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Dantes929

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Everything posted by Dantes929

  1. Dantes929
    "Closer" Brandon Kintzler has been fine". 1 run given up in over 11 innings, all of them high leverage. 7 for 7 saves. If we had Perkins and Jepsen's performances of last year instead our record is likely the same as KC's and our whole discussion of how this team is doing would be markedly different. I was also looking at Buxton's performance but over 4 games. 4-11 with 5 walks and only one strikeout. You can talk about Sano and should but if Buxton had not stepped up his game it would probably turn the outcomes of a couple games. Yes, SSS but he is looking better every at bat.
  2. Dantes929
    How have the Twins turned Vargas into a line drive hitter? If there is one thing I have seen over the years it is that guys that try to pull the ball generally fail. Has Sano turned into a line drive hitter because he goes with the pitch and uses all fields? Big Pappy's spray charts in Boston look a lot like those in MN. Personally I think he might owe the Twins for his success rather than other wise. He has a natural pull swing but he stepped toward the pitcher rather than toward right field. Big Pappy is a HOFer. Maybe the reason Vargas is not better than Ortiz has nothing to do with the Twins.
  3. Dantes929
    You are right of course. I have been very happy with Sano's defense over there. His arm has been quite accurate on the routine plays. Its some of his best and most athletic plays where the throws have been a little off but with a lot of heat. I recall hearing Bremer say a couple times "great play by Sano and even better play by Mauer" Bremer hyperbole of course since those plays were definitely more credit to Sano but still could have been cancelled perhaps by lesser 1st basemen. I have been pretty happy with Polanco also in making routine and some tough plays. Back in the day Gagne made great athletic plays but the throws on a lot of those plays needed Hrbek for completion. Just like a great defensive outfield can make a pitcher's stats look good a great 1st baseman can be pretty valuable in keeping a shortstop's stats good. SSS and I have only seen about a third of the games but the infield defense has looked better than anticipated, and the catching and outfield defense has lived up to expectations.
  4. Dantes929
    I get your point but disagree in the application. Even if they tracked scooped balls it would be difficult to qualify them. Short hops are easy and big hops are easy and there is probably also an expectation of how many scoops are expected but if they are not tracked at all then I consider it a flaw. I have only watched Twins games and have seen a couple times the Twins have gotten on because of balls thrown in the dirt that I did not consider all that difficult and I have seen Mauer make several plays that I thought were exceptional and athletic. Then of course there was the play that Mauer made yesterday just because of his height and reach that are not considered so much when tracking range. Our big concern was defensive left side and I believe with an average 1st baseman over there it would loom larger than it does now. I will say again that the difference between average and exceptional at first base exists but is the minimal that you suggest when receiving throws from guys like Hardy and Crede. It is more significant than is given credit for when it is Sano and Polanco. Our views of their defense would be quite a bit different if Mauer hadn't handled just a couple of each of their throws the way he has. Just my opinion.
  5. Dantes929
    Did I just witness it last night?
  6. Dantes929
    I don't know all that goes into WAR especially for defense but if Buxton is getting that much credit for defense you have got to consider Mauer's defense more critically. He is not getting throws from Joe Crede and JJ Hardy over there where all he has to do is hold up his glove chest high and they hit it. The rockets from Sano that are ankle high or nearly hit the runner and the in between hops from Polanco have been a regular thing and Mauer gobbling them up has been just as regular. They have been just as run saving as Buxton's extended coverage in center. It has been Hrbekesque and in my world that is the guy that should own at least half of Mattingly's Gold Glove awards.
  7. Dantes929
    There were points in Twins past where Crain and Liriano told the manager "I have no idea what I am doing out there". They were demoted and to their credit they worked their way through their troubles and came back strong. Until Buxton says something like that you keep putting him out there and let him work on figuring it out. Personally, when I see the lineup I like seeing Buxton out there. I want to witness the game where it all clicks and he gets in a groove. Its a less interesting lineup when he is not in it.
  8. Dantes929
    I get the hype at the time but just a month ago posters were saying Buxton should stop bunting because of his power. While I have watched he is batting .500 while bunting (1 for 2). Getting more hits would do wonders for his confidence and get him to relax.
  9. Dantes929
    They were shaking their heads at his curve ball in 2015 because it was a better curve ball in bite, variety and plane than in 2016. It was more effective because his command of his fastball was so much better in 2015 than he was in 2016, IMO. The results were that he pitched like Blyleven in 2015 and not in 2016. If he had the same command and quality of pitches this year as he had last year he would not be succeeding in the pen either Comparisons with May are not apt because May has had back issues that came into play. There are pitchers in the past that have switched roles effectively but I don't care to see Duffey flip flopping either. I like the idea of a high leverage two or three inning guy. I wish there were more of those.
  10. Dantes929
    As lousy as Buxton has been I still am just slightly less interested without him in the lineup. He can't break out while not playing.
  11. Dantes929
    Surprises me because it looked like he really slowed down while rounding 1st base. I was yelling for him to stop at 3rd since a good throw would have gotten him and there were no outs but fun to watch anyway.
  12. Dantes929
    Aaron Hicks always looked pretty good as a 4th outfielder. I was promoting platoon and late defensive replacement most of Hicks time here. For some reason no one else ever liked the idea so not sure what the sequence would be that would make him that now. I think his early stats from the left side are a mirage but don't discount the idea that he ends up better than we all thought.. Instead of Murphy you should probably compare his stats to Grossman because he is probably the guy left out if Hicks had not been traded. We gain Hicks 1.1 OPS but lose Grossman's 1.004 OPS. All SSS of course but that is the likely comparison because nothing happens in a vacuum.
  13. Dantes929
    Getting even with the White Sox for game 163 in 08. Wonder when i will let go of that one.
  14. Dantes929
    I think he was a little messed up and major league hitters are better but they are not that much better. What I saw watching Berrios on tv last year there was no way those performances would translate into success in the minors. He was over throwing and was all over the place. You don't go from a 3.83 so/bb in the minors to 1.4 in the majors throwing the same way. Same thing happened recently with May. As for Buxton. The pitchers are better in the majors but you don't go from a .302 minor league average to .084 major league average doing the same things. The fastballs he is missing right now he would not miss in the minors.
  15. Dantes929
    I also look at his control as a benchmark more than anything else since we believe he has good stuff. I would rather he give up 3 homers with no walks than no runs with 6 walks. He probably was ready last year but started bad and then pressed and then listened to 8 different guys telling him what he was doing wrong. I think getting into a groove in the minors is a good and hopefully short lived thing. They are not robots. i remember a couple times Liriano and Crain were just a mess in the majors and went down to figure it out.
  16. Dantes929
    Forget Gibson. He will get at least 5 starts and probably at least 8. Meija is the guy Berrios would replace but I am not hoping for him to fail. My hope is for the rotation to do so great there is no room for Berrios. My fear is for the guys in the rotation to do just well enough to not justify demotion. Berrios was Hitter of the Day? That would add flexibility if he were called up. He's probably fast and can pitch run also. Ok, I know it was a mistake above but there is another draft prospect we are considering that can pitch and hit. I've never understood why those kinds of talent can't be developed together. It always seemed like a huge waste that Babe Ruth didn't keep pitching. If golf were a 3 man team game I could easily see someone saying "Hey, Spieth, stop working on your driver and irons. We need you to putt and you can't do all three"
  17. Dantes929
    To me, its not about strike zone comfort as much as just not pressing. I've always thought it was extremely important in 2010 that Valencia got a bunch of infield and seeing eye singles early on so he wouldn't have to worry so much about his batting average and could relax a little bit. I like the idea of giving him half a year to improve and someone should tell him that. Nothing makes you press more than thinking you need to get a hit or you will be benched.
  18. Dantes929
    Might be a little Nick Punto syndrome. He was fine until they said he was the regular 3rd baseman and he thought he needed to hit home runs cuz that is what 3rd basemen do. Another guy victim of over swinging. I think Buxton should be bunting at least every other game but when you put him in the 3 spot he thinks he should be a different kind of hitter. I also like the golf analogy. I once took a lesson and the pro watched me hit 10 of the worst shanks you will ever see. He stopped me and he told me about 3 things I was doing wrong. When he let me swing again I hit 10 of the purest shots you will ever see. Sometimes it is just one thing like grip or ball position that changes everything. I understand there is a big difference between minor league and major league pitching but no one goes from .302 in the minors to .069 in the majors without doing something different.
  19. Dantes929
    I don't believe the league figured out Duffey or that he can't be an effective starter because of his pitch mix. I think he threw poorly last year with little command of his pitches and that no one would have liked him as a reliever the way he was throwing either. I am fine with him being a reliever now but have no concerns about him starting. I have always liked Breslow but he seems like the obvious choice. We do have a long stretch of games and you do need mop up guys. If we are still complaining about our relievers not being used enough to justify having 13 pitchers I will be pretty happy because it will mean our rotation is doing a good job. I fear the opposite. If our outfielders would just start to hit we wouldn't need a deep bench.
  20. Dantes929
    I'm not convinced the Twins have a top 5 offense but like our chances if they are. 87 Twins were 10th in runs scored and 14th in runs given up. I actually like that when our pen gave up runs it was in a game that we were likely going to lose anyway. Its that kind of thing that makes for a winning record if your total runs scored equals your runs given up. If we can score just a few more runs than we give up ie top 5 offense vs 20-25 in runs given up then I don't mind relying on luck to get us to 87 wins or so. Normally I don't like talking this way after just 6 games but I know that the next 7 games can see us going 1-6 so might as well dream about it while we can. Not that going 1-6 in the next 7 would cause me to give up on the season either.
  21. Dantes929
    Whoops. Got it off ESPN and misread it. They were 13th rather than 18th in the major leagues which puts them barely in the upper half. I still think the high strike out rate was related to discipline and recognition rather than just missing balls in the zone but I could be wrong.
  22. Dantes929
    What a difference the automatic intentional walk and shortened replays makes. Our team full of millenials has a shorter attention span so this makes all the difference in maintaining focus.
  23. Dantes929
    Every thing about that post shocks me. The excellent May was fueled more by better pitching that month but your stats are correct. Then again, in 2016 we walked more than 2016 and we scored more so the correlation between walks and runs still holds. We were still in the lower half for walks taken and struck out a lot also which means there is room for improvement. It seems realistic to score 40 more runs than last year and to give up 100 fewer. Combine that with a good pythagorian as opposed to a lousy one and it can make a big difference. Certainly we are off to a good start in that regard.
  24. Dantes929
    Certainly a factor which is why I said we can't expect the same thing forward. On the other hand I don't think the only reason it took us 11 games last year to score 21 runs was because the opponents were throwing strikes. Give this year's team credit for having quality at bats so far. Sano in particular.
  25. Dantes929
    I don't think that was as true last year. They struck out the 6th most and were in the lower half for walks taken. I agree with Halsey that they were pressing last year and I think Buxton still has that going on now but as you pointed out some of these guys are young and relatively inexperienced and should just get better with more reps.
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