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Nine of twelve

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Everything posted by Nine of twelve

  1. Nine of twelve
    The tough-guy approach athletes have traditionally taken is counter-productive. The training and medical staffs should be aware of any and all ailments. These people are highly-trained professionals and their job is to keep players on the field, performing as well as possible. Don't let a minor issue become a major one because it was ignored or hidden. Let them determine what you can play through and what you can't.
  2. Nine of twelve
    You may be right about Morneau, but I'll disagree about Mauer. He was the best baseball player in the world that year.
  3. Nine of twelve
    I agree that Duffey has been scrod out of a win. That said, relief pitcher wins are among the most unimportant stats in the game.
  4. Nine of twelve
    Actually, the job requires skill and loads of baseball-watching experience.
  5. Nine of twelve
    If the Rangers had told the Twins they were going to stop trying to win the game then the Twins would also have stopped trying and Rocco would have told Cave not to try to get a hit. But since that didn't happen Cave was justified in doing what he did. And the Rangers' pitcher and manager should have been ejected
  6. Nine of twelve
    When there is one out with a tie score in the bottom of the ninth you send the runner only if it would take a perfect play to get him. If the runner would be out on an average play you hold. Holding the runner makes it second and third with one out. Many, if not most, visiting managers will order an IBB or order the pitcher not to throw strikes in case the batter swings at pitches that are difficult to hit. Then you've got bases loaded, the infield and outfield play in, maybe with five infielders, and your odds are good. It is easy to see in retrospect that it was a major mistake by Diaz to send. It requires a certain skill to be able to read that play correctly and it seems that he may not possess that skill.
  7. Nine of twelve
    Didn't see the game. Haven't read these comments. Here's my take. I have enough confidence in Falvine to believe they believe Rocco has managerial talent. But all rookies, even talented ones, make mistakes. Sending a pitcher who is brand new to everything and everyone and who arrives during the third inning of his first game with his new team is probably not the best choice to enter the game in a save situation. At this point the best thing is to learn from the mistake and move on.
  8. Nine of twelve
    Reverse jinx, prevention of Murphy's Law, call it whatever you want. Having him available just in case prevented "just in case" from happening.
  9. Nine of twelve
    I didn't realize that but even so, after last year there wasn't much buzz about our team.
  10. Nine of twelve
    The thing about his no-trade clause - keep in mind he signed his current contract in 2015. The Twins had not been in the postseason since 2010 and even though they hung around that season there was no indication that the team was about to become a serious contender. Now that things have changed I would guess he could be persuaded to waive it for us with little in the way of compensation. If you were a good pitcher wouldn't you want to have our offense working for you?
  11. Nine of twelve
    This is very similar to Sano's situation. He was injured for the last 2-3 months of 2017, had major surgery which rendered him unable to work out during that off-season, was therefore out of shape at the beginning of 2018 and never got things together. It was somewhat better for him during the most recent off-season but then there was the fluky heel injury and he had essentially no spring training. When he finally was activated the rust was painfully apparent, especially compared to everyone else who was in mid-season form. Now that he has had a chance to get his timing and conditioning up to speed we have been seeing a marked improvement in his performance. There's good reason to think not only that he won't regress but that he can continue to progress even further both at the plate and in the field. It is beyond me that so many people seem to think that the issues he had with his health were insignificant and feel that he should be traded or even, as many have advocated, DFA'd. He has 50-HR-per-season talent and a cannon for an arm. He's not a perfect fielder but he has the ability to be the best third baseman in baseball.
  12. Nine of twelve
    If Hicks were still with the organization our four outfielders would be Buxton, Hicks, Kepler, and Rosario. All four are good enough defensively to play center field. It would be a dream outfield situation. However, it also means that a very good player would always be sitting on the bench, not contributing. A good GM would trade from a position of strength to improve a position of weakness, and in retrospect trading Hicks was probably the right thing to do. The problem is that trading him for John Ryan Murphy was certainly the very wrong thing to do.
  13. Nine of twelve
    I remember turning that game on somewhere in the middle innings. I also remember having the sound down, either because I was listening to music or talking on the phone. I saw the team exulting in their accomplishment and didn't realize until a graphic appeared on the screen in the next half-inning that it was their second of that game.
  14. Nine of twelve
    Rookie replacement ump. He was called up from (I assume) AAA after the HP ump went down with a probable concussion on Friday. His pitch calling was, to be polite, inconsistent.
  15. Nine of twelve
    Yes, the A's DFA'd him last year and nobody claimed him on waivers. So they kept him. 15 years ago we'd attribute his increase in velocity to performance enhancing pharmaceuticals. There's no reason to believe that's the case here so I guess we just have to assume he's a late bloomer. Every now and then that happens.
  16. Nine of twelve
    This is lifted from Michael Rand's piece on StarTribune.com: "Since that dismal 0-for-7 game against Tampa Bay on June 27 that had people ready to give up on him again, Sano is hitting .348 with an OPS above 1.100. He’s walked eight times and struck out 16 times in 55 plate appearances — far more acceptable numbers — to go with four home runs." It seems that he probably just needed to shake off the rust. No spring training, an essentially lost 2018 season due to recovery from surgery, etc etc etc. I think everyone who is paying attention has noticed the quality of his at-bats has improved markedly, especially pitch recognition. Does he take every breaking ball out of the zone? Of course not. Nobody does, not even Arraez. (Or Mauer.) But I think he's evolving just fine and I hope Rocco plugs him in at third base (and higher in the batting order) as often as is feasible.
  17. Nine of twelve
    The play DID develop fast. The ball was in the first baseman's mitt an instant after it was hit. The reason the throw to first wasn't very strong is because both the first baseman and the base runner knew it didn't have to be.
  18. Nine of twelve
    The original post explores WPA. The thing about WPA is that it kind of breaks down as a useful stat in some cases. For example, a relief pitcher could throw 5 scoreless innings in a blowout, but if his team is 10 runs down in the 4th inning his WPA will be minuscule. Or, a reliever could get the last out in the top of the ninth of a tie game and if his team walks off in the bottom of the inning his WPA will be huge. I think there needs to be a stat which compares WPA in each situation to the best or worst possible WPA.
  19. Nine of twelve
    A ball with less drag will travel farther and faster whether thrown or batted. It will break less.
  20. Nine of twelve
    I think a big problem with having the DH rule different from one league to the other is that teams construct their rosters based on how they play most of their games. To make it more fair I think the visiting team in each interleague series should be allowed one totally unrestricted roster move. Any player in the organization can replace any player on the 25-man. No 10-day limit upon return to the minors. No option used. No requirement for the player to be on the 40-man.
  21. Nine of twelve
    Goose Island started life as an independent brewery but was bought out a few years ago.
  22. Nine of twelve
    It is great. There are also several places with a wide selection of cans as well as smaller taps around the stadium.
  23. Nine of twelve
    I liked this except for one small but significant thing. Goose Island is OK and all that, but they are a subsidiary of Annheuser-Busch. There are many very tasty local beers and ales available at Target Field and I always try to patronize the local brewmasters.
  24. Nine of twelve
    There's no reason to do it now. We can do it if/when the need arises.
  25. Nine of twelve
    I appreciate and enjoy your frequent dinger updates. I don't want to take anything away from the Twins' home run prowess, however I strongly believe that the baseballs being used this season are significantly contributing to our team's record-setting pace. I think MLB would benefit from switching to baseballs with more air resistance. We would still be leading the majors in dingers but I think the game would be better with fewer of them.
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