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mikelink45

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Everything posted by mikelink45

  1. mikelink45
    Excellent news. Lets move Giminez out and fill some more spots with quality players.
  2. mikelink45
    So much to say here - but first let me say that I like the idea of competing for the Wild Card and I think it is worth making decisions based on that, but not doing a trade. With that said here is what I would like to see: Put Sleger in for Gibson. If Kyle has not established that this is not his year I do not know what else needs to be done. Bring up Gonsalves and put him in the fifth spot in the rotation.Tell Perkins it is nice that he is coming back, but we are trying to win something and this is not the time to lose that roster spot.Put together a real bench. I think we will have Escobar at 3B and Sano at DH now, but I would like some power on the bench and I would have Vargas there and I would have Granite as the fourth outfielder. As I have written elsewhere the defense has been the difference this year and the team ERA would shoot up to 5.33 if the defensive runs saved were the same as last year.Get Giminez off the roster and put Garver in and let him platoon with Castro. Lets get over the love affair with Castros pitch framing - it has not made a difference - look at all the pitching stats.For next year I am fine with Molitor but not his pitching coach. Move on.
  3. mikelink45
    The Twins defense is the difference - especially Buxton. Take the difference from -49 runs to +17 runs saved in defense value and add that to the ERA and suddenly we have a staff with a 5.33 ERA (and probably more since we would need more outs to compensate). Neither the pitching coaches or the catchers have made the difference. The defense along with a better offense has allowed us to surf the series with mediocre teams to our advantage. Castro and Giminez are not the ones that deserve the credit although I constantly see that. Give them a little credit, but I am not convinced we would be worse off with Garver behind the plate. Pre season Fan Graphs had our catching ranked 22nd. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2017-positional-power-rankings-catcher/ Jason Castro has 1.84 WAR, 1.18 defensive. Good, but not team changing. Giminez has negatives on all the ratings and cannot hold up as the second catcher. As the signature move of the FO I know Castro came in just before the upswing in record, but I think we have to delve further to find the real causes and judge the real value. In defensive ratings of catchers the best I found for Castro was 16 which is pretty much the place for league average.
  4. mikelink45
    I look at this and think that the Twins had preferable drafting positions because of bad finishes and that should have produced more than what I am seeing in this summary. I really appreciate the summary because it helps to put things in perspective, but I really find the success rate to be both a poor drafting and a poor development issue. We have some really good players already in the majors, but look at the pitching - yikes. The idea of the draft is to help the poor teams and we really blew some opportunities.
  5. mikelink45
    Garver should have been with the team all season, but Giminez is from Cleveland and that counts. The pitching staff with the new catchers are 13 in ERA vs. 15 last year, 12 in runs allowed vs 15 last year (both a result of defense more than framing). K they were 12 last year and this year they are last - 15 - with their new pitch framers.
  6. mikelink45
    The preseason analysts who pointed out the amount of mediocre teams that a lucky or improved team can beat up on was right, the discrepancy is really apparent We are 5 - 19 versus the Red Sox, Indians, and Astros. http://www.espn.com/mlb/standings/grid and 5 - 22 when we add in the dodgers which means we are 54 - 36 versus the rest. Maybe that makes us a wild card team, but no matter, it is definitely a not ready for prime time team - just a fun one.
  7. mikelink45
    I loved this report and I would like to see another at the end of the year and every couple of months during the year. This is out signature move from the FO and tracking the players is fun as far as I am concerned. I am not worried about SSS and conclusions, I like to see how they are doing so that when conclusions and decisions are made I can understand them better. Thanks for the post, my curiosity has been high.
  8. mikelink45
    With the pitching staff and pitching coach that he has had the results are pretty good and I would not object to him returning, but I would hate to have the pitching coach come back. Pitching coaches do make a difference. This year we signed the premier pitch framer - how has that worked - we rank 30 in SO, and 8 in BB and left Garver in the minors so we could have Giminez as an extra pitcher. We are also 26th in batting average allowed. http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/pitching/sort/opponentAvg/order/false So what great HOF manager could win with this staff. The complaint is how Molly handled a bullpen - our big additions were Breslow and Belisle for crying out loud. Consistency is not a word I would use for any of them. Our bullpen ranks 27 - http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2017-positional-power-rankings-bullpen-16-30/ Our young batters have been inconsistent. Sano still strikes out too much, Buxton took half a year to progress, Kepler is stuck in league average, Polanco stunk for a month, Dozier took half a year to warm up (again), our catchers cannot achieve the batting average against that their staff allows, and we have had Giminez and Escobar bat 3 and 4 because we only have a three person no bat bench. How much is FO and how much is manager? I just know that Molitor has exceeded by far what I would expect from this roster.
  9. mikelink45
    Call up - don' trade. I have never seen a graph of reliever performances but I have to believe they are really erratic; great years lead to overuse and then they get good contracts with the next team when their arm is not recovered from the previous year. I prefer to have a bullpen of young arms and I would like to see us fill it up with our potential relievers and put them on rotation rather than designated roles and use them evenly so that they eventually sort themselves out. As for out pitching coach - I did not like what he did last year and looking at our rankings this year I am very unimpressed again. Berrios is struggling, Santana is down - where is our pitching guru - do they need to skip a start, do they need our wonderful pitch framing catcher who has obviously done so much to move us up in the rankings (sarcasm - yes) to call some different pitches? Are they getting predictable? There has to be some answer - 31 pitchers and a minor league full of arms and we are still this bad? There are lots of questions that this raises. http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/showthread.php?t=255060
  10. mikelink45
    Good highlights which begs the question - if we continue this unexpected surge who will be the players who step up next? Surely Sano has the potential and Buxton is no where near his peak, but what about perennial question mark Mauer? Can Polanco surge more, will there be a promotion? Stay tune - this is a fun year.
  11. mikelink45
    Good game - the Twins showed a lot - getting past two straight bad starts by their two best starters and a one game bullpen implosion, some shabby defense and then the inexplicable passed balls to win the game and the series. With a little luck they could have swept the series. What a fun year.
  12. mikelink45
    I have wanted to know more about the Twins draftees and this report really gave me insight in to the top two. Very nice to see. I would love to see them really fast track to the majors. Now I am curious about the other draftees.
  13. mikelink45
    Very nice. I like seeing the young players moving up the ladder. Lets concentrate on some of the talent that was here before the last draft too.
  14. mikelink45
    I love to see that the pitchers are going so well. I am tired of the scrap heap moves of the big team and anxious to see promotions within the system to set us up with real prospects. What is Rooker's slash line? I am impressed with his power, but is he doing anything else? I hope you will give us a draft update periodically to see where our players are in their development and pro transition.
  15. mikelink45
    This is fun baseball and I wonder if some of this doesn't relate to frustration the players had with the trades and events that took place after their losing week at LA. I feel like they put a chip on their shoulder towards the FO and they are going to show the world that they are not in the sellers division. I love it They seem united and are winning even with Gibson who has to be replaced in the rotation - maybe he can be in the pen. He has 1 - 3 inning ability.
  16. mikelink45
    Enns struggles, Gonsalves has a good AAA start. Will be start to recognize our own assets at some point?
  17. mikelink45
    I do not like the way we handle young players and I have seen so many of our best stumble along the way and wonder who is there to guide them. At the same time Vargas is the sacrificial lamb to a bullpen full of pitchers we do not use. Vargas could have stayed up and Enns could have come up for a turn this weekend. BP pitchers that we are not using are eating up bench spots we could use. Vargas has to have his confidence shaken by frustration. Granite did well and then went down and had a little funk - who would not feel bad with a demotion. Our minor league pitchers keep watching a revolving door of pitchers since opening day and yet the only ones we tried were Jorge and Turley. I hope Enns does well but I have no attachment to him like I do the names that Seth writes about each day.
  18. mikelink45
    I am not excited, but enjoying the ride. No anticipation of playoffs, but glad to be competitive. No I would not engage in more buying. What I wonder about is the messages that players perceive from FO moves. I liked your insights on the clubhouse after Garcia and Kinzler and I wonder how the young pitchers we have in the minors feel about all the trash pitching we have had in MLB while they continue to wait. And now Enns comes in and immediately moves in ahead of them.
  19. mikelink45
    More than feeling sorry for their plight, perhaps we should question their leadership. The team has some fine young players who could use the leadership and clutch performance of two vets.
  20. mikelink45
    This lineup is the most frustrating of the year for me. We do not carry a big bat on the bench so we have GIMINEZ BATTING FOURTH. This would not happen in any of our minor leagues - no one would bat him fourth. Man up Joe - Cole is a tough pitcher and you are getting $23 million to be out leader. But why do we not have a bench? Why not a Vargas or Park or Palka or anyone who might be able to drive a pitch. I cannot imagine what Hammel must have thought when he saw this lineup. He might have taken a quick glance to the calendar to make sure we were not have a return of April 1. I think that we can send all the position players out and bring up all our shortstops. Speaking of confused - what must Garver think when he sees this and is not even given a short call up?
  21. mikelink45
    When our major league lineup has Escobar and Giminez are batting 3/4 we could not compete in AAA. This is a joke. No bench, no real hitters to call on when we need them. I have never seen a team that ignores the bench like the Twins have. Players have to be out of position and are asked to be something that they are not. One big bat on the bench would change many things and maybe a catcher that can hit like mister Garver. I have to say it once more - Giminez batted cleanup!
  22. mikelink45
    It is always pleasing to read about good pitchers in the Twins system, just frustrating to not see them get a chance to outperform Colon and the other fillers.
  23. mikelink45
    I am so glad to read this article. The farm system has to deliver and the coaches need to help them deliver. A great team is part of a great system. We once had one, but then baseball evolved and we did not. So what does our system record look like at this time and what can we do to resolve it. So far the FO gets an incomplete for the year. I have seen too many Wilks, Colons, Breslows for my fandom rating and it will be good to see us starting down another road. Coaching - C- We over performed so we need to give some credit. Molitor takes a lot of heat, but many things are at the direction of the FO. But what about the pitching and hitting coaches? Are we getting players to reach their potential, are we getting them to adjust to higher levels of performance when they get to MLB? The Farm System. C Considering the players we have called up - Jorge and the ones we have not called up - Gonsalves, the reluctance for using our supposed bullpen depth the Twins system has not provided us with the depth and support we need, although it might be the FO and Coaches who are responsible for this. Pitching Staff. D Right now, how many are performing at a high level or even the level you anticipated? Fielding. B+ OF, C, 1B, 3B are A and Dozier does well at 2B, but SS is too much of a question mark. Batting. C- Sano is in a poor place right now and needs to right the ship again, too many Ks, Buxton may be ready to have another September surge but a full season would be nice. Rosario has been at his best and Kepler seems to be stuck while Dozier is down and Polanco has disappeared. The catchers can't hit, Mauer is a walking machine but can't get to second base without help and when Escobar spends a series as the clean up hitter it is not good.
  24. mikelink45
    Gibson raises a different question for me - one I wrote too much about last year - what good are our pitching coaches? Our young pitchers struggle too much when they get to MLB. Other systems get some really good results when young pitcher jump in to the majors, but our fail rate (or at least the rate by which we get underwhelming performances) is too high and has been for a while. We have not heard much about our pitching coach and the new system, but I note that everything we do seems to be reaching into the waste basket of baseballs waiver bin instead of progressing more of our own. I have no answer for Gibson but I would like to see how he does in another system.
  25. mikelink45
    I have been too confused by the current FO to predict what they will do. For me the people you trade are the ones you have potential replacement for in the system. So the middle infield and one catcher and one outfielder fit that model as does one or two starting pitchers. Sano, Romero, Gonsalves, Mejia and either Santana or Garcia makes a rotation for 2018. And in the bullpen anyone can go, we do not have overwhelming quality out there.
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