Article: MIN 8, KC 5: Twins Recover from Rough Start

[ashbury]

I dunno. It's a pretty individual sport. 90% of it is a one-on-one matchup between a pitcher and a hitter. Once it's in play the other guys get involved (and they do influence the pitcher-hitter battle by shifting or stealing or pitching out) but the main draw is that one-on-one aspect. That's the action that drives the rest.

I agree. There are one-on-one matchups to be watched in football and basketball, but coaches have the option to switch off or double team at any time. You can't double-team your opponent's ace pitcher with your lefty-righty outfield platoon taking up their spots in the batter's boxes simultaneously - they'd knock each other's heads off on a high fastball down the middle!

[Mike Sixel]

 

I love how beating two of the worst teams in major league baseball's recent history suddenly has people thinking playoffs again.

Someone queue up Picard's facepalm for when we stop playing AA teams.

 

all time history. They could lost 110 - 120 games this year. All time bad teams. Not even really competitive at all.

[TheLeviathan]

 

all time history. They could lost 110 - 120 games this year. All time bad teams. Not even really competitive at all.

 

Yeah, didn't want to post that until I looked it up.  But you're right, these could be the two worst teams of all time.

 

And people are talking about playoffs?  Can I get a meme of Picard face-palming while Jim Mora yells "Playoffs?!?!?"

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Yeah, didn't want to post that until I looked it up.  But you're right, these could be the two worst teams of all time.

 

And people are talking about playoffs?  Can I get a meme of Picard face-palming while Jim Mora yells "Playoffs?!?!?"

It's way too early to count on anything in either direction, though the obvious take is that the Twins are close to out of it.

 

But Cleveland isn't exactly a powerhouse this season, anyway.

 

I'm perfectly content to see the front office sit on their hands for two more weeks and then reevaluate. Maybe you try to move Lynn early and replace him with Romero, that's fine.

 

But there's nothing to be done right now, anyway. If Dozier is truly on fire, his value only climbs over the next couple of weeks. I'm interested in retaining Escobar so I'm in no rush to move him, particularly if he's drifting back to a .750-.800 OPS, which is probably closer to a real evaluation of his skill level and makes it easier to keep him in the offseason.

 

The bullpen pieces won't bring enough back to make me care. None of them are good enough to be a July 15th trade anyway. They're a last-minute trade at best and you still probably get nothing worth mentioning for any of them.

 

I want to see what the Twins have in them over the next couple of weeks. Maybe we are pleasantly surprised by the results but I'm not holding my breath here.

[mikelink45]

 

His slump helped bury the Twins early on. Hopefully he's building his trade value.

 

Even thought the Twins are out of it, ten games back, its still nicer to listen to winning baseball.   It will be interesting to see how they do against a team on a roll like Tampa.

 

On a side note, is there a spot on Twins Daily that lists the daily roster transactions?? I was listening last night and when they mentioned that Busenitz was pitching, I was wondering 'when did he get called up'?

I always look to TD for daily updates too.  I find the Minor League Report gives me the best transactions.

 

[slash129]

 

I will not argue - it is good for every fan to find what they can accept.  For me he just pitched a mediocre game and got away with it 

 

Lynn's style and command always make him look 10 times worse many of his given outings. 

 

I agree with those who saw this as him righting the ship after the first inning to a degree, but it still was no fun to watch.  It seems he goes 3-2 on every hitter, and he's always laboring.  It's like any Pelfrey outing or bad Contreras outings.  I'm sure he did his whole "stare into the soul" thing with Molitor after the 5th inning, got the go ahead and then gave Pressly a s$%$-sandwich (Pressly somehow thought the sandwich needed an extra turd, but that's beside the point).  

 

I definitely agree with you about Lynn getting away with it. Pressly got it done. I would say with the help of the umpire, but it was Drew "I'm likely to get out anyway" Butera.  It was priceless seeing Pressly's smirk when he tried to throw the same pitch to Merrifield with two strikes and didn't get the call.

 

Lynn had a 36 game score, so the numbers don't lie. He battled, but it wasn't a good outing by any means.

[USAFChief]

 

I love how beating two of the worst teams in major league baseball's recent history suddenly has people thinking playoffs again.

Someone queue up Picard's facepalm for when we stop playing AA teams.

It's a long shot, obviously, but who you beat isn't particularly meaningful. All W's count the same. Other teams have beaten up on KC and Balt, too, obviously. 

 

The Twins are a better team than they've played. I'd prefer to at least wait until late July before giving up on anything.

 

And for the record, if you really want to consider who've they've beaten, the Twins are 16-10 against Boston, Cleveland, Houston, the LAA, and St Louis.

 

 

 

 

[TheLeviathan]

 

It's way too early to count on anything in either direction, though the obvious take is that the Twins are close to out of it.

 

But Cleveland isn't exactly a powerhouse this season, anyway.

 

I'm perfectly content to see the front office sit on their hands for two more weeks and then reevaluate. Maybe you try to move Lynn early and replace him with Romero, that's fine.

 

But there's nothing to be done right now, anyway. If Dozier is truly on fire, his value only climbs over the next couple of weeks. I'm interested in retaining Escobar so I'm in no rush to move him, particularly if he's drifting back to a .750-.800 OPS, which is probably closer to a real evaluation of his skill level and makes it easier to keep him in the offseason.

 

The bullpen pieces won't bring enough back to make me care. None of them are good enough to be a July 15th trade anyway. They're a last-minute trade at best and you still probably get nothing worth mentioning for any of them.

 

I want to see what the Twins have in them over the next couple of weeks. Maybe we are pleasantly surprised by the results but I'm not holding my breath here.

 

We're talking about 16 games.  They'd have to go 12-4 just to get to .500.  Yes, Cleveland is not a juggernaut, but 7 games against the worst teams in baseball history should not change our perception of the team.

 

This is still a team that got it's ass handed to it in Milwaukee and Chicago.  And the majority of the first half of the season.  It's like being in the eye of the hurricane and proclaiming "storm's over!"  No...we just hit a comfy part of the schedule.  Nothing more, nothing less.

 

It shouldn't change what this team is doing by July 31st.  No one is demanding they make a deal right now, by noon or something.  Just not to get deluded by pasting AA teams at home.

Edited July 12, 2018 by TheLeviathan

[yarnivek1972]

It's a long shot, obviously, but who you beat isn't particularly meaningful. All W's count the same. Other teams have beaten up on KC and Balt, too, obviously.

 

The Twins are a better team than they've played. I'd prefer to at least wait until late July before giving up on anything.

 

And for the record, if you really want to consider who've they've beaten, the Twins are 16-10 against Boston, Cleveland, Houston, the LAA, and St Louis.

????

 

I don’t see either team as a contender. St. Louis maybe as a long shot.

 

I would also say in a general sense that it looks like Cleveleland isn’t “running away” with the division because three teams in the AL are winning 65% of their games right now. And another at 62.4%. Last year, the Cleveland led AL with 63%. Cleveland’s current 54.9% would have been better than every second place team last year except the Yankees.

 

My point being is there are 4 teams way better than the rest of the AL. The only remaining spot is the AL Central. Could Cleveland collapse and the Twins get lucky? Sure. That’s where the 2% or whatever it is now odds come in to play. But I think it is pretty clear that the Twins have no chance beating any of the 4 great teams in the AL in a playoff series. The talent simply isn’t there.

[Platoon]

I dunno. It's a pretty individual sport. 90% of it is a one-on-one matchup between a pitcher and a hitter. Once it's in play the other guys get involved (and they do influence the pitcher-hitter battle by shifting or stealing or pitching out) but the main draw is that one-on-one aspect. That's the action that drives the rest.

It's also a player against the ball. It's not a pass Fromm QB or a point guard. It's a ball hit in a random direction, that an individual player has to catch. Baseball is a very easy game to be selfish about, and play only to pad your stats.