stringer bell

To me, Sanó angst is all about the hype. When he got to the majors, the comparisons were to Frank Thomas and triple crown winner Miguel Cabrera. He was supposed to be a power hitter who would hit .300 or better. His debut half-season gave us believers plenty of evidence that he would be such a hitter and soon. The first half of 2017 was more "proof". Injuries combined with struggles the last half of 2017 and most of 2018 show that he's not really improved. We were promised Miguel Cabrera and we're getting Mark Reynolds. I am not sure if it is potential wasted or if this is what Sanó was meant to be. Also, he just turned 26, a lot of players have broken out in their mid to late 20s.

How about Doolittle from the Nats?

I really don't think the Twins regarded Escobar as an option at second base, nor has Arizona. There are factors why Esco has received so little play at second the last several years--Dozier's durability, Escobar's emerging as a major league bat that plays on a corner--but I have never viewed Escobar as fluid or smooth. He's got a good infield arm, which played at short or third, but not the range for a plus shortstop.

Two 30-year-old natives of Venezuela, both switch-hitters, both came to the majors as shortstops who became utility players and were to become free agents at the end of the 2018 season. I was looking at Baseball Reference and thought I would compare the former Twin with the current Twin. I was surprised how similar their numbers were. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/e/escobed01.shtml https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gonzama01.shtml While they are very similar, there are differences. First of all, Gonzalez has remained a versatile defender, while Escobar has become a fixture at third base for his new club. Neither are spending appreciable time in the middle of the diamond, this year Escobar has played one game at second base and Gonzalez has played one game at shortstop. Gonzalez has started mostly at third, but with the return of Miguel Sanó, he's started multiple games at first, third, left and right field. Escobar has truly come into his own as a hitter. He hits in the middle of a good Arizona lineup and leads the National League in games, plate appearances and at-bats. So far, he is putting up numbers worthy of All-Star consideration. After an extremely slow start, Gonzalez has put up numbers in line with his career norms. It is intriguing to consider what might have happened if the Twins had somehow managed to retain Escobar. Would he have been able to have the role that Gonzalez is filling? Would the Twins then converted Sanó to first base and not acquired Cron? For what it's worth, it appears that this has worked out for all concerned.

I missed Smeltzer's first start, but saw most of the game last night. I think he's showed enough to be first in line when there's a starting vacancy (rainouts, injuries), but with less than dominating stuff, he needs to have good command and keep ahead of counts. Smeltzer isn't going to give up four homers every start, but he's a far better pitcher when he's pounding the strike zone.

While Pérez wasn't sharp, he also didn't have any luck. A lot of poorly hit balls were hits. Regression to the mean, I guess. He's got to throw more strikes and the second time around, the Ray hitters didn't chase. Tough spot for Littell and I wouldn't be surprised if he was optioned before the next game.

Will Smith (Giants) and Sean Doolittle (Nats), both of whom are lefties. Having another dominant left hander in the bullpen would make Rogers' role more clear and perhaps reduce the back-to-back usage we've seen so far this year.

With Buxton exiting, Rocco put Gonzalez in left, Eddie in right, and Kepler in center. In previous games, with the same three outfielders, Rocco put Gonzalez in right. This was the configuration I expected (Gonzalez has very little experience in RF). Has there been any word why the moves were made last night?

I said in another thread, I'd rather have Astudillo on the bench than Arraez. To amplify this remark, let's consider how the DH position has been handled with Cruz on the shelf. At least half a dozen different guys have been the DH, almost everyone but Castro and Buxton. When Cruz is back, he will take the lion's share of DH plate appearances. Having Gonzalez with no specified position will provide days off for the corner infielders and outfielders and perhaps Buxton. Adrianza would be the first choice to give Polanco a day off. So, where does Arraez get plate appearances? If the Twins are going to have a bench player getting very occasional at-bats, I think Astudillo is the right choice, not Arraez. Keeping Astudillo provides flexibility with the catchers (Baldelli would be comfortable running or hitting for the starter or occasionally starting Garver as the DH). Arraez has looked very good in his short time with the club. He has been afforded the chance to get plenty of playing time because of the rotation of players through the DH slot, but that is going to go away. When Cruz returns, it is best for him and the team for Arraez to go to Rochester and get more development time.

IIRC, there will be an extra player next year (26-man roster), so some of this will be moot.

A small nit to pick. Adams was DFAed and yesterday was claimed by the Tigers and is on their 25-man roster.

104 after yesterday's game.

Twins face Gio tomorrow, who has been effective so far for the Brewaahs. I wonder how they will fare.

I think Lewis and Kirilloff are untouchable, along with Graterol and probably Thorpe. Anyone else should be on the table.

Raley's numbers are pretty good and he's played some center field, indicating he's ok in the outfield, but is he better than Cave? Is he going to displace Kepler or Rosario? I understand he's currently on the Injured List, as well.

While Arraez has stepped up, one of the few problems I see for the Twins is their lack of capable replacements in the minors. Cave is a big-league player, but besides him there isn't a player in Rochester capable and deserving of promotion to the majors IMO. Injuries are going to happen and I don't anticipate the lineup suffering much because of the current bench--Gonzalez, Astudillo, Arraez and Adrianza--they are big league players (we'll need a little bigger sample size with Arraez) and they are versatile. On the pitching side, other than hoping for lefty to emerge from Meíja, Vasquez or Moya, no one has jumped out at Rochester. Meíja hasn't started a rehab yet and the other two have not been effective. Maybe one of the AA arms can help, but in a pennant race, I wouldn't want to rely on rookies. The top prospects have not fared well on the whole, with a large number of them being injured (both pitching and position). Package some of them for pitching help? I guess I'd say go for it. There will be a lot of potential free agents after this season, including three members of the rotation. To me, this looks like a time to go for it.

I was watching and Berríos wasn't completely sharp through four innings. He had made quite a number of pitches for only allowing two base runners going into the inning. It was a barrage of singles (maybe one double mixed in) and he had exceeded 100 pitches, probably 30 in the inning. I thought it was the right call especially since he had thrown so many pitches.

Two nit-picks here. Cron wasn't on the field except to hit (DH last night) and Duffey was fine, but threw a lot of pitches. I didn't think he was dominant, but he did get the job done.

LaTroy is excellent. Not far removed from the players and someone who hung around the majors for a long time. I really like his perspective. Morneau is far better than I would have thought. I'd rather have Hawkins and Morneau than any of the other color analysts we've seen in the past few years (exception of Jim Kaat--far and away the best color guy still living).

You're not seeing what I'm seeing Wally. Hildenberger has been batting practice for a month.

I think WHIP is another measure that is more accurate than ERA. Hildenberger hit 2.0 with his last outing. I checked his career numbers and they look pretty bad, as well. I do tend to agree with Chief that there has been some smoke and mirrors productivity in the bullpen. Other than Rogers, it is white-knuckle time every reliever toes the slab in a close game.

The Angels were relentless for three games, but didn't get the big hits. 45 hits in a three-game series and they only won one game. I will buy into the "luck argument" a bit. I haven't seen so many weakly hit balls roll through the infield against the shift, combined with so many balls getting through the shift. It's hard to say this, but Mike Trout wasn't that consequential. He could have driven in a dozen runs and probably seen to it that the Angels swept, but the Twins got him out in key at-bats. It seems to me that the whole homestand was regression to the mean. Twins' starters allowed runs, including home runs after being tremendous for quite a while. Opposition hitters found grass with weakly hit balls and got balls over the fence. The Twins struggled with runners on, particularly against Detroit, but managed still to win four of seven, not great, but not a total disaster.

Regarding not bunting--with all of the strikeouts and pop flies in today's game, it is far from a guarantee that the next guy will bring in that run. Kepler hits a lot of pop flies and a lot of grounders into the shift, one of the two would have advanced the runner, the other not so much. Kepler is consistently inconsistent. He's already had three or four "snags" where he's 1-10, 2-15. He'll come out of it with multiple hits and extra base hits. I'd like to see a true leadoff hitter, but given what is available, I think Kepler is as good a choice as anyone.

With the announcement that Nelson Cruz suffered a wrist injury yesterday, my immediate thought was who would replace him in the lineup and on the roster if he had to go on the injured list. It would appear to me that the answer is the much-discussed Miguel Sanó, who is on his third and last stop in his rehab program. Much has been written about Sanó. I wish to confine this discussion to the ballplayer between the lines. The other stuff has been beaten to death IMHO. What will the Twins get when a healthy Sanó is on the active roster? Sanó came up to the big leagues with much hype in 2015. He was going to be the power hitter the Twins hadn't had since Harmon Killebrew. Another comparison, because of size, was Frank Thomas. Sanó's rookie year was excellent. Despite being called up only at midseason, he was a contender for Rookie-of-the-Year. His traditional state line--.269 BA, 18 homers, 52 RBI was very good. Double the homers and RBIs for a full season, and there is a perennial All-Star, future Hall of Famer. Plus, he was only 22 years of age. A deeper look at his rookie stats was probably even more encouraging, while Miguel struck out over 100 times (in a half season), he also walked more than 50 times, giving him a solid OBP of .385. His OPS was a stellar .916 which yielded an OPS+ of 149. After a minor injury, Miguel only played 11 games in the field, so we couldn't be sure about his defense. For his superior half-season of work, Miguel Sanó was voted the Twins' Player of the Year. 2016 started with Sanó installed as the new right fielder. He was never competent or comfortable there and it seemed to affect his hitting. After a month and a half of futility in right field, Miguel moved back to third to demonstrate a rocket arm, but less-than-soft hands. His metrics at third came in below average, but at least he could hit. Well, the hitting didn't go as well either. Sanó ended up playing in 116 game, having an OPS of .781 with 19 homers and 51 RBI as the Twins flailed and failed and lost over 100 games. Sanó missed over 30 games due to injuries. Again, a deeper look into Sanó's numbers is a mixed bag. In 160 additional plate appearances, Sanó only hit one more homer than 2015, his walk rate plummeted while his strikeout rate stayed basically steady. The batting average ended at .236 and his OBP fell to.319. Sanó was a deserved All-Star in 2017. He came to camp as the third baseman, healthy and came out of the gate on fire. His first-half stats were outstanding--.276, 21 homers, 62 RBI and his defense at third was satisfactory. The strikeout rate remained about the same (35%), but he also walked 44 times, a big improvement over 2016 and the OBP was .368 at the break. Since the 2017 All-Star break, Miguel Sanó hasn't been very good. The combined numbers from the second half of '17 and 2018 are .211 BA, 20 homers, 56 RBI. OBP at .292, slugging .408, with an OPS of .700. The walk rate is below 10% and the strikeout rate is 38%. These are not future Hall-of-Fame numbers. They aren't even starter numbers. In addition, according to metrics (and my eyes) Sanó remains a below-average third baseman, despite a plus-plus arm. To summarize this rather elongated prologue, Sanó's on-field performance has been a roller coaster. He started looking like one of the brightest stars, faded, came back to that level again and faded again. Does this up-and-down have to do with injuries? Certainly. The point here is to suggest that the Twins shouldn't be counting on Sanófor too much. Expectations of another Frank Thomas or Miguel Cabrera should be tempered by now. I think they should expect more than they gotten since the All-Star break of 2017. They should get more than Mark Reynolds-like production. If the strikeouts keep coming and the homers are too infrequent, he can still be optioned. This club looks like at least a contender for postseason. If that is the case, they shouldn't be playing guys based on potential or upside. Miguel Sanó is at a crossroads in his career (in my opinion). He soon will have a chance to step on stage with a good team and help them make postseason, and maybe have success there. He's now 26 and shouldn't be judged on what he might do, he should be judged by how he is actually performing on the field.As a Twins fan and a baseball fan, I hope he can find his earlier success. As someone who has seen a lot of hyped players come and go, I am a bit skeptical.

I disagree about lack of depth, at least among the position players. It has been great to have Cruz' bat in the lineup, but the team can work around not having him for a week or two if it comes to that. If they have to put Cruz on the IL, they have a replacement for him in Sanó. With Sanó's ability to play third and first, they might be able to kind of rotate the DH between a catcher (Astudillo or Garver), Sanó and perhaps one of the outfielders. It also would keep Cave in the majors for as long as Cruz was out. I think the lack of starting pitcher depth is much more concerning. Teams don't get away with five starters in the rotation very often and if the next-best option is Kohl Stewart, well I think that is a problem. I said earlier that Hildenberger has at least one option. I do believe the league has figured out much of his deception and the stuff he has requires really good command and he hasn't shown it since last year at midseason. Some of you old-timers might remember a right-handed reliever the Twins had named Frank Eufemia. He was nearly unhittable his first trip around the league, but when he faced teams a second or third time, he became very hittable. Eufemia didn't throw hard and featured a really good off-speed pitch. I wonder if Hildy is another example.