State Of The Bullpen

It looks to me like the strike zone has been wildly inconsistent. An inconsistent strike zone along with pitchers who need to hit their spots and get consistent calls is a recipe for disaster.

Agreed. There are no stats to back it up and its entirely subjective but I have seen insane strike zones for both the Twins and their opponents in a bunch of games. Hopefully the umps will settle down a bit? :-)

Watching the game last night, I saw a Twins pitcher clearly catch, and Foxtracks backed it up, the low outside corner of the plate. (I don't remember which pitcher) If memory serves, that missed call, and it wasn't really even close, lead to a walk or maybe a run. Just one example.  

Yeah. Tonkin got squeezed on that Braun at bat where he eventually walked him too.

And to not be one-sided or biased, Sano's 4th ball on a 3-0 count was one of the most criminal calls I've ever seen. It wasn't even borderline, it was just a strike.* My wife who thinks baseball is as interesting as golf (hint: not interesting) was watching for once and she laughed out loud when it was called a ball. Insane in the membrane. 

* Loving the new/old Arcia but he immediately swung at the first pitch after a reliever came in and walked the bases loaded with an ump who clearly had a schizophrenic strike zone in calling a 4 pitch walk. C'mon man, take that first pitch!

 Nor does it excuse Dozier not running out the ground ball.

 

Nunez did that on Tuesday too. The Twins have the depth to bench guys who do that, Molly needs to get on that.

Watching the game last night, I saw a Twins pitcher clearly catch, and Foxtracks backed it up, the low outside corner of the plate. (I don't remember which pitcher) If memory serves, that missed call, and it wasn't really even close, lead to a walk or maybe a run. Just one example.  

You're thinking of Milone to their pitcher I believe... it was an awful call, caught all of the plate.. he did strike him out on the next pitch though

If we go back and look at all the balls and strikes, I am guessing the Twins have not been any more hosed than the other teams.  The games I have seen have been extremely inconsistent on both sides.  Time to let the machines do the work, versus having a human make a call, then immediately use the machine to show the viewers how wrong the call was. And at the same time we can get rid of the ridiculous "the ump is giving away today, or low and outside".  The two innings it takes to figure out what the rules of the day are.

Our pen is struggling because we don't have good pitchers in it.  The "top 3" guys have had 6 good outings out of 15.

I expect the hitting to get better, but the pen should not really improve.  It will be a tragedy if guys like Berrios or Meyer are moved back there this year because TR didn't make any moves.

Those two should be replacing Nolasco and Milone.

Actually Milone might be a good bullpen addition given his BAA disparity on 1st time through lineup against 2nd/3rd times

He very well could be.  I am willing to let Milone and Nolasco give it a rip in the pen.   As I see it, the best pen addition this year will be Chargois, but he has a total of 5 IP in AA.  So probably not imminent.

Actually, Chargois had 33 IP in AA last year too (plus another ~5 IP in the AA playoffs).

 

Hopefully if his fast start is for real, he will be promoted soon, at least to AAA.

Don't really care about his 5.5 BB per 9 last year. Our pen is at 5 this year. We need better stuff up here.

Yup. We needed two arms. More of the same in Rochester.

The entire new stat of "pitch framing" as a way to evaluate catchers is simply a product of umpires not having the ability to consistently call balls and strikes when the ball is traveling and moving like it does in the major leagues. More precisely, human beings do not have that ability. It seems to me that if we have the technology to talk about pitch framing, then we have the technology to call balls and strikes in real time in a ball game. It may remove some of the romance from the game, but I think that it is inevitable that electronic pitch calling is in the fairly near future. Then hitters like Maurer and Joey Votto will justly be rewarded for their great skill in knowing the strike zone, and catchers will not be lauded for their ability to fool the ump. 

I don't believe in machines calling balls and strikes any more than I believe in machines calling pass interference or any other penalty in football. There is a human element to the way the game is played on the field...an inch or two can make the difference of a caught ball or a hit, a foul ball or a double down the line.

Almost every single hitter at the plate has a different stance, even proximity in the batterbox, compared to every other batter before and after. Thus, the strike zone, to a degree, changes. And if you have a pitcher, a Maddux for example, that can have pin point control enough to paint a corner right on the black consistently, then I still don't have a problem with that consisfently, even borderline, being called a strike. As long as the calls are consistent. But that is where the problem lies.

With the exception of said pin point control being somewhat arbitrary, the strike zone, even for different batters, is still rather clearly defined...and always has been! Human error be damned, a missed call or two will almost certainly balance out for all teams. But it is the blatant disregard for the rules based on personal bias as to what is a strike, or worse, consistent incomletance, that is the root of a problem.

Sticking strictly with baseball as a referencd, if a player can't perform as ended or expected, he is benched or optioned down. Why is this not also an option for umpires? The MLBPA has had tremendous power for decades, though that power has eroded ever so slightly the past few years. Despite some attempts at strong armed tactics, the ML umpire association has not been nearly as powerful, despite their belief that they are.

The standards are set by regulation. The umpires, their overseers and their union should understand this, and have the capability to review and regulate such standards. There should be no open, personal interpretation of said regulations, for the most part, as there are actual rules and parameters to follow. This is not a professorship...anot entirely different subject matter and debate...and there should be no tenure. I would think it more prudent, any my preference, for any umpire that doesn't make muster to be demoted or removed in favor of a milb, college, or other umpire to receive an opportunity to show his abilities on a promotional or trial basis. (Yes, I exagerate...but only somewhat)

Even as complicated as the NFL is in rules interpretation and enforcement, (and this also has probably as many faulty outliers as ML umpires), at least there are reviews and ramifications for performance leading to removal, removal from top games, and a reward system for only top crews to referee top games, playoffs and the Super Bowl. I think it's way past time that MLB step in and do something about umpires and crews that just can't consistently get things right. Being an umpire may be a thankless job in many respects, but it is a PROFESSIONAL occupation. And there is a difference between human error and incompetance.

This is something that I think eventually gets changed.  The most important thing to me is getting the calls right.  So much of the frustration in this game is completely un-necessary.  Guys getting pissed about where the strike zone is, you called the pitch outside for them and not for us.  The whole feeling out period every game to see “what the ump will give you”.    And I think balls and strikes are an area where technology is going to get it right literally 99.99% of the time.  The umps miss all the time.  Unlike pass interference, this is more cut and dry.  The plate width and player height are known.  Pass interference is something where you need to make a judgement call.  Some touching is allowed.  If it is going both ways they usually don’t call it.  If the ball was not catch-able they don’t call it, etc.

Maybe some happy medium here is you still have a real grumpy old guy behind the plate with an earpiece.  After each pitch the earpiece tells him ball or strike.  If someone complains, he can still act like a child, freak out, start swearing and throw them out of the game.

It looks like the Twins tried to acquire Justin Wilson, and were surprised when the Yankees accepted the Tigers offer instead of their "aggressive" offer. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/04/al-pitcher-notes-wilson-skaggs-greene.html

That would have been a nice get, although I definitely can't complain with the way Fernando Abad has been pitching.