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mikelink45

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Everything posted by mikelink45

  1. mikelink45
    Nice review - I am still not sold on the "pitch framer" - the role of a catcher I am interested in is how they call the game to use the pitchers real assets - his mix of pitching. And I have no way to judge that. I hope Mejia can prove his one game start was a fluke, but Big Sexy does not have my faith. I still wish we could have slotted Gonsalves into the rotation a month or more ago. I think that Ecobar has been the real hero - filling in for Sano at both the bag and the bat - he has more than held his own. I feel like his WAR is too low, but it does not matter because he has give us so much. Berrios has pitched in some bad luck recently and really gave us a chance to win his last few starts. We need him if we have any chance to keep the season going. Kepler has disappointed. His year is okay - but I think he is still going to have the breakout that Polanco and Buxton and Rosario have had. That will really be fun. Duffey's second half also rates as a big disappointment. I expected more and hoped he would come back from his slump like Rogers did. There are a lot of questions for next year and I imagine the FO has to be thinking about them now even as we go to the playoffs - at this point they have nothing more to contribute to the team on the field for the end of the year, but next year? I would not keep Belisle or Colon or Boshers, but otherwise this team looks solid and that is just enough room to do a little roster maneuvering.
  2. mikelink45
    It is very hard for a Twins fan to not start feeling nervous after these two games. I am wondering why we have not had Gonsalves pitch a game. I know we did not call him up and that makes me even more confused. Is there any sign of Sano returning?
  3. mikelink45
    I do not care who we play - the question is - can we rise to the occasion? Do we have pitchers who can step up? Is Colon just an asterisk in Twins History or can he find a way to do more than a miserable quality start? Will Sano ever come back? Can we just step forward with a win streak and look like a championship team?
  4. mikelink45
    I am not a Colon fan. It might be good promotions and he might be a great guy, but his stuff is mediocre and we are justifying poor performances because he is likable.give me a snarly jerk who can pitch 7 really quality innings. Pressley is a tease - great stuff, poor results. A few innings of good stuff, but don't let him come in with a runner on base.
  5. mikelink45
    Yes I can. When someone is doing well there is no reason for pulling the rug out.
  6. mikelink45
    Hildenberger has been great, but when I look at the usage I am concerned. Don't burn him out. Curtiss, Turley, Gee, Busenitz, and Tonkin have to be considered for use soon, what is the use of such a big bullpen otherwise. Duffey has now given up runs in five straight relief appearances. http://www.espn.com/mlb/player/gamelog/_/id/33668/tyler-duffey
  7. mikelink45
    No one is ready to push Excobar off the team, no one else has his combination of skills and he has been terrific regardless of how we choose to use him. I know he is not a starter long term, but what would we have done without him stepping in at 3B this year and even hitting in key 3/4 positions in the lineup. Being steady, reliable and a veteran presence is worth a lot.
  8. mikelink45
    I wondered if there was a trend in official scoring that might have been observed in recent years. The only thing I could find was in 2009 "On May 8, Howie Kendrick hit a home run off Gil Meche in a 4-1 Angels victory over the Royals — only, he really didn’t hit a homer. Rather, he circled the bases on a poor fielding play by Kansas City right fielder Jose Guillen, a play that should have been ruled a four-base error. You can see the play here. (The Royals have appealed the ruling.) This is just another example of the long trend in official scoring (at seemingly all levels) to avoid giving errors whenever possible. It’s most noticeable at the major league level, but you see it in the minors and in college games as well. https://thesportsarsenal.com/2009/05/13/error-on-the-official-scorer/ I wonder if that was just the beginning of the trend. I know that stats people now say that errors do not mean much and range and numbers of plays made count for more and, of course, this means that the official scorer is not as important as in the past, except where we look at ERA. However, in looking at league ERA's https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/pitch.shtml there does not seem to be much of a shift in the last 15 years. However, in the league fielding statistics there is a very definite trend downward in errors per game and I do not think it is just better fielders, better gloves, and better positioning. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/field.shtml There are a few outlier years, but look at this from 1871 to today. Some is glove, field conditions, etc, but this is really a ridiculous set of numbers and constitutes a definite trend.
  9. mikelink45
    I feel like the scorers really do not give out the errors they should. I do not know if it is pressure from players or managers that want to keep errors to the minimum, but dropping a ball is an error.
  10. mikelink45
    Nice response. I am still not a Bosher backer, but I appreciate having data to look at.
  11. mikelink45
    Nice response. I am still not a Bosher backer, but I appreciate having data to look at.
  12. mikelink45
    Here is is game log - http://www.espn.com/mlb/player/gamelog/_/id/33072/ryan-pressly he has been very good for August and September. The problem is that very high percentage of his inherited runners score - http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/minnesota-twins-team-stats?season=2016&category=PITCHING+RELIEF&group=1&sort=15&time=0&pos=0&qual=0&splitType=128 and I cannot break that down by month, but 41% is too much.
  13. mikelink45
    As the season winds down it will be good to have a ranking of MN Twin pitching prospects. I would like to see the hitters and the pitchers separated on the lists.
  14. mikelink45
    He fills an essential role, and as far as I can see he is the only Veteran who can do this. It is not in Joe's personality and the leader needs to be someone on the field every day. I am pleased to read this.
  15. mikelink45
    He has had 50% of inherited runners score and he been sent down repeatedly which indicates that management is not that sold on him either. For August and September he has given up six runs in six innings - not counting inherited runners. I am glad you like him, but for me he has passed his point of reliability.
  16. mikelink45
    Boshers has been a good story, but going forward we need better pitchers in these situations and Buddy is not the answer. Glad we won, but little things are important going forward.
  17. mikelink45
    We need someone to step up and light a fire like Buxton did recently. We have had Rosario and Escobar give the team a needed jolt this season. Kepler or Mauer need to take their turn and carry the team for a while. Sano would be perfect, but since he cannot play we need someone else to get that surge.
  18. mikelink45
    I think it is great that Mauer is having a really good resurgence. He has really helped this year and he has had some great years, as well as years where he deserved some of the criticism he got. But that is all in the past. His HOF credentials? Unless he continues this production and builds some numbers he is on the outside. Writers have left out some really good catchers and he would have made it in if the concussion had not changes his path. But the real puzzler for me is this - if he continues this trend and has a similar year next year he will become a free agent. The maximum cut allowed in baseball is 20% and it is hardly ever used - this would still be an $18,400,000 salary. So how would this FO value Mauer in 2019? Would there be another contract? Would they dare offer the minimum contract possible under the labor agreement? Would they let him go FA and offer to sign him for whatever he is offered by others? What would the market for him be? How many teams would want him as their 1B? Go Joe - your career has taken quite a path.
  19. mikelink45
    This was a surprise. I expect the pitchers who are highest on the prospect list to make this list, but what it does more than anything is show me why Gonsalves was not brought up to the Twins. Thanks for this good work.
  20. mikelink45
    We had a poor finish to our season two years ago too. It's hard to say why, but Twins fans start to get nervous when we get a streak like this in September and rightfully so - in 2015 we were 551 the first half and 466 the second. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIN/2015-schedule-scores.shtml With the top two rotation pitchers now used we have to turn to Father Time Colon, Young Slegers, and Resurgent Gibson to right the ship. We also have to stop putting Boshers in with runners on base. Boshers has allowed 17 inherited runners to score in 32 innings. http://m.mlb.com/player/542953/buddy-boshers which is a very poor record. - half the runners on base when he comes in score! Why are we using him in these situations?
  21. mikelink45
    This is really disappointing. I like having as many writers and opinions as we can get and this is truly a defensive rant. Why, because he crossed that velvet rope and used racial and fat biases in his essay. He gave us nothing new, no true insider view, he just took a path that was easy and now he is trying to tell us that the path was strewn with difficulty and danger. Mr. Souhan, write about baseball. When you criticize use information not generalizations. There are many intelligent readers and there is this forum where many of us meet indirectly. Join us, but do not scold us. We only have your written word and when that fails - so do you.
  22. mikelink45
    Glad you see that. We have the same pitching coach and pitching is still our big issue. I will not fault the new FO but I will also not give them credit for this upsurge.
  23. mikelink45
    What a fun and frustrating game. I have faith that this team can rise above the controversy.
  24. mikelink45
    This is a team that is playing like our 1965 Twins - not just Killebrew in the lineup, but Hall, Allison, Oliva, Versailles, Mincher, Rollins, and Battey. Some hits and thunder throughout the line up. I am excited to see Sano return and I hope he has observed how important it is to make contact and get more than HRs. This has been a very fun run.
  25. mikelink45
    I suspect you are right. Thanks for the correction, although it does not change my premise - I do not credit the new FO with this team, this year.
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