jokin
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Everything posted by jokin
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The Twins bear practically no responsibility in this debacle? Beg to differ. They've been working with him for 2.5+ years now. No one doubts he has elite-level stuff. Mechanics has always been the big issue, the Twins went all-in with eyes wide open regarding his 6'9" frame, he's clearly gone backwards in that regard under the Twins tutelage. And now they're throwing out the "lack of self-confidence and killer instinct" thing, suspicious. Clearly something else that should have been detected, and then addressed, by a sports psychologist's work-up when they first traded for him. Good thing the Twins won't have many of those self-confidence or lacks the killer instinct issues with Miguel Sano.
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Rule 5 Redux: Graham in, Gilmartin out
jokin replied to Wookiee of the Year's topic in Minnesota Twins Talk
There were actually quite a few of us on TD that questioned the decision not to protect him at the time. And one of the big national publications interviewed a Twins executive on the day of the Rule 5 draft (one whose name I can not recall at the moment). The executive did express some degree of remorse for gambling and losing on Gilmartin. They knew what they had lost, probably doing their own gambling on the guys they had already developed in the Twins Way coming through big in 2015. Alas, that hasn''t happened, the Twins really can't point to one LHRP as a success story in 2015, and resultantly, the Mets are now a marginally better team for it. -
Rule 5 Redux: Graham in, Gilmartin out
jokin replied to Wookiee of the Year's topic in Minnesota Twins Talk
Gilmartin 25 years of age. He'll make the minimum for the next 2.5 seasons Has a strong minor league history vs. LHB K/9 9.45 BB/9 0.81. This year combined K/9 7.20 BB/9 3.60 ERA 1.80 K% 20.2% BA .191 WHIP 1.08 Duensing 32 years of age. Making $2.7 M. This year combined K/9 4.91 BB/9 4.91 ERA 6.87 K% 12.1% BA .296 WHIP 1.69 Gilmartin is definitely no panacea that would have solved all of the Twins LHRP problems, but there is a distinct difference in performance between Duensing and him. And he certainly deserved protection over Wheeler and Darnell. -
Uhh, no they didn't., if they weren't made obviously aware of them. And you can't possibly say that nothing would have changed if he had had AA exposure last season and actually experienced where his weaknesses were. Nothing is quite the same as testing where you're at in real time. What actually happened was, he simply blew through A and A+ last year over guys who were ridiculously overmatched- hard to learn much when you're in the superioir position in that situation. He wasn't tested in any way in his 7 appearances at High A, right after making a mockery of A ball, especially when you throw out that initial disastrous appearance- 0.70 ERA/0.79 FIP/47.5% K-rate/0.90 WHIP/.180 BA. How would they know for sure what he could and couldn't do when he's striking out close to half of the hitters he faced and mostly unprepared guys just bailing out of there as fast as they could?
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The proof is largely in the statistical pudding. Just what was gained last year by a premier college pitcher- who had widely projected as a 1st Round draft pick, mowing down helpless A-ball players with his 100 MPH FB and wipeout slider? He could/should have started out in High A and gone to AA after a couple of weeks of success at the previous level. His weaknesses would have been more readily identified in that process last year. He and the Twins could then have come up with a strategic game plan in the offseason to work on the things that weren't working as well for him in AA. Assuming that he is, and was, fully healthy in the past offseason, he would have been far more ready to hit the ground running in AA this spring. Whatever the case, it's hard to dispute, the Twins plan that they did institute for him has largely and somewhat spectacularly, backfired to this point in time.
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Well actually, I think it told quite a story. The main reason "the Twins didn't have much of a choice" on the recall, was due to the demotion in the first place- Vargas had a hot 3 weeks or so- .347 BA/874 OPS over his last 51 PAs before his first demotion. The Twins offense sputtered for a good month, just as their best DH option had seen his bat come to life only to be sent down, for some pretty flimsy reasons given at the time. And PRECISELY because the move was made in favor of two career utility men to man the position, who quite predictably, didn't produce much. Nunez was 4/25 as a DH/PH while Vargas was down. Escobar was 2/12 as a DH while Vargas was down. That's a combined .162 BA. Sorry, still headscratching.
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Good point. They still have this year and next to get him right. I still am scratching my head on the May demotion. Aaron Gleeman broke down the whole strange May demotion just as Vargas was seemingly moving in the right direction towards making the adjustments the braintrust was looking for (956. OPS in May).
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But the whole problem that Molitor and Bruno had with both Vargas and Arcia early on was their approach in BP of too much focus on the long ball, not enough on situational hitting.
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Good point, but Sano isn't too much afraid of cameras and the spotlight, despite the EASL issues. (Or did you mean the Twins FO?) Based on the Cardinals experience, I'd say the jury is out on that theory, meanwhile, it's pretty demonstrable that to this point anyway, whatever the Twins did with Meyer last season hasn't helped any to propel his career going forward, quite the opposite, in fact.
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It seems safe to say that that 2014 strategy was a huge failure. When he was drafted, there were many of us that, based on his CWS appearances, said his FB was too flat and hittable. And whatever they've done to tinker with both his FB and wipeout slider has "helped" to cause him to lose any sense of command of either. I know there were some health issues in ST and there was a drop in velocity, but this has gone on too long for it just to be health-related.
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Except from a few of us diehards! Especially those of us who want to see him in the Twins pen sooner, not later. Join us at: http://twinsdaily.com/topic/18685-taylor-rogers-as-the-1-lhrp-option-going-forward/
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CBSSports' Matt Snyder on Sano call-up: https://youtu.be/-xFlHwsVa5c?t=78
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Lack of control and general inconsistency and ineffectiveness, most likely. The guy's been a mess. That's why I wish they wouldn't have wasted all that developmental time with him last year in the lower levels. His deficiencies and areas that he could have addressed in the offseason could have been identified right quick if he had been started off at either this level or High A in 2014.
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Indeed, it could very well happen, the odds for failure at the plate are probably better than 50% for the near future. But the most important thing going forward is that the page has now been turned.
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- miguel sano
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Wow. The complete opposite is likely closer to the truth. Buxton's debut was far from a debacle - given the level of pitching that he faced, the results were pretty much as expected. Even if Buxton doesn't initially hit out of the chute, he inordinately helps to make the Twins OF suddenly one of the best in the league. Whereas, at this point, Sano has little else to offer if he initially struggles at the plate.
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- miguel sano
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This guy is going to be pretty special, just ask the experts below. I'm not sure about the Twins close-to-the-vest choreography around the call-up though. This kid is personality plus, big enough to maybe fill Target Field on a regular basis, in due time.
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Somewhat "odd" or Very?
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And it's arguable, and Gardy would concur, that Meyer could have/should been pitching out of the pen as early as coming out of ST in 2014 and/or given a shot to start instead of the rolling cast of imposters now barely hanging on, or entirely out of baseball, in the first half of 2014.
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And Terry has called that move 13 years ago the biggest blunder in his GM career.
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Molitor made a prediction almost 2 weeks ago to the day that Sano could be called up in two weeks or not until September. Ryan during the same time frame did his usual hemming and hawing and qualifying... about what was the obvious move for quite some time now. Go with Molitor from this day forward. I'm all for giving them credit where credit is due, but Rosario and Buxton were only called up because of injury. Vargas was curiously sent down in the midst of a streak where his OPS exceeded .950, in favor of activating Nunez, and actually installing two utility infielders into regular DH duty, and they've shown no confidence in getting Kennys regular ABs, and resultantly, he hasn't been the same since.
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Really, going into the KC series, it's now or never, do or die time. Kudos to the Twins for recognizing the situation and going for it. An infusion of latin flavor in the cases of Sano, Ervin Santana.- and now perhaps sooner rather than later, Berrios- might be just the ticket to staying viable for most of the remainder of the season. Is there a Latin catcher available out there?
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Well, actually they've sent someone all the way down to AA two years in a row. And they haven't had someone else who's game resembled Ortiz's, so the comps are entirely accurate.
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I can't properly express how much I enjoy it when the Twins exceed my low expectations for them and do what I hope, but am afraid to predict with certainty, should happen.
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Yee ha!
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Red Wing beat reporter: The plot thickens.
