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stringer bell

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Everything posted by stringer bell

  1. stringer bell
    Of the four possible opponents, Houston has seemed to have the upper hand, and they have a lot of winning playoff experience. Each of the other three have pluses and minuses, and it won't probably be determined until the last day.
  2. stringer bell
    A similar transaction to the one above--Chi Chi González had his contract acquired by the Marlins for the second time this year. González, Devin Smeltzer, Tommy Milone and Dereck Rodriguez are examples of pitchers getting their service time a couple days at a time. All have been DFAed multiple times, accepted assignments at Triple A and then return. They might change organizations, but continue in this borderline existence.
  3. stringer bell
    Don't know where to put this, but I'll put it in last night's game recap--LaTroy Hawkins was all over Alan Porter's strike zone last night, but it came in as solidly above average by Umpire Scorecard. I think this is a good example of the "TV Box" not being the most accurate guide to what is or is not a strike.
  4. stringer bell
    As far as the position he plays, I'm thinking of Manny Machado. Machado was a SS playing third base, but found a home there. Royce looks like the same thing.
  5. stringer bell
    Royce has single-handedly solved the Twins bases loaded problem. With the bases loaded this season, he is 6-11 with four homers and 20 (!) RBI. That a 2.219 OPS.
  6. stringer bell
    Julien has shown himself to be less than instinctive as a fielder and base runner. He has special hitting skills, so we can put up with some of the quirks and deficits. I believe more experience will help with his issues, including hitting left handed pitching.
  7. stringer bell
    I think it is more complex than just benching Arraez against lefties. A guy like Arraez probably isn't good for 150 or even 145 games. Miami is seeing the fade right now and he faded last year for the Twins aided by injury. If you are going to rest Arraez for 20 games, it would be advisable to rest him against left handed pitchers. Yes, not starting him on Opening Day was beyond the pale, but playing him too much is probably counterproductive. The same with the Joe Mauers of baseball. As for pinch-hitting with the platoon advantage, that shouldn't be for established regulars, but the Twins don't have many of them.
  8. stringer bell
    Rumor has it that Ober might be in the bump in Chicago tomorrow.
  9. stringer bell
    We've seen good and bad from almost all of the relievers--getting them sharp and relatively rested is a real key. If, for example, Jax retires about 15 batters in a row between now and October 3, Rocco and the fan base will have a lot more faith in him. Varland and Funderburk probably have to do well to secure spots on the postseason active roster.
  10. stringer bell
    They’ve been less than spectacular, but Solano has a.782 OPS vs. LH and Farmer is at .732, both better than the team average. Just about everyone has been worse than their previous stats against lefties, particularly Correa and Buxton. As a team, the Twins have progressed from rock bottom against left handed pitching to low 20s in OPS, despite the struggles (in limited opportunities) against lefties by Kirilloff, Julien and Wallner.
  11. stringer bell
    Julien has been on the major league roster roughly 110 days, not exactly five months. They acquired both Donovan Solano and Kyle Farmer as bench players who were earmarked to improve the Twins' performance against left handed pitching and both are capable second basemen. I know that I don't favor pinch hitting, but it does figure that Julien doesn't get many starts against left handed pitchers.
  12. stringer bell
    My point was that they are quite similar, but Wallner has done a far better job of converting mistakes into runs. I don't know if getting hit by an inordinate number of pitches is a great strategy in that getting hit that many times is an invitation to injury. I do agree that AAA stats this year should be taken with a grain of salt. Larnach was the better player in spring training and won a spot on the team. After a quick start, he struggled while Wallner did well at St. Paul. Wallner came back to Minnesota later in the summer and had a good run and now he is struggling while Larnach is doing well at St. Paul. I don't think it is established right now who will be the better player going forward, but IMHO neither has stepped forward enough to lay claim to a regular job in MLB and the clock is ticking.
  13. stringer bell
    I thought that Larnach was the superior option to Wallner, but Trevor fell on hard times with the Twins. Wallner came on and provided power that (so far) Trevor has been unable to produce. As many have pointed out, having depth is desirable, but having Trevor go back to AAA isn’t great for his career. He’ll probably get another chance and it may be his last with the Twins. If the team thinks they have other guys to step up perhaps they will try to trade Larnach.
  14. stringer bell
    In a similar number of plate appearances, Larnach and Wallner have similar numbers with the exception of home runs. Wallner’s OBP is bolstered by his HBP propensity. After having a prolonged slump at St. Paul, Larnach is again swinging well.
  15. stringer bell
    I attended today’s game and it was as beautiful outside and comfortable as anyone could ask for. From my view in section 209, it was entertaining and in the end Tampa took advantage of Twins’ mistakes more than the Twins were able to take advantage of TB miscues. I guess a 7.5 game lead allows Rocco to give Correa a complete day off. Saving the best pinch-hitting option (Solano) for later might have given the Twins a better chance in the ninth. Having 14 position players really doesn’t allow for pinch hitting all the time for Wallner, Kirilloff and Julien with Correa unavailable. Kepler has apparently graduated from this status. Jax looked really good until he didn’t. I speculated he, like Pagán, could go one of two ways—challenge him or try to trick him. He threw a middle-middle nothing pitch which resulted in a predictable outcome.
  16. stringer bell
    Polanco is back. Celestino back to St. Paul.
  17. stringer bell
    Wallner looked rough in the field last year and in his first couple call-ups, but I continue to say he looks much, much better now and does have a big arm. BBRef has him as a marginally plus defender this year. He is not slow! He has a 72 percentile sprint speed.
  18. stringer bell
    Now have to watch Detroit as well. Magic number to eliminate the Tigers is also 11.
  19. stringer bell
    Unmentioned as a potential replacement is Trevor Larnach, who had a good week with the Saints last week. Wallner has seemingly passed Larnach, but maybe that isn’t the case.
  20. stringer bell
    Giants walked off the Guardians on a Wade Jr. single. Magic number is 11 and we will have to count down on both Cleveland and Detroit.
  21. stringer bell
    It’s more than a half step. Nick’s brother got the speed. According to Baseball Savant, Nick is just an average runner.
  22. stringer bell
    According to the radio broadcast, Taylor is likely to be activated and probably within the week. I expect he'll start in center field for all post-season games. If Wallner doesn't pick it up, Castro might be the starter in left field. Farmer and Solano certainly will start against left handed pitching and will pinch hit against a lefty reliever. Luplow is less certain.
  23. stringer bell
    Nice summary Nick. I think it could be reported that a couple of rookies (Wallner and Julien) have hit a snag. It is unrealistic to expect everyone to be going good at the start of the “second season”. Most players are holding their own. It will be interesting to see who emerges as bullpen arms for the postseason. There would seem to be lots of candidates for eight spots.
  24. stringer bell
    I don’t hold any mythic expectations for Stevenson. He’s 29 and has about 500 plate appearances in almost three years of service time. What he is is a good fielder with plus speed and if he’s on a postseason roster he’ll be there for those reasons—not his hitting. Stevenson may well get DFAed when Taylor is ready to go. Regarding Gordon—I don’t see him sliding into a postseason roster as a hitting option (if Wallner goes 0-20, I think Larnach is the next option) and as a specialist, it seems that Stevenson is a better fit. For next year, my thought is that the out-of-options Gordon will have to show he’s a much better hitter than Wallner, Larnach and Austin Martin, who will have the advantage of being the only right handed hitter in the group.
  25. stringer bell
    Big league players don’t go to the AFL. I think part of the problem for both Wallner and Julien might be fatigue. It was noted that Miranda struggled in September of his rookie year. These guys aren’t used to playing after Labor Day especially facing major league pitching every day. Neither has been on the IL all year, so I’m sure this is their longest professional season.
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