Doomtints

Wow. It's good to look at splits.

The 2001 squad collapsed over the bizarre trade and Guzman going down with an injury. They felt like a "team" and they wouldn't be able to get it done without everyone in place. I think the team aspect is very similar to this team. Guzman's finger dislocation shocked all of them, and Mientkiewicz, who perhaps has always been a bit dramatic, said they just didn't think they could win without Guzman on the field (which they didn't).

The 2001 Twins played .500 ball for a LONG time after an identical start. The 2001 Twins also dominated every team in the Central apart from Cleveland. Not saying I expect this team to finish the same, just tempering the enthusiasm a bit. Anything can happen. This team probably won't trade away a hitting asset at the trade deadline right as another player gets injured, as in 2001.

Scott Andersen is a big softie. He just needs someone in his life to acknowledge his pain. He should have married a Vikings fan.

We can play sour grapes all we want at this point and say he probably sucks anyway, but that seems immature. I can't think of a reliever of his stature falling off a cliff unless an injury is involved, and some of you are proponents of the idea that players never actually fall of cliffs anyway.

The Pressly thing really seemed like the Twins felt like doing Houston a favor. It seemed like that then and it seems like it even more now.

I was against Darvish and explicitly stated he was injury prone. If I am the only person not surprised by how Darvish played since the trade, I'll gladly accept any offer in any baseball organization to tell them what to do, but I bet I'm not the only person surprised. Darvish had already missed a full year and parts of three additional years due to injuries. I mean, come on people. What the heck were you all looking at? Kimbrel looks nothing like Darvish on paper. I can't begin to imagine where a Darvish comparison comes from. If Kimbrel is significantly worse than his average over the next three years, he will still be the best guy in the Twins bullpen. The Twins had an opportunity to grab a closer who has experience facing off against the Yankees lineup as an edge in the playoffs and they passed on the opportunity.

This is a smart move by the Cubs. Their bullpen was even worse than the Twins. All of the teams in the NL Central have a weakness, and the Cubs just did a lot to mitigate theirs. The Twins don't need Kimbrel to win the division this year -- if the Twins collapse, Kimbrel won't be able to stop it -- but they might have needed him for the playoffs and for the years to come. The bullpen has been, at the macro level at least, good so far, but the situation still feels like the Twins don't have a single guy in the pen who could not regress down to nothing at any moment. Having at least one big name in the pen is a luxury the Twins seem steadfastly determined not to have.

Yes. I honestly can't believe I was screaming into the void when I was raising red flags on Archer and Realmuto. Garver was going to be good, though yes he won't always be as good as he is now he will still be very good for a long time. Garver isn't a guy you block. As for Archer, the best comp I can think of for him is Les Straker, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that but you stick him at the back of the rotation and hope for the best.

This article is a bad headline over copy that says essentially nothing. I'm speechless. I feel like I just read a very long tweet. Pardon me while I go and wash this stink off my body.

I knew the Twins were going to lose when the game was delayed 90 minutes and the crew decided to let the game finish with the outfield flooded. Too bad. I love the headline for this article, btw.

Almost all of the Twins pitchers are playing above their heads right now, probably because the position players are playing so dang well. I'm betting both of these pitchers would perform well if in a Twins uniform this year.

The story is the Cubs were the *only* team offering him multiple years and the Twins made him a "competitive" offer for the year. The core of this team will be around for the next 2.5 years and I'm unaware of a better closer coming on the market this offseason. *shrug*

Isn't that the profile of 3/4 of starters?

The Twins may have blown their first pick this year (Cavaco has committed to a college) so they need the third round pick as insurance. Steer looks like a good, safe pick for the Twins in the 3rd round. The Twins did not have a third round pick at all last year. You can bet losing a draft pick mattered for the Twins. The previous front office picked far too many rubbishy pitchers in these rounds, but this year's draft for the Twins looks pretty darn good.

The two of them pitched the same number of innings in a Twins uniform this year. One has an ERA+ of 125. The other 54. You know better than to pick up the phone when Hildenberger calls. It's not unusual for rookie starters to be susceptible to the long ball in their first few games. Smeltzer did a good job and showed a lot of promise. He will be back.

Smeltzer did a good job.

Or do you think more people opt for this version? https://vintagebrand.com/l/mlb/t/minnesota-twins/a/2843/p/2?sku=25

https://vintagebrand.com/l/mlb/t/minnesota-twins/a/2843/p/4?sku=11

I'm saying the Dunn comparison does not make a lot of sense right now.

Sano's barrel% this year, if he qualified, would be the best in the league. If he was hitting merely at his career average barrel% and he qualified, he would be tied for the best in the league this year. The dude can hit.

Sure his balls in play could be better, I guess, but remember home runs are not included in balls in play percentage. People keep throwing around Adam Dunn's name. Note that Sano's balls-in-play percentage is higher than Dunn's and Sano's BABIP is significantly higher than Dunn's. I believe cutting edge people would call this "Barrels."

Thank you.

Player A: 2001 games of statistical data Player B: 394 games of statistical data Sano had one bad year. ONE ... and that year is not even half as bad as Dunn's worst year was. Sano's one bad year is part of a much smaller sample. I get it that the year is fresh in our memories, but come on....

Some perspective: Every hitter swings at pitches they shouldn't. Every hitter takes pitches they shouldn't. Joe Mauer did it. Kirby Puckett did it. Bombo Rivera did it. When you look at a hitter pitch-by-pitch instead of at-bat by at-bat, all you are seeing is your own confirmation bias. Sano has been an MVP-caliber player in his 13 games so far. That's it. The end. Will he keep it up? Most players don't hit at his level for a full season, so figure that out yourself. Those who hit like he has been hitting for 3/4 of a season win MVP trophies. We all agree that Rosario had a great year last year -- but he sucked after the all star break. His great numbers last year are all based on the first half alone. This is true for pitchers as well as hitters. Lincecum won two Cy Young awards and 20-30% of his pitches bounced in the dirt on the way to the plate. If you looked at him at the pitch level, you'd think he was terrible in those years. I have seen this for years as I hounded around Twins boards. Someone decides they don't like a player, they make a thread about it using some stat they think supports their bias, but the player is actually playing well. I'd be happier if people were just honest and simply said they don't like the player and don't try to back it up with irrelevant data.