I agree... But as I pointed out earlier, the choice shouldn't be "Kepler" or "Herrmann". There are other options. Hell, I'd rather call up Pinto when you get right down to it. Like Arcia, he has a proven track record of "not sucking at hitting a baseball".
The Garza move was dumb. I can't fault the Twins as much for Liriano, as the White Sox got nothing from him at all. Good on Pittsburgh for finding a hitch in his delivery and fixing it. What I learned from the Liriano situation is two things: 1. Rick Anderson was well past his shelf life 2. I wish the Twins were more like the Pirates
While I agree it's "all hands on deck", I'm not convinced Kepler is a good candidate for a September call-up. The Twins remain unconvinced he's ready for MLB pitching and I can't really argue with that... They see the guy every day and this has been his "breakout" season. I'd rather see Arcia if you told me "We need a guy who can get on base in the eighth inning of a September 15th game". Kepler is a complete unknown at this point and without first hand experience watching the guy, I'll defer to the Twins' evaluation team whether he's ready for an MLB cup of coffee. But I still don't really get the Berrios thing. If the Twins shut him down for the season after one more start, I'll understand it a bit more but I will never understand why he wasn't up here in mid-August to make that (badly needed) spot start that led to the disastrous Yankees series.
I'm fine with trading Plouffe if the deal is right. I'm fine with keeping Plouffe if the deal isn't right. I won't get too upset either way, really. There are good points on both sides of the argument.
Someone honestly believed that? They should have been keeping up with my win tracking thread. The Twins haven't been less than 17 games ahead of previous seasons in quite some time, making 90 losses almost an impossibility. It's like people forget just how long a baseball season takes to play out and how little one series matters in the grand scheme of things. You expect that from someone who's 18 years old but when you see the same people doing it every single year, you have question how they manage to make it from April to October without heavily medicating themselves.
A great point, one that doesn't get enough consideration. Why call up Pinto as a third catcher when you can call up an actual third catcher and pinch-hit with guys like Vargas, Arcia, Kepler, or Walker? Not that I think most of those guys will get the call but if you have an extended September bench, who is playing as "third catcher" is going to be less important than the no-position mashers you have riding the pine.
It's easy. The Twins have participated in two "playoff" games (now referred to as "tie-breaker" games): 2008, 2009. The Twins have participated in a bunch of postseason games: 1965, 1969, 1970, 1987, 1991, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010.
Yep. MLB no longer has "playoff" games. They have "tie-breaker" games and "postseason" games. We should stop using the word "playoffs" in baseball entirely, as it only causes confusion.
Okay, this thread needs some terminology clarification: Playoff: The term formerly used by MLB for a game 163 single-game elimination between clubs with the same record after the 162 game season. Tie-Breaker: Due to the confusion over the word "playoff", this is MLB's new term for a game 163 single-game elimination between clubs with the same record after the 162 game season. Both of the above terms refer to regular season games (though the Santana suspension is still up in the air) and teams that lose game 163 do not participate in the... Postseason: Wild Card games, AL/NLDS, AL/NLCS, World Series.
I'd rather play Toronto because winning that game is virtually a 50/50 shot no matter who you play. And if it comes to eliminating one of those teams so you don't play them in a five game series, I'd want to get rid of Toronto, even factoring in the Twins' woes in New York.
I'm not sure Berardino is right about that... I've been digging into the MLB PED policy and this is the only reference I could find to a tie-breaker game (also did multiple searches on variations of postseason): "A Player who began serving a 162-game suspension for a violation involving a Performance Enhancing Substance on the first day of a championship season also will be ineligible to participate in any tie-breaker games during that season after the completion of his suspension." Obviously, Santana was not subjected to a 162 game suspension. The fact they directly referenced a 162 game suspension and tie-breakers (and failed to specify tie-breaker rules anywhere else in the 60+ page document) leads me to believe Berardino misread the rules. http://mlb.mlb.com/pa/pdf/jda.pdf
Oh yeah, it's not like they turned terrible overnight but it's tough to pass two teams and gain ~4 games in a month, especially given their recent play.
I don't know if I even consider the Angels being in it at this point. They've been pretty bad for a month now. They'd have to correct course immediately to get back into this thing.
You are correct. Game 163 is a regular season game. It's how Morneau managed to play 163 games in 2008 or 2009. The Wild Card game is a postseason game.
It's fine to vote for him but what his nomination tells me is USA Today is completely clueless about baseball and prospects. They should be embarrassed for themselves right now. The Twins system isn't even that stacked right now and they have two players more deserving of the nomination (Kepler and Berrios).
Sano and Hicks are a pretty terrible comparison. The 2013 Twins weren't interested in winning games, they were interested in restocking a depleted farm system. However, if you change 2013 to 2004 and Hicks to Mauer...
Yay! Minor league baseball RBI totals! Yay! Uh, did we warp back to 1956 and I missed it? If so, I always wanted to see Mays, Mantle, and Robinson play.