ashbury

Season stats (which end at the game of July 12): in 56 games and 231 plate appearances, JJ had a BA of .215, 14 doubles and 2 triples and 3 homers, 13 walks, for a "bottom line" OPS of .610. A lost season, and if he's lucky he'll be invited back to Cedar Rapids in 2016 for another try.

Felix's August was poor by his standards. He had an occasional good game, but in too many others gave up runs at a mere-mortal rate. Including a short relief stint on Sept 3, his final six regular season games totaled up to a 3.74 ERA, and he struck out "only" 25 in 33.2 innings. I don't believe a slightly high BABIP of .324 explains enough of this away. However... come playoff time, the man stood up in a big way. He shouldered 7.1 innings and held potent Quad Cities to two runs in a 5-2 win for Cedar Rapids. Season totals, then, were a highly acceptable 2.79 ERA in 142 innings (22 starts), striking out 7.2 per 9 innings while walking only 2.0. It may be that he wore down physically as the season passed the halfway point - he remains listed at only 170 pounds on a 6'2" frame. Until he fills out a bit, it may be best to keep the innings load down a bit so that he can develop without dealing at the same time with too much fatigue. But it seems clear to me that he has earned a promotion to Ft Myers for 2016, as well as putting the nightmare of Cedar Rapids in 2014 behind him for good.

For the months of August and September, Vielma's numbers cooled off somewhat, yet remained acceptable. His batting average for this period was .284, and he added enough walks to result in an on-base percentage of .352, making him a productive table-setter at high-A ball. He lacked any semblance of power at all, getting only one extra-base hit (a triple) in this time. I suppose his approach at the plate is to select a pitch he can handle and just stick the bat out there and try to let the ball drop in. That's not going to lead to Hall of Fame numbers, but guys who are good defensively can sometimes reach the majors with this approach. So, for the season, Engelb Vielma batted .270, and added just enough other offense to result in an OPS of .627. He stole 35 bases and was caught only 12 times. His reputation as a slick fielding shortstop remains intact as far as I know. And overcoming a poor start to a season always sits better in people's minds than starting hot and then cooling way off. He's young (21) and maybe the brain trust will decide he needs another year in Ft Myers, but my guess is that his offense was just sufficient to justify a promotion to AA at Chattanooga in 2016. It looks to me as if his offense "is what it is", at least for now, and the critical question is whether his batting approach will carry over to AA, AAA and the majors, So IMO it's best to just move forward and see. And who knows, maybe next year's batting coach will help him recognize pitches he can inside-out and shoot to right field to try and take advantage of his speed to get more doubles and triples.

Tyler appeared in only 5 games from August 1 forward, with a paltry .158 BA, 4 walks but no power. At which point, he was released from the Twins organization. It's tough to keep a job as a first baseman if you're just not hitting. Ehhhh... let's dispense with a season summary, OK? You can look up numbers if you really need to. I have a hunch he will try to catch on with another organization, whether a major league affiliate or an independent league. But whatever course he takes, I wish him good luck, because he seems to be a solid individual, with a supportive fiancee whom I had the pleasure of meeting in the stands during Spring Training,

Season wrap-up: Alex dominated at high-A, which he needed to do since he's a college prospect who is not getting younger. An ERA of 1.60, 42 strikeouts in 45 innings, 13 walks and just one homer, at the end of June. Very very nice! This resulted in a mid-season promotion to AA. Unfortunately, the move to Chattanooga did not meet with success at all. A month and a half there, and his ERA ballooned to 4.82, with only 11 strikeouts in 22+ innings of work. He also walked an uncharacteristic 9 in that span. Back to Ft Myers he went, to try to turn things around in the final few weeks. This did not prove to be the hoped-for tonic: in 4 appearances, totaling 4 innings, his ERA was 9 and he struck out only 1. This slightly affected his high-A numbers, giving a revised season ERA of 2.20. Still nice, but you can't ignore the trend. So... did something at AA shatter his confidence? Did the poor finish coincide with some minor ailment he couldn't work around? Or are his mechanics simply out of whack? Regardless, this is the first real bump in the professional road for Alex. Next season he'll be 24, and if he is assigned again to high-A it won't bode well for the organization having confidence in him. Conversely, if he gets another crack at AA, he needs to approach it with full confidence that what brought him this far (plus learning from the coach) can carry him forward.

I'm not trying to set the same standard for a return. I'm saying that if the return will likely be lesser, it reduces the incentive to trade if there is much risk that a defensive hole will be opened. My bottom line, as usual, is to rely on fundamental scouting by people more capable than me (my view is that he looks capable or better - eventually - but currently terribly rough on certain plays we've come to expect of Plouffe), to determine if Sano projects to be a third-baseman we can rely on. I'm on the fence as to whether to trade Plouffe, lacking that.

Yes, but it's that premise of there being an excess which isn't quite as clear as, say, the case of Mauer replacing AJ which gets bandied about. Mauer was clearly ready for the show, both with the bat and the glove. Here, Sano's bat clearly plays but his glove remains a giant question mark. Do we have an excess at third, or not? I'm not certain, and it's possible the Twins FO isn't certain either. Also playing into the discussion is that when trading AJ, it covered a defensive position of need for any number of teams. Third base is less a high-demand position, probably reducing the return that can be asked in trade. This further clouds the question of whether it makes sense to trade Plouffe, if the risk of leaving a gaping hole at third remains and the return won't be (say) a MLB ready young starting pitcher or a stud AA hitting prospect.

My favorite two games of the year, when my two favorite teams play: "Whoever is playing against the Packers" versus "Whoever is playing against the Bears".

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BTfdjCwCQAANpYv.jpg

Not a trick question. Just the placement of the 'V' logo makes the image look like a woman's heeled shoe, filled with enough Ish to last a lifetime (or one game thread, whichever comes first).

BTW, why did they go to the trouble to put high heels on a hot dog bun?

Another example of Vienna beef: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9Pa_ffk_bQc/VaJA0yxP_fI/AAAAAAAABMQ/qCRtjfPzclg/s1600/download%2B%25284%2529.jpg

... and without much underlying meaning.

Which was exactly why I didn't worry about the momentarily high ERA. He's still dominating (or nearly so) his level. Wait and see next year of course.

There's tales of Sano ice-fishing every weekend as a lad.

When you find yourself drinking the video games and playing the whiskey, time to go to bed.

Shhh. One of the best running jokes on TD.

If you were four, it seems like a fair question. I'm not sure I remember what happened when I was 44.

I'm about ready to eat crow over my reluctance to believe Escobear has the stamina to be a starter.

The fork remains firmly stuck in Plouffe!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVEIotzy3_A

Brian, we're going to need you to go ahead and give us some of those home runs this weekend, like you were doing earlier in the year. That'd be great.

http://ftp.gameculture.com/files/blogimages/ukpolice.jpg

Micah Johnson's not allowed to make that play at 2B, is he? It's the 7th inning, for goodness sake!

Many's the time I heard "there goes Ol' Blunderbuss" as I headed to RF...