PDX Twin

"Entering play on Monday, the Cedar Rapids Kernels will have a shot at clinching the second-half championship. The Kernels are 40-23 in the second half and sit 3.5 games up on the Peoria Chiefs. In the second half, the Kernels are the only team in the entire league to win at least 20 games at home and on the road." They've really taken off since they unloaded those clowns Kiriloff, Lewis, and Graterol!

As an old-timer---it hurts to type those words!!---I experienced both Harmon and Kirby in their primes. I'd have to give the edge to Puckett because he was a complete ballplayer. Killebrew hit tons of homeruns, but he also struck out a lot, rarely hit much over .270, was a liability in the field wherever he tried to play (1b, 3b, lf), and was not the slowest player on the Twins teams of his prime only because Earl Battey was truly molasses incarnate. I remember that in the late 1960s, before injuries brought him down, I thought that Tony Oliva was a better player than Harmon. Puckett on the other hand was an outstanding defender at a premium position, regularly hit well over .300, and was always a threat to steal or take the extra base, even though his power did not approach Killebrew's numbers. Both were great players, but Kirby was great in so many dimensions that I just have to give him the edge.

"Over the past two weeks, we have been counting down our Top 40 Midseason Minnesota Twins Prospect Rankings." If we have been counting down, we should be moving toward the bottom, yet here we are, concluding the list at the top. Weird language this idiomatic English...

Jake Cave will be Aaron Hicks in reverse.

So ... controversial point here: There are some advantages to the American system of trading players rather than buying and selling for cash as is the norm in world football. (Principally, it limits the ability of a rich owner to acquire players without giving any up.) But there are serious disadvantages. Monetary economists argue that the advantage of money transactions over barter is the elimination of a "double coincidence of wants." Under barter (as in MLB), we not only have to find a seller with something we want, but he must want something we have. Only a few teams are interested in a 2B and they may not have the ideal trade pieces that the Twins would want for Dozier, for example. One way in which this impacts the Twins currently is the inability to use multiple small sales to finance one big purchase. For example, suppose that we were able to sell 4 players (Dozier, Lynn, Duke, and Rodney, for example) for $5m each. We could then use that money to fund a $20m purchase (Realmuto?). The numbers are made up, but you probably get the idea. Under the current system, no one wants to pick up 4 useful but not stellar players that we could offer (especially a team like Miami). So although we may have sufficient assets to obtain a star, the transaction technology prevents us from doing so. This means that (as per my earlier post) we are left with trading away each of our "little" pieces for other little pieces like non-elite prospects. All of the proposed moves discussed in the article seem to me unlikely to make the Twins better in 2019 and beyond. We are shuffling off little pieces we don't need for someone else's little pieces they don't need. Under a monetary system, we could sell multiple resources that have higher value to others than to us and pool the proceeds to buy a difference-maker.

I couldn't agree more. Our trading strategy seems to consist of acquiring young, future replacement-level players in exchange for old replacement-level players or players with expiring contracts. It's hard to get very excited about that, although I guess Escobar fit that label at the time we obtained him for Liriano.

Interesting. I was trying to twist it into something having to do with photographic plates and Kodak...

Wait ... Who was the manager who made this correct bullpen call?

Just a thought that hasn't been mentioned: Having a three-man bench makes it really difficult to "manage" a lineup. In the "old days," you could sit a slumping player down for a few days to get his head together. If a player commits a bonehead play due to lack of concentration, he could be benched. But now, with one spot necessarily reserved for the backup catcher, there is practically no bench to sit him on. Sano had options, so we could send him out. But Dozier, Morrison, etc. could have more "mental-health days" if they had a 5-man or 6-man bench as they did a few decades ago. I'm not sure how this affects Molitor in relation to other managers. But if his skills at "managing" his team's mental approach are not strong, this takes away one potential tool.

I can't agree more about the three-outcome syndrome being boring. Watching homeruns is about as interesting as watching weight-lifting. Yes, it's amazing that players can hit the ball a long way, but that doesn't make it fun to watch. A game-changing grand slam? Sure, that's great. But the game transitioning into 3.5 hours of home-run derby is not fun. My favorite plays to watch (ahead of homeruns, walks, or strikeouts) would have to be triples, double-plays, diving and leaping catches, stolen bases, "hustle-doubles," and the occasional quirky play that no one would ever draw up on the tactical chalk board. (Rosario seems to be particularly good at the last ... not always to the Twins' benefit!)

It's easy to see someone like him developing into a manager or front-office executive some day.

It would be very interesting to know more about the human side of this. What went on with the benching and now the demotion? What has his attitude been like in the clubhouse through the slump? How did he react to the news? Based on observables, he totally deserves to ride buses for a while!

It kind of makes you wonder what kind of long-lasting impact the current manager is having on the players. Are they assimilating the same kind of values? It sure seems like the current team makes a lot more fundamental (and mental) errors than Kelly's teams or even Gardenhire's teams did.

Well, since you asked ... BPA for me means Bonneville Power Administration. But then I live in Portland.

Before the season we all heard, and even said, that 2018 was the beginning of the Twins' future. Sadly, this may be correct. I'm afraid that the future is going to look a lot like 2018 in too many ways: disappointing Buxton, uninterested and underachieving Sano, etc. Not only have the last two months soured me on the 2018 season, they have gutted my optimism about the coming five years and even made me much less interested in following prospects, who figure to disappoint us once they come up regardless of their minor-league credentials.

Call him up?!

This is an interesting point. It seems like there are some groups of players/managers (i.e., teams) that always find a way to win the close ones; there are others that seem to be content with "oh well, we came close." The last two days have supported my suspicion that this year's Twins are the latter. Does it come back to the discussion of a few days ago about "character"?

Not to belabor, but to me the "character" I want in a player is someone who makes his teammates better. This can occur in a lot of ways, but probably involves treating them with respect, showing respect for the game, working hard to improve, etc. If the Twins are drafting players who can make each other better, then they should succeed.

Every organization probably has a dozen or more replacement-level players. Over any 30-60 day period any of these can be very good (or very bad). But few will turn out to be quality MLB starters over a longer period. If two years from now Goodrum is an automatic on the lineup card for the Tigers (or anyone else), then I'll agree with you. Remember Andrew Albers!

Is there a reason why a runner would not touch the plate with the leading leg? If he does that he's safe by several feet.

Or use the DH for him and let the pitchers bat.

2-0 is a big lead in (real) football ... or against the Twins.

I'm not convinced that would help. I'm sorry to say that I've given up on Buxton and Sano, and therefore on this generation of the Twins' offense. Little Whiff and Big Whiff.

When Buxton breaks a bat it reassures me that the one he is using is actually made of wood, not a plastic whiffle bat. Of course, it rarely matters because he does not often make contact.

I was watching the Lookouts' game. Wade crashed really, really hard into the wall making a catch to end the sixth. He was down on the ground for several minutes, then got up and walked off with obvious pain in his left shoulder. He appeared to be walking uncomfortably as well, and several times reached down to touch the inside of his right thigh. The announcer talked only about the shoulder, so maybe the leg isn't a problem.