Arraez vs Evil -my last remaining reason to care

[PopRiveter]

This is all about feelings, and feelings aren't right or wrong so no judgement please.

The events of the second half of this Twins season have drained me of enthusiasm and interest. Beyond my ambivalent feelings overall toward my Twins, I have a deep and abiding hatred for the Yankees. That never wanes.

MLB is no fun to watch when the teams who pay 2-3x the payroll of their competitors are just beating up on the rest of the league. I especially root against Aaron Judge. It is not fair to him and I'll admit that, but he is exactly what I picture when I read accounts of the Nephilim or Goliath. His success brings nothing but pain. 

I would have already moved on 100% to football season, but Luis Arraez is my favorite current Twin and he still has a chance to play spoiler. 

In honesty, this will be a near impossible hill to climb. With Judge this close to the triple-crown, the mandate is in and you can see it every day on the field. MLB wants the huge east-coast storyline. For the rest of the season, many of the away crowds will be rooting against Arraez. More importantly, the umps will be skewing the field against him. The strike-zones will be pinched when he bats. Close calls will go against him. Judge is the recipient of every possible advantage right now and it's moved him just ahead in the race. 

If the numbers keep trending this way, I'll be checking out until spring. But if Luis can resurge and has a real chance to play spoiler, I'll still have one solitary reason to care about these otherwise worthless games. 

It's Arraez vs. Evil. 

Here's hoping!

[bean5302]

Arraez is pulling the same disappearing act he pulled last year as the season got longer. He's totally refusing walks, leading to poor contact and automatic outs. He's had less success almost every single month this year. If Arraez is going to play triple crown spoiler, he's going to have to stop trying to get a hit on every single pitch which is thrown, regardless of how poor the pitch is. If he'd take some walks, he'd get some better pitches. 

Sep .282/.301/.366 .667 OPS, wRC+ 91, 1.4% BB,
Aug .269/.316/.394 .710 OPS, wRC+ 103, 7.0% BB
Jul .314/.352/.465 .817 OPS, wRC+ 133, 5.5% BB
Jun .324/.386/.471 .857 OPS, wRC+ 148, 8.8% BB
May .376/.480/.412 .892 OPS, wRC+ 170, 15.7% BB
Apr .317/.386/.397 .783 OPS, wRC+ 128, 10.0% BB
 

[Squirrel]

I have a difficult time saying he’s against evil when he’s been slumping. That said, I hope he does it. But is Judge really getting preferential treatment? Just asking because I don’t know and haven’t been watching. But, yes, the media hype is certainly in his favor, just don’t know if it’s affecting on-field ‘umperical’ decisions

[cheeseheadgophfan]

He pinch hit last night and grounded out to second to end the game.  He did not look healthy running down to 1st base.  I've always admired his hustle, but to me he looks like he's hurt.  

[RpR]

According to Gamecast, his first two pitches last night were genuine stikes and he watched them go by, forcing him to swing at crap to not strike out looking, but he does not look healthy when he is at the plate.

[Unwinder]

I've decided that while I loathe the Yankees, I don't have anything against Judge specifically. He's going to either leave the Yankees, depriving them of their best player, or he's going to absolutely gouge them for an obscene amount of money. Sure, he's not going to bankrupt the Yankees, but they can't have him on their terms, and that's enough for me to not root against him.

Would love to see Arraez destroy him, of course.

[Doctor Gast]

I'm together w/ you, Pop. I was advocating him to sit out against tough LHPs, to help out to keep his avg. up & give him time to rest, a couple of months ago. I was afaid that he'd get tired and or injured  and eventually lose his grasp on the crown, I was very much opposed by some fans.

[insagt1]

I loathe the Yankees, but honestly I find myself rooting for Judge to win the triple crown. Arraez has not hit like a batting champ for 2 full months now and I don't think he deserves the title anymore. Judge is not the typical triple crown player..I'm surprised by his high BA quite frankly. His splits between home and road are almost identical, so he isn't getting a home field advantage this season. He seems like a decent guy. I hate giving the Yanks any props at all, but unlike all those who have posted so far, I hope he does succeed. (Twins aren't making post season, so there are no axes to grind on this)

Is Judge 'clean'? I have to think probably yes. He is lapping the field regarding HR's. Just having an extraordinary season. Must add living in Western NY, we get the YES Network so I do catch a lot of Yankee games...mostly to hope they lose. He single-handedly murdered the Orioles this year.

BUT--he will always be only the 2nd most extraordinary athlete to wear #99!!!!

[spanman2]

The Twins drafted Kohl Stewart #4 in '13...Yankees drafted Judge #32.  It's not as if they went out and bought him via free agency.  Overall I can't stand the Yankees but give credit where it is due...see Andy Pettitte/Jeter/Posada/Rivera etc...have they paid big for free agents over the years...of course they have.  But they have also done a great job of drafting/developing and retaining those players.  He is a very good ballplayer having a historic season.  Arraez is struggling down the stretch again as bean5302 points out compared with early season months.  

[Rosterman]

Arraex, right now, seems to be hurting a bad. Couldn't come at a worst time for him. Like the Twins, he was on-the-top for most of the season and now will fall to third (or worse).

In some ways, I do root for Judge to go for the Triple Crown (plus, he can steal bases). A magnificent feat if he can pull it off.

 

[PopRiveter]

Everything I've read from every commenter has been reasonable and well-founded. Unfortunately, the overwhelming conclusion it leads to means there is no reason for me to stick around any longer. I think I'm done watching baseball this year.

Evil won. 

Oh well. Baseball was fun through most of the summer anyway.

Get outdoors and enjoy some beautiful weather. I'll see y'all next year!

[baul0010]

19 hours ago, spanman2 said:

The Twins drafted Kohl Stewart #4 in '13...Yankees drafted Judge #32.  It's not as if they went out and bought him via free agency.  Overall I can't stand the Yankees but give credit where it is due...see Andy Pettitte/Jeter/Posada/Rivera etc...have they paid big for free agents over the years...of course they have.  But they have also done a great job of drafting/developing and retaining those players.  He is a very good ballplayer having a historic season.  Arraez is struggling down the stretch again as bean5302 points out compared with early season months.  

Judge is hard to root against.  He was drafted and brought up in the Yankees system, but he's a good dude.  I could root against Jeter.... He seemed like a stuck up piece of ****.  

[LVTwinsfan]

This whole Yankees are evil schtick is just a childish attempt to excuse the shortcomings of teams who are not very good for a number of reasons and in the Twins case, payroll is far down the list of reasons as to why they can’t compete. Keep in mind they just got swept by the Royals. Maybe the Twins are evil because they dupe their fans into believing they have a good baseball team when in fact they are at best, less than average. I would like to see Judge get the triple crown, that’s a personal achievement, not a Yankee achievement anyway. 

[Dave The Dastardly]

21 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

I'm together w/ you, Pop. I was advocating him to sit out against tough LHPs, to help out to keep his avg. up & give him time to rest, a couple of months ago. I was afaid that he'd get tired and or injured  and eventually lose his grasp on the crown, I was very much opposed by some fans.

Didn't Rocco have built in scheduled rest days for Arraez? You know, like Buxton and Correa?

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I am actually rooting for Judge. Not sure why. But if Arraez rallies and catches him that would be spectacular. I know Arraez has platoon splits but sitting Arraez against lefties is just item #772 in my long list of dumb things the Twins do but am not going to worry about. 

Twins fans got a nice well-earned gift when Morneau edged out Jeter for MVP in 2006. 

[insagt1]

A few interesting things to watch in the final 2 weeks: Can Pujols get 2 more HR's to reach 700? I think most fans are pulling for him. If he reaches the final weekend at 699, I wonder how many 'meatballs' he might get to reach the pinnacle? Judge battling for the Yankee HR record as well as the triple crown. Can the Dodgers win 116 games? They have 104 with 12 to play...so no, but how many can they win? Will the Mets and Braves go down to the wire in the NL East? Any 20 game winners this year? O's probably ended Verlanders chances last night. He has 17 wins. 'modern' fans don't care about this. Old timers still find the 20 win standard to be a measure of excellence. Can the O's steal a wild card? Very unlikely but still possible (4 back with 13 to play) Will the major leagues have more than 10 .300 hitters this year? Will the Orioles duo of Mullins and Mateo be 1-2 to lead the AL in stolen bases? Will any pitcher have more than 1 CG this year?

Just a few items on my radar.

[Doctor Gast]

47 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

I am actually rooting for Judge. Not sure why. But if Arraez rallies and catches him that would be spectacular. I know Arraez has platoon splits but sitting Arraez against lefties is just item #772 in my long list of dumb things the Twins do but am not going to worry about. 

Twins fans got a nice well-earned gift when Morneau edged out Jeter for MVP in 2006. 

Running players to the ground, knowing they have poor knees isn't a smart idea in my book. & why are you rooting for Judge? I want for Arraez to have every opportunity to win it, under the present situation you desire, he won't. Maybe if he sprouts wings he will.

[lecroy24fan]

27 minutes ago, insagt1 said:

Will any pitcher have more than 1 CG this year?

 

Sergio Alcantara has 5.

[insagt1]

thank you. I think I was thinking that no pitcher has more than 1 CG shutout....unless that changed recently.

[RpR]

I will give Judge credit as he is the only  player, removing drug use years, that hit 60 home runs within the time of the early seasons length, 154 games that Babe Ruth did.

I looked at his numbers on Baseball Ref. and think this is the best he will ever do dropping down , at his own rate the way, Pujols did.

Having listened on the radio to how he worked to over come 100 mph pitches , not just fast balls, explained partly why he is doing as well as he is. (Would love to see the Tigers pick him up next year.)

 

[ICTwin25]

I love Luis too, but something isn't right with him right now. On Judge, he's extremely likable to me and I don't have a reason to cheer against him outside of it being the Yankees and then playing in a Little League Park. A-Rod was an all time douche but Judge doesn't seem to be that at all. 

[insagt1]

It was emphasized that Judge's numbers are evenly split between home and road. 30 HR's at home and away. BA identical too. So this year anyway, we can't use Yankee Stadium as any excuse.

Pujols got his 700th at Dodger Stadium. If it had to be away from St. Louis, that was the 2nd best place...one because it was in front of a large crowd, an appreciative crowd...and because he played for them last season, and was well liked. It was a great evening for him. I don't think anyone ever expected him to to hit 21 HR's this year.

[rwilfong86]

17 hours ago, ICTwin25 said:

I love Luis too, but something isn't right with him right now. On Judge, he's extremely likable to me and I don't have a reason to cheer against him outside of it being the Yankees and then playing in a Little League Park. A-Rod was an all time douche but Judge doesn't seem to be that at all. 

I've heard several times on the broadcast that Luis has lengthened his swing which has killed his ability to poke the ball through holes and has led to the constant fly ball outs we see now.