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Strato Guy

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Everything posted by Strato Guy

  1. Strato Guy
    Does anyone here remember the conversation Paul Molitor had with Gibson on the mound in the summer of 2017? Gibson was pitching that day much like he had the first half of the year. He was not having a good year and was nibbling too much. At least, as memory serves, Moliy thought so and chewed him out on a trip to the mound. Molly was much more animated than usual, so you could see something unusual was going on. Anyway, Gibson started throwing his 4-seam fastball more and threw it for strikes. He challenged hitters more and started to pitch much better after that mound visit! Not only in that particular game, but for the rest of the year.
  2. Strato Guy
    If the play can be close, players should hustle! That said, on a routine infield grounder, there is almost no reason for a player to not run at about 90%. Injury is much more likely to occur when giving max effort. If a player cant run at about 90%, that is a problem. Defenses can and will make mistakes when they feel rushed. If a player is gutting it out in an important game, playing a game he might even play otherwise, that would be an exception to not running a grounder out.
  3. Strato Guy
    If he has been approached about his lack of hustle and still has not altered his approach, then this is a problem. In this instance, he apparently needs a little more than what has been done so far. Again last night he swung at a ball in the dirt on strike 3 and did not make an effort to run to first. I hate seeing this lack of hustle. I would bench him for a game and tell him in no uncertain terms as why he is not playing. To the public it will look like just taking a day off, and that is OK.
  4. Strato Guy
    I remember coaching a pitcher once who had all the talent in the world, but he was his own worst enemy. He would over-analyze everything and would be prone to giving up multiple runs. He suddenly couldn't throw strikes and he would implode. I wonder if Gibby is much the same way. He has the stuff and can be pitching well, but he is prone to having the bad inning. I don't think Gibson loses command. Or maybe I should say that his own mind causes him to lose his command. I do not think this is a medical issue at this point. The stuff is there, but the results are not. The mental part of the game should not be discounted.
  5. Strato Guy
    Several games ago, Rosario struck out on strike three. The pitch was in the dirt and got away from the catcher. Instead of running to first, Rosario walked back to the dugout. Is this any better than when Piug didn't run to first on that comebacker to the mound?? To me, it isn't!
  6. Strato Guy
    So much depends on who is healthy. At this point, I think the pitchers you selected seems excellent. No more than 12 pitchers are needed for the playoffs. For that last hitter to be the 25th player I pick Adrianza. He has been too good not to be on the team. Austudillo would be next in line with Miller following. Miller can't hit enough and his main contribution would be pitch running. While that is somewhat valuable, it is not enough to keep the others off the team.
  7. Strato Guy
    For the Twins to go far in the playoffs, their starting pitching really needs to improve. They just are not good enough at the present time. Either they need to pitch like they did earlier in the year, which is unlikely, or they need another pitcher to give them another very much needed shot in the arm. The only pitcher I see at the present time that can do this is Brusdar Graterol. I know he is inexperienced, but he has the chance to be dominant. Why not give him a shot. Call him up and see what he can do. If he shows enough, he is another option for being a starting pitcher in the playoffs!
  8. Strato Guy
    I love Strat-O-Matic! That is why I choose Strato Guy as my moniker on this site.
  9. Strato Guy
    Maybe the Turtle needed to go back down, but I just hate 8 man bullpens! The Twins starters are doing a good job getting innings, more than most teams. I do not see the sense having relief pitchers almost always throw just one inning. Last night was a good example. Morin could have been used for two innings, but especially Harper could have went two. I saw no reason to take him out. He was pitching lights out! Every time you put in a new pitcher, there is always the possibility that they will have an off day and be ineffective.
  10. Strato Guy
    Here is a favorite of mine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbOO8rxAHAY
  11. Strato Guy
    While signing relief pitchers is a crap shoot, it is imortant to have quantity. In any given year, you are going to have a few, that for whatever reason, will not be effective. Teams should have enough depth to compensate for this. Build a good farm system and complement with low budget relief pitchers if need be.
  12. Strato Guy
    The operative word is "competent". I am not sure if any of those choices fit the bill. Thorpe is the best hope, but it would be doubtful if he should be counted on for being a solid SP this year. In another year or so, Thorpe could be a competent # 3 starter.
  13. Strato Guy
    The Twins are 2 pitchers away from being an elite team. They need a LH relief pitcher and a solid starting pitcher. Rogers is the only lefty in the pen and that just isn't enough. At some point, one of our starting pitchers is either going to need some time off or not effective enough. I am thinking mostly of Pineda coming off his arm injury. Whom on our team would be next up if we need a competent SP? The sooner we can improve our pitching, the better. Cleveland is leaving us a big opening; Let's take advantage of this!
  14. Strato Guy
    When reading this article, I thought about two pitchers who throw across their body, whom might benefit from Johnson's teachings: Duffy and Reed. Watching pitchers throw across their bodies like that seem so foreign to me. It just does not seem right. Duffy has changed his way of pitching the last couple of years trying to find something that works for him to get back to the effectiveness we saw from him in his first year. I wonder how Johnson and Duffy are working on his delivery. He may well need more time to get comfortable with a bigger change in his delivery if he chooses to go that way. As far as Addison Reed, I can't help and wonder if throwing across his body for years has put strain on his body and caused him issues this past year.
  15. Strato Guy
    I have been wondering the same thing about Minny being the mystery team. It would not totally surprize me. The front office operates pretty quietly. They have the money to be a player of this magnitude and also have the need for another infielder.
  16. Strato Guy
    While Cruz will make the lineup better, the Twins are still very thin in the infield. Sano had a terrible year last year and is injury prone. Polanco missed half a year last year and looks to be miscast as a SS. Schoop was benched late last year because of a lack of production. These 3 players are well below average as a group defensively. What is the Twins Plan B? I have a feeling they will need one unless they address this issue. Adding a full time DH takes away the possibility of Sano being the DH because he is needed at 3B because there are not options, unless they think highly enough of Astudillo to be an adequate infielder.
  17. Strato Guy
    I am luke-warm on signing Cruz. Does this mean the Twins are through adding position players?? If it does, I wish they would have rather signed a player who can play defense instead. We cannot have too many hit first players on the bench. What happens when one of our regulars goes down with injury, is ineffective or gets suspended, heaven forbid? We ideally should have 9 regular players fill 8 positions. When Escobar was on the Twins, he did not have a regular position for much of his tenure on the club, but yet played as much as anyone. Without one more starting caliber player that can play at least adequate defense, I fear we will be playing players like Adrianza more than desired. I would have preferred the Twins signed Marwin Gonzalez, who is good enough to be a regular, playing well any place you put him on the field. In this scenario, Austin would DH against lefties and they could rotate regular position players against righties.
  18. Strato Guy
    I could not agree more. Buxton was actually playing well at the time. There was no good reason for him not to be called up based on his improvement. For this reason and the fact the team was short on healthy players, the Twin's decision not to call him up is inexcusable! It was a blunder that might well bite them in the ass in the future.
  19. Strato Guy
    I am not in favor of trading Kepler at this point. Sure the Twins have holes to fill, but trading Kepler would create another one. The outfield has too many question marks. Buxton is not reliable with a combination of being ineffective or hurt. Cave looks adequate, but his track record of success is too short to count on him. Other options presently on the roster do not look to be a better alternative. In a year or slightly longer, room will be needed for Kirilloff, but we are not to that point yet. I have a hunch, Kepler will improve, so trading him now could be a mistake. In a year his trade value will be higher, IMO. Of course I could be wrong about that.
  20. Strato Guy
    I understand the game is changing and defense at SS is not as important as it once was. That said, I think the position is still the most important position defensively. IMO, I would move Polanco to 2B, which most people seem to think would be a better fit for him. More than likely, he will need a new position once Lewis arrives anyway. Iglesias would be a good fit to fill in for a year or two until Lewis comes up. If Lewis ends up in the OF, a guy like Iglesias, who is only 28 years old, can probably hold the fort down until Wander arrives. I think it is imperative that the Twins sign a middle infielder, so to me, this seems like the way to go.
  21. Strato Guy
    I wonder if Falvey was a little disappointed Molitor won the manager of the year award last year. He probably felt he had no choice but to retain him as manager for 2018, while really wanting to bring in his own guy.
  22. Strato Guy
    Argueable, Molitor may have managed better this year than last year. With the huge dissapointment of Buxton, Sano, Dozier, Polanco and Morrison and the unloading of assets during the year, losing only 7 more games than the year before was not unexpected in my eyes. Molitor may have had a better year than the front office!
  23. Strato Guy
    A very thoughtful and well written article, Nick. Baseball fans love to speculate and put themselves in the manager's or FO shoes. We are a fickle bunch, sometimes, because of our love of the game. The baseball season is long and much can and will change over the course of a year. The baseball gods have seemingly been against us so far this year. The FO has done a good job improving the pitching staff. IMO, the pitching have produced about what we could expect so far this year. The hitting is a completely different story. We only have two hitters batting better than expected, Rosario and Escobar. Maurer has been ok, but has missed a month. Sano, Buxton, Dozier, Morrison and Kepler have all preformed well below what we would have predicted. Add to that, Polanco has not even played yet this year and Castro being out for the year has all added up to a dismal offensive showing thus far. Things often even out and I think that we will see a much improved offense in the second half of the year. I don't blame Molitor for the offense underperforming. He will look like a better manager when the offense comes around like I think it will.
  24. Strato Guy
    Love these reports! Overall it seems to me that our minor league teams are under preforming. Alarming for me is the SP's that were seemingly on the verge of being called up to the bigs, like Gonzalves and Littell, are struggling. I am a little down on the former. If he cannot get more command, he has no chance of succeeding in the bigs with the average stuff he possesses.
  25. Strato Guy
    I wouldn't be surprised to see O'Neill catch a pass or two in red zone situations in a tackle eligible formation.
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