mikelink45

There is no real middle of the order for this team. Sano batting 214 as clean up hitter?

Look at who we have played the most, we should be scoring and middle of the pack is not that great for this young dynamic team with all its players (except Buxton) in place. Look at last night at Oakland - one run and all we can do is talk about Mauers counting stat. Baseball has changed in so many ways and one is the tanking teams syndrome. We have half the teams playing terrible baseball and half the teams playing great. To be in the middle is not a good place to be - https://youtu.be/eFOY6KJlFEg And I'm just a little bit caught in the middle I try to keep going but it's not that simple I think I'm a little bit caught in the middle Gotta keep going or they'll call me a quitter Yeah, I'm caught in the middle No, I don't need no help I can sabotage me by myself

Rod Carew 3,053 hits. The only reason he went elsewhere was Calvin Griffith's racism. Joe has a long ways to go to beat Carew. Odorizzi did what a starting pitcher is supposed to do - see my most recent rant/blog http://twinsdaily.com/blog/1028/entry-11202-i-need-relief-real-relief-from-the-relievers/ Good job! What is wrong with Addison Reed, Oliver has a history of not continuing his production, but we have Reed next year - how does he get fixed? I would say more, but what is there to say except bring up the young guys and test the waters, what we have is not working.

We scored and we do not do that often. I am happy with it.

I know that RP refers to relief pitching – for me it amounts to Really Poor baseball. KC won a series and did damage to the rest of baseball just like the jerk with the bomb that makes me take off my shoes at the airport. We have always had some relief pitchers, but now we have a stat head jamboree of pitchers. No longer is half the team pitchers and half batters, now we have 2 -3 on the bench and a bullpen that has to add folding chairs. Does this help the game? No. Do any of you enjoy the visits to the mound, the time it takes to run in, the 8 pitches from an already warmed up pitcher who might throw one pitch to one batter and then we repeat this exciting or should I say dramatic spectacle again. We are now in an era when wins do not count any more, starting pitchers are actually one inning relievers – how exciting is that. The starting pitcher is saved from facing the strongest part of the lineup! Why is he starting? Openers are used for beer and other necessary boredom relieving beverages. Pitchers per game is now 4.24 per team, in our World Series Years of 1991 (3.13), 1987 (2.89) and 1965 (2.69). Wins counted then because pitchers were in the game long enough to actually dominate the game – I love the Marichal and Spahn complete game 16 inning affair won by the giants (even though Spahn was my pitching hero and the Braves (Milwaukee – not Atlanta) were my favorite team). By the way Spahn started 665 games and completed 382. How about Robin Roberts throwing 28 straight complete games for the Phillies? Or Nolan Ryan throws 235 pitches, strikes out 19, during an 13 inning effort. Right now Berrios is tied for the lead in complete games with 2. Going back to our Series years – McDowell (WS) – 15 in 1991, Roger Clemens (Bos) 18 in 1987, and Sandy Koufax (Dodgers) 27 in 1965. It should be noted that neither Spahn nor Ryan had their arms fall off after those feats. A Koufax/Marichal game was must see. Great pitchers were the draw. Who goes to the park to watch the pitching match up now? Oh boy I wonder who the Opener is today? Yuck, I had to pause to let my stomach settle and to take another shot of whiskey. Oh wait I might miss Astudillo throwing melons to the plate. I do not even know these players – Boxberger from AZ is in 85% of fantasy leagues – who is he? Who is Matthew Strahm? Do I care? Fantasy Pros lists 301 relief pitchers. Who will pay to see them pitch? Yawn. I leave after 7 – I don’t care anymore – Jim Kaat was right, but the thing is I am moving that to 6 innings and if there is an Opener I come in the second inning. Give me back baseball. In fact give me starters who throw complete games, batters that bunt when the shift is on, players who steal bases and do hit and run. Limit the team to three pitchers per game. And please some team challenge this nonsense and open up the game with action, not just strikeouts and home runs.

I do not argue with the details in your posting - just the position that it is all Molitors fault. I must repeat that this FO set him up with a multitude of check valves. Hey Derek Shelton, what do you do besides weigh down the bench? What questions do you ask, what advise do you give? Hey Galvin Alston - the pitchers are your responsibility. Do you say - Paul do not use? Does Paul ignore your sage advice? Eddie Guardado you were a relief pitcher (I know Every Day Eddie) but do you provide the manager with advice on who and when to use pitchers? Nate Damman (I did not even know we had him) you are the bullpen catcher. Do you ever say - he does not have it? Jeff Pickler, you deserve my greatest ire - you are the analytics guy. You bring new ideas. What are those ideas? What are your stats? Do you stop bad tendencies? Molitor might be horrible, but if he is, then what do these characters contribute and of course who hired them - the Front Office. I will not pursue Rowson, Glynn, Smith, and Hernandez on who starts and who doesn't. The fact is blaming the manager is no longer acceptable as our frustration grows - it should be placed on the staff and the Front Office.

I am indifferent to whether he comes back or not. The counting numbers will grow because in is number 8 in games played for the team or number 3 if the Senators are removed. That said, comparing him with Rod Carew's stats mean nothing since Rod posted almost 1000 more hits after leaving. Comparing him to Puckett leaves out the dimensions that mean the most - leading the team to the promised land. Comparing him with Killebrew only counts if you use RBI and HR stats since that is what defined Harmon. As a catcher he was absolutely HOF, but because of injury he became an OK player, not a great player. JAWS has him below HOF although had he remained at catcher of few more years he would be in - https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mauerjo01.shtml. Currently Joe ranks 16 out of 25 1B in WAR, that is not enough to say that he holds great value to the team for the future. Whether he stays or goes does not matter to me unless he holds up the promotion of someone who could do better. In the AL the Twins rank 10th in first base rankings according to Baseball Reference - https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/team_compare.cgi?request=1&year=2018&lg=AL

I believe the issue is that we do not have relief pitchers that can be counted on. Belisle? We acquired Reed to steady the pen and he has failed. I suspect there were days that Molitor (or his bench coach or his analytic coach or his bullpen coach or his pitching coach or his assistant pitching coach) might have thought - what the hell we have used him a lot, but who else should we call on? This is the issue with the new baseball with starting pitchers going five instead of 7 - 9. We have 162 games a year where we are going to use 3 -4 relief pitchers a game. And year to year the relief pitcher is the most unstable, that's why trades don't often work - relief pitchers burn out every year.

I believe the rumor that Falvey would have fired Molitor is one of those urban legends that never go away. If he is truly running the team he could have made it happen. But we have no sign that there is any issue between FO and Manager.

One more thing in his favor - Gordon has not impressed in AAA and seems to have that same half season record that Dozier did. Lewis probably still needs to work up the minor league ladder and no one else is ready to grab 2B or force Polanco to move over. So who plays second in 2019?

One question that arises in my mind over the Garver play and I cannot answer it. Did Garver perceive that if he threw to second the runner from third would score. I do not have a mental image of where the other players were - who would cover second and who would cover home?

Who hires the coaches? We just are not sharp as an organization, despite our talent, the way we were when Kelly and then the first years of Gardy made the Twins Way a mark of excellence. Even without talent to be a superstar, there should be an automatic - not mental - response to situations.

Neither would make my ultimate roster, but then baseball is not what I thought it was.

Molitor C - Front off F. Who creates the roster? Who sets teh 25 and 40 man lists? Who signs Belisle, Motter, Lamatte, Grossman, Lynn, Reed, Rodney, Duke, Odorizzi, Morrison? I think Managers are only there to post a lineup and keep everyone on an even keel. There is only so much to be done. How many coaches are there and what do they do? On another entry I posted - I think our problem is that we are homers - we think our team is better than it really is.We are five games below 500 but we have played the Orioles and are 6 - 1, the Tigers where we are 7-6, the White Sox 9 - 6, and KC 6 - 6. We are 28 - 19 against these terrible teams.I will let you do the math with the rest. team has one player challenging 300. I know we like our team, but we stink.Today we messed up in the field, on the mound and at bat.It is who we are.We rank 10th in pitching in the AL, 8th in hitting, and 8th in fielding.We are 12 in homeruns, 11 in slugging.How do we expect anything more than where we are? we can pretend that we have some real talent, but nothing really stands out.Blame Molitor if you want, but that is not going to make a difference.Blame the FO - they give us the roster. I think this is significant to the discussion. What did the FO give Aaron Boone? Is he a better manager? How managers have been hired and fired in the history of MLB and how many of them have been hired and hired and hired? Billy Martin was hired five times by the Yankees alone. What does that mean? https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/when-it-comes-to-firing-mlb-managers-nobody-really-knows-what-they-are-doing/ It is the most difficult job to judge and no one judges it well. Was Casey Stengal the Mets losing manager or the Yankees championship manager? I would want to work in the front office, no one holds them accountable, rather than in the dugout. Is Molitor a good or bad manager? Noone knows although everyone thinks they do? Would you want Sam Mele? Was Gardenhire as good as his good teams or as bad as his bad teams? The same with Tom Kelly. So step up Falvey and Levine. Give Molitor truly good players and then we can judge, otherwise, my thought is that you two are the ones who have screwed up.

I think our problem is that we are homers - we think our team is better than it really is. We are five games below 500 but we have played the Orioles and are 6 - 1, the Tigers where we are 7-6, the White Sox 9 - 6, and KC 6 - 6. We are 28 - 19 against these terrible teams. I will let you do the math with the rest. http://www.espn.com/mlb/standings/grid Our team has one player challenging 300. I know we like our team, but we stink. Today we messed up in the field, on the mound and at bat. It is who we are. We rank 10th in pitching in the AL, 8th in hitting, and 8th in fielding. We are 12 in homeruns, 11 in slugging. How do we expect anything more than where we are? we can pretend that we have some real talent, but nothing really stands out. Blame Molitor if you want, but that is not going to make a difference. Blame the FO - they give us the roster.

Instead of the opener - an idea I really dislike - maybe pairing starters for four innings each such be the strategy of the future since arms now fall off after 100 or less pitches.

A perfect game for two teams going no where. Does anyone use the Keystone Cops analogy any more, because it fits this finish.

Yes. Good plan, lets get those young arms into the rotation up here. I am sorry that they did not move Odorizzi, but I see him as a good multi-inning reliever in the future.

Kennys could have at least matched Morrison's output. But Rooker is the one who looks like he is an MLB bat.

I do not disagree with any of your logic, but that does not mean that I would not bring them up early, develop them in MLB and offer an extension early. I love the enthusiasm and energy of the young players. Bringing up 19 - 20 year olds is not new - https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/Youngest_leagues.shtml How the FO manages their years once they are up is not my issue, getting good players in place is what I want. Field, Motter, etc does nothing for me, but often those old vets get plugged in and the team gets comfortable with them and does not want to move them out - Belisle and Grossman.

I have already posted here, but ESPN has announced that the Braves are bringing in another 20 year old to start pitching for them. The move to young players getting a chance early is exciting, and maybe it can get rid of the debacle that analytics has caused. In case you wonder what Analytics have done that I do not like - this essay from Bleacher Reports - https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Farticles%2F2791455-i-find-it-very-difficult-to-watch-why-mlb-greats-think-baseballs-in-trouble%3Futm_source%3Dnewsletter%26utm_medium%3Dnewsletter%26utm_campaign%3Dmlb&data=02%7C01%7C%7C26a7aaa421e1431f9d0c08d607721406%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636704583868910839&sdata=CipaREO8lPDAzZutfj9tNwP0%2Bqln4879Y%2BBX0TGzRdE%3D&reserved=0 says it well.

After two more starts we will have a good idea what kind of pitcher Gonsalves is. Of course I was hoping for more after shouting for him for two months. And I still have expectations of much more from him and want more young players called up.

Glad they are filling holes, but I do not go very far in praising this FO. Drake is like a 100 journeymen relief pitchers. Good streaks and then failure. Develop our own. I am against high K guys so Austin will never be among my favorites. Cave is definitely the best of the lot and if he moved Grossman on I will be pleased. Now lets see some more young players.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24429600/atlanta-braves-prospect-bryse-wilson-20-promoted-minors-debut-vs-pittsburgh-pirates A good player is a good player no matter where you are in the standings. I thought we were in a new age, but we still hold back the players for contract, super two, place in standings. I do not support that. We worry about all these years of service and other nonsense - Bob Feller was 17 - https://baseballhall.org/discover/inside-pitch/bob-fellers-starting-debut Griffey was 19. Were the Seattle Mariners going for a title? No. Maybe the Nationals should have waited until they were contending to bring up teenager Bryce Harper. Did Ty Cobb get his career shortened because he came up at 19? Manny Machado came up at 19, is he suffering because of that? And of course Mickey Mantle was a terrible teen call up as was that teen sensation Walter Johnson. Sorry, waiting it a wonderful concept and not a really good idea.

I am always the promoter of youth and I am probably too much of an optimist, but at my age I cannot stop! I still remember when Griffey came up.