Thrylos

Really? They just had a 3 game series with the team they will face in the Wild Card game and were swept. I have zero confidence in this team winning a game at Yankee Stadium.

Here is the question that the Twins need to answer: How many of the players in the Twins' pen today could be in the Indians', Astros', Red Sox', and Yankees' post-season bullpens? If they cannot name names (and I doubt that they can, other than mop up,) that pen needs to be rebuilt next off-season big time, and start cutting ties...

1000 words why even a successful bunt is a bad idea, because it decreases your win probability: So, when Molitor who does not get it, gets replaced in a couple months, there should be no cries. Decisions like this mathematically decrease the team's probability of winning. No excuses. Data.

That is subjective. Objective measurements, 2nd half AL: fWAR 1. Lindor 3.4 2. Donaldson 3.0 3. Upton 2.8 - Trout 2.8 5. Altuve 2.7 6. Buxton 2.6 - Dozier 2.6 - Santana 2.6 wOBA 1. Santana .421 2. Donaldson .419 - Trout .419 4. Upton .417 5. Chirinos .410 6. Altuve .405 ...... t11. Buxton .398 wRC+ 1. Trout 168 2. Santana 164 - Donaldson 164 4. Upton 163 5 Altuve 158 6 A Garcia 155 - Chirinos 155 ... 13 Buxton 148

That's a bummer. Of course they need opponents to play. Maybe it is time for thinking outside the box and use their brand spanking new facilities in the Dominican for instructs. Unless, those were affected by the hurricanes...

Castro is the major's 11th best defensive catcher. Tied with Yan Gomes for 18th as far as fWAR goes, ahead of Wieters, Lucroy, d'Arnaud etc. Repeat: Castro is having a better season that Lucroy or Wieters Plus he (along with the rest of the defense) has helped the same pitching staff improve by half a run or so. Castro is the least of the Twins' problems. The Twins are fine as far as position players go, tied for 7th in wRC+ in the majors. Pitching is the issue here (25th in FIP, 24th in SIERA, t19 in ERA - and Castro is part of that positive ERA)

You do realize that if that happened, they would have gone over Steil's head, and would have looked worse? Steil was Mientkiewicz's boss, it was his phone call. If Mientkiewicz needed more explanations, I suspect that he could have talked to his boss' boss, Levine. Did he attempt to contact him? Who knows. The fact that his wife is ill, is something that Souhan shwould have not brought it out (HIPAA and all that jazz,) unless it was related to him by Mientkiewicz to get more sympathy from the fans regarding his non-renewal, which is a really horrible thing to do.

Good stuff, but you got to check on some ETAs (Gonsalves & Rooker. Their ETAs are in the past and did not happen). Also, I would be surprised if Jonathan Rodriguez ever makes it with the Twins. Matter of fact, he is a free agent again

That's an excellent comparison, but I think that catchers have a bit of an easier time getting there than first basemen. I think that this comparison is also relevant: Roy Campanella (10 seasons) 1161 H, 38.2 fWAR, 123 wRC+ Joe Mauer (14 seasons - 10 as a C) 1974 H, 48 fWAR, 124wRC+ So Mauer who will get 2000 hits (more than 9 HOF catchers and might actually catch up to Johnny Bench (2048 hits) and Gary Carter (2092) and will be only behind Berra, Fisk and Pudge) and caught as many seasons as Campanella with better results, should have a better case than Mattingly. Just because of the catching bit. On the other hand you have Joe Torre (who caught only 10 seasons before turned to 1B) with 2342 H, 62.3 fWAR, and 129 wRC+ not in the HOF (as a player) Hard to tell on this one

mea culpa. Still it is the same: Not winning a series from one of the worse teams in baseball at home, and losing 2 games in a row from such a team, while competing for the post-season is not acceptable. Period.

The context is: Zach Granite + what Buxton will bring in a trade, and the names I threw out there were: Starling Marte + Mitch Keller, Shane Baz, Felipe Rivero > Buxton long term Not Granite > Buxton long term. Short term when Buxton was slumping (and was hurt) was a viable option . I still think that the Twins will be better if they trade Buxton for a return like that (2 top of the rotation prospects, one ready in 2018, a gold glove outfielder buying low, and probably someone who will become the premier closer in baseball), in the long term. Tossing things there out of context just to elicit a reaction, without trying to discuss the whole argument in its context, is at least pitiful, mean spirited, and trolling...

Here is what is going on: The Twins called it "stress reaction" here is what that means (other than the psychological meaning) : Medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) is an overuse injury or repetitive-stress injury of the shin area. Various stress reactions of the tibia and surrounding musculature occur when the body is unable to heal properly in response to repetitive muscle contractions and tibial strain. Fouled ball cannot cause it. It is an acute singular event. So he either has a stress reaction because of the continual use (btw, a synonym of a stress reaction is stress fracture, but they really don't want to give the message that he has a broken leg), or he has an acute bruise or even a fracture from that singular event. If it were a bruise, the recommended treatment is no activity until the swelling goes away (usually a week or so) and slowly but steadily build up. I think that, based on what they are saying, this looks like his time table or treatment. On the other hand, it does not respond, which makes me think that it might be worse. A fracture treatment is 6-8 weeks of rest then slow but steady build up. He has been off for a month, so we are looking for another month or so before he will be playing. I think that the hope was that he could swing (without putting any weight on his chin?) and be a DH, but I do not see that happening this season. As far as the future goes, he is this team's third baseman of the present and future. Yes he is not skinny, but he has a strong muscular base to hold his weight and his glove is better than Koskie's at that development level at third, and will improve. There will be some thought to turn him on the other side of the diamond in 2018, but Rooker's arrival as Mauer's replacement will put an end on this thought.

Before the Toronto series, I might have agreed. But when a team that is last on its division, 11 games under .500 comes to your home and wins 2 out of 3, and having to have a phenomenal comeback to get a single victory, I would have problems both with the "effort" (or lack thereof, other than yesterday), or the cohesion of this team. On another matter, fWAR (and bWAR, and WARP) does not really work well to show reliever contribution. Also the difference between a 0.3 to a 0.6 WAR is statistically insignificant The best metric to show that is likely win probability added. Here is that for today's stuff ( > 10 IP) Trevor Hildenberger 0.84 Matt Belisle 0.57 Dillon Gee 0.5 Taylor Rogers 0.36 Michael Tonkin 0.04 Alan Busenitz -0.04 Ryan Pressly -0.2 Tyler Duffey -0.43 Buddy Boshers -0.53 Duffey really has cost the Twins some games. Another thing that WPA is a great indicator (and you can see it in the case of Busenitz and Tonkin, and Perkins who has a -0.01) is of the leverage that players have been used. The 3 mentioned have been used in low leverage situations, so they cannot really affect the outcome of the game much. Duffey (and Pressly) did negatively and the 4 with the positive contributions did so positively. The fact that Boshers is still around (and Vielma is not) is more than puzzling. I just don't want to hear about extending Belisle now

Here comes this one...

Facts Here: The Twins made a 3 year $45 million offer. He wanted more years and more money and left without even making a counter proposal. From there: "I didn't want to leave the Twins," Hunter said. "I just felt like they were ready to leave me. They thought I was too old to do a five-year deal." Hunter rejected the Twins' three-year, $45 million offer in August. Three months passed without a new proposal. Hunter made his decision without having one last conversation with the Twins. But Reynolds had called Smith late last week, hinting that other teams were getting serious. Perhaps the Twins were waiting for a counter proposal from Hunter, but they never changed their original offer. Two I Torii was all for himself and not the Twins, regardless the revisionist history. They offered him $15M a year for 3 years and he decided a. not to accept and b. not to come back with a counter offer.

Who was their MiLB pitching coordinator for more than a few moons.

Soft? They traded an A level prospect for 2 AA/AAA prospects (and Garcia got them a win in the meantime) They signed Colon who solidified the back end of the rotation. Somewhat. They got rid of Kintzer at top top top value And they got a top reliever for JR Murphy Soft? This was supposed to be an evaluation year. They are competing, thankfully, but the cards are against them, and I doubt that they could had stacked them differently. Next off-season will be very telling.

He was not fired. His contract expired and will not be renewed. Underling? The person who called him was the minor league director. His boss. Usually when people get notified that their contract will not be renewed, the notification is done by their boss. Not the CEO or the COO.

A. First of the many for sure to come in the Twins' field management at all levels, as well as the front office B. I was surprised as well, he was popular and won. There might be something C. He was not "owed" anything. And he was not "Fired". His contact was over, they chose not to renew it, and they gave him the courtesy to let him know way ahead of time. Happens every day in many jobs. No explanation was needed or owed, other that they decided to go another direction. The advanced warning was a courtesy that should please him. It is like letting free agent Bartolo Colon that they will not renew his contract. D. The next 2 months will be fun, Twins' fans

You do realize that Morris's contract was the one of the highest ever in annual value ever at that point, and had 2 player options, correct? This is not dumpster diving by any means. bWAR (as I previously indicated is garbage regarding pitchers.) Morris had a 2.9 fWAR in 1990.

FOUL Not a final hurrah. He went on with Toronto and was in a few more postseasons..

Yu Darvish (2.9 vs 2.5 fWAR - bWAR for pitchers is not that great btw) who does not qualify for a qualifying offer might disagree with your assessment. WAR is a bad way of predicting future performance, esp. for pitchers over the hill, like Santana... SIERA is better and Darvish is ranked 17th in the majors with 3.81. Santana is 44th with 4.59 The guy I'd rather see them go get is Chris Archer (8th in the majors in SIERA and t-9 in fWAR 4.40). Trades are good, because you kinda get rid of some of the minor leaguers you would have had to protect, as well as those who are blocked (like Nick Gordon) while they still have value as prospects. I'd love to see what it takes to get Archer in the Twin Cities, starting with Gonsalves and Gordon and throwing in 2-3 more players, including Vargas who might have more value for Tampa than the Twins next season. Unless you shoot for the top, you will not be on the top. Got to do what McPhail did and get the best available pitcher (Morris 1991)

Baseball Prospectus by Mr Matthew Trueblood: Rubbing Mud: The Arrival of Kyle Gibson Draw your own conclusions.

Interesting rankings.... Here are the top 10 wRC+ rankings, plus the numbers of some names mentioned: Rooker (A+ only 162 PA) 166 Rodriguez 164 Garver 159 Paul (A+ only 264 PA) 149 Granite 144 TJ White 144 Andy Wilkins 141 Wade 135 (Javier 131 - but didn't you have a short season list too?) Zander Wiel 125 Palacios 124 Hague 122 Blackenhorne 121 Max Murphy 120 Gordon 117 Diaz 114 Pretty close, but the subjective rankings are slightly different. Some of those guys, like Palacios, and Gordon (surprised for the non-mentions of the "Twins #1 prospect" ) really dropped after they were promoted or later in the season. Wilkins was the big miss of the group. Rooker is the class of this list. Might be in the majors middle of next year sharing reps at 1B with Mauer and platooning with Kepler when and if needed, and the starting first baseman in 2019.

Exactly. 100 players, 30 teams, usually 2-5 prospects per team are in that list. Dozier was mentioned as a non-prospect. BA ranked him 10th in 2012. Sickel ranked him the same, and said: Not the best tools in the universe, but very polished, terrific instincts, and he just keeps hitting. Older prospect at age 24 but all the markers of a guy who will surprise people, and soon. It was not like he was under the radar. Maybe under the top 100 radar, and nationally.