mikelink45

I am not judging Enlow by this year which is not good, but the previous years with 4.39 and 4.75 eras and Whip near 1.6 each year. That is not a top prospect showing. I have never been impressed with him and his potential.

I just finished listening to Joe Madden talk with Jason Stark and Doug Glanville and it was terrific. As a carry over from that discussion I had to think about Rocco. As Joe talked about the management styles of past managers - Billy Martin, Earl Weaver, Whitey Herzog, Tommy Lasorda, Casey Stengel,.. they had their own signature that you saw on the teams they managed. They were not cookie cutter copycats. They all managed with their players in mind. They knew what they were capable of and played to that strength. Some ran, some pitched, some hit long balls. But the manager had control. Then analytics came along and provided reams of information - many times too much to be absorbed by a pitcher or hitter or catcher. It was good stuff, valuable stuff, but as Joe talked he reflected on the way that management took the pregame warm up and inserted an hour long dialogue filled with so much information that the player was in a daze at times. He talked about how the FO fell in love with this information and decided that they should control the way the manager managed. For many teams the manager became a middle management guy doing what the analytic guy sitting in the dugout told him to do every step of the way. He also made the point that team FOs have started to compete for the smartest, most savvy, most information gathering and they lost track of the human aspect of the game. They have inserted themselves into the clubhouse, into the dugout and into the minds of the players. Rocco has sixteen coaches and the FO lists 31 staff but in the reference that I am using for the remaining comparison he had nine.. You know everyone wants to say something or they might lose their status. Paul Molitor had 8 coaches. Ron Gardenhire had seven in 2013 and six in 2012. Tom Kelly had six in 2000 and five in 1999. Ray Miller and Billy Gardner had four in 1985. Gene Mauch had four in 1980. Frank Quilici had three in 1975 and four in his other years. Bill Rigney had five in 1970. Billy Martin had five in 1969. Sam Mele had four in 1965. So the question is - does Rocco manage or does he follow the script? Should we complain about Rocco or the person telling him what to do? For those of you who do not get the Athletic here is the interview from Youtube -

I look forward to the end of the year adjustments in the prospect list. Enlow has been dropping in my mind, but then we have either traded or called up so many that the propect list is going to have a real different feeling and some of them might not be real prospects. Ober's outing was a real nice note and I wonder what is next just as you speculated. I would rather have Ober than Sanchez.

What a way to enter the big leagues. Yankee stadium is the most intimidating place in MLB and the pressure there is more than any where else - ask Sonny Gray. A lot of pitchers are overwhelmed by being in the place. So that combined with the fact that it is his debut means that the most important aspect of his start is how he controls his emotions.

How can you under rate someone who has a -0.5 WAR and .148 BA? I think underwhelming is a better rating for him.

This is exciting news. I do not know how people continue to say Sanchez did well - he didn't. Sanchez has -0.8 WAR and a 6.98 era. This was the right move. Keep trying out new pitchers until we get the right ones. Go Mr Varland - there is nothing like a hometown hero. It is also good PR for a team that is frustrating many of its fans.

You chose the right players! As our most optimistic writer this was a nice reminder of our young studs and how they have emerged. I hope Louie Varland becomes the next great addition.

Well that was fun. Did anyone think Judge would not get a HR in this series? We use Megill and Pagan and want to hold back the Yankees??? At least Pagan did not let Judge hit a HR, oh wait, he did let Kiner-Falefa, it will add to his fond memories of being a 24 hour Twin. Did I read the Weissert stats correctly? And we could not take him out? Well there is always tomorrow.

Dr Rocco and his team of 1st responders are heading to the Yankees to try and cure what is ailing them. I know some of these are new players, not part of the past - we have been saying that for a decade.

I think you have made great choices. Griffin Jax has certainly done more than I expected with 53 appearances so far. I would have said Gordon, but he has suddenly risen to everyone's attention so he is no longer under appreciated. '

You have to talk to Bleacher Report about the wording.

Not sure either choice was the right one. Lopez looks like someone the Yankees know how to handle and Thielbar has not been in the closer situation before - but now I hope he is ready for the Yankees.

I added that in response to other posts - I can do the math, but the questions are about the possibilities of the Central leader being under 500.

The White Sox series really exposed the September Twins. Polanco should have been on the IL much earlier - it is a Twins trend to wait and it hurts the team. Spencer Steer now has an OPS of 1.083 and 0.2 WAR in nine games. Mahle is 1 -1 with a 4.41 era and is probably done for the season. You definitely showed the answer to Cody's article wondering if Lopez is a disappointment. Cade Povich has an era of 0.00 after two games for the orioles minor league team. Michael Fulmer has a 3.77 era and a 1.4 whip for MN - not outstanding either. Aaron Sanchez has a -0.8 WAR for the Twins - he is not going to save the season. I hope they will try Winder, he has the potential to do more than Sanchez. "The 2005 National League Western Division Champion San Diego Padres are the only division winners to finish the season with a below . 500 record. It wasn't easy. The Padres finished the season at 82-80, five games ahead of the runner-up 77-85 Arizona Diamondbacks"

Yes I am disappointed and I questioned the trade at the time. His blown saves have been more than a bad outing. Like Pagan he has looked terrible in his meltdowns - like Chicago. I am disappointed because the FO sold him as a savior and Rocco has him penciled in as the closer, although the last game in the series the radio guys thought he was coming in and then were surprised when Rocco had second thoughts and brought in Thielbar.

How does this happen? #9 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 0-1, BB, 2 K It seems to me that 2 ks = 2 ABs The best news of the day is Winder. Call him up! But let him know with the injuries we might be asking him to start. I would take him over Sanchez. Interesting to see who was released. It has to be difficult to be so close to the majors, but not good enough to hold back younger players.

Redemption. Yes, Bundy should have been allowed to go more innings, we can not always expect all the relief pitchers to be on every day and Bundy was definitely on today. He is playing himself into a contract extension. Sorry to see Arraez slip to second in the batting race. Duran just gained more votes for rookie of the year. Which is tough for Miranda who also added to his resume. It looked like Lopez was getting ready to come in, then Rocco had second thoughts. Has he lost some of the teams confidence? Billy Hamilton - caught stealing third two games ago - falls down on the base path today. Not what we anticipated. Get that motor going BIlly. Now if we can just shut down the Yankees! Let Judge get some solo shots and stop the rest of the lineup - that seems to be the formula against them now.

I made the mistake of going to mlb.com this morning and watching the shortened replay of Cease near no-hitter - luckily not the Nick Gordon inning and then I watched the last inning of the previous game with our closer on the mound! After this I predict the Twins will all come out wearing bags on their heads and switching uniform numbers. No matter how the rest of games go this is a terrible embarrassment and the way that Rocco managed the game, pulling hitters, using Gordon and then relieving him with Palacios was insulting.

“We’re gonna find out what we’re made of,” Boone said Saturday. “We’re as deep in adversity as you can get. A lot of people out there are really mad. What’s our response? We’re in control of it. It’s on us to do it. It’s there to do it.” My prediction - the Twins come in an resuscitate the ailing Yankees. Hopefully we will get a thank you card.

Such optimism. After last night's loss and the comedy act the night before I am not in the mood to make such prediction, especially the Twins winning the division. The only way I want to see us go in the playoffs is if they extend the field some more and we can play Detroit, KC, Boston, or SF.

Nice break from the Twins/White Sox. Good profile.

Embarrassing. So many questionable decisions. Such poor play. These aren't the dodgers or the Astros or the Yankees. We have an injured pitcher and the reds have a exciting rookie. We just can't keep our pitchers healthy. But tonight all phases of the game stunk including the Brain trust in The dugout. I guess the real strategy of the night was having Gordon come in so that we could make a really long half inning and hopefully make it difficult for cease to come back out and be fresh

I do expect Wallner in MLB next year. Nice to see the others on this list. What is the expectation for them getting to the majors - and when?

Steer might be on this list if not traded.  It was fun to see his HR for the reds .