Trov

That is correct, after the 2 disengagements with a runner on, the 3rd must result in a runner being out else, it is a balk. I have not read much on the impact in the minors, but they have been dealing with the rule for a couple years now, so not new. I could see some strategy being used with the pitch clock and the throw overs. Wait until the last second and throw over hoping to get a guy leaning, or after 2 throws over, doing more pitch outs expecting runner to take off on first movement, assuming it will not be a throw over.

I hope Jordan Balazovic can build off this late season surge for next year and he has a fully healthy offseason. I still have hopes for him and he has done well the last few games, although limited innings and still high walk rate, but it is a good step. I am not counting on him going forward but hope he can be a nice surprise.

The pitch clock is for the fans in my opinion. Speed up the game and have more action will be entertaining. Years ago they tried to punish hitter for stepping out of box, that last for like 1 week. Now if the hitter steps out, and does not get back in quickly enough he gets a strike. The rule actually ended game in the minors once. I know many players will moan about it but will adjust. The base sizes has had minimal impact on stolen bases, but I doubt it will make huge difference. In terms of the shift I was against the rule, but they did not make it to extreme as infielders will still have plenty of chances to move about the infield. You will still see the SS behind the mound right next to 2nd base against most lefties, and the 3rd baseman will be shifted much more up the middle. You just will not see the 2nd baseman sitting in short right. In regards to the robo umps commentors brough up. I am 100 percent for it. It will happen once the league feels they have a good enough tech. They have been testing it, and there have been a few pitches people were freaking out about because it did not look close to a strike because of how crossed zone, but was called strike. This again, the more it is used in minors, like the pitch clock, will make it easier for players to accept. I am not for "human error" being part of the game. If we were fine with human error why even grade ups on calls then or have replay, just get rid of all of it and let the human error make the calls, and when you have an ump call a ball that is 3 feet fair foul, or a guy that is out by a foot be called safe then people should not complain and chalk it up to human error.

The point is that if he pitched beyond expectations then he is a cheap great signing, but if he pitches to expectations or below we are not out much money. His first season with Twins, he pitched very well in a short sample size. Similar to other signings of young guys where teams lock them up through arbitration years is based on cost control. If he breaks out and pitches great he would cost much more than what is, but if he does not, as he has not, then we are not out a whole lot. It was a low risk high reward move.

Although the contract to Dobnak is life changing it is not some crazy amount of money to the Twins that it was a bad signing. We could not predict he would have injuries that set him back so much. It is not like the contract he signed was expecting him to be a top line starter, but that of a 5th starter or long man out of pen. Could we have waited sure, but stop acting like we are financially strapped from signing of Dobnak. Should he never return we are out 8 million total through next 6 years. Pretty sure this will not affect the Twins signing any future players.

So who on our team were you expecting to contribute? You say most of the injuries are to people we were not expecting much from. Well, Buck has been basically injured all year, playing on a bad knee limiting him to 57 games in CF, yes an additional 34 at DH, but he is, when healthy best defender in CF. Pretty sure we had high hopes for him contributing. How about Polonco? He was our MVP last year, and he has been hurt on the IL a couple of times playing about 100 games, but clearly some of them he was hurt, not sure why we would not be counting him. Oh how about Royce Lewis, many expected he would do something this year at some point. How about Sano, he missed the full year. I am pretty sure we were expecting high offense from either Larnach or AK, both missing most of the year, and AK was hurt even in the games he mainly did play. Jeffers was expected to be starter, yes his offense was down even before hurt, but he was heating up. So two of our starting OF missed large amounts of games, and a backup. Our expected starting 1b missed full year basically, and his back up. Our 2nd baseman has missed games as well. I guess you were just expecting CC to carry us all year and no of the other starters were expected to much. Pitching, we did have large amounts of health there, but did lose two of our starters miss most of the season in Paddock and Ober. Also, Winder after doing well then missed large amounts. I will agree they were not expected to be much, and the pen did blow many games, but had our offense that was carried by a rookie and a guy that was our super utility guy that many wanted to cut coming into the year and a light hitting bat master. But the main guys that would be expected to hit in the middle of line up all missed plenty of games.

I get no hitters go into record books and sounds all cool, despite many of the no hitters are by pitchers people have barely heard of outside their own organization and really mean nothing long term for a pitcher. He was over 100 pitches, which is not something he does a ton of. Based on the rate of pitches per inning if he was going to complete the game he would have had to throw 136 to 140, my guess he has not done that his whole life. Also, because he is trying to chase history he most likely would have put more into those pitches, making bases empty situation higher stress pitches. Maybe he is fine after it, but history has shown that guys who have done exactly that, have had long term issues. I point to Johan Santana specifically. He threw 134 pitches, and he was one that would regularly throw over 100, but not long after that start he was injured, and career was basically over. Was it just that game that did it, maybe not, but the timing sure does not look good. Joe Ryan hopefully has several years in a Twins uniform to pitch for us, why risk having any kind of injury for a no-hitter? It is a single game in his life, that he would remember forever, but he could remember it forever for the wrong reason if he would have stayed in there and blew out his arm. The point is to win games, and keep guys healthy, not have no-hitters.

I find the expectations of some fans a little crazy. Coming into the season Twins were expected to be around .500, just over, and to have a chance to compete with the Sox, but many expected Twins to finish 2nd. We are .500 today, and have a chance to finish above .500. Our chances of making playoffs took a huge hit this past week, but not 0 yet. I am not saying we will make it. For the people that think a full new FO and coaching staff will get anything more next year, you must not follow baseball too much. I mean look at SF this year, they were one of the best teams last year, and this year they are below .500. Their roster is almost the same, pitching may have even been upgraded talent wise, but their offense was much worse. The big years from some guys did not happen again. Is that FO, or managers, or just players not performing the same? Should the FO saw it coming? Did the coaching staff ask them to make changes they did not need to do, or fail to get the players to make changes they should? We had a full MLB roster on IL for much of the year, we are not alone in injuries, but the team has been carried the last month or so with rookies, or backups. Some have stepped up or we would not even be .500. Just think if Miranda had not bounced back but hit like he did his first several games? Should Rocco and coaches get any credit for his improvement after he first struggled? What about Gordon and his offense? Do they get no credit for that? You may not like how he manages pitchers and the staff, and maybe some old school guy would have won a few more games, but maybe they would have lost several more too.

There should be no change in the FO. Baseball has long been a game that it takes several years to see the full impact of changes. It takes 3 to 7 years for most signed or drafted players to make the majors. I am not a fan of making changes too quickly in baseball and feel the FO has done just fine overall. You can attack some of the moves they have made, I fully agree, but they have made plenty of good moves too. It is not like there is no future with the team, we still have plenty of players in the pipeline to come up. Unlike NFL and NBA where a team can turn things around super fast, it is rare for baseball to see the full effect of a new FO quickly. I know they have been here for several years now, but we have made playoffs. The key to a good FO is having a consistent pipeline of players, not just going all in on a few top FA and trade targets hoping they pay off. Look at Padres, they have signed a ton of top guys, made a ton of trades for top guys and are 20 games back in their division, set to make playoffs if they can hold off the Brewers. They have not won as the talent they have brought in would expect. Is it the FO for lack of bring in top talent, no, is it the FO for not having certain depth, no, I mean they are 13 games above .500. They have a good team but still might not make playoffs because only 7 teams in NL have winning records. If anything, I think we need a new medical team or approach to help figure out why so many of our guys are having soft tissue injuries. You cannot predict torn ligaments or broken bones normally. Some may disagree about some of the TJ surgeries, but the fact we have almost a full MLB team on long term IL stints is crazy we even competed as long as we did. If people want a perfect FO that never makes a bad trade, bad signing, bad draft pick, you will always be disappointed and will keep firing everyone. As long as the good moves outweigh the bad ones, then I say stick with them.

What a dig at the Toronto coaching staff, considering he is having his worst season as a pro while pitching for them.

For the people that are for the anti-shift rule, how do you comport the fact, at least according to Glen Perkins, that since the increase in the shift the BABIP has remained the same as prior to the increase? Personally, I feel like there is just many balls that get stopped by the shift that get through the traditional defense. Also, the rule really is only stopping having 4 OF, or the second baseman playing in short OF, with the SS playing on the right filed side of base. There is nothing stopping the SS playing just 1 step to LF side of 2nd. So teams will not go back to the old way of leaving up the middle fully open in most cases. The 3rd base line will still be wide open for most left handed guys.

Part of the pitch clock requires the batter be in the box and paying attention with 8 seconds left, they get 1 time out. If they are not in the box with 8 seconds left, they get a strike called. So if they can adjust their gloves in the amount of time required, then there will be no limit, but if not, then the limit will be the 1 time out.

SWR had a rough run mid-season and ended up on IL. Since the IL stint he has been pretty good. He started off great in April, had terrible May, then was out most of June with injury. Since, coming back, even with his promotion, he has given up 11 runs in about 36 innings pitched, and struck out 46 walking 12. Martin also has been doing decent since his return from his injury. He missed over a month, and since he has been on base at least 1 time, most games more than 1 time, in every game but 2. He had back to back 0 for 4 with no walks or HBP. Sure it is not a ton of games, but fact he missed over a month and can do that is nice. The 1 draw back is only 5 extra base hits in those times. He has stolen 11 bases with only being caught 1 time, so even his walks or singles have been getting to second. His prospect rankings have taken a huge hit, but I am still optimistic he can play at this level.

He does need to work on off-speed stuff because teams are sitting on it. They know his fastball is hard to hit, so they just are looking for non fastballs for most part. However, I think at times the catcher and him are overthinking things. He needs to work on the off-speed, but in games I say use the fastball until they beat you on it. What is wrong with throwing it over and over if guys are not hitting it? Of course he cannot throw it every pitch, but maybe start with off-speed, then pound fast balls the rest of the at bat, or throw the off-speed out of the zone more. Not a full waste pitch, but work on not trying to throw for strikes as much, and use that to keep the hitter honest, then use the fastball. Until the league starts to tee off the fastballs, why make major adjustments? It is like hitters, they come up, crush fast balls then start missing breaking balls. They get thrown breaking balls all day long, half the time out of the zone, and until they show they will not chase, pitchers will keep throwing it. Everyone says Joe needs to throw more off speed because eventually players will hit the fastball, but until that happens why make it easy on the hitters? Work on the off-speed not in live games or in spring, which remember he did not have much of one this year.

I love the pitch clock, it will make the game move faster. I like the disengage mound rule as it lead to possibly more strategy, and action. I am not a fan of the anti shift rule, but it is not super extreme because middle infielders can still play very close to second base but still be on their side of it, it mainly stops the 2nd baseman from playing deep in the outfield, which I think is dumb, if you can play deep and still get the out at 1st why not let them do it? The base size is expected to lead to more stolen bases, and less injuries, as has been evidenced in the minors where it has been tested. The moves are all targeted to speed up play, and increase action in the field, which hopefully it will. If it makes the game more entertaining I am for it.

I would say the biggest injury risk we dealt for was Paddock. I still do not mind the trade overall because he still has years of control and do not feel we gave up a ton, some feel otherwise but do not want to go down that hole. With Maeda I feel he should not even be on the list, he pitched nearly 2 seasons before the injury. Dyson lied about issues, we could not have known. Mahle, he is one that had flags, but was showing signs of doing well when dealt, so not much of a reason to think anything major. I mean we even had him come back because he seemed to just have a tired shoulder at the time. You can never fully predict if a guy will have an injury let alone a major one. You can get better offers, but many teams take on these risk factors and other teams have got burned just like Twins have.

It should be Jewell, he never made it to MLB level prior to us picking him up this year, and since we got him he has done nothing of value in AAA. Megill may be struggling but for much of the year he put up decent numbers. I looked and he is on pace to match the most amount of innings he has pitched as a pro, back in 2019. It is fully possible he has hit bit of a wall on the innings. It may be only at about 51 innings, but last year he only got about 38 innings, none in 2020, 60 in 2019, 38 in 2018, 28 in 2017. He really hit his skid when he got to inning about 43. He is not the go to guy, but I bet a team would snatch him up, where Jewell we would never even realize if he gets picked up.

Glad to see the level of debate and some well thought out posts. I for one do want the team to make playoffs, and is of the belief making it is the key anything can happen, rarely does the best team win the WS even in long series. I do think we could hold our own against many of the teams in the playoffs, as my post showed we have a winning record against every team in the wild card hunt. Who all have better records than us. Only the division leaders have we looked terrible against. Could Buck come back and get hot, and Polonco who has shown he can carry teams for short stints? Yes, they both could. Anyone could step up in the playoffs, or we could have the terrible offense we have shown at times and get swept, but you will not know if you do not make it. I made the post to get the debate going and people's thoughts. I was happy to see some good back and forth. I fully agree with those pointing to 87 that we could get hot end of this month get into playoffs and carry that the whole way. Atlanta did it last year. Very few expected them to make playoffs let alone win it all last year. It is likely to happen no, but just make the playoffs and try you never know.

First, we do not need to win series against Yankees to make playoffs, being we have plenty of head to head games down the stretch with both Sox and Guardians to figure out who wins the division. However, the Yankees are slumping bad, with about as many injuries we have been dealing with and outside of Judge, not much offense can be counted on each game. Sounds pretty similar to much of our last few months. Now, when you look at the elite teams, which until the injury bug set in the Yankees were in the Elite class, we have not done well. We have lost all games against Houston, and the Dodgers, two of the Elite teams in baseball we have played. We won a game against the Yankees, and blew a game against them earlier in year. Right now Yankees are not playing like an Elite team, and I feel if we cannot at least split against them, it is hard to believe we will do anything but get swept from playoffs again if we make it. We did hit just fine against Yankees first series at home, scoring 4,8.7 runs in the series, but still losing 2 out of 3. We have been rolled over by every top team in the league so far, winning one game against a team that is top of the league. We have held our own against the second tier teams for most part, winning season series against Rays, Jays, Baltimore, and Seattle. All teams fighting for wild cards, or possible division if Yankees continue to slide. However, they all have better records than Twins. So maybe if we face one of those in playoffs we could win a game, but if we face either Yankees or Houston, at this point I have no expectations we would win a game. Maybe, if we can beat a slumping Yankees team I will feel otherwise, but that would requite a split of the 4 games. I do say you never know what playoffs will bring, but in the games against Houston, Dodgers, and Yankees I have watched, we did not look like we can compete with them for most part. Even when we scored 7 runs in loss to Yankees it felt like we were going to lose from the jump.

I think it is a little early to say it was blown so badly. First, we do not know how Mahle will pan out with us over the rest of his team control, keeping in mind we have him next year. Sure, early on he has been on IL twice with shoulder issues, which is not ideal, but even if he does not produce this year, he can pitch well for us next year and that needs to be evaluated in the trade. Second, we do not know what value the players we sent out will produce. Steer is at MLB level and hit a HR and 2b in 9 at-bats with 3 walks. Not a bad start at all. But it is only 3 games, that does not make a career. I expect he will be just fine. Not sold on Encarnacion-Strand as a MLB player yet. He is putting up big numbers at low levels, but there is a reason the experts have not moved him way up lists yet, they know there are still holes that higher levels may exploit. Hajjar has done not much for new team yet. The one thing that a lot of people never pay attention to when evaluating trades is what players were not included. What do I mean by that? We traded a utility IF with from what I have read decent defense but more bat than defense, most likely settles in at 2b or 3b, maybe OF. We also traded a low level 3b or 1b guy that is all bat no defense. Finally, a college pitcher that was having a good year overall in low minors for first year. Who do we have in our system that fills Steers position? Polonco, Arrez, Miranda, Nick Gordon, Brooks Lee, Lewis, Austin Martin, Palacios. All fill similar roll to Encarncion-Strand too, depending on power out put. Point is we had a lot of depth at the exact positions we dealt from. So if any of the players I list play and do better than the ones traded away, then the loss in their value is not as big of a deal. I mean it is possible either of them would not crack the starting line up with the Twins because of players ahead of them. We have a ton of college pitchers that are doing well and maybe Hajjar does fine, but he is not even in top 30 pospects of Reds, so for now experts are not sold on him, they may be wrong, but his first 2 games were not goos for new level and now has not pitched for a few weeks.

First, great question and topic to dive into. What do we mean by baseball IQ? I believe baseball IQ is about ones ability to understand situations and make the best call based on that decision. It is very nuanced kind of thing. Examples would be seeing when a pitch or fielders are paying no attention and stealing bags, despite being poor runner. Taking the extra bases when fielder make wrong decisions on throws. Reducing runners extra bases by making right decisions. But even more in depth is hitters knowing what pitches would be coming and looking for them. Rounding first base knowing no one is behind you so you can go extra off the base. Tagging up on clear foul balls than to play part way. Is baseball IQ something you're born with or does it increase with experience? I do not think anyone is born with it, but it takes time to think through many different situations. The more you play, but actually think about situations is where the IQ will increase. Sometimes players should do something not common or expected and you do not realize how smart it was until after it is done. Do we mean something different between experience and baseball IQ? Yes, I believe experience does not mean the same as IQ. I think experience helps increase the IQ, but IQ will lead to those few times where you do something that is not the normal play, because in the moment you realize it was the right play. One example, is the Derek Jeter relay in the playoffs, Denny Hocking had similar play during regular game prior to that play, but it is not common for the SS to run across the field for a relay like that, but in the moment the run was so important that you see the ball may be off line or will not get there in time so you do something like that to help get the out. To me that is IQ, and not just experience, but they are close. Who are some examples of players whose baseball IQ exceeds their nominal talent? This is tough one for me but one player who had great talent, but in one area he was very well known for his IQ was Paul Molitor as a base runner. He was never a speedster, not super slow either, but he was great at stealing bases because he knew when to steal, or he would see the pitch would be in the dirt and take off before it kicked away, knowing the catcher would rarely pick it clean to throw him out. He stole at nearly 80% success rate, for his career and at age 37 stole 20 bases without being caught 1 time. He did it with his IQ not his overall speed, because he just knew the best time to do it. Is baseball IQ something that doesn't show up in stats yet contributes to wins? I think it shows up in both stats and sometimes not show up in stats. For example, some runners will take the extra base to keep out of double plays, or get into run downs to save double plays or get into run downs to make sure a run scores. None of those show up in stats but will all contribute to wins. On the other hand as mentioned in Paul Molitor base stealing that does show up in stats. That is just one example. However, I do feel we think of it more as a non stat producing thing. Do you have any players you root for even though you question their baseball IQ? Off the top of my head Nick Gordon is one that I question is baseball IQ, but root for. One example I can think of is the other day against the Sox he was up 1st and 3rd 0 outs. Hamilton pinch ran at first. Gordon swung at first pitch despite Hamilton running, fouling the ball off. Not sure Hamilton would have stolen, but as the at bat played out, Gordon drove in the run, and Hamilton ended up on 2nd with 1 out, but if Hamilton steals 2nd, it is possible that Gordon gets the run in and then Hamilton is on 3rd with 1 out, increasing the chance of a second run scoring that inning. We lost that game when gave up the 1 run lead, but could have worked 2 runs. He also has made poor decisions to come off the 2nd base to field bad throw on steal attempt when he had no chance to get out.

That is true, he was behind several guys in our lineup. He would have got a chance next year if he stayed here, but Reds are fully rebuild they will give him every chance, here he would have had to break out or get sent down. We also have a few guys that fit same roll that would be right behind him to pushing him. That is why I had no issue with trading him because we had a lot of depth at same area he fills.

Say what you will about Falvey's moves in FA, trades, and some draft picks, his calling card coming in was identifying diamond in the roughs in pitchers and building a possible pipeline that was built in Cleveland. I believe he has done exactly that hear. I know some will point out failed pitchers we brought in to try and refute my argument, but I pointing to the guys like Varland, Dobnak(yes he has not done much due to injuries but he went undrafted to MLB in short order, that is spotting something or development). Even Joe Ryan could be in that class so far as many experts slotted him as a pen pitcher but he has been one of our better starters since he got called up. Ober did fine last year and was improving out of no where as well. Of course there are some guys that have not panned out, or regressed lately, but there seems to be much more later round or undrafted successes than top pick busts. Are any of them HOF bound, not likely, but getting solid innings from guys like Dobnak(undrafted) who may not be great, but had a good start to his career and many pitchers taken in 2017 draft will never even make MLB level. Ober was a 12th round pick in 2017 as well, similar he is doing better than many pitchers picked ahead of him in that draft. Varland might be the best of all of the guys named above, and he was 15th round pick and doing better than many pitchers taken ahead of him. Of course there will be misses, and even pitchers we took ahead of guys like Ober, Varland, and Dobnak never pan out, but I am pretty sure this is good success rate for guys in those rounds. I could be wrong, but doubt it.

I wonder if Walner gets put on 40 man and gets a September shot? He is hot for right now, that may not carry into pro level, but we need as much offense as we can get, and he could supply that. However, we have a few 60 day IL guys that may need to come of that will make it harder to find a 40 man spot for him.

I love that his slump is still above average hitter. I think he is just going through adjustment to how he is being pitched. Early in year he was smacking line drives to LF all day long. Now teams are pounding him inside to try to prevent that, leading to him needing to pull more. I am not worried about him at all, and all players have a slump. He is still leading league in hitting, and I would still take him in the box over just about anybody in our line up.