Herschel78

Is his delivery jerky? Should that be a concern for injury?

The only way Shoemaker was misused was by not pulling sooner when it was apparent he was not pitching well. For example in a start against KC he allowed 9 runs in 1/3rd of an inning and in a relief appearance against the White Sox, 8 runs in 2.2 innings. A manager needs to protect players from this level of failure by pulling them from the game sooner.

Not a word on this disaster of a season from the owner or front office.

Slight change of topic. But what was Wes Johnson’s supposedly specific skill area of expertise within pitching when he started with the Twins? Was it teaching the slider, or something about the release point? He supposedly had this knack for noticing a flaw and fixing it. But what was it?

I’m not trying to be overly pessimistic, but if there is going to be a major sell off, should Falvey and Levine be the ones doing it? An interesting read, would be a case by case analysis of the front office acquisitions, trades, releases etc since taking over the nucleus provided by Terry Ryan.

The problem is that Levine and Falvey will be making the trade.

Staying healthy. Donaldson our, Buxton concussion issues, Arraez some leg or ankle issue, Odorizzi, our catchers Garver and Avila. Polanco had ankle surgery right after the season ended. This whole team has not been healthy since the middle of last season.

Littell was one of the top relief pitchers on the team in 2019. And he had excellent minor league stats before that. And he had the potential to be a starter. Did he clear waivers solely because of injuries? Or is there is there something else going on? He seemed like a real bulldog on the mound. He went about 15 consecutive games without allowing an earned run at one stretch.

The demand for Odorizzi might have gone down also. He can pitch.

What happened to Littell??? He was a very good pitcher last year. Why wasn’t he claimed off waivers?

Don’t forget the Piranhas. Gardenhire managed to get great production out of players like Nick Punto and Jason Tyner.

Wish they would have also gotten Dallas Keuchel.

I just look at his game log and he went 8 or 9 appearances between allowing an earned run. What else matters? And his minor league ERA as a starter are excellent. I say give him a shot at the rotation. Isn’t that the issue with the Twins? They turn good minor league starters into major league relievers? What I like about Littell is his bulldog like attitude. He doesn’t act hopeless when things go wrong, he gets angry.

I really thought that Castro let a lot of catchable pitches get by him. Most were called wild pitches, but it seemed like he was letting 1 or 2 get by him every game.

I am encouraged by Trueblood’s in depth analysis of Dobnak. Obviously he and the Twins see something there. To me it’s still way to early to tell.