Article: Super Rosario Stars as Twins Sweep Doubleheader

[scottz]

In poker we call that "a fish on a heater". Toronto is terrible.

They are a bottom third club. They aren’t amateurs pushing all in and catching a third jack on the river.

 

But even if they are just on a heater, just as in poker, when you lose to a fish, you should just let it go and move on.

[ashbury]

 

I also heard someone (Provus I believe) say that Byron ranks 2nd behind Bryce Harper in exit velocity which coupled with his speed leads to a possible logical (not concrete) explanation of the .390 BABIP. 

 

Personally... I rarely look at BABIP as a luck stat to be normalized down the road. I feel BABIP is more of an indication of solid contact and other factors like speed. 

 

Some people tend to use BABIP as a way to marginalize or downplay current success when I look at a high BABIP and tend to say "Nice Job... Good For You... Keep it Up". 

i don't call it luck. Because not that much in baseball is luck. I do consider BABIP "non-repeatable," until a player repeats it. Very, very few do.

 

J.D. Martinez had a .375 BABIP last year. That's pretty awesome, and goes a long way toward explaining the awesome year he had. His prior year it was 315. So far this year it's up at .371 too. Maybe he's found some new approach that makes this an established level of ability going forward, but I want to see more than the 88 PA he's had this season to embrace that.

 

And I want to see more than Buxton's 61 PA, by the same token.

 

[Riverbrian]

 

i don't call it luck. Because not that much in baseball is luck. I do consider BABIP "non-repeatable," until a player repeats it. Very, very few do.

 

J.D. Martinez had a .375 BABIP last year. That's pretty awesome, and goes a long way toward explaining the awesome year he had. His prior year it was 315. So far this year it's up at .371 too. Maybe he's found some new approach that makes this an established level of ability going forward, but I want to see more than the 88 PA he's had this season to embrace that.

 

And I want to see more than Buxton's 61 PA, by the same token.

 

Very few things are repeatable from year to year. That's why these front offices keep getting burned on those free agent contracts. 

[puckstopper1]

Terrific to get the DH sweep.  An extra bonus to do it and NOT need to use the whole pen.  Harper, May, Parker and Mejia should all be good to go today as the boys go for a rare road sweep.

[PDX Twin]

"Would you rather have Rogers pitch shorter bursts and be available to appear in more games? Or would you rather him cover multiple innings but be limited to fewer games?"

 

 

How can there be an answer to that question?

 

There are situations where we need him for a key out against a lefty and there are situations (such as yesterday) where we need him for two innings. One of the fine arts of managing is recognizing game situations and using pitchers to maximize wins, while still balancing the load so that everybody stays fresh.

[SwainZag]

 

Piling on bad pitching does not equate to our offense "taking off" for me.  At one point in the first game we were 1-7 with RISP and looked as though we were going to give away the first game to a team that is worse than the Blue Jays.  I enjoyed the games, I am happy with the outcome, but I am not satisfied with the FO's effort to secure the opportunity that sits right in front of us. We deserve better. The team is spending below budget after their promise to do otherwise when we built them a stadium.  Not cool!

 

Meh, save the FO bashing for times when this team drops games they should win.  Good teams win close games and good teams have the ability to blow bad teams out, this team showed both of those things yesterday.  

 

The "woe is me, why would we add offense when we need relief pitching!!!!" trio of Cruz, Schoop and Cron combined to hit 5 HR yesterday.  What are we out here doing if we can't sit back and enjoy wins once in awhile because there are other things to complain about?  It's a long season.  It's April.

[Halsey Hall]

During spring training when the Orioles were playing a minor league game a fellow asked on of the coaches how the big club would be. He replied, terrible, they spent all the money down here.

[Riverbrian]

 

i don't call it luck. Because not that much in baseball is luck. I do consider BABIP "non-repeatable," until a player repeats it. Very, very few do.

 

J.D. Martinez had a .375 BABIP last year. That's pretty awesome, and goes a long way toward explaining the awesome year he had. His prior year it was 315. So far this year it's up at .371 too. Maybe he's found some new approach that makes this an established level of ability going forward, but I want to see more than the 88 PA he's had this season to embrace that.

 

And I want to see more than Buxton's 61 PA, by the same token.

 

Buck hasn't had any sacrifices nor has he hit any home runs so far in 2019. 

 

He has 16 hits in 56 AB's for a batting average of .285. He has struck out 15 times (25%). 

 

So you get to take those 15 AB's that resulted in strikeouts out of the equation and make it 16 hits in 41 AB's for a .390 BABIP. 

 

4 more balls caught by defensive players over his 17 games. Would result in 12 hits in 41 AB's which would normalize his BABIP while lowering his batting average to .214 because he hasn't parked anything yet. 

 

Instead he is hitting line drives with the 2nd highest exit velocity in the league thus far. (BTW... Provus said it last Sunday so I took it as gospel and didn't verify. I'm looking at exit velo's today and Harper is not #1 and Buxton is not #2... but they are up near the leaders). 

 

I'd rather move him up while he is doing that instead of waiting for the regression that is inevitable. You can always move him back down. 

 

Anyway... I know you get all the numbers better than most.

 

I could have shortened up this whole thing by simply saying... Buck is hitting the ball hard right now. 

 

 

[Doomtints]

Remember around ten years ago when the Twins scored something like 32 runs in a double header v. the Sox?

[Doomtints]

 

i don't call it luck. Because not that much in baseball is luck. I do consider BABIP "non-repeatable," until a player repeats it. Very, very few do.

 

J.D. Martinez had a .375 BABIP last year. That's pretty awesome, and goes a long way toward explaining the awesome year he had. His prior year it was 315. So far this year it's up at .371 too. Maybe he's found some new approach that makes this an established level of ability going forward, but I want to see more than the 88 PA he's had this season to embrace that.

 

And I want to see more than Buxton's 61 PA, by the same token.

 

A few players have that great directional control and have high career BABIPs. As you say, most don't.

[ashbury]

A few players have that great directional control and have high career BABIPs. As you say, most don't.

Likewise for pitchers, in reverse. Clayton Kershaw seems to be capable of rocking a steady .275 BABIP. Most other good pitchers, that "ability" comes and goes.

[yarnivek1972]

I've been saying this for quite some time and will continue to say it.

 

Every team should be trying to sign, acquire or create their own Andrew Miller or Josh Hader type.

 

Taylor Rogers is our candidate for this type of role.

 

2018: Josh Hader -- 55 Appearances - 81 Innings.

2018: Taylor Rogers -- 72 Appearances - 68.1 innings.

2018: Jose Berrios -- 32 Appearances - 192.1 Innings.

 

The Hader and Rogers numbers kind of highlight the difference in how they were deployed last year and it shows how Rogers can throw more than 1 inning per appearance if the organization looks at the Brewers and Josh Hader and considers it. Jose Berrios is listed for the hell of it to show that anything in between is also possible with Taylor Rogers and to simply ask the question back:

 

Would you rather have Berrios pitch in shorter bursts and be available to appear in more games? Or would you rather him cover multiple innings but be limited to fewer games?

 

Baseball has been Auto-Pilot for way too long. Starters don't have to go 6 innings and relievers don't need to be limited to 1 inning. Everything in between is possible!!!

 

It doesn't matter what inning... Taylor Rogers should be deployed whenever the game is tight and should remain in the game (there is a limit) until the offense provides separation.

 

You won't create this type of weapon until the coaching staffs and front offices get over the 1 inning bullpen mentality and get out of the prefabricated boxes of closer, 8th inning guy, 7th inning guy, LOOGY.

 

If you have a guy who can hang zeroes... let the guy hang more of them. Don't pull him just because you can't fathom anybody on earth throwing an additional inning out of the bullpen or because it was how your grandfather constructed his bullpen. Don't limit him to 55 special innings... increase his innings. The goal of every bullpen is to hang zeroes. Let the guy hanging them... hang more.

 

Once you create a guy like this... there is nothing stopping you from creating another one so the other can get some rest.

 

This is how you get Bullpen serious. Stretch out everyone. Quit creating these specialists... Quit saving your best guy for the 9th inning only and only when you have a 1 to 3 run lead.

 

When I see Baldelli get another inning out of Taylor Rogers... I am hopeful that it's an indication of a different bullpen usage mentality. I know it doesn't mean he is in lock step with me because it was just one time but I'm hopeful because it needs to happen.

 

How do you get Rogers more innings?... Not appearances... Innings? That's the question that needs to be asked.

Rogers failed as a starter for two primary reasons: He couldn’t get RHB out. He couldn’t get guys out twice. So, he’s never going to face more than 9 hitters in an outing. And, if he throws 35-40 pitches in an outing, he would need at least two days off before pitching again.

 

The kind of bullpen use you are suggesting is to some degree a throwback to the age of Gossage and Fingers in the 70s. They would come in for the starter in the 8th or even the 7th and usually finish the game. If the game got blown open they might get lifted for someone else. It’s not a bad idea except that you can’t just start that midseason at the MLB level. Relievers have been conditioned to be used a certain way for 30 years. You can’t change that overnight and expect them to perform at the same level.

[Riverbrian]

 

Rogers failed as a starter for two primary reasons: He couldn’t get RHB out. He couldn’t get guys out twice. So, he’s never going to face more than 9 hitters in an outing. And, if he throws 35-40 pitches in an outing, he would need at least two days off before pitching again.

The kind of bullpen use you are suggesting is to some degree a throwback to the age of Gossage and Fingers in the 70s. They would come in for the starter in the 8th or even the 7th and usually finish the game. If the game got blown open they might get lifted for someone else. It’s not a bad idea except that you can’t just start that midseason at the MLB level. Relievers have been conditioned to be used a certain way for 30 years. You can’t change that overnight and expect them to perform at the same level.

 

I won't argue the conditioned usage but we are already seeing examples of certain pitchers going against that grain. Hader for example and it all starts by starting to do it. 

 

Taylor Rogers may have struggled as a starter previously but he has done some nice sized improvement on his slider to the point that I don't think his past numbers are applicable today. 

[Linus]

I’m with RB on this one. Condition your pitchers to go two or more and the chronic running out of relievers will end

[Jim Hahn]

Rogers failed as a starter for two primary reasons: He couldn’t get RHB out. He couldn’t get guys out twice. So, he’s never going to face more than 9 hitters in an outing. And, if he throws 35-40 pitches in an outing, he would need at least two days off before pitching again.

The kind of bullpen use you are suggesting is to some degree a throwback to the age of Gossage and Fingers in the 70s. They would come in for the starter in the 8th or even the 7th and usually finish the game. If the game got blown open they might get lifted for someone else. It’s not a bad idea except that you can’t just start that midseason at the MLB level. Relievers have been conditioned to be used a certain way for 30 years. You can’t change that overnight and expect them to perform at the same level.

This is true, in that relievers were used that way in 70's and 80's. Whether you want to use relievers that way today is an open question. A lot of relievers were burnt out at young ages from that kind of use. Starters also threw complete games then, giving their bullpens breaks, fairly regularly. Starters on good teams anyway also got deeper into games. One last problem, is that a greater percentage of today's relievers are max delivery guys. How many of them can bounce back quickly from multi inning use is another question.

 

We will have to see but I really hope the Twins can coax more innings out of their starters. I doubt if the best relievers on the Twins will be able to stand up to this workload if it continues like this the rest of the year.

[Riverbrian]

 

This is true, in that relievers were used that way in 70's and 80's. Whether you want to use relievers that way today is an open question. A lot of relievers were burnt out at young ages from that kind of use. Starters also threw complete games then, giving their bullpens breaks, fairly regularly. Starters on good teams anyway also got deeper into games. One last problem, is that a greater percentage of today's relievers are max delivery guys. How many of them can bounce back quickly from multi inning use is another question.

We will have to see but I really hope the Twins can coax more innings out of their starters. I doubt if the best relievers on the Twins will be able to stand up to this workload if it continues like this the rest of the year.

 

Rollie threw 138 Innings while racking up 37 Saves in 78 appearances. 

 

I'm not suggesting that our bullpen go all Rollie Fingers out there but I am suggesting that there is middle ground between the 190 innings thrown by starters and the 60 innings thrown by the bullpen arms and ultimately we should be looking for ways to get our top bullpen guys more innings to make up for the less innings that will be thrown by our starters. 

 

The question is how much rest is required between efforts and what does max effort do to the equation. 

 

Hader is already starting to break down the walls.  

[killertwinfan]

 

Meh, save the FO bashing for times when this team drops games they should win.  Good teams win close games and good teams have the ability to blow bad teams out, this team showed both of those things yesterday.  

 

The "woe is me, why would we add offense when we need relief pitching!!!!" trio of Cruz, Schoop and Cron combined to hit 5 HR yesterday.  What are we out here doing if we can't sit back and enjoy wins once in awhile because there are other things to complain about?  It's a long season.  It's April.

I think you hijacked my narrative and changed it to something else.