5 Most Disappointing Minnesota Twins Players in May

In regards to Colome.....he was better in May, but don't forget he also pitched in more "low-leverage" situations. We'll take any improvement, but still, he's being paid to close games, not work on his pitches during a 10 run blowout.

2 minutes ago, LewFordLives said:

In regards to Colome.....he was better in May, but don't forget he also pitched in more "low-leverage" situations. We'll take any improvement, but still, he's being paid to close games, not work on his pitches during a 10 run blowout.

I disagree with the "low leverage" categorization.  The closer is a dying role.  Personally I'm glad we don't save a pitcher for a moment that may or may not be there for a save situation.

5/19 against the White Sox he entered in the 7th inning trailing 2-1 to face their 2,3 and 4 hitters  That was the not low leverage at all.   There aren't many instances where he was called on for a blow out game, I count three where the difference was 5 or more runs.

5/30 KC 8th inning losing 5-3

5/25 BAL 8th inning winning 6-3

5/24 BAL 9th winning 8-3

5/22  CLE 10th inning tied 3-3

5/19 CHI 7th losing 2-1

5/18 CHI 7th inning losing 4-2

5/15 OAK 8th inning losing 4-1

5/12 CHI 7th losing 13-7

5/7 DET 7th inning winning 4-3

5/5 TEX 7th and 8th inning losing 3-1

5/1  KC 9th inning losing 11-3 

How did this list not just include Sano five times in a row?

37 minutes ago, spycake said:

5+ runs would be crazy low leverage. Late innings, down by 2-3 runs or more is generally considered low leverage (and the pitchers teams generally use in those situations confirms that).

It wasn't exclusively a low-leverage month for him, but Colomé's average game-entering leverage index (gmLI) for May was 0.73:

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/alex-colome/6661/game-log?type=5&gds=2021-05-01&gde=2021-05-31&season=&position=P

That indeed qualifies as "low leverage" per Fangraphs: An LI of 1 is average. Anything above 1 is above average and anything below it is below average. We bin the situations into three groups (Low: 0-0.85, Medium: 0.85-2.0, High: 2.0+)

7 of Colomé's May appearance were "low leverage" by this definition, 3 were medium, and 1 was high.

The White Sox game you mention was his 3rd highest at 0.99, so it was right about average leverage. He was followed in that game by Thielbar and Alcala, with the score unchanged, to give you an idea about how the Twins approached that situation.

When you lose more games than you win then you will not be given a ton of "high leverage" situations.  It seems his entering while losing games are occuring after a few days off.  It could be he is being scheduled to pitch on days regardless of the outcome.  I look at who he enters the game to face in many of the situations he was called on to pitch when their mid order guys were due up.

Either way to say he was personally responsible for 4 loses in May was not a good take.  He deserves to be on a list of 5 best Twins in May.

9 minutes ago, spycake said:

The Twins have been pretty upfront about reducing Colomé’s leverage, so that’s not really an accident. He was generally 4th or 5th on the RP depth chart, which his leverage index reflects.

Like I said before, that other poster was mistakenly referring to full season stats rather than just May. Colomé clearly does not belong on a 5 worst list for May, you are correct about that.

But Colomé should not be considered among the 5 best Twins in May either. His RA9-WAR of 0.2 for the month would rank 4th among just pitchers, but overall it would only be tied for 11th on the team. We actually had a handful of hitters do pretty well this past month, even if you penalize a few for situational hitting (although it would seem a bit contradictory to simultaneously boost Colomé despite his meager situational value for the month).

 

Seems like you are going to extreme lengths to discount Colome.  Might there be a bias?  

He gave up 3 runs (2 earned) the entire month and 2 of them were in one game.  Tremendous month!

Sano. 2 for his last 33.  He is no longer a MLB quality player

On 6/1/2021 at 7:43 AM, umterp23 said:

5 most disappointing things is slightly accurate but you should have made it a top 10.  

Miquel "He's just a K machine" Sano who is 2 for his last 25 with 14 K's, 43 K's in his last 90+ at Bats.  Mr. Swing and Miss is hitting 100 lbs less than his weight.  

Rocco Baldelli would be on this list for penciling in Sano on a daily basis.  My goodness his game management is not great.

Buxton, where has he been?  Oh that's right, in the medical tent once again

Hitting Coach?  Do the twins have anyone on the payroll that knows what they are doing? Maybe Cruz and his clubhouse leadership/mentor status that everyone loves to talk about should let us know who it is.  

Shoemaker who is 1-5 over his last 7 starts.  

Medical tent once again. Now that was funny! Thanks for the laugh.

On 6/1/2021 at 9:50 PM, spycake said:

Noting that the Twins have largely refused to use him in close games the past month is “extreme lengths”?

May appearances in tie/hold/save situations: Rogers 11, Robles 11, Duffey 8, Thielbar 4, Alcala 4, Colomé 3

It’s not just random luck that Colomé hasn’t been in many close games, it has been a deliberate decision — one of many that I have no control over.

And Colomé gave up all 3 of his runs (and left 2 inherited runners for the next pitcher) in those 3 tie/hold games too.

It is hard to accumulate much value in relief, given those circumstances and performances. He has absolutely performed better in May than April, but I would not rank his May performance ahead of Polanco, Garver, Larnach, Refsynder, or Berrios, and probably a few other guys too.

Yeah extreme lengths to discount a 1.75 ERA......he did exactly what you want a reliever to do for the entire month of May.

He can't control what the situation is before he enters a game.  I even pointed out that he out pitched his expected outcome.  But there is no way you can spin that into anything but a great month.