mikelink45

I worry more about May than Duffey, but now you have trip my worry meter - thanks alot.

I am a broken record on this page - bring in the young guy. Gonzales and Ehire are close to leaving and can still spell Blankenhorn if needed, but if there was ever a year to go to the young guys - this is it. Travis can't bat worse that the two of them.

I really wonder what is wrong with Rogers. I have no faith in him anymore. But to go from dominating to middling reliever seems odd without an injury or some other factor. I know RP are notorious for up and down seasons, but Taylor seemed so solid. Jeffers has reached a point where I would hate to see Garver or Avila replace him. Final thought - Gonzales now has a 200 BA - he has continually gone down hill in the batting department. Why not Blankenhorn? I would even use Astudillo for the bat.

Excellent analysis. You are right. Make Sergio wear earplugs - just kidding. The intensity is going to keep growing and Romo has to grow up and walk away.

Here are the things I like - seven inning games are quicker, less relievers and very entertaining and also get done at a reasonable time.DH in both leagues - why not? Playing in the Central division (why Pittsburgh in the Central?) but I would also have combined them into one division for the year. The three batter rule - anything that reduces the number of pitcher changes within an inning. Having baseball every day. What i don't like; Manfred - the more he speaks the less I like his attitudeBullpen gamesHaving the 60 man roster without relaxing rules that keep it from a fluid movement between active and reserveEight teams in the playoffs. Too many. I know there are some fun storylines in Baltimore, Miami, and Detroit, but the real storylines should be three teams fighting for the AL central title.

I hate to say this - it will cause a lot of angst among my fellow commentors - I would drop Trevor May - his performance has been too erratic. Then it would be Clippard based on recent outings. So there is the answer cut off the top and the bottom!

I really thought the Umpire was squeezing Dobnak's strike zone in that inning. Dob did not help himself, but the electronic strike zone would not have had him walk some of the batters. Sorry that we did not get the second win, but very pleased with Rooker. And Cruz is the most dominate DH since the days of Ortiz. So great to see. I was even thinking - is Cruz entering HOF territory? I know he did not produce as much when he was younger and 400 HRs is no longer the automatic mark for power consideration- now it is 500. So I went on Baseball Reference and checked all the HOF projections - I am afraid he is not close. Still a favorite of mine.

Nice summary - some exciting ball ahead. I keep thinking about Garver coming back and wonder if Jeffers will get bounced. I would move Avila and keep Jeffers.

The Twins look good if we skip over Thorpe and Smeltzer and go to the prospects. I have lost faith in them and will be anxious to see the next layer of pitchers move up to create a good live arm rotation like the other teams are projected to have. It is fun ((scary) to see Detroit and KC prospects. What a division this will be.

the question comes back to - do we have an electronic means of measuring real strikes? And why aren't we using it?

If we get rid of Eddie, who will become the player we all focus on and complain about? Every team has someone who frustrates and it seems like fans need to vent. Eddie has won some games for us this year too so he is not a bust. His bonehead plays just stick out and make the post game videos. Maybe it will be Kepler next - his consistently low BA would seem to be a target for complaints or will it be Polanco who received some criticism already this year for lack of power? I am all for Kiriloff and Larnach, but not sure that their defense is going to rate any higher than Eddie.

love Pineda and Jeffers and Wade and Rooker - give me the young guys to go with this older pitching leader.

As your WPA scores demonstrate the Twins have more issues than I expected to see this season. Rogers has to have some off season adjustments made, Adrianza and Gonzales should be replaced with some youth. Smeltzer does not seem to have a real role and May was someone I expected to step up and star this year.

I would hope that comparing our BP to the Detroit BP is only for this game because our RP are supposed to be superb while Detroit is expected to be lousy.

The first round will be in the home park of the higher ranked team then move to CA. - According to Gleeman.

Odorizzi took the QO and made much more money than he had or might of got on the free agent market. He is fine. He will not make as much next year, but he will get a chance to pitch. Trevor May is hurting himself right now. I think he is overused and one of the victims of the BP games that are eating up the BP arms at the wrong time. But we know how teams like RP so he will do fine. Adrianza's bat really disappeared this year. But more than that, it is time to cycle in some younger players.

I worry that all the BP games will catch up with the BP as we move to the final stretch. And today Rosario can be said to cost us the game - I have been a Rosario fan, but today he really disappointed me.

With Pittsburgh, KC, and Detroit making up the majority of our games we have to keep from getting complacent. I still want more bats working - Rosario needs to get going, Rooker needs to keep playing ahead of Cave, Kiriloff should be here, but I can only feel frustrated by that. Hill needs to step up, but Mize might be ready to as well. We have only scored 12 runs in four games since the 88 run victory over the White Sox. And we scored 22 runs before that game in an 8 game stretch. I am excited by the bat control Sano is showing, but the bottom of the order needs to do more and someone from St Paul should be batting for Adrianza. I am also pleased to have Astudillo instead of Avila.

It is the seventh inning stretch of the 60 game season and I thought we might have to alter the baseball anthem just a little bit to make it work; Katie Casey was baseball mad Had the fever and had it bad Just to root for the hometown crew EVERY DAY In the baby blue On a Saturday her young beau Called to see if she'd like to go To see a show, but Miss Kate said "No I'll tell you what you can do:" You can’t take me out to the ball game Or take me out with the crowd; But you can buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack And I don't care if they ever come back I will root, root, root for the home team Whoever they are, but we’ll never know - and it's a shame For it's still one, two, three strikes, you're out At the strange new ball game Katie Casey watched all the games Knew the players by their first names Told the umpire he was wrong All along Good and strong When the score was just two to two Katie Casey knew what to do Just to cheer up the boys at her home She made the gang sing this song: I wish you could take me out to the ball game Take me out with the virtual crowd; Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack I don't care if I never get back Let me root, root, root for some home team If they don't win, it's a shame For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out At the old ball game – I think. This 1908 Tin Pan Alley song by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer is the unofficial anthem of MLB. The authors never attended a game, but their hit ranks with Happy Birthday for well known songs in the USA.

Keep Astudillo - give Avila time off for his back. If they had let Dobnak go an extra inning or two the BP chart would look a lot better. Or if they had gone with someone who can start and give them some length instead of a BP game the chart would look better. The BP game by itself is not bad, but the constant depletion of arms for other games is what bothers me most.

So glad for a call up - still hoping for more. As much as I like Arraez, his injury has really disrupted the season and the IL with a call up of Blankenhorn would make sense to me.

THANKS SETH - I missed have a FB in the mix.

A few thoughts came to mind as I read the review and the comments. I love that we won the DH, but we have to remember that we were playing Detroit. Our season has been heavy on Detroit, KC, and Pittsburgh - we have a tough final road so hopefully we can get some bats moving - we will not keep winning with 2 - 3 runs per game. I do not understand why Dobnak was not allowed to pitch another inning or two in game one. Save the BP. If Dob gave up a hit or a walk take him out, but the RP does not have to come in for a clean inning and if Dobnak went a complete game the BP use chart would look a lot better. With only two unused RP on the chart it reminds me of how much I hate BP games. Sano should not be batting above #5 in the lineup. Love the long bombs (although they do not count more than the ones that just clear the fence) but still hate the Ks and when we have players on base on want to keep the inning going. Is Poppen the next to go down? Astudillo needs to replace Avila. We need his energy and flexibility.

Yes statistics lie. Numbers are chosen by the individual to prove a point and that creates a bias. True we cannot look at all the numbers - there are too many and frankly I still like AV, OPS, SLG, R, and RBIs. Churchill said - Churchill’s: “There are lies, there are damned lies, and then there are statistics”. The implication was that statistics and the manipulative way they were presented were the biggest lies of them all. Good article to stir up conversation on a day with no game to analyze. But I will take Duffey.

excellent - I really appreciated your thorough comments