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rdehring

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Everything posted by rdehring

  1. Great article, Nick. Couldn't agree more. Now can the Twins hang on to the four young men you talk about, Falvey, Levine, Baldelli and Johnson?
  2. No we don't have to play the Yankees. Should we stay ahead of the Sox, we would probably open with Cleveland...which may be more difficult. I give the Sox a chance of taking out those Yankees, especially if not playing in NYC.
  3. A White Sox win today puts us tied and they have the tiebreaker. It would also put our magic # with the Tribe at 1. Gonna be one hell of a final weekend in the AL Central. And gotta agree with bighat above, also might prefer the Yankees to the Tribe, although we have played well against the Indians at Target Field. Is Rosario heating up at the right time? Keep it going Eddie for at least another couple weeks. And please get Arraez back this weekend, he will make a huge difference if he isn't too rusty. And what isn't to like about Alcala? He would be on my playoff roster, don't know about the Twins? Did Jeffers guarantee his roster spot last night?
  4. Have a thought on Rogers' problem. He is the player rep, thus, was involved in the long negotiations leading up to reopening the season. Since there have been several difficult negotiations with the most recent just ending the other day when the final decisions were agreed to regarding the playoffs, bubble, etc. Don't know how much bickering there is in the clubhouse or how much pressure he has felt. Could be a reason his head isn't at 100% when he is on the mound or preparing to go there.
  5. Read in the Strib this morning that the starters would be Maeda-Berrios-Pineda. Personally, I would have Hill as a long man with Dobnak not making the cut. Not certain what I think of that as am a huge fan of the Dobber. Bullpen has to include Stashak and Thielbar. Was thinking last night when Cody was pitching how well he really has done this year. Expect he and Alcala will both be huge parts of next year's pen. As for the last hitter, expect they will keep Wade who really has been a valuable part of this team the last month or so.
  6. Great games for Rosario and Kepler. Has anyone else noticed that May and Duffey seem to have problems when they come in during an inning to shut it down, then come back out for the next inning and aren't as sharp? With who Cleveland is sending to the hill today and tomorrow, we just may overtake Chicago...assuming we keep winning. But is that good? Keep winning and play the Yankees at home. Overtake the Sox and we will probably face Cleveland at home. Not certain which of those I prefer. Will be on the road tonight so won't see the game. Win Twins, Win!
  7. If its me, Jeffers would be my #1 catcher heading into the playoffs. Would want to get Garver into at least half the remaining games for him to get caught up with both his bat and behind the plate. With that said, I will be shocked if Jeffers is behind the plate in Game 1. Going forward, Rortvedt has missed this year of development and is now at least two years away. Should fit perfectly with the time when Garver's decline will be noticeable. The good news is that a Jeffers-Rortvedt duo gives you both a right handed bat and left.
  8. Booooo, missing Bauer will be terrible. Really wanted to see Kepler hit a few home runs off the guy. I am assuming that the streak of home runs in consecutive at bats isn't ongoing, is it?
  9. I recall a couple times last night when I had to look real hard to see which Twin was at bat. Seemed they would go on and on about the Cubs and whatever for extended periods. Hopefully, the Twins are aware and that helps put a nice big chip on their shoulders come next week.
  10. Feel so much better after these last two games. Kepler is shaking off the rust and Garver is back. Although Garver needs a lot of work behind the plate and with the bat. Is Jeffers the Twins best catcher today? Will he even be on the playoff roster? And they really need Arraez back this week to get some AB's before the playoffs. Great seeing Berrios settle in. Will he be the opening day starter? If it is to be the Yankees, looking at both teams home/away splits they have to win out and play those games at Target Field.
  11. Well, that's better. I know there has been lots of talk about several Twins who just aren't hitting as we expected, Garver, Kepler, Polanco, Sano, Donaldson and others. When looking at the box score this morning, saw that the best average of the Cubs big trio of Baez, Rizzo and Bryant was .211. Certainly seems that the circumstances related to this year's weird schedule is affecting a lot of very good hitters in a negative manner. Seems like a good year to throw out the stats, at least as far as hitters are concerned.
  12. Ouch! That was a tough one. Was ready to look for something to do after Hill walking the first two followed by the single and first run. But he got out of that inning down 1-0, great job. Can't believe the big time pitching performance he put up after those first few hitters. Maybe he can carry that thru to the playoffs? Also can't believe how pathetic nearly every hitter has become. Buxton continues to do well, but after him there is nobody. When will Arraez be returning?
  13. Have thought for a long time that there is a middle ground. Increase each umpire crew to 5. Put the 5th in the press box with access to the screens showing the box. Give him direct verbal communication with with the home plate ump. When a call is made that is clearly wrong, ie, ball called on pitch that is mostly within the zone, or strike called on ball outside the zone, he just tells the ump he missed it and the home plate ump corrects it. I imagine there are personalities behind home plate that would balk at this. And there could be questions of another play being effected by the wrong call. Another would be money, but baseball is a multi-billion dollar sport, adding 15 umps to sit in the press box ain't gonna destroy the sport.
  14. You said something Trov that really hit me. It was your comment about MLB using tech to judge accuracy and grade umps. There are what, 75-80 or so umps in MLB? If they are grading them, why aren't they taking those evaluations at the end of each year and saying goodbye to anyone who has been in the bottom couple for a couple years straight. Would open up slots for the best new guys coming up from MiLB. Might also encourage some to get better. Unfortunately, there is probably something in the Ump Association contracts that won't allow it. Instead we continue to watch absolutely horse crap calls behind home plate.
  15. Will double down on the above comments. I also was disappointed in Donaldson's antics. Also don't understand why Maeda didn't go another inning, although not being in the dugout means I don't have the information they did. As for the playoffs, looks like it is going to be the Yankees. Huge to play well enough these last 8 to stay ahead of them for home field which would be huge with how this team has played at Target Field. I see a key being getting Arraez back asap to have someone in the lineup who is going to take great at bats and battle to get on base a lot. Other key is to keep Buxton hot and get someone, anyone else heated up. Gotta believe we will see Maeda game 1, who goes second is a big question mark.
  16. Luv the idea of having Dobber in the pen. Heck, may turn out to be the best spot for him in the future. Got a question, Matt. Is Wisler next year's bullpen version of Romo and they don't try to resign Romo?
  17. I have zero interest in getting into a back and forth about what we remember. But I recall a stretch two years ago when Eddie and Escobar seemed to get a couple extra base hits hitting back-to-back seemingly every night for a week or two. Also remember a couple stretches last year, don't recall dates and/or specifics. Don't remember any of these streaks from this season. As for his being gone next year, that is a decision the FO will make. Don't know if he will or won't, but if he isn't I will miss him.
  18. Great find by the FO to fill a huge need of the Twins. Don't know if he is a true ACE, but he sure seems to be a very good Twins #1. Speaking of contracts, his contract is as good as the Bumgarner contract is bad. Also gotta expect Kenta is happy that the Twins are letting him start and pitch as deep into games as he can rather than banning him to the bullpen to limit his innings and dollars. Maybe the word will begin getting out that the Twins are a class organization to play for? Thanks for this report, Nick.
  19. Totally agree, John, that the home plate ump was as good as I have seen this year. Maybe it was more noticeable because so many have been very, very bad. Ditto on Odorizzi having miserable luck within a crazy season. He is a good pitcher and would be very helpful in that five game series should the Twins be so fortunate to get there. His problems this year may be setting him up for a one year contract with incentives back with the Twins in 2021. Said to the tv when Eddie came up to bat, the Twins need you to get on one of your streaks these last ten games and the first round of the playoffs. You know, one of those streaks where he carries the team. A couple pitches later he hit it out and later worked a walk to be on base for Buxton's dinger. If they can get the Luis we know back and just one of the big early bats heat up along with Eddie and Buck, this team can be dangerous. Also thought May was perfect again last night. If he can just eliminate half of his off nights, he could be a huge part of any bullpen, this year and next.
  20. Turned it off last night after the 7th. Only reason I lasted that long was I wanted to see Alcala. Spring training began with a lot of talk out of Fort Myers about the Twins focusing on winning the World Series. As this crazy season plays out, all I hear from the team is how concerned they are for keeping everyone healthy and fresh for the playoffs. While everyone on the team assumes they will be in, it is looking more like they could open their 3-game series in New York. We all know how that is going to end. What I am seeing since the first day of spring training is a team that talks about winning a World Series but has lost that hunger of last year. How many big comebacks have we seen this year like the many of last year? There may be one, but I don't remember it. And while they talk about keeping everyone healthy and fresh, the IL is filled to the brim and the lineup is filled with guys who aren't ready for a run to the playoffs. As for performance, who on this team is playing to the maximum of what we should expect other than Maeda, possibly Cruz and Buxton and a couple of the Rookies who we didn't expect to see? That leaves me asking two questions. Is this team hungry? And a bigger question is have they become soft and pampered? Where is the fight from this team? I sure as heck don't see it.
  21. Will second Trov. This year has been screwed up from the get go. Way too many stud players are so-so. Hopefully, there will be a vaccine by the first quarter and baseball 2021 will be normal. That's when I expect Max to take that next step.
  22. Unless we win the next three games, we are gonna finish the season in 2nd place with most likely the #4 seed. That ain't all that bad. So I expect Rocco to keep running him out there for a bit. But should last night's performance continue, something is gonna have to change for the playoffs. As for 2021, my vote (which is meaningless) goes to Alcala.
  23. I was thinking the same thing the past few days. Could you see a lineup with Arraez and Wade batting one after another somewhere in the order? Would drive pitchers nuts...and shorten the number of innings they could pitch. By the way, I haven't been a huge Wade fan over the past few years. But I'll tell ya, he is growing on me. And he does such a nice job at first base having not played it much in the minors. Does anyone know how much he played there? Or was it back in college at Maryland?
  24. Great recap of a disappointing game. Did last night take away any chance of the Twins winning the Division? Don't know, but sure as heck made their task more difficult. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but did Cruz come to the plate three times with 2 outs and the bases loaded? And he didn't get the ball out of the infield on any of them, correct? Has anyone else noted that Cruz' difficulty with low outside breaking balls has been seen throughout the league and he hasn't been the same hitter the last week or two? Have seem comments in the Strib of late about Rogers making comments about the chaos surrounding scheduling the playoffs and where. As the player rep, is this affecting his performance on the mound? I sure as heck don't know, but if it is it would be good for him to clear his mind and concentrate on what he is getting paid to do...close out games. I also want to make a prediction. Alcala should be and will be the Twins closer at some point in 2021. To leave Chicago in first place the Twins needed to win 3 of 4. Well, that now means they need to sweep. Time to get to work guys.
  25. I'd like to comment about references on this post and others about beating up on two bad teams, KC and Detroit. My point is that KC and Detroit are no longer bad teams. They aren't yet contenders, but they are better than the last few years, both with some young pitchers who are promising and capable of keeping them in a game against anyone. So playing roughly .500 against both isn't a major red mark, IMO.
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