I'm not worried about Escobar yet. He just had a bad day. I think he'll rebound. Boyer needs to go, and Fien will probably follow him. We need to find some bullpen arms to replace them.
I think it's time for Boyer to go. We need some better arms in the bullpen. Also, I was thinking about writing up a response about Escobar being defensively superior... well, now I don't have to write that response anymore!
Oh, I want a Sano shirt! Twins Wins: 37.5 Under Mauer's OPS: .815 Under Dozier HRs: 14.5 Under Sano HRs: 9.5 Under Hicks: .350 OBP Over Sano OPS: .900 Under Hunter HR: 8.5 Over Perkins Saves: 22.5 Under Gibson ERA: 3.25 Over Santana ERA: 3.50 Over Hughes ERA: 3.75 Over Arcia PA: 150 Under Buxton PA: 150 Under Trevor May Starts: 5.5 Under Mike Pelfrey Starts: 5.5 Over Alex Meyer IP: 6.5 Over Jose Berrios IP: 15.5 Under Kurt Suzuki OPS: .600 Under RP acquired via free agency and trade: 1.5 Under Catchers acquired via trade: 0.5 Over Trevor Plouffe OPS: .775 Over Brian Duensing ERA: 3.80 Over Blaine Boyer ERA: 3.80 Under Casey Fien ERA: 3.80 Under
I'm going to echo many others here, but why not Escobar? He's the best offensive and defensive combination currently on the team. I would be OK if they gave Polanco a shot to win it in July-August. I'd like to see if Polanco could work defensively, and his bat would be a huge improvement too. If the Twins make the playoffs, Santana can't be the starting SS. He needs to work on his swing at AAA.
2015 Fien appears to be headed in the 2014 Burton direction. Uh-oh. I'm not sure what the plan for May is, but they don't appear to trust him in a high-leverage situation. Perhaps it's because he's a rookie or because he just entered the bullpen? Maybe they're just waiting for a starting pitcher to fade or get hurt and slide May right back in. Still, it's a waste of a bullpen spot if this is the case.
Offer him Tommy Milone and throw in Brian Duensing. I mean, come on, they traded for Sam Fuld after they let him go for nothing, so now maybe they'll take back Milone! In all seriousness, though, Vogt is gonna be too expensive for my liking.
Dozier is still proving he should have been voted in. He's making a name for himself now and this'll be the first of many All-Star appearances for him. Also, I think it's time I got a new Twins jersey. I'm going with Dozier, if I do.
I still can't believe several people here think Mauer can still catch. That phase of his career is over, and there's no way he will be going back there.
Even though the Twins are killing the baseball right now, I'm concerned with our sloppy baserunning. Both Sano and Hicks have been caught going from 2nd to 3rd so far.
I think it's more of a "the batters only show up when Milone/Nolasco pitch" thing more than it's a Milone/Nolasco thing. OK, Milone has pitched well, but Nolasco just get a ton of run support in May.
I don't understand it, but Molitor doesn't seem to want to use May in a high leverage situation. They also told May "not to look too closely at his move to the bullpen". I think May is back in the rotation after the All-Star break, so that's why they aren't using him in high leverage situations.
Apparently May is a long reliever/blowout guy out of the bullpen now. The reason why he's there is because there's no room in the rotation, not because he's actually going to help the bullpen. And I think a Pelfrey/May swap would be a very good idea....
I absolutely agree. Santana needs to play at SS everyday in AAA. I don't understand why he's even on the roster right now... when we called him up, it was to be a backup CF behind Rosario, but now that Hicks is back, Santana has SS back?