Doomtints

Also, apparently today is Morin's birthday.

When Morin was "successful" he was used VERY sparingly, almost never for a full inning of work. I don't see Baldelli knowing how to use a guy like Morin, nor do I think the Twins have the luxury of having someone like Morin on the roster.

Well... There was one year there where the Twins had leads in nearly every game they played against the Yankees, only to have the Yankees battle back and if the Twins didn't end up swept in the season series it was close to it. In one game I watched where the Twins were ahead, you could clearly see A-Rod (who was on second), figure out the signs Mauer was using at the plate and yelled them loudly to the Yankees bench. The game was turned around after that. How no one on the field failed to see this and call it out is beyond me. Perhaps the Twins lose to the Yankees so often because the Twins are the last team to figure out how much they cheat. Other teams no doubt change up the signs multiple times while playing those clowns.

The Denver Broncos had a cruddy QB with the name of Tim Tebow. The Broncos changed to an odd scheme to run an offense in the NFL, the spread offense, in order to work to his strengths. It worked very well and the spread offense became the trendy thing. Many teams ran a couple of spread plays a game for a while, including the Vikings. (For the Vikings, I don't think the plays ever worked.) In spite of introducing the spread offense to the NFL, Denver was one of the first teams to drop the idea. Once they got rid of Tebow, they had no use for the offense. They were doing what smart teams do -- innovating. In the meantime, other teams (like the Vikings) kept trying it for a year or two. Why? Who knows. We are seeing the same thing in baseball with the "opener" concept. One team didn't have enough starters so they thought they would burn through relievers instead. It was unconventional but it gave them a chance. This worked for them. Now that they have enough starters, they are no longer doing it.

The 1991 Scott Erickson was an unstoppable force, but it came out of nowhere. Kelly called it a "fluke." That was one of the best pitching seasons I have ever seen. Saying Erickson was never good after 91 isn't correct. He had some success in Baltimore and the Orioles overworked him WAY more than the Twins did in 91. Note that Erickson also led the NCAA in IP when he was in college. For someone who "never pitched the same" after 1991, it's amazing that he had 51 complete games in his career (almost all after 1991, obviously) and a no hitter in 1994.

Small sample size, unfortunately. Look at the Mariners, an 18-15 team that is 0-10 v. teams that are .500 or better. Wow.

...who had 85 wins.

It wouldn't surprise me to learn the Twins have a mediocre OBP but are still winning games. They are hitting a lot of dingers.

It's interesting how none of these games were close (no, the 1-0 game was not close). It's difficult for me to think of either of these teams as being legit (yet) after watching this series. Feast or famine teams don't beat the Yankees.

But gosh the Window is not open yet.

It seems like some of the people who commented a lot in the past aren't around, but it also seems like we are a closer group than we were before. We are getting along very well in spite of having different opinions. Enjoy it while it lasts.

We don't know yet if the Yankees are a good team this year. They had the second easiest schedule in the league so far, twice as easy as the Twins who also had a very easy schedule. We will have a better picture in another six weeks.

It's too early to know what's going on with the Twins. The Twins had the 5th easiest schedule in baseball so far, but take away the Twins and the Orioles are a .500 team and suddenly it's not such an easy schedule on paper. Regardless of all that, right now the Twins are a top 10 team and that's pretty cool. If they keep hitting like this, they could even beat the big boring team in the AL East. To address the OP, should the Twins make some moves to bolster their bullpen or rotation to be an even tougher team going forward? I don't know the answer to that, but I know that's not the Twins style.

I knew the Twins would win this game. Why? I saw some pundits/journalists on CBS Sports saying yeah the Twins are good, but the Astros are better, and Verlander is the best, thus predicting the Twins would lose this game for sure.

Marwin Gonzalez starts every year slow if not ice cold. This doesn't mean he will be Barry Bonds in September, mind you, I'm simply saying he is not yet playing out of character. I still think the Twins paid 2x his market value, but there's not much we can do about that.

Bran's continued existence (and mystery) suggests to me there is still a bigger threat around somewhere that we don't know about yet.

Morrison had one notable year in his career and it was a given there would be some excuse near the end of the season as to why he regressed. You can't hide hip pain. Every time you turn your body, it hurts. Was Morrison's run speed slower last year? Did his swing look different? Did he look strange when he bent over to pick up a bat or a ball? Did he grimace when sitting down or standing up? Did he avoid pregame stretching exercises because they were too painful? I think the answer to all of this stuff is no.

Yep. Gonzalez is here to stay. By the time Sano gets back, someone else will be injured, etc. The Gonz will be on the field a lot.

Aught Ominous vehicles are a smashing idea.

He is the second highest paid player on the team. On this team's budget, his salary is unequivocally out of line with his role, his performance, and his potential. When Sano gets back, the Twins will have a very expensive bench warmer while losing either Adrianza (essentially the same player as Gonzalez but much cheaper) or Astudillo (someone far more interesting).

It goes without saying he is performing below his career norms. He is performing below everyone's career norms. Look at this rubbish. Look at the trend. With a $21M contract, we know he won't get the Buxton treatment, he will get the Logan Morrison treatment.

By showing winning records by catcher this article is tacitly assuming that catchers are the most valuable players in baseball. Fine, but we can't use win-loss records to prove this. We need a CIBB stat, catching independent batted balls, similar to FIP for pitchers. The catcher can't control what happens once the bat hits the ball. Get on this and let us know if this proves your hypothesis.

Marwin Gonzalez is terrible. Astudillo is not terrible. What more do you need to know? The Twins gave Gonzalez $12M when his market value is five. And he will be around next year too, haha?

We keep saying De Jong has options. So why do the Twins keep outrighting him and removing him from the roster?