MIN 7, SEA 1: Venezuelan Night in Seattle

Hopefully Berrios and Gibby can go deep in their games so we can give the bullpen some extra rest for what will probably be another set of very competitive games against the Angels

Still believe in Sano, but when he is checking his swings all the time, it shows me is just not ready pitch recognition wise.  It's always been a deal with  him.  When he is doing it a lot, he typically is striking out more and not barreling the ball up.

We will see.  Nice win.

I know he's not stupid, and he still has tremendous potential, but how many AB's does Sano need to figure out he is not going to see one single fastball over the plate with guys on base.  On this team where the next guy is just as likely to hit a home run.

Couple of guys commenting on Sano here and I'll add my .02.

The good news: Twins can now afford bad nights like this from Sano. Or any other player. Schoop was struggling Thursday night. Buxton had a bad night last night at the plate, too. In the past if Sano went 0-5, the Twins likely lost or maybe just squeaked one out. Right now we can afford to let guys play their way out of slumps and I think it's an ideal situation for Sano to get his feet under him. While I agree those check-swings hit a sore spot last night, don't forget he did hit 2 doubles the other night!

James Rowson and Rocco Baldelli and Tony Diaz are chilling out and Sano will start to get used to how they manage. It might relax him a bit. And Nelson Cruz is watching first hand. I personally can't wait until Nelson Cruz gets back in this lineup WITH Sano. He might just be the guy that can help the most (even though it's not his job).

Maybe the Twins can trade for Austin Adams at the deadline and have 2 Austin Adamses in the bullpen!  That dude for Seattle looked NASTY.

Perez continues to roll. The change in approach certainly seems to be sustainable. I wish he'd walk fewer guys, but as long as he's getting Ks like this, it's erasable.

I don't love the roster alignment right now; despite the couple of games against the angels, I'm not convinced that we need 8 guys in the bullpen, but maybe this is a more temporary arrangement?

Sano hasnt changed his approach at all when it comes to chasing pitches. The nice thing is that it wont take management long to recognize that he is a pile of crap in about 2 weeks when he is hitting below .200 because he chases everything.

Love the title of this recap, since I think it needs to be recognized. Luis Arraez was also called up yesterday, even though he didn't play. 20% of the roster is from Venezuela.

Have been waiting for Arraez to come up.  Hope he gets a chance to play up here.

Now win one of two and take another 4 game series.  Hell, win'em both and guarantee a winning road trip.

Perez continues to roll. The change in approach certainly seems to be sustainable. I wish he'd walk fewer guys, but as long as he's getting Ks like this, it's erasable.

 

I don't love the roster alignment right now; despite the couple of games against the angels, I'm not convinced that we need 8 guys in the bullpen, but maybe this is a more temporary arrangement?

Last night was the first time he had really any walk issues in any of his starts I believe. Not too worried. Seattle has a good offense, regardless of their terrible pitching and defense and he went through 6 2/3 only giving up one run and it was close to being caught for the 3rd out. 

Not worried about Sano. It’s not unreasonable to expect some re-acclimation the major league pitching. He’ll be fine. He just had two XBHs 24 hours prior, as well.

If management can find a way to unlock him and bring back 2015-2017 Sano (if it’s still in there), we’re talking about a pretty incredible/historic lineup.

Sano hasnt changed his approach at all when it comes to chasing pitches. The nice thing is that it wont take management long to recognize that he is a pile of crap in about 2 weeks when he is hitting below .200 because he chases everything.

It’s baseball. Getting that ramped up about this will only lead to a Heart attack or mild stroke. Plus it’s an unfair assessment of the player and team.

Whew, for a second I was worried there wouldn't be any knee jerk reactions about Sano in this thread. 

The thing that convinces me so far that the Twins are "for real," is that they are succeeding in a completely normal way. They are trading blows with good teams, and absolutely destroying bad teams. 

Contrast this with the Wild, who had a great record against the best teams in the league, but you knew they weren't legit because they would collapse against teams that could barely lace up a pair of skates. 

I'd say the concern here is a bit too soon. He had a short rehab stint and this is his second game facing ML pitching. He's also always going to be a high K guy anyways.. if he's putting up a ton of games like this in two weeks, then it's probably time to be concerned. But as it is, he two doubles yesterday, so I think it's more or less him still needing to knock some rust off.

It, isn't that I don't believe in him, or that I don't understand that he has had a short stint to start his season.  It is very early for him and he will get better.  More it was an observation, that when he is checking his swing on almost every pitch taken, he's not ready to contribute at the level we hope (despite his 2 hits Thursday).  It's something that I expect to see lessen, the more at bats he gets.  This is season 4 of big league action, so hopefully a light bulb goes on, once he gets up to speed and we see the better pitch recognition that we saw his rookie season, or the first month of his all star season.

If Sano wasn’t “up to speed”, he shouldn’t have bern activated.

Days of coddling need to come to an end. He (as well as everyone else) needs to contribute or risk being replaced.

If Sano wasn’t “up to speed”, he shouldn’t have bern activated.

Days of coddling need to come to an end. He (as well as everyone else) needs to contribute or risk being replaced.

Who are they going to replace him with? He still has the most potential of any bat in our system at the major league level right now and he has shown it. Like bighat said earlier, we have the offense right now to be able to do this. Let him get comfortable and spend some time around Cruz and with the major league staff. 

Not worried about Sano. It’s not unreasonable to expect some re-acclimation the major league pitching. He’ll be fine. He just had two XBHs 24 hours prior, as well.

If management can find a way to unlock him and bring back 2015-2017 Sano (if it’s still in there), we’re talking about a pretty incredible/historic lineup.

1.5 extra base hits but yeah

Buxton seems to have finally turned the corner. No doubt the injuries delayed his emergence. You can see he has the enthusiasm, passion and mental capability. This may not be popular, but Sano just isn't what we hoped he would be. The potential is there, but he's lacking the fire, passion and mental focus to put it all together. This does not diminish him as a person in any way. I'm sure he's a wonderful human being. But for those hoping he will become a great or even good MLB baseball player, it just doesn't look very likely. Maybe one day I'll have to eat my words on Sano. I hope so. 

Nice to see Kepler hit a lefty. If he can get his bat going against lefties, his overall numbers will look really good. OBP .333 and OPS of .846 against righties right now. But .244 and .533 v. lefties -- generally from the #6 spot in the order.