mikelink45

I just cannot imagine these two rivals trading strength to one another.

Third and last in my series on the conundrums of protecting players from Rule V, getting rid of deadwood, choosing what to do about free agents and lining up trades. The Outfield and Infield had a lot of names and decisions, but nothing like the pitching staff. Here we have our Ace – Berrios – who has worn down in August as an annual ritual letting others that the Ace spot until he recovers – and hopefully he can. Looking at performance is not just a calendar event – we might also look at who he has been suffering against and it is not an all-star group of teams. So, is he an ACE? We have no one else and we still have him under control. So, do we extend him? Putting an Ace in front of him, adding more quality to the rotation would do a lot. Behind him is Pineda, but he is unsigned after this year and we just paid for two years to get one. Do we resign? Will he resign? Odorizzi was an All Star then he stunk and now he looks good but he is a free agent. Do we resign him? Gibson continues to perform as an underperforming pitcher with potential, but he is too old to have potential anymore. Do we resign him. Perez has an option – do we take it? Great start, horrible middle, is he okay now? Not after his performance with against the Tigers! Smeltzer came in and looked good, then he looked bad, and now he looks like a gimmick that might not have a lot of upside – is he in the rotation next year? Thorpe has stuff, he has looked good. He looks like he should be in the rotation next year. Graterol looks and sounds good because we actually have not seen him. Is he a starter or reliever next year or is he a bust? Stewart has been up and down and frankly he looks like a pitcher who has shown us all he has and it is not great. Littell seems to have risen and looks good, but that is as a reliever. Can he start again? Should he? Poppen has some stuff, but is it enough for the MLB staff? The Pen has Rogers on the top – can he keep it up? Romo has been great – do we keep him? Dyson has done well – is he long range? Duffey and May look like they are ready to settle in to the BP. Who do we keep? And Who do we let go? The starting rotation has the most fluidity. Cody Stashak has debuted – did you like what you saw? Who is Randy Dobnak? Is Gonsalves still a prospect or someone who missed his turn? Did Romero get moved to the pen to be moved to the DFA list? Has Ryne Harper had his fifteen minutes of fame? Can Hildenberger come back or was his strange delivery a short-term success? Marcos Diplan is a name that came in a trade but has not grown into a person of prominence. And can Alcala jump to the pen and be a difference maker? That is a long list. We do not know if there will be a trade – we do not know who will DFA nor do we know the trade scenarios. Is Balazovic ready soon? Is there a FA we can afford and attract from other teams? Is there a trade? Must Keep - Berrios, Rogers, Duffy, May, Littell, Thorpe, Graterol Want to keep - Pineda, Odorizzi, Romo, Dyson Say good-bye - Gibson, Perez, Gonsalves, Harper ???? - Dobnak, Stashak, Romero, Diplan, Hildenberger,

Wow is this productive. In two games we have eliminated both Perez and Gibson as post season starters - who is next?

In a May 16 article Jeremy Nygaard (TD) wrote, "Classes that will be first time eligible for the Rule 5 draft this November: College draftees in 2016 (Griffin Jax, Thomas Hackimer), prep draftees in 2015 (Travis Blankenhorn, Trey Cabbage) and IFAs in late 2014 or 2015 (Brusdar Graterol, Edwar Colina) This also includes those who were acquired via trade that fit the aforementioned criteria (Luke Raley, Devin Smeltzer, Jorge Alcala, Jhoan Duran, Gilberto Celestino, Gabriel Maciel)." There would be some changes in the list now, but that is a good starting point and you can see how crowded it is.

I started with the outfield as I look at the Twins current 25 man active roster, 40 man overall roster and the crush of players who are on the field, plus those needing to be added to the 40 man and the potential free agents, and possible trade candidates. The current Major league infielders and catchers (who ocassionally move to a base): Cron Schoop Polanco Sano Arraez Gonzalez Adrianza Castro Garver Astudillo Cron and Schoop are FA - do we resign them? Schoop has been terrific this past week, but his performance otherwise has been a lesson in low level excellence and high level disappearance. He just turned that around, but does that convince you to keep him? Cron has been injured a lot and yet he has produced .257 .319 .475 .794. Do we resign him? Those are the first two questions that need to be answered before going ahead. More questions - is Gordon MLB ready? Can he hold up to a full season workload? Is Arraez the 2B of the future or is Polanco moving over since his glove and arm are so often questionable at SS. If Polanco is not at SS who is? Gonzalez is best left to play a little of everywhere and Adrianza had a break out season, but is it sustainable. Lewis is going to AZ, but will he be OF or IF in the future and how soon is he ready? Wander Javier is not ready and still needs to prove himself in MiLB. Will Sano stay at 3B or does he replace Cron? If so, who plays third? Blankenship seems like the only prospect who actually plays 3B - is he ready? Does Garver play more at 1B and if so, who catches if Castro is gone as a FA? Is it Astudillo or will we see Jeffers? Does Kiriloff go to the OF or 1B? Is Rooker even a consideration anymore? Has Larnach passed the others and does he stand in line for 1B? The crystal ball is cracked - this is a mess to sort out. Not too many minor leaguers, but a few important ones. First I predict that we will let Cron go and I feel sorry for him if he is cut two years in a row after productive seasons. Injuries did him in this year. Second I have a feeling Schoop slips away too, but not as positive on this one. I do not believe in the minor leaguers pushing the current infield so I see: 1B - Sano/Garver - maybe Kiriloff by the end of the season 2B - Arraez/Gonzalves - Gordon if Arraez was a mirage this year. SS - Polanco/Adrianza 3B - Sano/Adrianza/Gonzalves and Blankenship by season end if Sano is moved to 1B C - Garver/Astudillo/Jeffers by midseason What do you think? Who do you move?

I am pleased with our recent victories, but still remember the previous Tigers/White Sox week and I am not ready to just flip the switch yet. Judging a pitching staff from a dose of Sox/Royals/Tigers/Rangers does not allow me to project against the Yankees/Astros. Just keep doing well Twins and build up confidence.

Reading the blogs and comments I see a lot of people looking at the outfielders and whether we should trade Rosario for starting pitching, put Jake Cave on the roster for Post Season and how to handle the surplus in the minors. September is a big audition month and a time to give some players a little rest. We have too many players who need to be added to the 40 man and not enough room. Do we trade, do we DFA, do we get rid of players already on the roster? Do we allow free agents to leave? So how do we clear the surplus? As I pondered the Rosario trade idea I was struck with the fact that Eddie is a nice player, but in many ways he his not much above replacement in a league where everyone hits HRs. I see Eddie behind Buxton and Kepler, but trading requires the other teams to value your player as high as you would like them too and I do not see Eddie bringing in the SP that we dream of. Nor do I see Cave as a full time player being better than Eddie - another just above replacement performer - nice but not essential. My thought is that if we want something; the player teams will value highest is Buxton. Buxton has now had 1250 big league at bats and this was his best year, but overall he has hit 237/292/706, His defense is what we really value, but he has to be on the field to provide defense. April 1, 2014 Buxton put on injury list by Fort Myers, and again in Fort Myers on May 11 and July 6. July 26, 2015 on DL (Twins) thumb injury. July 15, 2017 Buxton on DL, groin injury. April 2018 on IL for migraines; May 10 broken toe and July 14 back on IL with left wrist strain. In August 2018 he was on the DL in Rochester with a left wrist injury, in June 2019 he was on the IL with a right wrist injury, July 16 on the IL with concussion symptoms, and again on July 23, concussion again, and August 3 - left shoulder subluxation. He played five years in 388/810 games - 48%. How long before injuries and age remove speed and reduce him to a nice, but not great OF? He is valued by us and many others - if we want a starting pitcher Byron might be the best bait. But do we have another CF? Kepler probably moves there and in two years we would be surrounded by Larnach and Kiriloff and our OF defense would not be great. I cannot see this team extending Rosario and I do not see Cave as more than a place holder. Is there a CF in the system? So I see Rosario going, at least as a FA, Cave as a place holder and Buxton probably still here, but a good trade bait. I see Larnach and Kiriloff coming up, I see Rooker going somewhere else and I see Wade as never more than a fourth OF and probably playing for another team - maybe Gardy would like him in Detroit.

How nice - Pineda has risen from #5 to #1 and we need him. Now Odo and Berrios need to push him for the honor. A good win and important!

I am for a ten man pitching staff and adjusting each series. I am not convinced that starting pitchers can be put in the pen and suddenly become good RP. Three starters! Lots of flexibility.

I hope we can make a move that is better than Perez was last year. I agree this is not a rotation for a contending team.

The team mishandled Romero. Whatever the reason the adjustment became more than physical. That is a shame. Looking ahead - Stewart, Gonsalves, Smeltzer, Dobnak do not look like good answers to next years questions. Only Thorpe has the real potential. Smeltzer was a short term sensation, but does not have what is needed for a full season. We have an abundance of mediocre so the front office needs a real plan - can Graterol be reliever of starter? Will Alcala be in the pen? Do they resign Pineda, Odorizzi, or Gibson? We do still have Perez (potentially). Is this a rotation that we can look forward to in 2020? Berrios Pineda Thorpe Graterol Perez

If he can make a difference then the player we lose from the 40 is not what we should be concerned with. We already have a number of players who will be lost unless there are a lot of trades ready to be made, but a chance for the post season is not a guarantee so we have to move when the chance comes.

This week has left me speechless. Our best starters fail, we lose to the worst teams, our fielding is like a pinball machine, and Sano is a great story now with Cave coming from the scrap heap. Harper's story comes to at least a big downtrend and suddenly our advanced coaching staff has no stats to answer the big questions. So I look forward to next weeks summary when we are once again on top of the Central and all the problems have disappeared.

Rated players 5 - 23 today. It seems like we have had a lot of days like this. Jeffers and Arraez are the two who consistently have hits and Larnach has been good all season, otherwise pitchers are dominating our prospect thoughts.

I remember the great Oriole Teams and Earl Weaver stressing three things - "Pitching, defense and the three-run homer." Right now we have one of those three. We cannot go through the rest of the season relying on 3 - 4 relief pitchers per game. that would be 134 appearances late in the season with arms already stressed. I know we will have the September call ups, but actually we have been using them all season too. "Nobody likes to hear it, because it's dull, but the reason you win or lose is darn near always the same: Pitching,” Weaver told the Los Angeles Times. Asked to comment on his legacy, Weaver reflected, “On my tombstone, just write: ‘the sorest loser that ever lived.’”

Well said.

For all the times that they use the IL for starting pitchers it is bewildering to see Berrios struggle like this and them not give him some time off. I also think back to his early struggles when we were seeing a number of articles about him tipping his pitches. Is it possible that's happening again? The number of pitchers that I feel comfortable with right now is way too low for a contending team. I keep imagining how excruciating it was for the fans of the 1964 Phillies to watch their team slide out of contention slowly and painfully. I know we're still in first place and we have the bats of a first-place team. Just defense and pitching but has me on easy. I think your Berrios we're on top of this game I would be relaxed.

It demonstrates that we have no real accurate way of judging defense and there for the defense portion of war should be removed since it has no consistency or real basis in reality

The starting pitching continues to show weakness and really worries me. I think we lack a number one and a number 2 and that is going to kill our post season.

Unfortunately age catches up with everyone and the joints are first. I hope he is healthy and if he is the HR will be early September.

Buxton will be self-correcting. With each injury and with each year he will get slower and therefore less likely to injure himself my running into walls since the balls will get there first. Of course this means as value goes down but it is one problem solved. Now we just need starters who can give you that five innings without also giving you five runs you have to come back from. Fortunately is easy for us as fans to correct all of these things and you must deal with real people in real situations. Good luck.

three shutout innings of one-run ball - trying to understand but I see I am not the only one. Love the Tortuga - he just never stops. Great energy and competitiveness. I expect him in September.

Who cares? This is just foolish. A batter should go for a hit no matter the score

This is stupid. Why not have a ten run rule and stop the game if you are supposed to quit playing? Dumb as are all the unwritten rules. Sorry he did not hit a home run.

Not sure if this is a good idea. Cron gave us a lot in the first half. Injury is difficult to heal when you are pushing yourself. If he needs to heal give him an IL break otherwise give him a good stint to prove himself before the playoffs. Arraez has taken over for Schoop so Rocco has shown that he will make a change when he thinks it's logical.