson isn't being put on the roster over Stashak, and Perez & Thorpe aren't sure things either. In fact, Thorpe over Stashak would be a total mistake. Thorpe has only pitched 4 or more innings once over the last few months, so it isn't like he is able to give you a ton of innings either. Plus, he has been pretty bad in September.

 

Oh, and he isn't good against LHH either, which is where you could theoretically find a role for him.

 

Stashak isn't being left off the playoff roster. If you want to place a wager on this, send me a message.

 

Oh, not personal at all--at least no more personal than you make them.  I'll agree that Stashak, in a vacuum is better than Thorpe or Gibson right now (although Thorpe's numbers are dragged down by one bad outing against Cleveland).  However, he can't do what the Twins are going to need from bullpen options 6-9; provide multiple innings.  While Thorpe has been over 4 only once, he's been over 2 innings 5 times--Stashak has been over 2 innings once, despite 7 more appearances.  When you're likely to need 13-15 innings from your bullpen in Game 3-4 (which are on consecutive days, by the way), you will need 8-10 from the bottom 3-4 guys unless you want to pitch one or more of Rogers, Romo, Duffey, May, and Littell back-to back, and for the third time in either 4 or 5 days most likely.  That makes having 3 guys that you ask to give you 3 innings nearly a must--putting Stashak ahead of either Gibson or Thorpe means Stashak will have to get stretched to two innings, and Graterol might have to as well (unless Graterol is left off for both Gibson and Thorpe).

 

By the way, Thorpe is actually better against lefties than Stashak; .804 OPS against .859 OPS, .354 wOBA against .366 wOBA, 11.1 k/9 against 7.6 k/9, 4.27 xFIP against 5.25 xFIP, 20% hard hit rate against 38.7% hard hit rate.  If the goal is to get another guy to face lefties besides Perez, neither Thorpe or Stashak are good options, but Stashak is worse.

 

No need to make a wager, that interests me not at all.  If I'm wrong, no big deal; I would just be really surprised if a team that will need a lot of length from its bullpen will elect for a 6th one inning guy (maybe 7th, depending on if he's behind Graterol) over a third length guy.