jorgenswest

I think the benefit to the Angels is the improved pick (4th to 2nd) for Ohtani they will get by reducing their salary level. MLB can fix this by using setting the trade deadline dats as the one that determines the luxury tax level. Additionally they make make the waiving team responsible for remaining salary for any major leaguer rostered on the deadline. That should take away the key motivations for releasing players. There will still be players waived if they are a clubhouse issue or the team wants to give a prospect time but those are baseball motivations and should remain.

I wonder if the front office has the message yet that Gallo is of little use. Rocco certainly is having a hard time finding a use for him. He is pinch hit for by a right handed hitter that doesn’t hit right handed well. Baldelli probably assessed that Luplow had a better chance than Gallo in that spot. It is hard to disagree. If Baldelli doesn’t trust Gallo to hit in that spot where would he use him. This isn’t the first time that he pinch hit for Gallo reverse platoon though I think the other times it was Solano batting. Hopefully using Luplow there sent the message that he needs a better option. Choosing between Gallo and Luplow there is a no win situation. His options in the pen have been thin also. Funderburk was put in a high leverage situation and couldn’t command the ball today. I think he will better the next time but the Twins do need to find out if Funderburk is somebody that can be trusted in the playoffs. Brock Stewart was also used late game early in his tenure (3rd game?) and I think walked three White Sox. He settled down more after that,

Makes me wonder about catch and release. It will come at a cost. The Rangers might see their likely opponent as the Rays in a wild card match up. The Rays are devastated with pitching injuries. They also see the Orioles losing their closer. Why not claim all the pitchers? Can you catch and release anyone that get to them and they can’t use? Wouldn’t it guarantee that any further claim is after the critical September 1 roster date? They will likely get stuck with the cost. They would need some 40 man and 26 man roster flexibility. Would it be worth it to someone?

Giolito has started three times against the Twins this year. In 18 innings he has given up 2 runs and an OPS against off 591. Do we really want to see him in the playoffs?

Could Giolito be a force for someone from the bullpen?

I do think they have to factor in the needs and of their competitors. The Orioles lost Bautista. The Rays have had injury woes. Every team can upgrade the back of their bullpen.

Last year they were 6 games over through August 30. They finished 6 games under. There is a lot of season left.

I was excited to see him called up. I am not sure how the low 90s fastball combo will work in the majors but it was big today.

If players need more time to develop against lefties that has to happen in the off season or once a team is out of contention. I think the choice is whether to keep Wallner and Julien in the minors longer so they are more prepared to hit lefties in the majors or bring them up knowing you will try to limit their exposure against left handed pitching. I think they will both figure it out. Wallner has had success against minor league left handed pitching. Julien did very poorly last year. He will get there but it isn’t going to be this season. The new generation of pitching machines can help and he will do the work.

Watching the game I was hoping Gallo was ready to tag. You don’t know how the crash into the railing is going to go and you can’t wait to see how it goes. He makes an aggressive move to get to third with one out and slips trying to return. I like the aggressive move. Getting to third with one out is critical. It is the same aggression with Solano. If they get that first out at home he needs to be on third. I think he could have got enough of a lead to make it or get back if no throw but you take chances to get to third with less than two outs when one run is needed.

I think the Twins need another arm for the Cleveland series with the Ryan shortened start Saturday and extra innings yesterday. Cleveland as a team struggles more against left handed pitching including their right handed hitters so it should be a lefty. Moran or Headrick or Funderburk? Moran pitched yesterday. Headrick can benefit from more time in AAA before returning. I don’t know if Funderburk is the better of the three and I don’t think a AAA stat line will be any help answering that question but this is the right time. They need to be as strong as possible going into this series. I would option or IL Ober. They can put Alcala or Miranda the 60 day IL. Alcala is getting close but he will still need a long rehab. Miranda isn’t ready to play on the field yet and can only DH at best if given a rehab. I would add Funderburk to the 26 today for the Cleveland series. A left handed arm in the pen is going to help against Cleveland.

I think an argument can be made without using his stat line. He will give the Twins versatility, speed and a right handed bat. The stat line from AAA is so skewed this year. An .800 OPS is ordinary and just below average. Walks and strikeouts are off because the automated strike zone is so small. The Athletic reported about the automated strike zone in two article. Lewis is quoted in one of them. With the robo umps pitchers are allowing 5.2 walks per nine innings. That isn’t close to the major league context for walks. It is also forcing pitchers to throw more center cut pitches to avoid walks. Some batters have the skill to really take advantage of the strike zone. I do worry though how they will respond to a different strike zone in the majors. It would almost be better to see them swing more in the minors. Unless a batter like Julien or Wallner have shown better than a 130 wRC+ across multiple years I don’t think stats from just this year or part of this year can be used to justify a call up. The argument really needs to be made without the stat line. I don’t think the stat line supports the notion that Martin put up a better OPS against left handed pitching than Luplow or a better option than Castro for the remainder of the season. Does Martin bring skills to the team that can’t be found in the return of Castro? Do they need them both? Maybe. He needs to be put on the 40 this winter so a move to the roster is imminent. Miranda can be moved to the 60 day IL since he isn’t able to throw yet. Luplow can be optioned and Castro can continue rehab assignment for a while. Castro also can be optioned.

The sun and shadows in the last few innings made it incredibly difficult on the batters. Those are very difficult conditions to bunt in and very difficult conditions to stay in the zone as a hitter. Gallo doesn’t swing out of the zone often and did a good job of making the pitcher throw strikes after the first two batters couldn’t lay off some pitches that weren’t close. Turned around the inning. Great work from Keuchel.

Not possible.

I couldn’t disagree more.

Is the timing right moving into the two series with Cleveland? In a 5 man rotation it should line up as Maeda, Lopez and Gray in the first series followed by Lopez, Gray and Ryan in the second series? What does it look like in a 6 man rotation? Is the rest from a 6th starter more important than throwing your best atms against Cleveland? I am not a believer that an extra day of rest is as beneficial as a skipped start. I would suggest that it might be better to win the Cleveland series and close out the division early. Once secured give any of the starters real rest to end the season. edit: had I noticed I would have simply liked what DJL44 said much more succinctly.

Royce Lewis’ thoughts on AAA robo umps appeared in the Athletic today. I don’t think he believes they are ready though he says it is very advantageous to hitters with a very tight strike zone in AAA. If used in the majors Barry Bonds’ walk record would not survive. My thoughts all year is that the our perception AAA and AA performance is very distorted with the high run scoring environment. Maybe this is part of the problem. Pitchers either walk guys or give them a pitch that gets too much if the strike zone. edit: I read the Lewis interview from the Athletic’s wind up. Jason Stark had a longer article today. My takeaway is that it is not close to ready. One minor leaguer said that it is different in each park. Minor league execs have made this complaint also. AAA only uses robo umps half the games. They use the challenge system in the other. In the robo games there are 5.2 walks per nine according to Stark. I really thought it was closer to ready. I also now wonder about the accuracy of what I see on TV. That doesn’t excuse the Wallner calls. I don’t need a box to see those are low for the side view. Harder with the pitcher view. Hopefully umpires are given feedback if they are calling too many low strikes for tall batters or too many high strikes for short batters. Adjusting the strike zone for each batter has to be one of the biggest hurdles for an umpire.

The one real impactful addition would be Buxton playing centerfield with a bat that belongs near the top of the line up. He can change their playoff outlook. Unless there is concern that this group can’t get them to the playoffs I think it is possible to change to many spots and lose some cohesion as a team. It is going to take multiple 80th percentile and better stretches to match other more talented teams. They need to keep anyone that can provide that game changing upside even if unlikely.

The Mets really favored the high upside under 20 prospects. They also received a 2023 top 50 international prospect for Pham. It probably would have taken Twins top international signings of the last few years. Those players are so far away and often don’t establish themselves before they are a 40 man roster decision. Falvey and Levine must feel pretty secure not to engage the Mets in trading off the very young few away prospects for players like Robertson and Pham that were needed.

I advocated for non-tendering Pagán and signing a free agent. The Twins would probably have been worse off with my plan. Pagán has been as good or better than many of the similarly salaried free agents. In hindsight a more expensive Matt Moore would have been a great addition. Andrew Chafin (2 yrs 18 million) and Michael Fulmer not so much.

There are four relievers listed in MLBs top 23 deadline trades. Since they were moved it is fair to believe the Twins could have made a better offer and won the deal. I was interested to know how they were performing with their new clubs as well as what it might take to win the deal. They could have acquired Jordan Hicks, David Robertson, Scott Barlow or Paul Sewald by beating the offer of the other team. .Could the Twins have avoided disaster by adding one of the 4? What would it take? I looked at the deals in the Twins Forum.

There are four relievers listed in MLBs top 23 deadline trades. Since they were moved it is fair to believe the Twins could have made a better offer and won the deal. I was interested to know how they were performing with their new clubs as well as what it might take to win the deal. Jordan Hicks was dealt to Toronto for two minor league pitchers. Robberse is the better of the two and probably slots in between Canterino and Woods-Richardson among Twin minor league pitchers What would it take? Matt Canterino and Cory Lewis Hicks with Toronto: 1-2, 3 saves, ERA 4.00 Paul Sewald was dealt to the Diamondbacks for a major league utility man an outfield prospect with major league time and an infielder hitting really well at AA. What would it take? Larnach, Severino, Miller. Larnach is better than Canzone but Severino doesn’t have the value of Bliss. Miller might help put them win it. Sewald with Arizona: 0-1, 6 saves, 3.38 ERA David Robertson was dealt to the Marlins for a minor league catcher and infielder in their teens. Mets going for upside. What would it take? Maybe Acuna and Chivilli. The young players are not a match for Vargas. Salas might be of interest to them here Robertson with Miami: 0-2, 4 saves, 7.00 ERA Scott Barlow was dealt to the Padres for two minor league pitchers including their #10 prospect. It is a similar package as the Hicks deal though both are young at 21. What would it take? Woods-Richardson and Hidalgo. Maybe. The Twins don’t have good matches for 21 year old pitchers. Barlow with San Diego: 0-1, 5.40 ERA Did the Twins miss out here? Should they have jumped at any of these deals? Would you have preferred they stand pat?

Jake Cave is probably a good comp. They both had 5 seasons with opportunities in the majors coming into this season. They both can play CF. They both hit left handed. They both have had success at AAA. Cave has a career OPS of 710 vs Stevenson’s 687. Defense in CF is a toss up. Stevenson has the better DRS. Cave has the better OAA. Cave is maybe a little better but it is close.

I do miss the September call ups where the AAA season ends in early September and teams can go to 40. It was fun to see some prospects and sometimes an opportunity for a long minor leaguer to put on a major league uniform for the first time. I don’t miss the constant switching of pitchers from the large bullpens though I think the three batter rule mostly would have solved that problem. This article would have made sense in that time.

I am not a believer that an extra day off for a starter makes a significant difference long term. They just had three days off in 11. I wrote heading into it that they had an opportunity to run a 4 man rotation for about two weeks through the 24th. My interest was dropping Keuchel but it could have been used for Ober. Instead of giving Ober an extra day off twice why not give him real rest that might make a difference the rest of the season? That is probably not a field staff decision but one that comes from the front office who would have needed to option Ober or IL him to get that rest.