MIN 6, BOS 2: Bats Get to Boston Bullpen

If Escobar keeps up his play at even 80% of his current play....there's no reason he shouldn't win the MVP. Even if they don't make the playoffs. Pitching has kept us in more games than not and Escobar along with Rosario have kept the offense rolling seemingly by themselves for most of the year. Pretty crazy.

Duke pitched the 8th and he blew the lead.

I thought the moves around Duke vs. Leon were fascinating. Two outs and a switch hitter coming up. Leon has relatively wide splits (.637 OPS vs. RHP, .713 OPS vs. LHP) but is not a strong hitter. You'd think it would be smart to get Pressley, Reed (warming), or Rodney in there.

But if you do, maybe the Red Sox pinch-hit lefty Brock Holt, a much better hitter. And you have left-handed hitting Jackie Bradley up next so if Leon/Holt gets on you’ve either got to have Reed/Pressley/Rodney pitch to Bradley (who has struggled against lefties but been much better vs. righties this year) or burn one of those guys on one batter (in a tie game with a dearth of runs) to bring in Taylor Rogers vs. Bradley.

I know it didn’t work out but I thought Molly was smart to leave Duke in there. He deservedly gets some crap but sometimes it’s also about just trusting guys and not trying to get too smart.

Told my son last night when Berrios came out in the 7th, that he would be pulled as soon as somebody got on base, and you could see on Berrios face he knew he was out when he hit the guy.

IMO, how do these pitchers ever learn to pitch deeper into games if they aren't ever given a chance unless they are perfect?

I will also say the Red Sox did the Twins a favor taking Sale out after 7, with LaMarre, Mauer and Rosario (he looked lost against him last night)  up.

Or the Twins did a good job getting Sale up to 105 pitches through seven so the Red Sox would be foolish to bring him back out there?

Berrios was given a chance but once a guy gets on base, the odds of the tying run scoring go way up. At that point, you want a fresh arm throwing heat rather than giving the Red Sox lineup a 4th look at Berrios. I thought it was a great time to go get someone and a great spot for Hildy. He’s got a funky delivery that is a jarring transition from Berrios. He’s also young – Benintendi and Bogaerts had each only seen him once and Martinez had never seen him. That’s another nice advantage.

Thought giving Berrios a shot was great but realizing the leverage of the situation and the better bullpen option was smart.

I love me some Escobar, but I think Trout might be having one of the best seasons ever. ESPN has Trout's WAR at 6.6 and Escobar's at 2.2.

Plus Trout's OPS is .217 higher at this time.

100% agreed. Escobar has been a great story and gives the Twins two very deserving All-Stars (with Rosario) but Trout is on another level.

Then again, Mike Trout should be looking for his 6th MVP but only has two so maybe Escobar has a shot:

• 2012 he had 3.4 more WAR than Cabrera with equivalent stats while playing a premier defensive position and leading the league in stolen bases. As a rookie.
• 2013 he had 1.7 more WAR than Cabrera with equivalent stats and again, better defense and base running.
• 2015 was closer but he had 0.9 more WAR than Donaldson, played a better position, hit the same number of home runs with more stolen bases. This is probably the closest but I’d still give it to him.

2017 is the only Mike Trout year where he shouldn’t be MVP and that’s only because he missed 50 games with injuries. He was on pace for another MVP season.

Ridiculous that we take team success into the MVP discussion and then base the HOF on things like MVPs. Trout’s teams have been bad but he has consistently been far-and-away the best player in baseball. He should be one behind Bonds for most MVPs – at age 26.

We should trade for him.

A great win for the Twins....really. The game seemed destined to be a repeat of about a dozen other games where the Twins have coughed up the lead and then lost in the eighth or ninth or extras.

 

BTW, Bradley doubled up Grossman on Adrianza's fly out in the 8th, but wasn't the obstruction play in order on that attempted tag up? Clearly, Leon used his foot to block Grossman's slide. I am just wondering if I understand the rule. I thought it was any attempt to hinder access to the plate and then obstruction would be called.

He just has to leave him a path to the plate. If you look at Leon, he's out in front of the plate and Grossman has a clear path to the plate. Only after he catches it does he get into the base path. They called this 100% correct.

I don't think you can say Grossman was slow on this, it was a magnificent throw. I think you can say that he should not be running down the inside part of the line. If he's on the back half of the plate I think he's safe. It also would have been a great time for that Justin Morneau fall-away slide. He's got to react to where the catcher is a little bit better.

Addison Reed in the eighth inning experiment as always eight inning guy can end please.

See I want them to bring him back for the role. He's the Twins best reliever and now he's gotten five days off. Bring him back and maybe don't be so stuck to it? Use Hildy and Reed in the 8th and Pressley/Duke/Rogers/Magill in earlier innings. Molly just needs to expand his pen use.

How much do you think it would cost, now?

$1 million per double

Bradley's throw was great but on Escobar's single double, his fielding was atrocious. He straight over-ran that ball (at he had no chance to catch) and turned a one-run play into a two run play. And really, almost a three run play since Escobar ended up on third. That was the ball game there. Keep it to one run (the Red Sox aren't playing as close if its first and second on Grossman) and anything can happen with the FRE.

that throw was nice but doesn't make up for the wretchedness of that Escobar play.

Extending Escobar now is the literal definition of buying high.

 

It's unlikely he continues this torrid pace all season and you get to affix a QO to him if need be, which gives you negotiating leverage in November.

 

Just ride it out, see what happens.

The argument against it would be that then you're going to have to compete on the market and that guys who turn down qualifying offers seem to not want to sign with the team that extended the offer.

That said, I think Escobar loves being in MN and loves playing with these guys. I think if you told him, "We're going to extend the QO but then we want to bring you back", he'd understand.

Any payday he gets will be much higher than he'd have expected before this year and especially before last year. I imagine that gives a guy a different mentality than a guy like Dozier who has been outperforming his contract for the past three years and has not been given an extension. Not sure the Twins will extend a QO to Dozier but if they do, that might be the kiss of death for him as a Twin.