Danchat

Turning this conversation back to Mejia, I just read something interesting.... I don't understand why Mejia won't be given any starts in the majors. Or even given long relief opportunities over Pat Dean. Unless this is about some sort of innings count, I don't see how this makes sense.

Arcia has been claimed by the Miami Marlins. With 1B Justin Bour and RF Giancarlo Stanton on the DL, Arcia will have room to start there. Not only will he get playing time, but he'll also be in a playoff race.

I don't agree with the comparison here. Willingham and Suzuki had career years in their 30s, while it seems clear to me that Dozier (29) is still in his prime. Dozier is prone to massive slumps, but he's not going to disappear as a hitter like Suzuki/Willingham did. But yes, if you're going to sell high, do it now. But I'm not going to be mad if they don't trade him. They have him under contract for 2 more years, so they could trade him in 2017 or even 2018.

I like your idea, so I'll copy it and insert my own opinions: (just for 2016) Above My Expectations Santana Kintzler Rogers Abad At My Expectation Nolasco Pressly Tonkin Below My Expectations Fien Duffey Gibson Milone Hughes Santiago (SSS) May Jepsen Boshers Berrios As you can clearly see, a majority of the pitchers have underperformed this season. That's basically 6 pitchers (minus Nolasco) who have been serviceable. That's really bad.

The Twins are calling up Pat Light in place of Mejia. So it looks like they'll go with a 8 man bullpen and Vargas will be back on September 1st.

Final Strat-o-matic Report Top of the 9th Plouffe pops out to first base. (Max Kepler pinch hitting) Kepler grounds out to third. Escobar HR (KC 4-1). Grossman HR (KC 4-2). (Kelvin Herrera pitching) Suzuki strikes out looking. Wow... the Twins nearly pulled off a fantastic comeback. Unfortunately, Suzuki came up short and the Twins go down 4-2, which was a much better score than our counterpart's game. At least the Twins broke up Kennedy's shutout and forced the closer to save the game. Anyways, that's all from me. Perhaps we could have some more Strat-o-matic games in 2017... but until then, I bid you adieu.

Strat-o-matic 8th Inning Report Top 8th Santana lines out to short. Dozier grounds out to short. Polanco walks. Polanco is caught stealing. Bottom 8th Perez singles to center and reaches 2nd on error by CF Rosario. Gordon sacrifices, Perez to 3rd (5-3). Escobar walks. (Mejia pulled for J. T. Chargois) Colon strikes out swinging. Orlando strikes out swinging. The Twins defense is horrible here too - with 4 errors. Chargois came in and saved Mejia's butt, holding the game at 4-0 going into the 9th.

I keep hearing bad stuff about Grossman's defense and metrics say he's horrendous, but I don't see many of the games on TV. I want to see a highlight reel compiled purely of Grossman's terrible plays.

Strat-o-matic 7th Inning Report Top 7th Escobar grounds out to first. Grossman flies out to center. Suzuki strikes out swinging. Bottom 7th Cain flies out to center. Hosmer grounds out to second. Morales grounds out to short. That was a fast inning. Mejia is looking real good. Right now it's 4-0 Royals in Strat-o-matic land.

6th Inning Report Top 6th Polanco pops out to the catcher. Mauer doubles to deep left. Plouffe flies out to right. Rosario grounds out to short. Bottom 6th Gordon flies out to center. Escobar walks. Colon grounds out to 2nd, Escobar to 2B (he was stealing). Orlando reaches on Polanco's error, Escobar to 3rd. Cuthbert pops out to 3rd. The Twins just aren't hitting anything. Mejia is pitching much better here than in real life. Ian Kennedy is pitching great in real life and in Strat-o-matic land!

Strat-o-matic Report Top of the 5th Suzuki strikes out looking. Santana strikes out swinging. Dozier strikes out swinging. Bottom of the 5th (Adalberto Mejia pitching) Cuthbert pops out to the catcher. Cain singles. Hosmer grounds into a fielder's choice, Cain out at 2nd (5-4). Morales reaches on an error by Suzuki. Hosmer to 2nd. Perez strikes out looking. Or, you know, I could have let Santiago keep pitching and give up 2 more HRs.

Back to back HRs for the Royals... just like they hit in my game! Santiago has surpassed Nolasco's ineptitude.

Molitor should have pulled Santiago like I did. (though that part is coming up next)

I think you're in contention for today's best post.

4th Inning Report Top 4th Rosario strikes out looking. Escobar strikes out swinging. Grossman flies out to center. Bottom 4th Morales HR. (KC 3-0) Perez singles. Gordon singles, Perez to 2nd. Escobar sacrifices, both runners advance (3-1). Colon singles, Perez scores. Gordon to 3rd. (KC 4-0) Orlando grounds into a double play (3-6-1). Wow, this game's score is the same as the real one's! But that's a bad thing... well, it's going to be Mejia time in the 5th inning. I think we'll see him in real life too.

Strat-o-Matic 3rd Inning Report Top 3rd Santana singles. Santana takes 2B on a wild pitch. Dozier pops out to the catcher. Polanco grounds out to 3rd. Mauer singles to on a groundball to 2nd base, Santana to 3rd. Plouffe flies out to left. Bottom 3rd Orlando singles to center. Orlando is caught stealing 2nd. Cuthbert grounds out to short. Cain singles, advances to 2nd on error by LF Grossman. Hosmer grounds out to 3rd. Suzuki has caught 2 runners stealing! That's insane.

Bottom of the 2nd Report Gordon grounds out to short. Escobar singles. Escobar is caught stealing. Colon grounds to the the pitcher. I gotta have dinner, I may be a tad late on the next report.

Top of the 2nd Report Escobar grounds out (4-3). Grossman strikes out swinging. Suzuki flies out to right.

Bottom of the 1st Orlando flies out to left. Cuthbert flies out to left. Cain HR. (KC 1-0). Hosmer HR (KC 2-0). Morales singles to right. Perez strikes out looking. Santiago is going full Nolasco. His tendencies to give up HRs is costing him.

Strat-o-matic Top of the 1st Report Dozier singles to left. Polanco grounds into a double play (6-4-3). Mauer walks. Plouffe singles to center, Mauer to 2nd. Rosario strikes out. The Twins got 3 baserunners but did nothing with them...

Game Thread: Twins @ Royals, 8/20 @ 6:15 CT Probable Starters: Hector Santiago (10-7, 4.80 ERA) vs Ian Kennedy (7-9, 3.78 ERA) 1. Strat-o-Matic Baseball It’s time for the return of Strat-o-Matic baseball! If you weren’t reading the game threads from about a week and a half ago, you missed my Strat-o-Matic simulation of the Twins VS the Astros. Since the real game got rained on, I wanted to try again today. Here’s what the game looks like (though I’m using a newer version of it: http://i66.tinypic.com/kb7hut.jpg I’ve whipped up the Royals roster and both teams are ready to go. I’ll be reporting how the board game is doing right alongside the real game, so don’t read my posts and think that’s how the real game is going. The Twins defeated the Astros 8-2 last time on Strat-o-matic baseball. Let’s go for another win! 2. No more rain, please! I’m really hoping for no rain today… at least in Kansas City. I was actually under the impression that yesterday’s game was canceled until I realized today at noon that they actually finished the game and the Twins lost. But what really stunk was the 5-0 lead that was erased by rain on August 10th, which is also when I had the last game thread. Luckily, the forecast for Kansas City shows no rain, so I think they’ll be good… I just hope there won’t be a rain delay like yesterday or else I could be playing Strat-o-Matic baseball at 2 AM! 3. Lineups Twins Hector Santiago (L) 1. Brian Dozier ® 2B 2. Jorge Polanco (S) SS 3. Joe Mauer (L) DH 4. Trevor Plouffe ® 1B 5. Eddie Rosario (L) CF 6. Eduardo Escobar (S) 3B 7. Robbie Grossman (S) LF 8. Kurt Suzuki ® C 9. Danny Santana (S) RF Royals Ian Kennedy ® 1. Jarrod Dyson (L) CF 2. Cheslor Cuthbert ® 3B 3. Lorenzo Cain ® RF 4. Eric Hosmer (L) 1B 5. Kendrys Morales (S) DH 6. Salvador Perez ® C 7. Alex Gordon (L) LF 8. Alcides Escobar ® SS 9. Christian Colon ® 2B 4. Baseball Simulation/Games Since I enjoy Strat-o-matic Baseball, I was wondering about other baseball games I could play. Here’s two that intrigued me. http://i65.tinypic.com/a1n39f.jpg A month or so ago, I pulled out an old pinball-like board game that I found in my relative’s basement and I tried it out. It didn’t look exactly like this, but I found that playing a baseball game via pinball with two players to actually be fun. http://i67.tinypic.com/zwc9xt.jpg So apparently there’s a baseball dartboard. It looks kind of fun, and I’d actually like to try this out. I haven’t played with darts in years… I wonder what would happen if you missed the dartboard? Would it count as an out? Or maybe a HBP? Or more like a HBD (hit by dart)? Are there any other baseball games/simulation/board games I’ve missed? If so, do tell me. OK Twins, not only do you need to win, but you also need to beat the Royals at a board game version of baseball! Let’s go for the double victory!

I don't get this. How can a guy annihilate minor league hitters but then at the first sign of trouble in the majors, he forgets how to throw a strike?

I'd call that a SSS!

Did you see Ponder's start when he backed up Bridgewater in 2014? He was horrendous. Shaun Hill was at least mediocre in his 2014 in his 8 starts with the Rams. They should have upgraded, but there weren't many options.

Plouffe and Milone need to go. I'm iffy on Santiago. I fully expect the Twins to tender him, but who knows who the new GM will be.