yarnivek1972

That was a head scratcher of a trade from the Giants perspective. Why would you trade one MLB pitcher for a one tool catcher, let alone 2 and another with strong potential? AJ hit for average, period. He never hit for power as a Twin, he certainly was nothing special defensively and he certainly wasn't fast. That's seriously right up there with the Herschel Walker trade for most lopsided in sports history.

If I am not mistaken, the general work out plan of a pitcher involves running and throwing. For hitters it involves hitting and lifting weights. Those are kind of opposite goal regimens.

You have an awfully unrealistic opinion of what the state of pitching is. How is a guy with a career ERA under 4 considered a 4 or 5 starter? Santiago's career ERA is better than league average. Doesn't that make him a solid 3, almost by definition?

There are currently 22 pitchers on the Twins 40 man roster (plus 3 on the 60 day DL). I will assume that will be the case when the roster is set this November. These are the guys on it now, including the DL guys, that are pretty certain to be on it in November: 1) Jose Berrios 2) JT Chargois 3) Tyler Duffey 4) Pjil Hughes 5) Felix Jorge 6) Trevor May 7) Adalberto Mejia 8) Mason Melotakis 9) Ryan O'Rourke 10) Taylor Rogers 11) Fernando Romero 12) Randy Rosario 13) Ervin Santana Duffey and Santana would be the least certain of that group. In Duffey's case, it will be dictated by his performance. In Ervin's, based on whether he is traded. Of course, if Santana is traded, it seems pretty likely that whatever pitcher he is traded for will be on the 40 man. These players are on the bubble: Buddy Boshers Kyle Gibson Justin Haley Ryan Pressly Hector Santiago And that doesn't even include guys that are almost certainly goners like Belisle, Breslow, Kintzler, Perkins, Rucinski and Tepesch. While I would be pretty surprised if all 5 of the guys listed above are back, I'd be pretty surprised if all were gone too. My guess is that two are back. As best as I can tell (and I could certainly be wrong), these minor league pitchers will need to be added to the 40 man roster no later than after this season - some could be added before that obviously. 14) Nick Burdi 15) Stephen Gonsalves 16) Trevor Hildenberger 17) Jake Reed 18) Kohl Stewart Technically, that list would include Lewis Thorpe as well. But seeing as how he has never pitched above low A ball and hasn't pitched anywhere since 2014, I figure he will be exposed - of course low A ball is where Johan Santana had last pitched before the Twins plucked him. There could be more of which I am not aware. Anyone? So, if the Twins do indeed retain 2 of the "bubble" pitchers, that would put 20 pitchers on the 40 man. Not a lot of extra space. Indeed, they may need to cut down the number of pitchers for some position players. Park is still under contract through 2019. You would have to think they will give him another shot at some point, but Falvey may also say "not my problem" and convince Pohlad to eat the $ 8 mil or whatever he is still owed. 18 position players on the 40 man seems dangerously low when you have 12 or 13 of them active on the 25 man roster. Not a lot of wiggle room in case of injury. My point in all this is that unless Stewart does in fact turn it around this season, he might very well be exposed to the rule 5 draft.

More like dooming and glooming.

Kepler is an outfielder. Park is hurt and even when healthy is no sure thing to be added. But yes, I think Vargas is better than Mauer right now. And so is Grossman.

One looming problem with a slow approach or an approach that doesn't try something different is his roster status. If I am not mistaken, he will need to be added to the 40 man roster after this season or be exposed to the rule 5 draft. Unless he takes big steps forward the rest of this season, I don't see how the Twins can possibly use a 40 man spot on him. It may not be an issue, because with where he is right now, no team could hide him on their staff all season. So, I guess my original question remains. At what point should the Twins try something different if there is no improvement? Another couple starts? June? All Star Break? I truly can't imagine running him out there every 5 days (okay in the minors that's a tad more flexible) all year if he continues this way. It could very well be an injury. But, he wasn't that good last year. Sure, the ERA from last year looks nice. But the peripherals were terrible. BB rate, K rate, etc. He doesn't give up many HR. That's certainly a positive. Looking at his splits from 2016, he actually pitched better with runners on than with no one on base. No doubt that helped keep his ERA low. That's exactly the opposite problem that Berrios has had. Could it truly be as simple as not finding a proper balance or release point from the full wind up?

And that

This

So, if I am understanding this correctly, the suggestion here is to let Stewart pitch all of this year in AA - no matter if he shows improvement or not and then possibly all of next season, again not showing improvement is not mentioned as a condition. By the end of the 2018 season, Stewart will be 24 and still possibly not advanced beyond AA. A lot of you are okay with that?

Twins first round draft picks that were high school pitchers, since 1990 and their performance at AA: 2013, Kohl Stewart (4 th overall); age 21-22 - 3.57 ERA in 116 IP so far 2012, Jose Berrios (32); age 20-21- 3.23 ERA 2004, Jay Rainville (39); age 22-23 - 5.70 ERA in 192 IP, injury problems, never advanced above AA 2004, Kyle Waldrop (25); stint one, age 21 - 5.34 ERA in 59 IP, injured, missed all of next season. stint two, age 23 - 1.47 ERA in 55 IP 1992, Dan Serafini (26); age 21 - 3.38 ERA in 162 IP 1990, Todd Ritchie (12); age 21-22 - 3.86 ERA, but limited to 63 IP due to injuries; never really did well in the minors after that but did manage to log over 800 IP at the MLB level The 3 who weren't severely injured, graduated AA by age 22. And they all did better in their second season at AA. Stewart is 2.5 runs WORSE so far. I feel comfortable sticking with my opinion. If Stewart was such an enormous project perhaps he should not have been taken with the 4th overall pick. PS: Here's your "logic and numbers"

I'm not really sure what relevance "average age" of an entire league is. 2/3 of the guys at AA and maybe even more below that level are not prospects at all and will never even whiff the majors. They are simply there because, surprisingly, the rules dictate that you have to field an entire roster around the 4 or 5 legitimate prospects you have at any given level. So, exactly what does the average age of all The players in AA have to do with the age of the PROSPECTS in AA?

Which probably indicates that the Twins have lousy pitching prospects that can't advance in a timely fashion. And anticipating your reply, where is the evidence that the Twins don't have lousy pitching prospects? Their track record of drafting and developing them?

He should probably not be in the batting order at all. Also on Molitor and Falvey and perhaps ultimately Jim Pohlad.

This is just flat out wrong. It WAS close. Joe Mauer's approach is the wrong approach IMO. I don't care if it is his approach. His approach has resulted in him being one of the worst run producing middle of the order hitters in baseball.

He already spent half of last year in AA. ALL of this year AND next year? That's wasting a roster spot for a legitimate prospect IMO. He's 5 months younger than Berrios. He isn't THAT young.

I don't disagree that he isn't very good. But at what point do you think they bump him from the rotation? In favor of whom I have no idea. But to continue to run him out there getting hammered and/or showing no strike zone command seems silly.

Too close to take. Especially for a guy that swings and misses 8% of the time. Worst case scenario he fouls it off. Best case scenario he ties the game. Even if Mauer walks, Kimbrell had little difficulty disposing of Kepler. I doubt Grossman would have been any more difficult.

Anyone have thoughts as to what the next step should be for Stewart and when that should take place? What he is doing now isn't working. He has a WHIP of 2. He had a 1.47 last year at AA that through smoke and mirrors (as far as I can tell) translated to a 3.03 ERA. He simply isn't effective and has not been at AA really at all.

I also don't care whether it was a "technological" strike. It was CLOSE ENOUGH to swing at with 2 strikes. I thought I saw a graphic that said Mauer swings and misses 8% of the time this year. So, that means a swing by Mauer had a 92% chance of either being a foul ball or in play. A ball in play ties the game unless he hits a line drive to an infielder. His approach is 100% me first, team second - but only if it helps me. I'll wager you would never hear him say "Climb on board boys. I'm driving this bus. "

This, more than anything else, is why he has the job IMO. For this team (which I still do not view as a contender), he's good enough until someone else TAKES the job.

Which says more about the sorry state of pitching in MLB than anything else.

Rincon was on roids for awhile too. And Romero was suspected, but smart enough not to get caught.

What is telling is that this was Mauer's second career walk off hit. This is a guy that has been in the middle of the lineup his entire career. You would expect one or two every year.

I'd say more like the last two weeks.