bean5302

I agree with you. I think the biggest advantage with starting pitchers is their ability to give you 6+ innings of pitching while keeping you in the game. Why go out and trade for a starter if you're going to use them like an opener? Baldelli isn't the issue. The front office & Baldelli's game plan is the issue IMHO.

It's math. You probably shouldn't argue math. Gordon attempted to intercept the ball at 75 feet from his original position. The second line, slightly further back is 83 feet long. The third line, furthest back is 99 feet long. Based on the approximate ball velocity and Nick Gordon's maximum sprint speed, here is a blown up image of where Nick Gordon would have been relative to the ball had he taken a different route. The ball is the white dot, the red star is Nick Gordon's position relative to the ball. As you can plainly see, the ball is traveling faster than Nick Gordon can run. I blew the image up to 400% of it's original size and measured the distance of each line, then calculated the distance traveled between the ball points and calculated the time needed to travel between those different points and re-plotted Gordon's position at his maximum speed. Math. Nick Gordon could not have possibly cut the ball off by attempting to play the ball deeper.

Really? Cut the ball off? How was he going to do that? The ball was traveling 90mph (135 feet per second). Gordon runs 28 feet per second (18mph). The ball travels 4x as fast as Gordon's best sprint speed. There no mathematical, theoretical, hypothetical possible way Gordon can "cut the ball off" since it was slicing away from him towards the foul line. Gordon essentially took a right angle path to the ball, which is the shortest distance possible and the only possible chance he had at catching/or cutting the ball off. You're wrong. Flat out. There is no opinion involved here. This is math.

Any self respecting manager would quit if all the on field decisions were being made for him and against his wishes. Furthermore, GM's generally don't hire managers who are not on board with a management philosophy the front office believes in. Baldelli buys into the TTO (third-time through order) logic, which I think is totally flawed. Tyler Mahle has been better TTO this year than STO both in ERA and FIP. My biggest problem with the TTO myth is how pitchers are pulled. If the pitcher runs into problems with the TTO, their leash is short. Often there are inherited base runners, inflating FIP, and the bullpen allows those runners to score, inflating ERA. The other problem I have is the drop in performance between FTO and STO is greater than STO and TTO. Not to mention, it doesn't matter if there's a drop in performance for TTO if the bullpen arms still aren't better than the starting pitcher in the first place.

Wasn't his wrist. Hurt his elbow diving for a ball.

Correction, Wallner had a rough start at AAA, but that seems mostly luck related. First 10 .105/.227/.105, OPS .332, 13.6% BB, 37.4% K Last 11 .286/.412/.619, OPS 1.031, 15.7% BB, 25.4% K Wallner's plate discipline is MUCH improved this year. He's become a dangerous hitter.

Full No Trade Clause. Buxton is going nowhere, and even if the Twins wanted to trade him, he's really not worth much in regard to surplus value. Buxton is a good player. A very good player and he's on pace for 123 games and 510 plate appearances this year. This was the absolute BEST case scenario for Buxton. He is not the reason the Twins aren't winning.

The Yankees have scored 3 or fewer runs 45, yes, FORTY FIVE times this year! I think their whole line up is going to be kicked to the curb. Side note, 6 fewer games scoring 3 or less, 13 or 14 games above the Twins in the standings. It's not the games the Twins score 3 or fewer causing the problem. It's needing to score 10 to win a game. It's the 46 games the Twins have allowed 5 or more runs. If you allow 5 or more, you have to score 6 or more to win. That's not reasonable. Even the very best offenses in the league don't average 6 runs or score 6+ runs even 1/2 the time. The Twins' pitching results are the problem.

I like soft soap. Doesn't leave a gross pile of scum on the vanity top, refill containers are cheap and huge so they last forever and you can have a one with different scents on each side of the faucet. Looks nice, smells nice. Makes your guests feel like you went an extra step.

That was a beautiful attempt by Gordon. He couldn't have played it better with an almost perfect straight angle to the ball and he missed the ball by an inch off the tip of his glove, not feet, like a Jake Cave dive. If Gordon doesn't go for the catch, there's no telling which angle the ball takes as it bounces off the wall in the corner of left field. Regardless, 2 runs score as it was 2 outs so the runners went on contact with a run already crossing the plate as Gordon was getting up from his dive and another runner on their way in. Even worse, there's no out at the plate. No, now there's a runner on 2nd or 3rd with 2 outs and a tie game. Things worked out the absolute best way they could, ironically. Attached is an image of Gordon's route. He took virtually a perfect angle on that ball. I should clarify. Orange is the line drive path. Black dots are Nick Gordon and Carlos Correa. Gray dots are the other fielders (Byron Buxton runs all the way over to Gordon). Blue is the throw from Gordon to Correa. The problem is at the center of the red circle... or it's the runners paths. Either way.

I swear this BS never gets old to you guys, does it?

I'm interested to see if Jose Miranda can keep on fire and close the gap on Julio Rodriguez as a RoY candidate (it'll be a very tall call) or if he can just continue mashing. I'm interested to see if Maeda can return and how he looks. I'm interested to see how Duran closes out the season. I'm interested in potentially seeing Matt Wallner and Simeon Woods-Richardson at the MLB level. That's in addition to whether or not the Twins can pull out a division win and advance all the way to a World Series victory.

Aside from the nonsense about the revenue split, let's look at the other leagues? NFL - Players are expected to be major contributors as early as their first season immediately. Top draft picks routinely sign 4 year contracts and only recently are those contracts often fully guaranteed (because of market pressure). The likelihood a first round pick makes it to the big show? Just about 100%. Chances they become a consistent starter? Overall, like 60%. The risk is incredibly low vs. baseball. In 2016 (like Miranda) Emmanuel Ogbah was signed to a 4 year contract for $6.6MM with only $4.4MM guaranteed. He provided $20MM of value on that contract. Jose Miranda had a lower chance of ever making MLB than Ogbah had to be a solid starter. Every year, dozens of NFL players are cut and their contracts nullified. NHL - Again, contracts are only partially guaranteed. Teams can buy out younger players (under 26) at 1/3rd of their contract or established veterans (26+) at 2/3rds of their contract. Over a dozen buyouts are made every year (take veterans Ryan Suter and Zach Parise as examples...). The first selection in the round 2 draft for the NHL in 2016 was Yegor Korshkov. His entry level contact? 2 years with a MAXIMUM of $925k if he played every game at the NHL level with $70k guaranteed with a 70% chance of playing in the NHL. Less than 10% the guaranteed money of Jose Miranda despite having a much higher likelihood of making the NHL, being a regular and within a year or two. NBA - Here again, we see about an 80% chance a player makes the league and about a 50% chance they become a regular player. Many times higher than MLB. Ivica Zubac was the second selection (the first selection set an all time record) in the 2016 draft. He signed an entry level contract in the NBA. 2 years with a TEAM option for the 3rd year. 2yrs $2.3MM guaranteed, with a team option for $1MM which was declined after his trade. He played in his first season. There are colossal differences in risk between MLB and the other sports. MLB will never and should never pay its draft picks and young players the same way as other leagues. The amount of risk and future cost the MLB team absorbs is huge. MiLB player salaries aren't huge, but the training, coaches, medical costs, benefits and MiLB facilities paid for by the MLB club are. MLB players who make it enjoy far longer careers (50% longer than NHL/NBA, over 100% longer than the NFL) with the opportunity to make enormous sums of guaranteed money regardless of how fickle their performance may be with no chance of ever being bought out or cut for salary savings and a much lower risk of permanent physical injuries than the NFL or NHL. Everybody works the system. I've never met a service industry worker who ever claimed real cash tips, ever. I don't know anybody who disclosed sales tax they didn't pay for online purchases. Every time a poor gas station worker sets the price wrong at the pump, the entire area lines up and tries to clean out the store. I don't know anybody who claims rent money they receive on a room they rent out as income. Owners exploit the system. So do players. So do you. Owners have too much power in the world outside baseball, not inside baseball, but until people spend time learning economics and demanding fair treatment with their votes instead of learning baseball analytics, what the Kardashians ate last night for dinner, which celebrity slapped another, and how to master a double-tap on their video game controller, it will not change.

Apparently, things are moving around a lot? LOL. I hadn't checked in the past few days. My bad. I will stick with my prediction the White Sox win the division.

I take that back. The NL Central is probably less exciting. St. Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati vs. Kansas City, Minnesota, Chicago, Detroilet and Cleveland. Side note... I can't ever hear or think "Cleveland" without hearing "fun times in Cleveland, again!!!" ringing in my head from the Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video Take 2.

Could be a few reasons somebody might not care if the Twins win. 1. They just enjoy MLB. Watching games or going to the games; the winner isn't so important. Like the ads for the Saints. 2. They would rather the team be good or bad, but not a team which will extend the MLB record for consecutive playoff losses. A high degree of frustration with being mired in a swamp of a team which will most certainly not advance, but will be showered with praise by fans pointing to the Twins being better than the other bad teams in the worst, smallest market, and least exciting division in baseball. 3. They'd rather the team lose because they think it's better for the team in the long run to make major organizational changes, and going over budget and competitively backwards is a pretty good way to make that happen. 4. They actually just enjoy this site for the analytical brain workout. 5. They come to this site for the community in general or their connection to it through the historical contributions they make. 6. They come to the site because they're looking to kill time and it's familiar. 7. They're so enamored with themselves, they'd rather the Twins lose if it makes the person's predictions/opinions more accurate. The Twins are going to go 0-162 this year, count on it!!!! (every single win whittles away a bit of credibility and they don't want to be the person who was WRONG ON THE INTERNET) I'd rather the Twins win the World Series. I don't think there's a 1% chance that happens this year, but it doesn't mean I want them to lose. I want to be wrong about prospects I don't have faith in. I want Jordan Balazovic to start pitching 9 inning perfect games every time out. I want Austin Martin to start crushing baseballs. I want Trevor Larnach's power to solidify and for his stock to rise the same way as Nick Gordon's has. I think the team is good enough to make the playoffs with a little help from division rivals. Takes all kinds, I suppose...

funny, I heard that Max Scherzer was screaming that as he was drunkenly flipping tables at the player meetings with owners.

Miller is holding his own at the plate in Low-A at age 19. The triple slash may not look great, but the league is a hard core pitcher's league anyway. Miller's wRC+ 95 is right about league average and right where it has been all year. Much more important to me, Miller has clearly been working on his strikeout rate and made a massive improvement without taking fewer walks. His on base percentage has been great, near .350 all season. Since the All Star Break his walk vs. K rate looks way better and way more sustainable. BB% = 15.2% K% = 16.5% (down from 25.5% in the first half of the year) At age 19, there is plenty, and I mean PLENTY of time for his power to develop. I wouldn't expect Miller to be knocking at the MLB door prior to 2025.

The Turbo Tubs? A name as bad as their uniforms, ugh. At least they're not the Amarillo Sod Poodles I guess. Aside from that, pretty nice start for Woods-Richardson as he stretches back out. Only 1 walk, and he didn't give up many hits with plenty of strikeouts. 78 pitches in 4 innings isn't good, but the 69% strike rate tells me there were probably a lot of pitches fouled off.

Just like Fangraphs, I am predicting the White Sox win the division because they have a far more talented roster.

What does Ryan, Ober, Winder, Smeltzer, Duran, Thielbar, Jax, Stashak, Alcala or Ryan have to do with the current state of the Twins' farm system? Is Thielbar going to be listed as a top prospect for Minnesota next year? We're not developing reliable starters. That's the issue. A whole bunch of middle relievers and a guy who the front office watched for 1 month before calling him up after a trade does not equal a successful development system. The current front office has been no more successful (arguably significantly worse) at developing pitchers than the previous regimes.

Yeah... like I said. Handicapped by bad drafts, but the way Falvey drafts, he's looking for diamonds in the rough anyway. It feels like Falvey's front office should have been able to produce more than Terry Ryan's front office...

Fangraphs may do a little re-jockeying top prospects mid-year, but most of what they have seems dependent on 2021 scouting reports. I expect a lot of movement (as there is every year) after the season's end. If Encarnacion-Strand continues to wallop pitchers through the end of the season with the Lookouts, his rank will probably rise. Fangraphs was pessimistic on him to begin with and a lot of their rankings have a huge personal bias.

To be fair, Duran was a starter converted to reliever because he has so few innings. He wants to get back to starter. Ober, Winder and Graterol look to be good pitchers as well, but yes, probably all bullpen arms due to durability issues. If we're talking about development, I don't think the draft is the key issue because the current regime would get credit for developing talent they acquired from previous front offices and in trades (like Jax drafted in 2016 and Duran who was part of the Eduardo Escobar trade) so I don't see why 6 years isn't fair, though you'd have to concede the current front office would have been handicapped by bad drafts in say 2013-2016. Some of the top round pitching picks for the Twins from 2013-2016 who the current front office inherited. Not a great group, but you'd think the development team would be able to make some progress with some of them... 2013 Kohl Stewart 2013 Stephen Gonsalves 2014 Nick Burdi 2014 Sam Clay 2015 Tyler Jay 2015 Kyle Cody 2016 Griffin Jax 2016 Tom Hackimer 2016 Jordan Balazovic

First inning was solid, after that, Gray struggled with control a bit and you can't be walking guys and putting yourself into 3-2 counts against a dangerous hitting and confident team on an obvious path to the playoffs like the Dodgers. They'll make pitchers pay.