It’s Friday and who needs Melky Cabrera?
Posted on May 30th, 2008 – 12:56 AMBy Howard
*Those of us who go back that far watched Kirby Puckett develop from a singles hitter into a powerful force in the course of several years. By comparison, the development of Gogomez has happened in hyperspeed. Consider that in April his offensive numbers were .253 average/.260 on-base percentage/.354 slugging percentage, and some were making an argument for his demotion to Rochester. Going into this weekend, his May numbers are .323/.375/.490, a spectacular improvement. He is tied for third on the Twins in RBI and, since his game-on-the-bench-to-clear-his-head in Oakland toward the end of last month, Gogomez is 38-for-111 (.342). His numbers against right-handed pitching have improved markedly and his numbers against lefties are so slick that I don’t want to print ‘em. You can see them here, if you must. The disruption he causes pitchers and infielders on the bases make those who hit behind him fortunate and is worth the occasional bad choice that he makes. Now if he can stop that silly two-strike bunting thing…
*I was in the Metrodome press box during the Toronto series chatting with Bill Smith about Kevin Slowey. It was the night after he struggled through 5+ innings and Slowey was looking like a candidate to be dropped from the rotation if things didn’t get better. During our discussion, Bill pretty much said that Slowey would remain in the rotation. There was no use sending him back to Rochester, he said, because he’d already dominated at that level and what he needed to do was figure out a way to get major leaguers out without the struggles that marked his first few starts — high pitch counts while yielding only a handful of walks (6 in 34 2/3 innings). In Detroit last week, he made a bit of progress, pitching six shutout innings but needing 104 pitches. Last night, he threw a 101-pitch complete game. How big a step that was remains to be seen because beating the Royals right now may be a bit of a false positive. His next two starts, against the Orioles and White Sox, should be interesting.
*I’m guessing that Delmon Young sits at least one more night, and maybe a few more if Craig Monroe shows fire at the plate. I don’t think a few days off is such a bad thing given that his struggles reached the point that we couldn’t tell if his problems at the plate were being taken into the field or if his fielding problems were being taken to the plate. I hope he can learn from the professionalism that Monroe has shown during his times out of the lineup.
*If Brendan Harris makes up for his limited range with good positioning, maybe he’s the best choice to be playing shortstop, after all. Moving him there out of necessity was something I found dark and disturbing when Gardy said he’d try it. But after watching Adam Everett’s sore-armed tosses, I’m appreciating Harris’ zip and accuracy — and I feel much better having him bat ninth than Nick Punto, who’ll make a fine late-inning defensive replacement and spot starter when he returns. I wonder if Harris gets jealous watching Alexi Casilla’s range and grace at second base.
*With Ian Kennedy on the disabled list, I wonder if the Yankees will let Joba Chamberlain take his spot in the rotation Monday at the Metrodome. A national TV game on ESPN. You have to think it’s more than a possibility. (Update: On Baseball This Morning, where Mark Patrick cited my Gogomez numbers and mentioned this note about Joba, Buck Martinez said he thinks Joba on Monday “is a done deal.”)
*You can still vote in our “who’ll homer first” poll. At last count, Delmon was leading with 47.4 percent, Livan was second at 34.1 percent and Mauer was third at 18.5 percent. Polls will remain open until one of them goes deep or the new ballpark opens in 2010, whichever comes first.
71 Responses to "It’s Friday and who needs Melky Cabrera?"
Great analysis of Young’s status, Howard; I totally agree. Give him another day off, run him through some fielding drills, let the coaches give him some TLC, and by Saturday he’ll be swatting the ball all over the place.
It sure was a fun team to watch Thursday after a couple of pretty iffy days. Gomez is, as you say, looking fantastic, but I’m concerned that he’s been caught stealing a lot recently — do you think that’s something to be worried about, or were we just seeing a better defensive catcher in KC? Or is it just bad luck?
*It’s almost amazing that a kid like Gomez with his assertiveness and confidence and skills isn’t an egotistically hard player to handle. It appears he has the joy and exhileration of playing baseball streaming through his body. So your instinctual choice, Howard, of referring to Kirby as you start to opine about Gogomez is undeniably appropriate. Looks like Smith found a jewel.
*Slowey can only get better as he gets stronger. Expect his velocity to rise as well. He’s a true MLB pitcher.
*Delmon continues to grow as well. No sulking stories or other distractions have been reported, right? And the guy was just hitting .280 a few days ago, I believe. With the good examples he has of Monroe and Gomez, I am optimistic about his future.
*Harris and Casilla have worked very well together. If it ain’t broke….
*Can’t wait to see Giambi pull a roided rib muscle swinging at one of Livan’s smokeless floaters.
*Time to vote for Mauer as the homer-first guy. He hit a 400-footer off the wall in center tonight.
Lastly, would appreciate your assessment of Cuddy. Is it the thumb?
wheels, definitely a better catcher.
BTW, I just checked out the Seth Speaks site. It’s an easy read, great layout, AND informative! Please don’t miss it.
wheels:
The first throw was a bullet to get Gomez.
The second? I question if the tag was actually put on him in time. It looks to me like he hit the bag and got tagged on the head as he did so.
Some VERY close calls, and it took bullets both time to get him.
wow 2 days in a row i agree with everything, well said — Keep it up 
gomez is the best center fielder in the al,
howard when do you think they should call gomez back up from rochester? oops never mind!
cuddy may need a few days off, for a veteran and one of the team leaders he has been a much bigger dissapointment than young. and i won’t mention the fat new contract.
Owen, you nailed it. No negativity just great baseball writing. Insight and opinions that don’t make me roll my eyes and wonder “do you really like this team?”
Also, I think Dick and Bert are the ultimate jinxers. Slowey shutout, Slowey shutout, Slowey shutout, double double, DeJesus scores…
So Gomez is like Puckett only in hyperspeed. Maybe he found the keys to the DeLorean.
Howard,
Are you predicting that we will see Gomez hanging out in the ladies restroom in the next couple of years too?
Just Kidding.
No one has ever doubted Casilla’s skills and potential. His problems in the past were all mental mistakes. I think he bought into the hype last year that he was the Twins future 2B super star and could not be replaced. He now knows he better work and work hard or he will be right back in Rochester. I’m not sure if Tolbert will be a starter, but I think he will be one of the best Utility guys in the majors if he does not become a starter.
Good stuff there, Howard!
Mauer nearly ended the debate on “who will homer first” with his double off the wall last night, but I still think the race won’t be over before the All-Star game…
It’s a fun time to be a Twins fan right now.
Howard’s analysis on Go-go is spot on and although I still erupt in laughter when we see guys like Seth hint this early that Go-go ultimately will be more valuable than Santana, it is nothing short of astounding what Go-go brings to the table. Three 4 hit games already? That’s unbelieveable…and yes, getting thrown out at third last night was disappointing, but hey, we’ve seen much more good than bad with this guy and I doubt the Twins could’ve expected anything more at this point…he’s really fun to watch.
Howard and I also are on the same page with D. Young…yes, it did take Gardy at least 2 days to long to pull the trigger (although some would argue mixing in a day off weeks ago might not have been a bad idea, either), but in the end, it had to be done. Funny thing for all of you posters who were kicking and screaming in Gardy’s defense for continuing to play Young on a nightly basis–the sun rose in the East again this morning. Hey, and we won, too.
My daily Jason Kubel analysis: recall on Monday I jumped into the prediction business and said it’s what Kubel does post-grand slam that ultimately will distinguish between whether or not he’s a consistent everyday guy or a platoon guy and my take was he’d probably go 3-for-20 because that’s what we seem to always get from this guy when he plays everday. Four games later, Kubel’s 3-for-15 (all singles), so an 0-for-5 tonight will make me look like a fortune teller. Still, even at .245 with occasional pop, we’ll take him…it’s just not good enough to yell and scream about “freeing” him and demand he plays everyday–when Gardy did that last year, the average dipped below .230 at times.
More troubling than Kubel is Cuddyer…I say let’s see what he does against the Yanks…if it’s status quo, then you have to seriously consider a shakeup going into the Baltimore series.
Finally, I urge Twins fans to take a step back and realize how good we have it in 2008…and I’m not talking standings or record (and I know we don’t have Johan anymore, which does leave a void)–I’m talking offense. How quickly we forget how impossible it seemed to get even 3 runs on the board during much of last season. And I’m not going to shoulder Nick Punto with all the blame by any means, but I don’t think it’s any coincidence that we’ve seen a significant offensive jolt here in 2008 while LNP has been limited to 49 at bats in two months…hopefully Gardy is mindful of this as Nicky returns to the team this weekend. Ultimatley, the new guys are an upgrade for this offense–I’m even excited about Lamb these days! (that bunt he laid down last night should’ve been a wakeup call to every player in that dugout–that’s how it’s done, boys!) So for that reason alone–even if we don’t contend this year–it’s going to be better with the new offense.
wheels,
On Gomez and steals, last night wasn’t troublesome. He got thrown out by a catcher who’s 7/13 in throwing out runners. Miguel Olivo has a great arm, and has had an odd problem over the years that’s kept him from being a full-time catcher: He’s had trouble actually catching the ball. Tough thing to have an arm like Pudge in his prime and a glove like Matty Lecroy’s.
romer,
You’re right about Seth, who just marked his 5th year of blogging. Good read, good guy.
gobble,
I believe that was the position of another Strib blogger. I just created the “Should he get sent down” poll, which appeared on the day after his benching. I believe that JoeC has sufficiently acknowledged the error of that opinion, although it was a valid debate to have at the time.
romer,
I noted Cuddyer’s woes earlier this week and I’m still trying to make sense of them.
Ben D,
I agree totally.
jama,
Ha!
Jason,
With regard to Punto I don’t think there is a place for him in the line-up right now. I think they might FINALLY have to use him as a Utility player. Casilla looks like he is finally nailing down a starting spot in the lineup with the stellar play at 2nd and his unbelievable hitting. Harris looks very comfortable at SS, he’s probably my only question mark right now. As for Lamb I think he is starting to come around. Hopefully he can keep it up and be the producer the twins envisioned when they signed him.
Re Slowey (and a couple more pitching points):
Here is the Twins’ pitchers ranking by WHIP
Slowey: 1.038
Baker: 1.091
Nathan: 1.108
Korecky: 1.161
Perkins: 1.192
Neshek: 1.200
Reyes: 1.333
Blackburn: 1.353
Bonser: 1.386
Rincon: 1.478
Guerrier: 1.483
Hernandez: 1.520
Crain: 1.737
Bass: 1.755
(Brelsow: 1.800 with CLE)
Liriano: 2.710
Slowey (and Baker), despite health issues for both have been pitching at Santana levels (Santana last year had a 1.073 WHIP and his career number is 1.100). There is not way, unless they are hurt, that either of them should be out of the rotation when healthy. Based on the above, that Breslow and Korecky swap really perplexes me.
Re Gomez:
I think that at this point he leads Cabrera in all statistical categories and actually is pretty close to Hunter’s numbers from this year plus he has superior defense and speed than Hunter. I thought that Delmon might replace Hunter’s bat this year, but i am happily surprised to say that Gomez might actually do it
thrylos…your stats don’t account for innings pitched, however…and isn’t Breslow more expierenced than Korecky?
Plus, the obvious: they wanted another lefty.
gardy plays his favorites cuddyer, punto, i think he don’t want to hurt their feelings. it hurts my feelings when they play
Korecky has 10.3 IP and Breslow 8.3 this year, which is pretty much a wash. Breslow has about 20 more IP experience than Korecky in the majors, but has always been a situation reliever and not a closer (like Korecky has been) in the minors. Let me explain what I meant:
a. I get the need for another lefty reliever but at this point Breslow might actually not cut it. This year the Indian’s bullpen is bad with a 4.54 team ERA. If Breslow was part of any solution, why would they cut him? I think that probably each of the existing pitchers on the Twins 25 man roster before this, is better than Breslow. I hope that the guy succeeds, I really do, but…
b. there have been worse pitchers than Korecky in the pen (one of whom still has options left). Why is Korecky the one who goes down? Korecky really did not screw up this year, he won a game with his arm and bat
c. this is a cheap move… if Gardy wants another lefty in the pen, BS should try to get someone through a trade (Boof, Ricon, Span, Punto, Buscher, they all have some value and not really needed at the majors at this time)
thrylos:
I don’t think it’s time to slam the door on Boof as a Twin. If he can produce in the bullpen, he replaces Rincon and they do something then.
But to suggest packaging Boof, Rincon, Span, Punto, or Buscher smacks of the classic: “Well he’s useless on this team, I hate him, but OBVIOUSLY he’d be able to get us some immediate help in a trade.”
The funny thing about a trade is it takes two teams to do it. They could try to trade Rincon, Span, Punto, or Buscher…but at the end of the day they can only try unless another teams says: “Okay let’s talk.”
HOWARD:
” Now if he can stop that silly two-strike bunting thing…”
I wonder if maybe that is helping him,
you know, positioning of fielders, pitch selection next time up, unpredictablility, that kind of stuff.
And thrylos, if this were truly a “cheap” move. Why send down Korecky when they’ve got a guy like Rincon making what…twice as much?
Wouldn’t they find a way to dump the salary of Rincon to make room for this other pitcher?
I’m about 95% confident that the trade market is why they’re not just going to dump Rincon. Tampa Bay was going to take him, and he sucked just as hard last year as he has thus far (if not worse).
Two Predictions:
LaVelle will return tonight.
Delmon won’t.
Mudcat,
Let me cite the Dan Gladden line: Major league baseball is about execution, not trickery. I’m sure teams are willing to take their chances if Gogomez wants to bunt with 2 strikes, compared to the damage he can cause by flat-out hitting the ball.
I am very happy to have more passengers on the Gomez bandwagon bus. It was very lonely in April.
I wish I had saved it or had time to go look for it, but I posted something like:
“Give Gomez some time. He wants to be a superstar. He has the natural skills to be a superstar. He will be much better by the All Star break and even better than that by the end of the year.
And, in 2010, he will be an All Star.”
Funny thing is, he might make even my enthusiastic optimism back in April, look too conservative.
How about middle ground…maybe don’t put a ban on two-strike bunting, but reduce it…if he bunts a few times even with two strikes, then third basemen are forced to play up, thus increasing his chances of getting a hit through the left side…
If you’re going to talk about any negative with Go-go it would be strikeouts…but I think the Twins and we fans have to be really impressed with what we have so far.
T,
there are contending teams out there really hurting for pitchers (Mets, Houston, Milwaukee come to mind) for whom Rincon and Boof could be a huge upgrade and there are contending teams that hurting for infielders and bench help (Philadelphia, St Louis, Anaheim) for whom Buscher, Rincon and Span will be an upgrade to what they have…
The ‘cheapness’ of the move is that the spent nothing to get close to nothing.
Also, lefty batters are hitting .194/.242/.226 this year against the Twins pitchers (that does includes Liriano); Breslow’s career numbers against lefties are .244/.346/.400. For comparison Korecky’s are .235/.350/.353.
It just does not add up for me
HOWARD:
Thanks!
thrylos,
The Breslow move is an odd one. Tried to “read between the lines” in Gardy’s quotes. Sounds like he had no information on Breslow and told Smith to sign him if he and the others thought it a good move. Smith indicates that Gardy had been asking for another lefty.
Might be a case of “be careful what you ask for, you just might get it”. Maybe Gardy needs to be more specific with Smith. Like: “I could really use a solid lefty in the bullpen who is better than at least one of the guys already in the pen.”
Joe Nathan denies “Big Leaguing” Delmon after the diving disaster Tuesday night and I believe him.
I originally believed what I read (and thought I saw) even though I was thousands of miles away at the time.
My bad!
Carlos G,
I would think that, if the Twins had buyer’s remorse over Breslow, they would just put him back on waivers in order to send him to AAA.
I think they actually want him at least through the (left-handed hitting power of) the Yankee series.
Then, when Baker returns, Breslow may revisit the waiver wire.
Sane,
You are correct. Joe handled it well. I think there was one body-language deal that got everyone in a snit and played up by the media. Joe had his head down walking one way in the dugout, DY was walking the other way and put his hand on Joe’s shoulder and probably said something to the effect of “my bad”, Joe just sort of shook his head and continued walking (and now says he said “don’t worry about it” and that he was feeling bad they didn’t hold the lead).
Joe is a class guy. Always has been. Weird that so many people would dump on him for a “perceived reaction”.
I’m kinda thinking the Breslow move was because the Yankees are doing so horrible against left handed pitching, and he probably won’t be in the majors after Baker comes back
I’m kinda thinking the Breslow move was because the Yankees are doing so horrible against left handed pitching
could be, but look at these numbers:
Yankees:
vs LHP .251/.327/.378
Twins:
vs LHP .258/.305/.358
vs LHB as LHP .194/.242/.226
so, what is a greater need:
a. a right hand bat that can really hit LHPs (let’s say that he hits them at the rate of .324/.450/.641 this year)
or
b. a mediocre LHP
and they both are available and cost the same?
RE: Korecky/Breslow
Jason, you can’t be serious about the experience thing, can you? The main indication with WHIP is how likely a pitcher is going to keep runners off the basepaths and get outs,which is word for word your job description as a reliever. You’d like to see relievers with WHIPs under 1.25. Korecky is better at doing his job than Breslow is. In fact he’s better than any other bullpen arm this year.
In fact, since Korecky’s primary ‘experience’ lately is as the Rochester closer in addition to the WHIP indication that he is in fact better at his job than anyone but Nathan, Korecky should be promoted to Neshek’s 8th inning role instead of being sent down because he gets people out and can handle pressure situations.
The Twins made their bullpen a lot weaker with this move. They have no one to handle a 5-3 lead in the 8th right now.
Did anyone else notice during last night’s broadcast when Dick Bremer went on about what a perfect fit Mauer has become for the 3-spot in the order and how everyone seems to love having him there? (Bremer noted that the Twins started the first few games with Mauer at the No. 2 spot but quickly changed directions)
I know I’m going to get sliced and diced here for being negative in the midst of a fun winning streak, but what on Earth is Dick referring to? Mauer is on pace for about 63 RBI this season (remember he had 60 RBI last year AND spent time on the DL). Mauer has zero homeruns. Plus, with Gogo hitting now hitting .293 with a .327 OBP, you can hardly make the claim that no one’s getting on base in front of Mauer, therefore, he doesn’t have the RBI opportunities anymore, can you?
Now I realize Dick was merely rehashing the company line (I don’t think Dick was saying HE thinks Mauer is a perfect fit for the 3-spot so much as it is Twins management, apparently), but how delusional must one be?
And to answer those who will undoubtedly say “if not Mauer, who?”, I present the following RBI totals:
Kubel 26
Gomez 22
Lamb 22
Monroe 18 (in 97 at-bats)
I realize we are using Mauer at 3 because there doesn’t appear to be a better option, but I would hardly call him a perfect fit for the three spot in the lineup…that goes along with Rick Anderson’s comment to KFAN’s Jeff Dubay that Monroe was given the take sign on 3-0 Wednesday night because of “Joe Mauer” (as if Mauer would be in a better position to drive in three runs at that moment in time).
why would they discard another lefty in the pen? i wonder who things up or becomes sideline managers.
we can”t worry about who will replace Baker now and we will see how Breslow does.
If their Scouts and ryan liked him must be more to it.
Nobody even knew they were looking at that possibility.
Same with who goes down with Baker.
Win twins!
Howard, are you going to quit shaving until you win the Pullet Surprise in Sport’s Journalism? ? ?
jason,
Thanks for the kind words yesterday. (calling me a legend, etc.)
Sorry about forgetting your name.
It happens to me lately.
However, it won’t happen again because I now have it on my Rolodex with my other close personal friends like Bobby Knight, Lou Holtz and George Steinbrenner.
Signing Breslow also means the Indians could slip him across the wire and down to AAA. If he doesn’t work out let him go
TMW,
“The main indication with WHIP is how likely a pitcher is going to keep runners off the basepaths and get outs,which is word for word your job description as a reliever.”
IMO the key skill required for a relief pitcher is to allow no runs to score.
If your WHIP is low, but you are giving up HR’s instead of singles and walks, you are an ineffective RP.
If your WHIP is 1.00, but that guy scores each time because he hit a HR, or because he stole two bases off your slow delivery out of the stretch, or because of your numerous wild pitches, your WHIP will not save your JOB.
I heard a rumor that Mulvey is the next canidate other than Liriano to be called up to the Twins as far as pitchers are concerned obviously. Anybody hear anything on this? I know Span might be their best player overall right now. I think the Twins are hoping that when they open the new ballpark their outfield will be Delmon,Gomez and Ben Revere with Parmelee DH’ing. Parmelee can bop the ball, just needs to get that average up, which is why DH would be perfect for him. Last time I checked Revere was hitting over .400 at Beloit. Plus we may finally have a 3b of the future, Danny Valencia. Moses is done.
I’m amazed that Korecky was sent packing… he looks to have become their number 3 set up man behind Guerrier and Crain.
I’d rather risk losing Bass on waivers than lose Korecky even for just the short term.
Hopefully their working on getting Rincon out the door, along with the salary.
Breslow? I sure hope he pans out… I thought they were high on Mariano Gomez and he’s been pitching decent for Rochester. If I were R. Barrett or C. Cali I’d go ask for my release right now.
Mulvey has generally struggled (excepting his last outing), but the pickings is slim for the near term outside of Liriano.
Danny Graves and Lahey are probably right behind Korecky for a 25-man spot… can I start waving to Rincon yet?
Revere and Parmelee are terribly unlikely for opening day 2010.
Spot on Jason. I think Dick said something like (paraphrasing) “most people have come to love having Mauer batting 3rd.” Who are these people? I think even most of the folks who support having Mauer bat 3rd are not in love with the idea but instead believe there is no other option at the moment. To which I disagree but that debate has been hashed and rehashed.
I also like how Dick gets overly-excited about deep fly balls, or hard-hit balls. Yah, he hit that right at the SS, but he hit it hard, he couldn’t hit it any harder! Um Dick, so what? And there was this moment from Mauer’s double last night: “That ball is hit deeeeep, WAY DEEEEEP, IT’S!!!!! … off the wall.” I think he almost choked stuffing the “HOME RUN!” back into his mouth.
It is old time baseball thinking: lefty’s get out leftys, ergo, we need 1 more lefty. never mind actual results and stats, but old adages are always right!
Plus, with Gogo hitting now hitting .293 with a .327 OBP, you can hardly make the claim that no one’s getting on base in front of Mauer, therefore, he doesn’t have the RBI opportunities anymore, can you?
But you could claim that ‘Lexi Casilla, with 12 ribeyes in 13 games, has been poaching many of Mauersy’s chances to smell ‘em.
Not to mention the ones C-Mo claimed from Joe the other night.
Mauer’s RBI total can be filed under Not A Big Deal — for now, anyway.
With Gomez, Casilla and Morneau doing as well as they are, Mauer is “stuck” in the 3-hole.
Last night, (Slowey) threw a 101-pitch complete game. How big a step that was remains to be seen because beating the Royals right now may be a bit of a false positive.
Possibly, but the ‘Royals right now’ want to win very badly, for professional pride if nothing else.
That Slowey totally owned them for most of nine innings despite that is darn impressive, especially when put next to his performance against the Tigers.
I saw him pitch against the Rockies at Coors a couple weeks ago and there was little sign that those performances would be forthcoming in his next two starts. Maybe he had some kind of ‘light-bulb’ moment since then. I hope so.
Mauer is 2nd only to Morneau in OPS, 1st in doubles, 1st in runs. Sure, he’s better suited to bat 2nd on my strat-o-matic team, but he’s right where he needs to be on the Minnesota Twins with their current personnel.
Kubel/Monroe/Young don’t get on base enough to justify batting 3rd and Puckett retired a long time ago.
oops… did I rehash what need not be rehashed?
“Not to mention the ones C-Mo claimed from Joe the other night.”
Wow, am I hearing you right, Fran? C-Mo “stole” Mauer’s RBIs with his 3-run jack…C-Mo has 3 fewer RBI than Mauer in half as many at-bats (and C-Mo bats 7th usually)…I don’t think C-Mo stole anything, I think they were his for the taking all along!
meister…I thought the 3-hole was about getting them in, not getting on base? 1 and 2 are your OBP spots, right?
Oh well….old, tiresome debate…that will rage on until fixed (ala D. Young benching)
The best thing Gardy can do right know is leave things alone.Gomez and Casilla at the top of the order does not and should not be altered for now.The only complaint I have with those two at the top is the Twins seeming reluctance to steal Casilla when Mauer is hitting.I don’t know if Mauer doesn’t like Casilla moving while he is at the plate or not but he better get used to it. There have been several oportunities for Casilla to run,he has only attempted one steal I think.
I’m glad to see Young handling the Royal mess he made of his last two games so well..Here is hoping he’s back in the line up soon and hitting and fielding like he can.
I have been an open critic of Slowey and I will give him his due after last nights effort.But as Howard said,it was the Royals.Not exactly a seasoned group of professional hitters.That he breezed through a team that is in the midst of termoil with a little over 100 pitches needs to be taken for what it is.I hope for his sake and the Twins sake that he can build on this.
Seth -if your out there I’d still like a piece of that 150+ career wins prediction you were talking about the other day!!
Jason,
If #’s 1, 2 and 3 get on base with no outs for #’s 4, 5 and 6, we are hurt in what way?
I don’t think C-Mo stole anything, I think they were his for the taking all along!
Probably so. My point is there are only so many RBIs to go around. If Casilla or Monroe or someone else are knocking guys in, they are not there for Mauer to knock in.
Personally, I don’t care how the RBI are divided, as long as there are RBI. And, so far, at least against Central division opponents, there have been enough to go around. Hoping for more of the same.
The 3-hole is perfectly juxtaposed to score runs and knock them in. Puckett finished his career with balanced RBI/RUN numbers despite being far better at knocking the baseball around then getting on base.
The argument can’t be where is Mauer ideally suited (because we don’t live in a vacuum). It must be where he is best suited on this team. With Casilla and Gomez excelling, the argument simply needs to go away. Early in the year (and perhaps again in the near future) when the 1 and 2 players combined for less than .280 OBP then the argument is a quality argument. For the time being, it is not valid and needs to die.
meister,
Amen!!!!
I’m bullish about the Twins in this weekend’s series because we finally have a young man with the moxie to stare down the “Bombers” and not be intimidated by them, the way the Twins have looked when facing the Yanks the past few years. I don’t know why they don’t seem to look that way against the Red Sox but it’s a different story with the Yanks. Anyone who thinks it’s great sport to mess with Verlander’s brain is going to relish going “mano-a-mano” with the pinstripes.
I find it particularly intriguing that he gets real “serious” in the later innings, working the count, and getting on base or hitting solid hits when there are game winning implications on the line. Is it just his sense of fun that makes him do those other goofy things in his first at bat? Or is it more messing around with the pitcher’s psyche?? Anyway, you’re lots of fun to watch Go-GO!!
mike wants wins says:
“It is old time baseball thinking: lefty’s get out leftys, ergo, we need 1 more lefty. never mind actual results and stats, but old adages are always right!”
In 2008, all LH hitters in MLB are hitting:
against RH pitching .267/.345/.417
against LH pitching .237/.310/.363
In 2007, the numbers:
against RH pitching .272/.348/.435
against LH pitching .251/.323/.385
You can find similar numbers for virtually every year since baseball was invented.
And these numbers don’t even represent a fair sample, because major league managers tend to leave only the better LH hitters in to regularly face LH pitching, otherwise the platoon splits would be even larger.
Sounds to me like not only are old adages right in this case, but supported by ‘results and stats.’
Too Baker won’t be available for the Yankees series. He’s been our Yankee slayer in the last couple of seasons.
It if IS Joba vs. Livan on Monday, it will be interesting — 100 mph gas vs. 65 mph eephus.
The one improvement that is real impressive is this team’s ability with 2 outs and RISP. We have four guys in the top ten in b.a. in those situations. And, Royals or no Royals, I will remember that scoring 5 runs with two outs in the top of the 9th for a long, long time.
Beisbol- Funny, with your first paragraph,until the end I thought you were talking about tonights starting pitcher,Perkins.I hope the rest of the staff watches what Perkins has done and starts attacking hitters.Blackburn in his in-game interview with Dick and Bert,gave plenty of credit to watching the way Perkins challenged hitters inside.It showed in his effort against the Royals.Same thing with Slowey last night.
Totally agree with you Doug, my bad that I left out Perkins. He had that same look when facing the Tiggers. It’s funny how swagger works. If it was just on the face of it (literally and figuratively) a guy like Bonderman looks like he would make the stare down list…until things start to unravel and then he’s one of the most fragile pitchers in MLB.
But yeah, Gomez and Perkins look like the real deal in taking no prisoners. It’s the very thing that’s given Boof an almost sure one-way ticket to the pen unless he pulls off a miracle tomorrow. He has been so afraid of going inside for whatever reason.
well i agree with most of you in the sense that it’s hard to argue with results and right now the lineup is clicking…
where we disagree is in our thinking about what is the best season-long answer…and i think the ‘it has to be Mauer argument’ fails not only for my substantive reasons but for the obvious reason that they haven’t tried anything else…
so i’ll go with it’s not broke now so don’t fix it and we don’t have a typical lineup with typical hitters in typical spots, however, that’s only going to hold up for so long with me and that doesn’t seem to be the organization’s approach–they seem to think that we’ve been blessed from Heaven to have Mauer as a No. 3 guy as highlighted by Dick Bremer’s comments last night, which was the whole point in bringing it up in the first place.
Have fun cheering them on tonight!
A plug also for Darren “Doogie” Wolfson’s Query on Hartman’s KFAN.com page…I agree with his take completely re: Dick and Bert…he backed Rosen and Hartman into a corner on that one (to the point where you could tell it was difficult for Rosey and Chad to tell you what they really thought)
Howard is correct, pointing out Harris’ nice throws. A SS must throw from the hole and Harris can do that. Harris replacing Everett at SS has been an improvement. Likewise, Casilla replacing Harris at 2B.
Jason, I agree with you in the moment but I’m scratching my head as to who else would be better in the 3 hole? Mauer looks like he’s in a mini-slump and I would suggest it’s due to the abuse he gets as a catcher. He soldiers on as all catchers do but all those nicks and bruises from foul tips have got to affect him overall. He has played a lot so far mainly I’m guessing because when he does have a true day off he is at least not also DHing. The guy is still the leader or in the top 3 or so in b.a. (changes of course every day). Hard to put anyone else in there when he has that kind of b.a. Casilla taking away some of his RBI’s is a nice “problem” to have!
The one thing about Joe that does drive me crazy is it’s almost like a “must” for him to work the count to 3-2 most of the time by staring at one of the first two pitches one of which will be a perfect strike down the middle. I can only remember a handful of times when he jumped all over the first good fastball. There isn’t a better eye at the plate than Mauer but why does he make so much more work for himself by always running up the count? Casilla has actually been doing a decent job of taking pitches so the rest of the lineup can see what the pitcher is doing that night.
Beisbol,
“why does he make so much more work for himself by always running up the count?”
Running up the count is good.
Especially if the starting pitcher is better than the bullpen, which is the norm.
Its even better if ALL the hitters are running up the count.
Running up the count is a great thing… getting to ANY middle relief is a good thing.
Another good thing is taking that hittable 1st pitch and cranking it.
melshmeister,
“Running up the count is a great thing… getting to ANY middle relief is a good thing.
Another good thing is taking that hittable 1st pitch and cranking it.”
Agree with everything.
But if you are a batting champ once (going on twice?) and you can run up the count AND still get your hit, maybe swinging at the first pitch is counter-productive for the team.
Gomez is following up the KC series with a dud of a series against the Yankees.
Looks like Punto will get the majority of starts at SS and Harris will rotate back and forth between SS, 3B, and the bench. I was just starting to get comfortable watching him play everyday and then Punto had to come back and ruin everything.
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