bean5302

Rooker will turn 27 at the end of this years World Series. It's crazy to think guys like him have 3 option years remaining 7 years after he was drafted. Well, at least that's how it is for now. I'd be surprised if there weren't some big changes in regard to that kind of team control in the next CBA, especially if we're going to see a universal DH. Reducing team control would free up some fringe DH-ish talent for rule 5 acquisitions. He is taking a lot of walks at AAA this year (15%), but that K rate is just brutal for MiLB at 30%. There are a couple notable changes, though. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but Fangraphs shows Rooker has been using the whole field this year rather than being the straight pull hitter he was and his K rate is technically down from 35% in 2019. Looks a lot like Daniel Palka. Jose Miranda is just destroying the baseball this year. Hopefully, he keeps scorching the ball and forces his way onto the roster. The problem is finding a place to put him if the Twins don't move a couple guys before the deadline. I was thinking Palacios would get a promotion to AAA, but he's been scuffling in July. A stat line of .176/.300/.206 with a 25% strike out rate this month will hopefully turn back around. It's no serious slump, but a bad couple weeks. At least he's taking some walks at 12.5%. Still happy to see Cavaco hitting back from his stint on the IL. He's at .360/.484/.440 for a 924 OPS since his July 6th activation. SSS, but he's taking a ton of walks (20%), albeit with a 30% K rate too, but I'm hoping taking the walks will lead to him getting some better pitches to hit to show a little more power that's been absent from his game.

I think making a comparison to Donaldson is a pretty bold statement considering Bohm has very little track record to support it from a hitting standpoint and has received pretty poor marks in fielding scouting reports. Bohm had a .410 BABIP in his 180 plate appearances last year and has demonstrated no power above AA (he skipped AAA probably due to no MiLB last year). I do agree, though, no way Donaldson gets Bohm, though. I can see the Phillies being very interested in Donaldson, though, especially if they think universal DH is coming in the 2022 CBA. They get protection for Bohm's growing pains while not blocking him and getting a big jump on 2022's DH expanding to the NL. By "very interested" I mean enough to take on his contract and give the Twins a little something back.

There are advantages to "suck" seasons. While we may not be looking forward to the Twins playoffs this season, we can look forward to opportunities to see big roster shifts and young players getting opportunities. How exciting it is to see a guy come up and get a chance out of the minors and just RAKE or dominate on the mound? It really fuels excitement all the way into the next year. A lot of our young prospects are already getting vital MLB experience and it could help them avoid a sophomore slump. Plus, cheap tickets, etc.

No way, looks EXACTLY like every Twins pitching prospect in the system. Has to be. Look at the sling!

Highly recommend left field bleachers 128-129, row 9+ for guaranteed shade and protection from weather. They're inexpensive, decent seats to begin with, plus there are monitors you can look up and see for a closer view of the game. The right seats can make a big difference!

I'll admit, I'm laughing a little on the inside with all the comments about looking confident and the interview talking about him dripping in swag. Hopefully, he has a cute girlfriend. That's how you really know a baseball player has the confidence to succeed at the big league level. I learned that in Moneyball. Aside from all that, it's great to see him excited and enjoying the honor. That's fun to watch. A huge congratulations to him!

I don't think of Berrios as an ace and I don't think there's a reason to really believe he will be. The number of 3 pitch aces out there is pretty much non-existent. Berrios is what he is, which is a solid #2 or excellent #3, but with great durability and an ability to eat innings. That's why people are talking about 5 years $100-125MM and not 7 years $245MM like Strasburg got. I feel like the expectation is he's an ace and should pitch like one, but that kind of mindset takes away from how good he is at being who he really is.

I'm not sure where you got the information or feeling Gordon has a bad arm. Gordon had a low 90s fastball in high school and his arm strength was a major reason he was expected to be able to stick at SS when he was drafted.

Balazovic was allowed to go to 96 pitches in the game where he'd previously been capped at 85 and I'm glad to see the increase. If Balazovic is able to get to that 100 pitch count, it increases his chances of getting to 100 innings this year. I think I'd be surprised if Balazovic went to AAA this year considering he's pitched so few innings in AA and he had a bit of a rough start to the season.

The Twins' playoff struggles are epic and it's not related to one thing in particular. From the best closer in the game blowing saves to loaded lineups unable to drive in runs. Honestly, I think the biggest issue has been an anemic offense, even when it's loaded with regular season results. Since 2004, in 15 straight playoff losses, the Twins have never scored more than 4 runs and have only scored 4 runs on 3 occasions. Say what you want about the pitching, but 1-3 runs doesn't get you a lot of wins against playoff teams.

Opponents are swinging at Alcala's pitches more and they're barreling them up quite a bit. That said, it's not like they've been ripping the cover off the ball against him. I don't expect him to become a dominant closer or something, but I think he'll steady out with some regression away from what seems like some bad luck this year. I am a bit concerned about the K rate drop and corresponding BB rate drop. PTSD from the pitch to contact and avoid walks at all costs years.

Grossman took so much flak for his defense here, yet UZR/150 shows Grossman is and has been an above average left fielder for Minnesota, Oakland and Detroit for the last several years. Kepler's triple had an expected batting average of .910. If it was a hit, it was going to score a run and put runners at the corners in the bottom of the 6th when they're already down 2-0 with no outs. Grossman came within 1 foot of making a great catch which could have saved the game for Detroit. If you're going to sell out, that's where you sell out.

Love the defense and it's hard to tell how much of Rortvedt's struggles at the plate are related to luck as his BABIP is crazy low. He's still fairly young and his MiLB track record suggests he's got the upside of an average-ish MLB hitter if he can work a couple things out. Even as an average hitter at the MLB level, Rortvedt would still be a valuable catcher in the big show.

Balazovic is dealing with a .359 BABIP which suggests some of his ERA is likely from luck this year. That's especially the case when you consider the tiny sample size. Seems like the Twins have Balazovic on a pitch count around 85 over his past 4 starts. Looking at the number of strikes he's throwing (65%-ish), it's surprising to see him not getting later into games. In any case, once the BABIP starts regressing, it wouldn't surprise me to see Balazovic's results start to shine. The pitch/innings limit decisions have to be under the greatest level of scrutiny in recent history with the loss of the 2020 season for most MiLB players. Coupled with quite a few studies which have continued to debunk the innings/pitch limits as being valuable at preventing injury, I wonder how things will look going forward. Can the Twins afford to wait until 2024 to have a pitcher like Balazovic stretched out?

Glad to see a few games out there by Cavaco, and glad to see him hitting the ball. Cavaco performing well would sure be a big relief to the scouting department and front office!

If Happ continues to start, he'll likely have 3 more opportunities before the trade deadline. Assuming he pitches the same as he did last night against the Tigers, that'd reduce his ERA all the way down to red hot 5.49. To get his ERA below 5, he can allow only 1 ER per 7 inning start for the next 3 starts, and I think any team willing to take Happ on for even a PTBNL is probably going to want to see that sub 5 ERA.

Why is there a guaranteed work stoppage? The current CBA expires on December 1. Players and owners should be pretty desperate to prevent that from happening after the huge losses from 2020. I can hope both sides got enough of the bitter taste of not playing they'll figure things out. That said, it really does feel like the MLBPA is totally dysfunctional to me.

I'd simply argue the Twins have never been a team to make a splash at the trade deadline. Actually, I don't think MLB fans generally see a lot of big moves in any given year despite all the speculation. The difficult situation right now is the Twins don't have much of an identity after this year and other division rivals are clearly already better teams with bigger budgets. The current front office has, once again, squandered opportunities to "put the boot on the throat" when they were obvious favories.

The Twins tried to trade Sano as a headliner for Chris Archer. The Rays said no way. Sano had many off field issues, he was missing a lot of time due to injuries, there were concerns about his conditioning and his bat was bad in 2018. I strongly suspect the league didn't value Sano as highly as Twins fans.

Jack Morris for one.

Berrios has the same fWAR as Stephen Strasburg from 2017-2021. Zack Wheelers stat line from his 3 years prior to the new contract in free agency was 3.94 ERA, 3.68 FIP with an average of 154 innings. Berrios is every bit as good as that.

I agree the Twins should be making it a huge priority to extend Berrios up to about the 5 years $125MM or so price point. If the Twins are unable to sign Berrios and they're unwilling to accept a good trade for him is a Twins decision. Watching Berrios walk for literally nothing would be a disaster. I say literally nothing because I don't know if the compensatory pick will even be a thing in the next CBA.

RBI is a function of team performance which is why a lot of people tend to favor other stats. "Clutch" or essentially AVG wRISP hasn't been shown to be sustainably different from a players normal AVG, and a good AVG wRISP does not directly correspond to a high RBI total. Team A .274/.350/.445, Player Y = .264/.322/.473 wRC+ 118 RISP .233 = 47 RBI Team B .218/.293/.381, Player Z = .286/.347/.402 wRC+ 112 RISP .382 = 31 RBI Player Z is one of the best hitters on Team B, but he's not quite as good at the plate overall than Player Y. In his favor, Player Z also has an unsustainable batting average with RISP of .382. Yet, his RBI total is pretty poor at 31. Player Y is a middle of the pack hitter on Team A and he's hitting marginally better than Player Z. Player Y is especially weak with RISP with his .233 average. Still, he's on pace for close to 100 RBI this year. RBIs are generally a function of how good the teams overall lineup is, not a function of how good a particular hitter is. Also, a good hitter in the middle of the bad lineup gets no protection. The hitter is unlikely to see good pitches to hit because opposing pitching staffs will just pitch around the good hitter. Walks only produce RBI when the bases are loaded. Relying on counting stats and reputations for being "clutch" is how a lot of fans (including myself) believe pedestrian players get into the HoF.

Chris Sale was was better than Berrios and Boston got 3 full years of control over him. I think Berrios is a very good pitcher, but that expectation seems out of reach. I think a Berrios package might bring back 3 top 10 prospects in an organization which would include a top 50 MLB, another top 100 and a 6-10 ranked organizational prospect.

Berrios is worth a "sky high" return. In any case, if the Twins are actually serious about competing in the future, Berrios would be a really, really good player to lock down. Of course, we don't know if Berrios is interested in staying here. If it's true and Berrios is seeking a 5 year 100MM-125MM contract as eluded to above, he's worth it. If the Twins aren't willing to pay it (I suspect they're not), then they really should trade him and take what they can get. 2022's free agent pitching class looks like it has some very serious short term talent like Verlander, Scherzer, Kershaw and Greinke. I'm not sure how much Verlander would command, but if the Twins front office maintains its extreme aversion to long term pitching commitments, Verlander wouldn't be too expensive and will likely be seeking a 1-2 year contract. Greinke would probably a bit more since he's not coming off TJ, but he's certainly command less in an equal health situation. Obviously, Kershaw is going nowhere, but it felt like a disservice not to include him. Also, can I just say how fantastic it is I can't imagine Kershaw finishing his career as anything but a life long Dodgers player? The Mauers and Kershaws of the game are so rare these days. It definitely seems cool to me.