Trov

I am glad we can finally say the season is a wash. I said that in May, but some fans still held hope saying if we can just get things together. We are not the only team playing worse than expected, but we are playing much worse than expected. Very few players are playing at level we were hoping coming into season. Time to shop around see what teams are willing to give up for players we are willing to part with. I do not feel we need a full tear down, but a big retool is needed. Here is to hoping some of our young pitchers can come up and be good.

I would never use past seasons to dictate how you move forward in a current season. Unless the team can one show they can beat winning teams by trade deadline it does not matter if you can make playoffs, you will just lose again. I am not saying to do a tear down, but if they are not a plan for next year or beyond, ask around to see what you can get.

Of the three players listed, I would say the only big miss was Anderson. The other two we do not really know yet how bad it may have been. Yes, Cave had terrible start on on 60-day, but you never make plans saying well this guy will get put on 60 day DL. If they knew that of course they cut him and keep Wade. Wade is doing pretty much as expected, it just turns out it was wrong call between the two, but not like at the time people were crying terrible decision. With Badoo I still say wait and see. Many rookies are flashes in the pan, not sayin he will be, but he was several spots down the depth chart on OF, and it was not expected a team would take him in rule 5 this year because his low numbers. Detroit said worth the risk and it may pay off for them. Again, he was not listed as a top prospect by any place, so if we missed on him on self-scouting so did every national scouting group for years, and every team that passed on him in draft. You could even spin it to say we did such a good job of scouting that we took him and we had too many good people to choose from. I am sure if it was a 45 man roster or maybe even a 42 Badoo would have made it.

I am real interested to see how high Miranda jumps on the mid-season prospect list. I read he is playing more third lately, is that accurate? His possible emergence of a top hitting prospect may change some plans moving forward with team. He is 2nd or 3rd base is my understanding. If he can hit, they will find a spot though.

Berrios is the one to give the contract to between them. I would say Buxton adds more value when he plays, but he will only play 50% of the games, if that. So I would offer Buxton shorter term contract to prove he can play a season or two healthy, or give him longer deal but for half the money you would give someone and explain you play 50% of the games so you are only worth 50% of what you could be.

I can understand wanting to examine the front office after a few seasons to see where we stand, but I would also caution over reacting during a down season. I did not review all the deals over the years, but feel they have made some good, and some bad. I challenge you to find one FO that has always made all the right moves in baseball. First, for trades you cannot look at them in a vacuum of players in and players out and how each has performed since. This is because there are many things that go into a trade decisions, like pending FA, possible replacements in minors or via trades, and I am sure many more. If you just say well this player did better than than players we brought in, that is not a good way to look at trades, in my opinion. I would rather trade a guy away that will walk anyways for nothing and get something in return, or if we have a player ready to fill in why have them blocked by an expendable player? Second, the FA we brought in have been a mix I feel. We hit on a few, missed on a few, just like every team. Yes, Donaldson has not played up to contract, but how many people were complaining when they made the signing? People discussed the risks but many teams were looking to bring him in, we were not bidding against ourselves. Also, I think Pineda was a good signing, Dobnak was found in independent ball and has played well above what was expected. They have missed on some starters and pen arms, but that happens to all teams. To me, unless you can point to moves that at the time people would have made instead, it is hard to use hindsight to say they should have made move 'x'. Should every GM that did not draft Mike Trout be fired? I think giving the FO a couple more years should be done. They came into an organization that did nothing with advanced metrics, or any thing like that. They had to change the whole organization, that is not done overnight. I will agree some changes could be done and some mistakes were made, but every FO has mistakes made.

I just want to point out that they can spend how ever much they want. There is no cap. However, if the point is how much do they have to spend and not be crazy in the red then the numbers seem accurate based on pass seasons. The thing to remember though, no team should spend on FA just because they have money. That gets teams into bad contracts. If you cannot get the guy you want for long term deal then fill what you need with 1 year deals if you can. Too often teams that want to spend used to spend big on the top FA on the market, not thinking about they may not actually be wroth top FA money. Being the best of average players does not mean you should get superstar money. There are some high end SS and starting pitchers in this class. The rest is pretty thin in my opinion. The issue with the starters are most are getting older and could still demand high level contracts. We will see what they do when they do it.

I will not get too excited for sweeping one of the worst teams in baseball, coming into the year this would have been expected of us. If we can get on a hot stretch though and be near .500 at the break, then I will see some hope. The problem is every time we look like maybe we have something going, we just fall flat on face again.

I have said for a long time that you can never trust bullpen pitchers to be what you expect year in and year out, even stretches throughout the season. I think this has been even worse in recent years with the increased used of pen pitchers. We expect greatness from every pen guy it seems, but when you use them so much then it increases the chances they will perform poorly at least one of the times. For example. If you have the starter got 5 innings or less, even when doing well. That leaves at least 4 innings from the pen. Normally, we have been using 1 guy per inning, sometimes more. That means at least 5 pitchers being used in games, 4 from the pen. If one has an off night, that increases the chance you lose a close game. I know the team wants their best arms to possibly be available if needed, but feel there should be times to let a guy who is doing well to pitch an extra inning. The team seem so concerned with injury, which has merit, but is potentially sacrificing output. I am not saying I know better than the team who I would have done studies and looked into this, but for whatever reason this year has been a huge train wreck. We will have games where the pen pitches well, but we really need to get more innings out the starters, so we do not rely on the pen always getting it done and needing you top guys each game to be at best.

Based on way he is playing I think just about any team would have interest in him, not just those four. The real question is what are the teams willing to give up in return and does it meet what the Twins want. I mean if the teams are only willing to give offensive first corner OF prospects I would say no to any team giving up that, because we have plenty of those. If we have a top SS or third base and pitching prospects with possible future defensive replacement in CF, then I would be in on that situation. In stead of telling us who would want him, which should be every team, tells us what you think teams have to give us.

From everything I have seen and read, I am much higher on Balazovic, than I am on Duran. Duran has the velo but cannot control it. Balazovic seems much more of a pitcher that will get outs, where Duran is a thrower and yet to learn how to pitch.

The spin rate based on substance issue is an interesting one. Specifically, how many teams are widely using it versus not. So many cheating sandals have happened because players had not spoken up and became the norm. After being caught players speak out saying I wish I would have said something before. Back in the day when there was very little player movement it did not benefit a player from speaking out against his own team, even in private, to play the game straight up. Now with all the player movement it does benefit hitters to tell pitchers to not cheat because maybe next season, or even later in the season they will be on opposite sides. Then it benefits the hitter to tell on the pitcher. So maybe Donaldson told his pitchers to not use substances. I read that since the announced crack down, batting averages took a jump, over short sample, but spin rates took a huge dive as well. So it is clear it was happening and reports are just about every pitcher was using something. Now with the crack down it will be interesting to see who holds up to past numbers and who drops off.

Relievers are very volatile bunch. They will have up and down years. Very few will be top reliever for many years in a row. Having a good stretch or season does not mean really much.

The frustrating part about it all is if they just had a few more hits in key situations and a little better pitching late in games we would be in way different season. I kept having hope they would turn it around, but at this point I am convinced they will not turn it around. They will keep losing all the close games.

Anyone who is not in the plans for next year or beyond should be up for trades. Even if you get very little in return, something is better than nothing, unless the team feels keeping them will help with possible development of players to replace them with.

I believe location and changing of speed are the two most important part of pitching. Sliders can be good mixed with a good fastball, but fastball changeup has always been a great combo. If you can locate the changeup and have it truly look like a fastball. I think every hitter will say change in velo is hardest to adjust to. I think every pitcher needs to work on changeups, or at least learn to change speeds of pitches they throw.

I am 100% with you. I personally have watched much less over the last few weeks because the play is not fun to watch. In the first couple months they lost so many games by failing to produce in key situations. I can recall at least 5 to 10 games off top of head that a poor decision or failing to make routine play has cost them games. I know you cannot always point to a single play, unless it was literally the last play of the game, that made the difference. However, late in games they have just made so many bad plays and the pen cannot get guys out in high pressure situations it seems.

I would like to see Gordon get a decent shot. Not sure if it was all health, or that he just did not fit the new FO type of guy, but he really fell down the organizational depth charts. I am not expecting all star numbers from him, but I bet he could be a super utility guy for a few years.

The issue with Tampa is they will not give up much of value for him. Unless we get a bidding war in trades for Cruz I do not expect much in return for him. He may have some interest but at best we will be getting a low level prospect that hopefully will be a diamond in the rough.

The tanking the Astros did was not just about getting top picks. They also were able to get top international signing money, and was savvy in the drafting of getting guys in draft at above slot money by saving in other areas. They also messed up in their drafts as you mentioned. I am not a fan of "tanking" mainly because that is not entertaining baseball either. However, what it also allowed was to load up on prospects of a similar age to all hit peaks at same time, like what KC did to win their ship. You are able to decide who will help, and then supplement by trading your other prospects. The thing is, you can never just put the "best" talent on the field and expect to win. You still need to have them perform. The best franchises normally have good systems and good development to keep rotating talent in. In baseball you can never count on a number 1 pick to carry your franchise for years. Even the Angels, who have had the best player by far for years still never make the playoffs. In part because they were over paying older vets, which meant they may have passed on better players because of the money they were paying the older players. Even teams that can afford bad contracts still do not want to pay a guy to not play. The Angels have failed to develop much talent, pitching mainly, over the years. They would keep going out and signing the top guy for the FA, but those guys were not always worth the money. They never really develop talent. Tanking will not get the job done, but there is something to be said with keeping your talents on the same timelines so they peak together. However, some will want the talent to overlap so you never have very lean years.

I am guessing the FO is both taking and making calls on just about any vet on the team. If you feel the value is there, make the moves I say. Do not have a fire sale give away though for guys that can be traded in offseason or provide something to team next year.

If Twins do not have a winning June, time to trade any expiring contract and play any prospect to see if they have anything for next season. The amount of injuries this year is a little crazy, and I am sure some players had been playing through some issues in hopes of helping the team. I am not sure why this has happened so much this year. Does the team need to look at training staff change up?

In terms of Simmons, this is why metrics for defense are good to look at. Many fans will see what they see as bad plays, but not pay attention to the many good plays that seem routine, but compared to the rest of the league are actually very good. Errors are a terrible way to judge any player on defense. The best defenders will many times have the most errors because they get to balls others would not. The official score never takes into account the fact that very few players would have even had a chance on a play. They have looked at some players that win gold gloves because they have low errors and make some good plays, but when the metrics came out the player was considered below average defender. Derick Jeter late in career is one of them.

I wonder if coaches have approached him to take a little bit off the velo to get better command? I do not know if that is the issue, but if you cannot throw your 100 mph for a strike or near a strike it does not matter. To make things worse if you miss up and in with one of those you can end a career simply because you cannot control your pitch.

Personally, I would want him extended for the right price. He seems like a guy that can pitch for a few more years. He is not an Ace, but he is steady and would be helpful in a rotation. That being said. If a good offer comes along, you do it. We can always bring him back after the season. Teams have done that in the past. Trade a vet on expiring deal, only to sign again after the season. I am always a fan of stocking up assets.