d-mac

1,642

The more things change the more they stay the same. *Sigh*

In fact, according to Andrew Perpetua's xStats, Mauer's batted ball profile suggesting he should have hit .290/.389/.469. He projects him to hit .284/.351/.454 in 2017.

I'm cautiously optimistic about Mauer. in 2016 his K% was down and BB% was up vs 2015. Also, he improved his batted ball profile in literally every category last year. More hard hit balls, fewer softly hit balls, fewer ground balls, more flies and liners, higher HR/FB%, and fewer infield flies. Yet his BABIP went down. That screams bad luck.

I really enjoy watching the WBC. I hope it sticks around. I especially enjoying learning about and watching the baseball culture in other parts of the world. Frankly, I would like to see it replace the All-Star game once, every four years. Pretty pie-in-the-sky here but maybe have MLB, the Nippon League, KBO and other international leagues take off 3 weeks in July to do a tournament and actively encourage players to participate. I'd also like to see the Cuban players in the MLB playing for Cuba.

Plane, schmlane. I still think short pitchers are a market inefficiency. Especially with hitters' swing planes going lower (elevate and celebrate), pitching downhill is becoming less important. I thought both Stroman and Berrios were steals where they were drafted. I thought Stroman had top 10 talent and #2 college arm (behind Gausman) in that 2012 draft. Berrios's problem is his lack of fastball command. That's completely unrelated to height. I actually thought he had better command of his slider than fastball the other night.

Well Hughes is a righty. And that'll play better at TF, as it suppresses left handed hitters' power.

LOL!

His composition of fastball%, breaking ball%, changeup% is not statistically different than Santana's. Duffey also has a pretty significant reverse platoon split over his career: 3.14 xFIP vs LHH and 4.53 vs RHH (3.25 and 4.61 in 2016, respectively), nearly doubles his K/BB ratio vs LHH and RHH have nearly a 100 point increase in wOBA vs lefties. Most successful mid-rotation major league starting pitchers generally have 2 above average to plus pitches and average to above average command. Third and fourth pitches are generally only "show me" type pitches to keep hitters honest and are rarely even major league average in quality. We needn't look any further than the other Santana that pitched for the Twins to see this. In 2007, the only year that pitch f/x is available on fangraphs and Johan's last year with us, he threw a 4-seamer 63.9% of the time, his famed change-up 26% and his slider only 10.1% of the time. If the average PA lasts only 4-5 pitches then he is throwing his third pitch, the slider, at most once every other PA. And Johan was the definition of an ace type pitcher, not merely a mid-rotation type.

He should at least start the season in the bullpen. But I doubt that will even happen. It clearly looks like his velo isn't back yet.

I think the Twins really screwed up Buxton by rushing him through the upper minors, especially with all of his injuries. Hopefully, his September was not a mirage and he has made an actual adjustment to be a competent hitter. But I doubt it. Rushing hitters with questionable hit tools through the upper minors rarely ever works out.

Plus it sets them behind in development time before the inevitable injuries even occur. May will be on his age 28 season next year. The odds have now gotten slim that he'll ever be able to put together a long career as a start. Had he been in the rotation last year (at age 26) and finished 2015 (age 25) in it and thus already been established- this would likely been only a blip in his career.

I think some of it has to do with the stigma video games have with people born before, say.. 1970.

I know, right? All these old people are like "Get off my lawn you kids!" Or, "Video games will turn your brain to mush!" -Every "boomer" generation parent with kids that played video games.

A back of the rotation pitcher in the back of the rotation is better than a Vogelsong retread or sub-replacement level player regardless of who is starting at the top. So I fail to see your point.

What happened to the no scholarships rule?

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/who-could-drop-their-arm-slot-for-more-success/#more-245234 Interestingly, Gibson was mentioned in this fangraphs article from last week. Gibson has always had an over-the-top delivery but raised his release point even more last year and it negatively affected the movement of his sinker. My speculation, but it could have contributed to his injuries last year.

This ranking is way too high for a kid that played 9 games in the DSL. Plus there are questions about his swing mechanics and whether or not he'll stay at short. In fact most scouting reports I've read question his hit tool and doubt he'll have the range for short.

Stewart to me is a non-prospect at this point. With his lack of strikeouts AA ball is really the last stop for him unless the new regime can turn him around. And unfortunately for Kohl, I've seen molasses move faster than Falvine making personal changes. So here's to hoping I'm proven wrong!

Technical or otherwise.

Get well soon Gardy! My grandfather battled prostate cancer off and on for 15 years before finally succumbing. I know too well how much of b**** of a disease prostate cancer can be.

It most certainly does not.

Fangraphs' Depth Charts has us pegged at 74-88 for 2017. FWIW, Depth Charts is based off of Steamer projections and has playing time allotments manually adjusted by the Fangraphs' staff.

Interesting that PECOTA has us projected to be the third best defensive team after the Mariners and Dodgers.

So disappointing. They should have traded him when he was at his peak. A top flight closer on a team losing 90+ games is superfluous. I was banging that drum back in 2014.