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SkyBlueWaters

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Everything posted by SkyBlueWaters

  1. SkyBlueWaters
    I don't know. Pretty sure it was the '78 season though. I was trying to think of a way to run a search to figure it out. Maybe look at Ford's game log and see when Mauch began using him less. (I think the rule is that the trailing runner is out, right? So Ford's run, when he got through strutting for some pretty fan, would have counted.) Yeah, the guy who passed him wasn't too clear on the concept, either.
  2. SkyBlueWaters
    Knobby and Greg Gagne deking Lonnie Smith, excellent example. At the other end of the IQ spectrum, Disco Dan Ford after a homerun dancing home from third, getting passed by another baserunner. Purportedly Gene Mauch (whose baseball IQ was high,) was so enraged he sent Ford to the lockerroom and on home (but the nickname was born).
  3. SkyBlueWaters
    Mahle is indicative of the half-measures this FO take when the pitching staff clearly needs help to reach the next level. When The $#&! Yankees needed pitching, they went out and got Gerrit Cole. When Houston needed pitching, they pried Verlander away from Detroit. The Dodgers' arms stockpile drives me insane. So far the Twins have gone out and gotten the likes of Happ, Shoemaker, and the mending Archer. They signed Dobnak (career ERA in 125 IP, 4.94) to a long-term deal. I happen to like Bundy's bulldog approach, but he's long-in-the-tooth and not going to lead anyone deep in the playoffs. Looking at Mahle's stats with Cincy, it shouldn't be a shock that he's struggled here. This FO came in with it understood that the pitching staff needed help. Falvey came in billed as the guy who built Cleveland's pitching, which led them to the world series. I wouldn't ask that the media be too harsh in questioning them, but it's totally fair to ask what pitchers this FO sees at the front of a Twins rotation leading our excellent lineup deep into the playoffs.
  4. SkyBlueWaters
    Agreed. What's most intriguing about this for me is that Falvey was brought in from Cleveland with the buzz that he was supposed to be great at developing pitching, right? What happened? Did he get the credit for a pitching pipeline designed and built by others? Right now we've got an offense and fielders capable of playing well into October. But when I look at the team pitching stats for the other teams likely to show up in the playoffs--in particular the front ends, the aces leading those staffs, and the bullpens protecting their leads, I'm not liking how the Twins stack up. Hate to say it.
  5. SkyBlueWaters
    I'm curious to know why you think Simeon Wood Richardson is a mess. He's got the third most innings pitched for Wichita, his ERA at 3.06 may not be fantastic, but it's one of the better ones on the team, his WHIP of 1.160 is also one of the better on the team, and a SO9 of 9.8 isn't too ,,, messy. Is it? At 21 he's the youngest pitcher on the team by two years, and most of the guys listed are 24-27. It looks like he's putting up those numbers against guys a good bit older than he is. What don't you like?
  6. SkyBlueWaters
    Highly doubtful.
  7. SkyBlueWaters
    In '62, All-star Camilo Pascual led the Al with 206 K's, 18 complete games and 5 shutouts, while going 20-11. He was also 15th in league MVP voting. And he led the AL in SO/walk ratio, at 3.49. Morris's game 7 is world series legend, but his '91 season trails Pascual in most categories, and the only thing he leads the AL in is starts and ... wild pitches. He walked a lot, too, with a K/BB ratio of 1.77. What's Camilo got to do to get a little love? That hook was amazing, and when the franchise first arrived in the landa lakes, he was one of our first real stars.
  8. SkyBlueWaters
    This surprised me. You might want to double-check your research on The Freak. https://www.fangraphs.com/players/tim-lincecum/5705/pitch-type-splits?position=P In '08 his fastball averaged 94.1 mph; in '09: 92.4. Those were his Cy Young years. By '14, his fastball averaged less than 90 mph. It was that incredible changeup that had batters lunging out of their shoes. Maybe you were thinking of someone else? No debate on his talent. But scouts were concerned about his frail build. Obviously, everyone would love to draft and develop a two-time CY winner who helps you win three world series in five years. But sadly, scouts' concerns over his frailty were right, in terms of how short his career was, given his early dominance.
  9. SkyBlueWaters
    I think it was last year the Twins were cruising with a big lead at Yankee Stadium, that exorbitant shopping mall of a ballpark. Duffey throws what is on replay clearly a strike (admitted by the Yankees announcers) and the ump calls it a ball. Forced to pitch even more over the plate, Duffy coughs up a long ball, and the $%@!# Yankees come back. Duffy is red-faced, screaming at the ump as he is taken out of the game. The Twins lose again. This is good entertainment for you?
  10. SkyBlueWaters
    Austin Martin's slash is .236/.360/.308. Admittedly not pretty, but for the OBP. So he is showing a good eye, drawing 26 walks behind his 49 hits, and his 39 runs scored is second on the Wind Surge behind Wallner. Twenty-two stolen bases (2 CS) ain't bad, either. in 11 starts, 53 IP, Simeon Woods Richardson has a 3.40 ERA and 1.132 WHIP. He had a few rough outings in May, lasting 4-5 innings and giving up no more than 4 ER in each, but has had more good starts than bad. He's a 21 year old kid, generally pitching well in double A. There's still time for both of them to develop. If I'm a Jays fan, $131M for a pitcher with a 5.11 ERA so far is plenty of reason to go -aye? p.s. Admittedly, I still miss La Maquina as a Twin. ?
  11. SkyBlueWaters
    Kenny Lofton and Aramiz Ramirez for Jose Hernandez, Bobby Hill and a pitcher who never made it out of the minors, Matt Bruback? Ramirez was the key. Hernandez was a bit long in the tooth by 2003. Mark Teixeira and Ron Mahay for Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Matt Harrison and minor leaguer Beau Jones? Ok, some pitchers involved, but the everyday players were the big names in the deals. p.s. Agreed that it ain't a common trade.
  12. SkyBlueWaters
    It really depends on the weaknesses of other playoff contenders. E.g., someone earlier mentioned the Padres might want to acquire an outfielder. So someone like Kepler can step in and right away cover RF, backup CF, and provide ribbie power. A big need of ours is front of the rotation. I'm pulling for Bundy because I think he's battling his butt off for us, but I think his injuries in recent years have taken a toll and he isn't going to lead us to the promised land. So we have a big need to upgrade there.
  13. SkyBlueWaters
    Correa has a clause saying he can block a trade to 5 teams. https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/american-league/minnesota-twins/ Once he names the teams, they can trade him to others--but I agree, trading Correa would be a bad idea this year. He is too crucial to our lineup and our defense. I can't remember a deeper Twins team than our everyday roster (even as Miranda, Kiriloff are under-performing). Up and down our lineups, this team can hurt you--our depth is fun to see! And Correa as a leader is crucial. We have depth elsewhere that can be dealt.
  14. SkyBlueWaters
    The OP wrote: "There are few to no trusted high leverage relief arms outside Jhoan Duran." You could give Griffin Jax a little more love. We have over 90 games left. Depending on how they develop, as opposing scouts get a better look at them and they get tested further, Winder and Ober might become better relief options. Smeltzer is becoming a pretty solid pitcher, too. I generally agree that we need better BP options. But my biggest concern remains the rotation. If they are going to make one trade, I want a horse. Assuming we hold off the Indi Guardians and Chisox (and if we can't, we don't belong in the playoffs anyway) we need at least three reliable starters, preferably four. Pretend Archer continues pitching as well as he has, his arm gets stronger, and he is going 5 or 6 innings keeping us in games. I'd feel a lot better going into the post-season with Gray, Ryan [acquired horse], and healthy Archer.
  15. SkyBlueWaters
    Good point about Winder in relief. Possibly Ober, too, if he continues to develop. Just please not Thielbar or Duffy. My heart can only take so much.
  16. SkyBlueWaters
    I think Correa's contract also has a limited no-trade clause, yeah? Something like five teams? Granted, that leaves 24 others, but it wouldn't take an ivy league education for his camp to look at the contenders, see who needs an SS, and block most viable trades, if they wanted to. If Royce Lewis were still healthy, I'd feel a bit better about this option.
  17. SkyBlueWaters
    I have to admit, I looked up the salaries, too. Not to go all Twins-cheap or anything ... Assuming we have $750K to throw around like confetti, I like Pineda, better, too. But the real answer is still making a deal for a front-of-the-rotation horse before the trade deadline. (We're so close to being one of the elite MLB teams ... )
  18. SkyBlueWaters
    I have a friend who gets annoyed with him sometimes. I just don't take him that seriously. I imagine him chortling to himself with half the stuff he writes--maybe more. He's part info, part entertainment, and solidly curmudgeon. I love when he writes of Twins' past--especially the 60s. -- Just another old guy
  19. SkyBlueWaters
    With his injury history, the pitching brain trust was smart to limit Archer's pitch count at the beginning of the season. He has been a pleasant surprise, especially with our injury/covid/vax issues. I'm not necessarily optimistic about him for the rest of the season, but if he stays healthy and they can stretch him out ... and his progress continues, I can see him as a valuable number four guy. I so wish we had a deep rotation, and really hope they can make a deal for a frontline starter from someone out of the race at the trade deadline. At his age and with his history of injury, I'm leery of relying on Archer too much, i.e., as a number three starter, should we make the playoffs. But if we could add a front line starter, alongside Gray and Ryan, with Smeltzer, Ober & Winder developing well ... I still miss Taylor in the bullpen. (Sigh.)
  20. SkyBlueWaters
    I've thought about this, too. My problem with Happ and Shoemaker last year is that they were presented to us as the fix. We supposedly had what we needed with them. I don't think the FO has the same mindset now. Even if they did, from what I see in the media, the common perception is that the rotation still needs help. Their feet will be held to the fire a bit more. Deservedly so. I agree with those speculating that the A's are asking a king's ransom. So the Archer signing might be a good countermove. He can eat some innings early in the year while we see where we are at. Which of our young arms make solid progress. Also, some teams may struggle, and more arms may be available as the season progresses.
  21. SkyBlueWaters
    With all of the talented hitters we have, I've got no problem with a rotating DH. This is going to be an intense season, as the 162 game schedule is getting squeezed into a tight calendar. We're going to need to rotate our hitters through the DH spot to get through this. I'm waay more concerned about a rotation of Gray, Bundy, Ryan, Ober & Dobnak or Jax. Fine to make a deal with Mr. Sabrmetric in Oakland; if he's putting the squeeze, find someone else who can give us a frontline starter. But this team is too good to stand pat with the starters we have. Gray might be a no. 2 starter, the rest are more like 4th or 5th starters--perhaps Ryan will develop into a reliable no. 3. Frankly, for this team, the DH spot is a welcome problem to have.
  22. SkyBlueWaters
    Why not Kiriloff in left? Sounds like he's fully healed from last summer's surgery, and is playing pain free.
  23. SkyBlueWaters
    With Urshela, Correa, and Polanco starting, and Arraez, Gordon, Miranda and Lewis backing them up, the Twins are so deep in infielders you have to think someone in that group has to be part of the package to garner the starting pitcher we need. I like Polanco a lot (except for the defense, at SS), but I suppose he is older than a team like the A's would want. I'd hate to give up Lewis, but if that's what it takes to add a front-of-the-rotation starter, then it's time to make the deal. This team is waaay too good in the field to try and compete with a rotation of Gray, Bundy, Ryan, Ober & Dobnak or Jax.
  24. SkyBlueWaters
    Exactly. Some of the young pitchers we are hoping will develop into front-end starters need to see a guy like Gray over the course of the season. This is a smart move in the right direction. We still have a ways to go, but considering how much changes over the course of 162 games, this is a good step, and with any luck maybe some of the young pitching talent we have read about will be pitching well for us in September. Look how much changed for us after the optimism of 2021 spring training.
  25. SkyBlueWaters
    My concern about Pineda, at his age, and with his injury track record, would be how many innings he might give us. So offer him an incentive laden contract, with a ladder of bonuses for innings pitched beyond 100. Mike has shown us he can pitch. If we could get 140-180 IP from him, he would be worth a fatter contract. This team still doesn't have a legitimate front-of-the-rotation starter, but the Gray acquisition was waay better than the free agent signings of Happ and Shoemaker, which doomed last season before it began.
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