Thrylos

I do not have a problem with this per_se. However, as far as starters go, the Twins are: 21st in WAR, 20th in IP, 18th in ERA, 23rd in FIP, 18th in WIP, 24th in SIERA, 27th in K%, 23rd in K-BB%. this season Santana Berrios May Gibson Mejia under contract for 2018 and out of options, does not leave much room for improvement, and those numbers are not good for them to content in the postseason. They need at least one pitcher better than Berrios to do that, which means that something's got to give here...

Way ahead of the others, both in age and (fewer) years of club control...

They need an editor badly...

Using xPE (Moran 169.3) Moya 111.7 - only his Twins' numbers Anderson 82.1 Hector Lujan 69.1 Bard 56.8 Hackimer 54.5 ----- (Turley 51.2) (Hildey 44.1) (Busenitz 38.6) Vasquez 35.7 (Curtiss 32.6) Moran had the best season but he is short season. Using xPE because it approximates SIERA the closest (good luck finding MiLB SIERA) and I think that SIERA is probably the best metric in evaluating pitching performance, esp. relievers (along with WPA, but even better luck finding those numbers.) Using xFIP the ranking goes like: Moya 0.92 Vasquez 2.28 Tonkin 2.49 Bard 2.55 Anderson 2.58 --- Curtiss - 2.78 Lujan 2.83 Hackimer 3.27 The issue I have with xFIP is the artificially high weight on HRs, thus pitchers who suppress the HR, like Tonkin, are ranked artificially higher than where they should be. ERA is just an awful metric for a reliever. A reliever who comes in with the bases loaded and 2 outs can walk 3, get an out and come out with 0 ER. WHIP should always be normalized for BABIP, esp. when you go across leagues, assuming that team defense is not equivalent among different teams. Moran had a phenomenal season, he should be rewarded for it

The absence of Luke Bard is puzzling. He had a 1.332 WHIP, but that was driven by his ridiculous (.389 BABIP) other than that, his peripherals were better than most listed. The absence of Gabriel Moya who had an ever better season than Curtiss (0.76 ERA, 0.775 WHIP, 13.4 K/9, 2.4 BB.9) is inexcusable. He had the best season than any of the Twins' minor league relievers, wearing both the Twins' uniform and not, and in my book he is the Twins' minor league reliever of the year.

Daunte Culpepper (6-4, 260), Byron Leftwich (6-5, 250), Ben Roethlisberger (6-5, 240), and Jared Lorenzen (6-4, 290, who still holds the record on completions and total yards at Kentucky) beg to disagree. And all of them have to do in with fear of bodily harm (unlike Sano) and nobody can accuse Lorenzen of six-pack abs

Here is someone from the forgotten affiliate whose season is close,but no cigar, to Baddoo's: Alberoni Nunez: 48-193, .352/.420/.545 (.965), 3 HR, 7 3B, 9 2B, 38 RBI, 11 SB My ranking would be objective using wRC+ Akil Baddoo 183 (GCL) Alberoni Nunez 172 (DSL) Yeltsin Encarnacion 165 (DSL) Shane Kennedy 160 (APL) Jordan Gore 158 (GCL) Rubuen Santana 154 (DSL) Rainis Silva 147 (GCL) Brent Rooker 145 (APL) Benjamin Rodriguez 144 (APL) Jean Carlos Arias 138 (APL) Colton Burns 138 (GCL) Davinson Pimental 137 (DSL) Royce Lewis 136 (APL) Samuel Vasquez 136 (DSL) Shane Carrier 135 (GCL) Wander Javier 131 (GCL) but I would not think of Rooker or Lewis as part of this list, because they graduated the short seasons. And this should be who had the best season at his level and not who is the best prospect, and it is hard to deny the data that shows that Baddoo did...

If this enlightened author thinks that Sano should be a DH next year, I'd love to hear what he thinks the 15 third basemen ranked below him should be? Here is a link to the article Matthew Trueblood is the author.

Vielma would have probably lost his spot in November, but, still I don't understand why Perkins is still with the team

IIRC he was not fired after the season when the team L 103...

Plenty? Let's see who was fired after the season: The hitting and first base coach of a team that had the worst pitching and fielding in baseball; every one in the Front office, but that man who was responsible for the Fort Myers improvements, stayed. That's like blaming Jerry and Stelly for the 99 L season...

Cute and with substance. Allen, Molitor, Vavra are not mass firings from a 103 L staff. I explained in depth why they need to go away from a team that has improved despite them.

There is no reason that Glen Perkins should be a Minnesota Twins player at this point. They have enough mop up pitchers

You cannot judge Molitor without bring 2016 into conversation. He is the leader of the worst team the Twins had had since they moved to MN. The pitching has sucked equally in 2016 and 2017, if you take ERA and the other numbers (like WHIP) that are affected by the much improved Twins' fielding in 2017. Allen has to go, no matter how you look at it. About time that the Cleveland Pitching Guru brings someone who knows pitching to be the pitching coach. Vavra has to go too, if not for any other reason, just because of the Gardenhire and the 99+96+96 (and now +103) taint. Molitor needs to go as well because he does not understand the concept of win probability and the fact that you have higher win probability with a man on first and no outs vs with a man on second and 1 out. Bunting your hottest hitter multiple times in a game and in a series should be a fatal offense for a manager in 2017. Same with burning one of the 2-3 reliable bullpen arms (Rogers) you have, just to get one out. Hope that he goes Kelly's way, with his head up and the team in an upswing and goes to Fort Myers to do what Kelly used to do. He is 61. Kelly was a decade younger when he retired.

He has not have his facts full regarding that K-BB, and it is lazy work: 2017 Yankees A+: K% 20.2 %, BB% 5.3 %, K-BB% 14.9 % (71-1/3 IP) 2017 Yankees: AA: K% 29.7 %, BB% 4.6 %, K-BB% 25.1 % (44 IP) 2017 Twins AA: K% 19.0 %, BB% 10.3 %, K-BB% 8.6 % (42-2/3 IP) From here what he did with the Twins in Chattanooga is similar to what he with the Yankees in Tampa, other than the doubled BB%. Here are the number of walks per month (and league) April 5 A+ May 6 A+ June 5 AA + 4 A+ Total = 9 July 3 AA August 18 AA So that 3 at the Eastern league was pretty much an outlier compared to his previous numbers. And prospects get tired. Those 18 walks in August, which is the only difference between his high A K-BB% with the Yankees and his AA K-BB% with the Twins, could be the sign of fatigue and not something that the Twins did to him. He is 21. Lazy answer

Too much noise for nothing. This was an interesting sentence from that article (which, of course, is from the Yankee's perspective) : So. Stealing signs is not a "scandal" and as a matter of fact, it is not against any MLB rule. The "electronics" component became part of the rules when teams (esp. the Phillies) were using Center Field cameras to do so in the 00s. It will be interesting to see whether there will be any fines on this, because the use of wearables (like a watch) may or may not fit the description of electronics in the rule. (Would love to see that rule, btw, but could not find it.) This will be an interesting one...

I am not defending Gleeman here. (And, of course, he posted that junk out of context, which was that Buxton should be traded for 2-3 players who can contribute now and in the future. But this is another discussion) Anyways. Matter of fact, if Souhan's write up is about Gleeman, Souhan is even further off the point, because Gleeman is not a "blogger" by any means. He has been gainfully employed by third parties doing his stuff about baseball for a while, just like Souhan has...

Really excited about Baddoo. He made leaps and bounds as far as development went this year and should be in the conversation for a top 10 prospect Rooker might be the steal of the draft. I can see him with the Twins some time next season and replacing Mauer at 1B in 2019. Aggressive somewhat, but I think that it is realistic (but we got to see how he will play in Chattanooga next season.) Good to see Blackenhorn pick it up as well. Interesting to see where he will end up position wise. From the Forgotten Affiliate: Yeremi De La Cruz .364/.450/.576, 6 BB, 5 K, 1 HR Alberoni Nunez .311/.429/.533, 9 BB, 9 K, 1 HR, 6 SB Samuel Vasquez .319/.439/.489, 9 BB, 7 K, 1 HR, 13 SB Ruben Santana .327/.421/.469, 8 BB, 6 K, 0 HR, 2 SB

That's the current active roster. I did not include everyone who played with the Twins. Most of the missing ones are Falvey I suspect (Breslow, Tepesche, Wilk, Haley, Garcia, Ruckinski, Melville, Heston) Ryan has Hughes, Smith has Wheeler. From the top of my head.

Agree'd, but name calling and cheap shots is Souhan's MO. If y'all do not remember, this is what he wrote when the Twins traded Slowey Talking about "integrity" and "professionalism". This is what Souhan is all about.

Agreed. And after today, I have seen enough of Buddy Bo, as well.

Simple. Just like with football: The Twins' FO instead of tossing nuggets to Souhan, if they have concerns about Sano's weight, they should talk to their employee and give him a weight limit. And report that fact to the media. Or not.

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!

This is kind of an interested statement, so here is the Twins active roster (signed by GM in parenthesis) : 9 Matt Belisle R/R 6'3" 230lbs 6/6/80 (Falvey) 17 Jose Berrios R/R 6'0" 185lbs 5/27/94 (Ryan) 62 Buddy Boshers L/L 6'3" 205lbs 5/9/88 (Ryan) 67 Alan Busenitz R/R 6'1" 180lbs 8/22/90 (Antony) 40 Bartolo Colon R/R 5'11" 285lbs 5/24/73 (Falvey) 27 John Curtiss R/R 6'4" 200lbs 4/5/93 (Ryan) 56 Tyler Duffey R/R 6'3" 220lbs 12/27/90 (Ryan) 35 Dillon Gee R/R 6'1" 205lbs 4/28/86 (Falvey) 44 Kyle Gibson R/R 6'6" 215lbs 10/23/87 (Smith) 39 Trevor Hildenberger R/R 6'2" 211lbs 12/15/90 (Ryan) 15 Glen Perkins L/L 6'0" 205lbs 3/2/83 (Ryan) 57 Ryan Pressly R/R 6'3" 210lbs 12/15/88 (Ryan) 55 Taylor Rogers L/L 6'3" 170lbs 12/17/90 (Ryan) 54 Ervin Santana R/R 6'2" 175lbs 12/12/82 (Ryan) — Aaron Slegers R/R 6'10" 245lbs 9/4/92 (Ryan) 66 Nik Turley L/L 6'4" 195lbs 9/11/89 (Falvey) 21 Jason Castro L/R 6'3" 215lbs 6/18/87 (Falvey) 38 Chris Gimenez R/R 6'2" 230lbs 12/27/82 (Falvey) 16 Ehire Adrianza S/R 6'1" 170lbs 8/21/89 (Falvey) 2 Brian Dozier R/R 5'11" 200lbs 5/15/87 (Smith) 5 Eduardo Escobar S/R 5'10" 185lbs 1/5/89 (Ryan) 22 Miguel Sano R/R 6'4" 260lbs 5/11/93 (Smith) 43 Mitch Garver R/R 6'1" 220lbs 1/15/91 (Ryan) 7 Joe Mauer L/R 6'5" 225lbs 4/19/83 (Ryan) 11 Jorge Polanco S/R 5'11" 200lbs 7/5/93 (Smith) 25 Byron Buxton R/R 6'2" 190lbs 12/18/93 (Ryan) 23 Niko Goodrum S/R 6'3" 198lbs 2/28/92 (Smith) 8 Zack Granite L/L 6'1" 175lbs 9/17/92 (Ryan) 26 Max Kepler L/L 6'4" 205lbs 2/10/93 (Smith) 20 Eddie Rosario L/R 6'1" 180lbs 9/28/91 (Smith) 19 Kennys Vargas S/R 6'5" 290lbs 8/1/90 (Smith) Pitchers 26. Signed by: Ryan 10, Falvey 4, Antony 1, Smith 1 Position players 14. Signed by: Smith 7, Ryan 5, Falvey 2 Total: Ryan 15, Falvey 9, Smith 8, Antony 1. Ryan signed 37.5% of today's Twins, mostly pitchers (which of course is not "the majority or the Twins' roster".) Smith signed half of today's Twins' position players and should be credited for the Twins' strong young core. Other than Berrios, none of Ryan's pitchers seem to be high impact pitchers for the Twins. Same with Smith's... Facts.