Dantes929

Don't see much on here or the mlb site about daily game summaries for Spring Training. Is there a site to go to for that? I see Kepler's name as a possibility for 1st base in the near future. I assume that is with the idea that Kiriloff would be playing right field. Who is faster? Kepler plays a pretty good right field. Do you think it would make more sense for Kiriloff to be slated as 2020 1st base or Kepler?

I agree completely. To be fair, I have very little sympathy for the owners either.

Isn't that preferable to turning a pitcher with positive value into a pitcher with negative value through over use? Fans used to get on Gardy for playing Butera to give Mauer rest but through 2010 Mauer was strong in the final 6 weeks. On the other hand Morneau had an MVP season going but played all 163 games along with the all star game and home run derby and his poor showing in the final month was probably what kept us out of the playoffs. Guerrier used to get dead arm from over use. Not an exact science but 5 appearances in 7 games after heavy use in the rest of the first two months is probably too much. Molitor should have been reading Tom Froemming;'s game logs to analyze his bullpen usage.

If it was a sure thing I wouldn't even bother watching. The story on your list of prospects is hardly complete. In fact, its not even to the mid point. Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, Kubel were a pretty good core. Puckett, Hrbek, Viola, Gaetti, Gladden were all 27 or older in 1987. Before that ( and a few after that) they were losing teams. Current guys are all 25 or less. Not all prospects pan out but everyone that pans out was once a prospect.

I think his stuff would play just fine. In 2017 he was sitting at 2.4 BB/9. In 2018 it was 4.8 in the minors and 8.00 in the majors. Sandy Koufax couldn't succeed at 8 walks per 9. I thought his arm was live with decent stuff (granted I was just judging by the TV screen) but he was all over the place. I still have hopes that he will be better than just back of rotation but that walk rate has to get below 3.

I was looking at his game logs and thought " A lot of strikeouts, few walks but a lot of pitches to get through 5 or 6 innings, so there must be a lot of pitches good enough for batters to not be able to put in play but not quite good enough to put them away. Must be a lot of foul balls. Sounds like Scott Baker. Scott Baker was good. I would take that." That is what I was going to post independently but then saw your post. I always thought of Baker as a decent #2 or a great #3. Baker had a nice fastball and a nice curve ball but I don't know if either could be called a signature pitch. It is worthwhile to point out that the league averages less than 50% quality starts so having a few clunkers is just par for the course. Also worth noting that Thorpe is only 23 and missed two seasons. I don't think he is a finished product.

I don't think it is real easy but Buxton has already shown he can do it fairly well and lets face it, he doesn;t have to be as good as Carew. He is just so fast the bunts that get everyone else out he turns into singles. The only time I remember him bunting last year was a sacrifice try right back to the pitcher and Buxton still beat it out.

My two favorite twins to watch were Mauer and Buxton. To me, Buxton was the most exciting player in baseball the 2nd half of 2017. What you say about standing on 3rd is true. Its not like he had a very good 80% stolen base average. It was 100% and the only time caught was an over slide. Bunting for hits is also a huge confidence booster. When he doesn't have to worry so much about average and contributing it loosens him up to play more like the 5 tool guy. Even when he was hitting great and for power I thought he should keep bunting. It had to drive the other team nuts.

Seems like we are always wondering why minor league success doesn't translate into big league success and Polanco feels like one of the rare ones that has done that. I would be just fine with Polanco at 2nd or 3rd once Lewis comes up. Definitely Polanco over Gordon or Schoop.

His strikeouts per nine in the minors is very good so he must be missing some bats. His walks per nine more than doubled in the majors. Major league hitters are better but I don't think they are 8BB/9 better. Guessing most of it is jitters and not trusting his stuff. Most of it. He absolutely needs to get better command even when comfortable. Not down on him at all but was hoping for a better debut.

Are you new? JK Yes and no. Yes, we are so desperate for good news we are reporting rumors. NO in the sense that it is not a now thing. We have always been desperate for good news. and have always obsessed over rumors.

Yeah, I get your point but I would view "the system" to be short for the minor league system and the "organization" to include the Twins. Useful distinction because if any of these guys have tools that are better than any of the major leaguers as well I would find it interesting, even if it is an article about the minor leagues. Also, Buxton was in the minors since May 29 and didn't get a call up so at what point is he considered not a minor leaguer. Can't be if he has seen major league playing time since Granite was listed twice. Mostly though I just want to know how Lewis and Buxton compare.

Have we given up on May as a starter then? We have May Romero and Mejia that all are capable of pitching multiple quality innings at a time so why not tailor their use accordingly. Let them all go through the order once rather than one inning or one batter and done. How about 70 inning in 30 appearances rather than 70 innings in 70 appearances.

"As mentioned above, any time he can get on base is a good thing because he has the best run tool of any player in the organization" Can't imagine that would include Buxton. How would they do in a race?

Good news is he will take a one year deal with the Twins. Bad news is the one year will be 2029.

Jim Thome was the only superstar free agent I wanted. We got him and he was great but it was about 10 years later than I wanted.

Twins lineup was so much better with him in it. Mauer and Buxton were my favorite players to watch hit. Time for Buxton to step up.

Both great points both of you but you can see that it is quite likely that when Kelly left that guy in for those reasons if the game goes south USAchief is going to consider it a bad move and if he pulled him and it went south doomtints is going to consider it a bad move. Kelly was not immune to criticism for his handling of the pitching staff. I remember people bitching about it even before the advent of these baseball sites. I am guessing most people thought he was ok in the winning years and was bad at it in the losing years. Several years ago when Gardy was getting ripped for bad management I checked all the scores for a time and for the close losses I would go to the losing team's websites and managers not knowing when to pull guys was always a common theme with every manager on good teams or bad except for some reason Mike Sciosa. Every manager on every team got ripped except one. The problem with putting the best guy in the best position is that those situations happen really often. Guerrier, Crane, and now Rogers were the best option in a close game even when it happened on consecutive days but consecutive days happened often enough that eventually they were overused. Now you can give them more rest but when the next best guy blows a game you know you're going to get ripped. Sure, making the best moves long term and short term to put your team in the best position to win the most games is desired and is great in theory but really hard in practice. I believe Molitor probably tried to do exactly that and no, I don't think he was particularly good at it but I don't think anyone is really all that great at it. Its why you constantly see guys like Molitor win MOY one year and fired the next.

Nothing wrong with Devon White. He had a nice career but I am pretty sure those were the projections for Buxton's floor, not his ceiling.

The good ones are the ones with Verlander, Sale, deGrom and Scherzer in their rotations with shut down bullpens. I'm not calling those situations above mistakes except sarcastically. Its akin to a pitcher giving up just a solo home run in a game and the announcers saying he just made one mistake. It was probably a pitch he threw a dozen times the same way but it is only a mistake cuz one of those times a guy connects on it. I am by no means saying Molitor is a great manager. Just saying that with the way this group pitched most of the time it didn't matter if he left the starter in or pulled him, runs were going to result and Molitor was going to be blamed for it. That's what I was trying to illustrate in the two identical scenarios above where he makes different decisions but the results are the same. Every manager has those D..... if you do D..... if you don't decisions to make. The "good" ones just don't face the consequences as much because their pitchers get the job done.

I will give him the benefit of the doubt until a starter is throwing a 5 inning shutout but then give up runs in the 6th (pulled to late) or throws a 5 inning shutout and then is pulled for a reliever who then give up runs (pulled to early) which will be proof positive he doesn't know when how to handle a bullpen at which point I will lump him with every other manager ever.

I get all that and agree with most of it. I don't have a ton of faith in all the defensive metrics especially for first basemen. Are scoops defined as any ball that hits the ground? If a throw is a little high for a 6' first baseman or a little wide it is an error for the thrower that probably doesn't exist with a taller or more adept first baseman. It definitely affects the thrower adversely statistically. Does it also work into the metrics for the first baseman? Whose home runs are you talking about? If 30 errors is acceptable for Polanco because he can hit is it still acceptable at 40 errors because the guy he's throwing to doesn't save him as often? If you are talking about Mauer's home runs it should all be part of the equation but I don't think his defense is insignificant.

Hah! No disrespect. Before my time. Not even saying others are bad but when a shortstop or 3lb threw one in the dirt to Sano or Vargas I was hoping he would scoop it. With Mauer I expected it. The error goes to the guy throwing it. If I am Polanco, I am hoping Mauer doesn't retire.

Just not buying it mainly by the eye ball test. Last year when Ortiz and Sano were playing in place of Mauer when I watched there would be at least one play that they messed up that I mentally said Mauer gets that one. Not all scoops are created equal and Mauer would make some while I watched that I thought "Most Sano, or Ortiz or Austen miss that most of the time" The stats say Mauer scoops one every 4 games. Hard to believe but I accept your facts. Of course once in every 4 games sounds like more than 20 time in 753 innings. Yes, other 1st basemen have scoops but do the stats track the ones that aren't caught? It is said one hit every two weeks is what separates an average hitter from an all star and my eyes still tell me Mauer caught one ball every two weeks that Sano would not. Every one has played ball since young age and hitters have unique athletic ability but Rod Carew was a great hitter and mediocre fielder and I could probably cite hundreds of examples of athletic skills not translating. I'm sure Sano was fielding fly balls since a young age also but it didn't make him an outfielder. Doesn't mean he can't get better though. Morneau was good but not great. Still did that hockey thing where he made the big wave at the ball on scoops. Looks flashy as heck and he was good at it but balls still got by him every once in a while. Good but not great. If Mauer is gone next year I think you will notice the difference. Might be only once in 10 or twenty games but games hinge on that kind of thing.

This is a big one. Judging how the replacements to Mauer have done over the past two years I am guessing Mauer has saved somewhere between a lot of runs and a whole lot of runs. I was actually thinking I am ok with Polanco at short. He should only get better with reps and his arm doesn't appear all that weak to me but you reminded me I am only ok with Polanco at short as long as Mauer or someone else really good is at first. Most players that let loose overthrow their target but Polanco does it smart by throwing low. It only works if there is a guy on the other end that catches balls in the dirt routinely. Hrbek, Mauer and mr. alphabet have been the only Twins that have done that.