Spring Backward

D Santana and Pressly should be demoted before Buxton and Gibson.

both slumps are profound. is it too much to ask that they'd each have taken over at least one game by now? the twins would be 10-8 and the flock would mostly be happy.

i see where greg bird is hitting .103 in 51 plate appearances for the yanks. good thing the twins have too many 1b types -- or they might be tempted to trigger a buxton-for-bird trade. (i'd still bet on buxton.)

Buxtons problem is in his head. It may have happened anyway, but only a fool would have taken someone this young, with limited MLB success and stuck him in the three hole. (Or someone hoping to save his job) The last thing BB needed was added pressure. That said he is in the unique position of being a player who has to be allowed to work it out here. His history is that no matter what level he moves to, he struggles, and then denominates. Hopefully this will continue. Because even allowing for the miserable pitching, if he doesn't pan out, this franchise is in serious trouble. This is Buxton and Sanos team now. They either make it or we look at 5 more years of an abyss.

Buxton's struggles make me wonder something about spring pitching: we all know velocity doesn't max out until after spring training, but what about sharpness of breaking pitches? Is this the first time this year Buxton is seeing pitches like this? If the answer is yes, we have to wonder whether he is permanently overmatched.

Nice perspective, I guess, in that these are two guys who have talent and seem to be have more trouble with the mental side of the game.  Thinking to much, and hurting the team.  Confidence is hard to quantify.

The more I've seen of Buxton, the more I don't think anybody has ruined or rushed him.  I'd say Molitor recognized Buxton's unique psychology, and hitting him 3rd had as good a chance to help as any where else would have.  He honestly needs to hit rock bottom at the plate.  Which, my God, he seems to have done.  But that is the conundrum of rock bottoms.

I expect him to come up at some point, fall behind 0-2, and finally get angry.  Maybe break a bat in between swings.  And then he'll nail one and it will be game on.  Or maybe Levine can make a deal with the Rangers--we'll let you blow us out, if you'll send up a pitcher and have him throw batting practice to Buxton.

As for Gibson...I feel betrayed.

In Buxton's case it could a matter of the old adage...." He couldn't hit the curve ball".

Before advanced analytics how many times have we heard this statement over the years.

Compare Buxton to Robbie Grossman.....Robbie has a real feel for hitting and bat control

whereas Buxton doesn't. It's possible Buxton could find the stroke but most likely not.

It's almost like putting in golf or scoring goals in hockey....some have a better feel than others. Let's hope it works out!

I have long held Gibson is not a major league pitcher, or if he is it will not be here, which should bring a change in pitching coaching and philosophy. It is possible that  Gibson just needs a fresh start somewhere else, he is too much a head case to remain here. I am starting to agree with this and think a trade to a club that needs starting pitching for a class A lottery ticket may be the only answer.  If free fall continues over the next two weeks, this may all become moot, as the Twins will start selling off pieces for prospects and bringing up the better minor leaguers.  This would have been my course at the start of the year.

Boy, for the longest time, Gibson was considered the great hope of the Twins' minor leagues, at least in terms of pitching prospects. But he hasn't done all that much to distinguish himself, at least for the past couple of years.

That said, I was at the game yesterday, and I thought that the defense was particularly problematic. Danny Santana, who should not be on the roster, dropped a fly ball. Dozier missed a grounder. A few others managed to get by players. Fly ball to center that Byron Buxton almost certainly catches fell for a hit. Jason Castro allowed a passed ball and then threw the ball into right field. It was ugly.

Baseball is ninety percent mental, the other half is physical.

- Yogi Berra

Baseball is a simple game, hit the ball, throw the ball, catch the ball.   This is also what makes is exceptionally difficult.  The simple things are never easy.   Any of use who have played the game,  or have children who play the game (or both) know this.  

Gibson... he has the physical tools to at a minimum, compete at the MLB level. 

Buxton... he has the physical tools to flat out dominate at the MLB level.

Both players would not be here if they didn't have the tools to compete. 

I'm not defending the poor performances, far from it... but before some of you let your vitriolic hate flow and call them garbage or a waste of space, just remember this:

They and other players are someone's child, brother, best friend, etc.    How would you feel if that was your son out there?

As far as buzzkills go, Buxton's struggles stand alone. In order of magnitude, a reversal in direction of these are things would turn around my own spirits: Buxton figuring it out at least to an acceptable level at the plate, Berrios holding his own in MLB, Fernando Romero having another promising season, Gonsalves regaining his health, Lewis Thorpe looking like he's back, Gordon keeping it up, and hauls at the trade deadline for two or more vets.

I already am a believer in Kepler, Sano, and Polanco. I just don't care about Gibson or Hughes. I take those days off from baseball generally.

Maybe we can let our pitchers hit and DH for Buxton. Kidding.

Chargois/Burdi/Melo is a good add to a wish list.

I'd like to see the stats for Gibson pitching in cold weather and when the temps are warmer.   I don't know what they are but if memory serves me well it has seemed he has pitched much better in warmer weather and his k rate per nine goes up as well

March/April is one of his worst months.  He has a career 5.76 ERA and a career .816 opponent's OPS.  However, his actual worst month is August (5.91, .853) , so that kinda shoots that theory to pieces

As for the notion that he might be better as a reliever, some have suggested it, his worst inning is the first inning (.810 OPS) other than the 9th, in which he has pitched just once in his career.  Also, the second time he faces hitters in a game his OPS is .827.  That sounds like it might support an argument for the pen.  But then you look at the first time through and it is .719.  That's still not very good.  To me it comes down to him simply being unable to execute the pitches he needs to make.  He KNOWS he has to keep the ball down to have any chance.  He just. can't. do it.  Not consistently anyway.  

I'm looking back at his game log from 2015 because it is undeniable that he was consistently terrible in 2016. He had a smattering of good starts, but by and large 2016 was a disaster for him. He was pretty bad in the second half of 2015.  From July 21 to the end of the year, Gibson made 14 starts.  He failed to complete 6 innings in half of them.  He gave up 5 earned runs or more in 5 of them.  His ERA coming into July 21 was an excellent 2.85.  By the end of the season it was 3.84, up a full run.

So, my Minnesota High School Math skills are saying that's 9 1/2 months of largely terrible pitching by Gibson covering more than 40 starts.  How much more do his defenders need to see before they are ready to cut bait?

The definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result.  Allowing Gibson to continue to start and expecting him to do well is therefore insane.

Not going to give you a 'like' because I don't like it, but I agree with you.

 

Give Buxton a couple more weeks, if he doesn't show some improvement, they need to ship him back to Rochester, to gain some confidence and get his stroke back.

 

I'd give Gibson one more start, if its as bad as the others, off to Rochester if the they think he can still make it as a starter, or else into the bullpen.

I keep hearing that Buxton's "stroke" is the problem. That his swing is too long to succeed in the majors. If that's true, why didn't they notice that and correct it while he was in the minors?