Thrylos

I'd add where Brandon Warne is currently writing, Pucketts' Pond, where Doogie Wolfson is tweeting and podcasting. Mackey's and Wettmore's touch em all podcast.

I think that Souhan does not get the following: Access, and esp. Access to this team, disqualifies from objectivity. For example: Give a single person with Access who wanted Ryan's or Gardenhire's heads on a plate after years and years of ineptness. Why hasn't Souhan written anything negative and pointing the finger on eg. Ryan's inability to improve this team in the 2015 deadline? Or Gardenhire's inability to win at the post-season? Just like targeting Sano. It should be all fair game. But no. Because if it is, Access might be in play. Thus someone with Access, like Souhan, cannot really give you an objective opinion on things that might take away his or her Access. In other words: He, Souhan, who threw the first stone, is the coward in this situation. He does not understand the situation of information distribution and opinion distribution (and the right of people to have opinions a. different that him and b. about him) in the 21st Century. He calls people with Access, like Brandon and Seth, "bloggers" (albeit of the good kind.) Last time I checked, they are both his peers with press credentials, like his, and making $, like him, by writing down stuff about baseball, and their opinions, like him. The fact that they started as bloggers has nothing to do with the fact that they are his peers. Mackey and Woolfson started as bloggers also. Are they that according to Souhan? I guess he does not understand that the way that information (and opinion) flows today, does not require membership in a certain old grouchy mens' club, or even access. But Souhan wants to protect his little exclusivity of information and the way it uses to move last millennium. Hate to bring it to him, but his "reality" has been steamrolled, no matter how delusional he is about it.In that piece, intentionally or not, he confirmed his MO: his Access allows him to get information from certain people in the Front Office about players that he then spews, with those people's blessing, and throws them publicly under the bus, being those (coward?) Front Office people's mouthpiece. Bravo!Last, but not least: Being one of Souhan's targets (A blogger, with no Access - who never wants Access because of that first bullet up there among other things) my reaction to this article was a huge thumbs up. He is so scared of people who "dare" to have an opinion opposed to his than when they voice it publicly, it moves him to write a whole article about how better his point of view is because he has Access and because he get direct dirt from the Twins' Front Office. I did not write a blog about his article, the same with other Twins' "coward" bloggers, I just found it insignificant to bother with. However, he chose to write an article defending his personal status quo attack by "coward" bloggers (whose opinion should not matter, because they do not have Access.) We've come a long way, baby!

Almost did not happen (Polanco had to evade the blitz to make it happen) :

Here are some important numbers regarding Goodrum: .333/.388/.464 Goodrum's slash line against LHPs with 1:2 BB:K ratio (138 AB) .235/.275/.409 Goodrum's line against RHPs with 1:5.5 BB:K ratio (323 AB) Twins 2017 against LHP: Kepler: .131/.202/.172 Vargas: .185/.262/.296 Adrianza: .243/.268/.351 Escobar: .250/.320/.402 Rosario: .288/.300/.424 So Goodrum can slot in at the DH or 1B spot instead of Vargas when a lefty starts and at the OF instead of Kepler, without dealing with situations like having Adrianza (who is not hitting lefties well either) start. And his versatility can allow him to PH for pretty much anyone necessary if they pop a LHP later in the game, esp. when the Twins are trailing.

Guess I am not the only one with PTSD regarding Molitor's predecessor

Rey Ordóñez, his 3 gold gloves, and career .246 batting average (.216 the season he won the first) beg to disagree.

I'd wait for the Twins to actually win before I give credit to the people who failed to draft, and/or sign as an IFA, and develop a single top of the rotation pitcher, since they traded for Santana and Liriano. What we are seeing with the 2017 Twins' team, like with those 2000s teams is a lot of potential. The 2000s teams were lucky to play in a weak division with Detroit and Cleveland in deep rebuilding modes, and the Royals permanently horrific. Once those teams got better, the Twins stopped competing for that division. And the reason was pitching... Let's see this group win something before start throwing accolades left and right... Matter of fact, based on some of those lineups (full of failed top prospects;) and the results of this decade, the Twins' player development personnel and Brad Steil should follow their fearless leader out the door...

Minnesota "nice" is the problem Boston writers could have had a hayday with Ortiz's size, but they didn't. They had one with Panda's. Same with Sabathia in NYC. When producing size did not matter. When he stopped producing, size was an issue. Production is the most important part. And as long as Sano produces, there should be no issue. Remember "skinny" Delmon? That was a farce on the field... What if Sano loses thirty pounds and starts hitting like skinny Delmon?

This is not the first time that Souhan has been negative towards a Twins' player. Matter of fact, he has been the mouthpiece of the TR&Co FO as far as "outing" players from Slowey to Neshek etc. Plenty of the TR&Co FO still in place. I would not doubt that at least one of them has been Souhan's source, since day 1, but I hope that this person is no longer with the Twins after the season is over...

Here are the rankings in 4 measurements: Morrison DRS 5th, +/- 1st, RZR 1st, 3rd AVERAGE 2.5 - w/o worst: AVE 1.67 Mauer DRS 3rd, +/- 3rd, RZR 3th, 1st AVERAGE 2.5 - w/o worst: AVE 2.33 Moreland DRS 1st, +/- 2nd, RZR 10th, UZR, 4th AVERAGE: 4.25 - w/o worst: AVE 2.33 Santana DRS 2nd, +/- 4th, RZR 6th, 5th AVERAGE 4.25 - w/o worst: AVE 3.67 Valencia DRS 4th, +/- 4th, RZR 2nd, 10th AVERAGE 5 - w/o worst: AVE 3.33 So it is pretty close between the top 3, but looks like Morrison is a bit ahead right now. On the other hand, half the voters cannot pronounce those measurements...

Few things that have to be mentioned: Unlike Santana Koufax went to the World Series 4 times, his team won 3 times, and 2 of those times Koufax was the WS MVP. He also won a NL MVP award in 1963 and was second in the MVP award in his other 2 CY years, 1965 & 1966. Johan Santana started 5 post-season games and won only one of them. Post-season matters. Also Koufax left the game in his prime after he won 2 Cy Young awards in a row at age 30, instead of dragging it around another 6-7 seasons. In his worst season after age 24, Koufax led the league in ERA, WHIP and strikeouts. Santana's 2012 hurts his candidacy. I think that another Twins' ace who was also was traded to the Mets, is a better comparable for Santana, and hard to make a case that Frank Viola is a Hall of Famer... There are pitchers who equally or even more dominant than Santana in their peaks, and they are not in the HOF because of longevity issues (Doc Gooden), or perception (Kevin Brown) who are not there. Kevin Brown is an interesting contemporary comparable to Santana (career: 211-144, 3.28 ERA, 127 ERA+, 68.5 bWAR) who was never thought a dominating pitcher because of the lack of strikeouts. His 1996 season was crazy and was robbed for the Cy Young (17-11, 1.89 ERA, 215 ERA+, 0.944 WHIP, 8 bWAR). He also appeared in 2 WS and won one. So, unless Brown, Viola and Gooden are in the Hall of Fame, I'd find it hard to make a case for Johan.

This is a misconception. Look at Ozzie Smith and his career .666 OPS and 13 gold gloves and Visquel with career .688 OPS and 11 gold gloves. Or Twins' own Vic Power, career .725 OPS at 1B and 7 gold gloves. Or JT Snow at 1B for that matter. Or Paul Blair, his career .684 OPS at CF with 8 gold gloves. They have to be decent with the bat otherwise they would be reserves. Yes, some players tend to be favored if they are better hitters than others, but not all gold gloves are undeserved. Part of the problem is that there have been no great consensus objective defensive measurement (unlike hitting) which makes defining "the best defenders" very difficult and subjective.

The "Wild Card in August as opposed to on the way to 100 losses" has nothing to do with pitching. The fact is that the Twins' pitching in 2017, if anything, is worse than the pitching in 2016 (data on #11 above,) other than things influenced by the much improved defense in 2017 (like WHIP/BABIP & ERA)

I do appreciate the fact the the new Twins' Front Office is much more active with player movement in general. In addition to trying to find pitchers everywhere, it has been much more decisive in placing players to the DL, as well as demoting under-performers (Gibson, Santiago,) which would have been unheard of in a TR & Co-led Front Office. That said, the Twins' pitching this season has been slightly worse than their pitching in 2016, other than numbers that are affected by the improved 2017 defense (like ERA and WHIP). Here: 2017 Twins Overall Pitching: 4.85 FIP, 1.39 WHIP (.295 BABIP), 10.4 K-BB% Starters: 5.02 FIP, 1.42 WHIP (.294 BABIP), 9.3 K-BB% Relievers: 4.57 FIP, 1.34 WHIP (.295 BABIP), 12.1 K-BB% 2016 Twins Overall Pitching: 4.57 FIP, 1.45 WHIP (.319 BABIP), 11.3 K-BB% Starters: 4.82 FIP, 1.47 WHIP (.315 BABIP), 9.8 K-BB% Relievers: 4.18 FIP, 1.43 WHIP (.324 BABIP), 13.6 K-BB% I do understand that 2017 is an asset evaluation season and trying to build a pitching staff in multiple ways made sense. But the fact is that it did not work, if you look under the cover of the improved defense. What this team needs to do to compete is to start building a pitching staff using the 2 ways it did not use in 2017: a. Trade older assets and prospects for high quality young, MLB-ready pitching, under club control and b. sign high quality, young, MLB-ready pitching as a free agents. The one thing I would have love to see them do, and I hope they do it soon, is to pull the plug on underperformers quicker. They did it with Breslow; Perkins and Santiago should follow. There is no reason for Perkins to be there, even as a mop-up pitcher. I'd rather see someone like Turley at that role. Time to let the ghost go.

I think that the Twins should gather and analyze all data they have on Romero, including average velocity during games and throughout the season, give him a thorough physical exam and make an informed decision. Do I know what that decision should be? No without that data. Do I trust the (same old minor league & medical) Twins' staff to make the right decision? Not sure.

Can he pitch?

Here is comparing 2017 team pitching with 2016: Twins team pitching stats: 2017: 4.89 FIP, 27th; 1.41 WHIP, t23-25; K-BB%: 10.1%, 27th 2016: 4.57 FIP, 27th; 1.45 WHIP, t25-28; K-BB%: 11.3%, 21st If anything, I'd say they have been pretty much the same, if not regressed a bit. Matter of fact is that the Twins are where they are despite horrible pitching. Differences: 1. This season the Front Office is willing to get rid of pitchers and recycle/reuse until someone sticks 2. This season the team seems to win close games (and still getting pelted in some games) while last season it was consistent pelting 3. Of course defense, and that is what drives the ERA diff, not pitching (check at FIP) Regardless. I do not see how Allen has a job. Period. He should be the first one that goes come October (or even hopefully November.)

Lewin Diaz would beg to disagree with this. I would suspect that the Twins see Rooker more like an OF (and his usage shows this) than a 1B, which is ok, because there is not a glut of OF power in the organiziation as well. Good problem to have, but it is not like there were not other first basemen in the organization. Vargas should probably added to that list.

He managed both his sons in that team. As a matter of fact so did Sandy Alomar, albeit in the minors. I just don't get that much sensitive, esp. for a team that drafts and keeps around sons and nephews of managers and coaches without merit.

There is no mean for 1-run games win % to regress towards. It is not BABIP, HR/FB, or LOB% Good teams win close games. Bad teams lose them. That's that. No regression.

About time the Twins have a younger manager who comes from a winning culture, understands the concept of win probability and the situational things that kill it (bunting, hitting and running etc), can get the best from his players by playing to their strengths (eg. Buxton's SB attempts compared to his speed is pathetic), understanding the concept of leverage while utilizing the pen, and be critical of his coaches. That is not Molitor. Allen would be fired by any other team after last season, and the pitching has not improved this season. Molitor did not make the correct decision about him, as well. He needs to go. And I don't care whether he is from St. Paul or St. Maarten

Missing: 1. single A, like the Midwest League. Low A aka A- aka short season A, like the NY-Penn league is lower than A and higher than high Rookie. For some reason people from teams that do not have A- leagues (like the Twins'), call single A leagues, "low" A leagues to contrast with "high A", but it is wrong. Just A. 2. Foreign rookie leagues, like DSL and VSL

They do have a logjam at SS, if they decide to keep Lewis there. He and Javier cannot be in the same team and get enough reps at SS. And Javier seems to be a natural SS. Next season will be interesting to see based on those parameters. Great marketing move to send him to Cedar Rapids (got to remember the issues the Twins have with the town of Elizabethton as well, even though those seem to be easing up a bit.) Folks will be out for their race towards the post-season.

So, tell us about Lombardozzi... Who the second basemen were in World Series winners means less than who their first 3 starting pitchers, their last 3 bullpen pitchers, and hitters 3-6 were. Irrelevant. BTW, WAR, wRC+, wOBA put Dozier as the 10th-13th best second baseman in the league. This is right at the middle quadrant.

It's always ok to be excited about your team. After all, if you are not excited when your team playing, then you are not much of a fan Both of those trades were good for the Twins: Effectively they replaced Garcia with Colon in the rotation and got 2 MLB-ready minor leaguers (one of them who will pitch tonight) for Ynoa. This trade made the Twins better in 2017. Kintzler was not a regression that was about to happen, he was a regression that was happening. He was losing games for the Twins. Hopefully he will be replaced by a hot arm internally. (Curtiss, Bard, Melotakis, Turley, etc.) Busenitz for Breslow is a plus as well. Got to be excited for them to win and they will win some (that's the definition of a .500 team. Got 4 win streaks and 4 Loss streaks.) Just they are not built to win in a postseason and that cannot change right now...