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Riverbrian

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Everything posted by Riverbrian

  1. Riverbrian
    Self Inflicted Old School
  2. Riverbrian
    I agree I do not know who is making the decisions, who are the advocates and who are the dissenters, who are the loud voices in the room and who are the quiet ones but all of those people you list have jobs with important duties and are no doubt a part of any equation. I can only assume Molitor because the Twins were doing the same crap in 2016 and Molitor is the only common denominator in 2016 and 2018 and he has the type of role that would normally influence player usage. However, in the end... If you got a problem. You start by focusing on the people who hire the people.
  3. Riverbrian
    Better options?... How bout Equal options? Because we had plenty of equal options, just go ahead and pick one. Just so I'm better understood. BTW... I am not making an "overuse" claim... Others are. It's possible that overuse factored in to the June versions of Pressly and Reed, however, everybody has different thresholds that I am not privy to. My point is simple... We didn't have a single reliever that was better than the other relievers all year. So if relievers were indeed overused... why were they? You are asking me to name someone better... I can't... but, I'll return the question to you... Can you name someone better? Look at the numbers... you can't either.
  4. Riverbrian
    I'm not knocking Pressly but Reed went sour and stayed sour for quite some time. Hildenberger has been really sour lately and he is currently getting more save chances than the others. They were not the best relievers that he had. They were the best relievers according to him and those relievers made him look like he doesn't know what he is talking about.
  5. Riverbrian
    Do we not have anyone else to turn to... or do we not turn to them? If you compare the stats of Reed and Magill there is no CURRENT statistical reason to trust Reed over Magill. It is Magill with the better numbers. So why did Molitor trust Reed and not trust Magill? Reed went belly up on us for a long stretch. Molitor's solution to that was to keep handing Reed the ball in key situations and say I trust you. My point is: If you are going to overuse a bullpen arm... I get the temptation to do so. BUT... that overused arm better have Adam Ottovino type production otherwise you are wasting average production from the back end of the pen in order to overuse below average production from the front end like we did with Reed. This hard headed, stubborn, Hubris that makes a manager think: Reed is my set up guy, Magill is my long guy regardless of the results and this has hurt us. Molitor is too slow to adjust to the changing conditions and I hold him responsible for it. If you want to play Morrison every day... OK... but Morrison needs to produce like an every day player. If you want Reed to be your main set up guy... OK... but he has to deserve the job. If they don't... then a manager must adjust and it shouldn't take 3 months to come to these conclusions. Molitor might as well make out his lineup cards for all 162 games on March 28th and put his feet up for the year and see where fate takes the team because it's out of his control. This is my issue with Molitor... He stuck with the players and I'm not buying the argument that we had nobody else. Every single player on the roster had the ability to out produce Morrison. Every single pitcher on the roster had the ability to out produce what Reed was doing. I know most of the TD Crew doesn't like Grossman. However... Grossman was out performing Morrison and Buxton and Molitor chose Morrison and Buxton... Now we have Austin out performing Grossman and he is choosing Grossman. It's like he is playing the guy producing less on purpose just to drive me crazy... Like he is waiting until someone (Austin) actually out performs Grossman before he gives Grossman playing time. He does the same stuff in the bullpen.
  6. Riverbrian
    I'm a big fan of out of the box thinking. We are not going to win the world series. Try new concepts. Seth... You should start your own club. The "Piggyback" or "Dual Starter" Club.
  7. Riverbrian
    Here's another thing. Now that Grossman is back. Is Austin going to be limited to facing left handed pitchers? 3 games into the return of Grossman it looks that way. I don't mind players sitting on occasion and I don't mind Grossman playing but if Grossman is going to take the LIONS SHARE of Austin's playing time... I'm... I'm... not sure what to say. I know i'm not going to be able to defend it. Tyler Austin's OPS the past 15 days is 1.049 so yeah... umm... I got nothing.
  8. Riverbrian
    When it comes to bullpen usage. I get the temptation to overuse certain relievers. If a guy is lights out, a manager is gonna want that guy with the ball in his hand. So I can forgive Molitor for this. However... my question is gonna be... which of our overused guys has been lights out? If you got Andrew Miller.. the manager is gonna want to use him. If you have Adam Ottovino... the manager is gonna want to use him. Dellin Betances... the manager is gonna want to use him. Managers may overuse these guys because they want batters out and those guys get batters out fairly consistently. Our overused guys... Are nothing like these guys. I was all for signing Addison Reed but when he is being overused and his production is 4 blown saves, 4.53 ERA, 1.43 WHIP and a 7.5 K/9, you gotta wonder why. Trevor Hildenberger... I like Hildy... I do. But he is overused with a 4.48 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and a 8.5 K/9. If a reliever is gonna be over used... His production needs to be better than the guys who are not getting used and this is isn't the case. These guys are not Andrew Miller but Molitor plays them like they are and it has cost us games. Molitor stays with his guys until it's too late. His bullpen management is just like his lineup management. Assign roles, lock them down, throw away the key and finally when it gets unbearable after a couple of months... starting looking for the key.
  9. Riverbrian
    Mike, I just want to thank you for the work you provide in this thread. It is much appreciated.
  10. Riverbrian
    I can't imagine the Giants trading him. They are always in go for it mode and are typically not looking for prospects. They will probably be one of the teams throwing big bucks around at Harper and Machado or Kershaw. In the off-season. However... If the Giants end up out of contention... Bumgarner would be a guy to target as a rental if we keep ourselves in the playoff race. He'd probably be an expensive rental in comparison to other rental prices but nowhere near the Royce Lewis price tag during the off-season. This would give us a chance to evaluate the core next year before we send a cannonball through the farm system. I'd like the Twins to focus on the offense/defense and bullpen. We got decent depth in the starting rotation to find five who can get people out.
  11. Riverbrian
    I don't think we are really disagreeing that much. The Dodgers and Twins both had starting pitching depth in my opinion. The Dodgers had to use it and the Twins didn't have to use it because there were actually pretty healthy in the rotation this year. Where the Dodgers and Twins are starkly different is. If you play bad for the Dodgers... you will play less... See Logan Forsythe. If you play good for the Dodgers... you will play more... See Max Muncy. I don't believe that Molitor would have docked Forsythe playing time. I also question if Molitor would have given Muncy enough playing time to produce what Muncy is producting. As for "who could have predicted so many issues with Sano, Buxton, Dozier, Polanco, Santana, Morrison etc". I could have... maybe not specific predictions like Sano would need to be sent to Ft. Myers but yeah I could have predicted that things don't always go as planned and I'm predicting it again in 2019. So I'm hoping they are better prepared for it in 2019. On that we seem to agree.
  12. Riverbrian
    I like to think of myself as somewhat reasonable and I really try not to talk in absolutes when I'm standing hip deep in nuance, so I'm hoping that I'm not giving the impression that I think new school managers are guaranteed playoff teams every year. Maddon's 100 loss year aside... I prefer the new school manager over the old school manager every day of the week and twice on Sunday. There is no doubt that Baker had a much better year in 2017 than Martinez had this year. I still prefer the Martinez style or what I assume is the Martinez style because of his place in the Maddon tree. I did ask Counsell... BTW... He told me to let you know that you spelled his name wrong. He also said that you are right, Managers are always happy with talent infusions but he also thinks it is important to not go down with the ship when the talent isn't performing, he says it is ok to play Ryan Braun less when players pulled off the waiver wire like Jesus Aguilar are playing better. He says it is OK to play Jonathan Schoop less, if it isn't working out. I was also amazed that my call went straight through to him at 5 in the morning.
  13. Riverbrian
    I'm lumping Molitor in with the old school managers. He goes in the same bucket as Mattingly, Baker, Hurdle, Bochy, Showalter, Gibbons, Gardenhire, Renteria and Scioscia. That may be an impressive group of managers with a lot of major league experience but, those guys aren't the ones I would choose to lead my team. Give me a Maddon, Roberts, Counsell, Martinez, Cash, Hinch, Bannister or Kapler new school type.
  14. Riverbrian
    Garver... I've been asking for his playing time. I'm getting it and I guess I gotta take what comes with that. Wow... It's like his brain just went to sleep. I'm not angry... It made me laugh.
  15. Riverbrian
  16. Riverbrian
    Those pointing out sample size caution are spot on in my opinion. On the other hand... those who are already labeling them as AAAA or replaceable are disappointing to me personally.
  17. Riverbrian
    Yeah... but the cool thing is that they don't have to hold a candle to what Houston, Cleveland and Boston are going to run out there every game. The game is not played on paper. I get the concept... Chris Sale pitches for the Red Sox. The Astros are stacked arms with reputations. But somewhere along the way... life happens. The Astros won the world series in 2017. Here are the guys who got them there in order of games started. 1. Mike Fiers (28 Starts) with a 5.22 ERA in 2017. 2. Charlie Morton (25 Starts) - Astros fans didn't even know that Morton was still in baseball when he was acquired. 3. Dallas Kuechel (23 Starts) - OK.. He's good but he missed about 10 starts on the DL 4. Lance McCullers (22 Starts) - Young Sexy name with an Average 4.25 ERA. 5. Brad Peacock (21 starts) - He was pulled out of the bullpen to fill in. He was awesome but he was middle reliever going into the season. This rotation wasn't great on paper but they kept the team in ball games. The Bullpen held serve and the offense hit the ball and kept them in contention and they added Verlander in August. Now in 2018... They Add Gerrit Cole, to the added Justin Verlander, Joining the talented Dallas Kuechel and improving Lance McCullers and a Charlie Morton that everybody suddenly views differently. And yes... You look at that rotation and go... WOW... That's a Rotation and they are great but nobody was ready to say that in 2017. And with that great rotation, they are currently tied with the Oakland A's. Whose rotation is Manaea, Mengden, Cahill, Edwin Jackson, Montas and Brett Anderson. You gotta love baseball, because holding a candle to anyone isn't required.
  18. Riverbrian
    Archer came with another year of control plus two option years so it's a much different price tag. Gibson won't fetch Meadows, Glasnow and Baz. Gibson gets you maybe one of the young Atlanta arms.... Maybe and I'm guessing of course. So now... I'm not sure what you accomplish for next year.
  19. Riverbrian
    What you are saying has logic. However... the team that will pay the worthwhile price to acquire Gibson with a year left in free agency is a team that believes it is a contender. The White Sox are not going to pay the worthwhile price. Therefore... if the Twins consider themselves a contender in 2019... they should keep Gibson. If they don't consider themselves contenders... well yeah... trade him and Rosario. Sell high and let's load up for the next wave. Personally, I think this team can contend and would be flat out exhausted if the front office decided to rebuild.
  20. Riverbrian
    Not only could the Twins be a .500 team... I think they might. I wouldn't bet against them. They are a better baseball team right now. 2nd Half Austin is better than 1st half Morrison. 2nd Half Garver is better than 1st half Wilson 2nd Half Mauer is even with 1st half Mauer 2nd Half Forsythe is playing better than 1st half Dozier 2nd Half Sano is much much better than 1st half Sano 2nd Half Polanco is just a little worse than 1st Escobar. 2nd Half Rosario is even with 1st half Rosario 2nd Half Cave is much much better than 1st half Buxton 2nd Half Kepler is looking a little better than 1st half Kepler. That's a flat out improvement in 8 of 9 positions and a slight downtick in 1 position. The Pitching staff is keeping us in games and giving us a chance to win every night. We are simply better right now. We could be a .500 team. I wouldn't bet against it.
  21. Riverbrian
    I've always considered subjective as more of a personal opinion so not really. Mauer on the DL to Jimmer is going to subjectively hurt the team and Mauer on the DL according to Chief will subjectively not hurt the team as much. The formula is based on pre-season projections so the subjective part is weather those projections carry any weight with you or I. But Keep in mind that if pe-season projections were used in the algorithm. Buxton on the DL is going to move the needle upward based on his projections. When in reality... Subjectively, I say that Buxton on the Disabled List based on his performance was probably a net gain. If you have issues with the system, that's ok with me because I might as well... but you can still look at each team individually and realize that the Twins were not beset by more injuries than others. Injuries are not a viable excuse... our injuries were routine and the front office will get no pass from me because routine injuries need to be planned for. They simply happen every year and you don't know who they are going to happen to. The Dodgers are still in contention despite losing almost their entire starting rotation. 6 starters spent time on the DL... as many as four of them were on the DL at the same time. Plus they lost almost two months of Justin Turner, plus Corey Seager for almost the entire season, Plus almost a month of Puig, Forsythe and Utley. The Dodgers are still in it because they had sufficient depth to replace those guys... and the Dodgers didn't buy that sufficient depth. They went out and acquired it cheaply and nurtured it. The Nationals (in my opinion) could legitimately use injuries as an excuse. The Entire Bullpen has been on the DL. Besides Harper, they lost their entire starting OF plus backups for a stretch which forced them to call up Soto sooner than they wanted to. Murphy was gone for most of the year. Zimmerman, Weiters, Strausburg have all spend over two months on the DL. Plus Stints by Rendon and Matt Adams. In my opinion... it was not injuries that killed the Twins this year. It was the performance of the healthy. If the Front Office said to themselves. Morrison, Castro, Mauer, Dozier, Sano, Escobar, Rosario, Buxton and Kepler. We got our 9. Let's find some whatevers to round out the roster. They don't get a pass from me because just looking at any previous season should tell them that they need viable replacements. If the front office determined that Grossman was good enough to make the 25 man roster, yet still determined that Grossman wasn't good enough to replace Morrison when he is hitting .150 for two months... They don't get a pass from me because they selected Grossman. If anyone thinks that injuries were a reasonable excuse. I will disagree.
  22. Riverbrian
    https://www.rosterresource.com/mlb-disabled-list-tracker/ Take a look... Injuries happen to every team. Multiple Injuries... Lots of Injuries every single year. The Twins went through nothing like the Nationals or Dodgers suffered through. What the Twins experienced this year was routine and it wasn't the injuries that sunk us... It was terrible performance from the healthy that they couldn't survive. Actually... Our injuries made us better at times.
  23. Riverbrian
    I have no idea what his Family arrangements are other than Wikipedia... which states that he owns a home in Miami. For all I know... his family is still in Miami. A lot of Baseball players are merely in a hotel during the season so I'm not sure of the level of uprooting. I wouldn't be PO'd in the slightest... because that's baseball and I'm already planning on being a Free Agent and would understand that a non-contending team will either get something for me or get nothing for me and every team will take getting something for me over nothing. Besides he gets to join a team that is fighting for a World Series over playing with a team that is playing out the string. Unless he was hoping for that qualifying offer which I kind of doubt that he was hoping for that. Like I said... if he took that personally... his agent will explain it to him and if he still takes it personally... then he should have signed an extension... if offered. Which he reportedly was and didn't understandably sign. This off-season... Escobar will be looking for a team that is the best combination of money, playing time, location and World Series opportunity. If the Twins are that team... there is no reason to think he won't be back. The trick is being that team. But again... I have no idea what Escobar's personal situation is.
  24. Riverbrian
    Besides Santana our rotation was pretty healthy this year. Next year? Who knows but typically there are multiple DL stints in the rotation that make pitchers 6 through 9 important. When it comes to pitching. You can never have enough.
  25. Riverbrian
    I also make trades in my sleep. I once, traded my pillow for a jar of peanut butter.
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