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mikelink45

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Everything posted by mikelink45

  1. mikelink45
    Back in our division where we can feel secure. I am glad to see some hits and runs, I am glad Lynn could get his win even though it did not feel like he was a particularly good pitcher last night. Sano's HR was important for the season, but Buxton striking out again is not - no matter how many pitches he sees. I think we need to continue to celebrate Rosario and Kepler, those two have been having a really good season and its nice to see them progress.
  2. mikelink45
    Listening to Seattle series there was Chris Hermann catcher for seattle. His only game, 1 - 4. So then I got wondering about other Twins catchers or prospects since we are worried about our catching futures. Now I might have missed some, but his is what I found and if you look at the overall quality there is only one true star catcher on the list. Wilson Ramos – hitting 310 with 6HR for Tampa Bay Kurt Suzuki – 264 – 6HR - Atlanta Mitch Garver – 220 2HR – Twins Drew Butera – 181 – 1 HR – KC John Ryan Murphy – 246 – 5 HR – AZ Jason Castro – 143 – 1 HR – MN Bobby Wilson – 143 – 1 HR – MN Chris Herman – Seattle – 1 game. I am still trying to figure out why everyone was so glad to get rid of Suzuki. Oh yeah - framing. Well, however you measure things we have a pretty low success rate in catching.
  3. mikelink45
    The assessment of Twins by Twins fans tends to seek the positive. I read about the good pitching staff and other data that is meant to give hope. I decided to look at stats without trying to promote or complain about the team. It is now after the Memorial day holiday where assessments start to get past the SSS notations. So where are we? The overall position of the Twins in the American League - no divisions standings - has us in 11th place - 5 teams behind us. We are 23rd if we combine all teams. That is not good. In pitching which is our strength this year we are number 8 in the 15 team American League - I think we can safely say that is average - not great, not what we have seen the last few years, but average in ERA and batting average against and strike outs. WE ARE AVERAGE. In batting we are last in runs. 13 of 15 in HR. Number 13 in OBP, Number 14 in slugging. Remember this is out of 15 teams. In fielding we are number 7 in errors and number 6 in fielding pct - if you still follow this stat. So lets think about what these all add up to. A team that is lucky it is in the central division. A team that is better in pitching, worse in fielding and much worse in batting. If we dream of a wild card something has to change.
  4. mikelink45
    If I am reading this right. We are average in pitching marks compared to the league - sounds right for 500. I love Berrios and Fernando, but I am not ready to rate this rotation and pen as more than league average with two top end starters to give us a boost. It is June and yes, the batters have really let us down. Last year the story was the opposite. But more than anything I read your assessment and say a 500 team and maybe that is okay in our division, but put us in the East or West and the perspective is changed drastically.
  5. mikelink45
    If Fernando Romero was the inspiration for the pitching staff to turn things around, why haven't we tried one of our really good minor league batters. I have yelled for Gordon all spring, of course there is no one to hear my yelling, but never the less he should have been here. If Rooker is hot bring him up. Forget the free agent and arbitration rules - baseball is a year by year sport. Do what you can immediately and things will sort out. But do something. And, sorry Byron, you are now a late innings defensive specialist. Get a center fielder who can at least make the opposition pitcher think.
  6. mikelink45
    Minor point I suspect, but with Pressly pitching the way he has - why would you warm him up and then let him pitch to just one batter?
  7. mikelink45
    Good luck Phil - I hope you do well, but not so well that we have to second guess our coaching staff again.
  8. mikelink45
    Buxton's wall crashing might be exciting, but it is also a threat to keeping his bat (what bat - 162) in the lineup. Sano had 2 BB - that was something - no Ks. Batting 198, but still he got on base. That's the summary for the big two. I think we have a problem if those are the highlights. Here are the batting averages for the starting lineup last night - no names, just averages. Look at the numbers and we are lucky to be in the Central. 238, 262, 198, 292, 269, 220, 204, 330 - I have to put a name to this outlier - Petit - want to say SSS?, 162, and two subs - 221, and 217!
  9. mikelink45
    Seth you know our players best - and you know the Twins are in desperate need of runs. If you could shuffle everyone from all the teams, not hampered by the roster rules - what nine would you put in the lineup for the TWINS right now. Don't think of contracts and formalities. I just want to envision the best we could have because I think some are in the minors.
  10. mikelink45
    It seems like a continual puzzle - Buxton and Sano - the first dialogue is when will they come up? Why aren't the here. Second dialogue - can you believe Sano's power. Yes he is big, but he makes our lineup so much better. Third dialogue - Buxton has discovered his stroke. He is on the way. Fourth dialogue - Can we afford a HR or nothing at bat. How many rallies are killed by the big K? And can Sano stay healthy? Is it his weight, is he injury prone, is the air pressure from his big empty swing impacting his body? Fifth dialogue - can we have a designated fielder? Forget Buxton's bat (what bat) - I think we are seeing an excellent defensive replacement. Sixth dialogue. OK - Sano is back and its too bad it was not in MN, because the air movement from his three Ks could have worked as a fan to cool the MN fans on a hot day. And Buxton just flounders with hope that the pitcher can find his bat and hit it, otherwise he joins the big K. Last dialogue. These two were our hope. We never planned on Escobar, Rosario, Kepler being the top of the list. These are our guys. Hanley Ramirez just got dumped for his pathetic month. We are waiting and hoping. We hope so much that we still think of Sano in is rookie year, and Buxton in is one good 1/2 year (similar I might say to the way to treat Polanco's 1/2 year). But where do we look to unlock the potential? There are too few bats in the lineup to allow us to fail at two positions. I would love it if the coaches could be really honest with us. Whatever they have tried is not working. But at least we have Romero and Berrios in the rotation that no longer looks like the bottom of the barrel and it is improvement from within, not the FA signings that have done it. I want to see Gonsalves now!
  11. mikelink45
    Don't worry about the Dominican record, I believe Cy Young is worried and may have to be resurrected to protect his 511!
  12. mikelink45
    It is the old wily vet syndrome. Molitor might like to swap stories with him. A backup is a fill in, not a platoon. Molitor is either making bad decisions or taking directions behind the scenes that make no sense. Falvey does like his acquisitions to get more attention than I think they deserve.
  13. mikelink45
    I like this report. Slegers is interesting because his trial in MLB did not go well and I suspect a lot of people see him as AAAA. I wonder how he will get a chance. A trade? I would like to add Gordon to MLB, but I am not understanding the FO approach. Same with Gonsalves. During ST I was hoping Wade would be the number four OF, but I imagine his injury has set him back. I would like to see him before LaMarre and Cave return. Kiriloff is the most exciting because I questioned his prospect rating stating that he had to prove that he had recovered and not lost anything. I now have to say - he has done the proving. I am curious about Lewis' promotion schedule and disappointed in Rooker's slow start because I really wanted him to be on the quick track.
  14. mikelink45
    Bartolo Colon is 242 - 178 with a 4.04 ERA and 47.2 WAR - all he has to do is pitch until he is 50 to have a chance at 300 wins. I will not bet against him. Phil Hughes is 88 - 79 with 4.49 ERA and WAR of 10.9. Like a lot of pitchers he has lost his potential to injuries.
  15. mikelink45
    As a voice for early promotions I am frustrated with the FO. The question is not when players are ready, but when the FO is ready. Lynn finally had a good game, but we could have used Gonsalves and let him develop. Adrianza has proven he is a bench player and we could have used Gordon. If we are going to lose players I like getting their replacements in order. I love the Nationals and Braves having the courage to play 19 year olds. I wish I could be as savvy as the TD leaders, but I still have not figured out how to judge a FO that would play LaMarre and Cave ahead of our home grown talents. Or even Grossman.
  16. mikelink45
    Yes I do object. It might not be popular but I consider that there are good starts, bad starts and starts that are just mediocre. If a pitcher gives up a run every other inning I do not think of it as quality, but three runs in six innings is just that. So not a terrible start, but not quality either, just a start, just a filler.
  17. mikelink45
    My statement is not about Gibson, it is about the idea of a quality start. And I am still not happy with calling a start where a run for every two innings pitched is called quality. OK works, not terrible works, but quality - no way.
  18. mikelink45
    We are in catcher panic. Castro will be back. Take a catcher if that is the best player available. The Middle infielders look less imposing than I expected. When Javier comes back I see three real potential players - that is not much. Gordon should be up now. Lewis the end of next year. Dozier gone, Polanco a question mark - I do not always expect players to come back and be what they were - especially when Polanco had only a good half year. I would take some more infielders and actually lean towards 3B.
  19. mikelink45
    I would take Goodrum, because I like promoting from within. Otherwise - it really does not matter.
  20. mikelink45
    Six innings - three runs - a quality start? If I never hear or read that phrase again I will be extremely happy. That means a 4.50 ERA is a quality ERA! Stop it. Gibson was not sharp and when Niko Goodrum beats you there is no great satisfaction to be gained.
  21. mikelink45
    Nice to see - but one game - if it has been too short of a sample to condemn him, it is certainly too short to get excited about him
  22. mikelink45
    It's nice to see him have a good month, but if we are to judge him by one bad month it's probably too early to judge oh for one good month.
  23. mikelink45
    I'm happy to see Hughes gone. Decisions like this are not personal and we shouldn't treat it like they are. Baseball teams need to put their best 25 players on the active roster and play to win. I don't care about option clocks and all the other nonsense that prohibits us from calling up a prospect I was ready to pitch and better than what we have. Lynn is a failed experiment so far. Hopefully he'll get better but even if he does will have lost two months of potentially good pitching. We have a slot in the bullpen know that he was is gone so put Lynn in there until he gets himself straightened out. But for the last month-and-a-half we could have used Gonsalves and Gordon and maybe we would have won a few more games have been up to 500 or over.
  24. mikelink45
    I appreciate your optimism. I just do not have that same sense. Your list of expectations is quite long. One or two I see. We are in the hunt because we are in a lousy division, but while I will continue to follow the Twins with hope, too, I am not there right now. Logan Morrison has averaged less that 0.5 WAR per year, he is not a great hitter and I am not enthusiastic about him. I do prefer him to Grossman. My hope comes with everyone we promote from the minors, but in the mean time, I want your enthusiasm to be the storyline for the rest of the year.
  25. mikelink45
    Despite all the good points in this reflection, I am really most happy to have the LaMarre question. He hit here, he is hitting in the minors. He has been better than Grossman. We sent him down and he continues to be hot so then we call up Cave. Now Cave might be good, but what more does LaMarre need to do and why aren't we riding the hot bat?
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