twins1095

Pitching Homer Bailey has less to do with expectations for him by the Twins and everything to do with allowing the Twins to stack their rotation in a way that lines up Maeda/Berrios/Pineda or Hill for the first playoff series.

I think asking Dobnak to learn an entirely new pitch is a tall task. He would need to develop a 4 seam to pitch up in the zone similar to Maeda and even then asking that to be an effective pitch given his lack of velocity seems like a stretch. Working the edges of the plate, sure is something that he could do, but I'm not sure he doesn't do that already and your initial post was about looking to Maeda about pitching at the top of the zone. Maeda has a different pitch mix. I'm not sure it's something Dobnak can replicate... though there may be other things he could do.

I don't agree with this at all. Dobnak's pitches all have huge downward break. I'm not sure that you want him pitching at the top of the zone unless you are advocating for a new pitch mix. I don't think you have to worry about Dobnak's HR rate, though there will be times that HRs are hit off of him.

Great post. I agree with you 100%. I guess the only thing you can say is if mechanic optimization to improve velocity leads also to a command issues.... ....however this ultimately makes me optimistic about Berrios and willing to let him use this regular season to figure out his command issues hoping a couple mphs of more velocity raises his ceiling. Thanks for the post. I learned something.

I'd love to isolate and look at his launch angle during his recent slump, however many games it has been. I think he's getting some bad BABIP luck... but I think for him the issue is launch angle. I have noticed him hitting the ball hard, but with a lot more air under it meaning balls are hanging higher in the air and easier to track down. I am worried that Arraez may have tweaked his swing to try and get more loft on the ball and it is having a negative impact. More likely it's a small mechanical tweak that he needs to make to lower his launch angle and it was accidental. Ultimately, I think Arraez will be fine. He still takes really good ABs and has a great eye and contact skills. That should allow him to be a high obp/high avg guy. Now, how valuable is an average to below average fielder with average speed on the basepaths as a .285 - .295 avg -.350-360 OBP guy versus a .325-.335 avg - .390-.400 obp guy... that's always been the question with Arraez.

What indications do you have to believe that the NHL & NBA won't be able to do their seasons? I'd be interested in learning.

I think games will go on unless Twins players test positive unless the Cardinals start having positive tests on outbreak levels like the Marlins. I think the Phillies lack of positive cases from their players after facing a team with 60% of their players positive is the precedent that the MLB will use until proven otherwise.

Any update on Arraez's availability or potential availability? Still holding out hope he can figure out a way to play with a grade 1 sprain.

Jorge Polanco gets a lot of player comparisons to Jose Ramirez IF Lewis is truly an elite defender at SS, I would fully count out the idea of Polanco shifting to 3rd ala Ramirez either. I know Polanco's arm strength would be suspect there, but hopefully the extra range would make him passable.

He could be and I have advocated for that in the past as well. In all likelihood Buxton will still be part of the mix even if injuries keep him from consistently being part of the mix—which then leaves the scenario the same for Lewis.

Yeah I would put Kirilloff and Larnach ahead of Lewis in the OF pecking order assuming no Buxton. Basically, you have 2 OF spots, 1B, and 3B to divide between Kirilloff, Larnach, Lewis, Rosario, and Sano. That said, I would not mind Lewis in a Marwin Gonzalez role in that scenario with the ability to play any OF spot and 2B, SS, and 3B.

I may have missed this, I thought Kirilloff was playing in the fall league? Is he dealing with an injury?

I'll go with Smeltzer/Dobnak/Graterol combo. I like the idea of matching up them against the other teams ace and then hoping Berrios/Odorizzi match up solidly with a teams #2/#3. I feel like that puts you hopefully at an advantage or even in 2/3's of the games rather than a disadvantage for 3. Although, against the Astros--that might not really matter.

Do we see the Twins trying to get to 4 starters and then playing the opener/long-man game with the 5th starter? I think that's one way to make this process a little bit easier. I think after next season (if not sooner) you start to be in a position for some of that starting depth Graterol/Balazovic/Colina/Duran/Ober/Alcala/etc to hopefully be ready to push for spots. I would rather do the opener/long-man thing with whomever and try to get through it that way than to overpay someone or sign someone mediocre long-term

I really like the way our bullpen has been developing between Rogers/Romo/Dyson/Duffey/May. I think that group can definitely lock down the 7th-9th on a consistent basis. I really like the idea of bringing up Graterol/Alcala/Colina in September and potentially adding 1-2 of them to the playoff roster. While all will likely be raw and hard to trust in high-leverage situations, I really like the idea of pitchers with that kind of stuff taking the 5th-6th innings. From there we can tell our non-Berrios SPs...don't worry, we just need you to get through 4-5 innings with 1-2 runs minimum. The pen has got it from there.