nicksaviking

The Twins could really use another bat to emerge, fingers crossed Blankenhorn is becoming what we hoped he could when he was drafted. Also, I must have missed a report but is Chargois injured? I don't know why else he hasn't pitched yet this year.

It's always been that way though, that's not a modern thing. Roster construction also involves figuring out who has option years left and who can clear waivers, who still needs work and where the depth will be. These aren't things that the field manager dictates, nor should he. The manager controls in-game action, the GM controls most everything else.

Breslow or Haley for me. I might do Haley now just to rip the Band-Aid off and get it over with. I don't think it's a good idea to try to keep him all year. Best case scenario is he's an expendable back of the rotation starter. Worst case is he's a bullpen righty with a 91 MPH FB, he just doesn't have the velocity to make it work. At least with Ryan Pressly and J.R. Graham there was some long shot projection as they could bring mid-90's heat.

Just for fun because these are all small sample sizes here and they could do a complete 180 after one more appearance, but some interesting and largely encouraging things I noticed with Brooks Baseball pitch tracking. http://www.brooksbaseball.net/ Phil Hughes: I wanted him out of the rotation all off season because his off-speed and breaking stuff varied from awful to non-existent. The usage of Hughes' fastball, which has brought a chorus of boos due to a lack of velocity, decreased 40% from last year. He only threw his heater 30% of the time, meanwhile he threw his changeup 26% of the time. This is a pitch that he has barely touched in a half decade. Hughes made it through the day with a good box score but too many hard hit balls. This experiment might not work, but it's a good sign. Verdict: At minimum, encouraged by the effort to fix a glaring problem. Kyle Gibson: I can't summarize concisely how much I dislike Kyle Gibson's sinker. Or sinkers in general. Or the Titanic. Google my username, Gibson and sinker and the clinical definition of a mental disorder will pop up. To cut to the chase, Gibson threw 30% fewer sinkers than his average last year. He also threw 40% more sliders, one of his two good pitches, the change being the other which stayed the same. Verdict: Hooray! Let's get rid of that silly sinker! Michael Tonkin: You've got to be kidding me; Michael Tonkin's sinker usage increased 70%! Seems like we found where Gibson's missing sinkers went. Tonkin has also added a cutter this year. According to the site he has never thrown one before. His slider and 4-seamer usage is way down. Last year wasn't good for him so I guess there's good reason to try new stuff. Though he still went nearly 3 innings in his one appearance this year so I guess he's still the long man for some reason. Verdict: Ugh, fine go ahead, do it, throw that stupid pitch. Change is good, help me embrace this one. Let's all just enjoy your influx of groundballs hit to the left side of the infield. Hector Santiago: He has been known as a lefty who gets by on smoke, mirrors and a genie in a bottle who got lost in a checked bag when he flew to Minneapolis last year. He's always been a two pitch pitcher using a FB/changeup combo with a bad curve that he breaks out once in awhile. Well the FB usage increased while the changeup usage decreased. Hey, but he got the win! Verdict: At this rate he'll be a 1 pitch pitcher by June. Brandon Kintzler: Verdict: Nope, I'm still too chaffed to talk about sinkers again. Ervin Santana: Um, this all looks the same. Verdict: Duh, why mess with the one thing that went right last year?

So he'd probably get even more heat getting thrown out at second before Grossman crossed the plate.

Maybe he's getting a pass for turning a double into a triple yesterday.

That was a clean hit! Man these scorers!

MVP: Sano POY: Mejia Reliever: Pressly (who's closing by May) Rookie: Mejia I agree with Mike and Thrylos except for the reliever.

Do does crowd enthusiasm for Kepler beating out a bunt embolden Molotor to continue bunting guys when he shouldn't?

Reporting live from Target Field, an unofficial observation, shows the number of eyebrows raised when Buxton was announced as the number three hitter was slightly surpassed by the number of one eyebrows raised when Castro was announced as the number six hitter. Back to the studio for more riveting game thread action.

Plenty of available seats left folks. Come on down!

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Ah, but will the front office stand behind the left side of the infield while they're taking sharp grounders?

All fair points and comps I'm sure. I've been pretty consistent for quite awhile now though, I don't trust nor particularly want 30-year-old pitchers. Nearly to a man they've already peaked.

It seems to me guys start losing velocity after only a few seasons into their career. Maybe 1.5-2MPH is the norm but I don't know that 3 is a huge outlier. He's 28 in people years but he's been in the majors a decade; in pitcher years he's like 34.

Breaking and offspeed pitches? So he's working on his curve AND his change? Or is he just working on his change which could be considered breaking and offspeed? Because he has barely thrown his changeup in five years. Either way, good luck to him, he's going to need at least one of the two pitches and they're going to have to be good if the other pitches are a sub 90MPH heater and a cutter. Hughes' curve hasn't been very good since he was a rookie, so if he has figured something out, more power to him. Sabathia's best pitch is his slider though and it always has been.

Sadly, your concern makes too much sense. If the same guy has nearly the exact same players from last year, why would we expect him to use them differently?

Phew, 90 games is about all I could probably handle this year anyway!

His career .632 OPS is slightly below corner infield expectations.

Hmmm, hope Molitor doesn't need a pinch hitter anytime soon.

I'll also be in the minority and not be upset about one more chance for Tonkin. But Molitor HAS to go along with new ideas. The role a guy plays simply cannot be based on his experience but instead on his skill set. Just because a guy is a veteran doesn't mean he has the ability to work high leverage situations. If you can't miss bats you shouldn't be called into the game with a runner on 3rd and one out. Tonkin had issues last year, still, if you absolutely needed a strikeout he was pretty much the only one in the pen who had that ability. Sometimes that means he has to pitch in a tight spot, it's just how the game works.

Funny you mention that, I almost included Herr in my post to preemptively acknowledge it doesn't always work, but I figured no one would make that connection. Ya got me!

I remember back in the day when the Twins traded for Shannon Stewart and Luis Castillo. The Twins didn't just acquire them because of the position they played, but because they filled a specific need in the lineup. It doesn't seem like the Twins have done much of that lately.

That Paul Molitor is summoning is inner Al Haig. "As of now, I am in control here, in the Twins Club House, pending return of the Vice President of Baseball Operations and in close touch with him. If something came up, I would check with him, of course." So glad you'd check with him.

I don't necessarily disagree with this paragraph or your post in total, but once again using Phil Hughes as an example, he's been bad for two years, is now on the wrong side of 30 and has seen a large drop in velocity. History would surely show there is much less chance of him bouncing back than there is of a prospect being successful. Now the front office may have other interests than the fans such as managing a bad contract, but he still is getting every benefit of the doubt over the young guys due to nothing that he has done on the field. Baseball isn't like other industries, we know that due to physical limitations caused be age and repeated injuries that youth is and should be a huge advantage but it's not treated that way. Not just with the Twins, I'm not singling them out.