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jkcarew

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Everything posted by jkcarew

  1. There’s a reason Gonzalez and Castro saw pitches over the plate there and Sano didn’t.
  2. There’s the 2 runs scored against Verlander in about 16-17 innings this year (so far)
  3. He’s 30, a Cy Young winner...and was Boston’s #4 in the playoffs last year. That’s the context against which you evaluate post season pitching...it’s no different with Houston, NYY, Dodgers.
  4. My feeling is the Twins have a playoff caliber #2 starter. I’m watching him right now.
  5. In a 162 game schedule, sometimes a hot team with tons of momentum, starts playing poorly several games before results actually turn sour. Hopefully, that isn't what started last week, because the Twins didn't play well at all. They played 6 games at home against two really, really bad teams and outscored them 35-31..most games could have gone either way. Rather than looking/hoping/wishing that the Twins make a move for pitching...and least in the very near-term...I'm going to be looking for some better play in the upcoming week. Maybe the reality of a Red Sox team that seems to be turning the corner will be enough to cut through the issues and distractions of the past week and sharpen the Twins play on the field.
  6. I don't know. 9-4 in June which includes series wins against the Twins and Yankees. Meanwhile, they've seen Boston once so far and won that series, as well. And then there's their schedule. 39 of remaining 92 games against the White Sox, KC, Det, Baltimore. Encarnacion, plus improvement in play of a couple of starters (Ramirez)...probably would (or would have) had them right there.
  7. I’ve always been in the ‘take the chance to get to second with two outs’ camp. And I still like that...but maybe not quite as much when the club is on pace to hit 300 home runs and the guy that follows you is on pace to hit 40. And that’s how it played out. Great point on the positioning of Gonzalez for the Hamilton play. Without that he has no chance, and Hamilton is probably on second with a single and a stolen base.
  8. The Florida State League all-star game...2-0 with a total of eight hits between the two teams along with 20 K’s and 2 BB. Seems fitting. Lewis batted 9th and went 0-3, but didn’t K, and handled 4 chances cleanly at short. Larnach and Diaz were busy in the field as well, with Larnach charged with one error. Jeffers DH’d.
  9. I like Gladden...and his two rings.
  10. I'd do the trade. It's unrealistic to think that a 20 year old guy that they've decided to shut down is anywhere near helping the major league club. Graterol was actually not striking out guys at the rate of most of the other Pensacola starters...given his velo, that's a sign that he doesn't yet have a high-quality/consistent secondary pitch. (See Fernando Romero...another 6-foot-0 power right-hander.) Plenty of potential, but still plenty of risk there....including the risk that he's a reliever long-term. Gordon is a position of organizational depth.
  11. You're not counting the $1.75M that went to the government officials. But who cares!?
  12. Comments on various threads regarding Romero that he should be moved back to a starting role where he was "good". But he hasn't been a particularly good starter at the AAA or major-league level. His 6.8 K/9 as a starter at Rochester last year was a huge red flag. But even that's not the point...as a starter he's needed to be shut down the second half of the season virtually every year he's been 'healthy'. The idea was to get him in a role that could be counted on to add value throughout the season. Whatever the case, it should be easier...and take fewer major-league quality offerings...to get 3-6 outs vs 15-21. He's 24 and still a thrower, not a pitcher. (And I don't think his schedule the 24 hours immediately preceding his outing yesterday probably helped much, either.) One thing Littell did last time up...even though he got blasted in that last outing, he managed to eat over 4 innings. At this point, I'd just be happy if the bottom/low-leverage guys could simply finish a lost game (or a blow-out win for that matter).
  13. Statistically, the Twins bullpen is 'ok'...still top half in terms of FIP, and most numbers that one would care about. Still not what you might want for a team that looks good enough to compete with the best in the post season. But the thing that is most concerning to me...the Twins are right at the bottom of MLB in innings pitched by bullpen. In other words, this is as good as it's likely to get with the current cast of characters. Any regression/struggle at all by the starters and we'll see more of the bottom half of this bullpen in leverage situations. Maybe that doesn't matter in the race to win the ALC? Maybe that won't matter in the post-season with Pineda and/or Perez moving to the pen? Maybe Mejia will ride in on a white horse?
  14. When you have 6 outs left, lead by 9 runs, and end up having to warm up your best guy (Rogers was up in the pen in the 9th)...who is trying to heal an injury....that's not good. And this type of finish to blow-outs has happened multiple times. I agree it's not likely to matter in the regular season. But help in the minors seems non existent...and the trade deadline isn't really that far away.
  15. Jeremy also likes to end most of our baseball conversations with "even my hapless club has managed to win more championships than yours in the last quarter century!" Great guy, that Jeremy.
  16. I’d make Romero go back out there and try not to embarrass himself and the team again. I’m sure Seattle wouldn’t argue.
  17. Huge hit from Max! Win probability now at 50%!
  18. My dad told me, "don't let frustration lead to rash decisions you'll regret." Just trying to help.
  19. The blame for yesterday's outcome lays squarely at the feet of Nelson Cruz. If he had hit even one home run in the first 9 innings of that game, the Twins win.
  20. Arraez...I know...kind of an 'after the fact' move, right? "Hey, this guy just OPS'd 1000 over a couple of weeks in the majors, we need to bump him up." But nothing's ever changed with him...big hit/on-base tool from day one, and not a lot else. (HR with Twins his only HR in 250 PA this year, average defense, no threat on bases.) But the hit tool trumps all others. And nothing like a little MLB audition to make people take notice of what a .329 career minor league hitter across 1600 PA and six levels looks like.
  21. Still think the bullpen upgrade is required for the post season, not the regular season. It looks worse than it is right now due to Rogers temporary unavailability. Although, that doesn't mean they shouldn't be looking for solutions now...the trade deadline is the trade deadline. Can also hope that Romero turns into anything resembling what he was advertised to be even one short year ago. I don't see any other 2019 answers in the minors. Don't mind others getting a shot, like Reed, but have no expectation that he/others would perform based on where they are and/or what they've done. Agree that this is a risk they took when being relatively inactive in the off-season. The team has over-performed expectations, and now the FO is in a very tough spot...perhaps having to over-pay to patch holes on a playoff-caliber team.
  22. Health would seem to make some sense. It's reasonable to think that scouts/evaluators would see material risk in Kirilloff's health track record at this point (including most recent "undisclosed" injury). Perhaps more risk, for instance, than 2 bad months of performance would represent for someone like Lewis.
  23. I'll buy that Odo is exceeding his expected level of performance by a greater margin than Polanco is exceeding his. But I'm with everyone on most valuable so far...Polanco. The encouraging thing is that I could see multiple candidates that seem capable of emerging as '2nd-half' MVP if Polanco were to falter some. Fun! *knocks wood for player health*
  24. Having heard Rosario and Sano several times in interview scenarios, we can assume this text is heavily edited via translations to English. Also, as much as I love Sano....and I do love Sano...I don't know that it's in anyone's best interest to take too much of a 'relaxed' approach to his work. Having said that, if Rocco can/is relating to these guys better overall, that wouldn't be too surprising. But cause and effect can get confused pretty easily under extreme circumstances (like a .680 win percentage).
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