Minnesota Sports Forum

I hate losing two winnable games in NY, but it's tough to hold leads when you only have one guy in the bullpen (May) that doesn't give you chills when he comes in. I guess we knew something was wrong with Perkins since he really hasn't had a good outing since mid-July, and now he's going back home with the same neck issue he had last year. The Twins seem to have plenty of starting pitching in the majors and minors, but they need to develop or acquire reliable late inning guys, including a closer...Perkins is getting old and has broken down in the second half of the season 2 years in a row. The past two years the Twins have focused on drafting hard-throwing college relievers...a couple of these guys need to pan out, and soon.

Starting pitching has been subpar since the All Star Game, and I think the biggest issue is the unwillingness of everyone except Pelfrey to throw inside. Pelf is our best starter right now, even though he doesn't have the best stuff or command. The difference is he his hit 10 batters, far and away the most on the team. By comparison, Hughes has hit one batter and given up 28 home runs...Pelfrey has only given up 7 home runs! You can't allow a batter to get comfortable in the box, and Pelf is the only pitcher that is making batters uncomfortable right now.

I haven't watched any games but I follow games on Twitter watch some highlights etc and yeah it's been frustrating. We knew a few weeks ago this team had some holes and it still does. Perkins health is a big blow because now you question him going forward if this team becomes good. To me relief pitching is the easiest thing to find guys to plug in except closer. If we end up having to find a closer that is gonna suck. Hopefully Perkins can get right and hold up.

As tough as the last few weeks have been the Twins are still hanging around .500 and are within striking distance for a wildcard spot. I am not optimistic about their chances but it's still there for the taking.

What I like to look at for any season is what guys have proved themselves one way or another. Hicks has shown something pretty good Sano has done his thing and Rosario has been a pleasant surprise. Vets like Plouffe and Mauer have shown they are more valuable than last year especially defensively. Milone has been pretty good. What guys have been disappointments? Danny Santana top the list but I wouldn't give up on the guy yet either. I am hoping a couple young guys get an opportunity and show something interesting down the stretch.

It's interesting how Pelfrey has been good this year. I have been saying the whole time he was a Twin if he can get and stay healthy his track record says he can be effective.

I'd like to see them bring Buxton back up and move Hicks to left. They can't both play CF at the same time anyway moving forward and Hicks is showing he might actually have some staying power in the bigs. Defensively a Hicks/Buxton outfield should have a ton of range. I'd probably bat Buxton at the bottom of the order again until he starts showing some flashes. I'd rather try to make the playoffs with Buxton than hold him back until September when the race ends and bring him up then.

khans2k5 wrote:I'd like to see them bring Buxton back up and move Hicks to left. They can't both play CF at the same time anyway moving forward and Hicks is showing he might actually have some staying power in the bigs. Defensively a Hicks/Buxton outfield should have a ton of range. I'd probably bat Buxton at the bottom of the order again until he starts showing some flashes. I'd rather try to make the playoffs with Buxton than hold him back until September when the race ends and bring him up then.

Khans, Hicks pulled a hammy today and was put on the DL, and Buxton was called up...he'll be in the lineup Thursday.

I have two questions.

1. On the surface, it seems that Allen is better for the starting staff than Anderson, but Anderson is better for the relievers. You see NFL teams with assistants just for inside linebackers and outside linebackers. Would it be that weird to see a (full time) Starting pitching coach and a (full time) relief pitching coach on the Twins or any other MLB team?

2. Just read an article on Grantland about a pitcher named Matt Buschman. If you haven't read it, he was David Price's teammate at Vanderbilt, tore up the SEC, has an above average minor league career, but has never thrown a MLB game. The timeline is murky, but it seems he was TB property the time of the Jepsen deal. So why not Jepson/Buschmann for Oliveros/thosetwoprospects, instead of what actually transpired? I know there are some guys on this board who don't want to hear about anyone over 23 still in the minors (I remember starting a thread on BSPN about Dozier after he tore up AZ Fall League, and the basic attitude was "So what, he'll be 24 next year."), but my attitude has always been if you can get a minor leauger who is better than the minor leaguer (or dare I say major leaguer) you have, you do it, and let the Salary/LengthOfCareer/FreeAgency/HallofFame issues sort themselves out at that time.

Jason, I have been a big Allen supporter and Anderson detractor, but I think you're right about the bullpen...it was better with Anderson. But we also have a lot of new guys in the pen this year, so who knows if it is more about Allen/Anderson or more about the guys. And they already kind of have what you are talking about with two pitching coaches with Allen in the dugout with the starters and Guardado in the bullpen with the relievers. When our bullpen was overachieving early in the year, there were lots of accolades being thrown Everyday Eddie's way...now we never hear about him.

Jason on the relief pitching.

Eddie guardado is the bullpen coach and every team has one of those. Is there some other role you were considering?

In the past I thought anderson was good for both starters and relievers but it sees he wasn't doing all that well with either the dark years of losing. Once TR took back over the relief pitching got better (the bar was pretty low) but I don't think it was as successful as it had been when the Twins were doing well. I've maintained that Gardy and Anderson were good at their jobs but something happened and that wasn't really the case anymore. Maybe it was using advanced statistics and positioning etc but yeah. Obviously it wasn't just those guys some talent wasn't there either but it was time to make a change.