Bottom of 8th, Twins down 5-4, 2 outs, 1 runner on. righthander on the mound Robinson due up. The winning run. Arcia, Vargas, Escobar on the bench and Molitor selects... Escobar to PH?

Edited April 28, 201511 yr by Willihammer

i thought that was really weird too. Arcia seemed the obvious PH choice!

 

Bottom of 8th, Twins down 5-4, 2 outs, 1 runner on. righthander on the mound Robinson due up. The winning run. Arcia, Vargas, Escobar on the bench and Molitor selects... Escobar to PH?

 

No idea. I like Escobar . . . . but he isn't even hitting well at all this year. Arcia should have been batting. 

Seems like Molitor has gone many games without using a PH at all.

 

I like the idea of letting your nine starters finish, but I also wonder if Molitor is maybe just making some rookie blunders trying to overthink the hitter vs pitcher, field substitutions, game scenarios two-innings down the road, all that stuff that Kelly and Gardy made look so easy.

Vargas and Arcia look pathetic. Escobar is clutch. Made sense.

Edited April 28, 201511 yr by kellyvance

And then in the 9th, Schafer on 1st, no out, Santana batting, righthander on the mound (closer). He sacrifices Schafer to 2nd? That's hardly leveraging your speedster. Schafer is fast enough to either straight steal, or score from 1st outright on a base hit deep enough to the outfield. Another option - PH for Santana and try to win the game via HR (move Esco to SS and sub Arcia in LF if necessary). The last thing you do is give away an out in that spot, IMO.

Escobar was 2 for 3 against that guy.

Bottom of the 8th it was Poof who should have been ph for.

I didn't know how Schafer got to second base. I basically would almost never bunt anyone over to second base, especially if the guy on first is a very good base stealer. Try the steal and if it works, bunt him to third.

They had a loogy warming in the pen.  If Arcia is announced, they bring in the lefty and then he has to pinch hit for Arcia and burn another position player.

 

I don't disagree with the decision at all.  They needed to keep the inning alive and he was clearly the best choice to do that.

 

 

And then in the 9th, Schafer on 1st, no out, Santana batting, righthander on the mound (closer). He sacrifices Schafer to 2nd? That's hardly leveraging your speedster. Schafer is fast enough to either straight steal, or score from 1st outright on a base hit deep enough to the outfield. Another option - PH for Santana and try to win the game via HR (move Esco to SS and sub Arcia in LF if necessary). The last thing you do is give away an out in that spot, IMO.

I was expecting a steal there too.  I would have done that and then bunted him to third.  totally agree that Schafer's speed is one of the few things he brings to the table - that is how he has to contribute.

Escobar is the best hitter of that group right now. It made all the sense in the world.

 

Escobar is the best hitter of that group right now. It made all the sense in the world.

"Of that group" indeed. Too bad better pinch hitting options were in Rochester.

I agree on Schaefer.....if he isn't asked to steal there, what is his value to this team at all?

 

They had a loogy warming in the pen.  If Arcia is announced, they bring in the lefty and then he has to pinch hit for Arcia and burn another position player.

 

I don't disagree with the decision at all.  They needed to keep the inning alive and he was clearly the best choice to do that.

There were two outs in the 8th, trailing one. The baserunner was Suzuki, ie. slow. At that point I think you try and shortcut to winning the game than putting together a sequential 2 out rally with no room for an out, no?

Eduardo Escobar 2015: .146/.186/.244 (.430)

 

Oswaldo Arcia 2015: .200/.275/.267 (.541)

Good grief, even Vargas has a slightly higher OPS than Escobar (about the same at the time of the at bat).

You want a player that puts the ball in play, not a guy to just strikeout. Vargas' ABs have been pitiful lately.  

Edited April 28, 201511 yr by teekz

 

You want a player that puts the ball in play, not a guy to just strikeout. Vargas' ABs have been pitiful lately.  

Escobar put the ball in play and what good did it do?

 

I think with 2 outs you want a player who keeps the ball out of play.

Escobar vs. RHP: .229/.280/.315, 4 HR / 592 PA.

Arcia vs. LHP: .224/.263/.338 - 6 HR / 278 PA.

Vargas vs all: .251/.298/.410 - 10 HR / 295 PA.

Kennys is also a Switch Hitter - however, he's looked terrible at the plate lately. Eddie was the most disciplined hitter on the bench at the time. Vargas was essentially being benched for the game due to his poor play in Seattle.  Arcia would've had to face the lefty, and Molitor would rather have Eddie hit against the current pitcher than put in Arcia against a lefty or leave in Robinson against the righty. 

 

 

I accept the argument that Escobar is the best hitter of the group right now, despite his bad numbers so far in the season.  However, there was a slow runner on first and the #9 hitter (hitting below the Mendoza line) on deck.  To just tie, the Twins would need two hits, unlikely at that time.  To beat the Tigers before they faced their closer, they needed at least an extra base hit, still more likely for Arcia or Vargas.

 

I also questioned bunting Santana in the ninth.  Schafer's stolen base skill has been elite until this year.  Even if he couldn't get a great jump, he was forcing multiple pickoff moves from Soria.  Why not let Soria's attention continue to be divided?  Most of all, I would have loved Santana to hook one into the hole between first and second and have runners on the corners with the best speed the club has and have no outs.