mikelink45

This is an excellent choice, but Garver would have been equally good. Garver rose to the challenge of being the number one catcher despite having to split time with Bobby Wilson. He hit as we would have wished, but more important, perhaps, is the fact that his pitch framing and defense continued to improve throughout the year and we should now depend upon him to split the time with Castro and pick up more ABs at 1B and DH,

Nobody should appreciate Mauer more than the FO -his maybe retirement let the fans focus away from the overall product and the future.

I have not been a big Trevor May fan, but I think Rogers and May look like the best we have for 8/9. Reed and Hildy in 6/7 and forget the opener.

There has to be a reason to be loud and this team, this year, has not provided it.

This maybe my favorite September post. I love Berrios ending on a high note, Cave has looked great and may be a number 3 not #4 OF, Grossman has done amazing with the bat and patience - if we had a reasonable number on the bench there would be plenty of room for him. And Astudillo just astounds. If the FO does not plan to give him a chance next year they will have completely lost me.

The talk for September has been primarily Astudillo. Is the FO listening. Sometimes you have do something for the fans - Astudillo deserves a spot next year - even if he gets sent down later. He has done everything on the field that they have asked and he has carried fan interest to the end of the season too.

Nicely done. Developing pitchers has to be a priority. We have Gratol and Thorpe in the minors and we have to continue to groom them as well as figuring out what to do with what we have do to rescue our highest level prospects.

This teams FO really has to answer for the use of injured players. What is their philosophy? What is there plan? Using hurt players in games with no meaning is inexcusable.

I think Cave has made next years roster, I just hope Molitor has not given up on Buxton. Adrianza may be pushing for SS if Polanco moves to 2B. But one win out of three cannot be taken to far in our need for optimism.

I am frustrated that Vasquez did not get to pitch to a few batters and get over his jitters. Don't they want him to succeed and have some confidence? Astudillo is a wonderful energy guy and we need energy. Polanco continues to prove he should be at 2B. He is just not consistent enough in the field to be SS. Hildenberger has been among my frustrated posts for the last few weeks. He might not be intimidated in the ninth, but he also is no good in the ninth.

It is September call up season. Other teams have as many relief pitchers and pinch hitters as you could ever want, but not us. Be careful of starting the clock on the players, don't sit the old veterans. The only thing that could have made this game better was having Belisle close the game.

I guess it is interesting, but I am having a hard time reading anything in to this. I guess that the conclusion would be that Kepler is far superior to our other outfielders. Is that the intention, the interpretation? I think the data must be mixed with other metrics to give us something to judge.

What do we make of the Twins bullpen in this era where bullpens have supplanted starters? Closers, Openers, Lefty and righty specialists, relievers for innings 5,6,7,8,9. Lots of warm ups, lots of wasted time. In my world we would not have openers and we would limit the teams to 4 pitchers per nine innings which would really make the manager think about who to bring in and when - if they are on their third pitcher in the sixth inning. We might have to teach starters to learn what starters in the past learned – how to conserve themselves, who to put max effort into, and to think about quick outs instead of 6 – 9 pitch outs. But my dream does not count so what should the Twins do about their 2019 – 2020 Bullpens? We have the following players in our current Bullpen: Belisle – overused – even if it is once a week or once a month Hildenberger – overused and should not be in the ninth Reed – Can he be what he once was? May – just to make everyone angry, I will tell you I think he is overrated. Drake – Not on a good team, but are we a good team? Magill – Nice surprise can he keep it up? Busenitz – running out of chances Rogers – finishing the best of all Mejia – Not sure what to think of him in BP Goya- Our opener specialist Duffey – Hope your next team can get you effective again Curtiss – okay, but Vasquez – Nice to see the advance, but do they really expect him in MLB next year? Gimenez – I know he is a ringer Which ones do you want to keep? They are all on the 40 man roster. Who would you DFA – I would choose Gimenez, Belisle, Busenitz, Duffey as my for sure DFA group, but would not mind if we could move up from Curtiss, Magill, and Drake. Then in the minor leagues we have: A different Reed Anderson Moran Stashak Molina Harper All were included in Seth Stoths minor league reliever of the year. Only Vasquez, Moya, Curtiss, and Busenitz were called up from the entire list. Why not all of them in September? I know service time, etc. Anyone you want to predict will be on the roster in the next two seasons? Go ahead and move starters in if you want, I have not seen enough of the young pitchers to want Gonsalves, Stewart, Little, DeJong in my pen. Here is the Relief pitcher Free Agent Class for your shopping pleasure – but remember that very few relief pitchers can sustain their effectiveness and seldom to they come in and shine for their new club: Adam Ottavino (33 years old, 2.2 WAR) Jeurys Familia (29, 1.8) David Robertson (34, 1.3) Craig Kimbrel (31, 1.2) Sergio Romo (36, 1.0) Jesse Chavez (35, 1.0) Oliver Perez (37, 0.8) Jake Diekman (32, 0.7) Tony Sipp (35, 0.7) Brad Brach (33, 0.7) Zach Duke (36, 0.7) Joe Kelly (31, 0.6) Justin Wilson (31, 0.6) Mark Melancon (34, 0.5) -- Can opt out of the two years and $28 million remaining on his contract. Tyler Clippard (34, 0.4) Andrew Miller (34, 0.4) Kelvin Herrera (29,0.4) Tony Barnette (35, 0.3) Aaron Loup (31, 0.3) Bud Norris (34, 0.3) Jonny Venters (34, 0.3) Adam Warren (31, 0.3) John Axford (36, 0.2) Greg Holland (33, 0.2) Shawn Kelley (35, 0.2) Jerry Blevins (35, 0.1) Santiago Casilla (38, 0.1) Fernando Salas (34, 0.0) Ryan Madson (38, 0.0) Zach McAllister (31, 0.0) Blake Wood (33, 0.0) Daniel Hudson (32, -0.1) Zach Britton (31, -0.1) Jorge De La Rosa (38, -0.1) Jeanmar Gomez (31, -0.1) AJ Ramos (32, -0.2) Jim Johnson (36, -0.2) Matt Belisle (39, -0.2) Randall Delgado (29, -0.2) Boone Logan (34, -0.3) Brad Ziegler (39, -0.3) Cody Allen (30, -0.3) Hector Santiago (31, -0.4) Peter Moylan (40, -0.4) Junichi Tazawa (33, -0.6) Blaine Boyer (37, -0.9) Josh Tomlin (34, -1.3) David Phelps (32, N/A) -- Hasn't appeared in the Majors in 2018. Joaquin Benoit (41, N/A) -- Hasn't appeared in the Majors in 2018. https://www.mlb.com/news/2019-mlb-free-agents/c-293292274 Not easy because we are not blessed with great arms like some teams and we have not shown an ability to develop them. With the average now close to 4 pitchers per game per team and going up can we get by with 8 relief pitchers – five starters and that makes 13. Can relief pitchers come in every other game? https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-bullpens-took-over-modern-baseball/ Don Mattingly got steamed https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/mlb/miami-marlins/article218196470.html on September 15 when the two teams – Phillies and Marlins used a total of 15 relievers in one game! No pitcher recorded 6 outs in the game. So what happens next – that was a September open roster game, but will we start to see rosters with a second catcher, a utility man and the rest pitchers? Stay tuned. Give it a try – who will you depend upon?

I would like to believe Rortvdt and Jeffers would be available in 2020, but not sure. That seems ambitious and does not fit the Twins style.

I suspect the team expects Tyler Austin to be at 1B and Sano at 3B next year. I have my doubts and the number of Ks will drive me crazy. If we go back to Buxton,Rosario,Kepler in the OF does that make Cave the DH when he is not in the field? I am not seeing that as a contending lineup. But right now 2B and SS are the real questions - have they had enough of Forsythe for them to believe in him for next year? And if they do can Polanco improve his fielding to go with his bat? Is there a good SS out there or are we waiting for Lewis and Rooker and Kiriloff to answer all these needs? Yes sign Berrios, use caution with Gibson, at his age he can go down as quick as he came up. Do not trust Pineda to make it through the season, put Romero in the rotation no matter what else happens. I would also question an extension for Odorizzi, but he would be part of this five man rotation. The BP is number one in terms of needs. We are in the BP era of baseball, it has become the most important part of most rosters now and we do not have the shutdown guys that teams crave. That needs to be addressed.

Wow is this optimism over the top. Pineda, who the hell knows what he will bring. This is not a former Cy Young pitcher. He has been injured then injured again. Do you think that the Yankees wanted to keep him? Odorizzi has really risen to the top versus the Tigers and Royals! Sorry the old SSS comes in to play when we look at his top efforts. I want him to succeed, but lets see. I take Berrios and Romero and then I have my fingers crossed. Stewart had a great game against the Tigers. Gonsalves had a great game against - you guessed it the Tigers. Lets see this against the Yankees, Red Sox, Astros, Indians. Am I bitter, damn right, this team has under performed by every measure and what we see in September does not mean a damn thing. Will I get censored for Damn? The lineup has a lot of guys who would be great in the 7/8/9 slots but guess what there are six more to fill. Put in Polanco and Rosario and Cave and then what? This is not refreshing. We are ninth in the AL and the teams below us have chosen to Tank. Tell me Kiriloff and Lewis are ready, that Gratol is going to make the jump. Then I get excited. Otherwise we are fooling ourselves and the Twins love it.

I cannot equate hitters and pitchers, but it really does not matter to me. This is not about securing second place in the central division, it is about putting young players in the lineup and seeing them play, even if they fall flat. I would go a lot further than these two if I had the chance. I am tired of the keeping control argument. If someone comes up and is good they will get a contract and an extension.

Do wins matter at this time of year? I am more interested in the young arms and wishing we had some young players at bat and in the field. What am I missing. Does it matter how far we are from 500 or that we can beat Detroit and the White Sox? The only reason I do not care about the opener now is that at least we see another pitcher, but why not some other guys. I really do not want the opener to care over to next year, but I am okay with it now. As the season winds down I am even more mystified with the lack of call ups - Reed and Anderson in the pen, Wade and Gordon in the field. I do not care about the minor league stats, they need to be seen and given some exposure to the Twins.

Bullpen. This league has changed the pitching equation. KC started it, Tampa Bay put a new twist on it and now we have openers and closers, we want our primary pitcher to go 4 good innings, we need to have relief pitchers cover innings 1,6,7,8,9. That means 5 relief pitchers a game unless things go bad. Since relief pitchers also need relief we need to let them have off a game or two. So what we need is a 25 man roster of relief pitchers who can also play other positions like Gimenez! Or Ohtani. When I look at the game stats for a 10 day period the relief pitchers are not shut down pitchers day after day. Hildenberg is stretched for outings and certainly as a closer.

We know Gonsalves and Stewart could handle AAA batters, the Tigers being, maybe AAAA are a step up and a good proving grounds, but there is a long way to go for too much optimism. Hate to be a downer, but the Twins do not deserve a lot of leeway at this point. Just keep putting the young guys out there.

Hildenberger is not a closer. Last three games against the high level competition of KC and Detroit and he gave up 8 hits and 7 runs in 2.1 innings. For the season 71 innings, 69 hits, 39 runs. Give someone else the end of the game. He will be in the pen next year, but he is a 6 -7th inning reliever. Not sure losing weight over the off season will correct what Sano is suffering. Does he need glasses? I really want to see him turn it around, but since coming up he has been on a path of regression instead of improvement. With the 20 year old outfielders for the Braves and Nats, are the Twins brave enough to give Kiriloff a chance next year?

Not old school - just an accurate and sad statement. Soon we will have the Sano line and that is just not acceptable. Look at the Astros - they love home runs, but they also get on base, same with the Indians. BA still is important.

Jeffers is the missing man for me. I like the top two a lot, but as a person who dislikes strikeouts Rooker disappointed me. I know he is still up in the top list, but there are others I like more. LaMonte Wade was a disappointment this year for me just like rdehring stated.

The problem is whether Castro and Garver can come back. Joe Mauer stands out as an example of what can go wrong. With everyone back I agree we are in good shape for the short run and hopefully Rortvedt can be ready when either of the top two starts to fail.

A lot of us were shocked by the Buxton treatment this year, from playing him with an injury to denying him his September call up. We were almost equally shocked to see Sano sent to A ball and when he returned people talked about him looking a little thinner, but then the season played on and before ending with another injury he resorted to the same 200 hitting occasional Home Run hitter. September call ups included Matt Belisle and a trade for Gimenez, more time for Johnny Field and not much excitement outside the young pitchers and that wonderful Opener experiment. Gonsalves, our top pitching prospect has stunk, Littell who has been called up a couple of times continues to stink (I know that they want to make that trade look good for the FO). Stewart has improved as we continue to pitch him against the mighty Tigers and Busenitz has demonstrated that AAAA is his best hope (when will they open that league?). Of course there is one rookie who looked really good early in the Season, but he could not even be called up to toss a couple BP sessions - Romero. Among hitters only Astudillo has appeared and that is because we have our original starter out for the season, our next starter out with a concussion, our first reserve traded for last years reserve and only Astudillo available for actually crouching behind the plate. No look at Rooker or Gordon or any other potential hitters. So how good is our player development? I just read the Athletics Matthew Kory in the season ending power ranking and his comments really jumped out at me. "One of the things that good teams do is draft talented players, develop them in the minors, and turn them into stars when they get to the big leagues. The Red Sox have done that with Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts. The Indians have done that with José Ramírez and Francisco Lindor. The Astros have done that with Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman (and George Springer) (and José Altuve). The Twins should have done that with Miguel Sanó and Byron Buxton… but they haven’t. Despite loads of talent, Sanó is barely playable and Buxton supposedly isn’t even ready for a September call-up. If you’re looking for the difference between Minnesota and every playoff team in baseball, that’s it in a nutshell."