Good points. Hitters ebb and flow, but right now Correa has been pretty bad for quite a while. He got his BA up over .300 in June, but the prolonged cold spell has him having perhaps his worst season. The irony is that the worse his season gets, the more likely he returns for next year. I’d like to see him bet on himself and come back for his age 28 season.
We all know Buxton isn’t 100% and that his injury is limiting the team. We don’t know if the current load management is/was the correct course.
I am not terribly impressed with Miranda’s defense either, but he has impressed with the bat. He’s been the club’s best hitter for at least the last five weeks, maybe longer.
I think the Twins have used Pagán correctly of late and he’s had some good innings. Yesterday’s game pivoted on the inning that Pagán pitched however. The problem is that they don’t have better options than Pagán and Duffey to fill out the bullpen. Adding the two arms and getting Thielbar back improve the club and bullpen, but everyone on the staff will have to throw key innings and Duffey and Pagán fail too often.
Finally, Mark Contreras is a nice story. He’ll be able to tell his kids and grandkids that he was a major league ball player. He doesn’t belong in the majors based on what I’ve seen. I would definitely rather see Jackie Bradley Jr. playing in the outfield right now.