tobi0040

I have never suggested we trade Mauer, or for that matter he should move back to catcher. Common, yet unrealistic ideas thrown about all the time here.

I think we are jumping the gun a tad here. He is 21 and has basically had three injuries the last two years after playing as many games as he could in 2012 and 2013. One involved him being beaned in the wrist. He is not the first person to hurt his wrist sliding or colliding in the OF. I would like the Twins to be cautious with him and him be more careful, but I am not going to draw parallels like this yet.

I think Arcia is done in MN. Maybe he comes up after 9/1 to audition for other teams. But I think Molitor finds his defense unacceptable and I think they view Sano as the DH moving forward (which means we keep Plouffe). If they felt like Arcia was a potential answer at DH long term, I think they would have let Robinson go and invested more in his development.

I see Pelfrey going somewhere for a ham sandwich and someone may pick up Torii if he wants to be in a pennant race (bench bat or platoon corner OF) Nice try on the Mauer comment "no need to go there". I have a funny feeling someone will go there.

Well, I mean you have to keep his bat fresh. Even though he literally will pinch hit for nobody on this team, under any circumstance. And if Rosario, Hicks, Santana, and Escobar all get injured in the same game, who will play CF? You are not properly thinking through the risks here.

The difference is those guys blossomed pretty late. When folks speak about Buxton or Mauer for example, they came up younger.

He is not. and he is having a tough year. But his career .725 OPS, while not stud is >>>>>>what we have now.

What a weirdo.

I don't know that Papelbon was 100% committed to only closing. He had a contract kicker if he met a certain number of saves. If memory serves he was 5-7 saves away. Some potential middle ground could have been pitching him on tearing up his contract and making the kicker automatic. Then Perkins and Pap could have alternated 8-9 based on matchup, then you have O'Rourke vs. lefties and Jepsen who has good numbers against righties. That is a good pen in tight games. The issue for me is we were one reliever away from improving multiple spots. We are not using May or Jepsen appropriately because we lack a good 8th inning guy. Papelbon, Benoit, etc. would have improved the 8th inning, 7th inning, and rotation in one swoop. Likewise, swapping Arcia for Robinson would improve our bench against lefties and our lineup against righties.

The other interesting thing is maybe, just maybe the moves we didn't make has led to losing? Last night for example. Duffey gets the start somehow and gives up 6 ER Graham is still here and gives up 3 ER. Robinson comes up in a key spot, down 2 runs. Our bench option late was Nunez.

That is what happens in every trade discussion. Step 1 - So and so is available. Step 2 - We all agree they would be an upgrade. They are a little older and more expensive. Step 3 - Most folks say he will cost Berrios,Sano, or Buxton or two of the three. Step 4 - Then most think we should keep the prospects. Step 5 - The trade happens and the cost was about 80% less than everyone thought it would be.

There also has to be something between Jepsen and Tulo. We didn't do anything in between. Lot of space there.

Yeah, I think they could have done more this year without sacrificing next year. Nobody is suggesting we pulled a Toronto. Arcia for Robinson, etc. are pretty obvious moves. Most had a low bar and that was not met. I think it shows a lack of conviction by the FO in this team.

Safe to say at this point that had we been more pro-active we would have 2-3 more wins. That would put us neck and neck for the wild card. It would also have validated the effort of the team thus far and shows they are supported and believed in by the FO. None of these moves would have cost a ton either. Arcia for Robinson. Getting a better reliever. Keeping May in the rotation, or moving him to long relief when he moved. He would have had an additional 30 IP or so and stole them from Pelfrey and Duffey's last and next few starts.

After a disastrous few games we are 2 games back of the wild card. I suppose pennant is division. I have written that off. But as of a few days ago this time last year, KC was below .500 and they almost won the WS. Unlikely, but we have a different priority of seeing what we have in Duffey.

We are in a pennant race. Additionally, we already have more than five guys under control for next year and better prospects in the system than him. As well us two untradeable vets. All said, he is probably about the 10-12th best starting pitcher in our system so my hopes are not super high, nor is a two start look going to be a good indication of much.

With Hicks, Rosario, and Hunter? We aren't cutting Hunter. Again what is Robinson providing? If it is running, you have to net that with what you lose in a bench bat.

I don't know why May could not be a 3-4 inning guy in the pen and you don't have to use him in mop up games. For example, 2 of Gibson's last three starts were 5 and 5.1 IP, both of those were one run games. May could have came in and finished them up. 3 of Pelfrey's last 6 games were 2, 4, and 5.1 IP. One of those was a tight game. A few starts ago Milone went 2.2 IP and it was a 3 run game.

Parker, I don't understand the reluctance here. I realize this is not you speaking, but the Twins. Teams usually keep a guy like Robinson on the roster because he can play CF. But as I see it, Hicks starts there. Rosario, Escobar, and Santana can be there in a pinch situation. I am not really seeing the value Robinson provides, especially since we don't hit righties that well. The issue with having him on the roster is we get in the "gotta give him some reps, he hasn't played in 3 games so now he starts" mode. I mean, the guy has an OPS of .607. Would he really be worse if he was not fresh?

That is fair. But you have to wonder, did we not foresee an injury coming from one of the five starters, or someone faltering? I would have moved Pelfrey there. But if you move May, he should have been seeing 3-4 innings at a time in the pen at a time so it would not be a season long thing. And this could have been done in higher leverage situations like a tight game when your starter only goes 5-6, bring him into finish the game. Since his last start 35 days ago he has pitched 11.1 innings.

Yeah, but if you are looking for a two month rental you will want a guy that can step right in. I am guessing the 5.51 ERA for Broxton hurt his value quite a bit. Even if Jepsen gets $4.5M next year, my point is that it forces the Twins to shell out that kind of money for an average to above average reliever. In the past they have not really done that. I don't really have confidence that absent of this deal they would end in a better place.

Duffey’s K per 9 in 2015 vs. 2014 is relatively flat. 6.8 across multiple leagues in 2014 and 7.1 this year. We are talking about a 79 IP sample here. Look at the numbers Pino, Darnell, and Ibarra put up in Rochester last year and the lack of success since. Like Duffey, none were top prospects and a bit older. Yohan Pino 2.47 ERA, 8.9 K per 9. Logan Darnell 3.60 ERA, 7 K per 9. Edgar Ibarra 3.44 ERA, 7.6 K per 9. I am of the belief that baseball is a tough sport to win at. Relative to other sports you have fewer that make the playoffs and more congestion among the teams to get there. Almost all teams end up between 62-95 wins. Over the course of the season the little things matter and the margin for error is very low. Instead of signing Stauffer to a $2.2M deal, we could have paid for an established reliever like Frasor, or shelled out an extra million or two dollars for a good guy. Stauffer gave up 31 base runners in 15 innings. May is a top 5 reliever on this team, both this year and next. Allocating 3 x the innings to Pelfrey or someone like Duffey is a blunder. We have four guys on this roster that can play CF, yet have allocated 150 AB’s to Shane Robinson and his .607 OPS. Give those 150 to an Arcia platoon and he adds 200 basis points to that OPS number and that helps you win games. I am happy for Duffey too, but to me “he earned it” is a qualified statement that implies to me that a guy is one of your top 5 starters. I don’t think Duffey is.

I agree with everything you said except the Broxton comp. He had a 5.51 ERA and was making $9M this year. I also think Jepsen is our second best reliever right now. It is all releative I know. And we were in this position because we dumpster dove, again in an attempt to build a pen on the cheap. $700K for Boyer. $2.2M for Stauffer, which was mind boggling. Waiver claims and Rule 5 guys. I was fine with the trade because I don't have much faith in Hu becoming anything above a #5 starter and because at least we have two guys in the pen next year that are not the waiver claim and dumpster types.

That was a typo for me. Meant to say May would move to the rotation where he belongs.

Now that May is not stretched out it was an easier choice. But the Twins should not have put themselves in this position We are in the wild card hunt, yet arguably one of the top 2-3 pitching talents on our team has pitched 11 innings in the last month, while a guy that was not on most top 20 prospects lists gets the nod, and will get more innings after two starts. This just isn't a talented enough team to be making silly roster decisions like starting your 7th or 8th best starter over maybe your 2nd or 3rd best. Or giving Shane Robinson 150 AB's when all the OF positions defensively are covered many times over by much better hitters.