gopherman23

I think you are the first person to accuse Buxton of having a weak arm, which is not true at all.

Buxton is hitting .300 with only 1 strikeout in his last 5 games (5 strikeouts in his last 11 games). Small sample size I know, but a step in the right direction. His babip is right around .300 as well, which is low for a guy with his speed. His minor league babip sits at .366.

What?

Looks like Plouffe started looking down right as Rosario put his hand up. Tough to tell if it is intentional or not.

We are going to have to face Cy Kluber at least once more if not twice.

I'm only stating facts. His job is to come in and close games, and he was perfect over the first half. If you think FIP is some sort of god stat you are mistaken. It has its flaws as well.

You can use any sort of metric and mold it to your point, but the reality is Perkins had the 7th best ERA, was tied for 6th among WAR for all relievers, and he didn't blow a ****ing save the entire first half. Yeah, he actually did those things.

Glen was one of the best relivers in all of baseball in the first half of the year. He gets injured and suddenly he is on his way out? I don't think so.

Berrios has pitched the 8th most innings in the entire Minor Leagues, and he still has a start left. I went back the last 5 years to see how many teams let their top pitching prospect touch close to 170 innings exclusively in the minors. Couldn't find one.

I was never a big fan of drafting an experiment with the 6th overall pick. At the same time, this past draft wasn't exactly dripping with talent either, so I can live with the pick.

It's not like Dozier is a high OBP guy that needs to be at the top of the lineup. Hicks Escobar Mauer Sano Dozier Rosario- 6th spot against righties, 7th versus lefties Plouffe Suzuki Buxton Ed and Hicks both have a higher OBP than Dozier this season.

Interesting Lineup Tonight Dozier Mauer Plouffe Sano Hunter Rosario Escobar Suzuki Buxton

With the disappointing seasons our college power arms (Burdi, Reed, Jones) are having, it is nice to see Chargois having success after his two year layoff. I highly doubt the Twins call him up though due to that reason.

For the millionth time, Mauer is never going to play catcher again.

Ranks among MLB shorstops: Minimum 750 PA's 26 qualified players OPS- 4th wRC+- 5th wOBA- 6th WAR- 15th WAR is a cumulative stat though, so since Escobar has roughly 300-400 AB's less than the leaders, his WAR is lower than it could be.

Yep, it's a good policy to give up on your top prospects after 20 games.

Swihart is a nice young catcher, but I would not trade Berrios for him. Berrios has been dominate lately in Rochester, and he is doing it as the youngest pitcher in the league. Our starting pitching prospects in the minors leave something to be desired as well. Meyer has been extremeley disapointing. Kohl Stewart has not pitched like a high first round draft pick. Tyler Jay wasn't even a starter in college. He is an experiment at this point. Lewis Thorpe had TJ surgery, which pushes his timeline back. Gonsalves has probably been our best SP prospect besides Berrios, but he is a couple years away and hasn't been as good in A+ ball as he was in A ball. Berrios is our best starting pitching prospect since Liriano. With the state of the rotation at the moment, we need to keep Berrios. Even if he busts it is a good gamble to take.

I thought he looked better at the plate his first 5-6 games since he was back up here, but the last three games, he has not looked good. As we saw tonight, however, he has tremendous range in the OF, so he still has some value even when he is struggling at the plate.

I think legitimate cases could be made for either side of this argument. Plouffe is 12th among qualified MLB 3rd basemen in both OPS and WAR. He clearly has some pretty good value and we have a guy in Sano, who should be able to play the position for at least a few years. I am honestly fine if the Twins do either with Plouffe. I think it would be smart to dangle Plouffe+ to see if we can get a significant upgrade at either C, SS , or starting pitching. Emphasis on C an SP. I'd like to hear other peoples thoughts on this.

He's 36 now and sitting at 80.7 career WAR. The only guys ahead oh him not in the Hall are Ken Griffey Jr., Chipper Jones, Mike Mussina, Albert Pujols, and A-Rod. Jr., Chipper, and Pujols are locks to make it. A-Rod is questionable, but not due to his career numbers. Mussina is the only borderline candidate, but I think he'll eventually get in. I absolutely think he is a HOF'er. He's been the premier defensive 3rd baseman in the league for the last decade plus. How he's only won 4 gold gloves is a mystery. Offensively he is at 2699 hits. He has a very good shot at getting to 3k if he plays 3-4 more years, which will make him a lock.

At this point I would put Gonsalves ahead of Stewart in my rankings. Gonsalves was a 1/2 round talent who fell do to character concerns. Both are close to the same age and Stephen has severely outperformed Kohl to this point. Kohl has been dissapointing so far in relation to where he was picked.

It's too early to panic, but he has had a horrible start to his pro career. He just gave up two more runs tonight, to bring his ERA to over 8. I was never enthused about drafting a guy, in the first round, who has questions whether he can even be a long term starter.