Minnesota Sports Forum

monsterpile wrote:Twins swept by the Tigers ending any remote hope of the Twins doing something. The Twins Bats were really alive in this series coring a total of 4 runs all in game 2. Yikes. Happ got left out there because the Twins were already down 5 runs but it didn't look like a good day for him although he was solid early. Maybe he should be an opener? Lol

Did you not read my message from 2-3 weeks when I declared the season dead lol

jester1534 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Twins swept by the Tigers ending any remote hope of the Twins doing something. The Twins Bats were really alive in this series coring a total of 4 runs all in game 2. Yikes. Happ got left out there because the Twins were already down 5 runs but it didn't look like a good day for him although he was solid early. Maybe he should be an opener? Lol

Did you not read my message from 2-3 weeks when I declared the season dead lol

This declaration was for the people that have even more optimism than I do. They are out there bless their hearts. Lol

Jester fun stat of the day

Hitters vs. J.A. Happ -- .346 OBP, .544 SLG

Nelson Cruz, career -- .349 OBP, .530 SLG

So basically J.A. Happ, who was the Twins' biggest offseason pitching addition at a cost of $8 million, has turned every hitter he's faced this season into Nelson Cruz with slightly more power.

Per Aaron Gleeman on twitter

jester1534 wrote:Jester fun stat of the day

Hitters vs. J.A. Happ -- .346 OBP, .544 SLG

Nelson Cruz, career -- .349 OBP, .530 SLG

So basically J.A. Happ, who was the Twins' biggest offseason pitching addition at a cost of $8 million, has turned every hitter he's faced this season into Nelson Cruz with slightly more power.

Per Aaron Gleeman on twitter

It's honestly kind of amazing how bad he has been with the track record he had.

It's kinda like buying Kraft macaroni and cheese and expecting it to be pretty good boxed Mac and cheese and making it and it tastes like cardboard...so you open up another box figuring it was a fluke...17 boxes later...

monsterpile wrote:

jester1534 wrote:Jester fun stat of the day

Hitters vs. J.A. Happ -- .346 OBP, .544 SLG

Nelson Cruz, career -- .349 OBP, .530 SLG

So basically J.A. Happ, who was the Twins' biggest offseason pitching addition at a cost of $8 million, has turned every hitter he's faced this season into Nelson Cruz with slightly more power.

Per Aaron Gleeman on twitter

It's honestly kind of amazing how bad he has been with the track record he had.

It's kinda like buying Kraft macaroni and cheese and expecting it to be pretty good boxed Mac and cheese and making it and it tastes like cardboard...so you open up another box figuring it was a fluke...17 boxes later...

The mac and cheese reference is funny and it is pretty sad how bad he has been. Are there 3 players that if they would be performing nearly the same as any of their previous 2 years actually made enough of a difference that this team would have been a division winner again?

bleedspeed177 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

jester1534 wrote:Jester fun stat of the day

Hitters vs. J.A. Happ -- .346 OBP, .544 SLG

Nelson Cruz, career -- .349 OBP, .530 SLG

So basically J.A. Happ, who was the Twins' biggest offseason pitching addition at a cost of $8 million, has turned every hitter he's faced this season into Nelson Cruz with slightly more power.

Per Aaron Gleeman on twitter

It's honestly kind of amazing how bad he has been with the track record he had.

It's kinda like buying Kraft macaroni and cheese and expecting it to be pretty good boxed Mac and cheese and making it and it tastes like cardboard...so you open up another box figuring it was a fluke...17 boxes later...

The mac and cheese reference is funny and it is pretty sad how bad he has been. Are there 3 players that if they would be performing nearly the same as any of their previous 2 years actually made enough of a difference that this team would have been a division winner again?

2 good starters (Happ and Maeda) and good reliever (Colome) would have been pretty huge. Would that have been enough? Maybe not for the division but I think it may have made the team 10-15 games better and that would have given this team a shot.

That would certainly help a ton. Does Buxton have any value around the league?

bleedspeed177 wrote:That would certainly help a ton. Does Buxton have any value around the league?

Yes because of the year of control left

One Twin made Keith Law top 50 mideseason prospects. TO bad Duran got hurt

38. Jordan Balazovic, RHP, Minnesota Twins

As I write this, Balazovic hasn't given up a run in four weeks -- 25.2 innings, 10 hits, 4 walks, 30 strikeouts, zero runs. He's made nine starts in Double A this year, and in six of them, he hasn't surrendered any runs at all. The Canadian righty has added 2 mph to his fastball this year, averaging 95 mph on it, and his curveball has been sharper with more depth, giving him two plus pitches in his arsenal that have helped him lay waste to right-handed batters this year -- they're hitting .134/.202/.195 against him. His changeup is still a third offering, maybe just on the low side of average, and he will have to improve that to be an above-average or better starter in the majors. He has the size, delivery, and now the two plus pitches to get there.

jester1534 wrote:One Twin made Keith Law top 50 mideseason prospects. TO bad Duran got hurt

38. Jordan Balazovic, RHP, Minnesota Twins

As I write this, Balazovic hasn't given up a run in four weeks -- 25.2 innings, 10 hits, 4 walks, 30 strikeouts, zero runs. He's made nine starts in Double A this year, and in six of them, he hasn't surrendered any runs at all. The Canadian righty has added 2 mph to his fastball this year, averaging 95 mph on it, and his curveball has been sharper with more depth, giving him two plus pitches in his arsenal that have helped him lay waste to right-handed batters this year -- they're hitting .134/.202/.195 against him. His changeup is still a third offering, maybe just on the low side of average, and he will have to improve that to be an above-average or better starter in the majors. He has the size, delivery, and now the two plus pitches to get there.

Thanks for posting this Jester.

FYI on his July 1 podcast (Which I listened to recently) Wolfson had Twins director of player development Alex Hassan on and they went through quite a few prospects. It was reasonably interesting especially if you aren't really up on all the minor league guys. Wolfson also had Chris Finch on that one too. I hadn't listened to a Wolfson podcast in months I probably will only be listening to it for interviews going forward.