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ThejacKmp

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Everything posted by ThejacKmp

  1. ThejacKmp
    Aaron Sledgers should be getting this start against the Yankees today. I know Gee has been good but Sledgers is most likely to actually play for the Twins going forward. No idea why he's not getting a shot, everyone else has.
  2. ThejacKmp
    Did anyone know his parents were ballerinas?
  3. ThejacKmp
    Here's why this matters: The Hall. If Santana wins in 2005, he'd be a back-to-back-to-back Cy Young award winner. Every single person with 3+ Cy Youngs has made the Hall or is named Roger Clemens. And three in a row would show a level of dominance that might mitigate the short duration of his awesomeness (though his peak was still longer than Koufax). That's the real issue. Santana is not going to make the Hall but with that Cy Young, he'd have a good chance.
  4. ThejacKmp
    Agreed. Only scenario I'd see is if Vargas comes out of the break raking and the Twins don't feel able to drop a reliever. Then Adrianza potentially could be the guy.
  5. ThejacKmp
    This seems like discussing nothing. Granite is not likely to be on the Twins in the second half. When Mauer comes back from the DL, someone has to go down. Hard to see it not being Granite. I guess it could be Vargas but the Twins seem more likely to keep a switch-hitting DH than a left handed 5th OF. Granite came up for depth for a few games. It's nice he got into a game and had some good memories. But he's back down to Rochester to prove the first half wasn't a fluke. The real question is whether the Twins will drop Vargas or a reliever when they need a 5th starter on 7/19. I'd bet on Vargas unless he goes on a tear this first two weeks. Could be Adrianza too I imagine.
  6. ThejacKmp
    Also, the first couple weeks of the second half are going to tell the Twins a lot. Three at the Astros, three vs the Yankees, a brief respite against the Tiggers and then out west for three against the Dodgers. That's three of the best teams in baseball in your first four series. If they come out of that .500, they're going to be in the Wild Card chase. But it's not crazy to think they'd go 3-9 and make this all a bit more academic.
  7. ThejacKmp
    This. Santana is fine to hold into next year. He's not going to be an ace but this isn't 2006, there aren't a lot of teams you can fleece on a guy being great for a short period. I don't think people are going to value Santana like Sonny Gray. If someone does, I guess you may have to make the trade but I think that's unlikely to happen. I'd be fine to trade Kintzler if you get an amazing offer but again, he's not a crazy shutdown closer so you're not going to get an Andrew Miller or Chapman offer. He's a guy a contender would slot into the 7th inning maybe. More valuable to a contending Twins team at that rate. I like adding maybe one bullpen piece at the deadline and maybe another at the august deadline if need be. Otherwise, let the kids run with this.
  8. ThejacKmp
    I think the point of the article is that three of the other guys talked about at #1 all demanded big money, significantly changing the strategy those teams could use signing other players. That isn't a small sample size thing, that's reality. The author acknowledges the stats include only eight games and its important to note those are thrown as in an aside - "Sure the stats are nice but the dollars and cents show the sense of the Twins draft". Not sure SSS fits.
  9. ThejacKmp
    If you really think that bench player is their future roles, then it's hard to understand how not having them on the bench yesterday was really that big a deal. Guys whose ceiling is bench player generally aren't important enough for teeth gnashing over minor moves. I'd understand this if it was a Miguel Sano type but Garver? Granite? They're not pushing their way to the majors and they should be kept in AAA. Norris's career OPS against was .703 vs. RHB and .808 vs. LHB. You're citing a small sample of 35 innings; I'll take the over 1000 career innings to mean more. For the first 35 innings of this year, Hector Santiago looked like a Cy Young candidate with his 2.78 ERA and .615 OPS against. But I wouldn't have mailed in my ballot quite yet.
  10. ThejacKmp
    Yeah but would you really want Granite and Garver not playing every day on the off chance that Mauer is unable to play and they need a bench bat in a close game? That seems like a pretty big stretch for a two day interruption. I'd rather see people playing every day.
  11. ThejacKmp
    I'm not sure you can blame Molitor - this seems like an organizational thing. if the Angels had done this 7 times before, it should have been brought up in scouting and players should have been ready for it. It sure looked to me like the Twins players were flummoxed by it - seems like a scouting issue to me.
  12. ThejacKmp
    I posted about this above if you want the full thing but it's not poor roster management. The Twins aren't adding someone to the 40-man for something like this so we're stuck looking there. Your position players are: JRM, Garver, Granite, Palka, Vielma, Vargas. Garver and Granite aren't served being on the bench for two days - they need to be playing. JRM = no. Vielma doesn't add much beyond a glove and wouldn't pinch-hit for Castro anyways. He should be playing. Palka is more interesting but as a left-handed bat, he doesn't fit well with the Twins - a RH pinch hitter is much more useful - and he isn't playing particularly well. The interesting one is Vargas. He just got sent down the other day but was eligible to come back up within 10 days because Santiago went to the DL. And he's certainly a nice bat for the bench in late innings. That said, there are reasons not to bring him up. If the Twins send him back down Friday as one would expect, they restart the clock on his ten days. He then wouldn't be available to be on the 25 man to begin the second half. They may also not feel like jerking him up and down - Vargas needs ABs and if they didn't see getting him more than 1 pinch hit opportunity, it may not make sense for two days. He hasn't hit very well of late so some steady time in AAA might make sense. Busenitz is more useful if the Twins do a bullpen game tomorrow and allows them to not lean on guys like Belisle as much. It's an eminently defensible decision. Castro had the left-handed advantage and has some pop so outside of someone like Mauer whose OBP bodes well leading off an inning, I'm not sure pinch-hitting was called for in that spot. And though Buxton was batting right handed, he'd been swinging a hot bat so I'm not sure you'd sub for him either. Regardless, the Twins didn't know Mauer wouldn't be available at all and Busenitz over Vargas makes sense, even if it turns out the Twins might have wanted to do it the other way in hindsight. P.S. My hope is that Matt Belisle will be gone in the next week or so as the Twins go back to 12 pitchers and get Vargas back up.
  13. ThejacKmp
    Yeah, but facts can be used in deceiving ways. There are nine relievers on right now but there's still only 13 pitchers. They're not carrying nine relievers and five starters - with Santiago on the DL they brought an extra reliever up for two days because bringing a starter up early (hoping Jorge!) is pointless. There's no difference between the Twins carrying eight relievers and five starters and nine relievers and four starters. They were no more limited last night than any other night a player has to sit. Platoon argued that the Twins couldn't pinch hit for Castro because they carried nine relievers. That's not true, they couldn't pinch hit because Mauer was day-to-day and they had the same number of players they always do.
  14. ThejacKmp
    That bullpen game thought is an interesting one and fun to ponder. That said, I think you're wrong about it being throwing darts. I think they like Busenitz and saw an opportunity to get him up for a few days. No reason you can't send him back down tomorrow and bring up a starter. He's already used an option so there's no penalty. The other choice would have been to call up a position player for a few days but looking at the 40 man, there's not a lot of great options. Hard to see Palka getting any time with so many LH options for the Twins. Zach Granite should probably be playing instead of riding the bench in the majors (esp with Rosario, Buxton and Kepler all hot right now). Same goes for Garver and Vielma. JRM = no. The one guy you could argue could have been called up is Vargas. Since Santiago went to the DL, I believe they could have pulled him up even though he went down less than 10 days ago but maybe they didn't want to jerk him around for two days since they're down a starter. I also think that the plan may be to get Vargas back up after the break so getting that 10 days going is a plus since he may replace a reliever not going on the DL (hopefully Belisle!). Buesnitz was likely the best pick - whether that's because of a bullpen game or because the Twins just wanted a useful guy on the roster before moving to someone like Jorge for a start.
  15. ThejacKmp
    You know who would make a ton of sense? Danny Valencia. He has mashed left handed pitching his entire career (.863 OPS, 131 OPS+) and can play 3B and OF on occasion so he's not a one-dimensional player. He's likely available on a 1-year $4 million contract and if things go wrong in 2018, he might be a decent trade chip as a RH power bench bat. Looking farther down the road, the Twins should look at signing Mauer to a mini-extension. Sano looks likely to stick at 3B for the next half decade. Kennys Vargas looks more bench bat than every day starter. Lewin Diaz is the next guy but he's raw and only 20 in low A ball. Rooker might play some 1B but he's RH and can also play OF. And even if Rooker or Diaz takes off, the Twins don't have a dominant DH either so there's room for one of those guys and Mauer. I'd approach Joe about a 2 year $12 million extension this offseason. It'd be interesting to see how Twins fans react when Mauer is outperforming his pay - I hope we appreciate the second greatest player in Twins history and a guy who should make the hall of fame.
  16. ThejacKmp
    I'm okay with trading for a Neshek type if the price is pretty low. A fringe prospect in A ball who profiles as a reliever or a backup position player is fine. Anything more, not interested. I agree that the Twins should just promote from within. There are enough guys who look ready in the next two weeks and then in six weeks that we can ride it out. Time for Belisle to go and maybe Breslow in six weeks or so.
  17. ThejacKmp
    The Angels squeezed with two outs, not the Twins. 9 relief pitchers is a bit of an exaggeration by everyone - one of them is Buesnitz, who is only up for a few days until the Twins call up a starter to replace Santiago. We can argue that eight is too many (it is) but nine is a bit disingenuous.
  18. ThejacKmp
    It's easy to focus on that one play as the way they lost the game but I don't think it's accurate. The Twins had guys in scoring position all night long and couldn't get the job done. Two runs allowed should have been totally fine.
  19. ThejacKmp
    Any concept of why Sam Clay was moved from starter to reliever?
  20. ThejacKmp
    Clearly the solution is an electoral college of All-Star voting.
  21. ThejacKmp
    Does this use an option? Does it count toward his ML service time? I wonder how much he makes being in the majors for one day. Someone probably knows that?
  22. ThejacKmp
    Only issue is that Kepler is left-handed. The real solution is to start working on Grossman at 1B. He's never played it in the minors but you'd have to think he can pick it up. Especially because he'd be the 3rd 1B - the real solution is to drop Vargas, make Sano your 1B against lefties and use Escobar at 3B those games. Grossman would only come in if you need Sano to move to 3B due to injury in the middle infield.
  23. ThejacKmp
    Like this.
  24. ThejacKmp
    Yeah, I've been saying they should make him a reliever for the past two years but that was more because I thought he'd never make it as a starter, not because I thought he'd be anything more than a second or third lefty depth option. He's been excellent - probably the reliever I believe in the most? I love when he gets to a three ball two strike count, he's not afraid to flash a devastating curve.
  25. ThejacKmp
    And Mauer had some really nice plays at 1B. I know he's not worth $23 million but I'm loving this resurgent season. That scoop yesterday was huge and he did an excellent job getting back to the bag after diving, something that's way harder than it looks. And in other fun news, Mauer and Eric Hosmer are the only two qualified first basemen with no errors. Let's see Hosmer make an error this weekend. At a really important time.
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