Here are my final thoughts on Mollie pulling Berrios last night.

 

http://i2.wp.com/pulptastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/what-the-4.jpg?resize=600%2C802

Why the long face?

Clearly Molitor secretly hates Jim Pohlad and likes to make him look bad for endorsing him. It's the only way to explain the consistently bad decisions. 

The hook made no sense. It's hard to imagine that many managers would pull Jose Berrios for Buddy Boshers in any situation, much less one where development for the future should be prioritized.

 

Another odd move last night was to have Centeno catch for Berrios. Again, development of Berrios should be the main goal, but having him pitch to the worst defensive catcher makes no sense. Centeno isn't auditioning for next year; his position is entirely dependent on what they decide about Murphy and Garver and whether they sign a free agent or bring Suzuki back. Berrios has had success with Murphy and Suzuki is theoretically still here because he works well with pitchers. Centeno adds little offensively and is the least likely to help Berrios defensively.

 

It seems to me that Molitor may actually be trying to lose, even if he doesn't know it, by trying to demonstrate what a bad team he was handed. In other words, the worse the team performs, the more credible is the argument that no manager could have made things better. I don't buy it; just look at how Atlanta (!) improved after firing their known manager and bringing in who-he Brian Snitker. Unfortunately, the only things Molitor really has going for himself are (1) relationship with the owner, (2) Hall of Fame career, and (3) local pedigree. If he came from somewhere else, we'd be calling him the new Kurt Rambis and the person that hired him the new David Kahn.

Edited September 28, 201610 yr by Deduno Abides

 

Here is what Nolasco has done in September since being freed from our coaches:

September 34.0innings 23H 8R 7ER 8BB 24K 0.91whip 1.85ERA 

Then we destroyed Santiago until he decided to go back to what he had been doing. 

 

Here are Nolasco's real numbers since leaving the Twins:

 

73 IP, 63 H, 27 R, 15 BB, 51 K, 1.06 WHIP, 3.21 ERA.

 

Still nothing to scoff at, mind you.

 

I have said, half-jokingly, that Nolasco would pitch a no hitter within 1 year of leaving the Twins and earn the nickname "No-No Nolasco."  He had a shutout but, as of yet, not a no-hitter.

 

Many Twins fans were very vocal that a guy wouldn't purposely suck just because he's on a team that he didn't want to be on.  But what else can you call this?  

Edited September 28, 201610 yr by Doomtints

Here are Nolasco's real numbers since leaving the Twins:

 

73 IP, 63 H, 27 R, 15 BB, 51 K, 1.06 WHIP, 3.21 ERA.

 

Still nothing to scoff at, mind you.

 

I have said, half-jokingly, that Nolasco would pitch a no hitter within 1 year of leaving the Twins and earn the nickname "No-No Nolasco."  He had a shutout but, as of yet, not a no-hitter.

 

Many Twins fans were very vocal that a guy wouldn't purposely suck just because he's on a team that he didn't want to be on.  But what else can you call this?

 

Nolasco is getting a fresh start (with better outfielders). The atmosphere here for him was bad. Some of that is on Nolasco and some is on the team.

 

Here are Nolasco's real numbers since leaving the Twins:

 

73 IP, 63 H, 27 R, 15 BB, 51 K, 1.06 WHIP, 3.21 ERA.

 

Still nothing to scoff at, mind you.

 

I have said, half-jokingly, that Nolasco would pitch a no hitter within 1 year of leaving the Twins and earn the nickname "No-No Nolasco."  He had a shutout but, as of yet, not a no-hitter.

 

Many Twins fans were very vocal that a guy wouldn't purposely suck just because he's on a team that he didn't want to be on.  But what else can you call this?  

 

Here is an article with quotes from Nolasco basically stating the pitching coach from the Angels did what the Twins pitching coach couldn't.  I'm really hoping Molitor is gone next season along with the entire pitching staff.  With a new front office we can only hope they bring in a new coaching staff as well.

 

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/angels-730373-scng-final.html

I had the same reaction as everyone else to the hook. The only possible thing I could think of is Molly wanted to take him out while he could feel good about his start.

 

Other than that don't know as I wouldn't have taken him out.

 

As mentioned above I also don't get why centeno is catching berrios or as much as he is for that matter.

 

Here is an article with quotes from Nolasco basically stating the pitching coach from the Angels did what the Twins pitching coach couldn't.  I'm really hoping Molitor is gone next season along with the entire pitching staff.  With a new front office we can only hope they bring in a new coaching staff as well.

 

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/angels-730373-scng-final.html

That does seem pretty clear-cut.

 

Another odd move last night was to have Centeno catch for Berrios.

Molitor Math:

 

Latin pitcher + Latin catcher = Victory!

That does seem pretty clear-cut.

This means nothing. If we had 20 bucks for every time an athlete blamed a coach we would own the Twins. It's a convenient excuse for why he sucked for a long time.

 

This means nothing. If we had 20 bucks for every time an athlete blamed a coach we would own the Twins. It's a convenient excuse for why he sucked for a long time.

I suppose.

Here is an article with quotes from Nolasco basically stating the pitching coach from the Angels did what the Twins pitching coach couldn't.  I'm really hoping Molitor is gone next season along with the entire pitching staff.  With a new front office we can only hope they bring in a new coaching staff as well.

 

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/angels-730373-scng-final.html

Interesting. Would be good to see some stats about how often he is throwing the sinker now vs. before.

 

Here is an article with quotes from Nolasco basically stating the pitching coach from the Angels did what the Twins pitching coach couldn't.  I'm really hoping Molitor is gone next season along with the entire pitching staff.  With a new front office we can only hope they bring in a new coaching staff as well.

 

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/angels-730373-scng-final.html

 

Hmm.  Read it.  The thing is, ultimately Nolasco has control of the pitches he throws.  So my question is:  did Nolasco know the sinker was his best pitch and why didn't he call off the catcher on other pitchers. 

 

“Nagy has helped me out a ton understanding how good of a pitch that is,” Nolasco said.

This comment from Nolasco confuses me.  How could he not know?  Blyleven even commented on it frequently on how it was his best pitch.

This means nothing. If we had 20 bucks for every time an athlete blamed a coach we would own the Twins. It's a convenient excuse for why he sucked for a long time.

Don't you mean $20 for every time a coach blamed a player?

 

Here are Nolasco's real numbers since leaving the Twins:

 

73 IP, 63 H, 27 R, 15 BB, 51 K, 1.06 WHIP, 3.21 ERA.

 

Still nothing to scoff at, mind you.

 

I have said, half-jokingly, that Nolasco would pitch a no hitter within 1 year of leaving the Twins and earn the nickname "No-No Nolasco."  He had a shutout but, as of yet, not a no-hitter.

 

Many Twins fans were very vocal that a guy wouldn't purposely suck just because he's on a team that he didn't want to be on.  But what else can you call this?  

I call it getting his freedom, the opportunity to pitch like he did before the Twins way got to him.

 

I call it getting his freedom, the opportunity to pitch like he did before the Twins way got to him.

 

 

I had the same reaction as everyone else to the hook. The only possible thing I could think of is Molly wanted to take him out while he could feel good about his start.

Other than that don't know as I wouldn't have taken him out.

As mentioned above I also don't get why centeno is catching berrios or as much as he is for that matter.

If that's the case, then Molitor is an even worse manager than I thought. I don't think any starter would be happy with 4.2 IP and 2 ER.

 

I think the only reasonable explanation is Paul Molitor doesn't know what he's doing.

On the positive side, besides the umpire's missed strike 3 call and subsequent walk to lead off the 5th inning, and then Molitor's decision to take him out, Berrios continued to looked much more in control yesterday. I think Paul was just waiting until the first opportunity he had to yank him.

He did look better. And he had the one guy struck out before the two runs scored.

Here are my final thoughts on Mollie pulling Berrios last night.

 

http://i2.wp.com/pulptastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/what-the-4.jpg?resize=600%2C802

I thought I ordered the red.

I can't forgive Molitor for how he handled Meyer, but if he starts messing with Berrios then this team is going nowhere fast.

I had the same reaction as everyone else to the hook. The only possible thing I could think of is Molly wanted to take him out while he could feel good about his start.

Other than that don't know as I wouldn't have taken him out.

As mentioned above I also don't get why centeno is catching Berrios or as much as he is for that matter.

l . Agree. What do the cops say at a crime scene? "There's nothing to see here folks, just move along". That's how I feel about Centeno. He is a law of averages catcher. 1/3 of the low balls bounce off to his right, 1/3 or his left, and 1/3 hit the umpire in the foot!

 

I can't forgive Molitor for how he handled Meyer, but if he starts messing with Berrios then this team is going to continue going nowhere fast.

FTFY

 

l . Agree. What do the cops say at a crime scene? "There's nothing to see here folks, just move along". That's how I feel about Centeno. He is a law of averages catcher. 1/3 of the low balls bounce off to his right, 1/3 or his left, and 1/3 hit the umpire in the foot!

Yeah, there's really no reason that Murphy shouldn't be playing every day.  Zuke and Centeno have been up all season, you know what you've got in Centeno and Zuke won't be here next year.  Same story, different young player.

 

Hmm.  Read it.  The thing is, ultimately Nolasco has control of the pitches he throws.  So my question is:  did Nolasco know the sinker was his best pitch and why didn't he call off the catcher on other pitchers. 

 

“Nagy has helped me out a ton understanding how good of a pitch that is,” Nolasco said.

This comment from Nolasco confuses me.  How could he not know?  Blyleven even commented on it frequently on how it was his best pitch.

 

I agree Nolasco has control over his pitches, how often and when he throws them but it's also the pitching coach's job to get the most out of all the pitchers.  It could also just be he's having a good couple of months and next year he'll revert back to what he's been.

Berrios definitely got shorted.  First by the Ump, then by his manager.

 

Chrissakes, stand up for your pitcher Mollie.   Rookie is jobbed on some calls and you yank him?

 

A real manager stands at the mound until he can walk the ump back to homeplate addressing his concerns.

 

recalcitrant 

Thank you for making me lookup the word and expanding my vocabulary.

I wish comments like Nolasco's didn't seem like such a trend.  Everyone that escapes here seems to say "once I got away from those guys I could go back to what worked!"

 

Hell, Santiago was a trainwreck at first because they were trying to force him to do something different too.  

 

I hope Falvey brings an attitude of playing to player strengths rather than trying to turn everyone into who we want them to be come hell or high water.  Even if that hasn't been the intent, enough players now for a long enough time, have sure seemed to feel that way.

 

Here are Nolasco's real numbers since leaving the Twins:

 

73 IP, 63 H, 27 R, 15 BB, 51 K, 1.06 WHIP, 3.21 ERA.

 

Still nothing to scoff at, mind you.

 

I have said, half-jokingly, that Nolasco would pitch a no hitter within 1 year of leaving the Twins and earn the nickname "No-No Nolasco."  He had a shutout but, as of yet, not a no-hitter.

 

Many Twins fans were very vocal that a guy wouldn't purposely suck just because he's on a team that he didn't want to be on.  But what else can you call this?  

 

Funny you mention that. He earned THAT VERY nickname by pitching a stratomatic (a cards and dice simulation for those of you under 30) no hitter in 2008 in our league.  Pretty much a legend in our circle.

A team that has 101 losses (counting tonight) should not be bringing the Manager back. If they did, they are saying that Manager is not responsible for 101 losses, only the players are, which means the FO is really screwed up.