Kirby_waved_at_me

sigh. Well, there's always next inning.

C'mon Danny-ie!

I - what? Kurt Suzuki caught stealing? This is perhaps why we can't have nice things...

dang.

Take that, pitcher's duel!

Hughes seems to be sharp out there - 4 Ks in the first three innings...

Mauer's average and OBP is climbing this month - I hope he makes it all the way back to .300/.400/.400 levels by season's end. He's back up to .278/.353/.371 as of today... And how about another homer for Arcia?

Oh, that chart leaves out Correia and Pino, who have had more starts that Milone and May this year. Correia had an ERA+ of 80, Pino's was 74. Not saying that the rotation is anywhere close to Playoff quality, but the list looks a lot worse without those two in there. Correia, in particular, since he made more starts (23) than all but two of those guys.

If the Twins make an offer to Melky, I would be happy. He's really the only FA that should be a starting LF Edit: or yes, sign Yasmani Tomas or be that mystery team that swoops in on Rusney Castillo.

Yes,he's in the too expensive category, also not worth what it would take to acquire. But he'd be a significant upgrade over Parmelee/Nuñez/etc. in left.

Free Agents: Melky Cabrera! maybe Chris Denorfia? no Jonny Gomes, no Delmon. Trade: Try to get Justin Upton by offering to take B.J. Upton too... possibly affordable via trade: Corey Dickerson from Colorado? Christian Yelich from Miami? not likely worth what we'd have to give up, or just too expensive: Starling Marte from the Pirates? Brett Gardner from the Yankees? in a dreamworld, Michael Brantley

Yeah, this game was painful - so much hope at the beginning, only to see all the good things frittered away. If they are going to lose, I'd prefer that it be falling just short after battling back.

sure - and is that not the goal for a stat like WAR ? To take more than one stat and combine them to give a general value for a player? I'm not really advocating for using WAR alone, I agree that there are weaknesses to using any metric on its own. I do like the conversation, though. No two players are really equivalent, but that's what makes the comparison interesting to examine, right?

Maybe "Vote" is the wrong phrasing - but somehow a player is chosen... based on their below average performance, like the Mendoza line (which is kind of a poor example since Mario Mendoza generally was a bit better than a .200 hitter) Is the fact that players are being compared to a baseline that is not a a real-world example an issue, or is it something else? How should players be compared to one another?

Would it more palatable to have a player (or one player per position) voted on at the end of each season to be the "Replacement Level Player of the Year" ? Then you're using a real set of data from events that really happened - so, it's less Wins above replacement and more "Wins Above 2014 Nick Hundley" Is that better than setting an arbitrary line, or is that just a different arbitrary line?

Great news for the Kernels with this winning streak - so much is made about the minors being for player development first, but I would be really surprised if the players and coaches preferred the extended learning experiences and teaching moments of losing to building on a successful winning streak.

Ah - but where does the 'grit' of the witness get factored in?

Yep - I agree with those targets. In the starting pitching column, I might add Justin Masterson.

I'm enjoying reading this conversation - I think there are good points for both sides of the argument. I think WAR is an interesting stat to look at in hindsight, but I agree with the criticism that taking less than accurate defensive metrics and lumping them into the equation is problematic. The last couple MVP debates have used WAR a lot to compare Miggy and Mike Trout. Trout gets a boost for playing CF (which, ya know, I think he should , at least a little bit) and Cabrera just hit and hit and hit - Average, power, and took advantage of his teammates being on base in front of him. The career WAR stat is kind of hard to rely upon as well - It's not recalculated, is it? It looks like they take each season WAR and just called the sum the career WAR. If the Defensive metrics have to be adjusted over the years . . . Wouldn't the "Career" WAR need to be a different math problem than simple addition? What about a guy like Biggio or Yount, who played in CF for chunks (but not all) of their career, compared to Edgar Martinez or Big Papi, who get no defensive boost - can't really compare the Career WAR of those players. Or Joe Mauer, who now has to be a different hitter entirely to be a 5 WAR player since he's not getting the benefit of doing what he does as a Catcher anymore. I think that stats are cool. WAR really only compares a player to his own shadow, and not really to another real player. You can make the argument that a 10+ WAR season like Mickey Mantle in the 50's or Babe Ruth or Barry Bonds is better than pretty much anyone else. But if there are two players, say one with a season WAR of 5.3 and another with a season WAR of 4.9, it's going to be harder to say that 5.3 is for certain the better player that year. There's a lot more to account for, including a margin of error for the defensive portion, what position the guy plays, etc. etc.

Willihammer beat me to it ! Isn't there a Zubaz promotion coming up at Target Field soon?

These are all solid points - Pinto is a better hitter than Eric Fryer, though I wonder what the Twins gain from having Pinto instead of Fryer. It's possible that the Twins could get back a player via trade that is worth more than having Josmil on the Bench. I agree that unless he gets regular playing time in the big leagues, his value can only go down as he gets older. As others have mentioned, Fryer is great in the role of backup catcher (and he's a respectable hitter against lefties, though it may be a smaller sample size talking), while Pinto is not really showcasing his strengths as a bench player.

It would be shocking, for sure. I don't think they'll sign any of the top 5 SP. But it doesn't make sense to me to pick any low hanging fruit at this point, for exactly the reason you state in your last sentence. If the Twins sign another SP in the offseason, that pitcher should at least be better than Nolasco.

I agree - I would rather see the Twins sign a smaller number of free agents than see them spending money just to spend it. Strategically target areas of need. I'd be happier to read that the Twins made serious offers to the cream of the crop and missed out rather than reading that they've signed Nick Punto or Joe Blanton or some other random dude that had a great season several years ago but has been league avg or worse since then.

Can't hurt to make offers to Scherzer, Shields and Lester. If the Twins somehow landed one of those three, it would not be hard to make room.

I would say if the Twins are looking to throw some money at a problem, they could fill a need by going after a different Cabrera: Melky. Bonifacio, Colby Rasmus, Denard Span, and Markakis are all players I hope the Twins are targeting before they spend money on a Free Agent shortstop Other Bats that *could* play in the outfield should be avoided- guys like Nelson Cruz, Jonny Gomes, Cuddyer. While they would bring some offense, they would be a liability in the field and are all higher injury risks. That list also features players that would likely take at bats away from our younger DH candidates like Vargas and Pinto.