mikelink45

The frustration in the majors with injuries and poor performances is having a domino effect and the minors.

A good team should win close games and pitchers duels, but we are playing the bottom teams and for us to barely win the games we are not blown out in is not a good sign. I do like having Ober pitch today and I understand what the writer says about him getting hit harder as the game goes on, but part of learning how to be a starter is to learn how to handle situations like this and to work through them.

I do not know where else to post this question - I wanted to see how many inherited runners each RP has given up. I would like to see those added to the RP ERA because their job is to stop the bleeding - this has nothing to do with this game because the bleeding in this was a major artery cut by Shoemaker and no amount of RP could save it.

I just reread the summary (I am sitting on a boat in a harbor just north of Seattle and not sure why I would reread such a travesty of the game, but I am glad I did. I missed the key comment by Jamie - Historic First Inning Fells Twins - I love history and this one will certainly stay with us for a long time and of course we hope Shoemaker does not.

Last place

The transaction I was wanting to see had Mr Shoemaker departing the Twins - and I do not care where he goes.

Do home runs hit in a game that is no chance of being one really count for anything? What a pathetic outing. Cut Shoemaker now.

Give him 2 weeks and then evaluate

I trade Donaldson if they take Colome, Stashak, Simmons, and Sano and give us either Josh Hader or a bag of new baseballs.

No. None. Ok Berries.

How true. It's like exit velocity and distance they don't add any runs they just measure what happened. Wins are the ultimate measurement.

Yes - play the rookies. Find out what the future holds. We have seen the regression in key players on the roster - time to see what else we have.

I would take Buxton and Berrios over the version of Cruz and Donaldson we have this year.

I suspect he wonders too. As a person with personal issues he does not seem like someone who should be given such a tenuous treatment. I also do not think he will ever be much in MLB.

That is really disappointing although Balazovic missing the year is a real set back, I was looking for him to be in the rotation by July.

With all the call ups and IL players at MLB the minors have to be weakened and then to see five of our prospects out for injuries too means our entire system is hurting. What a year.

Andrew I am really impressed, you wrote a compelling description that almost felt like this was a game that mattered and these were real MLB teams. Why is it that our extended players - Kepler, Dobnak, Polanco, Sano all feel like dead weights around the team ankles? I am about to leave for a week working on a cruise in Puget Sound and I am not sure I want to have internet access - if I do I might tune in again.

I am so delighted - not that it matters, but I have wanted Celestino all season. A true CF is more important than his batting line and I think he will become a future star.

Yes, but we have Sabato, Rooker, Wallner - Brent Rooker 24 K - 19 games, Aaron Sabato 41 K - 24 games, Matt Wallner 28 K - 17 games. With Sano now 59 K 39 games our big sluggers are 142 K in 99 games. What more could you ask for?

Three years and 30 starts according to BR - that use to be a starting pitchers one season. Suspension plus injuries have not kept him in the rotation. His body looks like it could break down at any time. Three years 3 WAR that is 1 per year - replacement level. Let's work on the next young arms instead and see what we can get for Pineda.

We were excited when our prospects came up and the future looked bright - in 2019 that future arrived and it was great, but we expected a longer run. The foundation was going to be Berrios - I know all the arguments that he is not a true Ace, but he has been our best pitcher and is a solid middle of the rotation arm that we did not build around. 53 - 40 with a 4.11 era for his six years 8.1 WAR. The expected stars on offense were Sano and Buxton Miguel Sano - who is in his 7th year (7.8 WAR). He has played in 100+ games three times. 236/329/489 is his seven year slash line, but look at the trends - BA - 269, 236, 264, 199, 247, 204, 158. His last three OPS - 923, 757, 656. BR offensive War (defense is negative so I won't bother. He is here for his bat.) 2.4, 1.7, 3.1 0.1, 3.7, 0.5, 0.1. Miguel seems like he plateaued and is lost. Byron Buxton - 7 years and 14.5 WAR - if only he could stay healthy. No doubt his hitting is on the rise - here is his yearly OPS 576, 714, 728, 383, 827, 844, 1.180. Buxton has found his bat, but he has played in 456 games out of a possible 922. He has missed half his possible games. This does not diminish his quality when he is on the field, but makes it hard to cover CF when your other option is moving Kepler or using Cave. The next three foundation pieces did not have the same star power potential, but they were expected to be solid pieces to round out the team Jorge Polanco - no longer a SS his value has diminished in the field. He has contributed 8.8 WAR. His career slash is 274/333/430/762 and he has been fairly steady, but in 2019 his OPS was 841 after a career streak of 700s+, but then 2020 and 2021 that OPS mark dropped below 700 and with his fielding not being an asset any longer he career seems to have flattened out and his value may have peaked. Max Kepler shocks me with a 13.2 WAR. A slash line of 236/318/443/761 does not seem to warrant such a good WAR grade. When I look at his OWar 9.7 and his DWar 2.1 they add up to 11.8 so someone will have to explain BR math to me. He peaked in 2019 like so many did and had his only year with more than 20 HRs, It was the only year he hit more than 250. And it was the only year he slugged more than 500. Surrounding 2019 his BA was 224 in 2018, 228, and 212 the last two years. Eddie Rosario is the last of the big six and they have already given up on him and let him shuffle off to Cleveland, so he was the first of the six to disappoint enough to be moved on. His seven year slash line is 274/308/469/777. His peak was 2017/2018. Buxton 14.5According to BR WAR Rosario had a total of 12 which means it we rank the six by WAR it would be Kepler 13.2 Rosario 12 Polanco 8.8 Berrios 8.1 (he is the only one with six seasons instead of seven) Sano 7.8

Lets hope so - even the announcers are having trouble staying enthused. In July the Vikings start to dominate the news, lets hope the team has some momentum then. I would hope all the prospects are playing, but then that would only damage the St Paul team.

I am trying to learn more about our minor leaguers, but I am constantly surprised by names I never heard of. Louisville is an interesting town with a lot of baseball history - part of the original 12 team NL, it was the first team to sign and play Honus Wagner. Then the NL wanted to get rid of four teams and forced the Colonels out of the league. I have been to the bat factory, but not the park - do they have any of their history displayed?

Boy the Twins must be excited to see that they can sell more tickets for upcoming games - now, if only the fans were excited to buy those tickets. Who will win the attendance contest - Saints or Twins?

Do you have to draw the short straw to get to describe these games? How painful. When two rookie outfielders (Larnach, Kiriloff), two waiver wire outfielders (Refsnyder, and Garlick) and the perpetual butt of the jokes - Astudillo are becoming your top five players the season does not look very good. (Sorry to leave you off the list Jose.)