jkcarew

If that’s an Elephant taking a dump, then I resemble that remark.

Problem was probably not the right word. I do think he has an uphill battle. Even with the Twins, 1B and DH figure to be fairly high offensive hurdles to clear…and apparently, they don’t love him at 3rd. He’s gotta mash. Play him every day in AAA, and see what happens.

Honestly, I jumped the gun…just read the title 🙄. But a cool concept…I’m just too lazy to go back and introduce the math.

I know…I’m not playing the game. But… LHSP - Santana RHSP - Blyleven RP - Nathan C - Mauer 1B - Morneau (I’d put Killebrew here if I had to, but I don’t have to) 2B - Carew 3B - Killebrew (played almost 800 games here…when in prime) SS - Versailles (I expect this to be Correa in the future) LF - Allison (apology to Larry Hisle) CF - Puckett RF - Oliva DH - Cruz or Molitor (I could go either way) Honestly, that’ll stack up quite well against most franchises.

I approve of the recent Duran usage. (I post this under the supposition that Rocco reads comments of each TD game recap looking for affirmation and ideas. Who wouldn’t?)

I'd be asking (as the Twins staff)...under what circumstances will we EVER let him play CF again. And as soon as that criteria is met, I'd play him in CF. Maybe, they're doing this. Or, maybe they've simply put a time-frame on it (a different one than what we heard at the beginning of the year)?...to 'prove' that the leg is holding up first. But maybe they're headed toward logic that dictates that it will ALWAYS be the low-risk (and therefore 'correct') choice to DH him. Here's were it's a slippery slope, IMO. Prolonging the career of an 'ok' DH doesn't do that much for the team in terms of wins and losses. Especially, with 'good' DH alternatives proliferating as I type (Julien, as you pointed out, Wallner to name a couple)...and no viable CF alternatives (beyond MAT) on the horizon. (Also why I don't get anchoring Lewis at 3B.) FWIW, they're losing me with backing down from the statement at the beginning of the year when they said Buxton would be playing the field sometime around the middle of the year. What's changed? Maybe it's MAT hitting better than expected? Probably 80% of the frustration with me is that I simply don't know what they're doing...what their longer-term plan is with Lewis and Buxton position-wise. I can't see the logic/pattern with what they're doing, and usually you can see one. Doesn't mean that whatever it is they plan isn't reasonable or 'good'.

But if he can run the bases...and he's been attempting steal, even...why can't he play in the field? I think it comes down to the 'wear and tear' issues...which are subjective. It's a risk computation, isn't it? The Twins are going with the low risk approach, which is also the low reward approach. Seems debatable to me.

Thanks for the work, team. I also would have Balazovic outside the top 20. As of June, he's starting to leak oil fairly significantly. Likewise, I'd have De Andrade inside the top 20, as do you. What are the early reports on De Andrade's defense at short?

Love the list. Some would consider Mack a poor fielder. He was a bit of an enigma defensively. The range was plus, the glove was average…but the arm was epically bad. Anyone and everyone ran on it. The throwing shoulder was toast before he got to the Twins. And it eventually abbreviated his career.

Yeah, I don’t think you can go just with counting stats. Also, fwiw, I think Kepler has benefited from some of the flaws WAR has on the defensive calculations…specifically as it relates to inflated range factors in years where he played significant games in CF. Tom Brunansky was better as a Twin…both in terms of performance (though not by that much)…and in terms of accomplishment…with an epic ALCS and a WS championship.

White Sox are legitimately good if/when healthy. And the LaRussa fiasco is in the rear view mirror.

First time caller, long-time listener… I just wanted to say that even though it’s taken ten years, this Stewart guy is finally starting to show that he was worth that high first-round pick! I’ll hang up and listen.

“Tip your cap to the Jugs A0400, it had us guessing all day,” said Baldelli. That’s good stuff.

It’s a turning point. Or it gives us another 3 games to do nothing and maintain our ‘average’ offensive ranking. Stay tuned…same bat time (almost)…same bat channel.

…reminding myself that 4 + 4 =8

I trust you meant disaster

Like asking my grandson what flavor of ice cream he likes best.

If I was in the Twins dugout, I’d be chirping at Epinal right now. And it would be so much fun.

Appreciated the effort, but had to be a huge commitment by all. This is fine.

6 outs without Duran, and only a 5 run lead. I’m sphinctering already.

So true! Apropos of nothing really…is there a stat for maintaining 2-run deficits?

Not sure you heard about the large crow protest in Omaha, but we’re supposed to go with “avian hop” now. Don’t kill the messenger.

Donny Barrels got all of that one.

Win today, takes your chances tomorrow (and the day after). I don’t think they are purposely stretching him beyond a 4-6 out type of thing. He was pretty inefficient in this game, though. To me, 6 outs should always be in play with Duran. Having said that, I don’t think 38-pitch appearances are sustainable. I think that’s definitely undesirable, but I wouldn’t abandon the willingness to attempt the strategy in games like this.,,for it to work he has to be more efficient than he was in this game, though, IMO.

I’d go with gritty or strong pitching, not dominant…but either way, nice win. On a hunch, I looked up how many of Taylor’s starts had him batting 3rd, 4th, or 5th….in 713 starts… 0 batting 3rd 2 batting 4th 31 batting 5th (Last two kinda surprising…but, KC Royals)