Trov

The writer addressed the 1 inning. All other innings were dominate. It was the one inning where he gave up a solid single, then a weak grounder that found a hole, a walk, then a very bad pitch for the GS. Outside of that he shut them down. The GS was solid hit, but only went out by a foot, could have been a long 2 run single. Outside of that inning he gave up no hits or walks. So he was dominate for 5 out of his 6 innings. Yes, that inning counts. He got the win and hopefully he will not give up meat ball next time in that situation.

Personally, I do think he has only a smaller chance of staying healthy and hitting as just DH than he does playing CF. He has hurt himself several times in his career batting and running bases. I bet if we look back he has hurt himself more doing that than playing field. Maybe, the argument can be made is that is just when the injury arose, but really the field is what led to some of them, I do not know all the specifics of those things. However, just keeping him as DH does hurt the team some, but if he gets hurt fully then we are even worse off, so it is a bit of a trade off.

I so wish Bert was still there for this. He hates it, and would love to listen to the old man complain about the use of these stats more and more. I mean long is gone is his, keep the ball down and any pitch above the knee is a bad patch and expected to get hit hard. He would hate that we talk about fastballs up in the zone is actually a good pitch, as long as not middle middle.

Outside of the 1 inning Ryan was dominate. So far our starting pitching has been great. All looking very good. Ryan just missed bad on that grand slam, and really was 1 foot from being most likely a long single coming off the limestone. Overall liking what I am seeing from pitching and hitting.

Personally, I do not believe the majority of growth in the field comes from games being played, but from practice time. You can go a full game with only a few possible balls hit for you to field, but in practice you can get a ton of reps. I fully expect Miller to get most of games at SS with Salas at 3rd. Reports are Salas is already expected to transition to 3rd at MLB level. Nothing wrong with some reps in games for Salas at SS, but that is not where he will grow most defensively.

I am not a bankruptcy lawyer, and sure MLB lawyers know what they are doing, but my limited knowledge is once someone claims bankruptcy, you cannot seek payments from them. Now, the timing of the bankruptcy may play a major roll in this, as they did not seek to back out of the contract for the Diamond Backs because they are a creditor because the non-payment was before the bankruptcy. However, I might imagine the bankruptcy court might rule now the Twins are a creditor and dismiss MLB's motion. If so, they bankruptcy court will let it all play out. I think it would be helpful for some article to, here or elsewhere where they consult with a bankruptcy attorney to express an opinion as to how this will play out.

What happens if Lewis and Lee are even better than Steer and Encarcion? If we kept Steer and Encarcion then we would have Miranda, Correa, Polanco in the infield this year, with Lewis, Lee, Julien, Steer, Encarcion at minimum all looking to take Miranda or Polanco's spots. That is too many prospects looking to take really just 1 spot in the infield, as we hope Miranda holds down his. Maybe he would have moved to 1st freeing up 2 spots but still you have 5 guys for 2 spots? Who would you rather have? You cannot just judge how a player does after we get rid of him, but how his counter parts or other moves that were done. If both Lewis and Lee play infield spots and do better than the two we traded, should we care that we only got a year out of Mahle? Sure, if we kept them and they got more trade value, maybe we could have got more down the road, but also possible they regress and we would have got much less, if anything.

The game really came down to 1 pitch, the solo HR. Twins had a few very hard hit balls that just went to the defenders. Gordon crushed a ball down the line with 1st base making diving stop preventing a double or possibly triple. Miranda hit 2 solid balls one that almost took of the pitchers head, but right into the basic shift of 2nd baseman standing right behind pitcher. Then he smoked a liner to right but the right fielder barely had to move. Then to lose the game Larnach hit a ball pretty hard right up middle that almost hit 2nd base, but went right to the SS who was also just next to 2nd base. Not upset at how the game played out, for most part we had decent at bats, and pitched and fielded well. However, I think we basically said we were going to lose the game and sat our best hitter. Hopefully today we can hit some lefty pitching.

I like the article. I have long argued that relying 100% on analytics is a poor way to predict prospects. Yes, relying on things like he looks funny so I do not like him, is poor way too. However, I feel many are relying on analytics. For some, it will tell some stories, but the eye test still should be used. The writer points out how for years people have talked about how Kepler is just unlucky and one day it will balance out, but eventually, you just need to decide it is not just luck. The write points out how Arraez was always attacked for his lack of power and eventually that will catch up to him. However, he still keeps on getting base hits. Sure, he is not going to hit HR and drive in a ton of runs, but he still provides good value. One thing analytics never will do is truly predict future outcomes. It will not predict if a player makes adjustments to fix issues. All it does is tries to see if there is expected change in the outcomes that has happened, assuming everything being the same down the road. You assume the player will continue to everything the same, or the pitcher will and no adjustments will be made. Even then, it assumes the player is like everyone else. Take Arraez for instance. The assumption of his regression is that he would not keep his high BABIP because his hard hit rate was not high enough to track with history. However, that assumes he is not good at trying to direct the ball in the area where there is no defense. I do not care how hard you hit the ball, if you hit it where they are not, you will get a hit. If you can put the ball where you want, because you are that great, you will get hits even on weak hits.

I think Farmer will be leadoff against lefties for now, but would not be surprised to see Buck there as well. I think too many people put too much on the lead off guy. Yes, having a good lead off guy can be helpful, but it is about overall scoring runs. They are only going to for sure lead off 1 inning. What used to be the leadoff type has gone away. I mean we are seeing guys that used to be typical 3 or 4 guys lead off. Teams have decided having your better overall hitters at top is more important. That is one reason I would not be surprised to see Buck leading off if for nothing else his speed, which clearly he is running better than last year.

Crazy how after 2 games people are calling to release Kepler for Walner because Walner hit 1 HR. Walner is a hitter only, can play no defense in RF. At least Kepler brings great defense even if he leaves some guys on base he will save many runs in field.

Not sure who has been doing an Arraez for Julien comp, because they were not even close as a comp other than both came up as second base prospect. Arraez had high OBP like Julien, but they did it very different ways. Julien walks a ton, but strikes out a ton too. Arraez would put everything in play. Julien has much more power than Arraez as well. So really anyone trying to make a comp between 2 are making a huge stretch.

I agree with most, but Mahle will get plenty of leash due to his history of sustained success. Sure, if his velo is down and doing terrible and looks cooked, then they will do what need to, but he will get plenty of run in my opinion.

I am in the boat either be as transparent as possible, or say nothing at all. The issue I have had is the half measures they do. We hear bits and pieces. First, unlike in NFL where there is game planning around certain players playing or not, there is little advantage in MLB to knowing if someone will play or is playing hurt. Maybe if you know they have injured leg they are less likely to steal, but you can see how they are running normally. Outside of that very little advantage to knowing injury issues. So not like you want to keep it from other teams. What also annoyed me last year is how Buck would be in and out of line up out of no where. We would hear he knee acted up and there is really no plan for it during the year. He plays in the all star game, then misses time right out of the break. We are told surgery will not help, only to have him get surgery in off-season, to help. We are not entitled to know anything in my opinion, but if you are going to say something, be transparent, or say nothing at all.

Did not read full article, just the headline and my answer is NOOOOOO. You can never have too many starters or too much pitching. Then after I read the article I understood the point is address that we will need several to finish a year. That is the case, no way will the 5 that start this year will pitch every game. We will still need the likes of Ober, Varland, SWR, to come up and make some starts.

Yes we won, but I was still annoyed with the move to pull Lopez in the 6th. He was at 85 pitches and could have finished the 6th. There was all this talk about maybe letting starters go deeper, and in the game the broadcast team even said it would be dictated by the performances, then we get same old move. Then the broadcasters say, well the Twins want to get everyone in the games early and with the off day we want to make sure guys do not miss too many days blah blah blah. Why not just say, that is what Rocco going to do. I am more complaining about the fact we are told Twins will change up and give starters more depth, only to do exactly back to what we normally do. Sure hope we start getting some hits with bases loaded though.

Miranda has me most excited. He has shown in his career so far large growth in short periods. He was a fringe prospect early on, then grew quickly a couple of years ago. Last year he came up and struggled quickly, but then turned it around with a full 180 quickly. Then he drops some fat, puts on some muscle this off-season and takes spring head on. Yes, spring means nothing, but I am very high on Miranda right now as a sneaky guy to be our MVP this year.

I think last year was a combo of things, that hopefully will not be as extreme this year. Twins seemed to pull starters much sooner than other teams, but it is not like a crazy amount sooner. However, if we can get just 1 more inning per start it will help a ton. First, early on I know team was trying to hold starters back because of short spring. Then guys were hurt from time to time and would get shorter starts due to that. Archer was always going to get short starts. The team has adopted the try to limit 3rd trips through line up. However, that is in part based on the situation of the game. If we have large leads the team will let them go a 3rd time. The team also wants pen guys to start innings and not come into a mess of an inning if they can avoid it. So they would rather pull a guy after 5 if he is in the 3rd time through, around 90 pitches, and a close game. Mainly because they figure no way will they finish the 6th so they would rather have pen guy start 6th. Also, the team does not want to warm a guy up and not bring them in too often either. Like it or not, we will continue to have shorter starts, but hopefully we can get more 6 inning starts as at least a norm.

I am not part of the brain trust, and I am sure the Twins employ and pay people a lot of money to make educated decisions like making Buck the DH for some set amount of time, but I just do not see the logic. I mean are they also going to ask him to run at like 50%? How about they tell him to not run any balls out at all? Just swing and if it is a HR great, if not jog the 90 feet. Tell him to never slide and just do not run at a speed that will require him to slide to stop. Hell, lets not even ask him to take a lead off the base so he can avoid having to move quickly incase they try to pick him off. Better yet, lets ask him to never swing, because he has actually got hurt in past when he fouled a ball off his foot. Let him stand in there like the kid in Rookie of the Year. Cower in the corner of the box with his back turned. If he does sneeze and a swing comes out, walk to next base and if the ball is in the in the air just walk to dug out. We should have him go up in full catchers gear when he bats, and put on boxing gloves so his hands do not get hurt if he is hit by a pitch. He should not be in on deck circle either, and lets get him a golf cart to get to the batter box so he does not twist and ankle walking. Can anyone think of another way to decrease his value to the team but make sure he will stay healthy? Oh when not playing lets make sure we hire an assistant that does all his packing, one player once cut his thumb closing a suitcase, and make sure someone carries his bags every where too.

If Popkins can teach Gallo to just flip a pitch to LF when teams put that crazy OF shift on him some were doing in spring Gallo will lead league in triples. You do not even have to hit it hard to LF just hard enough to roll far enough that the infield will not run after it. The CF will have to run several hundred feet to LF to flag down a ball and hopefully by the time the ball gets touched Gallo would be pulling up into 3rd. At minimum they are giving him free doubles if can figure out how to hit flies to left in those defenses.

Castro will be on the roster as long as Polanco or AK are in IL. As soon as either are ready, he will get demoted, and eventually DFA when they need a 40 man spot most likely, unless he is on some crazy hot streak. For those who are upset about Ober, it is basically the nature of the beast. There are 5 guys that all cannot be sent down so they either have to work out of pen or be released. Ober still can be sent down with no issues of having to release him. Any one of the other 5 would either refuse an assignment, thus making a FA if that is an option, or would get picked up on waivers at a minimum, just as Ober would get picked up on waivers he had to pass through them. Ober will get to start in AAA and be ready to step in when needed. If Maeda struggles out the gate, they can move him to pen roll and call up Ober much easier, than if Ober struggles out the gate you move Maeda from pen into starting roll and expect anything more than a few innings. Maeda may be cooked based on age and TJ, and if so then we can figure that out and release him. From a pure roster stand point this was expected and really the only move that makes sense.

I just remembered another calibration injury from just a regular season walk off win. When Kendrys Morales jumped on home plate and injured his leg. He missed most of the season, as it was end of May he did it. So yeah, players will get hurt doing celebrations on pretty meaningless games. So anyone who points to Diaz as a reason to not play the WBC they forget players will do dumb stuff all the time on and off the field.

Worth it is based on point of view. As pointed out the players clearly cared, and the fans from other countries clearly cared. It is also cool for some of the not well known lower minor leagues guys to get to play against future HOF guys like Trout. Diez injury was just dumb by him, which we hear they happen all the time. Denny Hocking got his hand stepped on after playoff win causing him to be out. Players get crazy injuries for all kinds of non-baseball stuff. In terms of on field stuff, players have been injured during spring games, that mean even less to people than WBC, that are now out the full season. Players will get hurt playing the game, and it could just as likely happen in a spring game versus a WBC. The only way you could argue injury from WBC over spring game is if a pitcher throws too many pitches and blows out their arm because it was not up to what needed to be. Outside that any injury that happens in games could just as likely happen in spring game. Baseball has long been a global game, MLB has taken international players for long time. Just because US has become less interested does not mean the world is not getting more interested in it. If it gets more international players to play and increase the pool of possible players to raise the talent here, then it is good for the game and it is worth it. Basketball exploded world wide in 90's when the best to play to that point decided to be showcased in the dream team. They crushed everyone, but people became a fan of the product, and now people will watch NBA games all over the world, increasing money for the NBA, and increasing the international players that raised the overall talent level. Yes, it sucks for the players that got hurt, but is spring training worth it if players are getting hurt there too?

You analogy to the Monte Hall problem is flawed. The Monte Hall problem is based on 1 door having a prize, and the other 2 doors having nothing. There is no in between. What you are talking about is selling off players for the chance the return will keep your team going, like the Rays do. I do agree with the general concept and would much rather trade a guy a year or two early than late. Another flaw the comparison to the Monte Hall problem is you get to pick of 1 of 3 doors. Knowing 1 has a prize. The show opens one door to show you a nothing prize. Then offers the change. To be a fare comparison, you have to pick from three options, then know one option was terrible and then decide if the option of trading now is better than riding with the player you have. In the case of choosing to trade a player now or not, you are not shown one of your options was bad. You only have 2 options, keep or trade. However, again, unlike in the Monte Hall problem, both options could be equal. It is possible they both are terrible, or both pay off. You could trade the player and he does great, but so does the player you go. However, unlike in the Monte Hall problem, there is an in between a prize or nothing. You suggest trading Thielbar will be the best player to trade now, and we missed out on trading Polanco before. First, Polanco for all the reasons you suggest he had high value in trade is all the reasons the Twins would have wanted to keep him. Yes, he got hurt and now his trade value is nothing, or next to nothing. However, at the time we were looking to compete, and would have had to replace him with something, as shown when he was hurt we did not have much there, because of other injuries as well. Also, if we would have traded him could we have got a prospect sure, but then we either would have needed to flip them for other holes or we would have used the prospects we used in trades to fill the hole not having Polanco. Each move affects the next. In terms of Thielbar, he may be at his peak, but he is still just a mid inning relief guy. He is unlikely to net huge return. Will the return we get for him be better than the what he would give us, versus who we replace him with? I get the point of trading guys at peak, as I said I am for it, but you need to also know you have someone to step in at similar level of production, else you are always building for future.

I am not a fan of the Garlick or White ideas to be just a right handed bat against lefties. I mean that is super limiting a roster spot. If they need to play because injuries okay, but to use up a full roster spot simply because you want a small edge against lefties in the very few times you face them just does not seem to make much sense. I do not know White well, but if he just a 1B then similar to Garlick they offer little than a bat against lefties and to me is not worth the negitive value they offer in other areas. I hated seeing Garlick pinch hit in the 4th or 5th for someone like Gordon against a lefty. Sure, sometimes Garlick would get a hit, but how much more likely was his at bat going to be better than Gordon's? Not a huge upgrade, but then you have a terrible defender rest of the game, getting 2 more at bats most likely against righty the rest of the way and will then have lower value.