IndianaTwin

Evans pick off was a defining moment in my marriage. Married just over a year, my wife went to bed in our tiny mobile home in the middle of the eighth, saying "keep it down out there." When he got nabbed I instinctively leaped off the couch and let out a yell that probably woke the neighbors. I immediately raced to the bedroom and asked for forgiveness. I'm so lucky to have married her.

Hope to on Friday night.

"Giggle. Gawd, I love playing the White Sox. Here's the play of the game. Also, your moment of zen: "http://m.mlb.com/vid...?game_pk=415617" I've commented before, and others join me in this. The painful part about living near Chicago is that we have to put up with Hawk Harrelson doing games. But in this case, watching that play was even more enjoyable listening to him. Or should l say, "not listening." I'll bet the mute button is still in pain from how hard Hawk had to have been squeezing it for about 10 seconds. Then he went off blubbering about their misplays. Ah.... the sound of silence.

Great article, great comments. Let me summarize what I'm hearing and offer a new option... 1-Berrios has continued to be lights out throughout his 155.1 innings, but he has nothing left to prove in the minors. 2-He could help the big club make the playoffs by getting up to 7 or starts and then ostensibly would get a few more when we go on a Royals-type run. 3-He could help the big club by joining the bullpen as a lights-out setup guy and then ostensibly (I like that word) would get a few more when we go on a Royals-type run. 4-To be eligible for the postseason roster, he has to be promoted by Aug. 31. 5-Ostensibly (see point 3), a primary reason to skip points 2 and 3 is to keep the clock from starting on his arbitration/free agent clock. 6-Because he has nothing left to prove in the minors, he is a given to start 2016 in the rotation. 7-There is no No. 7, at least not yet. Let me now spin out a scenario in a different direction... 1-I like the first part of No. 1, but I think he does have something to prove. Namely, that he can pitch 200-230 innings, which is where I think we see him headed in the future. He only pitched 103.2 in 2013, 140 in 2014, and is at 155.1 this year. Study or no study, going from 140 IP to 200 IP as a 21-year-old scares me. 2-Which is why I don't like No. 2 above. Seems like the injury risk is too great. 3-One could argue (and I think someone did) that he would upgrade the bullpen more than he would upgrade the rotation. At the least, in the bullpen, his innings could be managed well. He would never pitch in a game when the Twins are up or down more than three runs. One could argue that having him start a game when the Twins score six runs, for example, is a wasted start, because even the worst starter ought to keep them in the game (especially when backed up by Berrios himself if the schmuck gives up five). So, I like the idea of bringing Berrios up to the bullpen and giving him the opportunity to pitch up to 15 or so innings out of the bullpen on days when he's rested and on days when his innings have the potential to make a difference between a win and a loss. The moment they are deemed out of the playoff chase, shut him down and let him live the good life and learn the MLB process. This approach keeps him at about 170 innings, which feels much better coming on the heels of last year's 140. 4-Make the promotion by the 31st so that he can help us in the ostensible playoff run. Keep him in the pen in the playoffs to help manage innings, but feel free to bring him in a bit earlier if the game is getting away, etc. If he ends up getting a little past 170 innings, at least it was spread over a longer time span. 5-Help me if I'm understanding incorrectly. To pull a Kris Bryant, the thought is to keep him off the MLB roster until a couple weeks into season, say April 20 or whatever the magic day is, right? but can't we accomplish thing by using him for a month now and waiting to bring him up until about May 20? But, you say, that's a dumb idea because of No. 6. 6-But I wonder. Again, I don't think he's proven that he's ready for the jump to 200-230 innings. And if we're talking about a long playoff run in 2016, it's probably going to include Berrios getting us there and Berrios carrying us through the early rounds, getting him to 230 innings or more. I'd love to see that happen, but I'm really skeptical about a progression of 103.6-140-170-230. But bring him up on May 20 and he can get to late October on 200 innings in healthy fashion. 7-But how do we get to May 20 without the mighty Berrios? Don't forget that we've got Santana, Hughes, and Nolasco under contract for 2016. One can argue that Berrios is better than at least one of them, but realistically, with the kind of money they are getting, they are going to be in the rotation if healthy. And then you've got Gibson, who's pretty much a lock. And Milone's pitched well enough to be viable, particularly at the time of year when a No. 5 starter isn't needed every time through. And I don't think we've given up on May, Meyer, and now Duffey. If Berrios wasn't in the picture, I suspect most of us would feel pretty good about the Santana-Hughes-Nolasco-Gibson-Milone-May-Meyer-Duffey octet fighting for five spots to go along with the Sano-Buxton-Dozier, et al. lineup. Let those eight guys sort themselves into the foursome that is joined by Berrios when the next opening appears after May 20. Let Berrios stay sharp by pitching about 75 pitches every five-six days in Rochester. (Besides, maybe I'll get lucky and one of those games will be in Toledo so I can see him, but I digress.) 7a-And if Berrios comes in and lights things up spring training, perhaps you say, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead." But I will also say that I live in northern Indiana where all my Cub-fan friends were flipping out about Bryant getting sent down. They'll be singing a different tune in a couple winters when they've got him locked up for an extra year. If you've survived this far, is there any wisdom here?

Agree that it depends on situation. I think they give May and Meyer at least a month or so in Rochester. If they need someone because of injury in the first few weeks, Pelfrey is probably still stretched out and would get the nod. If it goes much beyond that, Pelfrey will either have 1) pitched too poorly in the bullpen to be considered for the rotation; or 2) pitched well enough in the bullpen to be deemed too valuable to take out of that role. I'd be glad to have option 2 work itself out. I still think it could happen.

Loved this recounting, Tom. There is so much similarity to my own story as an 11-year-old farm boy making his first and only trip to the Met. I say “trip” because we had actually gone to the game the day before as well. To add to the Glenn Adams story, he had gotten booed pretty badly during Saturday’s game, a disappointing 7-1 loss on a similarly hot and muggy day. He had misplayed a ball in right field, though no error was charged, so getting eight RBIs the next day was no doubt extra sweet. Another memory from the day is that the game was halted at one point because a drunk fan had climbed part way up the left field foul pole. It seemed like they were announcing a new team record every inning, and each time I see a copy of a Twins media guide I check to see how many records still stand from that day. One of the announced records was the crowd of 46,463. I know for a fact, however, that the crowd was at least two less than that. The t-shirt giveaway was only for kids under a certain age, and the brother-in-law who had taken me to the game wanted one of his own. He bought an extra two tickets for the cheap seats in left. We went in, I got my t-shirt, and we exited. Then, we went to the first-base side, where our other tickets were, and went in again so that we could get a second shirt. And like you, I didn’t get back to see the Twins until they were in the Dome. It was the spring of 1985, when I went to visit my then-girlfriend, now wife, near the end of her first year at a small college in the Twin Cities.

Thanks for the reminder on the Yankee Stadium effect, though wouldn't at least ERA+ have adjusted for that? My underlying point is that a year ago, there was a fair amount of skepticism on this site about the possibilities for Hughes. People do respond differently to injuries, however, and I still wonder if there is learning to be had on how much of Pelfrey's injuries of the past two years were below the neck and how much was above.

To be clear, I'm NOT saying that Pelfrey ought to be handed the No. 5 job, or even have first dibs at it -- I'm just saying that if you're choosing from among several guys who have demonstrated at least some level of potential in the past, what's the harm in one more still being in the picture during spring training? Yes, I understand the "but you're taking away opportunities from others," but I'm not convinced. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the average AL team had about a fourh of its starts last year come from people who were not in the opening day rotation. Cream will rise, and if May and Meyer are as good as advertised, they will pitch their way to the top. The average AL team had 9-10 different guys start last year -- some had as many as 13, I think it was. Someone outside of the Hughes, Nolasco, Gibson, Santana, May, Meyer, and Millone WILL likely be needed this year, and I'm not averse to Pelfrey still being considered for one of those spots. True, there was a point when we had to acknowledge that Willie Banks wasn't Cy Young, but I'm not convinced that Pelfrey is there yet. Put another way, if we harped on Gardy and Anderson, I'd rather let Molitor and Allen make the final decision on whether any past potential is indeed gone.

I'm going to stick my head out of my lunch booth for a couple minutes, make a comment, and then duck back in before stuff starts flying at me. Stats from 2010-13 IP ERA+ H/9 HR/9 BB/9 WAR SO/W Pitcher A: 588.0 91 9.4 1.4 2.6 3.1 2.77 Pitcher B: 570.0 88 10.1 0.7 3.0 3.8 1.75 I am fired up about the season Pitcher A gave us last year and looking forward to him getting that extra third of an inning he needs for a bonus. But I'm not ready to give up on Pitcher Bike Belfrey. Short leash? Sure. Top candidate for No. 5 spot? Probably not. Better suited for a relief role? Perhaps. But he was once seen in the same breath as Hughes and was seen as having just as high a ceiling. New manager, new pitching coach whose known to do well with reclamation projects. Don't riot yet. Give peace (and maybe even this guy) a chance. (Ducking back for cover.)

Of course Mauer hits into a lot of double plays. He fits the profile. He hits behind guys with little power, he doesn't strike out that much, and he hits the ball hard enough to not be able to beat it out. But for every GIDP, there's probably another 1st and 3rd situation. I'd be glad to have any of the career leaders in GIDP batting second on my team -- Ripken, Pudge, Aaron, Yaz, Winfield, Murray, Rice...

The 15 AL teams used from 7 to 15 starters last year, averaging 10.33. (The Twins used 12, by the way). So, there's a pretty good likelihood that Hughes, Gibson, Nolasco, Meyer, May, Milone, and Pelfrey aren't enough to get through the season. Given that, I'll gladly add Santana to the mix. On average, the first five pitchers to start a game started 109.33 games for that team. Perhaps not surprisingly, the four teams that got at least 120 starts out of their first five starters all made the playoffs. (The Twins got 118 out of Nolasco, Correia, Hughes, Pelfrey, and Gibson.) So, there's also a pretty good chance that about a third of the games will get started by guys who aren't in the rotation at the beginning of the year. If Meyer and May don't make the rotation out of spring training, it seems almost a certainty that they will get opportunities if they stay healthy and effective in either Rochester or the bullpen.