stringer bell

I would imagine he didn’t get more double plays than previous seasons, but that he still got more than average. This is what I liked about 2018 Kyle Gibson—he pitched well in some starts when he didn’t get a lot of swings and misses. Some games, it was a lot of grounders, other games, fanned more than one per inning. Regardless of what might be working for him in a specific outing, he usually found a way to be effective, as evidenced by 18 Quality Starts.

On Gibson, I’m not a stat maven, but wouldn’t guys who induce a lot of double plays always have a higher FIP? While luck enters into strand stats, I think the mental part of the game matters more and I think Gibson has become a smarter pitcher.

I think Gibson is deserving. I think Taylor Rogers is more deserving. Rogers posted career bests in virtually every category. His last 2 months were about as good as it gets. Going back to July 30–26 IP 10 H 0 R 3 BB 29 K. From May 1–57.2 IP 33 H 10 ER 12 BB 68 K 1.57 ERA.

Much appreciated summary Tom. I think Gibson has had an overall better season than Berrios. His K totals seem to have fallen a bit late in the season, but he still got to the 8th inning today. Gibson is at 190 IP, and is still competitive on the mound.

I'll scattergun here a bit--yes drop some dead wood on the 40-man! Granite,Petit, Duffey, Slegers, perhaps Curtiss or Busenitz, although I like the latter two's live arms. I like Meija, and think he definitely should be kept. Berrios is now an "All-Star" to me. I think it was borderline that he was named in the first place, and he's been lackluster most of the second half. That said, he's young and could become dominant. Sure, extend him, but don't expect an ace, at least not yet. Add a 1-3 starter, absolutely, and that will cost either money or talent. Corner infield depth--absolutely. I personally think Austin is a better hitter than what Sano has become and I don't know what happened to the guy who came up in mid-2015 (or the first third of 2017). There should be all kinds of doubts about Sano's durability as well as his ability after this year. We've seen more than glimpses, but less than sustained excellence. As for Buxton, how about a decent guaranteed contract (maybe two years) with performance bonuses that are good rewards for staying on the field. Again a half season (second half of '17) showed that he can do it.

The Twins have ridden the roller coaster during the Paul Molitor era. Up in 2015, way down in 2016, a peek at the playoffs in 2017 and now way down in 2018. The roller coaster claimed a front-office victim in longtime GM Terry Ryan two years ago and now there has to be some heat on field manager Molitor after this season's extreme disappointment. The complaints about the old regime included being too "old school", including pitch-to-contact staffs, not using advanced metrics, cookie cutter approaches to hitting, and of course, not spending enough to bring in and keep talent. Fair complaints all, I think. However, in the Levine/Falvey era, we see little real progress and a real lack of talent in the upper minors. This year's crop of September call-ups is among the most uninspiring in recent memory. I believe there are two keys to being competitive and sustaining that competitiveness for a number of years. The first is pitching. Levine and Falvey are supposed to be pitching guys. They have acquired pitching, but with mixed results at best. Their best talent at the top levels of the farm system doesn't have many, if any, outstanding talents. Addison Reed, Zach Duke, Lance Lynn, Jake Odorizzi didn't move the needle much for the big club this year. Perhaps they have suffered from some bad luck and just need to add quality until it sticks and stays. All I can say is this, the Twins rank in the bottom third of almost every meaningful pitching stat. You don't win year after year with far below average pitching. The other component which is missing in my opinion is defense. For the last two years, the Twins have gone with a primary shortstop who is well below average defensively, couple that with a revolving door in center field this year, the trading of the regular second baseman and the season-ending injury to primary catcher Jason Castro, and you have a toxic mess turning outs into outs. Further, and if there is one complaint about Molitor that sticks, it is this. The team has been woeful at executing fundamental baseball. I'm talking about throwing to the proper base, making needless throws, failing to hit cutoff men and the like. Add in that opposing baserunners are taking extra bases like free gifts and this is tough to watch. I think the front office needs to commit to pitching and defense in a big way this offseason. That would include making every effort to keep their most gifted defender (Byron Buxton) in Minnesota and on the field as much as possible. Secondly, I think the Twins need a defensive-minded shortstop, with the idea that Jorge Polanco can move to what I think is his natural position, second base. On the pitching front, more and better arms to augment the so-so rotation (I think Gibson/Berrios/Odorizzi is fine for #2-4) and a questionable bullpen. I like May/Hildenberger/Rogers, but more is needed included a closer. The Twins have been in the baseball wilderness long enough. They need to have a solid plan for improvement, stick with it and stay relevant not for an occasional year, but consistently. I think the long suffering fan base deserves it.

With all of the disappointments Gopher football has presented in the past half century, I'll put the over/under at 7 and be satisfied with a minor bowl. OTOH, the homer in me wants 9 wins and a pig and ax in the trophy case.

Aren’t the high walks the expected downside for getting away from pitch-to-contact and having a staff full of “strikethrowers”? Another thing is that “putaway pitch”. Without it, long counts and eventually walks. Certainly, this is the case for Gonsalves. Some of the others have had the same phenomenon, probably Odorizzi more than anyone else.

As noted in the Minor League section, Busenitz was very good in Rochester this year. He has been poor with the big club. Last year, he was pretty good with the Twins.

Looking through Odorizzi's stats at this point in the season, he is pretty much the same pitcher he's always been. Too many pitches, too many short starts, but satisfactory numbers for a guy in the back of the rotation. His walks and strikeouts are up, his hits per IP are down, but there are no dramatic changes. A contending team can send him out every five days, but they need to have three or four better guys, especially if the team wants to have "only" a seven-man bullpen.

I've always been a Rogers fan, and as noted above he's taken a real step forward this year. I would also note that the velocity is up considerably on the fastball, which seems to make the rest of his stuff even better. Reed will be back. I hope whatever is wrong is fixed, either with rest or surgery. He seemed like an excellent signing and looked good early, but for most of the season he has been brutal.

I want Kepler in the conversation at first. It seems his weakest tool as an outfielder is his arm, which would be minimized at first. He's tall, surehanded and a lefty, with some experience in the minors. It would give Jake Cave more playing time and putt together a pretty formidable lineup against RH pitching.

I like Hawkins, Cuddyer, Morneau, and Smalley in that order. I heard enough from Hunter in one series. On the other topic, yes make Polanco a second baseman and sign a shortstop. Iglesias now of the Tigers would be a good fit.

I heard a couple innings of the game on the radio and didn't see a single pitch. By all accounts, it was a dreadful performance not worthy of a Major League baseball team. It has already been a long and disappointing season, so fans are primed to be angry and vent at the manager, players and front office. That said, and alluding to a post above, it is only one game with a confluence of factors that led to the dreadful result. First of all, this was a meaningless game between two teams long out of the playoff chase. Secondly, a day game in the hot Texas sun with a series against Houston starting this afternoon with the contending Astros meant giving days off to the struggling Sano and to Mauer. Add in that Field and Gimenez likely wouldn't see the field in Houston, Molitor started those guys.Yeah, Gimenez at first base is poor, but if he's not going to play Austin, Mauer, and Sano, and Ehire is at third... I don't know why Austin was out, but whatever. So, a lousy lineup with not much punch. Again, Littel was called up to pitch and the Twins have been itching to try the "opener", so why not? I guess it didn't go well--Moya gave up a bomb--Littel got through four innings but got knocked out in the sixth. Try out Duffey in the sixth and not good, game out of hand. With both Gibson and particularly Berrios struggling, the next month won't be pretty. The Twins' team ERA will probably end up close to last after being in the middle third for most of the season. Now about the call-ups and non-call-up. The Twins won't admit it, but Buxton's non-recall is about service time. There have been several threads about it, and honestly from what I've seen most of the Twins Daily constituency is in favor of him not returning until 2019. That the Twins didn't recall higher upside pitchers is probably a sad commentary on what is available in the upper minors. Gonsalves, Stewart, and now Littel are recalled and none of them has produced anything to be optimistic about. I guess Curtiss is heading to Houston after Rochester finishes their season, and maybe a couple of those arms in the Rochester bullpen might also come along, but I don't think any of them are better or better prospect than Moya and Busenitz, who are here now after most of the season in Rochester. I don't blame the Twins for not promoting an iffy MLB prospect not on the 40-man, even though there is plenty of dreck on their roster. The kind of outcome that occurred yesterday was put in motion when the Twins sold on the trade deadline. They will lose more games because of that and there aren't any worthwhile prospects available to get their feet wet in September. It makes for poor baseball this month, sad to say.

Nice win for the Twins. Stewart pitched acceptably, the bullpen was good, defense excellent and they bunched their hits. I do want to comment on the home plate ump. He was giving a couple inches on the low, outside corner all game until the eighth inning. In the eighth, he seemed to close that door plus missing at least two pitches that were knee-high and above and clearly not outside. I don’t come to Twins Daily to complain about umpiring, but that was among the most perplexing balls-and-strikes calling that I’ve seen.

Other than a 2B or 3B injury, it seems doubtful.

We all know Forsythe isn't going to hit .400, but I do like his approach. He doesn't strike out much, uses the whole field and has hit a lot of line drives. If that continues until the end of the season, he's got some value. With the uncertainty the Twins have in the infield, I think having a veteran who is competent with the bat and the glove is worth something. A one-year deal almost by definition isn't a bad deal. If Gordon or Lewis is ready sometime next year and Sano is still a third baseman, well you have a right handed bench bat. I don't want Forsythe to block a great prospect, but I do believe the Twins could contend again next year and having a decent right handed hitter with some positional flexibility is desirable.

I caught bits and pieces of the game. I saw the 7th and witnessed Austin's blast--wow, dude has big-league power! I fully expected Mauer to walk in that situation, but when the reliever grooved the 3-2 pitch I was pleasantly surprised. Beautiful swing, great result=stolen victory. As far as the bullpen, I'm liking what I see from Moya and I will start a thread on Rogers in a few minutes. I don't see a closer from what is there now, although it could possibly be (Trevor) May next year. Maybe Reed recovers and is the guy, but right now there isn't a sure thing. I saw too much of Hildenberger giving up runs in the last few weeks to be comfortable with him finishing games. There are options and there is money to sign someone. I really don't think this pitching staff is far away from being more than okay.

Hard to know hat to think except that there is no point for a potential free agent to drive down his value by continuing to play impaired. If the Twins were in the race and Morrison was having a season more comparable to 2017, he would still be playing. Alas, neither is happening this year.

Forsythe reached all four times. Has some versatility and has shown some power. Any interest in keeping him on a one-year deal?

I'm a big fan of Dozier, and thought his value to the team was pretty high. This year he hasn't been very good, let's face it. However, the last two years he was an elite player playing in the middle infield. I have said before that I thought he was the team MVP for four years running. He was durable and developed into a power hitter despite less than optimum raw power. He was a good example to other players and never got in any kind of trouble. Replacing Brian Dozier won't be easy. What I've said since his breakout is that his career will be determined by his performance in his 30s. Will he be a Jeff Kent, who flourished until he was almost 40 or will he be Dan Uggla, who hit a wall right around 30 after being an all-time slugging second baseman. Most likely, he'll be something in between. I think there will be times the team and its management realizes that trading Dozier is a huge loss, but it does give someone else a chance and maybe that guy will be a great player, too.

I was at the game. Great game to watch, but not some kind of masterpiece. Probably the right call to pass both Mauer and Rosario, but Dozier had to have some extra incentive at that point. As far as the Cave play, his foot went across the plate before he was tagged, but the replays didn’t show clearly when any part of his foot touched the plate.

Dozier has been the Twins' best player for the last four years. He hit over 40 homers in 2016 and has led the team in homers for the last four years. No other Twins has done that since Killebrew. This year he hasn't been the team's best player, not even close. But he does have a history of having big second halves, and did so in both '16 and '17. He also had a poor second half in 2015, so maybe all we can expect is one torrid half out of two. I believe potential suitors will look at more than this year's poor numbers and his close and late stats. Dozier has proven to be durable and productive and trading for him for August and September and perhaps October could and should make a lot of sense for a contender needing a second baseman. I would think that someone would see him as the piece that puts them over the top. I do agree with Jorgen that most players close and late numbers in this era will be a far cry from their overall numbers. If you're facing the closer and setup guy, it's a lot tougher than hitting against the last guy or two in the 'pen.

No, Ian Kinsler is! The Twins couldn’t get him out. SSS, I guess.

Reed, Ehire, and Pressly say thanks to Rosario, Dozier and LaMarre for pulling out this game. Also, a nice, but risky play by Wilson on the bunt. Further on Reed, the velo is there, so I think we have to chalk it up to a rough patch and a bit of bad luck. Patience paid off with Rodney, I think, and probably will with veterans like Lynn and Morrison, as well as Reed.