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mikelink45

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Everything posted by mikelink45

  1. mikelink45
    NO. Nice story - move on. Are we so desparate for pitching that mediocre results get us excited? He has had a few good games, some terrible and some just poor. We need better next year.
  2. mikelink45
    This is a frustrating list. Hildenberger has been too extended. I know we have to, but there is always a downside for young pitchers getting too much use, whether an implosion in the season or a carry over to the next. Rogers is a case in point. Pressley is my biggest frustration. Like Alex Meyer and Tonkin, he has the speed, but cannot sustain success and I have no confidence in him. I like Busenitz and I wonder if Curtiss can overcome his initial poor performance and turn things around yet this year. Then there is the question for September open rosters - why Turley and not another reliever? Sorry to say it is not just the young guys, I still do not like Belisle as a closer.
  3. mikelink45
    On a night when the bunt could have been a real weapon why did we not have Buxton bunting? Just wondering. With the team speed we could have executed at least a bunt an inning. Good initial strategy that was soon ignored despite its success. Pressley is such a puzzle. It reminds me of the starting pitcher (Alex Meyer) we traded for because he had so much stuff and then we traded him to the Angels. What is the missing ingredient? Of all the teams we play, the patience that is part of the Yankee mystique would seem to be devastating to Colon. I hope I am wrong.
  4. mikelink45
    I am sorry - I do not like Gimenez, I meant to say that the management seems to like him a lot. I would have had Garver up early in the season.
  5. mikelink45
    For a long time catchers were the most popular position players to be chosen for manager. Sabr says 21.6 % of managers have been catchers. http://research.sabr.org/journals/playing-background-of-major-league-managers of course if you scroll down you will find they have the worst winning pct. of all positions turned manager. "Finally, this should put to rest the fallacy that catchers and shortstops - the field generals of the team - make the best managers. Of all the player positions they had the worst overall winning percentages."
  6. mikelink45
    Looks like you started a nice controversial thread. Thanks. I am not a Castro fan and I think Garver should work in next year, but I need to ask about Giminez too - I think the team really likes him. As a pitch frame skeptic I am more interested in passed balls, caught stealing and most important - calling a game. No data to study the last element. His WAR on baseball Reference puts him in with a lot of catchers. That said a Garver and Castro platoon would be fine with me.
  7. mikelink45
    I continue to wonder how minor league pitcher of the year - Gonsalves - did not get called up to a rotation that could have used a boost in its pursuit of the WC. This is an interesting list of players. As I looked at the ETAs I wondered about the otherside of the ETA - who goes? I can see Booker pushing our Vargas and the pitchers should not be a problem with Colon and Santiago leaving, but 3B and OF for 2018 are interesting. I can see Granite with Rosario, Kepler, and Buxton so where does Wade fit in? If we have Vargas gone for Rooker there is no hole to fill. I think Mauer solidified his position - at least for next year and maybe beyond. Our tiny bench does not leave much space - if we have Ehire, Escobar, Granite, Garver on the bench there is not much room for anything else. Love the projections and it just makes me speculate.
  8. mikelink45
    For August he hit 213 and for September 189.
  9. mikelink45
    Our best pitcher versus their worst starter and we loss. Those bats better be ready to step up the next two games - the Angels are drooling. After all these years I feel like there is some kind of curse that the Yankees have put on the Twins. I normally do not engage in bunt discussion, but the way that Betances was throwing it did not seem like good strategy and as it turned out the bunt - which Granite did a good job on - did nothing for us and just gave them a worthless out. The pitcher throwing and the pitcher in the pen need to be considered with bunts unless it is a bunt for a hit.
  10. mikelink45
    Aren't we talking about a new approach - "GMs do not make phone calls" - is what is truly old school and disappointing. Are we going to see another former Indian take his place? Because if we want to talk Old School - Doug was Old Twin and that should count too. The Indians have become a successful organization, but their history is not so good that we want to completely follow their example.
  11. 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.
  12. 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?
  13. 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?
  14. 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.
  15. mikelink45
    Yes I can. When someone is doing well there is no reason for pulling the rug out.
  16. 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
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. 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.
  20. mikelink45
    Nice response. I am still not a Bosher backer, but I appreciate having data to look at.
  21. mikelink45
    Nice response. I am still not a Bosher backer, but I appreciate having data to look at.
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. 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.
  25. 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.
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