crapforks

In this hypothesis, what do the Twins do with Cave relative to the 26-man roster?

Hill has been a Statcast darling for a while with spin rate and such. He, his career, and his pitches are anomalies. I hope the Twins see the type of person to relay information to other pitchers and coaches. Help the team unlock some of the Rich Hill secret sauce.

I was just looking at that exact phenomenon. The Twins really did enjoy facing him this season.

I wouldn’t trade Stroman for that package if I were the Mets. A league average LF/RF who isn’t cheap and has 2 years left, a high-floor medium-ceiling LF/RF prospect, a potential Utility player and a pitcher who might sniff the bigs. Also, I would guess 22 teams could easily and painlessly top that package.

Would be nice to rest some guys! C- Castro 1B- Astudillo 2B- Schoop 3B- Sano SS- Torreyes LF- Rosario CF- LaMarre/Miller RF- Miller/LaMarre DH- whoever wants the ABs. Not Cron.

Man. These are some takes!

I assumed Dyson wouldn’t pitch today. Imagine if he hadn’t and Harper or May gave up those runs. This board would have called for Baldelli’s head for not using him. Doesn’t it seem out of character for Baldelli to bring him in?

I half expected the headline to read: “Koh Stewart Pitches the 10th Inning Against the Yankees In the Midst of a Playoff Race”

1B-L-Kepler SS-S-Polanco DH-R-Cruz LF-S-Gonzales C-R-Garver 2B-L-Arraez 3B-R-Sano 1B-S-Adrianza CF-R-Buxton I think the preference is to Let Marwin, Adrianza and Arraez play everywhere to give breathers, but I am surprised to see this alignment. I think this speaks to where Baldelli is most comfortable playing certain people. Some thoughts: Sano seemed a little out of place at 1B vs. Texas. He had a lot of awkward things going on with some pickoff moves. I think we don't see Sano at 1B much (barring catastrophe) until he starts a season at 1B. He is serviceable, but I'd wager Gonzales would be playing there if not for the Rosario injury. Arraez will probably get more LF time if Cron gets back before Rosario, otherwise it's starting to look a little platoon-ey at 2B. Schoop (.811 vs LHP .770 OPS vs RHP) has some platoon splits and Arraez is looking like he can hit anyone. If Arraez can get a couple starts at SS and 3B without cratering the infield defense, he could very well be playing everyday until (if/when) his numbers come down a bit. Garver is the 1a catcher and Castro is 1b. We all figured that was the case, but starting against a RHP right out of the break sort of solidifies that, no? Im probably in the minority, but I don't really mind Buxton hitting 9th. Also, Sano batting 7th or 8th is fine with me as well. Both have moments where they seem unstoppable, but both have also been pretty streaky. Let them be instigators at the bottom until they force their way up or an injury throws a wrench in the lineup. Buxton, especially, has been fun to watch when getting on in front of the top of the lineup. Rested bullpen. Hopefully the team gets out to some pretty big leads so we can see what some of the lower leverage guys can do. We know what Rogers is, it would be nice to see who can make a case to stay if and when some bullpen reinforcements arrive.

Mejia’s line was meh, but how did he look? I didn’t get to watch the game.

Slightly off-topic, but I think people are going a little overboard in calling for Arraez to replace Schoop in the lineup. Schoop is not a superstar, but he is having a quietly solid season. He seems to be a calm presence and has a quiet confidence about him. He is probably the 8th or 9th best hitter on the team, but that's ok. I feel that we fans are undervaluing his skillset (power & defense) because neither is particularly flashy, and because his soft spots (patience and base running) are something the team could use. He is outplaying his career numbers (slightly) and has been pretty much what any reasonable person would have expected from him. He's a bit like a lesser JJ Hardy to me. Very easy to overlook and focus on the negatives because very little he does is highlight-reel worthy. It is very unlikely he is the team's 2B of the future, but he hasn't really done anything to warrant a benching. Arraez has plenty of opportunity (SS, LF, 3B, 2B) to get in the lineup before surpassing Schoop on the 2B depth chart. If Arraez does indeed surpass Schoop, that is an absolutely lovely situation for the team!

It’s crazy how polarizing this player is. He’s as big of a guess-hitter, it appears, but he’s a good one. .230/.320/.500, give or take, with a ton of strikeouts is a reasonable expectation. I’ll take that. He’s not going to hit for a high average. Probably ever. He’s going to drive people nuts with check swings, probably forever. But he sees a lot of pitches and has potential to leave the yard with every swing. He is a very useful player. At 26, he has the ability to improve.

This is a bad article. I like Cody’s work in general, but this is bad.

Keuchel may turn out to be a steal for someone, but he isn't a clear enough upgrade for the Twins as it stands, IMO. I wouldn't be upset with the signing, but I wouldn't advocate for it.

rant/ There are some legitimate complaints to be made about BP usage this season, but some are taking it too far, IMO. These pitchers who are slated to be a part of the roster need to pitch and if/when one gives up baserunners or even runs, it's not due to Baldelli's poor managing skills every single time. The team needs to know what they have in these guys and that means using them in all sorts of situations. I've actually been pleasantly surprised by the bullpen usage when using the previous three years as the measuring stick. The armchair QB nonsense about 'why use X in Y situation when Z is a superior option' is a really tired trope. That logic leads to overuse of the top 2 or 3 pitchers you trust. There are times where a valid criticism can be made, but the doom and gloom about every bullpen outing not going 1,2,3 for 3+ innings is lazy. Accept that the bullpen is unlikely to be the best you have ever seen. Accept that you will see pitchers give up baserunners and runs. Accept that your least favorite bullpen pitcher will pitch in a situation you'd prefer he not be in. Accept that Mejia will blow a close lead in the late innings because the manager didn't want to go to Rogers again. If the bar to clear for the 2019 bullpen is perfection, you're not going to enjoy this season much no matter the outcome. /rant

I’ve been thinking about that. Care to share any additional resources for reading up on what went down?

I was able to figure it out! Once I did, I was a little upset with myself for missing something obvious. Good clues!

Is it Hunter?

Yes, it would solve a lot lore problems than just lineup construction if Buxton could be a top of the order hitter.

I agree with that. I wouldn’t be opposed to having him on the team, but the deck is stacked against him opening the season on the 25:He has an option The team will likely carry 13 pitchers, at least at some point Castro and Garver are ahead of him at catcher Cave, Adrianza, and Garver cover the necessary positions for a 3-man bench. Austin will be making a case for the extra bench bat if he is kept We really don’t know how the team views his viability at any position

Looking through the lineup leaves me wondering where to slot some of the hitters. There’s still moves that can be made, but it really looks like an impatient lineup at the moment. (S)Polanco-ss ®Cron-1b (L)Rosario-lf ®Cruz-dh ®Sano-3b (L)Kepler-rf ®Schoop-2b (L)Castro-c ®Buxton-cf (S)Adrianza-if (L)Cave-of ®Garver-c

This might be a very low OBP offense

Might as well lock this thread. Some pretty gross takes showing up.

Every pitcher on the roster could bust, but that is unlikely. Just like thinking the starting staff(s) of years past would pitch better than their track record would indicate was unlikely. Double headers, injuries, ineffectiveness, etc. will allow those almost-ready starters in the high minors to get a taste. It’s a great position to be in that the fill-ins have potential to be a part of the future. Think of the fill-in starters of years past. The pitching staff as a whole has its flaws, but the floor is about as high as it’s been since the days of Johan.