ashbury

Baseball should follow the NFL's example and do more to celebrate the best players, rather than publicly hem and haw along the lines of "meh, he wasn't THAT good." Both Oliva and Kaat should be enshrined. I will be pleasantly surprised if they get in, though.

I see really little daylight between the two players' resumes. If one is in, the other is too. If one is out, so is the other. I'm a big-Hall* guy, so both are an easy Yes for me. As an aside, bWAR would seem to give Joe a measurable edge over Buster, but a metric more like Wins Above Average has them as about equal across their careers. WAR is a good enough tool for roster decisions, to consider what a player brings to the table compared to AAA fodder, but for Hall of Fame considerations I prefer to ask how much above-average they were over the long haul. * I'm sure I've said before, my version of big-Hall means to formalize the common notion of an Inner Circle within the official HOF, to make it easier for voters to include more fan favorites into the the Hall while allowing a measure of "purity" for the best of the best in that inner group.

Ever the bridesmaid, eh?

Now or never with Cano.

Best news all day! Thanks, Seth.

Thursday afternoon's game in Mesa was marred by an injury to Matt Wallner due to an errant pitch high and inside. I wrote up what I know here. I find it disquieting that we have not quickly heard a simple "X-rays proved negative" by mid-evening. The 11-4 drubbing administered to the home Solar Sox by our Twins' Scottsdale Scorpions pales in comparison to the concern I have for Matt, but here is my game summary from a Twins fan perspective. In attendance along with me at Sloan Park was Twins Daily stalwart USAFChief. Perhaps there were other luminaries in attendance, but this was enough star power for me! Wallner was the only Twins representative in the batting order, playing in RF. In terms of fielding, he handled a routine fly out and dealt capably with the base hits in his direction. As for his work at bat... after striking out to end the first inning, he launched a no-doubter HR to left center to lead off the third, off of Oakland pitching prospect Jeff Criswell (presumably no relation to the famed narrator of Plan Nine From Outer Space). Two innings later, he came to bat again and on 2-0 was hit in the leg on the bounce by a 55-foot pitch that I'll assume to be a curve that got away from Criswell, still in the game for the last of his four innings of work. I thought nothing of it at the moment, but then the next inning Wallner faced a different pitcher, Hogan Harris also of the A's, and I really, really, really hope this was nothing more than a coincidence - the two HBP had little in common in terms of the kind of pitch, and the second one occurred on a 1-2 count which is not a typical situation for a purpose pitch - but in the box score they all look the same. Wallner headed straight to the dugout after the 95-MPH beaning, not taking even a step toward the base he was being awarded. After the third out he was escorted across the field, walking under his own power and seemingly steadily, to the left field corner where presumably medical attention was to be had. Here is a photo of him, a pitch or two before the fateful one: The only Twins farmhand to pitch was Zach Featherstone. As with Laweryson yesterday, the fastballs I saw were low-90s at best, but his mix of pitches was effective and his body of work in the eighth inning was a clean 1-2-3, with two swinging strikeouts after a harmless fly to left. (Chief noted that, what with Funderburk also, the Twins apparently are cornering the market on three-syllable pitcher names. Maybe it's the new market inefficiency.) The layout of the ballpark allows fans to wander over toward the bullpen and observe pitchers warming up from a vantage point above them, and here is a shot of Zach before he came into the game: These are the only Twins tidbits to offer from the game, but it happens that Wallner was not the only person on the field who had unwanted contact with a baseball. Scorpions third base coach Ydwin Villegas (Giants) was nailed, in the shoulder I think, by a sharp foul liner. He was cool as a cucumber, having dodged actual injury, and popped right back up to resume signaling the base runners as though nothing at all had happened. Occupational hazard, which is why base coaches earn the big bucks. The AFL has some experimental rules. One I noticed in both my games so far is that the umpires frequently check pitchers caps and other areas of the uniform for banned substances. Chief remarked on the lack of extreme defensive shifts. And a walk seems to have been awarded to Scorpions first baseman Triston Casas (Red Sox) when the pitcher apparently exceeded the 15-second time limit while there was a 3-ball count - we at first thought a balk had been called, to advance the runners, except that Casas also trotted down to first. This prompted me to look up the rules for the AFL this year, and some these are covered at this website. (I had failed to notice that the bases were slightly larger, and also that in last night's Salt River game the balls and strikes were not being called by the plate ump.) It was a super pleasant afternoon, with temperatures in the low 80s. But it is sobering to realize that Chief and I have not brought the best of luck to Twins prospects in the AFL when we view games together, as we have witnessed AFL-season ending injuries to Taylor Rogers (struck in the shoulder by a line drive) and Lamont Wade (concussion after collision with a fellow outfielder). I hope that Matt bounces back as well as these two players have been able to. Mrs Ash and I will be concluding the Phoenix area portion of our vacation with one more game, a home game at Scottsdale, Friday afternoon.

In all honesty, I kind of wanted to hold off of some of the other, highly important, stuff pending news concerning his well-being. I wanted to say how much I enjoyed the game and the companionship, except there is this "other than that, Mrs Lincoln" aspect looming over it. But yes, Matt did earn an all-important run batted in, to aid in securing the win in this 11-4 squeaker. (He also had a more mundane RBI from the home run leading off the 3rd.)

This photo is of Matt being escorted away from the first-base dugout and toward what I assume to be the field's medical facilities. He gave a little wave to some well-wishers on the third-base side, and I think he replied in some fashion. I have found no further information as yet - hoping for the best.

Matt Wallner was hit in the face by a pitch in this afternoon's game versus Mesa. Looked like his lower jaw. I happened to be taking photos during that plate appearance - it's a bit out of focus and blurry but I can't help uploading and posting it anyway. Matt was able to make his way to the training room at the far end of the ballpark under his own power, so I'm hopeful that he escaped serious injury.

Counter-point: as we've seen since the 2019 HR barrage, you can't necessarily count on the offense clicking when you want it to. Have the pitching on hand in case the offense clicks; have the offense on hand in case the pitching comes together. A sequential build-up year after year depends on too many variables staying put.

I'm in Scottsdale for 3 days in the late-autumn sun. Well, no sun tonight, but it was a nice evening for a ballgame despite a sparse crowd of under a thousand, with the always convivial baseball fan Mrs Ash attending with me at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick tonight, where we witnessed the Rafters at home defeat "our" Scottsdale Scorpions 3-2. Two Twins prospects were in the starting lineup, Andrew Bechtold playing third base and Michael Helman in left field. Bechtold showed a willingness to take rather close pitches even with two strikes, walking 3 times but striking out twice, once looking at the third strike - I would have liked to see him put the ball in play a time or three, although his selectivity shows up in his regular season stats in the Twins organization, so it's a part of his game. Helman put the ball in play three times out of four (striking out on a checked swing his last time up), but a couple of popups on either side of the infield plus a fly to center didn't add up to anything but an 0-for-4. On the defensive side, Helman wasn't particularly tested but did convert the one fly ball hit his way into an out, while Bechtold made a couple of 5-3 putouts including a very nice throw on a tough chance. Here's a photo of Helman, I believe, at the plate. One Twins prospect, Cody Laweryson, got a chance to pitch in the sixth inning. His 87-MPH fastball didn't excite me much, and I guess his 78-MPH offering was a curveball. He pitched what should have been a clean inning with one strikeout, but an error by Red Sox SS prospect Christian Koss (his second of the game) put the leadoff batter on base and a stolen base made it more interesting. But with two out and the runner on third, Laweryson acquitted himself very well by hustling over to first base for a 3-1 putout against a speedy batter, Brewers outfield prospect Joey Wiemer. Speaking of shortstops, Rockies prospect Ezequiel Tovar showed me everything you could want from that position on a play leading off the ninth, by ranging deep to his right and then firing a laser to nip the batter (the aforementioned Koss, as it happens) at first base. Tovar also hit the 3-run homer that provided Salt River all their runs in the winning effort. Not bad from the #8 spot in the batting order. He just turned 20 and was promoted to high-A during the season. Maybe the Rockies would like to throw him into a trade? Does anyone reading this have a problem with someone named Tovar playing some SS for our Twins?

Pineda is an easy yes for me. He's actually good. Health issues, sure, but Rodriguez scares me more.

I was in attendance for the only 2 innings Eddie ever played third base in the majors, so I totally feel qualified to say the Twins missed a trick by signing that stiff Josh Donaldson* and not keeping Eddie. Good for Eddie, this past month or two. He's a major leaguer, and capable of this kind of heroics. * Different off-seasons, I realize

"Home run hitters drive Cadillacs, singles hitters drive Fords." -- Fritz Ostermueller (regarding Ralph Kiner)

That's what scouts mean, when they term a defender "adequate."

Successful teams don't list their good players and then try to determine which has the most trade value. They keep their good players. If we're rebuilding, the clearest signal the FO could send of that is by trading Polanco.

If his finger is going to heal then it's a no brainer to retain his services - the CBA assures that anyone under team control is a relative bargain. If he's never going to be the same due to the finger, then it's a no brainer to release him - $7M can be deployed to some better use. If his prognosis is 50/50, then you have to flip a coin. It all comes down to the medical staff's forecasting ability - I have no such insight so I have no independent opinion.

I liked seeing Broxton jump for joy on the catch in that video against de la Guerra. Considering that Celestino stood to prevent Broxton from getting a call to the majors if he did well, that shows real class.

What's the scouting report on Kala'i's defense? Does he have any speed?

1995 Peoria LaTroy Hawkins, Matt Lawton, Dan Naulty, Jamie Ogden, Kevin Ohme, Mitch Simons, Todd Walker 1996 Scottsdale Jason Bell, JJ Johnson, Jamie Ogden, Mark Redman, Todd Ritchie, Dan Serafini We of course have the benefit of hindsight, a different kind of bias, as to how these careers turned out, knowing that the late 90s were a dreary time for the franchise. Certainly many players sent to the AFL, in general, do not progress, for any number of reasons - that's also a red herring. But at the time, most of the players in those two years looked like real prospects - worth a fan's trip to the Phoenix area for a look-see. E.g. the now-forgotten Jason Bell was a 21-year old who had had success at high-A and was so-so when promoted to AA but with good strikeout numbers for the time. And the unlamented 1996 group as a whole had 3 pitchers who went on to have more than just a cuppajoe in the majors. (I won't bother to defend the FO's two-year fascination with first baseman Ogden.) Does anyone besides Wallner in this year's group, old other than Laweryson and not with much of a track record, look like they have a prayer of that? Digging up the names for these two seasons in the AFL was tedious. I'll pass the baton back to you, if you want to dig out a team with less-compelling prospects than these or, back to the point, less interesting than the crew being sent to Scottsdale for 2021. Nonetheless, I'm going, later this month.

Royce Lewis contributing anything to the big club before September seems beyond "plausible" and more into "so you're tellin' me there's a chance" territory.

I don't want to undersell Story as a hitter. He's not poor. His .200 road BA this year is IMO a fluke, and he hits for power. He's well above average as a hitter among his shortstop peers. But his road OPS has never been above .800, and after a while I have to accept that that's who he is - a very good hitter but not in a class with the elite. A very general comp from Twins history could be Greg Gagne - who was more than good enough in the field and had some underrated pop with the bat, and arguably was the glue that helped solidify those World Series teams, Kirby and Hrby notwithstanding. No chance Story goes for 2 years and $20M total. Even factoring out Coors helium, he's worth a whale of a lot more. I'd rank the choices offered in this article as Correa/Story/Seager/Baez, and give Semien no consideration at SS. But 20 other teams will be bidding too - it's always a sellers market and only 4 teams will come away with a prize, with a good chance that 2 of those end up with regrets relatively quickly.

Understanding what you mean by "decent SS" probably comes from knowing your reaction to hearing, "like, say, Jorge Polanco?"

Probably, but I'm not sure to his benefit. I like him but we should be prepared for a very good defensive SS who doesn't hit as well as Jorge Polanco, not "Coors Field Trevor Story". In addition, we'll have to "overpay" to outbid all the other suitors for any of the topnotch shortstops, but that overpay might be even a little steeper if any of the suitors think they are getting "Coors Field Trevor Story".

... and if by some miracle they are in contention in June or July, and the draftee is scuffling and seeming to hold them back, they can reverse course and offer him back to the original team. If they aren't contending, then they can put up with a lot less production from that one spot on the roster, if the talent seems there.