Cup of Coffee

September 3, 2019: Draftin’

51 Comments

I believe I saw there was some difficulty with a Tuesday night draft for the B league, so I moved it to Wednesday night. Hey, Spoonto, I dunno what's going on with the main league.

51 thoughts on “September 3, 2019: Draftin’”

    1. They’ve been the second-best group in baseball by WAR this year, the best by FIP-, and have walked batters less frequently than any other relief corps. If win probability added is more your speed, they’re eighth in the league. A year after being below average across the board, their sterling last 30 days (3.24 ERA, 3.30 FIP, 1.6 WAR) has helped the Twins remain atop the AL Central after a brief swoon.

      I honestly think that a lot of our angst with the bullpen has been shared by nearly every team in the league. There have been a higher percentage of blown saves this year than almost any other year. Bullpens are getting pounded. Ours has actually been quite good, it's just that some of the blown saves have been of the hair-pulling variety.

      1. It's much better now with the trades. And a big reason for the success was Taylor. There were some bad relievers on this team a few months ago.

        1. I agree. I find myself a lot less frustrated when Dyson or Romo have an off game than when it was Morin or whatever.

          1. On Sunday Night Baseball I watched the Phillies bring in Morin to protect a one-run lead in the top of the 8th. He gave up two baserunners and was replaced after a sac bunt, then Hector Neris wild pitched in the tying run. Then the Mets bullpen gave up three runs in the bottom of the 8th. 2019 Bullpens: Always an adventure!

        2. Plus May and Duffey were unhittable in August. May had a .375 opponent OPS (yes, OPS) while Duffey had a .456. Add in the deadline deals and that's four additional good/great relievers for the month.

      2. it's just that some of the blown saves have been of the hair-pulling variety.

        Something something salami salami something something.

  4. My SiL (The Permanent Roommate's sister) is getting induced today, so a new nephew should be here eventually and the wait is killing me.

    The Little One is very excited for a new cousin too. She's been telling anyone that'll listen - mostly me and her mother about 20x a day - for the past month that she "have four cousins. [OLDEST], [TWIN 1], [TWIN 2], anda new baby!"

  5. I'll be busy later, so I'll observe that I was given A-Stud today. I don't know that he'll be in the lineup, but no matter. He'll hit a home run or two anyway.

  6. Houston: 90-49
    NY: 90-49

    Assuming the Twins make the non-WC rounds of the playoffs, who would you rather they face? Who are we rooting for the rest of the way?

      1. Me too. We can outslug the Yankees; Houston 's pitching staff scares me. Also, I just really want to beat the Yankees

        1. FanGraphs projects the Astros at a .637 win percentage for the rest of the year (over 23 games) versus .582 for the Yankees (also 23 games). PythagenPat or BaseRuns both prefer the Twins over the Yankees too.

      1. Front runner!

        Oh, you mean for the Twins! Me too. But that would take a JeffA-ian run to finish the season.

    3. I'd rather play Houston just for variety. I'm tired of playing the Yankees every single time we make the playoffs.

    4. Ultimately, I think we'll have to go through both to get to the World Series. As far as who I'd rather face first - Houston. I don't care what the matchup looks like on paper, the Yankees ALWAYS end up beating us somehow. We've beaten Houston this year, and I think even with their rotation we have a chance. However, if we face the Yankees, something will happen to cause us to lose a large late lead, and it will probably be someone like Aaron Hicks or Didi. But to get to the WS, we'll have to dig deep and beat them anyway. If the Blues could beat the Sharks this year, then I believe the Twins can exorcize the Yankees.

        2. I am still dreaming of Big Mike tossing a gem to know the Yankees out of the playoffs. Add in Jake Cave hitting a pinch hit 3 run bomb to finish them off.

    5. Regardless, unless the Twins get the best record and face the WC winner, the Twins will most likely be a big underdog in their playoff series. They could win 100+ games and be an underdog. The way the Twins have played on the road, it might be better for them to finish 3rd in seeding instead of 2nd. Best would be getting 1st so the Yankees and Astros would have to play each other first and hopefully wear out their bullpens.

  8. I find it ironic that the Phillies pick up Bryce Harper, and now it looks like the Nats may make the playoffs and the Phillies don't. Additionally, I find it ironic that the Twins jettison Brian Dozier last year, their most prolific (pretty much) HR hitter, and this year the team goes nuts*

    *juiced ball division

    2. btw, what are people thinking about Baldelli's first year at the helm? I consider him above average, but I think Wes Johnson deserves just as much of the accolades, as well as the front office, for this season. Beyond some headscratchers, this seems to be what a franchise looks like when they're all on the same page.

      1. I think it would be a heck of a coincidence if all these players were having dang near career years (with no clubhouse drama at all) without Baldelli having a fair amount to do with it. Takes a special manager to platoon like he has and give people days off when it makes sense without some feelings being hurt.

        The biggest change I see (or perceive) over prior managers is his long term look at line ups. I read that he will have line ups projected for the entire coming week. As a result, he schedules out days off based upon splits and other data. No longer are we automatically sitting our starting catcher on the last game of a series just because we always did it that way. I assume he does the same thing with the bullpen to some extent.

        Overall, I agree that managers can be overrated, but if Gardy was a C+ and Molitor was a B-, I would give Baldelli an A- for now. I also agree that Wes Johnson also deserves some strong accolades as well.

  10. This is one of those things that nobody cares about, and it won't matter in a day (or a couple of hours), but the White Sox are eliminated from winning the division even though neither the Twins or Indians have clinched a better record than Chicago.

        1. i think the ump was scrambling to get in position on the fair side of the line after he realized it was coming back. the catcher was ambling into foul territory and clipped the ump going to other direction.

          1. heh, super slo-mo shows he tripped over the back of the catcher's cleat while trying to push him out of the way because the catcher was just standing there gawking down the line.

  15. Meanwhile, in Oakland, we just had a replay review to count the effing balls and strikes.

    Ohtani lost track of the count and tried to take first on 3-2 after several foul balls. Ump is like "WTF?" But Angels insisted on review. A's tv guys were annoyed. "Ask us! It's 3-2!"
    Sheesh.

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