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Alex Schieferdecker

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Everything posted by Alex Schieferdecker

  1. Alex Schieferdecker
    Is there a top Twins prospect who is not in Pensacola right now?
  2. Alex Schieferdecker
    So much green in the bullpen chart, and an off day tomorrow!
  3. Alex Schieferdecker
    It feels as though Duffey, Harper, May, and Rogers have punched their tickets to be a part of this team's home stretch + potential playoff bullpen. That leaves four spots remaining. Perhaps one to two of those spots will be filled by relievers the Twins trade for, or by a starter who gets moved to the bullpen to make room for a starter who was traded for. For the final two to four spots, the Twins have a lot of candidates with potential but mostly thin resumes to compete for them: Eades, Hildenberger, Littell, Poppen, Romero, Smeltzer, Stashak, and Thorpe.
  4. Alex Schieferdecker
    Another reason why I suspect the Mets are getting so much attention is that other teams have a low opinion of them. Their rookie GM looks like an easy mark, and their coaching staff hasn't caught up to the twenty first century. The appeal of both getting a good deal, and getting a pitcher who may have a much higher ceiling than he's been given the tools to achieve is clearly tempting to a lot of teams. A deal for Syndergaard and maybe Lugo or Diaz is something that just about every team in contention should obviously be kicking the tires on. If the Twins were to be so lucky, or add a different starter, I assume they would move Perez to the bullpen. But is it so essential that they stick to a five man rotation? Perhaps the Twins could go with six starters for the final two months and get their arms even further rest. The more orthodox solution would probably be a hybrid: use Perez as lefty long relief, and sprinkle in a few starts from him here and there.
  5. Alex Schieferdecker
    After the Blake Parker experiment, I don't think I could stand another reliever who walks so many hitters. Even the guys from AAA like Thorpe and Stashak are upgrades because at least they throw strikes.
  6. Alex Schieferdecker
    Incredible game, disappointing to be on the wrong end of it, but it's one game out of one sixty two. People are a right to be frustrated about the bullpen, but there's an incredible about of silly hyperbole and short term thinking going around. The Yankees have a pretty good bullpen too, and the Twins have pounded it. Sometimes good hitting teams prevail. For whatever Blake Parker messed up, ultimately the Twins got the lead to Taylor Rogers and he couldn't keep it. If Rogers is going to blow leads (and the Twins are going to struggle to get a hit with the bases loaded), they will lose games. It's undeniably true that the bullpen needs another high-end arm who can take the pressure off Rogers to appear in every single one of these critical situations. It's probably true that they should move on from Parker and just stick with some of these AAA guys who at least can throw strikes. But there is no way the club doesn't know this, and writing it on all caps in every forum doesn't make it any more or less likely to happen. The Twins are in a trade market with a lot of other teams, and all the buyers are looking for the same thing. Then there's the inherent unpredictability of bullpen arms. I'm sure they will make a move, but blowing leads against the Yankees does not suddenly give them a good reason to make a stupid trade.
  7. Alex Schieferdecker
    That was like a recent Twins game in reverse. Suddenly it was the other team that was improbably not scoring with really good starting positions, and it was the Twins who were turning fantastic plays in the field. Was thrilled to see Thorpe come out of the bullpen, which I want to happen more and more. He definitely did not immediately have his stuff however, getting behind hitters. But in the second and third innings of work, he was much more in command, getting to two strike counts and getting K's. Hopefully we'll see Stashak tomorrow night, feels like his propensity to throw strikes and his good K/BB without having overpowering stuff make him a bit like a righty version of Thorpe. Wish we had more than a week with these guys to see if they could become serious arms in the pen, a la Littell, but even if/when the Twins do make a move, there's two more spots behind Rogers/Harper/Parker/May/Duffey/The New Guy.
  8. Alex Schieferdecker
    May is so frustrating. He has the stuff, he just cannot throw it for strikes. They've been working hard on him all year, I have some hope he can put it together, because on the rare occasions that he does throw strikes, he's very very hard to hit. I've been impressed by Stewart in his two (I think just two?) bullpen outings this year. I don't have much faith in him or Thorpe as starters, and want the Twins to cut to the chase, as they did with Littell, and get them both coming out of the bullpen. In the meantime, Stashak is intriguing, with his great K/BB. The bullpen depth chart at this point, imo: Great Rogers Good Harper Parker Duffey May Littell Stewart Maybe Promising Stashak Eades Poppen Twins need at least one more arm to join Rogers in the "Great" category. I think they've been hoping that May would make the jump, but at this point, it doesn't look likely that any of the guys they are developing will get there by the end of this year.
  9. Alex Schieferdecker
    It would be nice to get a reliever of the caliber of Yates, etc. But I hope that if the Twins get a high leverage arm, that player is willing to rethink their role and be used less to rack up saves and more to put out fires. The regimented 7th, 8th, 9th inning approach has always been bizarre to me, and I've been happy to see the Twins free themselves a little bit of that way of thinking, even though Rogers is now the de facto "closer." But basically, whomever the Twins pick up, I hope they don't see themselves as a pitcher with a hard and fast role.
  10. Alex Schieferdecker
    The poor fielding dates to well before the All-Star break. I think we can pin it precisely to June 12th, when the Mariners came to town, and the Twins made FIVE ERRORS in a twelve inning loss. Ever since Seattle brought their fielding disease into Minnesota, the Twins have been ill with it.
  11. Alex Schieferdecker
    The Pirates seem to have fairly retrograde views on pitching and a track record of being fleeced (see: Archer, Chris), maybe the Twins could offer three prospects in the organization with the best sinkers and see if Pittsburgh can resist.
  12. Alex Schieferdecker
    I've been encouraged by the trend this year of guys like Duffey, Harper, and May earning more prominent roles. I'd like to see Stewart back up with the Twins soon to get another relief appearance. I tend to group he and Littell together out of convenience, since both are similar ages and similarly seem to have little future as starters. But I'm optimistic that both may prove useful in the bullpen. Eades and Poppen also showed some flashes. Out of those four Rochester prospects, there are reasons to be intrigued. The Twins have a lot of lines in the water right now.
  13. Alex Schieferdecker
    I'll take it.
  14. Alex Schieferdecker
    Add Littell to the stable of Twins relievers that includes Duffey and May. Mid-90's fastball and a good breaking pitch. If they can throw these for strikes, they will be tremendous assets out of the bullpen.
  15. Alex Schieferdecker
    Twenty four hour moratorium on making fun of the bullpen. Reliever trust ranking: Trust Rogers Basically Trust Harper Somewhat Trust Duffey, May Don’t Trust, Has Been Good So Far Morin Don’t Trust, Has Been Iffy Parker Don’t Trust, Has Been Bad Hildenberger, Magill, Mejia Want To Trust, But Too New Littell, Eades Never Want To See Pitch Ever Again De Jong, Vasquez
  16. Alex Schieferdecker
    Entering this homestand, the Twins have played fewer home games than any other team in the league. Four home games fewer than Los Angeles, five fewer than Houston.
  17. Alex Schieferdecker
    I'm still not sure that I trust Duffey, but he's moving into the "Sometimes Trust" category where I've got Parker and May. His curve is ridiculous, it's just his fastball that still seems to lack a little something, whether it's speed or movement. But it's far from a liability. There's a reason why he's got the best K/9 of the team's regular pitchers.
  18. Alex Schieferdecker
    Trust: Rogers Mostly Trust: Harper Sometimes Trust: Parker May Hasn't Given A Reason Not To Trust... Yet Morin Don't Trust But Has Actually Been Pretty Good So Far Duffers Don't Trust Magill
  19. Alex Schieferdecker
    Duffey and Morin were fresh, and the Twins had a seven run lead. Not sure why Rocco went with Magill, but it backfired tremendously. Thankfully the Twins have a day off tomorrow, but that wasn't ideal. The Twins can't get too over their skis, because it's still the first week of June, but there's no reason not to get stricter about a bullpen rotation. Let's get guys the rest they need, even if that means putting Tyler Duffey in a tough spot and seeing if he can sink or swim.
  20. Alex Schieferdecker
    I really want Harper to make the ASG. What a story that would be.
  21. Alex Schieferdecker
    Is this something that might be caused by a fault or inefficiency in the pitcher's mechanics? If so, is it something the Twins are likely to try to address by tweaking those mechanics to reduce the wear and tear?
  22. Alex Schieferdecker
    Welcome to the big leagues kid, here's Christian Yelich.
  23. Alex Schieferdecker
    A lot of people are saying the Twins need more help in the bullpen. While I don't necessarily disagree with that, I'm noticing a conspicuous lack of names. I'm not seeing suggestions for players the Twins should target (I'm sure someone will mention Kimbrel, but beyond him) and even more strikingly, current relievers they should dump. If you think the bullpen needs help, be up front about who should be sent down and who the Twins should be going after! It seems especially weird to be making this criticism today, honestly, given that the game was lost by the one reliever that everyone wants to keep around. Meanwhile unheralded guys like Ryne Harper and Mike Morin pitched well, and have ERAs of 1.64 and 0.96 respectively and WHIPs under 1. Anytime the Twins lose, and often when they win, there's constant complaining about the bullpen. I get that few of these guys are "proven," and none of them are big names. But they're basically all pitching well so far, and it seems reflexive and not totally accurate to slam the bullpen on the night that the team's most highly regarded reliever made one poor pitch.
  24. Alex Schieferdecker
    Let's hope that Kody Funderburk makes it to the majors, because what a name!
  25. Alex Schieferdecker
    What I've enjoyed seeing from the Twins is that they are showing a lot of trust in guys who few other teams would've trusted—and it's paying off. Harper, whose first outing was a shaky appearance with a big lead against Cleveland, has settled in and has gotten consistently more important assignments. Same with Magill, May, and Morin, who have all been worked in very nicely. I expect we'll see the same for Duffey in the coming weeks, as he has aced his early tests. Add to those five the reliable work of Rogers and Parker, and the Twins seem to have seven guys who have earned the trust of the manager. As you write, depth is essential now, and that's really the one thing we haven't had, because for every pleasant surprise like Harper, Morin, or Duffey, we've had a guy we were hoping to count on go bad, like Hildenberger, Reed, or Moya. Who are the eighth, ninth, and tenth guys?
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