Meyer optioned back to AAA

[gunnarthor]

Graham called up.

 

It's pretty obvious Molitor doesn't have faith in Meyer.  I'd rather they kept Meyer and replaced Molitor.

[bluechipper]

That was some pretty ridiculous game management tonight. Let Meyer get a chance to actually pitch.

[Danchat]

JR Graham? Why do we need [to continue having] an 8 man bullpen at this point in the season?

 

This basically confirms Ervin Santana will be activated on Sunday and start, probably with Graham going back now.

 

Just checked. Graham has a 10.80 ERA in Rochester with a 7.6 BB/9. He's not ready for the majors... at least not as ready as Meyer.

 

Finally, the Twins need to decide what to do with Meyer. If he's gonna be a starter, then give him starts in AAA and let him back up when he's ready to face major league pitching. If he's going to be a reliever, then let him throw a few late innings in AAA and send him back up. Pick one, please.

[Pius Jefferson]

Molitor is like a nicer version of Kirk Gibson in Arizona.

[ShouldaCouldaWoulda]

Did Milone get optioned after the game too?

[Primetime82]

What happened tonight was a disgrace by Molitor. Way to give the guy any confidence he had left. I have no further comment on that...

 

 

 

 

[DiscGolfer]

Did Meyer do something to get put in the dog house?  I get that he has some control issues but they seem to have a shorter hook with Meyer than they do anyone else.  And to bring up Graham?  for what?  hopefully not to pitch 10ER in 8.1 inn.  And not like it was 1 bad outing 8 runs in his last 4 games.

[bluechipper]

 

  On 5/4/2016 at 4:11 AM, DiscGolfer said:

Did Meyer do something to get put in the dog house?  I get that he has some control issues but they seem to have a shorter hook with Meyer than they do anyone else.  And to bring up Graham?  for what?  hopefully not to pitch 10ER in 8.1 inn.  And not like it was 1 bad outing 8 runs in his last 4 games.

Graham is probably just going to be on mop up duty for a few days until Ervin Santana comes back.

 

And yeah, taking Meyer out after he just got two guys out in the 3rd inning with 60-some pitches... That makes little sense to me too.

[by jiminy]

I don't get how this is Molitor's fault. Since the day they got him, Meyer has been unreliable. You just can't afford a starter how can blow up any time. A starter leaving after three innings puts a huge, huge burden on the bullpen, with negative consequences for days. Meyer had a few good starts in a row in AAA. People wanted to pretend that meant he was fixed. But he never has shown consistency or reliability since they got him. Would you want him starting again, in the majors, knowing he could very well drain six innings from the bullpen, again?  I don't trust him with that.  Do you? Really?  

 

I think he either needs to stay in the minors until he proves he can reliably pitch 5+ innings, or move to the bullpen where his flameouts don't put a drain on the entire pitching staff.  I don't really care which.  But the Twins can't afford starts like this.   And anyone who thinks this would never happen again is dreaming. 

[Kwak]

The teeth-gnashing is galling to the max!  Meyer didn't really earn a start, but Ryan demanded that he get one--before banning him to the bullpen (or the discard pile!).  There are plenty of younger, better prospects in the system than Meyer that will soon need a 40-man spot.  Goodness knows there is plenty of room for improvement on the Active 25-man roster.  It's time to move on and see if there is someone actually ready to help right now--if not by 2017 at the latest.

[bluechipper]

 

  On 5/4/2016 at 4:20 AM, by jiminy said:

I don't get how this is Molitor's fault. Since they day they got him, Meyer has been unreliable. You just can't afford a starter how can blow up any time. A starter leaving after three innings puts a huge, huge burden on the bullpen, with negative consequences for days. Meyer had a few good starts in a row in AAA. People wanted to pretend that meant he was fixed. But he never has shown consistency or reliability in all the time they got him. Would you want him starting again, in the majors, knowing he could very well drain six innings from the bullpen, again?  Do really really think that is not a very real possibility?  I don't trust him with that.  Do you? Really?  

 

I think he either needs to stay in the minors until he proves he can reliably pitch 5+ innings, or move to the bullpen where his flameouts don't put a drain on the entire pitching staff.  I don't really care which.  But the Twins can't afford starts like this.  And anyone who thinks this would never happen again is dreaming. 

He could've easily pitched 5 innings tonight if given the chance.

[PseudoSABR]

Ryan made the move to send Meyer down; I'm betting he also made the call to start Meyer today.  There might be more tension between the front office and the manager than anyone is letting on, and a lot of the early season happenings would make more sense if that's the case.  The sequence of events -- from Meyer's call up to his start and eventual return to AAA -- is nonsensical, unless Molitor is being defiant. 

[USAFChief]

  On 5/4/2016 at 4:23 AM, bluechipper said:

He could've easily pitched 5 innings tonight if given the chance.

Huh?

 

He got a chance and couldnt repeat his delivery for 2 consecutive hitters, much less 5 innings.

[Pius Jefferson]

What  does a lousy team have to lose letting a Meyer pitch further into the game? I personally think Meyer is a lost cause at least with the Twins organization but let the guy stink it up for more than 3 innings.

[bluechipper]

 

  On 5/4/2016 at 4:34 AM, USAFChief said:

Huh?

He got a chance and couldnt repeat his delivery for 2 consecutive hitters, much less 5 innings.

I don't think that's true. He got two outs while leaving a guy on third, and then got taken out after 64 pitches. He should've been given the chance to get out of that.

[bluechipper]

 

  On 5/4/2016 at 4:40 AM, Pius Jefferson said:

What  does a lousy team have to lose letting a Meyer pitch further into the game? I personally think Meyer is a lost cause at least with the Twins organization but let the guy stink it up for more than 3 innings.

A lost cause? Even after last year's disaster, Keith Law ranked Meyer as the #1 relief prospect in the minors.

[USAFChief]

  On 5/4/2016 at 4:47 AM, bluechipper said:

A lost cause? Even after last year's disaster, Keith Law ranked Meyer as the #1 relief prospect in the minors.

And he should be relieving.

[gunnarthor]

 

  On 5/4/2016 at 4:20 AM, by jiminy said:

I don't get how this is Molitor's fault. Since the day they got him, Meyer has been unreliable. You just can't afford a starter how can blow up any time. A starter leaving after three innings puts a huge, huge burden on the bullpen, with negative consequences for days. Meyer had a few good starts in a row in AAA. People wanted to pretend that meant he was fixed. But he never has shown consistency or reliability since they got him. Would you want him starting again, in the majors, knowing he could very well drain six innings from the bullpen, again?  I don't trust him with that.  Do you? Really?  

 

I think he either needs to stay in the minors until he proves he can reliably pitch 5+ innings, or move to the bullpen where his flameouts don't put a drain on the entire pitching staff.  I don't really care which.  But the Twins can't afford starts like this.   And anyone who thinks this would never happen again is dreaming. 

Maybe Meyer will never be a good pitcher.  I don't know.  But you don't treat a pitcher like Molitor treated him.  I think it's pretty clear that Molitor and Ryan have different views of Meyer.  Someone mentioned that Molitor voted to keep him in the bullpen during ST but Ryan overruled him.  Molitor didn't pitch him for days after he was called up and had an extremely quick hook with him tonight.  And his comments about how well Milone pitched were pretty nonsensical. 

 

Meyer has some really good stuff, which he showed at times tonight. And he has really bad control, which we also saw.  Molitor has to trust him to pitch, which he doesn't.  So now he's back in AAA, which makes no sense.  We need to see him have chances to pitch out of jams and instead the manager threw him under the bus.  I'm pretty sure if Gardy ever did something like this (and he never did), this place would be screaming. 

 

 

[bluechipper]

 

  On 5/4/2016 at 4:49 AM, USAFChief said:

And he should be relieving.

He's got a 3.40 ERA in the minors with over 10 K/9. Why not give him every chance to start until he proves he can't? 

[USAFChief]

  On 5/4/2016 at 5:00 AM, bluechipper said:

He's got a 3.40 ERA in the minors with over 10 K/9. Why not give him every chance to start until he proves he can't?

At risk of repeating myself...he doesn't have the pitches, delivery, or command to go through a big league lineup every 5 days.

[gunnarthor]

 

  On 5/4/2016 at 5:03 AM, USAFChief said:

At risk of repeating myself...he doesn't have the pitches, delivery, or command to go through a big league lineup every 5 days.

You don't know that.  He's certainly not the first pitcher to run into trouble in the third inning.  And Molitor should certainly give him more than one chance to find out.  He's shown he can be a dominating starter at every minor league level - including AAA, even with his control problems. 

[bluechipper]

 

  On 5/4/2016 at 5:03 AM, USAFChief said:

At risk of repeating myself...he doesn't have the pitches, delivery, or command to go through a big league lineup every 5 days.

Maybe you're right, but he picked up 3 strikeouts on a good curveball tonight and he also got one on a changeup, and he throws 95. I'd like to see him continue to start in Rochester and get another chance starting when he comes back up.

[jsteve96]

 

  On 5/4/2016 at 3:52 AM, gunnarthor said:

Graham called up.

 

It's pretty obvious Molitor doesn't have faith in Meyer.  I'd rather they kept Meyer and replaced Molitor.

RETWEET. Molly has his favorites, and has his not so favorites. Meyer, Park and Arcia definitely on the not so favorites.      Mauer and  Dozier obviously are. ... I dont see why Mauer is the 3 hitter. would be a better 2 hitter and an even better Leadoff hitter. OBP at leadoff would be huge! in front of Dozier, Sano, and Park.. Molitor waited to pull Meyer until the Lefty on left match up came up. I had no clue that big league teams decided to use match ups in the 3rd inning. like really, you either pull him right after that last hit or you leave him in until he gives up another baserunner dont ya? what is the point of going to a "match up" with a long reliever in the third inning. It was basically watching someone pull the plug on a patient that got a gun shot to the arm... "well F*** it, we'll just call it quits here" I wouldn't be so annoyed if he pulled him after the last hit but the idea of a matchup basis in the 3rd inning after he got 2 straight batters out PISSES me off. Hope we get a good draft pick in 2017 at least. SKOL Vikings

[jokin]

 

  On 5/4/2016 at 4:49 AM, USAFChief said:

And he should be relieving.

 

I doubt that KLaw would give that kind of lofty ranking to a potential mop-up RP.

 

The only way Meyer grows from here is building on tonight's positives, the first two innings pitched were very good... his best performance as a major leaguer by far... the FB was great and the breaking ball got him 4 Ks... from this point, it's all about building confidence and consistency... in the way Meyer was handled, I don't think Molitor accomplished either of those goals tonight.

[jokin]

 

  On 5/4/2016 at 5:03 AM, USAFChief said:

At risk of repeating myself...he doesn't have the pitches, delivery, or command to go through a big league lineup every 5 days.

 

??? Except for the fact that he has done just that at every level of the minors, and been one of the top pitchers in the league at each level. Why not play the string out all the way here and see if he can continue to develop and then eventually begin to do the same at the highest level?

[Oldgoat_MN]

 

  On 5/4/2016 at 5:00 AM, bluechipper said:

He's got a 3.40 ERA in the minors with over 10 K/9. Why not give him every chance to start until he proves he can't? 

 

He actually has an ERA of 1.04 in AAA this year so far, along with a 0.865 WHIP and only 2.1 BB/9.

 

He didn't have a good outing, but really puzzling how he gets pulled when he got pulled, considering the way things were unfolding. 

[KirbyDome89]

 

  On 5/4/2016 at 4:22 AM, Kwak said:

 There are plenty of younger, better prospects in the system than Meyer that will soon need a 40-man spot.  

There are better position player prospects but unless some of them have a hidden pitching talent the Twins need Alex Meyer. Hell even if all of them could pitch, Meyer still has elite reliever potential so I don't understand this nonsense about dropping him from the 40 man and losing him. 

[jimbo92107]

  On 5/4/2016 at 3:52 AM, gunnarthor said:

Graham called up.

 

It's pretty obvious Molitor doesn't have faith in Meyer.  I'd rather they kept Meyer and replaced Molitor.

Meyer still has a problem getting to his balance point. For a really tall, lanky pitcher like him, the balance point is everything, because he drives really hard just after he tilts towards the plate. If he's leaning just a bit towards the first base side, he misses wide left. 

 

Thing is, hitters can see that even better than I can. When Meyer starts having a problem throwing strikes, it's because he's falling off left. This happens early in his delivery, early enough for a batter to see it and not swing. Then he walks a couple guys. Then he pipelines a fastball. Then the wheels fall off. You could see it all happening like a bad dream. I'm sure Molitor has seen this sort of thing plenty of times before. Meyer still is not ready to win games in the majors. Go back to AAA, keep working on getting to that perfect balance point. Keep working on holding runners. No matter what else happens, that broomstick has to fall towards home plate.

[Reider]

Due to his control problems the other night I had a feeling that he wouldn't make it out of the 3rd inning tonight and he didn't. And when he got pulled I sort of felt bad because he was struggling a bit, but I've seen worse. I thought he did okay for his first start, but he definitely needs to hit his spots better. As for whether he got pulled too early or not..  I've seen managers leave pitchers in to battle through those situations plenty of times. Perhaps Molitor just saw enough.

 

He's tall with a 97mph (that's the fastest I noticed tonight anyways) and a curve/breaking/slider + change up? There are some good tools to work with there, but he definitely has control issues. Also, when there's a hitter that struggles to catch up with one of his high heaters, I don't know why he doesn't use that as a strike out pitch instead of throwing a bunch of curve balls outside.

[zchrz]

I think the writing has been on the wall for awhile, and tonight showed everyone why.  Meyer is a reliever, he has the stuff to be a damn good one but the command and consistency is no where near a mlb starter.  He is a tall lanky slinger that can throw 97 with sick break, stick him in the mlb pen full time and see if you can't make him a setup guy/ closer.