Minnesota Sports Forum

Yeah, nice to see them hold on to win that game. This has to be the oddest Twins team ever, 8 guys getting regular playing time are batting .240 or less, and our best player Buxton remains out. But the amazing Kim Jung-Tae got another 2 hits yesterday and is now hitting .381 with an OPS of 1.021! We're lucky to have this stretch of games against Baltimore and KC with some key players missing, and maybe we can keep winning against better competition once some key players return.

FNG wrote:Yeah, nice to see them hold on to win that game. This has to be the oddest Twins team ever, 8 guys getting regular playing time are batting .240 or less, and our best player Buxton remains out. But the amazing Kim Jung-Tae got another 2 hits yesterday and is now hitting .381 with an OPS of 1.021! We're lucky to have this stretch of games against Baltimore and KC with some key players missing, and maybe we can keep winning against better competition once some key players return.

Kepler may finally go on the IR after pulling up last night. The OF defense outside of ( Refsnyder who is playing it seemingly well considering it's the first time in the majors) probably won't be stellar. Garlick seems adequate and Larnach seems ok but nothing special as a defender. There was one fan comment about maybe Nick Gordon getting a shot in the OF. He has never played there professionally according to baseball reference. Maybe he played there in a spring training game or something.

Max is a pretty good defensive outfielder, but I'm not heartbroken about him taking some time off to rest that hamstring. Despite his good power, his .761 career OPS in only average for all major leaguers, and below average for outfielders. With the imminent return of Buxton, the emergence of Larnach and Kiriloff, and the ability of Arraez and Jung-Tae to play some outfield, we have better options for RF, and we also have Garlick and Rooker/ Once Luis and Byron come back, I don't think we will miss Max too much.

I'm officially done with Miguel Sano after his performance in today's disappointing loss. He struck out 3 times...once with the bases loaded, and once late in the game with two on base. And the one time we needed him to strike out, he hit into a rally-killing double play. His last strike out was a blueprint of Miguel's futility...he saw 7 pitches, none of them in the strike zone, and eventually had one of his patented swing-and-miss on a pitch way low and outside. Sure, I love his 450 foot home runs as much as anyone, but the empty at bats in between are killing us. He's batting .174, and I see little chance of him getting up to the lofty .204 average he put up last year.

The only hope for this team is to get everyone healthy and go with this lineup:

C-Garver
1b-Kiriloff
2b- Arraez
3b- Donaldson
SS- Simmons
RF- Jung-Tae
CF- Buxton
LF- Larnach
DH: Cruz

Mix in Turtle, Polanco, Garlick, Kepler and Sano as needed, but use the 9 above more often than not.

FNG wrote:I'm officially done with Miguel Sano after his performance in today's disappointing loss. He struck out 3 times...once with the bases loaded, and once late in the game with two on base. And the one time we needed him to strike out, he hit into a rally-killing double play. His last strike out was a blueprint of Miguel's futility...he saw 7 pitches, none of them in the strike zone, and eventually had one of his patented swing-and-miss on a pitch way low and outside. Sure, I love his 450 foot home runs as much as anyone, but the empty at bats in between are killing us. He's batting .174, and I see little chance of him getting up to the lofty .204 average he put up last year.

The only hope for this team is to get everyone healthy and go with this lineup:

C-Garver
1b-Kiriloff
2b- Arraez
3b- Donaldson
SS- Simmons
RF- Jung-Tae
CF- Buxton
LF- Larnach
DH: Cruz

Mix in Turtle, Polanco, Garlick, Kepler and Sano as needed, but use the 9 above more often than not.

Sano was pretty brutal today and after a nice little run where he legitimately helped the team win games with his bat that has dropped off. Until various guys get healthy he is robanly going to continue to be in the lineup pretty consistently so we need to hope for the best. I think it's pretty clear that other guys have passed him by so like you said if we ever get healthy he will be a bench player...unless MAYBE he gets hot again.

FNG wrote:Max is a pretty good defensive outfielder, but I'm not heartbroken about him taking some time off to rest that hamstring. Despite his good power, his .761 career OPS in only average for all major leaguers, and below average for outfielders. With the imminent return of Buxton, the emergence of Larnach and Kiriloff, and the ability of Arraez and Jung-Tae to play some outfield, we have better options for RF, and we also have Garlick and Rooker/ Once Luis and Byron come back, I don't think we will miss Max too much.

Kepler need to get healthy so yes I would like him to take some time off. His defense probably hasn't been that good for a while since he hasn't been able to run and that's what adds to his total value.

What's with calling Refsnyder "Jung-Tae"?

monsterpile wrote:

FNG wrote:Max is a pretty good defensive outfielder, but I'm not heartbroken about him taking some time off to rest that hamstring. Despite his good power, his .761 career OPS in only average for all major leaguers, and below average for outfielders. With the imminent return of Buxton, the emergence of Larnach and Kiriloff, and the ability of Arraez and Jung-Tae to play some outfield, we have better options for RF, and we also have Garlick and Rooker/ Once Luis and Byron come back, I don't think we will miss Max too much.

Kepler need to get healthy so yes I would like him to take some time off. His defense probably hasn't been that good for a while since he hasn't been able to run and that's what adds to his total value.

What's with calling Refsnyder "Jung-Tae"?

It's the name his birth parents gave him when he was born in Seoul. Seems weird to me to call an Asian guy "Rob" so I use his real name.

monsterpile wrote:

FNG wrote:I'm officially done with Miguel Sano after his performance in today's disappointing loss. He struck out 3 times...once with the bases loaded, and once late in the game with two on base. And the one time we needed him to strike out, he hit into a rally-killing double play. His last strike out was a blueprint of Miguel's futility...he saw 7 pitches, none of them in the strike zone, and eventually had one of his patented swing-and-miss on a pitch way low and outside. Sure, I love his 450 foot home runs as much as anyone, but the empty at bats in between are killing us. He's batting .174, and I see little chance of him getting up to the lofty .204 average he put up last year.

The only hope for this team is to get everyone healthy and go with this lineup:

C-Garver
1b-Kiriloff
2b- Arraez
3b- Donaldson
SS- Simmons
RF- Jung-Tae
CF- Buxton
LF- Larnach
DH: Cruz

Mix in Turtle, Polanco, Garlick, Kepler and Sano as needed, but use the 9 above more often than not.

Sano was pretty brutal today and after a nice little run where he legitimately helped the team win games with his bat that has dropped off. Until various guys get healthy he is robanly going to continue to be in the lineup pretty consistently so we need to hope for the best. I think it's pretty clear that other guys have passed him by so like you said if we ever get healthy he will be a bench player...unless MAYBE he gets hot again.

Yeah, that's why I haven't given up on this team yet despite a very bad start. Injuries are killing us and forcing us to play guys who are struggling to even hit .200, but if everyone is healthy, it's a potent roster. Coming back from 11 games out and last place might seem like an insurmountable task, but I'm still waiting to see what this team can do with Buxton back in the lineup.

FNG wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

FNG wrote:Max is a pretty good defensive outfielder, but I'm not heartbroken about him taking some time off to rest that hamstring. Despite his good power, his .761 career OPS in only average for all major leaguers, and below average for outfielders. With the imminent return of Buxton, the emergence of Larnach and Kiriloff, and the ability of Arraez and Jung-Tae to play some outfield, we have better options for RF, and we also have Garlick and Rooker/ Once Luis and Byron come back, I don't think we will miss Max too much.

Kepler need to get healthy so yes I would like him to take some time off. His defense probably hasn't been that good for a while since he hasn't been able to run and that's what adds to his total value.

What's with calling Refsnyder "Jung-Tae"?

It's the name his birth parents gave him when he was born in Seoul. Seems weird to me to call an Asian guy "Rob" so I use his real name.

Thanks for the explanation. I'm cool with you using birth name but if he goes by Rob isn't that his name? I went to school with a guy named Francis but he didn't go by that name. We liked to call him Frank but he wasn't a fan of that either. Lol

FNG wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

FNG wrote:I'm officially done with Miguel Sano after his performance in today's disappointing loss. He struck out 3 times...once with the bases loaded, and once late in the game with two on base. And the one time we needed him to strike out, he hit into a rally-killing double play. His last strike out was a blueprint of Miguel's futility...he saw 7 pitches, none of them in the strike zone, and eventually had one of his patented swing-and-miss on a pitch way low and outside. Sure, I love his 450 foot home runs as much as anyone, but the empty at bats in between are killing us. He's batting .174, and I see little chance of him getting up to the lofty .204 average he put up last year.

The only hope for this team is to get everyone healthy and go with this lineup:

C-Garver
1b-Kiriloff
2b- Arraez
3b- Donaldson
SS- Simmons
RF- Jung-Tae
CF- Buxton
LF- Larnach
DH: Cruz

Mix in Turtle, Polanco, Garlick, Kepler and Sano as needed, but use the 9 above more often than not.

Sano was pretty brutal today and after a nice little run where he legitimately helped the team win games with his bat that has dropped off. Until various guys get healthy he is robanly going to continue to be in the lineup pretty consistently so we need to hope for the best. I think it's pretty clear that other guys have passed him by so like you said if we ever get healthy he will be a bench player...unless MAYBE he gets hot again.

Yeah, that's why I haven't given up on this team yet despite a very bad start. Injuries are killing us and forcing us to play guys who are struggling to even hit .200, but if everyone is healthy, it's a potent roster. Coming back from 11 games out and last place might seem like an insurmountable task, but I'm still waiting to see what this team can do with Buxton back in the lineup.

The bad news...

The White Sox got hot again and reeled of 4 in a row to put the Twins 11 games back. It was only 8.5 or 9 games a couple days ago.

The good news...

It was like a week ago when the Twins were basically as far behind the division as the wildcard race. Now they are 7.5 back which is only daunting because that means they are pretty much fighting for that spot with almost every team in the American League.

They are 10 games under .500 with 110 games left. They play the white Sox I believe 13 more times so there is still a chance to pick up some legit games there if they can get healthy and play well so winning the division is still a possibility. I'm not holding out too much hope but there is enough things to interest me to keep up with this group.