Suicide Skweez

Pathetic. Does Molitor not teach his guys how to bunt? I can count on one hand the guys on this roster who have any idea how to lay down a bunt. Thats on Molitor.

There's no excuse not to try and lay down a sacrifice bunt here. None.

Incredible! Polanco would not have made that play. I rest my case regarding how incredibly valuable it is to have a talented defensive shortstop who can really flash the glove and come up with big plays. It can save you games!

This is how leaving RISP costs you games. You just have to find a way to get guys in from 2nd and 3rd. Luckily, Mejia is doing a very good job at keeping the good guys in front for the time being.

Dozier would've been safe if he would have gone feet first... not really sure why he chose to go into home plate sideways like that on a bang bang play. Another case in which the Twins can't convert in clutch situations. They needed to put up 2-3 runs there to feel good about themselves.

I like it too. I like throwing a 44 year old pitcher who's given up 66 runs in 63 innings pitched this year against one of the most prolific offenses in baseball. What could go wrong? Maybe I should ask what could go right...

Despite a miraculous run of 50 games, if you think Polanco is going to be a league average shortstop going forward your crazy. I could see him averaging out to be a a .250/.320/.710 hitter with no power, but that's not enough to make him a worthy regular in the lineup for any major league ball club considering his fielding. His ceiling is a utility player but most utility players bring the glove, so not a particularly valuable one.

If I'm the FO and the Yankees are asking for Santana, I demand Justus Sheffield and Chance Adams in return. If they bite, done deal and its an easy decision. If not, I throw in Kohl Stewart as a bit of a sweetener and then hopefully they bite. You're talking a realistic deal that would put two young SOLID starters in our rotation within the next calendar year. Then you have a young rotation consisting of Berrios, Adams, likely 1 vet, and some combo of Sheffield, Mejia, Romero, and Gonsalves rounding out the final two.

Polanco has spent parts of 3 or so seasons in the majors now and we have only seen his performance regress as he gets further into his career. He's on a similar trajectory to that of Danny Santana, who had proven to be expendable. He leads the team in errors (although SS is a more error prone position) and has the worst fielding pct on the team outside of Robbie Grossman, which is not saying much. Although he got off to a solid start this season in the field, he has started trending back to what we all expected him to be in the field; a liability. His preparation and set-up for ground balls is downright lackadaisical and its visible to anyone who's coached or played short at a competitive level. His arm is just fine, but his footwork stinks and hands are even worse. Plus fielding shortstops are vital to a good team, but even Polanco's performance would be slightly easier to muster if he was producing at a high level at the plate. Well he's doing just the opposite! Lowest OBP on the team, average that's soon to dip below .220, and he's providing zero power. No plan of attack, looks slightly lost up there (that's being generous), and he's either making quiet outs or striking out. Now, numbers would indicate Buxton has shown similar struggles at the plate, but his situation is different in so many ways... 1) He's a hands-down a gold glover. 2) Has trending upwards in just about every offensive aspect 3) Still extremely young and has a lot more development left in him (he will figure it out). 4) Is emerging into a leader. More lead by example now but is growing into a more vocal role. Polanco is struggling big time, is pretty much who he is by this point in his career, and displays zero leadership abilities that makes him with keeping around as a regular in the lineup. They could simply wait it out until Gordon is ready and stick with Polanco, but I don't think they can afford to because of how much Polanco hurts the team. So alternatives... A- Put Escobar at SS until Nick Gordon is ready to stick (figure anytime in between September and mid-summer next year) B- Call Nick Gordon up if you think he's close to ready and take a chance knowing that he could have success and stick right away, and even if he likely has some growing pains, knowing he's ready to take on the challenge and work through them as he finds his way in the bigs. C- Leverage a minor trade without mortgaging big-time prospects and find a servicable interim shortstop. D- Not a huge fan of this, but maybe use a platoon system if need be. Sorry for the lengthy write-up, but I think it's certainly a relevant topic to be discussing. What do yall think?