jokin

I have defended the Twins FO on the pick of Tyler Jay, and I have defended how they are using him in his first year of development- even in this very thread. I really like the approach they've taken, stats in the first partial season are way, way down the list of priorities, learning what works and doesn't work is paramount. His outstading pitching repertoire is entirely different from the prototype fear-inducing flamethrower. Not at all germane to the subject I had commented on. And I've never said anything close to what you said about "selecting and developing prospects." I did point out that the Twins have the lowest K/9 for the years 2004-2015, combined. And also that K-rates usually drop precipitously as their hard-throwing prospects are on the cusps of MLB careers. To further clarify on your first paragraph... well, my point in the "Next Twins Phenom" thread pertained specifically to flamethrowers, and why, if we're going to speculate on who might come up and take Twins nation by storm, they generally grade out as having the best potential from the current Twins prospect list to becoming phenoms. And then the whole historical set of facts of these types of guys, who eventually in the Twins system become more control/pitch to contact throwers or flaming out after being unable to evolve satisfactorily, plus the video evidence that Burdi's delivery had been radically changed from college and his first professional season. Tyler Jones came out of the draft, according to Deron Johnson- "throws 97 MPH heat"... "we see him as having great potential for a late-inning relief role". And his time with the Twins showed he was fulfilling that potential role on the strikeout side, pitching in mostly high leverage situations, but having some intermittent control problems along the way- as he did in High A in 2014- BB/9 was at a career high of 4.1. The Twins ended up parting ways after that setback and as Thrylos reported, a weight issue- only to see the Atlanta Braves pick him up in Spring Training- and soon send him up to become their best pitcher statistically in AA. Combined stats this year for Jones, all at or near career-best numbers/averages- K/9 10.4 BB/9 2.6 ERA 1.18 WHIP 1.15. Compare those results this season with all of the hard-throwing guys the Twins chose to retain instead of Tyler Jones. (Again, don't bring in the guys who throw around 90-92, not germane). Which leads to: Of course, the names you mentioned had nothing to do with the pitchers I mentioned. It was an apples and oranges comparison by bringing up mostly lower-ceiling, but crafty, softer-tossing types into the mix. (Berrios is an obvious exception, but then, there was little need for the Twins to tinker with a guy who already had a smooth delivery and superior control) And of course, you also singled out one name in particular, broaching the name of Ryan O'Rourke into the discussion of "next Twins phenoms"? Meanwhile, the guys I mentioned are high-velocity, double-digit K/9 pitchers who have had great success in the system and show signs of becoming potential phenoms, but have some control issues.- necessitating the "tinkering" in question.

And the professionals say that Duffey's likely MLB role will be as a middle reliever: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/prospects/eyewitness_pit.php?reportid=173 He's really about as far from Burdi or Jay as a comp as is humanly possible.

Ding, ding, ding...

Actually he's been demoted back to HIgh A. While he struck out 12 in his first 8 innings, he had a major setback yesterday- 2 IP 2 ER 1 HR 1 WP 1 Balk 1 K And took the loss. He's got a ways to go before he gets out of the High A wilderness and just back to AA, let alone MLB.

Since you asked.... I wish I was wrong, but... He's working out to be a future bullpen pitcher, but with velocity of only around 90-91 compared to Burdi and others,Duffey only throws two quality pitches, K% has dropped to 18% in AAA, plus there's no room for him in the rotation, plus he has others soon passing him by.

They have a very good pitching coach. And many of us wholeheartedly congratulated Terry Ryan at the time of hire for landing Neal Allen, and giving him the major league opportunity- and in the process, acknowledging and correcting a major area of franchise underperformance that had clearly gone stale. I'm not sure why you would choose to be snide in this instance.

Isn't that what Mike said? Your scenario of- Plouffe for a MLB catcher- is one I'm assuming is at the top of Ryan's list of potential offseason strategies.

That's North Carolina- Wilmington, not Chapel Hill.

Absolutlely right. It's still hard to imagine ever being able to say this back in 2013, but he's showing himself to be a leader and a stabilizing influence on this team, both in the middle of the order and on the left side of the infield. Consider this. It's universally accepted that the deadline trade of Yoenis Cespedes sunk the A's playoff chances last season, as he was reportedly the heart and soul of the A's offense up to that point- in where they had the best record in all of baseball on July 30, 2014. Or course, no one expressed over-exceeding caution or concerns about the implications of the trade at the time. Here's Cespedes hitting line while with Oakland up until the day he was traded, July 30, 2014: .256/.303/.464/(.767) wRC+ 116 bWAR 2.8 dWAR 0.3 Here's Plouffe's hitting line through today's game, July 19, 2014: .259/.321/.455/(.775) wRC+ 115 bWAR 2.7 dWAR 0.7 Remarkably similar line in the middle of the order.... I have no idea, and doubt that the Twins would follow a stat line this closely and draw the same conclusion, but I do think at this point of the season that they have already concluded that moving Plouffe out for an uncertain gain in return of trade, plus handing the position to a rookie, is worth even considering the risk- in the sense of the type of disruption and impolsion that happened in Oakland just last year.

Then he'll be the first to take the money. And he just turned 34 in May, not 36. He's relatively young enough and still productive and versatile enough that I gotta think someone with the money to spend (that loves solid veterans) is going to give him at least a 2-year deal that will easily beat the QO in terms of total dollars.

He's been taking reps there, at 3B and in the OF since his call-up. The Twins are being proactive in the sense of preparing Sano for chances to be inserted into the alternative positions both in order to give veterans a day off and anticipative of potential injury at one of those other positions.

Polanco is a mid-20s prospect? No. And for a <70 game rental of a RP? No. You put Phegley into that equation w/ Clippard, and then you've probably got something. But I would think Beane would hold the Twins up for Polanco, a AAA SP not named Berrios and another MLB -ready position player... given Semien's troubles at SS, wouldn't Santana fill the bill better (for the Twins, that is) instead of Polanco, and add Arcia and another mid-teens prospect in to seal the deal?

2014: GB% 45.3% LD% 15.9% K% 27.1% All three stats are in line with his MiLB career averages. Meyer's numbers through June 12, most of his time as a Starter. 2015: GB% 39.4% LD% 26.8% K% 23.8% Since we haven't heard anything about arm problems or velocity drop, it sure appears to be a case of struggling for location down in the zone and then being forced to throw lollipops... couple this with his higher BB% (13% through June 12), and you evidently have a result of some combination of bad/lost/altered mechanics.

Not when I saw him pitch in early August. He was brilliant against Louisville, and he was somehow "fluky" like that for most of the 2014 season.

The Twins evidently want him to throw (more hittable) strikes. He threw 11 strikes in 15 pitches last night. Game before that, July 16- 8 strikes in 10 pitches. July 11- 27 strikes in 43 pitches. 2 BB July 9- 5 strikes in 8 pitches. July 7- 17 strikes in 30 pitches. July 4- 15 strikes in 24 pitches. 1 BB June 24- 7 strikes in 9 pitches. ***(promoted to the Twins) June 21- 13 strikes in 18 pitches. June 18- 39 strikes in 63 pitches. Over the last month in AAA: Strike % 64.5% WHIP 1.57 (K/9) 9.20 (BB/9) 3.75 BA .307 BABIP .383 2015, before last month: Strike % 58.4% WHIP 1.76 (K/9) 10.08 (BB/9) 5.43 BA .293 BABIP .400 2014: Strike% 62.0% WHIP 1.38 (K/9) 10.57 (BB/9) 4.42 BA .235 BABIP .321 The take-away here? Pitch to Contact is in full operational mode. Throwing more strikes? Check. Mission Accomplished? Not exactly- presumably his K/9 would drop even lower going back into the rotation. Now let's see if this "Baby Steps accomplishment" can be the first move towards getting him back on track towards becoming a Twins-style major league starter.... Still looks like a long, long way to go, after a long, long fall from 2014 AAA greatness.

But he's a lot better in the area where he actually would be utilized. And there are simple paths to getting him in the starting lineup 3-4 days per week- the Blue Jays are doing this type of thing with some success in the very competitive AL East.* (PECOTA projects that the Blue Jays will have the best True Average in MLB over the remainder of the season @ .282. And as a result, at least partially, are also projected to have the highest Runs Scored and the best record in the AL over the remainder of the season. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/fantasy/dc/ )

Except that by adding Arcia, you now can rotate your OFers with a day off here and there. Hunter is 40 and needs a couple days off per week to stay fresh. Santana, Escobar or Nunez can be the late innings defensive/replacement or PR. Plenty of scenarios have already been laid out for Arcia to get in the starting lineup 3-4 times per week.

What all this tells me is a lot of wasted and redundant bench infield players, and short one major league hitting OF. And that not ":mixing (Arcia) in" (and moving out one of the 4 above) would be a mistake in maximizing bench utility. For example, Nunez as now the new 25th man, plus adding a LH power bat, in this scenario is a nice net upgrade.

In that situation, yes. http://www.fangraphs.com/statsd.aspx?playerid=3926&position=P&type=5&gds=2015-07-18&gde=2015-07-18&season=

Which part? ( I only post to have you elicit Post # 10,000).

Especially with two bullpen arms (almost literally) tied behind their backs.

And homer-ing.

Ryan, the old field managerial regime, as well as the new regime, all have praised him for his deft handling of pitchers. They've specifically talked about his exhaustive game prep for how to game plan an attack on each individual opposition hitter. All still true this year, even as his bat has regressed, and as his one and only tangible defensive skill, pitch blocking, has all but evaporated. Besides the salary realities, it's pretty apparent that Zuke is going to be playing just about as often in August and September as he has to this point. Regarding the extension, the working assumption by the organization has always appeared to have been to try and reward a previously-signed FA with an extension offer, provided they meet or exceed production expectations. It's a defensible position and a sound strategy for luring future FAs, but as many argued at the time one year ago, it was even more defensible to trade Suzuki to a contender before the deadline at peak value, hold an open tryout for the remainder of the 2014 season, and then look to upgrade at the position in the offseason.

+1 Time for a couple of guys to really step up offensively in the 2nd half., unlike last season, this year there are quite a few more candidates to fill those roles. Along with that, Dozier, who faded last year in the 2nd half, needs to sit for a few days and DH a few more days to help keep him fresh all the way to October 1. The Blue Jays are finding some strategic offensive success by using their whole bench, there's an opportunity for the Twins here, as well.

Yep. Neither move is due to politics.