chpettit19

FYI, Bundy signed a minor league deal with the Mets today.

I like Moran a lot. He could be either a late inning weapon, or a multi-inning weapon. Or both, I guess. But he's also the perfect example of relievers being hard to predict. If he's on, he's lights out. If he's not, he's a disaster waiting to happen. With that changeup he doesn't need pin point control. Get some early fastballs over for strikes and then let that change eat. A pitch like that should give him a chance for a really nice career. I'm excited to see how he does this year. Could make the pen really good if he's good Moran most of the time.

No coaching? If they put effort into fixing his swing? Cruz is the only one who cared about Sano? Ineffective leadership? Twins dropped the ball? What evidence do you have of any of this? The Twins are a professional baseball organization. They gave Sano tens of millions of dollars. You don't think they were willing to provide him any help he may have wanted? They just gave him millions of dollars and tossed him aside to figure it out on his own? Come on now. This isn't little league. The major league coaches don't take guys into the cages and force swing changes. Miguel Sano is a 29 year old man. He made his own choices about whether or not he wanted to "fix his swing." Carlos Correa is one of the 20 best baseball players on the planet and he was in the cage all last year working with Popkins to adjust his swing. But that's because he asked for it. If Sano wanted help from coaches on his swing, approach, physical conditioning, whatever they would've provided it. They gave him individualized plans for every offseason. They would've provided any help he wanted. And very well may have put in tons of work with him. If players don't improve the things we want them to it's because they either didn't want/seek help, or physically weren't capable of fixing it. There is no professional player that a team is simply not willing to help, or not putting effort in to help. I can't comprehend the idea that the Twins paid Sano over $30 million, but weren't willing, or trying to, help him perform.

I think they've actually debunked this. The newspaper never sponsored the event, or had any official tie to it. It was known as the "World's Championship Series" early on, and eventually shortened to "World Series" over the years. It really was named for the idea of being the baseball champions of the world.

I'd absolutely love that. I'd trade the Twins for an actual world league in a heartbeat.

Maeda started 32 games his first season with the Dodgers. He started at least 20 games all 4 years there, and was over 25 starts in 3 of those seasons. He was a starter before he came to the Twins.

This is some encouraging news! Will be good to see what he looks like over there today. That lineup may be a glimpse into the likely lineup opening day. Vazquez at catcher hitting 7th with Taylor 9th would be more likely, but I think the rest may be what Rocco is planning for next Thursday.

I remember all of that. But you're trying to tie that to over extending Bundy and Archer. That's the disconnect. You're claiming the bullpen fiasco caused Bundy and Archer to both be over extended before the end of April. You've chosen the timeframe. It's April. The Twins bullpen threw 84.2 innings in April of 2022. That was 16th fewest in baseball. They'd had 65 appearances. That was the 2nd fewest in the entire league. Your argument doesn't follow the actual happenings of the season. That's my point.

That's definitely the biggest question mark to me at this point. But the reports I've read say he's playing catch at over 150 feet and taking grounders at 3rd. I'm mostly just trying to project some positivity. Wouldn't be surprised with him at either 3B or 1B. Just gonna choose the positive option at this point!

Before what fiasco? Cuz you showed 3 Bundy starts, and 4 Archer starts. You showed the month of April. There is absolutely no credibility in your argument that any "bullpen fiasco" over extended Dylan Bundy. He didn't make it through his 4th start without falling apart. I mean you didn't even get out of the first month of the season and you've claimed they were over extended. 3 starts isn't over extending anyone. Carlos Rodon threw 178 innings last year. That was 32nd most in all of major league baseball. That wasn't "beyond his profile?" I'm not buying any of this. 3 starts of 5, 5.1, and 5 innings were too much for Bundy who you say "doesn't have the arm to pitch many 6 inning games," and Carlos Rodon averaging just over 5.5 innings in 2021 was too much for him, but averaging 5.75, and throwing the 32nd most innings in baseball, in 2022 was within "his profile." Yeah, not of that tracks. Edit to add: I haven't given any "ideology." I've simply refuted your idea of overextending these pitchers. You say Archer was only good to go for 3-5 innings at a time. He never went over that range. Not 1 single time all season. Yet you say they over extended him by literally doing exactly what you say he was capable of. You can't have it both ways. Bundy you say couldn't go 6 innings and provide a sample size of him not going 6 innings at all and say it was over extending him. You can't have it both ways. They were within your "profiles" of them and still weren't good. Your point just doesn't have any factual standing.

C: Vazquez 1B: Gallo 2B: Gordon 3B: Miranda SS: Correa LF: Larnach CF: Taylor RF: Kepler DH: Buxton P: Lopez

I'm not going to argue that with you. Multiple instances of teams below .500 through the first 3, and even 4, months of the season were provided to you yesterday. Yes, every game counts as 1 game in the standings. But that's not even what my point was. My point was that the actions you take in April have an impact on the actions you can take later in the year. Actions you take in 2023 have an impact on the actions you can take in 2024. What you do now effects what you can do in the future. Doing things to maximize your precious April win total can have a negative effect on your ability to win games in July/August. The goal isn't to win the most games you can in April, it's to win the most games you can out of 162. Burning out the bullpen again by putting Ober in a rotation of either 5 or 6 guys and not having him be able to complete more than 3 or 4 innings would not be the best strategy for maximizing the Twins win total over 162 games, in my opinion.

Over extended? Bundy pitched into the 7th inning 1 time last year. Your data set of "before he was over extended" was 3 starts. If having to start 3 games, with extra rest between the first 2, is "over extending" him he shouldn't have been in the rotation to start. Because the next 2 starts after his first 3 went 6 earned in 6 and 9 earned in 3.2. So 5 starts into his season he already had 2 blowup games. That doesn't match my definition of "quality" or "consistent." As for "over extending" Archer, he made it into the 6th inning 0 times last year. Not once did he go more than 5 innings. He only made it into the 5th 10 times in 25 starts. If 4 innings a start is "over extending" him he wasn't a "quality" or "consistent" starter. I don't even know how you can try to argue that.

I had a meeting after Maeda's first inning so I missed the end, but saw the ERod highlight after and that swing is beautiful. Really hoping for a massive breakout from him this year and to see him hit his way to AA by the end of it. Julien is doing everything in his power to make the Twins put him on the opening day roster. He's got an awfully strong case for the opening day 2B job, even though his glove still needs a lot of work. Hard to not like the bat right now. I thought Lopez looked solid for the end of spring. No concerns there for me. It sounds like Maeda started to find his footing as the day went on. Not expecting him to be lights out in April, but him finding his footing over the next couple weeks is a reasonable expectation and would have the Twins in a good spot for the year.

I want him in the bigs, too. I think he's one of the 13 best pitchers and he's earned a spot. That spot just wouldn't be the opening day rotation for me. Ramping him up over the first 2 or 3 months is to keep his inning total manageable. They're not going to take him from 56 to 156 innings. 56 to 100 or 120ish is more plausible. So either they can manage the number of appearances he makes, or the number of innings he pitches in those appearances. It's why I don't think the opening day rotation is the right place for him. But trying to get him to 100-120 innings pitched without any real IL stints this year keeps him on the table for the rotation in 2024. I think it's worth that gamble to try. But the first sign that he can't hold up this year would have me just putting him in the pen. A 2 inning arm out of the pen is still a useful player.

Duck and cover! I wasn't a big Lopez guy before the trade, or even at the time of the trade, but watching him in the WBC, and his spring starts, has allowed him to grow on me. I may have sold him short. He may be our best arm. I'm excited to watch him this season.

I don't have nearly enough personal knowledge of pro athlete contract insurance to speak on it. I just know it's been reported by a bunch of people with way better connections than me that it's fully covered and the Mets won't lose a dime. Wouldn't put it past the insurance company to try not to pay, though. They're definitely good at that!

Oh, we're definitely on the same page about the real solution. Only ones who seem to disagree happen to be the only ones that truly matter, unfortunately. I actually think Ober is the answer to the multiple inning idea. I have no problem with trying to keep him as a starter again this year, but the second he gets some little injury that ends up lasting 3 months he'd be moved to the pen for me. His talent is so high that it's so frustrating to see him unable to stay healthy. But it's a pretty substantial track record of bad health to this point. 50, two inning, dominant appearances a season isn't the worst situation ever, and it's a role I think he could fill.

Interesting. He wouldn't be anywhere near the bottom of my list, and definitely wouldn't send him down to get Ober's 3 or 4 inning starts into a 6 man rotation, but to each their own.

I'm not sure I follow the idea that MLB owners will be against the WBC in the future. They created it. It's an MLB product. The owners are making a ton of money off it. It's written into the CBA to ensure they continue making money on it. As the article noted, the Mets don't lose a dime from the Diaz injury because insurance covers his contract. Maybe they could lose some postseason revenue if they don't make it cuz of him, but if losing your closer really blows up your season your team probably wasn't that great to start. Plus the revenue Cohen got from the WBC probably makes up for a decent chunk of postseason revenue losses. Most of the owners are in this to make money. The WBC makes them money. Not sure why people think they'll be against it ever.

If you're putting all 6 in the rotation, and Hoffman in the pen, are you sending Moran down? Just curious. I think we'd all vote that Pagan is just sent packing, but there seem to be 12 spots pretty well locked up with the last spot being a debate between Ober and someone like Hoffman. Who would your 13 be? With the handicap of having to carry Pagan.

I think the concerns about them are very different right now. There's no inning limit on Maeda. Just performance. And I mentioned in one of my other comments that there's concern about that right now. There's not a physical reason to believe Maeda won't be a 6 inning, 105 pitch guy. He threw 75 on Sunday. He'll make at least 1 more spring appearance and I'd bet he tops 80 in that one. The concern for him is whether or not he can get his control back where it needs to be. That's very different than Ober not having topped 50 pitches yet, and only having topped 100 innings once in his career. I'm all on board with the piggyback approach. It's how I'd do it. Limits Maeda's exposure early as he gets his command back, and limits Ober's innings since we know he can't hold up for a season. I don't bank on any starter making 32 starts any season. It's why I like their depth, and am not worried about Varland and SWR getting innings this year. They'll get plenty. My plan would be for Maeda to start every 5th day and go as deep as he can, through the 5th. Ober would be set to start a clean 6th inning every time. Then he goes as long as he can through the end of the game. Maybe have to use a reliever here or there with them, but significantly less than the other 4 spots in the rotation. My thing with Ober is simply that people seem to be acting like he should just be plugged in like a regular starter. He's not even built up to 3 innings yet. I don't get the thought process behind just dropping him in and expecting him not to single handedly blow up the pen by having 3 inning starts for 2 weeks then 4 inning starts. Because if he's on the roster Hoffman isn't. Gray, Ryan, Lopez, Maeda, Mahle have spots. Duran, Alcala, Pagan (gross), Thielbar, Lopez, Jax, Moran have spots. Or at least I think they should (outside Pagan). That's 12 guys. There's only 1 more spot for Ober or Hoffman. Ober is better and I'd rather have him, but you can't put him in the rotation, in my opinion. Even a 6 man rotation of 5 guys going 6 innings and Ober going 4 would destroy that bullpen. Unless we really want Pagan getting a bunch of early innings. Ober simply can't be used as a starter if he's not topping 50 pitches yet.

I'm not trying to underestimate those performers. I think Correa is one of those performers. But I don't think his desire is to maximize the Twins wins in April (which I don't think Ober being in the rotation even does, by the way) at the expense of wins in June, or maximize their wins in 2023 at the expense of their wins in 2024-2030. Taking all these other factors into account (incentives, minor league options, effect on rest of players by having player A start instead of player B, etc.) when making a decision about opening day roster isn't going against a "purity of heart" test of any kind. There are legitimate reasons why Ober shouldn't be handed a spot in a 5 man rotation that aren't some devious business strategy. Him not being able to top 50 pitches is a legitimate baseball reason to not have him in an opening day rotation. That has nothing to do with ego (I'd argue there's very few people on the planet who's ego doesn't play a role in almost every decision they make even if it's subconscious) or anything like that. There's no reason to expect Bailey Ober to top 100 innings by much this year. Definitely can't expect him to top 120. Over 32 starts that'd be less than 4 innings a start. That is a legitimate baseball reason to not have him in your opening day rotation. I don't get why we should ignore that because he's dominated 6 innings in 3 spring training games.

Fans have the luxury of living in the now exclusively (if they choose). The players, FO, and coaching staffs don't. Ignoring all future ramifications for present success would get a FO fired pretty quick. And would end up making fans mad in the long run. There's a ton that go into these decisions. It's never going to be simply about any professional team fielding their best lineup on any given day, play, year. It's just not how it works. Even if it may be nice if it were.

Mahle threw 80 pitches yesterday and topped out at 95. Maeda threw 75 on Sunday. They're built up to be able to go deep into games. Whether you think they'll be good enough to go deep into games without giving up runs is a different thing. They have the arm stamina to do it right now. Ober doesn't. That's my point. I don't believe Ober has cracked 50 pitches in an outing yet, but it's possible I missed one. If they redo Maeda's contract it doesn't matter which order they put them in. But it'd be a real bad look for the org to piggyback them and not start Maeda who has millions of dollars tied into getting starts. I don't care what order they go in, but if you want to be able to get deals signed with incentives in them in the future you can't torpedo the player's ability to reach their incentives right out of the gate in a season. And I think that's a highly debatable answer right now. Ober has looked great in short stints so far. But short starts don't help the Twins win games over the long-haul of the season. If Ober is on the opening day roster, Pagan is their most likely multi-inning reliever. Any of us want him getting a bunch of innings early because Ober can't throw more than 3 or 4 innings a start? Mahle's arm has looked completely fine, and he looked sharp to start yesterday, but lost some control as he went. Pretty normal for spring as he builds up. But not the most ideal situation. Maeda has looked rusty for sure. I think Mahle is an obvious answer for a rotation spot. The other 2 have real pluses and minuses right now.