Trov

At minimum I think he needs to stay up at the MLB level. He is best possible defense replacement when Buck is hurt or needs his rest. He is not an auto out like he used to be. Even if he does not start he can come in to cover LF if needed for late inning defense. I think we all need to remember he is still young and should keep getting better.

CES is a huge question mark based on that K rate. I have been wondering what his approach is. He clearly is a bit of a free swinger and the question is when he faces better pitching will he stop getting hits? We have seen guys like him in past. College bats that dominate low minors, but when they go higher up their K issues because a huge deal. I would like to know is he just crushing pitches in the zone and getting a lot of bad pitches to crush, or is getting hits on pitches out of the zone too? If he can make good contact on pitches out of zone, then I am less worried about him, but if he only gets hits in the zone then when he faces better pitching he will fade quickly.

I would be all for DFA Urshella and roll with Lewis at 3B. Miranda is not lighting it up early, but Lewis has looked like he can handle hitting at this level, at least better than Urshella has. I think he would field it better than either as well. Sanchez should not be getting so much DH time. I feel he has been hurt by the dead ball or early weather power outage as he has hit a few balls that looked like they would go out only to die at warning track. He has had some liners for outs as well. However, he also chases way too much and pops up way too much. I am fine with him catching, he is not as bad as I thought he would be. I hope was weather warms up and the ball may start carrying more he will get a few more HR.

I am interested to see CES get a call up to AA and see if his numbers are just a product of hitting against lessor pitching. We have seen guys like him in the past dominate lower levels of the minors but when move up have hard time. His K-rate is scary high. I have not personally watched him so not sure if he is just a free swinger that can get hits on pitches out of the zone or are his hits on pitches in the zone and when he falls behind he will chase bad pitches.

You seem to have some rose colored glasses on some of those transactions. First Hudson was 2.9 WAR in his one year with Twins. Good, but not great. He was smart enough not to sign him beyond 1 year, but not like he made some super find, he just got a guy at end of career that had 1 last decent season in him. Crede played his final year with us to a tune of 2.3 WAR, with .9 from offense. Again, not like he lit the world on fire with Twins he was just above replacement. Simply because a guy was not a 100% bust does not make him a good signing. Both played 1 year with Twins. Thome was a good signing overall, but he blew the trade when he shipped Thome out. Pavano had a good year for us, an okay year for us, and 2 half years that was not good. The trade and subsequent signing of Capps was terrible. He had one good half year, but he gave up a top prospect catcher for a good couple months for a closer, with two follow up terrible years. The issue was he overpaid for Capps. Yes, you can say Ramos never did become amazing, but at the time Smith could have got much more for Ramos. While we talk about trades, lets talk about giving up Bartlet and Garza for Young, that was terrible. The Gomez for Hardy I was all for and loved it, until we signed nishi and traded Hardy for two terrible bullpen arms. Smith kept trading away high value guys, for low value guys. As I said I give Smith some credit for talent he brought in, but as a whole his time with Twins was filled with mostly bad moves that kept piling on. The Joe signing did not end up being great as the last few years the contract was paying him too much money for the lower output of a first baseman. I was fine with the signing though knowing that would happen at the end of it. Smith also blew the Santana trade, he could have got much better players than basically Gomez, who would have been fine if the end of that trade did not end up with 2 terrible bullpen guys that did nothing. He basically traded Santana for nothing when it was all said and done.

The ball is dead, we know that. There are 2 questions that need to be answered to determine if we have the right staff. One, will they stay dead, or will MLB change up the ball again to get more HR again? Two, will the players make the needed adjustments this season to not trying to hit as many HR but more line drives or finally agree to hit against the shifts? For years the plan was to pitch low in the zone, and pitches up were bad. Well, now we find high fastballs are effective because hitters adjusted to all the low pitches and adjusting launch angle. Once hitters adjust we will see how we are doing.

I have always gave credit to Smith for his signings of Sano, Kepler, and Polonco. However, outside of those three signings, that most likely he personally had little to actually do with, he was the worst GM we had in my knowledge. Terrible trades, terrible signings of other FA. He was always in the hear and now, and never had a backup plan. He also overvalued "closers". I always liked Ryan and thought he was a good judge of talent overall, but he was outdated when he returned to the game. He was still thinking the game was played like in the 90's and early 2000's. He had many misses in the draft too, but that happens with all GM's no one hits on every pick in the MLB draft first round or otherwise.

I would agree that the ump gave Verlander some calls Ryan did not get. However, Ryan was all over the place and Verlander was hitting his spots over and over. It really shows how a robo ump would even those things out and not let human error guide the game. A guy with a reputation of throwing strikes should not get benefit of close calls, where a guy known for being all over the place should not get squeezed. A strike should be a strike no matter who throws the ball, or who is hitting. For years we would hear how a guy would be known for having good control so gets those extra few inches, or how hitters with "good" eyes at the plate would squeeze the zone a little. I cannot wait until it is done and we have a robo ump. That all being said, I do not feel the ump was the difference in the game but you never really know if Ryan gets a few more calls and Verlander a few less we never know how the game shakes out.

If Larnach was healthy I bet Kirilloff would be down in AAA trying to figure out how to hit with his wrist. When I read that he had pain all off-season and had pain again this season without any new damage that can be fixed with surgery it raised huge red flags for me. Last year when he first came up the average was low, but he was hitting the ball hard all over the field. Since the wrist injury he has not had that same pop. I am very concerned he will not have that pop again, or at least not for awhile. I think he will need to go down to AAA and learn to hit with his issue. If the wrist cannot be "fixed" he will need to learn how to play with it. If he cannot he will never be a MLB player. It is sad, because he looked to have all the makings of a top hitter for years to come. However, you need your wrists to hit well. His few games back he has had weak ground ball contact for the most part. I hope he can figure it out, but if he is always in pain either he will have to learn to live with it, or retire.

The WPA stat is a bit odd. We look at it to see how they compare to other relievers. I doubt many feel Pagan has pitched all that well or added much wins probability when he walks bases loaded in 1 run games. He has finished them with saves but wow he scares me, and to see he is 22nd in WPA makes me think about that stat some.

I have always like Smith. We never did much against him in my memories serve me correct. I am sure there was a time or two where we did something. He is not someone that we will march out there day after day in high leverage, but we have used him in smart areas. He is best ground ball inducing relief guy we have. We have used him several times when a DP would get us out of a threat. He has managed to do that a few times for us. Very smart use of him in my opinion. K's can be great, but inning ending DP is always better than a 1 out K with bases loaded only to give a hit to next hitter. I think we will continue to use Smith in those we need a ground ball situation. If you notice he hardly ever comes back out for a second inning after that happens to. He does have lack of velo, but his arm angle is hard for many hitters to get used to. Very few guys throw from that angle so not used to picking up ball where he throws from. It is a bit of smoke and mirrors, but until it does not work he should keep on doing it.

What has always been most frustrating about Sano is his lack of growth over the years in the majors. He would have stretches of great production, and long slumps, but we always thought what if he just figures it out. Each year we would say this is his year. He would start off slow, but then pick up his numbers for awhile. He just never got to that next level of play. I always felt if he could have adopted a Miguel Cabrera type approach he would have been great. Not as good as Cabrera, but much better than what Sana has been. Sano had the power to drive ball out of all fields but for some reason always wanted to pull everything out. He would get overpowered by fastballs. I always felt if he would have been willing to drive the fastballs to right and turn on the off-speed stuff he would have been amazing. He would have stretches where he would do that and you would see homeruns to right. I also felt he never had a plan during his at bats. So many of the great hitters would have a plan, have a thought of how the pitcher wanted to pitch them. Sano always felt like he was a see ball hit ball mode and never thought I am going to look for pitch x in location x and swing. He never will be what we hoped, but he is still a MLB player, just may not be for us.

Good article. I would say that I do not expect Coulombe to be a high leverage guy, but will be adequate to get some innings out of. The more he gets used the more teams will start to adjust their scouting report, much as you have pointed out. I am not going to expect Coulombe to be a lights out end of pen guy, but lets keep using him while he is doing well.

I have always been a let Gordon play approach. He has always performed when healthy after adjusting to the level he was at. Will he be an all-star, no. But he could be a valuable utility guy. If not for us, for someone. I think he belongs in the majors and even if we do not keep him he will get time with some team.

Martin has played just over a full season in the minors. To cast him as complete as a player is a little early. Jose Miranda did not hit for much power until last year. Kirby Puckett was not a power hitting guy until age 26 year. Jose Altuve was not a power guy until he hit double digit HR at age 25 season. Martin is still young and could develop power. It is very hard to teach the ability to take pitches and work counts, it is much easier to learn to hit for more power. Will he, not sure, but I would bet if he gets pitched down the middle fast balls all day he will make MLB pitchers pay for that. Also, again he was not the only player in the Berrios trade. I would also note Berrios is not doing all to well so far this season.

I do not want to see Bundy get regular starts for half a year if he keeps giving up 5 plus runs in 3 to 5 innings. However, we have needed 7 starting pitchers so far to not have a bullpen game yet. We may have some more that could step in, but to assume we can go a full season with just 5 guys is never going to happen. If everyone is healthy and Bundy keeps having dud starts, I would want to transition him to long relief role with emergency starts when needed. Paddock just went down with possible long term injury, more to come today on that. Winder is doing great in 2 starts but Bundy did great in 3 starts and we are talking about pulling him after 2 bad starts. There is no reason to think Winder will be like this all year, but there is no reason to think he will fully flop either, but the point is to just say lets cut Bundy because we have 6 other guys that could step in now is kind of crazy. Ober still out with injury, Gray just made it back. Bundy will stick with team for awhile. I just hope if he keeps putting up similar starts as last 2 he gets moved to pen unless needed in starting roll. When the other 6 guys are healthy each should get starts over Bundy if he keeps pitching like last 2. However, he had 3 great starts and 2 bad lets cut him some slack that teams may have made an adjustment to him, now can he adjust again.

The most recent stretch of games show how important having depth in the 40 man, and even a little more, is needed to win in a season. We are down several starters but still getting wins. Our pen has been solid, something people thought would be a dumpster fire this season coming into season. Our starters overall have been very good too, despite using 7 different starters so far.

Your comment assumes that when he gets to MLB teams will just throw it right down the middle knowing it is unlikely he will hit HR. First, we do not know, unless you have been watching him, I just assume you have not, what kind of pitches he has seen and how he does on them. Maybe because he is one of better hitters at top of lineup he is getting pitched around with not much to really swing at. I liken him to Luis Arraez, I assume you must not think much of him as he does not hit for power either and teams do not walk him much, but he still has a career 375 OBP. Second, Martin was not the only one in the Berrios trade and the other guy has yet to give up a run in 21 innings pitched in AA this year.

The stat of CS% does not mean a catcher is bad at throwing runners out per se. As the quote in article says he is 1 for 5. Not sure the 4 that were made against him, but much of the time pitcher has much to do with it, and the runner. I mean if a pitcher is slow to the plate and the runner is like Buck do we say the catch sucks, or just nothing he can do? I would even argue catching a lot of guys normally means teams are willing to run on you. Now if the bases taken and the CS percent is low that is bad. I remember LeCroy was once pulled mid-inning while with nationals because there was like 6 stolen bases on him in the inning. That is someone that cannot throw out runners. Not catcher, but I remember Manny Ramirez having pretty high assist numbers in the OF, putting up 19 one year, 17 another year. He played 149 games each of those years for a total of 36 assists in 298 games. Buck has 18 career assists in 497 career games. Does that mean Manny was better at throwing out runners? No not at all, it means teams were willing to run against Manny because he was terrible and would get lucky some times. People hardly run on Buck, unless they know they will make it because he is great at throwing runners out. Saying a guy is bad at throwing runners out because he only got 1 of 5 means nothing. How many times could they have run on him? Did he even have a chance to get the runner out? I mean Jeffers may have had perfect throws and the fielder did not catch it, or the runner stole it off the pitcher.

Glad to see Lewis debut, not happy with why he is debuting. Hopefully Correa is not out long and will only be about a month. What would be even better is when Correa is ready to come back Lewis has forced his way into the lineup.

What about Winder, he sure looked good so far too? Even if some of the vets fall off, he may step in like he has so far.

Games like last night will happen in a 162 game season. Not worth dwelling on it. Just about every break went against the Twins in that one. Just do not let it compound to additional games. My biggest concern is this is 2 starts in a row where Bundy was not good. I would agree better defense and he most likely does not give up nearly as many runs. For sure in the 4th they only give up a couple. The first hit should have been caught but the CF broke so late. Miranda had a ball go through his glove as well. However, Bundy still gave up some HR and hard contact as well as a couple of bad walks. I just hope this is not a sign of Bundy moving forward and that Rocco does not keep sending him out there if he is cooked. We have depth we do not need to send out a vet that keeps losing just because we have them. I am willing to give Bundy a few more starts after his first three very good starts, and even last one he settled in for a few good innings, but lets not replay JA Happ and Shoemaker of last year.

I guess to me the question is what do you mean by worry? Do you worry he will not be an MLB player? Do you worry he will not be an all-star? Do you worry he will not be an MVP? Do you worry he will not be a hall of famer? I guess if you expected him to be an MVP candidate year in and year out with gold glove defense at SS then be worried, because it is unlikely he will do that. If you expect he will be a faster Luis Arraez then do not be worried at all. If you have super high expectations for Marten then be worried he will not meet them, but if you think he will get on base at a high percentage, steal a good amount of bases, and can play defense somewhere, then I would not be worried at all. No he will not hit double digit HR but he very well may be able to lead off, steal 40 plus bases, and play adequate defense somewhere, including some time at CF if needed. If you wanted him to step in and hit 20 plus HR drive in 100 plus RBI every year well look somewhere else. I am not worried about Martin being an above average MLB player at all. I am not worried he will flop and never make the majors. Maybe he will develop more power but we do not need 20 plus HR from every guy in our line up. Getting on base at the percent he does, with his speed will still play at the MLB level.

My main comment is the writer talking about how Jeffers has less power than Garver. Outside of his 31 HR season, when everyone was hitting a ton of HR, Garver has been limited in his power. Jeffers hit 14 HR in 293 PA last year, Garver had 13 in 243. In 2018, Garver had 7 in 335 PA. I know people love to talk about the 31 HR season like that was Garver regular self, and not that it was a loaded baseball season. If you go by pure HR to PA ratio Jeffers is basically on par with Garver over his career. Even better if you take out the crazy 2019 year. Many people wanted Jeffers traded and Garver kept, which I thought was crazy as Jeffers was better defender and on par offense overall. Yes, if Garver was always putting up 2019 numbers then Garver had great value, but a single outlier season does not make a career. Jeffers is years younger, and putting up better numbers than Garver.

Unless they are a relief pitcher at the AAA or dominate at AA I do not care too much about minor league relief guys. It is mainly that if a guy is a relief pitcher at low A, generally, he will not do all to well for a career. Some will, but the most successful MLB relief pitchers were normally a minor league starter for some period.