stringer bell

Ramirez had quite a bit of success before dealing with injuries. If the Twins can find the pre-injury Ramirez, it is worth the trouble they've taken on him. They saw him enough to know they wanted him at Rochester (not with the Twins, but not released) and got him through unclaimed. If he can come back some time in the next year and be more like the pitcher he was with the Cubs, then the Twins have played the waiver game well with Ramirez. IIRC, the Twins have lost more than their fair share of guys they've tried to outright. They now have room on their 40-man, so they can recall a guy not on that roster and they should be able to claim a couple of worthwhile gambles. I'd rather they had a winning record and full 40-man, but if they can snag a player or two it could be some small reward.

Maybe not the Dodgers, since Kershaw is on the shelf, but I suppose so.

Thanks John. Way to rain on my Positivity Parade!

I had a little time on my hands, but noted that the Twins have cashiered Ramirez for Boshers and I thought, "gee, this is probably the best twelve guys we've had on the roster this year"--no injured Perkins or Hughes, no Jepsen, no Meyer, Berrios or Chargois and their poor auditions. So I used Excel and put up the current staff's bareboned numbers--innings pitched, earned runs, and ERA. The results: Starters: 419 IP, 222 ER, 4.77 ERA. Relievers: 227 IP, 85 ER, 3.37 ERA. Total active staff: 646 IP, 307 ER, 4.28 ERA. Those results for the whole staff would put the Twins in 6th place overall in team ERA. I don't know what the numbers would look like for other teams if only their active pitchers were counted, but it gives me hope that some way better days are ahead.

Many discussion topics have been beaten to death. Some, I think, are underreported. Here are some things about the Twins that I think haven't been discussed enough: Bullpen strikeouts. Remember the pitch-to-contact bullpen of the Twins last winning season? Yeah, that's right, last year. Casey Fien, Brian Duensing,Blaine Boyer, Aaron Thompson, and Neal Cotts all had less than 6 Ks per nine for the Twins. None of them are with the Twins this year, and they have been replaced by the likes of Michael Tonkin, Taylor Rogers, Ryan Pressly, and Fernando Abad who all average 8.2 K per nine or more. Granted Pressly and Tonkin have pitched for the Twins in both '15 and '16, but their roles have evolved to higher leverage this year. A footnote to this topic--the Twins bullpen has been bad, but the reason isn't the new guys or the younger guys with bigger roles, it is the failure of the end of the bullpen--May, Jepsen, and Perkins (injury) which stood everything on it's head. Kepler's home run power. Max Kepler has 10 homers for the Twins. He never hit more than 10 in any season in the minors, including the extremely hitter-friendly Appy League. Last year, Kepler broke out at AA, led the league in OBP and OPS and was right there in slugging percentage, but he only hit nine homers in nearly a full season. Here in the major leagues in about 200 PAs, he already has 10 big flies. Brandon Kinzler. Yeah, he's 31, with a so-so career, but he's been really good. Pretty easy to see why--he throws hard enough, gets a high ground ball percentage, keeps the ball in the park and doesn't walk people. I'd rather see the team get something of value for him this month than count on him to sustain his performance beyond this year. Home run happy. The Twins are on a pace to score 705 runs this year compared to 696 last year, but they project to hit 186 homers as compared to 156 last year. They've become more dependent on the long ball and the results are mixed at best. Eduardo Escobar. Penciled in to be the Twins regular shortstop, he has been pushed aside by Eduardo Nuñez. Part of the reduction in playing time is related to Escobar's overall play. He has hit sporadically and his defense has been a disappointment. Escobar has never been considered a guy with great range, but has been sure-handed and flexible. This year he's only played a few innings away from short, but has booted more balls in a half-season than he had in the previous two combined.

A little drama again in the bottom of the ninth?

BTW (this is for Shane) excellent pinch-running by Santana today. edit: Bird Dog beat me to the spot.

Rosario has had a pretty good 20 minutes!

Or Kepler!!!!

mlb.com just put Eddie's play up. Agree that Grossman doesn't catch that ball.

"Watching" on GameDay. Looks like Pressly used the whole field to keep that ball in play.

Good outing for Santana. Will it now be the good Pressly or bad Pressly?

Erv works through a stressful sixth. Still a couple less pitches than Verlander.

Done! Additionally, I had an emergency game thread ready to post, but you got in under the wire!

Dozier leads the Twins in homers with 16. He led the team in homers from 2013-2015. Has any Twin, other than Harmon led the team in homers as many as four consecutive years?

Even with a three run lead, if I am the mgr., I go out to out with Milone. I like him and he's thrown a fine game, but when it comes apart for him, it happens fast.

No one questions that bad defense makes pitching look worse than it is. We need go no further than today's ballgame vs. Cleveland to see examples--trailing 2-0 Kyle Gibson induces a double play grounder to short, the ball is bobbled, but a force out is made, leaving a runner on first with two outs. The next batter hits a drive that carried to deep center. Danny Santana misjudged and misplayed the ball into a double. The two runners score on the next pitch, a solid single to left and Gibson gets charged with two tainted, but earned runs. I want to consider things from the other side. In the series this weekend, Brian Dozier was involved in two double plays not turned, one on Friday where he hesitated before making the throw to second and the bobbled grounder in today's game. According to fielding metrics, is Dozier bad at double plays because both of these opportunities weren't turned? I sincerely don't know, but factors outside of Dozier's skills precipitated both miscues. The Twins have allowed something like 150 more base runners than Cleveland has this year, despite the fact that Twins pitchers have hurled more than twenty innings less than their counterparts from Cleveland. Base runners put pressure on defenses. They force more throws and also like Dozier's mistake on Friday night force the fielders to make tough decisions. Bad pitching also means trailing in a lot of games and trying to prevent runs by gambling--making ill-advised throws to stops runners from advancing or scoring, going for tough double plays instead of taking the sure out and perhaps trying to dive to make a catch rather than playing a ball safe for one base. As I said about Dozier's inability to turn two different double plays, I don't know for sure if the instances I pointed out above are figured in for fielding metrics, but I would presume if the metrics are comprehensive that they would be. I think the pressure of being behind and needing to make risky plays to keep in games would make a team's defense look worse than it really is.

Agree with Platoon, the defense was poor today and has been bad all year. Nuñez is below average and has played the key position of SS mostly. Dozier and Plouffe are probably average, but subpar play from short weakens the infield. Wherever Sano plays, he has been a liability. The catchers are below average and Grossman hasn't been very good in left.

The two-spot is on the Twins defense. Bremer is right about that.

It is like Danny Santana at shortstop, both players have the raw tools, but neither have the consistency or focus to be even average at their "natural" position. I have to say, Sano has been brutal at third, with small dollops of astounding. I am coming around to Miggy being a first baseman, but there is the Mauer contract.

Should have been a 6-3 DP. Kepler hit it sharply, I will give him that.

errr, one out.

Well, tied it at least. Tribe defense helped out a bit.

Great chance here.

C'mon Miggy, make up for a bad day so far.