Cap'n Piranha

Pensacola, as a TEAM, has a 1.77 ERA. They are almost 1.5 runs better than second place Montgomery at 3.23. They also have 210 k's (10.5 a game), most in the league by 25 (Mobile at 185, which is 9.7 a game).

This also might just be Marwin. Historically, he's struggled against breaking balls (he grades out worst against the curve, and then sliders). This year, he's seeing those pitches a combined 37.8% of the time--fastballs are at 36.2%. Until he shows an ability to handle those pitches, this isn't going to get better.

In a doubleheader, you can call up a 26th man. They could have brought up Stewart, Littell, or Thorpe to pitch the Saturday night cap as the 26th man, and it would have been less stress on the team than the two total innings they got from Romero. It would have then allowed Perez to start on Sunday, Gibson on Monday, Odorizzi on Tuesday, and Pineda last night. Personally, I think MLB should also institute a rule anytime an unscheduled doubleheader causes a team to play 6 games in 5 days; in addition to the 26th man the day of the DH, they should be granted a waiver to bring up a player for the 6th game in that string, so long as they "deactivate" another player so there's no competitive disadvantage to the competing team. In other words, the Twins could have brought up Stewart to pitch last night, and instead of designating Cave, simply deactivated Pineda for a game.

Berrios career minor league numbers--591.2 IP, 2.77 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 9.6 k/9, 2.5 bb/9 Gibson career minor league numbers--410 IP, 3.36 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 8.1 k/9, 2.5 bb/9 Stewart career minor league numbers--582.2 IP, 3.41 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 6.5 k/9, 3.4 bb/9 That's why Stewart gets a shorter leash than Berrios or Gibson--he hasn't earned a longer one with his performance in the minors.

Why is Marwin mad at Garver, and why he won't just handle it himself?

Believe it or not, that was the first one. Or at least the first pitch fangraphs deemed in the zone that he did not swing at.

Me either, but at least he has the capability.

I did the same--second date. Other than I tried to make fettucine alfredo with chicken, and ended up serving undercooked chicken. Somehow she didn't get food poisoning, and even more miraculously, still dated and eventually married me.

I also will add my opinion on Garver--I think it's a larger trend with Baldelli that I am worried might be emerging. Rocco seems to struggle thinking more than a day in advance. With the amount of roster flexibility Gonzalez, Astudillo, Adrianza, and to an extent Cave give you, we should never need to have more than 2 of our 7 good hitters (Kep, Polanco, Cruz, Rosario, Garver, Buxton, and Astudillo) out of the lineup.

My favorite part of this series has been hearing the Canadian National Anthem before every game. Except for, ironically, today. The Blue Jays broadcast did not play it.

It is for the Blue Jay's radio team. Their play-by-play guy opined "Buxton can still motor". Also, they are pronouncing Rosario like Rose-air-e-o. In a game with so many Hispanic players, a name as straightforward as Rosario should not be a challenge.

This is the early front-runner for Post of the Day.

In many cases, a window installer, or carpenter, or electrician is actually told where they have to work. Until they gain seniority, they are in many cases limited to the jobs they can take, and their wages are capped. It is not a financial risk to be paid less at the beginning of your career, until you have demonstrated a track record of performance. Working for less than your market value, in hopes of in the future being paid more than your market value is simply a strategy to maximize career earnings. If that seems like a bad strategy, the players are more than welcome to reject the possibility of a career where the minimum salary is approximately 30 times the overall wage, and 11 times the average household income.

From what I've read at the first link below, it sounds like equipment is available at no charge, either through organizations or agents. Therefore, if a player is paying for their own equipment, it's akin to any of us working at a company that provides free coffee, yet still going to Starbucks. It's not a financial risk, it's a lifestyle choice. Opportunity cost is also not the same as financial risk; in many cases they might be complete opposites. If I deposit 100% of my paycheck into an FDIC ensured bank, rather than invest in shares of Amazon, I have taken the risk that Amazon won't go up. That doesn't mean I've taken a financial risk, as my money is guaranteed to be there, in the exact amount I deposited, barring a complete and total collapse of the United States government. It's the same deal for players; their wages will always be there, in the guaranteed amount, barring collapse of their organization. There is no risk to their finances at all, generally speaking, only a perceived chance they could have earned more elsewhere. Billionaires also do take risk. Franchises are ephemeral things, with no intrinsic value, and no assurance that they will always be worth anything, let alone hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. 50 years from now, baseball might only be played at semi-pro levels; owning the Twins might equate to owning a bunch of decades old trophies in terms of value. The risk owners take is that their franchise will have long-term value, and while that may seem like a pretty low risk, ask anyone who owned Enron stock in the late 1990s about the potential risks of owning a long-term asset. https://www.milb.com/about/faqs-business#15

I said financial risk, not occupational risk. Players are not required to purchase their own equipment, or hire their own coaches; in fact, if they're part of a major league organization they are probably discouraged from doing so. My post specifically referred to investment in the assets of a major league franchise, to which players do not financially contribute. At all. Yes, they do invest their time, but that does not mean they are investing in the organization. For example, let's say you work as a window installer, and you install 10 new windows in someone's house. Because of the new windows, they are able to sell the house for an extra $10,000. Do you, as the installer, receive a portion of that extra revenue? After all, your time invested, doing a job, is what created that value, right? The answer of course is no, unless you specifically had an agreement with the owner that in addition to, or in lieu of, your pay, you would receive a cut of revenue. As for players supposedly taking more risk since they spend all their time working to be ballplayers, and many don't make it, again, that is not a financial risk, it is a decision risk. It's no different than someone accepting a contract job hoping to be offered a full-time role but not getting one. When accepting this type of role, individuals need to weigh the opportunity cost, and decide accordingly, but simply giving your time to an organization does not make you a financial stakeholder in it. If it did, any number of fans who have spent thousands upon thousands of hours following and contributing to a teams' success should receive part of the profits.

Hall of Fame outfielder Rogers Hornsby would vehemently disagree with you.

The Owners are taking all the financial risks. Literally 100% of them. No player, on any team, pays for coaches, travel, lodging, food, equipment, marketing, stadium updates, etc. They show up when they are required to, and collect their guaranteed, agreed-upon salary regardless of how either the business, or the player performs. If the players want an equal percentage of profits, they need to contribute an equal percentage of investment, which means in bad years the players might lose money. None of them are willing to do that, and until they do, I have zero sympathy for the argument that a bunch of (mostly) multi-millionaires accepting zero risk are somehow being cheated.

He has some nice breaking balls, but he's inefficient with his pitches. Once the Twins stopped chasing them and made him throw more pitches, he unraveled a little bit, and needed nearly 100 pitches to get through 5. Very Odorizzi-ish.

Jawohl!!!

Why no Cron here? Move Austin to the outfield, and Marwin to second.

That is a ridiculous catch! Nice job Austin!

Dammit.

Because then Cave has to play center. That's ok, but not ideal.