Trov

Personally, I am not "disappointed" in either. They have both shown they can be MLB players for years. Yes, they both have had set backs and issues. If I had to pick one it would be Sano more for his lack of being in shape not improving on his defense. Buxton tries so hard to be the best he can be. This has lead to so many changes in hitting. He is willing to go through walls to make catches, which has led to injuries. He will try as hard as he can to be as good as he can. That is not disappointing to me. We heard the Mike Trout comps, which was not fair for Buck. Trout, barring falling off the table in the next few years, might go down as best player of all time, if you go by WAR that is nearly a lock. So to have that comp is just not fair for anyone. Has Buck become the best player on our team, no. Has he become an all star year in and out and future HOF, no. But is he a flop, no. There are many other players drafted in top 5 that never make majors let alone show they are top defensive player in the league.

This game showed how big a single missed call by umpire on the strike vs ball call can be. The article mentioned missed call in Arcia at bat, I did not see that one, but I did see later in the inning what look to be a clear strike on 3-2 count called a ball loading the bases that then followed up with two run single. If hill gets the right call inning over 2-1 game and hopefully he comes back the next inning shutting down the hitters. It was 1 missed call that made huge difference in the game. I am so for the electronic strike zone. In regards to Sano at first, I am very surprised he has been playing it as well as he has. He is digging balls well. He has had a couple of moments he made wrong decisions to go after ball or not, but that is learning curve, and even harder now with shifts.

I have not seen the corresponding move for bringing hill back. Has anyone? I hope Hill can stay in rotation for awhile this time. We will really need him playoff time but will need him to be able to pitch more than 60 pitches in a playoff start too. He has the track record in playoffs to be great. He shows you do not need velo but change speeds, movement and location is key. What is interesting is most of our starters are not top velo guys and the one that got more velo, Berrios has done the worst. Just goes to show that if you know what you are doing keeping guys off balance, you can do well.

Should they get rid of the rule of foul tips caught is an out on third strike? I mean they hit the ball foul why should it matter that the catcher managed to hold onto it? How about when there is a ball inside and the hitter is diving out the way and the ball hits the bat should it be considered that it hit the bat or because the hitter clearly had no intention of hitting it and no where close to the strike zone it should be ball, even if it goes in play? What about the rule that if you swing at a pitch but hit hit by the pitch it is a strike because you swung? The rule you are against is in, my guess, is to make the catcher do his job when no one is on first base or with 2 outs, as it only applies in those cases. If not the catcher could let every ball go past, maybe even intentionally sit on opposite side of plate of the intended target. If the rule is not in place I could see catchers doing all kinds of things to toy with hitters. I understand the hitter swung at a pitch out of the zone, but they catcher still has a job to do. To answer you question of when a player is out but then is not, it happens when there is ruled runner interference, many times instigated by the runner. KC runner tried to get it earlier this year when they ran out of the baseline to run into Sano claiming Sano blocked his path. Lucky the umps decided it was not interference, but if the runner was tagged out, the ump could over rule the out and say nope interference. The sliding rule is another one, with sliding to home the catcher needs to give a lane to slide, if they are out but no lane given, provided the catcher did not have the ball prior to the slide, the runner is called safe and not out. So there a few examples where a guy would have been out, but gets called safe.

Nice write up. I feel it is important to point out signing any of them would have affected other moves, like Maeda trade or Donaldson signing(jury out on how that will work out) Also, with the age of the pitchers each will need to show they adjust to loss of velocity as they age. Ryu was the main one I wanted to sign out of the group because as stated that is not his game. My thought on pitchers these days. Sign the young guys with good velo, but do not sign the 30 something guys to long term with good velo because that will fade. We have seen time and again guys that relied on high velo get crushed when it fades because they never really knew how to get by on other stuff. Some of those guys learn, but takes time. Look at big sexy he was velo guy, was bouncing around for years and finally became good pitcher again for few years, not like his prime with good velo, but serviceable. It will be interesting to see how Wheeler adjusts as he ages. Mad bum I had high hopes he would adjust well, maybe injury affects him more than expected. Does not help AZ is hitter park.

Last night is perfect example of the no-hitter no bunt rule. Yes, it was not a bunt, but it was a weak hit that got Meada out of the game due to no-hitter broken and pitch count. What happens? Three runs later game is tied. The question is how close is too close, or if the guy would normally bunt. If shift is on and they giving the base hit should it be taken? I mean once the pitching changed happened the whole game changed, if it was done via bunt people would be outraged, but the hit gave brew crew chance to win, thankfully they did not. The point is, getting runners on base is how you win and change the dynamics of the game. If you know a bunt will get the pitcher out because of pitch count, do the bunt change up the game give your team a chance. I will agree if say it was 10-0 lead in the 9th a bunt for a hit to get pitcher out may be bush league, but 10 run innings happen. The beauty of baseball is it is never over until that last out happens. In terms of celebrations, if you cannot handle the other team celebrating, do give them something to celebrate. If you beat them and shut them up how will they shove it in your face? It is not the other teams job to help you look good. What is even more crazy is when the other team is upset about 1 player they throw at other players, like it is that players fault for the "broken rule" that is even more bush league to me. Also, the celebration rule is very much against non-white cultures. In Hispanic ball they will do all kinds of celebrations but then they are expected to form to the white norm of not doing it when they come to play MLB. I got an idea, lets not make guys run bases on HR anymore, like they do in slow pitch softball just hit and walk to bench. Do not allow curten calls or 50 game suspension, if you do not run out of the box or do a bat flip, 50 game suspension. If anyone on the bench claps or screams when something good happens 50 game suspension for them all. Lets take all celebrations out of baseball so not upset people if you "cross the line" The line will be any, because if not then the line is subjective for each person and how do you know if you have crossed it.

This is similar to most pitchers. If you fail to locate your pitches to where you need to they will get hit hard. Any pitcher who leaves pitches middle of zone will get rocked. This is not limited to sinker pitchers. It really comes down to movement and how the hitters adjust to knowing when the pitch is a ball or not. If movement gets limited and hitters staying off the boarder line pitches causing pitcher to go middle zone with little movement it will not be good. The biggest issue I always had with sinker pitchers was the high babip allowed, and the huge reliance on defense and DP. When they start walking guys it makes it worse. All that being said, I am not sold on Dobnak as some great pitcher for years to come, but until he fails lets ride the sinker as far as it can go.

It used to be sinker pitchers were the big thing. Then they went out of favor because everyone was trying to get them and hitters adjusted swings. Now that the league has changed approach some sinker pitchers may do well. The biggest issue will be if he can never get a strikeout pitch of some kind good hitters will just foul off so many pitches.

Cruz is a beast. As long as he can stay healthy he looks like he has at least another year or two left of swings in him. I think it would be great for him if he can last another 2 to 3 years after this season and get to 500 HR. I know it is not what it used to be, but since he was never a full time starter until 26 and even then it was not until 28 that he broke out HR wise to get to 500 would be hell of a feat and maybe get him into the hall. Even if not with Twins I hope he plays and is productive. He sounds like a class act guy overall. His numbers have been great unlike many sluggers that can still hit HR they strike out a ton and stop hitting anything else. Cruz still gets base hits and strike out rate similar to rest of career. Until he cannot do it, let him do it.

The unwritten rules are so dumb. You cannot celebrate too much, you cannot bunt for a hit with no hitter late in game, you cannot swing 3-0 with large lead late in game, so on and so on. I agree with T-J that I have seen 6 run come backs late in games. If teams are so worried lets put in a mercy rule. What if he Swung 0-0 and hit it, should be yelled at for not falling behind in count? How did the others get on base? I mean come on.

Good to know, I was under impression from other articles was you were only limited to 60 man groups. ESPN even had article lately about that is a reason for limited trades because ability to trade an A ball level prospect for rental pitcher is limited because very few teams brought those type of players to 60 man group.

Lets hope they carry the offense from last game into Target Field. We did not hit well against the Royals at all during the sweep.

I will defer to the front office on these decisions. I personally would love to see Kirilloff, the little I have seen he looks like a kid that will do big things at the plate. However, I see no point in him up riding the pine but he needs to be in the games. Who would he play instead of? Most likely would be Sano if he struggles much more.

I personally do not expect much in terms of trades this year. Mainly because of uncertain futures. In a normal year players with extra year of control will be of value and will get more in return. However, with not knowing what next season will bring fan wise, it will be difficult for a team to take on a high salary. The limit to the 60 man roster limits who will get traded as well. You cannot do the player to be named or anything like that. Much like the trade the Twins made earlier this week I would expect most trades to be for cash and not players. I also believe the teams know they have high chance of making playoffs and in a 3 game series anything can happen. Why go all in on this post season, when you still have no clue if it will actually happen. What I mean by that is look at Cards, they have not played in 2 weeks. What happens if a team gets infected in post season? My guess is they will just be eliminated. I am sure there will be a trade or two, but not expecting block busters.

Early returns on the Maeda trade looks good. No matter what Gratrol is doing we would be in trouble without Maeda. Graterol so far has negative WAR, and two losses. W/L is not a big thing for starters, but for me, it is bigger for relievers because that means they are giving up leads or at least coming in tied and giving up runs. Still very early in trade to call it a win or a loss, but so far so good. In terms of Buxton we have seen this before, he has shown he can get super hot for periods and carry the team. I hope he keeps it up and stays healthy.

Tatis Jr. was a White Sox for a few days when they signed him. Then traded for James Shield. Wow sure Sox fans are kicking the GM for that one. Imagine putting him that lineup and moving Anderson over to 2nd base. Sure they still need to pitch but he would help defense and offense. Glad that trade happened.

First, my understanding is WAR is terrible for pitchers and a better stat for them is wins probability added is better, not sure though. Maybe for starters it is better, but this year starters innings wont be much more than some relievers it would seem. Regardless when comparing Sheffield to Dobnak on start by start. Sheffield gave his team 1 chance to win, his last start. The other two he had a WHIP of 2 giving up 1 hit and walk per inning, and averaging a run per inning giving up 4 runs each start with 3 inning and 4.2 innings. For me, giving your team a chance is more important than if you get a win or a loss. Dobnak has done that. I also find it hard to give rookie of the year to a reliever unless they were unhittable and pitched nearly every day or at least 50% of teams games. I bet it goes to Reoberts barring him falling off completely because his hype will always be in voters minds. Lewis if he can carry it through he will have a chance. Overall it normally goes to hitters because they play every day and even if they slump for a week or two that gets forgotton about, normally with their hot streak being impressive. Pitchers though, even more so this season, have two or three bad starts it will blow up all their numbers. If Dobnak can keep going like he is, he should get the reward.

For me, with all the struggles for all the hitters you need to remember it is still a short period compared to what we normally see. It is not even a month into a season, but nearly 25% of this season. For most of these guys we would say it is still early and give them time they will come around. I am sure we could find some bad 15 game stretches for everyone in their careers. This season just magnifies those 15 game stretches. However, with way Avila is swinging I wonder if there will be much more of a platoon going forward.

We are still in first, but have been struggling on the road so far. The biggest worry I have is our lack of consistent offense. Last year we managed to put up runs early and late, and not just by HR. This year HR is our only offense it would seem, at least the last week or so. No clutch hitting by anyone. It feels like if we get a lead the pitchers need to be perfect because that will be all we get. So many of guys we were counting on have struggled. Kepler, Polonco, Cruz, and Eddie have been good overall. Buxton heating up. Gonzalez has been as expected. Beyond that not much to be excited about. Hopefully they turn it on. They will most likely make playoffs so not too worried on that front.

The problems with pitchers is very small adjustments can make huge differences either way. You will see one year amazing numbers but every other year nothing. They are so volatile, even mores so for relievers. Hendricks was let go by the old guard, but Anderson was by the new. However, as I have mentioned in trade posts, you need to understand what leads to certain decisions. Sometimes it is public perception. I do not recall the trade when it happened in the off-season and doubt most do sending Anderson away. He was aging, non-top prospect. Most likely he will have a good couple years and bounce around team to team hoping to be close to what he was. Pen guys are very replaceable, that is why there is the shift from paying big money for top end closers because they were over valued by many, the Twins among them. The pen is important, but I will not cry over losing out on a pen guy.

If the Twins feel he is an upgrade I am all for it. However, they know that better than me. I will defer to them who see him in St. Paul working.

To answer question of the day. It does not matter to me at this point how they got to their record. Every season has ups and downs, just this seasons they are magnified. Lets hope they starting a winning streak. I am mostly concerned at the lack of runs across innings. They have been very boom or bust with big run innings or nothing lately.

Interesting move, not sure where he fits in, if at all. Seems like he would rank below who we have but most likely above Gordon and Blackenhorn. I wonder if there is greater worry with Aarez knee.

For the question of the day. I am not a fan of the infield in for first inning. I assume they have data to suggest it is the right play, but it has backfired too. I would like to know the data they are using to show it is the right play and then I could have a more educated answer. My guess is it is not common that a back infield produces that many more outs that a drawn in infield does not, and therefore the risk reward factor weighs in favor of playing in. I would like to know the difference though to determine if I think it is worth it early in game. It also depends on who is pitching, hitting, and running in my mind. In terms of pitcher after Clippard I bet they go smeltzer, unless they have plans for him after Meada but the off day most likely allows to go back to Odo after off day. However, they may want to give him that 6th day like they have been doing so Smeltzer would be most likely after the off day. Then that leaves Thorpe, stashak, and Acala most likely to follow depending on situation.

I also am in majority that only take players that have 2021 locked up. The problem is giving up someone from the list available for just 1 month and post season is very little reward for giving up years of control on a prospect, that could be used in other trades next year. It may be possible that other prospects come back in trades for the 1 month rental, then I would be more open to it. Not sure who would be avialable, but for example if you went after minor or bauer, you give up either lower level talent like poppin, or if you give up higher level guy like say Rooker, you get a similar prospect in return along with the MLB pitcher. I just doubt many moves happen this year because of the short season.