KC 6, MIN 4: Coming Down is the Hardest Thing

Polanco needs to play outfield in winter league ball. 

At this rate... I'd have to fully agree with that.   Sigh.

Busenitz is pitching himself out of the Twins' plans next year.

It's almost tragically comical in a sense.   It seems like we see this so often with players throughout the league.   A guy has good or even great "stuff", but he just can't fully harness it.   I really hope that he can, and I'll continue to pull for him to do so, but... like you said, he just isn't getting it done right now.

Everyone wanted to see all these young pitchers.  Well, we got em.  Maybe one of the reasons the front office wasn't pushing all these guys up is that they had a feeling they either aren't all that good or ready for the big show.

All those walks last night was worse than being in a dentist chair waiting for him to pull a tooth. 

Maybe the real pitching talent in the organization is further away, Class AA and lower.

I have written in a blog about SS that Polanco is a bad fielder, last night was another example. 12 errors in 61 games and it would be at least one more if they got the call right on his miss of Gimenez throw to second. He also had no hustle and cannot claim to be tired since he missed half the season.  

Nice bat, 2B is open Logan Forsythe is reducing his average after a nice quick start with the club and Polanco should slide over here.  SS is too valuable for him to be our starter.

Busenitz is really disappointing, the opener idea is a farce, Gonsalves has disappointed.  Magill is not the answer. 

Play Astudillo to entertain the fans. 

Jake Cave is the one who is really standing out right now.  He continues to hustle and that is fun to watch.  Is Buxton watching?  

I don’t understand having an opener go more than one inning. If the theory behind the opener is to have him pitch to batters 1-3 (or 4) in the first inning, allowing the primary to begin his day with 4 or 5, and thus start his third time through the order with batter 4 or 5, getting two innings from an opener defeats this purpose. Since most pitchers have whips over 1, statistically speaking, if the opener goes two innings, the primary will start with batters 9,1, and 2, therefore negating most of the supposed benefit of the opener.

In retrospect, maybe there is a reason why Alan Busenitz was stashed away in AAA while guys like Belisle were getting innings! I'm a little bit joking, of course, but really, Buze has had a tough year with the Twins. 

You really notice how AAA success doesn't always correlate with MLB success. A lot of guys light up AAA. Many of them don't stick at the MLB level. When guys don't get the call when we think they should, it very likely means that they aren't as convinced it can translate to the bigs like we do. 

Based on his AAA numbers this year, I figured he would be in a good spot for a bullpen spot in 2019. That looks to be in doubt, as there will almost definitely be bullpen additions in the offseason, and probably several of them.

Another thing,

It's amazing to me how walk-prone the entire staff has been, really.

Gonsalves: 17 BB in 15.1 Innings!!!!

Stewart: 15 BB in 24.2 Innings

Berrios (Post-ASG): 22 BB in 46.1 IP

Gibson (Post-ASG): 27 BB in 61 IP

Odorizzi: 64 BB in 155 IP

They all look fine compared to Gonsalves, but this walk rate, especially lately, is high for all of them. Some of it is simply September fatigue. Some is that you have some young pitchers getting their feet wet. All that said, the starters/primarys have not been good at limiting walks. 

Some bullpen notes:

Busenitz: 13 BB in 23.1 IP

Moya: 12 BB in 30.2 IP

Magill: 20 BB in 51.2 IP

Some work to be done there too

I wonder if Greg Maddux could make a come back. Had pretty average stuff. Didn't throw that hard, but owned the edges of the plate. He'd throw it to either the inside edge or outside edge with great command, with just enough late movement in or out to keep the hitters guessing. And he seemed to be able to keep one step ahead of whatever the hitter's plan was. Very fun to watch him carve up a game.

How long do we continue with Kepler in right field? 

5 years.

Another thing,

 

It's amazing to me how walk-prone the entire staff has been, really.

 

 

 

Where's Rick Anderson when we need him?

Gosh I hope we can contend for something in 2019 besides a high draft pick. I just dont see it ....

Great line of thinking here. I embrace tinkering with new ideas, but the opener (at least the way the Twins have tried it so far) isn't really doing it for me. Your point above is another strike against it.

 

I definitely see the value in trying to avoid overexposure of your starter/primary pitcher, but this doesn't seem to be the way to accomplish that goal.

I believe that the expectation of bringing the primary in to face the 7-8-9 is relatively unrealistic. The likelihood of the the opener going 6-up 6-down is pretty low. With the best hitters now stacked atop the lineup in most cases, it makes more sense to let the opener pitch the first inning and then bring the primary to start against the 4th or 5th batter.

How long do we continue with Kepler in right field?

As long as he continues to post a 2.7 bWAR. Kepler is not one of the problems with this team. People need to stop thinking he is.

I don’t understand having an opener go more than one inning. If the theory behind the opener is to have him pitch to batters 1-3 (or 4) in the first inning, allowing the primary to begin his day with 4 or 5, and thus start his third time through the order with batter 4 or 5, getting two innings from an opener defeats this purpose. Since most pitchers have whips over 1, statistically speaking, if the opener goes two innings, the primary will start with batters 9,1, and 2, therefore negating most of the supposed benefit of the opener.

I have felt this way since day 1. I believe the Twins should continue to use the opener. However, they have to understand that the probability of retiring the top 6 hitters in any given lineup without giving up a walk or hit is very low. Realistically, one of the first three will get on base, so you bring the primary in to face the 5th batter. In most lineups, the #5 slot is where it starts to gradually ease up. However, if they are doing it a certain way, I'm sure they have good reason. Our opinions are meaningless.