h2oface

I think that does not have to be the case. Spencer Strider, of the Braves moved from the pen to start, all in this year, and pitched 131+ innings. This was his 23 year old season. Now just signed for 6 years. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/34768078/atlanta-braves-lock-spencer-strider-6-year-75m-deal Alex Anthopoulos seems to make all the right moves. Last year, and this year, while we watch our FO make all the wrong moves. (Well, not all, but way too many.) Strider was the bullpen cream, but is a great starter, too. Duran wants to start. No reason not to let him. If you baby a pitcher, he will not become who he can be. The stars don't fit molds. Duran is a star. He wants to start. He has deGrom stuff and control. They should let him, or when he can, he will find a team that will. [[[[[ Strider progression ]]]]]] "A fourth-round gem in the extremely truncated 2020 draft (five rounds), Strider skyrocketed through the Braves’ system despite a lack of minor league games in 2020, ultimately making his Major League debut late in the 2021 season. The Clemson product cracked the Braves’ Opening Day roster in 2022, initially working multi-inning stints out of the bullpen before ascending to the starting staff, where he not only found success but emerged as a bona fide front-of-the-rotation arm. Overall, Strider broke out with 131 2/3 innings of 2.67 ERA ball and a 38.3% strikeout rate that paced all big leaguers who pitched at least 100 innings. Command was an issue at times in the minors and early in the season, but Strider markedly scaled back on the number of free passes he yielded as the season wore on, finishing out the year with an 8.5% walk rate that was scarcely north of the league average. For someone who walked 13.5% of his opponents over the first two months of the season, the improvement was as remarkable as it was rapid; from June 10 onward, Strider walked just 6.8% of his opponents."

Always enjoy your pieces. This is the first time you strike out badly, and are off base. It is only one sentence, though, so I guess just one strike. "On the plus side, the longer they’re in the playoffs that’s less time for Josh Donaldson to dedicate to his first love (racism)."

Duran hasn't pitched for 8 days now...... since Tuesday, Sept 27,

The next "Eddie" to dominate in the playoffs? He sure is hot at the right time. https://www.mlb.com/news/aaron-judge-eduardo-escobar-are-september-2022-players-of-the-month

…… and Joe Maddon is still available!! Baldelli would make a great bench coach.

Yup. His bad decision to try to stretch the first inning single into a double cost us the third run, and a tie game. Instead it was the losing decision as it turned out. Good for him. It all counts. No Duran for a week now. Our best can't get in a game.

I think it is Jayce Tingler's doing. He is the jinx. This is the second year in a row that the team he is manager/bench coach of had an epic collapse at the end of they year after they competed most of the season. San Diego last year, and the Twins this year. Yep. Jayce Tingler's fault.

Graterol to shine. In the Playoffs and for years to come. But we got a 2 month hot streak from Maeda for him. I bet he is happier to be where he is though - on a great team.

"Oct. 2: RHP Trevor Megill (oblique tightness) exits during warmup pitches It's highly unusual to see a manager and athletic trainer make visits to two players in succession, but that's exactly what happened ahead of the bottom of the seventh inning. After Megill spiked a warmup pitch that bounced up and struck catcher Ryan Jeffers in the neck, manager Rocco Baldelli and athletic trainer Jason Kirkman examined Jeffers and then progressed to Megill after the Tigers' dugout alerted them that something was wrong with the pitcher. Jeffers stayed in the game, Megill did not, with Baldelli revealing after the game that Megill felt tightness in his oblique area. "This is the kind of thing that if he goes out there and truly tears the thing, that’s his entire offseason, it's going to be spent rehabbing an oblique," Baldelli said. "Obliques are not something to mess with in this game.""

"Not many of the Twins' injured players are going to make it back this year. But to his credit, Ryan Jeffers did. His rehab and recovery from a fractured thumb to longer than expected, and the catcher position was an offensive black hole in his absence, but ultimately Jeffers did make it back for the end of the season and that means something. " Kind of a defensive blackhole with him behind the plate, too, as today's game showcased (not that we have better, which is a big hole as well). Many WP were created by his "on the butt" set up. It was just gross, today, watching him throw that ball to second. Plus, he is not too enticing at bat, either, and I would say he is part of that offensive blackhole. I hope we fill that black hole with someone other than both Jeffers and Sanchez. Welcome to a second consecutive losing season.

Being a baseball fan, with the Twins my childhood team that stuck forever, I almost enjoy watching the playoffs more without the Twins in it. Saves the embarassment the last 3 decades, and I can appreciate the high quality and intensity of play without bias, and and just enjoy great baseball without the emotional attachment to impending doom of my team. Of couse, if they would just win a few in the playoffs, or make a run, it is the ticket. "It is right there in front of us."

More like a Dior knock off store..... with the cheating.

It is like watching little league baseball at times. The Wallner error, Arraez' horrible underhand toss to first error. Ushela getting picked of second with the bases loaded (like where was he going to go anyway?). Pretty damn pathetic. 10 hits and 2 runs. This is a AAA team right now.

There are many free sites that stream all the games everyday, with no blackout. Many. (plus football, basketball, college games, etc,) I haven't paid for MLB.TV or any other for at least 7 years now, and they would have ridiculous blackouts. They are the same broadcasts that you speak of. Some have too many ads, but many you can use adblock on. I got turned on to them from my son in his 20s. The young people that want to watch baseball know how to watch it free way better than the older. They grew up with a phone in their hand and know how to use it - but I use my computer or ipad. PM me and I can share if you like. But I agree, it is a shame that they MLB has moved to all the subscribing, They are losing fans because they don't make it free to watch their team if you can't go.

One doesn't need to explain their MVP vote. It is all their favorite, in the end. I bet Judge will win.

"Dobnak missed a quality start by an out." As far as I know, a "quality start" is defined as a start where the pitcher pitches at least 6 innings and gives up no more than 3 earned runs. Dobnak only pitched 4.2 innings. Is a quality start in the minors now different than the majors, and you only need to go 5 innings? I must have missed that memo.

He was at ,320 when they sat him for a couple games about a week ago, I think. And he had the. PA to qualify for the batting title. They could have just shut him down. Where is the honor in that? The whole season counts. Regardless.

Easily? Nothing is easy, and Arraez' precipitous fall from .348 is case in point. They did have some positives, though.

"....(not to mention the return of Kenta Maeda and Chris Paddock [sic]),......" I guess we may as well not mention the return of Chris Paddack, as he won't be back until at least August, and maybe not at all next year, so let's give him 1 month in 2022, 1 month in 2023 to be generous, and all of 2024 to be extra optimistic and he doesn't go on the IL all year, and that is what we get for the "3 years of control" that was so valuable. Looks like maybe, if we are lucky, we get a year total, and he actually gets a lot better in his return that he was the last year that he pitched, which was pretty poor in San Diego. Certainly we don't need to think that he will help the rotation in 2023. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/09/central-notes-oneill-paddack-madrigal.html "Twins right-hander Chris Paddack underwent Tommy John surgery in May and is now targeting an August 2023 return, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com. The surgery usually comes with a 12-18 month recovery window, but this is the second such procedure of Paddack’s career, having previously gone under the knife as a prospect in 2016. Paddack tells Park that the second recovery is going to take a bit longer, meaning the narrow end of the typical recovery window is closed. Since the best-case scenario involves Paddack missing the bulk of next year, the club will have to plan on building a rotation without him." -from todays email from Do-Hyoung Park ......Among others to return from a second Tommy John surgery, Nathan Eovaldi needed a 21-month recovery before he made it back to a big league mound, Daniel Hudson took 15 months, Jameson Taillon pitched in a regular-season game 20 months after his second and the timeline was ultimately 17 months for Mike Clevinger. A return in August would put Paddack at 15 months..... Seth's article about the trade that acquired Paddack in April. "In 2020, he went 4-5 with a 4.73 ERA. In 2021, he was 7-7 with a 5.07 ERA, though as people have pointed out, his FIP was just 3.78. While he throws a lot of strikes, his strikeout rate has dropped from 9.8 to 8.8 to 82 over his three seasons in the big leagues." And, Mahle wasn't even mentioned in the OP here, but the above quoted Twins Beat email said his plan is just rest. Best of luck with that. ".....the 27-year-old shut down twice due to right shoulder inflammation that Mahle says is due to fatigue, and that he believes will go away with an extended period of time away from the field."

Why can't we just get a rookie pair like Braves right-hander Spencer Strider and center fielder Michael Harris II? We just have to lament our top prospect's short comings and make hopeful excuses. Strider (23 all season 4th round 2020, Clemson) and Harris (21, 3rd round 2019, high school) didn't seem to suffer development because of the Pandemic as is our writers common fallback. They were both there for Falvey (and all the rest of the teams - ha - beat you to it). And the Braves had no problem moving Strider to the starting rotation (like Duran desires) even as he was a certified weapon in the pen when they could improve their starting rotation and team. Those guys are "young", not 24 and 26 year olds that our writers and fans like to call young. Oh well. We got Martin to still hope about, and one good month in AA ball in 2022 after repeating another year in AA ball. Maybe see him in a couple of years? Maybe?

The last TWO games Ryan pitched a no hitter for 7 innings, followed by a 3 hitter in 7.2 innings! Zero runs given up and more innings in the ‘bounce back’. He could surely have gone deeper in a 3-3 tie game with 69 pitches after 4! Baldelli and the system is the problem.

Why don’t you want players to be paid well? Especially young ones we want to succeed? I sure do. Even with nothing on the line at all we are pulling a healthy starter in a tie game after 4 and not even 70 pitches. One that had pitched great and deep the last two games. I hate it. I hate the directions this team is continuing to take.

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Not a single mention of Sisk’s velocity. Is there any? Or any of the pitcher’s velo. ?????? None mentioned at all. Seems relevant for relief pitchers. All pitchers for that matter.

All with a season left. That is the reasoning they expressed when they ‘had’ to trade Berrios and Rodgers. One season left of contract/control. Exactly. We will see. Consistent or not? I see the Braves didn’t trade Freeman last year and are doing just fine. He helped them win a World Series and the Braves moved on. I see the Yankees didn’t have to trade Judge this year. Hmmmmm.