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mikelink45

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Everything posted by mikelink45

  1. mikelink45
    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.
  2. mikelink45
    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
  3. mikelink45
    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.
  4. mikelink45
    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.
  5. mikelink45
    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.
  6. mikelink45
    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.’”
  7. mikelink45
    Well said.
  8. mikelink45
    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.
  9. mikelink45
    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
  10. mikelink45
    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.
  11. mikelink45
    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.
  12. mikelink45
    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.
  13. mikelink45
    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.
  14. mikelink45
    Who cares? This is just foolish. A batter should go for a hit no matter the score
  15. mikelink45
    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.
  16. mikelink45
    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.
  17. mikelink45
    I have been really concerned with the defense. The problem with communicating this in the second half is that it takes time for the stats to drop - a good first half can mask a bad second half for a significant period of time.
  18. mikelink45
    In previewing this series we need to look at some starling Twins stats too. only Baltimore has allowed more home runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings than the Twins’ 55. We now have 85 errors and have allowed 58 unearned runs. We have five blown saves in August.
  19. mikelink45
    Nice exercise - It challenged me to think about the lineup in different ways. I like yours but what if we just did it by OBP? Here is how it would look (I am too lazy to go lefty/righty for this exercise). Plus I am looking at the time when Buxton and Cruz are back in the lineup. I actually like the way this looks. Castro has a 330 and should be in there but with Cruz back there is no place for him to play Arraez 420Cruz 384Adrianza 380Polanco 357Garver 346Kepler 339Sano 336Castro 330 (Cron Loses out at 321 because Castro would catch Garver at 1BGonzales 316 (sub Buxton 314) Or if we went with OPS Cruz 1.035Garver 960Sano 885Kepler 874Arraez 862Polanco 344Rosario 836Buxton 827Castro 824 Just putting them in by either of these statistical measurements and not moving them for any other reason they are two good lineups By HR it is a little different Cruz 32Kepler 32Rosario 26Garver 23Sano 21Cron 19Polanco 17Schoop 16Gonzalez 14 Different look, but the fact is our batters have a lot of talent and you can pick a lineup out of a bag. It comes down to pitching and defense!
  20. mikelink45
    So nice to see so many prospects having a good day on the same day! We need that to offset the worry that is inherent in being a Twins fan.
  21. mikelink45
    No need - they just need his heater!
  22. mikelink45
    Do not let the average innings per start deceive us. Yes we push the starters to make QS. But in doing so we have also been letting them get us behind by allowing 4 - 6 runs in order to get those innings these do not qualify as 6 inning, 3 runs quality starts, but reflect on average innings per start. There are so many stats and I get weary digging through the limited ones I understand, but I do know that the eye test is still valid and I have seen to many shaky starts by Perez, slightly less bad starts by Gibson, but I would not trust him in a big game, and Odorizzi has been hot and cold. In the end it is Pineda and Berrios. Berrios should be extended, Pineda - two years maximum. And why is Perez the starter who still has another year on his contract?
  23. mikelink45
    We need him badly. https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11608-playoff-pitchers-where-do-twins-rank/ The pitching staff is almost a daily litany of frustration and we still have a lot of games left before the playoffs The problem with Pineda is health, just like Buxton. Can he hold up the rest of the season and if we extend him, can he hold up beyond this season. Quality starts is not a high enough standard, but it is a start - Twins starts and Quality starts Berrios 24 - 17 Pineda 21 - 11 Gibson 25 - 9 Perez 24 - 9 Odorizzi 23 - 7 Smeltzer 4 - 2 Stewart 2 - 1 That is a total of only 56 QS in 120 games! That does say something!
  24. mikelink45
    Is there a lesson we are overlooking - it might not be just Rogers who cannot pitch well on consecutive days. It has been a long time since the Polanco fielding conversations, but it might be hard to ignore when games like this happen. We continue to be a 500 team - please bring on the also rans.
  25. mikelink45
    I could not resist putting up this Home Run Derby between Harmon Killebrew and Rocky Colavito. In this contest the two who had tied for the HR championship of the AL faced off. It is preceded by Harmon taking the crown from Mickey Mantle - And followed by a contest Harmon lost to Ken Boyer - a third baseman who belongs in the Ken did not last long - his next challenge was Hank Aaron who took over the program. It is so amazing to see these greats playing for $2000 - chump change today. It is also fun to see Harmon, pre-Twins days in his Senator's uniform. These are great players without the science of today. I love watching them. Nostalgia - enjoy.
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