Minnesota Sports Forum

Yeah, it's fun to see us playing Cleveland so well. Gibson was good the last couple months of last season, but he has really transformed his approach this year...migrated from being a sinker ball pitch-to-contact guy to relying more on that deadly slider for K's. He's really effective this year. Rosario is locked in right now...4 hits on 4 pitches yesterday. Magill has been terrific. I think he has been mishandled by other franchises that tried to make him a starter...he 's a hard throwing 2-pitch guy who is made for short relief. I think he can help us. Unusual for Mauer to make a baserunning mistake, but it's good to have his OBP and glove back in the lineup. We need start getting more out of hitters not named Eddie.

2 impressive wins against Boston. Maybe Dozier is going to get going at the plate. This team has had lots of things go wrong and at times hasn't played well But they keep hanging around. Despite some flaws it's still a fun team to follow.

monsterpile wrote:2 impressive wins against Boston. Maybe Dozier is going to get going at the plate. This team has had lots of things go wrong and at times hasn't played well But they keep hanging around. Despite some flaws it's still a fun team to follow.

It sure is. Unbelievable that this club is only 5 1/2 out with so many guys either missing (Polanco, Santana, Buxton, Sano, Castro) or underachieving (Morrison-.189, Kepler-.226, Dozier-.221, Grossman-.234, Garver-.218). You can make a case that if everyone comes back and plays to their potential, this team will win the division. But that's still a big if.

I only watched the condensed game to it sounded like Romero kinda had some bad luck. Then the Twins also rand into a couple more outs onnthe basepaths. Dozier helped make up for his with a spectacular double later in the game. Based on what ai saw Motter looks like a hell of a defensive player. He ran down a foul ball at third had a good throw from there also on a call that was reviewed and called an out and had a pretty good throw from RF but Garver didn't get the tag. Belisle had another bad outing but this game was pretty much over anyway. Maybe he hasn't gotten his bad months out of his system yet. ;)

I heard Polanco messed up his finger in a car door and then it got infected. How bad of luck is that? Right before he can come off suspension.

bleedspeed177 wrote:I heard Polanco messed up his finger in a car door and then it got infected. How bad of luck is that? Right before he can come off suspension.

Sigh. Tee up that 2019 draft thread. Lol jk

Sounds like Polanco will begin his minor league stint this week...good news since he was our best hitter last half of last season.

Too late to save this season though as injuries, suspensions and underperformance by most of our players has already torpedoed this season. I think management signaled they had thrown in the towel last week when they promoted a guy batting .167 at Rochester and with a sub-.500 career batting average rather than starting the clock on a prospect who could really help us (granted Motter made a terrific fielding play a couple games ago, but this team needs hitting and Motter is predictably 0-12 since he came up). I look for the brain trust to be serious sellers at the deadline (Odorizzi, Lynn, Dozier, etc)...hopefully they can make some moves that will help us in the future.

longstrangetrip wrote:
Too late to save this season though as injuries, suspensions and underperformance by most of our players has already torpedoed this season. I think management signaled they had thrown in the towel last week when they promoted a guy batting .167 at Rochester and with a sub-.500 career batting average rather than starting the clock on a prospect who could really help us (granted Motter made a terrific fielding play a couple games ago, but this team needs hitting and Motter is predictably 0-12 since he came up). I look for the brain trust to be serious sellers at the deadline (Odorizzi, Lynn, Dozier, etc)...hopefully they can make some moves that will help us in the future.

I think you are right. I hate saying that, but a lot of parts on this team will not be back next year. Getting some value from them now would be great. It could all change if we went on a run, but time is running out.

When is the trade deadline?

longstrangetrip wrote:Sounds like Polanco will begin his minor league stint this week...good news since he was our best hitter last half of last season.

Too late to save this season though as injuries, suspensions and underperformance by most of our players has already torpedoed this season. I think management signaled they had thrown in the towel last week when they promoted a guy batting .167 at Rochester and with a sub-.500 career batting average rather than starting the clock on a prospect who could really help us (granted Motter made a terrific fielding play a couple games ago, but this team needs hitting and Motter is predictably 0-12 since he came up). I look for the brain trust to be serious sellers at the deadline (Odorizzi, Lynn, Dozier, etc)...hopefully they can make some moves that will help us in the future.

The season isn't over yet. 3 weeks from now or whatever it might be but there is still too many games to be played. I'll wait till then. As for what the Twins are doing...they are playing without their starting catcher, CF, SS, 3b and some other guys have gotten banged up. It's not like Nick Gordon is knocking the cover off the baseball in AAA or anything (.286 OBP). Some guys down there really haven't done well. Vargas has been bad Granite forgot how to hit etc and It's put the Twins in a bad position with all the injuries. They are fortunate they have gotten some random production from some of the fringe guys they have had up here but it hasn't been enough. Escobar and Dozier have kinda switched roles as what they are doing at re plate. Dozier has some decent numbers for a fill in starter. Escobar is playing like a freaking all star. Grossman has been a dud and you wonder how much longer they keep holding out for him to be the guy he has been the previous couple years. I'm a Grossman fan but...on the other hand who are these magical guys they can promote or whatever that are obviously better at the plate? Granite was supposed to be the Grossman replacement. I don't know what happened there.

To me despite all the bad luck injuries underachieving etc etc this team still has plenty of upside to go on a run and win a bunch of games. We have seen them compete and win games against good to very good teams. I'm not betting on them figuring it out or whatever but I still think there is a chance. If not they certainly have plenty of guys they could look to do deal and could possibly cash in getting some prospects back. There are some of those guys ai hope they don't look to deal though because this team could be good next year.

Great point Monster.

JB was great again today. 12ks in 7 innings.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/game?gameId=380624109