Cap'n Piranha

This would be the Rangers steamroller that has lost 6 in a row by a combined score of 17-33?

Rocco explaining why he chose to put Duran back out for a second inning to Falvine.

ummm--Duran back out?

Just like a number of posters insisted it should be!

To be clear, you're saying that if Julien hustles (which has been pointed out might have just made the out a close play--it was in no way a guaranteed hit), nothing else changes over the course of the next 8 innings?

I wish Royce had struck out there.

You're right--much better they pitch the 10th.

And you trust anyone left in the Twins pen to trust a 1-2 run lead with a runner on second and no one out? All pitching Duran in the 9th accomplishes is ensuring Duran gets used.

Duran should never be used in any inning other than the last inning of the game, with only two exceptions. Duran allows the game to be tied, resulting in an extra inning. Another pitcher makes sense to take the 9th (say 2-3-4 is due up in the 8th, or there's a slew of lefties scheduled to bat--say out of the batters due up 4th-7th in the 8th inning are lefties); in that case I pitch Duran in the 8th, and Jax/Thielbar in the 9th.

Pitching Duran in the 9th of a tied road game is not playing for today. You have another inning (at minimum) to go. Someone has to pitch the 10th if you're going to win, so you may as well throw someone else in the 9th. Twins score in the 10th, and you have your closer in an actual save situation. Brewers score in the 9th, and at least you didn't use Duran in a loss (one where you used every other decent option). Rocco consistently fails to make the best of bad situations.

I kept wondering why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

Sort of proves the point, don't you think? MAT being hot for basically all of August, and he still has worse numbers on the year than Buxton. What happens when MAT stops being hot, or do you want to argue that MAT is having an offensive breakout halfway through his age 32 season?

57.4% Brewers going into the Adames PA, according to FG.

Caratini is a switch hitter who is better hitting lefty, Taylor has reverse splits (I know, I know, sore subject in this thread), and Yelich bats lefty. This is the right inning (on paper) for Thielbar. And yes, I added the "(on paper)" as I was typing during/after Taylor's at bat.

You said Jesse Crain is 42. Jackie Robinson's number is 42, and is not allowed to be worn by any MLB player, with the exception of Jackie Robinson Day, which is April 15. It was a torturous path, even by my Game Thread standards.

As has already been pointed out, Buxton's awful season at the plate is (at least by OPS) better than MAT's. At this point, you have to put him in CF as soon as he's activated, and if he can't handle CF, then he needs to go permanently on the shelf.

Then my understanding is that he has been banned from appearing in an MLB game on any date other than April 15.

What if he transmogrified into Reverse Pagan--nails in high leverage, disastrous in low leverage.

Looks like both of us jumped the gun.

If the plan was to have MAT start the entire year in CF (which I don't think it was), then MAT is not a good player for this team, and the plan was a bad one. If the plan was to have MAT buy some time at the beginning of the year, and be an elite defensive backup 1x-2x a week to give Buxton a break, then be a high-level postseason chess piece (which I think it was), then MAT is a great player for this team, and the plan was a very good one. Unfortunately, I don't think the plan worked, through no fault of MAT.

Never thought I would say this. but... It is not high leverage enough of a situation for Emilio Pagan to be pitching.

Maybe Wallner woke up not feeling well today? Maybe Wallner broke a team rule, and instead of airing the dirty laundry, Rocco is keeping it in house? I'm no great Rocco defender, but sitting Wallner in one game against a righty who has been excellent against lefties this year does not necessarily rise to the level of scandal.

Seems like both feeds are struggling today--when one works, the other goes down. Not a great look for MLB when it's the "free game of the day".

How does signing Ohtani interfere with the Twins trading for/drafting pitching prospects, and subsequently developing them into MLB-caliber arms?

He might not generate $75M for a half dozen teams, or at least not the half dozen who are expected to be the top competitors. The Dodgers, for example, are already at 47k fans a game—you can’t get extra revenue other than price increases, which is a lot harder to do than to simply sell more tickets. Also, the number from that poster was a combo of extra revenue, and payroll the Twins are about to jettison. As I mentioned, the Twins could very easily clear $50M from this years payroll for next year, and $70M isn’t a super crazy number either. That reality, more than anything else, is what I’m speaking to. The Twins finally have something approaching a perfect storm for a mid-market team. Plenty of good young talent not yet in arbitration (Julien, Lewis, Wallner, Ober, Jeffers, Duran), solid prospects still on the way (Martin, Lee, Festa, Rodriguez, Varland, SWR), and lots of cap space. Say what you will about the Falvine Twins, but they have always spent to their budget. As such, I see 3 courses of action they can take this offseason. 1–spend their space on middling veterans to build depth (think Gallo, Bundy, Vazquez). This would be my least desired option, and unfortunately, is probably the most likely. 2–sign multiple pre-arb players to Kepler/Polanco style deals. While this would help the future payroll, it would also eliminate the possibility of additional help now, which is why I’m also not a huge fan of this option. 3–attempt to sign star players to market value deals. This is what I’ve argued for, in the most extreme way possible.