49 thoughts on “June 21, 2019: On Draft”

  1. I'm bummed that they keep shipping out European players that I enjoy watching play, although I was much more upset at the last two. Other than that, and the fact that Wiggins hasn't been traded yet, I have no idea about any college player because college basketball is bad, so I have no opinion.

    p.s. please trade Wiggins.

      1. Yeah, that article completely ignored this past summer's targeted harassment he engaged in.

      2. Kipnis's anecdote seems to really sum up the problem with him. He's very militant about what he sees as his truth and he just will not let stuff go. That stuff this past offseason with Twitter was so weird (and offputting), because there was absolutely no point to taking it to the length to which he took it.

          1. Going through his feed, he was definitely on one yesterday.

    2. He has an excellent point about the "true outcomes" in other sports. Very good article, thanks for the link, Free.

    3. No, this article is not going to make me dislike Trevor Bauer any less. But that video on his Twitter feed of him playing with a baby chimp just might.

  4. So, besides the search for other bullpen arms, who will be free agents after this season, and who should be getting extensions? #SpendingOthersMoney

    1. Here’s MLBTR’s 2019–20 free agent tracker.

      I assume the Twins might be interested in keeping a third catcher, whether that’s Castro or someone else. Other than Anthony Rendon, the list of third basemen is pretty uninspiring, which may give them pause if they’re actually contemplating including Sanó in a trade. Then again, they have Marwin for another year and Adrianza/Arraez/Astudillo available to take the utility roles. I like the length Marwin adds to the roster when he’s the super-sub, but they seem deep enough that he could simply be the starting third baseman if they wanted. Gerrit Cole is probably the best available starter, and one of the few who are under thirty. The others are Shelby Miller, Drew Smyly, Michael Wacha, and Alex Wood. A couple other under-thirty guys have club options.

  5. We've got a purchasing guy who is just an asshole and he's always trying to blame engineering for stuff. He thought he had me this morning, but he was very wrong and I've been telling him how wrong he is over and over again. It has been very satisfying.

  6. With the Twins going 1-4 in the past 5 games, I was thinking through the real problems. It seems like, in this short sample at least, it really has been the offense, not the pitching, that's been the problem. In that stretch they scored 6, 0, 4, 4, and 1 run. League average this year is 4.7. Scoring less than that 4 out of 5 games should predict their actual 1-4 record. Meanwhile, they held opponents to 8, 2, 3, 9, 4. If they put up league average offense they'd have been 3-2 in that stretch.

    Yeah, it'd be nice to have another bullpen guy. But is there something that should be tweaked offensively? Do they need another bench bat? Are the injuries that fatal to this lineup? Is it just a slump? I dunno. But it seems worth thinking through... is there something fixable for the offense?

    1. I honestly think that most of it is just that their aggression has tipped into over-aggression. A slump right now is probably not the worst thing in the world.

      Besides, we've kind of been waiting for all the low-OBP stuff to sync up result in some team-wide slumps. I have a feeling that's what this is.

      In golf, sometimes your swing sort of falls apart for a bit. The best thing to do is just trust what you do and let it recalibrate itself naturally, rather than tinkering with something that you know was working not that long ago.

      1. to be clear, Twins are 3rd in OBP. I assume you mean low walks. Their aggressiveness has led to a high batting average. And they're getting hit by a ton of pitches which helps the OBP. And they're not striking out a ton either.

        But yeah, high contact, low walk teams I imagine are more prone to variation due to BABIP, weather, etc.

        2. Time Period BABIP AVG OBP SLG ISO
          2019 .297 .271 .338 .503 .165
          Last 14 days .295 .262 .332 .457 .125
          Last 7 days .284 .240 .309 .395 .086

          Their BABIP is down some but not that much. Batting stats across the board are down. The power has disappeared.

          1. I think they're overswinging, getting impatient and not waiting for their pitch (also, I'm sure that other teams are finding the holes in their patient/aggressive approach...it was always going to happen at some point). If they just get back to taking the kind of at bats they were taking a month ago, the issue will clear up, I think.

            1. I forgot to add walk rate, but it's actually up 0.2% over the past seven days compared to full season: 8.1% for the full season and 8.3% past seven days. It's down to 7.8% over past 14 days but that's not much change overall. They stopped smashing balls off or over the wall and are getting singles instead. Strikeouts are up a bit (1.5% or so) too but nothing major.

            2. I agree with you, nibs. They’ve seemed to be a little high on their own supply. It’s fine to be confident that the team is going to score, even if you’re not going to succeed in your individual plate appearance. It’s another thing to get impatient and make bad decisions — like burning strikes and outs with sac bunting, or running the bases too aggressively, or what have you. When they’ve had scoring opportunities, they’ve done a poor job of converting them. Some of that might be attributable to the bats going cold for a bit, but they’ve made poor choices, too.

              1. I think Nibs is certainly on to something, particularly the opponents taking advantage thing. When was the last time Rosario saw a first pitch anywhere near the zone? But he still turns almost all of them into strikes.

      1. Not much difference.

        Day Earned Total
        June 16 4 8
        June 17 2 2
        June 18 3 3
        June 19 9 9
        June 20 4 4

    3. How about it is 5 games with 3 of them vs. defending World Series champs who were red hot coming into the series. You can have the absolute perfect offensive team, lineup and approach and still have random variations where you won't score as much. They still lead the AL in runs scored per game and it would be silly to try to change their approach in any way.

  7. Earned runs: 4, 2, 3, 9, 4. Only the first game in the stretch had unearned runs. Would have made the difference though.

    1. Brilliant. I wish the Twins would let their organist play more, but I’d settle for a permanent ban on the godawful “Cha-Cha Slide,” which I’ve come think of as “rally herpes.”

      1. Somehow Reddick is a finalist as a centerfielder with his 10 innings in CF this year. Joey Gallo was also listed but he's at least spent the majority of his time in center.

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