Trov

I agree, that is why I would not just get rid of Garver for nothing, but if a good value trade comes along it would be worth taking it, and continue to use other back up catchers. There is value in having two good catchers that can split time pretty even. I would not give Garver away by any means, not like we did years ago to get Capps. Right now, I do not see what kind of trade that would be and to whom, but just keeping options open.

Interesting on who is leading in WAR. Even more so that Rendon is, when his team is not doing well at all only 9 wins. Same with Giants in NL. So many people have wanted MVP connected to WAR, but this would for sure be a time not too. I get you may be valuable to your team, but if they are in last place, well Giants are on 6 game win streak to be second to last, should you still get MVP? I am not one to say it should always go to best player on best team, but to go to best player on the worst or nearly worst team does not make much sense either. I see this game going either Hill pitches deep and they have another pitching duel, or Hill struggles again but either he or Acala and Coulombe are asked to take a few innings regardless of how well they are doing. With Beiber on the mound if we give up 3 runs there is not much of a chance of winning and should save the pen for tomorrow.

I sure hope Hill can go deep today. My guess Duffy will be saved for last inning with both Romo and Rodgers pitching last 2 days. I wonder how long they will wait to put Clippard on IL if he cannot go. Sounds like he may have nasty welt on forearm for a few days not allowing him to do much.

If Garver can show some sign of hitting again, I would look to move him if possible. He is in his prime and will be under team control until he is out of his prime. If Jeffers is the primary catcher going forward as long as Garver has some value I would look to move him. I do not see a platoon with the two of them and why, if Garver is starter level and can get value in trade for him not do it. Of course this is only the Twins feel they are getting fair value. It is always nice to have two good catchers, even if both RH. The article suggested Jeffers may have better numbers against RH pitchers than LH in his career, assuming it is minor league numbers.

I have been, and will continue to be an advocate for electronic strike zone. I have heard claims it has bugs, those from Rob Manfred specifically, but if you use the tech to grade your ups, why can you not use it as the ump? I mean you review how accurate they are by grading against the electronic zone, so the zone must be better than the ups, right? If our goal is to have the most accurate calls, assuming that is the goal it is in my book, you should go with the electronic zone. It will take players some time to adjust and just like all changes will get put in minor league and fall league first. However, once you have adjusted it will be second nature. Being an accurate home plate ump might be hardest job in ump/reffing. You have a ball coming on average 90 plus at you, with several inches of movement down, left, or right. You need to make the call in split second. It is no wonder they get it wrong. You cannot blame the umps it is not easy. I have listened to people argue, human error is part of the game, but does it have to be? I may have been for years, but if we can take that away why not do it? I have heard that they get around 90% right and over 300 pitches in a game that is only 30 wrong and they are normally boarder line. Okay, that may be true but sometimes that 1 bad call changes the whole game. Last Hill start he had a pitch that fox track had in the zone. It would have ended inning with only 2 runs in, but then guy walked and 2 more runs came in and eventually hill was pulled. So one pitch against him and whole game changes, and possibly future games because of pen usage. If it goes the other way where what should have been a ball is called a strike and inning ends Royals are out two more runs and maybe hill comes back and shuts them down rest of the game. So much from a single pitch can change the outcome of a game or possible series. If we can get it as close to right as we can and consistent, which is the most frustrating part of it. You get the same pitch called over and over the same way, but then you do not get it that way later on, it is frustrating. So many times pitches are in the zone but because the catcher had to reach or catch funny they get called wrong, or player is upset because he thinks it was wrong, Franko last series when cross up and avila catches in gut, it was clear strike but he was mad because it looked odd. Opposite is true when catcher "frame" well and steal strikes because of how little they move the glove. For me, get it right as much as possible. Have consistent zone for all involved.

First, were those videos taken from end of 2019 and beginning of 2020? It is a great article pointing out the differences. However, the reason I ask the question is his first couple months last years were his big slugging months and then he trailed off to what he did the first month this year, for most part. So if he kept the same swing all 2019, then I would not say it is his swing that is the difference, at least not the only difference as his slugging did not get over .500 after May last year in any month, and was below .400 one month. He was at .414 July this year, this month is terrible. The point is, if the 2019 video is from early on that season I would be interested to see if he changed later in season, or not. That would lead me to believe there is more than swing leading to this. Maybe, after his break out two months last year pitchers adjusted how they were pitching to him and now he is trying to adjust to that. The longer load will normally lead to more power, but as you stated possible late on pitches too.

What I get out of this is he has better launch angle and better luck for what his results are, but overall not swinging much better because still missing half the pitches he swings at. It is interesting how just a small difference mere fractions of inches to change the launch angle is changing the outcome so much. Lets hope he can stop missing so much because he clearly is showing his margin for error is so tiny.

I think the walk rate is a huge deal, and that is mostly not luck. Last year he had huge chase rate, maybe league picked up on that, or maybe his pitches are easier to pick up this year. Sure he will get some bad calls ball strike wise, but he will get some good ones too. He cannot seem to find where he wants to throw the ball. He keeps missing spots. The bad luck part of will hopefully even out, if it has not. I agree BABIP is not a true teller by itself of "luck". You need to look at hard hit and barrel rates to compare to it. If you are top tier in having weak contact, bad launch angle, and low barrel rate, but have a high BABIP, that means bad luck. But if you give up hard contact at good launch angle and hitters barrel up, you BABIP should be high.

I am wondering if for Rodgers it is becoming more of a head game. The unlucky hits can start to get to you, thinking I need to be perfect because even when I am good they just find holes. Then you get out there in save spots and over think over throw and falter. I am thinking take Rodgers out of "closer" role, and do the committee thing they did much of first half last year. Rodgers is striking much like Latrell Hawkins was. A great reliever overall, but for some reason putting in "closer" role eventually they faltered. I am not saying never have him out for the 9th again, but not say he is our 9th inning guy no matter what. I know Rodgers was used in 8th the other day, did well.

Personally, I am not "disappointed" in either. They have both shown they can be MLB players for years. Yes, they both have had set backs and issues. If I had to pick one it would be Sano more for his lack of being in shape not improving on his defense. Buxton tries so hard to be the best he can be. This has lead to so many changes in hitting. He is willing to go through walls to make catches, which has led to injuries. He will try as hard as he can to be as good as he can. That is not disappointing to me. We heard the Mike Trout comps, which was not fair for Buck. Trout, barring falling off the table in the next few years, might go down as best player of all time, if you go by WAR that is nearly a lock. So to have that comp is just not fair for anyone. Has Buck become the best player on our team, no. Has he become an all star year in and out and future HOF, no. But is he a flop, no. There are many other players drafted in top 5 that never make majors let alone show they are top defensive player in the league.

This game showed how big a single missed call by umpire on the strike vs ball call can be. The article mentioned missed call in Arcia at bat, I did not see that one, but I did see later in the inning what look to be a clear strike on 3-2 count called a ball loading the bases that then followed up with two run single. If hill gets the right call inning over 2-1 game and hopefully he comes back the next inning shutting down the hitters. It was 1 missed call that made huge difference in the game. I am so for the electronic strike zone. In regards to Sano at first, I am very surprised he has been playing it as well as he has. He is digging balls well. He has had a couple of moments he made wrong decisions to go after ball or not, but that is learning curve, and even harder now with shifts.

I have not seen the corresponding move for bringing hill back. Has anyone? I hope Hill can stay in rotation for awhile this time. We will really need him playoff time but will need him to be able to pitch more than 60 pitches in a playoff start too. He has the track record in playoffs to be great. He shows you do not need velo but change speeds, movement and location is key. What is interesting is most of our starters are not top velo guys and the one that got more velo, Berrios has done the worst. Just goes to show that if you know what you are doing keeping guys off balance, you can do well.

Should they get rid of the rule of foul tips caught is an out on third strike? I mean they hit the ball foul why should it matter that the catcher managed to hold onto it? How about when there is a ball inside and the hitter is diving out the way and the ball hits the bat should it be considered that it hit the bat or because the hitter clearly had no intention of hitting it and no where close to the strike zone it should be ball, even if it goes in play? What about the rule that if you swing at a pitch but hit hit by the pitch it is a strike because you swung? The rule you are against is in, my guess, is to make the catcher do his job when no one is on first base or with 2 outs, as it only applies in those cases. If not the catcher could let every ball go past, maybe even intentionally sit on opposite side of plate of the intended target. If the rule is not in place I could see catchers doing all kinds of things to toy with hitters. I understand the hitter swung at a pitch out of the zone, but they catcher still has a job to do. To answer you question of when a player is out but then is not, it happens when there is ruled runner interference, many times instigated by the runner. KC runner tried to get it earlier this year when they ran out of the baseline to run into Sano claiming Sano blocked his path. Lucky the umps decided it was not interference, but if the runner was tagged out, the ump could over rule the out and say nope interference. The sliding rule is another one, with sliding to home the catcher needs to give a lane to slide, if they are out but no lane given, provided the catcher did not have the ball prior to the slide, the runner is called safe and not out. So there a few examples where a guy would have been out, but gets called safe.

Nice write up. I feel it is important to point out signing any of them would have affected other moves, like Maeda trade or Donaldson signing(jury out on how that will work out) Also, with the age of the pitchers each will need to show they adjust to loss of velocity as they age. Ryu was the main one I wanted to sign out of the group because as stated that is not his game. My thought on pitchers these days. Sign the young guys with good velo, but do not sign the 30 something guys to long term with good velo because that will fade. We have seen time and again guys that relied on high velo get crushed when it fades because they never really knew how to get by on other stuff. Some of those guys learn, but takes time. Look at big sexy he was velo guy, was bouncing around for years and finally became good pitcher again for few years, not like his prime with good velo, but serviceable. It will be interesting to see how Wheeler adjusts as he ages. Mad bum I had high hopes he would adjust well, maybe injury affects him more than expected. Does not help AZ is hitter park.

Last night is perfect example of the no-hitter no bunt rule. Yes, it was not a bunt, but it was a weak hit that got Meada out of the game due to no-hitter broken and pitch count. What happens? Three runs later game is tied. The question is how close is too close, or if the guy would normally bunt. If shift is on and they giving the base hit should it be taken? I mean once the pitching changed happened the whole game changed, if it was done via bunt people would be outraged, but the hit gave brew crew chance to win, thankfully they did not. The point is, getting runners on base is how you win and change the dynamics of the game. If you know a bunt will get the pitcher out because of pitch count, do the bunt change up the game give your team a chance. I will agree if say it was 10-0 lead in the 9th a bunt for a hit to get pitcher out may be bush league, but 10 run innings happen. The beauty of baseball is it is never over until that last out happens. In terms of celebrations, if you cannot handle the other team celebrating, do give them something to celebrate. If you beat them and shut them up how will they shove it in your face? It is not the other teams job to help you look good. What is even more crazy is when the other team is upset about 1 player they throw at other players, like it is that players fault for the "broken rule" that is even more bush league to me. Also, the celebration rule is very much against non-white cultures. In Hispanic ball they will do all kinds of celebrations but then they are expected to form to the white norm of not doing it when they come to play MLB. I got an idea, lets not make guys run bases on HR anymore, like they do in slow pitch softball just hit and walk to bench. Do not allow curten calls or 50 game suspension, if you do not run out of the box or do a bat flip, 50 game suspension. If anyone on the bench claps or screams when something good happens 50 game suspension for them all. Lets take all celebrations out of baseball so not upset people if you "cross the line" The line will be any, because if not then the line is subjective for each person and how do you know if you have crossed it.

This is similar to most pitchers. If you fail to locate your pitches to where you need to they will get hit hard. Any pitcher who leaves pitches middle of zone will get rocked. This is not limited to sinker pitchers. It really comes down to movement and how the hitters adjust to knowing when the pitch is a ball or not. If movement gets limited and hitters staying off the boarder line pitches causing pitcher to go middle zone with little movement it will not be good. The biggest issue I always had with sinker pitchers was the high babip allowed, and the huge reliance on defense and DP. When they start walking guys it makes it worse. All that being said, I am not sold on Dobnak as some great pitcher for years to come, but until he fails lets ride the sinker as far as it can go.

Coming into the year I was very scared of the Twins infield defense, even more so when Donaldson dropped out. However, Polanco has looked decent with his throws, unlike most of last year. I do not think range has been great from what I have seen with any of the defenders but do not feel it has really hurt them. Sano has been a big surprise for me. He has looked lost a couple of times on balls off of the base and what to do, which is to be expected, but he has dug out balls in the dirt much better than I thought he would and yet to lose a pop up. He is no gold glove guy, but coming into year I was dreading what he would like like. So far so good with the defense from what I have seen. If anyone thinks otherwise feel free to point out where I may be wrong. I have not looked up any defensive metrics on this, only going by my eye test, which may be flawed.

It used to be sinker pitchers were the big thing. Then they went out of favor because everyone was trying to get them and hitters adjusted swings. Now that the league has changed approach some sinker pitchers may do well. The biggest issue will be if he can never get a strikeout pitch of some kind good hitters will just foul off so many pitches.

Cruz is a beast. As long as he can stay healthy he looks like he has at least another year or two left of swings in him. I think it would be great for him if he can last another 2 to 3 years after this season and get to 500 HR. I know it is not what it used to be, but since he was never a full time starter until 26 and even then it was not until 28 that he broke out HR wise to get to 500 would be hell of a feat and maybe get him into the hall. Even if not with Twins I hope he plays and is productive. He sounds like a class act guy overall. His numbers have been great unlike many sluggers that can still hit HR they strike out a ton and stop hitting anything else. Cruz still gets base hits and strike out rate similar to rest of career. Until he cannot do it, let him do it.

The unwritten rules are so dumb. You cannot celebrate too much, you cannot bunt for a hit with no hitter late in game, you cannot swing 3-0 with large lead late in game, so on and so on. I agree with T-J that I have seen 6 run come backs late in games. If teams are so worried lets put in a mercy rule. What if he Swung 0-0 and hit it, should be yelled at for not falling behind in count? How did the others get on base? I mean come on.

Good to know, I was under impression from other articles was you were only limited to 60 man groups. ESPN even had article lately about that is a reason for limited trades because ability to trade an A ball level prospect for rental pitcher is limited because very few teams brought those type of players to 60 man group.

Lets hope they carry the offense from last game into Target Field. We did not hit well against the Royals at all during the sweep.

Yes, part of my point is that he is not just taking more pitches and walking more but his average is down because he is not putting earlier pitches in play. It to me is that he more so is chasing less later in counts, and setting himself up to be in walking counts. Years ago Jaques Jones wanted to increase walk rate, but his OBP was same with lower average. Eddie right now is in similar boat, but since his K rate is similar then the difference is his babip which if he can get to normal level his OBP should go up.

What is most impressive is not his walks, I have said more walks does not mean success for players. It is the walk to K ratio. He is almost 1 to 1, coming into the year his average was about 1 to 4.5. Now, his first two seasons were even worse at about 1 to 8. Then improved to about 1 to 3.5 over next 3 years. This year 1 to 1, technically 8 to 9. That is where he is showing great improvement.

I will defer to the front office on these decisions. I personally would love to see Kirilloff, the little I have seen he looks like a kid that will do big things at the plate. However, I see no point in him up riding the pine but he needs to be in the games. Who would he play instead of? Most likely would be Sano if he struggles much more.