Trov

I hope Buck is okay, the ball seemed to glance off the helmet than hit flush. I think they took him out for caution. Donaldson is more concerning and hopefully it was just a cramp he felt come on and they pulled him to rest it up. Both will be needed in post season.

Pitching depth will be huge in this postseason, in my opinion. There are no off days in the best of 5 series, so only way Ace goes 2 times is on short rest. In championship round also no off days and none between the 2 rounds either. So if you go 5 in first round and pitch Ace on short rest, you will still only get them 1 time in second round either on short rest or normal rest but then going to a starter who may not have pitched for two weeks. If you feel you have the depth and a good matchup you may want to go fifth starter for game 5 of second round, then you will get Ace game 1 and a second game if needed in third round. With the no built in off days pens depth will be tested too. I think the Twins actually fair well in this situation with a deep pen overall and deeper starting rotation too, not top heavy but their 4th and 5th starters are better than most I think.

This was an interesting read. You look at the overall numbers this year and feel he regressed to what skeptics thought of him because of BABIP was not sustainable. I have argued he is the exception as it pertains to BABIP because he is so good at getting bat to ball and is not trying to hit HR. He has some power, but he is more line drive guy. I think early on he was dealing with injury and having to make adjustment as teams were defending differently and pitching him different. I think he is good enough that he started to adjust to how he was pitched and defended. Nice to read about the improved defense as well.

Last night showed why having experienced arms in the pen are needed. The less experienced guys had some issues. Wisler, who admits he does not know what the slider will do most of the time, kind of scary when the guy throwing it has no real plan, but been effective. His last hitter he set up perfect and made great pitch to be rewarded with a too weak of contact to get an out. That was just bad luck. Then the vet came in bases loaded and got the job done quickly. Acala, did not have it going last night. I hope it was just a blip because he had been doing well and thought he could be someone to go to in post-season but he was all over the place last night. Got through it, but my guess if score would have been closer he would have got the hook too, before end of inning. Glad we won, but personally, I am a fan of miggy and as long as he is not killing Twins, I hope he can have a few good years left in him.

I think Rocco said the top three for first round already. In terms of pitcher late inning, you need to go with the best matchups at that time. If lefties up, Rodgers should get over Theibar, unless coaches feel Theibar is throwing better than Rodgers. For catcher, I go Jeffers overall. Yes, Garver hit a HR but he still does not seem right and Jeffers has seemed to be better on both sides, could be wrong but that is what I feel. Can we steal first, sure we can, but will not be easy. Reds are in the thick of things for playoff spot, and Cubs have their spot pretty much locked up. Not saying Cubs will not try to win, but you can bet they will rest people if needed and make sure they are ready for post-season. Still, you see those games still go in favor of the other team. At least with our two wins and Yankees losses, hope they lose again today, It is more likely we get home field, as long as we can win a couple against Reds.

Is this the beginning of Kepler getting on a hot streak? I sure hope so. When he is on he can carry a team.

Every year we talk about how this is not the same team that has lost so many times in the past, but yet we go out and play the same script against the Yankees, we lose and look terrible doing it. I will never feel like we can beat them, until we do. I will never look forward to facing them in the playoffs until we show we are not scared of them. I will say, I will have some hope if we are at home, because neither team has done well on road and crushed at home. However, the team that struggled a few weeks ago is not who we will be facing, we will be facing the team that has gone on a tear and looks to be the team everyone picked to get to WS.

Big last 4 games. We need to win 3 in my opinion to have a chance in our first round. We will keep home field, and very few teams have done well on the road this year. Got our Ace going tonight lets lock down the win.

I so would have loved to see Kepler face him just to see if Kepler could hit 3 more HR, or only when it was in Cleveland.

I loved looking at the K rates of all those guys overall. For years the Twins did not have good K rates overall and the pen is where you really need good K rates and low whips. You come in with runners on you need to get some Ks sometimes, or at least not give up runners on base. This year there is much less mid inning changes, and from what I recall Twins have been one of lowest generally of this, but other day they did a few to get big outs with runners on. I have commented on Rodgers in the other articles, he is the best lefty we have, and should still be used in high leverage situations where lefties will be up, but he should not be, nor do I feel anyone these days, should be plug and play "closer" Play out the situations. If 8th, like the other night, has lefties coming, bring in Rodgers, then bring in Romo or whoever for the 9th. Why bring in a righty, unless you want Caleb, to face lefties to then bring in Rodgers to face righties, unless there is some revers splits in there.

For postseason Garver gets the bench and Jeffers gets the bulk of the games. You need the best hottest hands in the post season, not the well he did it in the past so he is our guy. For next season, you need to take serious look at what you have in Garver. So many catchers fall off so quickly on offense, and not that Garver had long history of success. He started to have drop off at end of season last year, many attribute to grind of being catcher, but maybe it was league adjusting to him. They know he will not swing at fringe strike and hates swinging at off-speed. If he misses those middle fastballs when they come he will not have good outcomes. Jeffers should be in the picture in post-season and next year for sure.

Yes, the adjustment period may take time, so they may start in minor leagues and spring training for a few years to get the MLB players more used to what to expect. I could see some catchers setting up on one side, expecting the pitch to be on the other, even more so when runner on second, to try and get hitter thinking it will be on one side of plate then when the miss comes they will not swing and get a called strike. It will take time, but eventually, players will adjust and accept it.

Agreed they are, but until it is locked down they are still fighting. They took game 1 of the 4. Just because they are near lock does not mean they will not fight to beat the Yankees hoping to back their way in. My point was they will not be resting or setting up rotation like others may if they are locked in a spot.

Yankees playing on the road for 4 may be what keeps them in 5th. Jays are still fighting to lock down wild card. Miami is fighting neck and neck with teams as well. Yankess may win out or close to it giving them home field against us. I will assume that means 2 quick losses. I will have mild hope if we finish 4th.

Yes, the article did not address that issue, which most likely meant why it is more of a coin flip, because of that exact thing. The bigger issue in the article was the history bias, meaning zone would change based on court and passed called pitch. Meaning, you could throw the exact same pitch if you could repeat it perfectly, and if on boarder, the pitch would be called differently. The article addressed the non-boarderline calls were much more accurate and would get worse as you went outward, which makes sense. The article did not address it, but I think it gets brought up a lot on how catcher movement of glove affects the call too. You see some where the pitch was well in the zone, but well off of target so pitch gets called ball, but when cater sets up out of zone and hits the mit pitch is called a strike. So that is accuracy biased I would say too. Thanks for info on the test leagues, as I have not read anything about them.

I personally think Rocco is doing what he planned to all along with the pen. Use the guys in where they match up best regardless of inning. Last year, he started out using Roders in 8th at times and 9th other times. Until he eventually became only 9th inning guy, becoming "the closer." Now that seems to have changed back to matchups again. I am all for this. If his 8th will be easier than a 9th, why send out romo in the 8th to face a bunch of lefties, to then send Rodgers out in the 9th against the righties? This is what Rocco stood for when he first came over, which I was a huge fan of. I hate "the closer" title for any pitcher.

I will agree the failure of the system will be the biggest risk of it. What happens if it fails during a game? Assume we just go with the home plate ump doing his thing, but will they be trained like before? I doubt many umps will train their craft of pitch calling if they will only need to do it when the system fails. That is the only thing that I worry about when they shift to it. I know they will shift to it, the writing is on the walls. Once broadcast media put that box up, it was certain to happen. It only has led to more arguments about umps. Now the viewer can see they blew the call. I read an article a few years ago, cannot find a link now, that showed the big human element of the calling of pitches. It found that on boarder line pitches umps were about 50/50. So when advocates point to percent right, they were no better than a coinflip on boarder line pitches. The bigger problem was even more of a human bias, was history of called pitches. What that is, an umpire was more likely to call a strike on borderline pitch on a 3-0 count. Torii pointed this out when he used to broadcast. Then, they were more likely to call a ball on 0-2 count. So they were biased to lean towards the call that does not end the at-bat, because most likely they did not want to be the reason for it to end and take the pressure off. Further more, they were less likely to call a strike after calling one. So imagine if it is 0-1 count, then a called strike to make 0-2. This even further reduced the chance of a called third strike. I think mainly, the umps did not want to get yelled at by the side that felt it was wrong. So now, they are 50/50 generally, keeping in mind that has the biased calls just mentioned, but now you have 0-2 pitch that is borderline will be even less likely so less than a 50/50 call. The study clearly showed how flawed the human ump is. It is a very difficult job, watched a sports science on it, and do not envy the umps that do it. However, we can get it right, so lets hope it happens sooner than later. I personally think you will get more fans back. I think some fans see how bad the calls are and get annoyed. I also think you will get less walks. You will get more offense though. After a while pitchers will learn to hit the zone more. Right now, it is part of the catchers duties to steal strikes. So the pitcher will try to throw a pitch outside of the zone in hopes they get the call. Well when that goes away they will just go into the zone more. This will lead to more swings I think, could be wrong, maybe more hitters will take knowing it is more likely to be the right call. I mean, do we keep track of negative framing for catchers, when a pitch should have been strike but called a ball? I do not know but never heard of it.

Yes, I agree if they are not going to use electronic zone they should use grading to determine what league they get to up in, kind of like players. However, I would bet that in the contract with umps that is not allowed. I disagree with Donaldon who claims the umps do not care if they are good at all. My guess many do care about being good, but what happens when they just are not? I am sure there has to be some kind of performance thing in the contract if not, there should be.

Why does the call need to go to ump on the field? Why could there not be a display showing the call, then no need to relay it? In cases of 3 ball runner going situations, runner should assume it is a strike until otherwise indicated, so should fielders. If you want to assume it is a ball and stop running or not throw that is up to the players. The other day there was what appeared to be a delayed strike call by ump causing runner to slow down thinking it was a ball four situation, well that is on runner for slowing down. I cannot think of other plays were knowing in an instant would implicate the outcome of a play. There is no need to have someone tell the ump on the field that was strike or ball, or even a buzz or anything. Display it on score board, or some guy who has video feed can hold up a sign. I mean we watch the box in real time and see, how long does it take to have someone watching in real time relay that info? That even makes it easer on umps they can pay attention then to foul ticks, hbp, or other things and not have to take any brain time on listening to some relay of if pitch is called strike or not. Unless the tech is not reliable and breaks down I see no reason to delay in using it. If it is not reliable no need to use it to judge umpires. So that leaves breaking down, which yes will be a concern, what to do if that happens? Figure that out, then go from there. Maybe backup system. I would not want to then put on umps because they will have lost their edge and practice, or maybe they will get better because they can think strike, and oh look at that I was wrong, or yup I was right and get instant feed back.

This whole series shows how bad umpiring can get under players skin. Overall, the umpiring was terrible on balls and strikes, but what do you expect when you are dealing with a crew led by Angel. It was bad on both sides, but when some are so bad it starts to pile up. A difference of a single pitch can change the whole at bat and possibly game. Yes, Donaldson should not have been dumb, he still won the at bat. However, Cruz has been getting hosed on so many outside sliders being called strikes early in at bat that it makes him swing at them later more often. I have been advocate for electronic zone for years. Manfred claims it is not good enough tech, but they use the tech to judge umps on accuracy, so it is good enough to judge the people on accuracy, but not accurate enough to be used? Seems odd to me. Sounds more like umps pushing against it and too many old traditionalist pushing against it. I know it will happen eventually. Normally, it takes a major call in a major game to be blown to say okay enough is enough. That is where HR replay came in, and then other replay. I mean how many years was replay in NFL and so many bad calls remained in MLB and people just said, well the human element of bad calls is just part of the game, why? If you can get the call right, get it right. I also wish you got more than 1 challenge, so many times you see a loss early on, and then later on you get the clear wrong call but cannot challenge. It should not be a decision on what could happen later will affect your decision now. Yes, I do not want unlimited allowing a ton of challenges on every close play, but at least a second one should be allowed. It does not slow it down that much most of the time.

I agree that they need to start ramping up for postseason, this is not like normal where they have had months of a grind that maybe relaxing to let some nagging injuries heal up. So getting set up ready to go for that final sprint will be important. I am one that you manage the regular season different than you should in postseason. For example, throughout the season you will give guys a day of rest or get bench guys mixed in to stay sharp in case needed. You will see the value of players that can play multiple positions more during regular season. In post season, you should mostly plug and play. Sure look at matchups and what not, but there is very little need to plan in a day of rest for a guy. Same with pen, no need to get a guy some work if he is not reliable. Of course if game is a loss or big lead you can use different arms to let the high leverage arms rest. The only caveat I have is you still need to keep the team healthy going into playoffs. So making sure that happens is important.

I was happy when we made the trade, mainly because who we traded away was slotted to be only a pen arm, and our pen clearly has not missed him. Gratoral has been fine this year with better FIP than last year but pretty low K rate for someone with his stuff. He has only pitched 19 innings, Maeda has given much better value, because if you fliped the two, we would be down to Smeltzer or Thorpe getting Maeda starts. I was very high on Ryu as well, and wish we could have brought in both, but Maeda has been great so will need to settle. Will he be this way for years to come, who knows. But lets enjoy this year. Hope he picks up a W in first round of playoffs, looking more and more likely against the Yankees. Could you imagine if he pitched a shutout against the Yankees in the playoffs? The statute of him would start getting carved. Black Jack would get bumped from most iconic pitching performance in Twins post season history. Well, maybe not that far, but we would be talking about it for a long time.

First, I feel real bad for Odo this year. He was hoping to build off of what he did last year and show he is worth a 3-5 year deal. Instead, he has not pitched a single game to 5 innings. He has had different stints on DL. He was gutting out last night but when you are throwing a biohazard up there hard to stay in the game. For the people upset the Twins are not hitting singles and advancing runners. I am pretty sure the opposing pitchers are trying to stop those exact things from happening as well. Hitting MLB pitching is one of the hardest things to do in sports, when average player is only successful between 25% to 28% of the time. Then if you are just hitting singles the players hear, "we need more extra base hits, singles won't cut it." So they then change approach to increase extra base hits, knowing that lower overall average but higher slugging produces more runs, which is what you need to win. Now they do that and people are upset that they are not hitting more singles but trying to hit extra base hits. Guess unless they are the best hitters in the game that can make that switch easy no one will be happy. Think about it. If a hitter is told to change approach to hit a certain way, how can you expect the player to just say hey this may be a good spot to change everything I have been working on to advance this runner to third base, in hopes that the next guy will drive him in. Screw trying to get a double or a HR like I have been training to do. Lets hit a weak grounder to right side, possibly something I have never tried to do in years, or ever, and see how that turns out. Basically, if you are being asked to do something you never practice it is unlikely you will be successful in doing it. The team is built the way it is, they will not change that now. They are not a small ball team that will look to steal bases, bunt runners over, and hit sac flies. They want to hit extra base hits. Yes, it can be frustrating when they fail to score runs when they are walking a ton like the other night, but it is who they are.

I am not surprised by Dobnak's recent struggles, I was always hoping he would be the exception, but seems like his pitch to contact approach has started to fail him. As more hitters see him for multiple times they are being fooled less and fouling off many pitches. Also, one risk you have with the shift, as shown last night and recently, is that you leave giant holes that soft contact will get through. If you are hoping for soft contact ground balls the need for the shift is reduced. Also, if hitters are not expected to hit HR due to downward movements of the pitch they know hitting other way even weak will produce hits. If you are going to **** you need to pitch to it as well and have the pitches come inside more often. I am getting annoyed with Dick talking about how Dobnak is not getting beat around, well no, but he is hitting guys, walking guys and giving up hits to giant holes in the field. You do not need to give up hard contact to get beat. Those weak ground balls to giant holes was not bad luck, it was good hitting.

Polonco has look much better this year, his throws have not been crazy off like in the past. To me the biggest surprise is Sano. He has looked much better than I expected. Is he gold glove no, but I was very worried he was going to let way too many throws past him.