Sano

[Number3]

After saying that Sano  should be on a short leash and was "toast", he is solely responsible offensively for the last 3 Twins victories. Were it not for him, they would be on a long double digit losing streak. Not that it means he is over the hump so to speak but give credit where credit is due. In the year of the no hitter, maybe a .150 batting average with a few game winning home runs is ok.

[Taildragger8791]

It's great to see him warming up, although I have my doubts it'll last much longer since he still isn't handling the low stuff well. That homerun yesterday was a middle-in cookie thrown right into his happy zone.

He still has a long ways to go to make up for being a black hole for the month and a half prior. Several games lost by a run or two where a few more hits and balls in play could have made the difference. 

[Dodecahedron]

Sure.  Everyone knew he would not hit .113 with no power for the rest of his career.

As someone else pointed out elsewhere, Sano is at career bests for walk rates and strikeout rates.  His BABIP is practically underwater.  It would surprise no one if he stays hot for a while.  He has been "unlucky" if you believe in that.

This doesn't erase all the past drama, and likely future drama.  Many teams would love to have his power:salary ratio and the Twins should take advantage of that to build out their depth.  The Twins have other good 1B options.  I have no doubt Sano would do some great things for another team, but the Twins don't have the luxury of having a feast-or-famine hitter at first base.

[Brock Beauchamp]

This is a good reminder why we shouldn't call for the immediate release of a player based on well under 100 plate appearances. After a disastrous start to the season, Sano's OPS+ is up to 109 in basically one week of play, which is somewhere around league average first baseman territory. If he continues this tear for even a few more days, he'll be back up to very good hitter territory.

[Dodecahedron]

9 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

This is a good reminder why we shouldn't call for the immediate release of a player based on well under 100 plate appearances. After a disastrous start to the season, Sano's OPS+ is up to 109 in basically one week of play, which is somewhere around league average first baseman territory. If he continues this tear for even a few more days, he'll be back up to very good hitter territory.

True, but the games over the past six weeks still counted.  We know he is good enough to "recover his stats" by the end of the year, and I think we always expected it.  The Twins' postseason chances probably won't recover in the same way, not that he is solely to blame.

[Brock Beauchamp]

8 hours ago, Dodecahedron said:

True, but the games over the past six weeks still counted.  We know he is good enough to "recover his stats" by the end of the year, and I think we always expected it.  The Twins' postseason chances probably won't recover in the same way, not that he is solely to blame.

But a lot of people *didn’t* think he would recover his stats. I saw calls for his DFA a half dozen times in the two weeks leading up to this hot streak. 

[Dodecahedron]

On 5/21/2021 at 8:53 PM, Brock Beauchamp said:

I saw calls for his DFA a half dozen times in the two weeks leading up to this hot streak. 

The riffraff gotta riff, I suppose.