IndianaTwin

To recap, that was bases-loaded, nobody out, followed by: Strikeout (looking)Double play grounder*StrikeoutStrikeout*Booted

Der Schlagger becames Der Bunter.

Why doesn't anyone ever post these? Is it because it's not really chicken?

Original question: My response: Harmon Killebrew Another response: To Twinsbaby -- Which WAR are you using? Baseball-reference.com has Polanco at 0.3 and 0.1 in the Cup of Coffee years and 0.6 and 0.1 last year and this, for a career WAR of 1.0. Not good, but not negative either. For comparison, Erick Aybar, Martin Prado, Michael Brantley, Jose Bautista, and Adrian Gonzalez all had a career WAR that was still negative at the same age. To PDXTwin, I agree Killebrew is not a completely fair comparison because of the "bonus baby" rule, but to some extent he still proves my point. We can look at it at least two ways. Either: Killebrew was forced as a youngster to be in the majors by a bad rule and had a negative WAR as a result, while Polanco was forced as a youngster to be in the majors by a bad team choice and still had a slightly positive WAR; orKillebrew, who had a negative WAR, probably would have benefited from time in the minors if that was an option, but the rules wouldn't allow it because he got too much money, while Polanco probably would have benefited from more time in the minors if that was an option, but the rules don't allow it because he got too much MLB time and he's out of options. Again, I'm not saying he's going to be Killebrew (or even Dozier, who for comparison purposes, had not gotten above A+ at a similar age). None of us knows his work ethic, his future health, how he responds to adversity, and all the other stuff (including, frankly, luck) which will go into determining his future value. But back to Twinsbaby -- none of that changes my basic point, which is that Polanco has been playing at a competition level that is well above his age. By virtue of that and by being athletic, he will be given every chance to succeed, both by the Twins and others (can you say Andy Marte?). It's a fair question to ask whether the Twins are better off with Adrianza, Escobar, or even Vielma or Gordon at SS than they are with Polanco. I've really like Adrianza, for example. But another poster was right -- even Danny Santana brought something in a trade. He brought what looks like an AAAA pitcher and cash. So if you're going to give up on Polanco (and I'm not saying you should or shouldn't -- personally, I wouldn't yet), find a trade partner and try to get a little more than Kevin Chapman and cash. So don't just DFA him. Guaranteed some other team has a pitcher that was highly thought of three years ago and hasn't pulled it together yet -- think Jake Arrieta before he became a Cub or Corey Kluber as a Padre prospect. Kluber wasn't that highly thought of and was still in AA when he was picked by the Indians (with Thad Lavine in the front office, by the way). And I wasn't trying to be insensitive by naming the late Andy Marte -- do you remember that the Braves eventually gave up, but turned him into Edgar Renteria from the Red Sox? A month later, the Red Sox turned Marte (and others) into Coco Crisp (and others).

Harmon Killebrew. Not saying Polanco is Killebrew, obviously, but he fits your definition. I'm just guessing there's more of these guys than we realize -- I'm just not smart enough to know how to search. Another way of thinking about it is that he have to have a certain amount of talent to get almost 600 PAs before your 24th birthday. There's an awful lot of guys still in the minors at that age. I think basically anyone good and athletic enough to get even a cup of coffee by age 20, particularly at SS, is going to get a pretty long look, possibly including at other positions.

My son is constantly on uni-watch or sending me something from the ESPN column, so I have to be precise. Technically it's "Kasota Gold," chosen to represent the limestone.

I think it probably was -- it looked to have the "limestone" trim.

Der Schleider with the catch!

All rise -- here comes Sano!

Yes, yes, yes, and a thousand times yes. I have yet to hear an announcer point out that a runner's feet can easily be three feet past the hand that is reaching out to the side. Sure, you have better control of your hand to avoid the tag, but you don't need to avoid the tag if you beat it!

I'm with you. He had several nice plays again tonight. AND Der Schlagger has moved into fourth on the Career Homers by a Player Born in Germany list. He's on pace to catch Mike Blowers in either late 2019 or early 2020.

This description of using a couple starts to look at Bartolo may be the POTD. And by D, I mean "decade." And speaking of Bartolo -- if he loses 133 pounds, is he a Semicolon? Finally, when I got home from work the other day, my wife said, "I"ve got good news. Your colonoscopy results are in. They found your head." Sorry, Chief, if I stole that from your repertoire.

Yep. It just seems like he was around forever because he had at least 28 starts in 11 of his 12 seasons, beginning at age 22. And the season he missed still had 21 starts. And talk about steady -- 8 of his 12 seasons had an ERA+ from 101 to 120. Two seasons were low 90s and two were 135 and 136. He always struck me as someone who was content with himself and a baseball life that treated him well and allowed himself to make solid chunk of money. He didn't seem like a hanger-on or someone that needed to maintain his identity by being in the public eye. And I mean all of that in the best way possible. Is that an accurate read?

Actually, I'm with you in not minding it. It looks like we only need a No. 5 starter two times before Aug. 5. I'm fine with a two-game trial on a guy who had a 118 ERA+ last year: If he pitches well and we're still amazingly in it, great. We got a bargain for the stretch run. If he pitches well, but we've fallen out of it, he might bring us a low-end prospect by trade. If he pitches lousy, good riddance. And congrats on a great career that ended only behind Juan Marichal in wins by a Dominican. And even if he pitches lousy, we've gained enough time to fully stretch out Dillon Gee, who now has pitched 3, 5, and 7 scoreless innings at Rochester with a 0.87 WHIP, his only action since May. SSS sure, but of our long-shot waiver claims, I think he has the best chance of being a legit No. 4 or 5. He's only 31 and has shown some (albeit inconsistent) success. He would get three more starts before being needed on Aug. 5. Shucks, if Colon is really lousy on Tuesday, it will have at least bought Gee another start at Rochester. The Twins can actually arrange the rotation to have the second time they need a No. 5 be on the 25th, which would be Gee's normal day. And by Aug. 5 or so, we've got basically 45 games left to see where: The standings are. How the trade market dust has settled. Where all the prospects are in terms of innings limits and continued progression in the pattern that best suits their development. That could mean finish the season where they currently are, moving up for a few starts, picking up a few bullpen innings at a higher level, or whatever.

For what it's worth, Brad Radke is only seven months older than Bartolo.

Last call -- anyone interested in taking in the Kernels at South Bend tonight, PM me.

But the bat is inching up. Shucks, if he goes 3 for 4 today he'll be hitting MY weight.

I'm pretty sure that it's accurate, because I read it on the Internet. Internet studies have shown that about 94.73 percent of statistics quoted from the Web were made up on the spot.

I always enjoy doing these kinds of things too. Buxton is also on pace for 164 strikeouts. But when I looked on baseball-reference, he had 21 singles that didn't leave a runner on second or when he didn't advance to second on an error. Similarly, 18 of his walks/HBP didn't move a man to second. His reaching on an error moved Rosario to 2B. I don't know how to check for any other situations, but that would suggest he was on first with second open about 39 times. In that context, 14 steals of second is pretty impressive -- more than 1 of 3 times resulted in a steal. Now if we could just get that number of times on first to increase, that projection of 28 steals could really increase!

Yes, a bunch of my best sunset photographs are from the upper deck at Coors Field. I probably missed two innings of action while taking pictures. Unfortunately I was in the lower deck at AT&T. I really need to find a way for a return trip there.

Yeah, people tend to be surprised when I list Miller. These rankings are inherently subjective, and I find they are often affected by first impressions that may or may not be relevant. For example, I froze on my first trip to PAC Bell, and I was with folks I didn't really know, so it didn't seem that spectacular. I also didn't have time to walk around much. As I've thought about it afterward, I can certainly understand why others rank it higher than I do. Similarly for Miller, I had great first experiences. Three things stand out. First, it was quite affordable. They had what seemed to be the last of the $5 seats, and their good seats were under $30 for a long time. Second, the outside-the-game experience is good. I've joked that you can put on five pounds just smelling the brats as you walk through. Milwaukee and KC are a couple of the few that consider tailgating a part of the experience. Third, I have a son with a moderate physical limitation, so he used a walker through much of childhood and now uses a cane as a young adult. I've found Miller to be the most accessible of any park. The handicapped parking spots are actually close and easy to get to, the concourse is wide enough to handle big crowds well, the seating sections aren't deep, so getting to and from seats is easier than at most places.

Biggentleben would probably be better to respond than me on comparing SunTrust and Turner, since I've only had one visit to to the former and two to the latter, but I'd welcome hearing his thoughts too.

On Sunday afternoon, I had the opportunity to catch a game at Atlanta’s new SunTrust Park. With the Braves building a new stadium, I had to re-check Atlanta off the list in order to continue saying that I’ve been to a game at all the current parks. This also moves Turner Field to the list of former parks that I’ve been to, a list that now totals 13. So what’s it like. In a word, I’ll say “solid.” It has a number of good features for watching a game, but I wouldn’t list anything as so spectacular as to rank up with my top five of (in some order) Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Boston, and Minnesota. What’s good? Our seats were in the second row of the third deck, right behind home, making it a very watchable game. It’s a new park, so I’m assuming that sight lines are going to be good everywhere. The foul territory seems relatively small, so there won’t be many balls lost to foul pops. Down the first-base line is just 325. One has to wonder if Freddie Freeman’s presence played a part in that dimension. It doesn’t seem too surprising that he had 14 homers in just 37 games before he got hurt. I haven’t checked the stats, but I suspect it will play as a hitter’s park. In terms of playing field, I did like the brick wall in right that seems to give it a nice touch. There’s six feet of brick above the 10 feet of padding. A nice safety feature is that the home plate ball boy actually gets to sit behind a door rather than in the corner of the dugout. In terms of fan amenities, there are certainly a number that are designed to make it a place for families. The concourse in right has a batting cage, a baseline for sprinting to first, and most impressively, a rock climbing wall and a zip line. Kids will love that part. Again like new parks, there’s marketing opportunities galore. I like creativity, so probably the best one is the Lowe’s Club House, which is built to look like an elevated kids’ clubhouse perched on stilts above the left field bleachers. I think the Braves organist has a reputation for creativity, and I was impressed. The Brewers Marcus Thames got “London Bridge is Falling Down,” “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” and the “rollin’ on a river” line from “Proud Mary.” As odes to the singer, Travis Shaw got “Forever and Ever, Amen” and Orlando Arcias “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Old Oak Tree.” Speedy Keon Broxton got the “I’ve got a brand new pair of roller skates” line. There were probably more references, but I didn’t catch them. A tenor from the Atlanta Symphony had serious pipes on God Bless America. I was saving up for barbecue after the game, so I didn’t sample any food. Fans around me didn’t seem to have anything distinctive, however. Compared to places like Pittsburgh and San Diego, with their stunning views of the city, and Dodger Stadium looking out to the mountains, the view over the outfield was underwhelming – unless skyscrapers are supposed to represent Atlanta’s view of itself as the hub of the south. I was struck by the fact that a crowd of only 31,364 showed up (63 percent of capacity) for what was a beautiful (weather only in the low to mid 80s, I’m guessing) Sunday afternoon in the middle of summer. I hope that’s not an omen. Speaking of weather, it was reasonably okay yesterday, but I have to imagine that some afternoon games are going to be cookers. I also wasn’t impressed with the scoreboard information. I don’t need goofy, and there weren’t many non-baseball distractions there, but when you’re seeing a game between two teams you’re not that familiar with, it’s nice to get some of the addition details and factoids about a player’s career. This was pretty basic – line score and batting average. Not an OPS to be found. So again –solid. Worth a visit, but probably not a place that’s going to be climbing folks’ “Best of…” lists.

I can't tell -- is that Cheech? Or Chong?

Sure is nice not to have the Twins on this list any more!