ashbury

I don't see adding Keirsey. Try to trade him if more than one team might try to grab him. I don't know his defensive prowess but it surely doesn't exceed MAT's, and his bat looks like will be inferior. Another tweener like Stevenson, backup OF candidate, and that is something you can acquire on the fly if need be, not expend a precious offseason roster spot. I had had hopes for him, and he may carve out a major league career of sorts, but he doesn't quite make the cut IMO.

It was my fault. On our family game thread in the ninth inning of that last game, when Polanco was at bat, Bashbury typed "hip-hip?" and I foolishly responded "George!".

Who writes the headlines anyway? Replace "near-perfect" with "cohesive" and you capture the sentiment of the article IMO. / I am not an editor

That team? Couldn't even get past one round of the playoffs.

I was hoping for something like this. Surgeons usually prefer a conservative course of treatment, which in turn left hope for fans that those sawbones weren't out of ideas for Byron after last off-season's procedure didn't do the trick. Of course there's no guarantee this fixes him up, but it's better news IMO than "rest during the off-season."

Five guys reached that innings mark in 2023. Twenty years ago (just to pick a number)? 44 guys. Yep, times have changed. Standards need to, too.

Why not? A team that would pull Jose Berrios in the fourth inning of a scoreless game might be open to any discussion.

I'm not making the case that he's anybody's idea of a true workhorse, so that wouldn't have drawn a response from me. (Although I look closer at counting-stats over a period that includes 2020, a shortened season, in which for better or worse he was on a 30-start pace.)

MLB.com's player page for Gray shows no IL time from May 1, 2017 to September 13, 2020. Recent history is more important, obviously, and he's not getting any younger, but invoking an entire decade seems to be overdoing it. And a healthy 2023 with 32 starts seems like just about the best recommendation any pitcher can have, at any age. Also, Gray's pitches per PA were the fewest among all qualifying Twins pitchers (a set of only five guys, to be sure) at 3.73, which is below the major league average of 3.90. He tied for 14th best in the majors. Similar numbers for 2022 and 2021 (Reds) as well. Gray's about the last Twins starter to point a finger toward in this regard.

Those free agent ideas are out of the box because they don't belong in a box. Not in a discussion of starting pitching on a pennant contender anyway. A minor league contract to Keller, sure, no risk and likely no reward; load up on a few of those, like every team in every year, just so long as room is left for genuine SP prospects at AAA.

I want a World Series victory. So the players have to learn from this year and get better. Those who can't get better need to be replaced. I'm nowhere to the point yet of trying to play armchair GM for the coming off-season. But I'll never forget the two playoff wins I witnessed in person alongside my two sons. So I thank the Twins with profoundest gratitude for 2023.

That's fun.

I don't remember if I offered a prediction beyond "93 wins, barring injury." Which was of course my little joke/shorthand that I don't make predictions, since every team save a lucky few suffer serious injury of some type - putting aside the variability of human performance. But I did think 93 was a good midrange guess, below their ceiling if absolutely everything clicked, above what they'd achieve if things fell apart like last year. I expected their players on offense to take a big step forward this season, and they didn't - Gallo played a big role, not just in his performance but possibly stifling the development of similar but younger players. Defense was a mixed bag, with MAT and Correa and yes Kepler being a pure pleasure to watch patrol their territories. I didn't know how to forecast the pitching except that if the FO was right, it could be pretty good, with some weakness in the bullpen, and that panned out nicely to counteract the underperformance of the bats. Give Pete Maki a raise, tell David Popkins he's on notice to figure out something new because his approach isn't working. The first half was very rocky, but in the second half they were humming along at a 90+ win clip, albeit with a mix of lesser opponents making things seem a little rosier than they might actually be. I don't think I speculated at all on the post-season, but 93 wins (making them 3rd seed in either league this year) would have likely made them a favorite to advance at least past the wild card. So, with their moderate turnaround after the All-star break, I'm content to vote that the team approximately met my hopeful expectations, even if their first half makes the win total a half dozen game shy (which is more than just a little). See? Not only do I not really make predictions - I don't even stand behind what I do say, though I'll use a lot of words in not saying anything. I dislike pre-season prediction articles with a passion. /edit - while I was typing this word salad, Chief posted the poll. My uncharacteristically succinct post in that thread was closer and more specific than I remembered. "I'm on board with several others who have already posted. 93 wins, division title, at least one playoff series win." I should have just posted that. Maybe I'll try predicting again next spring. Barring injury, of course.

Kirill off. Buxt on. / stolen from someone on Twitter, I don't know who. I am shameless.

If you were inventing a sport from scratch in 2023, with a predictable activity that happened in a certain spot, oh, say, 250 times a game, you'd automate the judgment of that activity if you could. A hundred years from now if baseball's still around, fans could be told that in the early days balls and strikes were called manually, and they would be all, "whoa, didn't they even have motion detecting cameras back in those old-timey days? Dr McCoy had that quote about stone knives and bearskins in one of the better Star Trek episodes.

Vazquez to Rocco:

He achieved two quick outs, expending 9 pitches. I would expect him to be available again today if the need (hopefully!) arises to protect a lead.

Sorry, I was editing my post to reflect on Buxton (he's the topic of the thread after all) while you were responding.

I can't help but point out that the "four years prior to this season" which you were responding to includes the shortened Covid-year 2020. That's going to skew the numbers, and Correa was healthy that year (58 games played out of 60). Yes, his 2019 was injury-riddled (broken rib, what a wimp), but the overall picture of his availability is not so bleak as your suggested benchmark would have it. There's no way to view Buxton's health in that span positively, of course.

Good for first place in the AL Central!

He's not allowed to pick from Houston's roster. There are no difference-makers sitting unused on Minnesota's bench.

Oh, for sure. And in that clip A-Rod tried to demonstrate (as a righty, which changes it somewhat) what good technique would be - I can't judge. He also gave Alex some cover, that maybe he couldn't see the ball. But then A-Rod has an annoying ability to say something trite (his closing comment) as though it is profound. It just hit me a certain way this time.

I trust you also could see coming the two wins last week against Toronto?

ARod's insightful deep-dive closing comment about Kirilloff's error: "you can not let that ball past by you." Alrighty then.

(Today, we're secretly replacing Wednesday's Game Thread with this thread of rants, and will re-title it at some point tomorrow. Let's see if anyone notices.) source, for any young'uns out there