diehardtwinsfan

wouldn't be surprised if he's tiring out a bit. College ball doesn't play every day like the pros do. This is his first year in a truly full season.

I don't think managers are overrated. They have a few jobs that are hard to quantify: Maintain clubhouse chemistry/personalities.Developing younger players (more so in losing years obviously, but this is a part of the job).Most importantly, always put your team in the best shot to succeed. Not just on a nightly basis, but for 162 games.The last one is the most important, and also the hardest to do. I don't know if they'll ever come up with a WAR stat for managers, but I would have a tough time believing that a good manager doesn't add a few wins over the course of the season by making consistently good choices with line ups, substitutions, the occasional SB/bunt/pitch out/hit and run decisions, and the bull pen. You won't see a number on it because it's hard to quantify what might have happened had a decision been made differently, but being unable to understand how to quantify that doesn't make the conversation irrelevant, and I think trying to boil down a complex decision tree to luck and/or overrated is a big mistake. In a lost season, much of this can be put on hold in favor of playing experience, but when you're contending, this has to be front and center. I didn't like Gardy because he setup his team to fail way too often, and they were usually contenders. Molly has done plenty of that too, and it's even more annoying given that contention ended a long time ago, and he still chose to overuse a few key arms, which sets us up for potential injuries and problems that could potentially be in play come 2019. I really don't care as much about his lineups today versus say April/May timeframe, but come next spring, that's pretty important again. His pen use, right now, really bothers me. He should be resting guys like Hildy in favor of letting some of the kids learn how to get batters out in higher leverage situations.

his results, for one. Go take a look at his AA numbers in his final season in AA with us. I liked Rodriguez personally, but he was at best a bubble candidate on the 40 man at that point. His ERA was barely under 4. His K/9 rate was under 8. He was also 25 in AA. He wasn't taken in Rule V either, so everyone else 'missed' it too. He left as a FA to a place where he had less competition. That's not bad.

I wouldn't be surprised if Odorizzi was traded this offseason... i guess that depends on how the FO views guys like Gonsalves, Mejia, Stewart, Romero etc. There's too many of them and not enough spots. Guys like Mejia and May are out of options as well. I think trading Gibson woudl be a mistake. Extending him (depending on the length) might not be a bad option, but that one is fraught with risks too (see Hughes, Phil). If he was willing to go for a 3 year deal, I'd probably do it.

Not sure I'd call Cave a cast off just yet. He's a late bloomer on a loaded roster where there was no room. He could end up being very good. Right now, he's an upgrade over Grossman (which we need). If we're lucky, he becomes another Brian Dozier.

I think Wade is a better prospect. He has a bit of power and great plate discipline. Not sure how they rate defensively. If not for Cave, I think Wade could take the Grossman role in 2019.

yeah, I think a case can be made for shutting down a few people. Hildy's been off. I'd DL him. Same goes for Reed and Santana

baseball cards.... brings back memories.

I'd try and trade him, which probably means sitting it out as I doubt another GM offers a ticket for him. I would not extend him. He's been bad for 2 years now. We need to set our sight a bit higher for 2019.

well, he profiled as a workhorse major league starter who could be an above average pitcher... and when he got demoted to the pen, it wasn't due to performance, it was due to Pelfrey coming back... so I think some of us want to see what he can do. I'm not against him ending up in the pen, I just think he could be a better starter.

The only reason Thorpe didn't get pushed to Etown as a 17 year old was that he was completing high school... think about that. He was a very good prospect and had 2 years off. It's not surprising that he's regaining that form. Hoping that continues. He could be a very good ML pitcher for a long time.

The one thing I wouldn't do is save my best reliever for closer. If May's ultimate place is in the pen (and I don't think it should be), then closer is not what I'd tap him for. I do think that a rotation between Hildy, Busenitz, Moya, and Duffy would be smart.

Didn't JJ Hardy get his time manipulated in a similar fashion when he was with the Brewers? I don't believe he won that... and honestly, Buxton has zero ground to stand on if the Twins did it. His performance speaks for itself, and a hot few weeks in August isn't going to change that, nor should it.

Funny thing is that those weren't the only prep guys they took. Blazovic and Benninghoff were both taken (though Benninghoff was already in TJS recovery at the time), though neither of these guys have really shined so far. On the college side, the got Tyler Wells and Griffen Jax. This draft is looking to be a monster draft.

It's also completely legal. The union can cry about this all the want, and all the Twins need to do is point to Buxton's results this year. He wouldn't be the first guy in all of baseball who got sent home in September. It's a crowded roster, and the Twins could simply state that they need to get a good look at Field, Cave, Austin, and Ralley, and quite frankly, they'd be right. Again, Buxton put himself in this situation. As far as I'm concerned, he get the Sano treatment, fly to FTM, and spend 4 hours a day in the weight room. That kid needs to bulk up. I'd also make it clear to him that the plan is to start in him the minors next year, no matter how good his spring is... so put in the work needed to get his bat up to speed as well as the work needed to make him a bit less brittle.

I don't think this one is too hard. He finishes the season in Rochester. If the Twins were in it, Id' call him up. We aren't, and Buxton is a big reason for that. He stays home. His instructions are to bulk up a bit this offseason. He needs more padding so to speak, even if he loses a step. My plan for 2019 is simple. He has an option. It will be used. Buxton will earn his next trip to Minnesota.

wondered if Thorpe would get bumped with Stewart going up. AK is killing it. So is Rooker. Defintiely wouldn't mind getting Rooker to AAA.

I was going to suggest Tyler Wells.

Are you sure he didn't understand the context? He didn't acknowledge it in his statement, but that's a far cry from not understanding it.

Rodriguez was a sleeper. He was a personal favorite of mine as well, but it's hard to fault the Twins there. He spent several years as a CF and then switched to pitcher with mixed results. you can certainly argue the bloodlines, but the only option the Twins had was to put him on the 40 man at the end of 2017 after posting an ERA just under 4 in AA with a 7.4 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, and a fairly high hit rate too, as a 25 year old in his first taste of AA. Just about any of us would have done the same in that scenario. Rodriguez wasn't enough of a prospect to be protected.

I don't believe Judge was ever seriously considered as a top pick... by anyone. Manaea was, but he also got hurt and fell pretty hard due to it if I remember right. KC pulled off a big underslot move to get him.

That number has (I believe) been trending down. He struggled a lot with this when he first got called up. He's been much better in that area over the last month or two. I think he had to learn that AAA hitters are a bit more selective than the ones in AA.

The picked up a high risk/high reward kid. Not sure what else we expected. I think this return is fine.

I remember him getting tossed as a bench coach under Gardy at one point. I think he threw a bat out into the field or something like that in frustration.

He won't be on the 40 man next year, so I highly doubt he's going to be the guy to cover a DL stint unless they only keep 2 catchers on the 40 man.