jkcarew

Assuming Dozier will want his big pay day (more than 2 years), there will be one more potential window to get something for him. Next season's trade deadline...only if the Twins happen to be out of it, obviously. Other than that scenario, we're probably looking at a compensation pick. Can't trade him this off-season now. You're expected to compete in 2018, and you're likely to not only get worse at 2nd base if you trade him, you're likely to get way worse. So, you'd have to be blown away with a trade offer at this point. And that doesn't seem likely. On a related note, Nick Gordon in 248 plate appearances since July 1 is slashing .219/.278/.313 with 60 strike outs. Gulp. SSS, young for his level, and still a very nice prospect etc., etc....but not exactly beating down the door for a middle infield spot quite yet.

I think it's much more realistic to consider that this year has not HURT Joe's chances. This year arrests the rate at which his career numbers were diminishing in stature. The only way it HELPS is if the voters don't notice he was a first baseman in 2017. An .810 OPS/117 OPS+ does not contribute to a hall-of-fame case for a first baseman. At all. For example, Kent Hrbek had about 10 years that were better than that. And no, Joe is not better defensively than Hrbek was at that position. If Joe makes it, it will be on the basis of what he did at catcher for 8 seasons from 2006 to 2103. Was it long enough? It hurts that even that 8 year stretch included 3 seasons where he didn't complete the year. The voters don't get into the business of projecting what your career would have been without the injuries. (See Oliva, Tony)

Fair enough. It was an anecdotal comment based on my perceptions having listened to most of Chattanooga's games on the internet. I went back and looked at Romero's game logs and it wasn't AS bad as I thought it would be. Some short outings with bad-to-very bad pitch counts; some short outings with pitch counts that really weren't horrible. All in all, not efficient, but not really out of line with what you see from many prospects. This year he's been averaging about 16.6 pitches per inning and his strike percentage is about 65%. The trend is not our friend, though. Last year, just about every number was significantly better than this year. Last year Romero dominated, and maybe it's just me, but it seems like a lot of posters have the perception that that he's dominating again this year. He's hasn't. He's had dominant or borderline-dominant starts here and there, mixed in with a whole bunch of mediocre, ok starts and a handful of clunkers. The AA level has challenged him. Happily, the one number that's held up is his strike out rate (although, it's taken a bit of a hit lately to 8.6 per 9). So, here's to hoping that this is a temporary plateau on his otherwise rapid ascent to the big club. But I'm not sure that, at this particular point in time, the Twins see him as 'almost' ready. We'll see.

I don't see it as the local columnist's job to recruit future free agents to stay. Also, whenever I see/hear the Harmon Killebrew 'start of career' comparisons, I cringe. The rules at the time created a situation where Killebrew was forced to remain with the major league club from the moment he signed at 17 years of age. His first 110 games or so, he was nothing more than a bench player, frequently appearing only to pinch-hit, and averaging no more than 2-3 plate appearances per game overall. And again, he was 18,19,20 years old at the time and should have been developing somewhere on a minor league field. Sano...I'm torn on Sano. I love him. I love his demeanor on the field and what we can see in the dug-out. Seems to almost always have positive body language and displays a ton of energy. Also seems truly engaged and the first to congratulate teammates when they do well...even when he is struggling. I think that is NOT that common and I think it's huge. I also happen to believe that Sano is a better athlete and more agile than the average fan (even the average TD poster) can even imagine. He's just a huge athlete. I believe that if he had grown up in the US he'd probably have ended up having to make a decision between D1 offensive/defensive lineman or baseball. (I think one of Howie Long's kids got drafted by MLB and ended up making the football lineman choice...but when you're from the DR, you don't end up with that option.) On the other hand, I do think it's a part of being (or becoming) a professional that you develop disciplines than enhance your craft. In Sano's case, if he is to reach true greatness...MVP/HoF-type greatness...he'll need to do two things. He'll need to obtain and maintain a leaner body and he will need to adjust to off-sped pitches away. When you're as talented as Sano, you can be good...you can be an all-star...without the sacrifices and improvements. But how good does he want to be? It's up to him. For now, I'll enjoy him for what he is. But eventually, the bar will be raised. It always is for the best players. Sano is not the first to face this.

It probably says a lot about the top end of the 2017 prospect pool that TD had Romero No.1. At the time that declaration was made, Romero was a 22-year-old 6'-0" right-handed starting pitcher with a grand total of 31 starts over 4 professional seasons...none beyond single-A...and with elbow surgery thrown into the mix for good measure. Ouch. The title of the article could be "Is it time to slow the roll on Fernando Romero?". He really hasn't been great this year. He started slow, then was very good for a while, then has been downright poor recently. Aside from a couple of instances (one referenced in the article) where he was removed early with a decent pitch count, more often than not, he has been very inefficient. Even when he was rolling, his pitch counts were usually getting away from him early. The numbers speak for themselves. He's barely averaged over 5 innings per start and his walk and hit rates have been significantly higher than in seasons past. Of course this can be considered SSS, but then, so can the combined total of his 'good' seasons. I'd be careful with him. I'd try to balance wanting him to experience the reality of a long professional season, while avoiding him trying to force results by changing his mechanics, etc. One thing I'm certain of having listened to the Chattanooga games this year...ceiling aside, Romero is significantly further away than is Gonsalves...at least as a starter. And yes, Romero is younger...by about 5 1/2 months. I'm guessing that we'll hear soon that Romero is shut down, and I'd be very surprised if we see him up for anything more than a relief inning or two...and only after the games don't matter.