It was for both me and the Twins. I was busy moving out of my summer room and bringing everything across campus to my new room for the fall. But the Twins had even more on their plate, as they made a series of moves that involved acquiring two new players, completing a trade, sending down two players, calling up one, and DLing another.
I'll start with the bad news, and that's that the Twins lost Yohan Pino to the Indians. Pino turned out to be the player-to-be-named in the deal for Carl Pavano. This certainly makes the deal less appealing than it was a month ago, when I figured they wouldn't be relinquishing someone who's pitching pretty well in AAA right now. In fact, I may have been clamoring for Pino to move into the fifth spot in the rotation if he were still here.
Pino had been a solid prospect until this year, but he really started to impress me in both AA and AAA this year. He struck out over a batter per inning in AA and had four strikeouts for ever walk, culminating in an 3.19 ERA and 2.99 FIP. In AAA, his strikeouts dropped to 7.76 K/9, but he lowered his walks to keep his K:BB rate at an even 4.0. His ERA and FIP were still still strong too, at 2.82 and 3.45 respectively.
There were some red flags, though, as he got a very low percentage of groundballs, and yet had a home run rate well below league average. This was particularly the case in Rochester. There, he induced only 31.6% groundballs, and also had a home run per fly ball rate of just 6.6%. Overall, though, I'm sorry to see him go.
The second move was one we all could see coming for a while: Joe Crede was placed on the Disabled List. Somehow he had avoided the DL to this point in 2009, despite facing a myriad of injuries that included everything except a bruised testicle (a la Adrian Beltre). He finally succumbed from a back injury related to post-operative changes there, whatever that means.
In his stead, the Twins have called on Jose Morales for the third time this season. I suspect they simply wanted him available for the play-off roster, and figured they could make do with being short on infield subs until September 1st when rosters expand. Morales, of course, deserves the opportunity to play in the bigs and hopefully he'll showcase the skills necessary to make him Joe Mauer's backup next season.
And finally there were the two new acquisitions: Ron Mahay and Jon Rauch. The Twins picked up Mahay for some spare change and that's just about all he's worth. Someone at Fangraphs accurately described him as "left-handed and breathing". He was decent at best the last two years, and this year he's been pretty awful. His ERA has always been fairly pretty, and it still looks okay in 2009, but his FIP is 5.80 and he's continued to walk batters at a rate of over 4 per inning. The big jump this year has been in his hit rate, as he's given up 55 in just 41.1 inning versus less than one per inning for his career. While I don't expect him to be an improvement at all, he probably can't be much worse than the likes of Phil Humber and Bobby Keppel.
Speaking of Humber, he was sent down to AAA along with Armando Gabino to make room on the roster for Rauch and Mahay. Rauch is more promising than Mahay, as he has been better this year and had a few very nice years with the Nationals. He hasn't pitched in the American League before, though, so it remains to be seen if he will be as effective in the more hitter-friendly environment.
As I predicted earlier in the week, Gabino will not make another start or even another appearance (although it's possible he gets another shot in September). As such, the Twins have chosen Jeff Manship to take the final spot in the rotation. He shouldn't get too attached, though, as Minnesota's shown a willingness to pull the plug quickly on the young guys who don't come through.
Oh, and with all that going on, the Twins managed to win their game Friday night by the score of 3-2, behind a wonderful 7-inning gem from Brian Duensing. Yes, Brian Duensing.
Showing posts with label jose morales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jose morales. Show all posts
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Notes from the last few days
Well, I've been absent from blogging for a few days in a row for no reason other than laziness. To get back in the swing of things, I wanted to just jot down some thoughts from the last few days.
==>Since I've started actually watching the games, I've noticed something that has nothing to do with the game play itself: how opposing announcers talk about Joe Mauer. When I'm watching road games (and thus listening to the opposing team's announcers), the announcers consistently gush about Mauer, as they should. But beyond that, they seem to always speak with trepidation any time Mauer is coming up. If he's coming up fourth in an inning, they'll start talking about how important it is to go 1-2-3 as soon as the inning starts; if he's due up third, they'll talk about how vital it is to get the first two guys out; if he's leading off, they'll talk about how important it is that he's batting with no one on base. To know that he's putting the opposing so much on edge every time he comes up is pretty cool.
==>I enjoy watching interleague play for two reasons. The first one is obvious: I get to watch teams I don't see. The second, however, may be a reason other people dislike it: I love watching pitchers hit. Now, normally, they look pretty bad, and no Twins pitcher has a hit yet, but that doesn't take away from the excitement. If someone hits a double, it certainly is cause for happiness, but an extra base hit for a pitcher would result in total exuberance. And what if they hit a home run? Of course, those are very unlikely--but that's what makes it so exciting when it does happen.
On a related note, the more I think about, the sillier I think it is that pitchers hit year round in the NL. It's cool to watch a few times a year, but to have guys you're paying millions of dollars (to pitch) to be chancing getting hit by a pitch or pulling a groin or jamming something in a slide just seems to be tempting fate.
==>Two roster moves were made since I last posted: Jesse Crain was sent to AAA following his most recent implosion in order to make room for returning starter Glen Perkins. Jason Pridie was called up from AAA for his second cup of coffee to replace Denard Span, who was placed on the Disabled List. Pridie likely won't be up very long, but hopefully he'll be able to notch his first career hit (he was 0-4 in his brief stint last year).
==>Speaking of Perkins, he had a solid return outing on Tuesday night against the Pirates. He threw six innings of two-run ball and thus picked up a quality start. In addition, he struck out four against just one walk.
==>Why is Jose Morales with the Twins if he is not going to play at all? I can understand it if they want to get him some playing time over Mike Redmond, but obviously don't want to get rid of Redmond; that's not the case though. He seems to literally be nothing more than insurance for days when Joe Mauer is DHing. I know it would have been helpful once (when Redmond was ejected) and almost helpful another time (when Redmond got hit on the hand and looked like he might have to leave), but it is really a very rare situation, and it's not worth taking up a roster spot for that possibility.
==>After Mauer's 4-4 showing to start the series with the Pirates, he had a double in four at bats Wednesday before sitting out today's game. His average is now at .425 (58-160). What that means is that he could go 0 for his next sixty-seven and still be hitting over .300. It also means he could go 0-30 and 0-34 and still be leading the Majors and the AL, respectively, in batting average (assuming of course that the leaders stay where they are). And I recently learned that he also technically leads the batting title race despite the fact that he doesn't qualify yet.
==>The Twins took 2 of 3 from the Pirates, but they are going to have to take more advantage of their opportunities against teams not as bad as Pittsburgh if they expect to keep winning. Consider this: in game 1, they hit into 5 double plays (and had a runner thrown out at home) and still scored 8 runs. In game 2, they had 1 hit in 10 at bats with runners in scoring position, but followed that up by hitting even worse with RISP in game 3 (1-11). And Michael Cuddyer got thrown out again at home plate on an infield grounder.
==>And last, but most definitely not least, I wanted to bring up Nick Blackburn's sparkling outing earlier today. He came within one out of a complete game shutout, but still managed to go the distance, give up one run, and allow only six hits. He's now pitched six straight quality starts, and has gone at least seven innings in all but one of them. In that span he's lowered his ERA from 3.83 to 3.09, despite only having more strikeouts than walks in two of the six outings. Total, he walked 11 with just 16 strikeouts, but, as he's done all year, was very successful. I don't know if he can keep it up with this smoke and mirrors approach, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts.
==>Since I've started actually watching the games, I've noticed something that has nothing to do with the game play itself: how opposing announcers talk about Joe Mauer. When I'm watching road games (and thus listening to the opposing team's announcers), the announcers consistently gush about Mauer, as they should. But beyond that, they seem to always speak with trepidation any time Mauer is coming up. If he's coming up fourth in an inning, they'll start talking about how important it is to go 1-2-3 as soon as the inning starts; if he's due up third, they'll talk about how vital it is to get the first two guys out; if he's leading off, they'll talk about how important it is that he's batting with no one on base. To know that he's putting the opposing so much on edge every time he comes up is pretty cool.
==>I enjoy watching interleague play for two reasons. The first one is obvious: I get to watch teams I don't see. The second, however, may be a reason other people dislike it: I love watching pitchers hit. Now, normally, they look pretty bad, and no Twins pitcher has a hit yet, but that doesn't take away from the excitement. If someone hits a double, it certainly is cause for happiness, but an extra base hit for a pitcher would result in total exuberance. And what if they hit a home run? Of course, those are very unlikely--but that's what makes it so exciting when it does happen.
On a related note, the more I think about, the sillier I think it is that pitchers hit year round in the NL. It's cool to watch a few times a year, but to have guys you're paying millions of dollars (to pitch) to be chancing getting hit by a pitch or pulling a groin or jamming something in a slide just seems to be tempting fate.
==>Two roster moves were made since I last posted: Jesse Crain was sent to AAA following his most recent implosion in order to make room for returning starter Glen Perkins. Jason Pridie was called up from AAA for his second cup of coffee to replace Denard Span, who was placed on the Disabled List. Pridie likely won't be up very long, but hopefully he'll be able to notch his first career hit (he was 0-4 in his brief stint last year).
==>Speaking of Perkins, he had a solid return outing on Tuesday night against the Pirates. He threw six innings of two-run ball and thus picked up a quality start. In addition, he struck out four against just one walk.
==>Why is Jose Morales with the Twins if he is not going to play at all? I can understand it if they want to get him some playing time over Mike Redmond, but obviously don't want to get rid of Redmond; that's not the case though. He seems to literally be nothing more than insurance for days when Joe Mauer is DHing. I know it would have been helpful once (when Redmond was ejected) and almost helpful another time (when Redmond got hit on the hand and looked like he might have to leave), but it is really a very rare situation, and it's not worth taking up a roster spot for that possibility.
==>After Mauer's 4-4 showing to start the series with the Pirates, he had a double in four at bats Wednesday before sitting out today's game. His average is now at .425 (58-160). What that means is that he could go 0 for his next sixty-seven and still be hitting over .300. It also means he could go 0-30 and 0-34 and still be leading the Majors and the AL, respectively, in batting average (assuming of course that the leaders stay where they are). And I recently learned that he also technically leads the batting title race despite the fact that he doesn't qualify yet.
==>The Twins took 2 of 3 from the Pirates, but they are going to have to take more advantage of their opportunities against teams not as bad as Pittsburgh if they expect to keep winning. Consider this: in game 1, they hit into 5 double plays (and had a runner thrown out at home) and still scored 8 runs. In game 2, they had 1 hit in 10 at bats with runners in scoring position, but followed that up by hitting even worse with RISP in game 3 (1-11). And Michael Cuddyer got thrown out again at home plate on an infield grounder.
==>And last, but most definitely not least, I wanted to bring up Nick Blackburn's sparkling outing earlier today. He came within one out of a complete game shutout, but still managed to go the distance, give up one run, and allow only six hits. He's now pitched six straight quality starts, and has gone at least seven innings in all but one of them. In that span he's lowered his ERA from 3.83 to 3.09, despite only having more strikeouts than walks in two of the six outings. Total, he walked 11 with just 16 strikeouts, but, as he's done all year, was very successful. I don't know if he can keep it up with this smoke and mirrors approach, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Jose Morales Returns
Delmon Young has been placed on the bereavement list because of a serious illness in his family. He'll be in California for at least a few days, so Jose Morales has been called up to take his place on the roster. I think it's safe to assume that Morales will be with the team for the whole New York series, although Young technically only has to miss three days for being on the bereavement list.
During his time in Rochester, Morales played 9 games and hit .267/.421/.333 over 38 plate appearances. If you glanced at that quickly, you may have missed that he had an IsoD of .154 in his brief time in AAA--that's because he had an excellent 8:4 walk-to-strikeout ratio. In only 4 games at catcher (he DHed in the other five), Morales allowed yet another passed ball and three stolen bases, though he did catch one runner.
He probably won't be here for long, unless the Twins decide in a few days they'd rather have him than Brian Buscher or Carlos Gomez. I don't find that likely, especially Gomez, so he shouldn't get too used to the major league clubhouse.
During his time in Rochester, Morales played 9 games and hit .267/.421/.333 over 38 plate appearances. If you glanced at that quickly, you may have missed that he had an IsoD of .154 in his brief time in AAA--that's because he had an excellent 8:4 walk-to-strikeout ratio. In only 4 games at catcher (he DHed in the other five), Morales allowed yet another passed ball and three stolen bases, though he did catch one runner.
He probably won't be here for long, unless the Twins decide in a few days they'd rather have him than Brian Buscher or Carlos Gomez. I don't find that likely, especially Gomez, so he shouldn't get too used to the major league clubhouse.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Twins Take Series
The Twins beat the Rays 8-3 tonight behind a strong pitching performance by Nick Blackburn and 3 hits a piece from the top three spots in the order. The bullpen continued to struggle, though, as Luis Ayala gave up a run in the ninth and Craig Breslow once again had trouble finding the plate in his inning of work. However, the game overall was a positive as the Twins took the rubber match in the three game set with the Rays, especially as they did it against a tough lefty starter in Scott Kazmir. Also, they've now managed a .500 record through the Mauer-less part of the schedule.
And that brings us to a new topic: Joe Mauer's return to the lineup. Mauer will be back with the Twins on Friday for their weekend series with the Royals, and the Twins now have a roster decision to make regarding their catchers. Despite Gardenhire's comments earlier this week about potentially keeping three catchers, there is no way that I see the Twins actually doing that. Some people have suggested that the Twins may cut Mike Redmond in order to keep the hot-hitting Jose Morales in Minnesota. I never saw that happening, and unsurprisingly news came out today about Redmond having a sore shoulder. I have no doubt that Redmond may be sore; he is a catcher after all. However, if the Twins didn't have Mauer coming back and Morales playing well, it would be a non-issue, but instead it will most likely be used as an excuse to put Redmond on the DL. Then, the Twins can let Morales hang around for a little longer and put off their decision on what to do with Redmond.
And that brings us to a new topic: Joe Mauer's return to the lineup. Mauer will be back with the Twins on Friday for their weekend series with the Royals, and the Twins now have a roster decision to make regarding their catchers. Despite Gardenhire's comments earlier this week about potentially keeping three catchers, there is no way that I see the Twins actually doing that. Some people have suggested that the Twins may cut Mike Redmond in order to keep the hot-hitting Jose Morales in Minnesota. I never saw that happening, and unsurprisingly news came out today about Redmond having a sore shoulder. I have no doubt that Redmond may be sore; he is a catcher after all. However, if the Twins didn't have Mauer coming back and Morales playing well, it would be a non-issue, but instead it will most likely be used as an excuse to put Redmond on the DL. Then, the Twins can let Morales hang around for a little longer and put off their decision on what to do with Redmond.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
An extra half-inning? No problem.
At last, Francisco Liriano had an effective start. You could argue that his first start was pretty good (he only gave up 4 hits in 7 innings, but did allow 4 runs), but this was definitely a good one. He lost it a little bit towards the end, as he allowed 7 of his 9 baserunners after the start of the fifth inning, but the overall line was very solid. I thought Ron Gardenhire made a good decision to take him out after allowing two consecutive singles in the seventh. Certainly, it was tempting to leave him out there to get those nice, even seven innings, and he only needed one more out, but it was the right decision. I wasn't sure about bringing Matt Guerrier in, but hey, it worked out. Jose Mijares followed that by striking out the side, which gave Joe Nathan a save opportunity (finally!). Unfortunately, he allowed a lead-off home run to Ben Zobrist, and then gave us a scare by allowing two more baserunners. Despite the game-tying homer, that would be the last frame the Twins would pitch.
Even though Liriano could no longer pick up the W, that didn't mean the Twins couldn't, as the offense wasted no time in getting that run back. Singles by Jose Morales and Denard Span and a pinch-walk by Brendan Harris loaded the bases with one out for Justin Morneau. Unsurprisingly, Morneau ended the game then and there, though not in the expected fashion. Facing a 5-man infield (how often do you see that?), Morneau beat out the relay throw to first on a potential double-play ball to allow the winning run to score. After starting the game with a two-run homer in the first, Morneau added a third RBI to his tally to avoid extra innings.
On a negative note, Jose Morales allowed another three stolen bases and yet again did not throw out any runners. This is an obvious con to him being on the roster instead of Mike Redmond (if, as I suggested, he goes on the DL at some point), in addition to his MLB-leading 4 passed balls (he's also second among catchers with 2 errors). At the Seth Speaks live game chat, there was a discussion about the possibility of keeping three catchers and sending down Carlos Gomez or Brian Buscher. Personally, at this point, I think that may be exactly what Gomez needs, but if the Twins were willing to do that, I would have thought they'd have done it last year. As Seth pointed out, if he stays there for five or six weeks, that would have the added benefit of pushing back the first year he'd be eligible for arbitration (and subsequently free agency).
With the victory, the Twins are now 4-0 in one-run games. They're the only team that has yet to lose such a game, while the Rockies are the only team that has yet to win one (they're 0-4). The Twins still sit in fourth place in the Central, but are just 1.5 games out of first here in the early-going.
Even though Liriano could no longer pick up the W, that didn't mean the Twins couldn't, as the offense wasted no time in getting that run back. Singles by Jose Morales and Denard Span and a pinch-walk by Brendan Harris loaded the bases with one out for Justin Morneau. Unsurprisingly, Morneau ended the game then and there, though not in the expected fashion. Facing a 5-man infield (how often do you see that?), Morneau beat out the relay throw to first on a potential double-play ball to allow the winning run to score. After starting the game with a two-run homer in the first, Morneau added a third RBI to his tally to avoid extra innings.
On a negative note, Jose Morales allowed another three stolen bases and yet again did not throw out any runners. This is an obvious con to him being on the roster instead of Mike Redmond (if, as I suggested, he goes on the DL at some point), in addition to his MLB-leading 4 passed balls (he's also second among catchers with 2 errors). At the Seth Speaks live game chat, there was a discussion about the possibility of keeping three catchers and sending down Carlos Gomez or Brian Buscher. Personally, at this point, I think that may be exactly what Gomez needs, but if the Twins were willing to do that, I would have thought they'd have done it last year. As Seth pointed out, if he stays there for five or six weeks, that would have the added benefit of pushing back the first year he'd be eligible for arbitration (and subsequently free agency).
With the victory, the Twins are now 4-0 in one-run games. They're the only team that has yet to lose such a game, while the Rockies are the only team that has yet to win one (they're 0-4). The Twins still sit in fourth place in the Central, but are just 1.5 games out of first here in the early-going.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Weekend Wrap-up
Despite losing the finale of their 3-game set with the Indians, the Twins really impressed me this weekend. Last weekend's sweep of the Angels was certainly a good series, but this one actually gave me more confidence in the Twins. Their pitching has finally started to come around, as both Nick Blackburn and Kevin Slowey had very nice starts. We knew Glen Perkins wasn't going to pitch eight innings every time out, and his performance on Sunday was not awful. Even the bullpen held up their end of things, as Jose Mijares and Joe Nathan each threw a scoreless inning on Friday, Luis Ayala helped Slowey out of a jam on Saturday, and Matt Guerrier, Craig Breslow, and Ayala combined for three shutout innings on Sunday. That's five different relievers, none of whom allowed a run in the weekend series. As a whole, the Twins gave up just 6 runs to a team that came in averaging 6 runs per game.
The Twins offense also had a solid performance. Jason Kubel hit two home runs on Saturday, his third and fourth of the year, for his third career multi-home run game. Delmon Young had three hits on Saturday and finished the series with his average up to .255. Jose Morales picked up four hits in the finale and is now hitting a tidy .375.
This brings us to the subject of catcher, and with Joe Mauer set to return Friday, you have to wonder if Morales isn't the better option to back him up. Obviously I don't think the team is considering getting rid of Mike Redmond, but Morales has easily been a superior player thus far. You have to give Redmond some leeway as he's proven to be a solid catcher offensively and defensively, but he will also turn 38 years old on May 5th and his performance is way down.
From 2005 to 2007, Redmond hit .312/.353/.381, but he batted just .287/.321/.333 in 2008 before starting this year with an abysmal .226/.258/.314 line. His OPS has also fallen at least 50 points every year since 2006. His arm has declined, too. From 2005 to 2007, Redmond caught 41.2 % of potential basestealers (35/85); last season, though, he caught just 21.7 % (5/23) and this season he's only thrown out 9.1 % (1/11). Despite this drop in caught stealing percent, he has still not made an error since joining the Twins in 2005 and his passed ball this year was his first since 2005.
All of which is to say that Redmond's slow start may be more than that. Granted, I think he will hit better than a .572 OPS over the course of the season, but some of that is most likely an irretrievable decline. Because of his veteran status and general amiability, I seriously doubt the Twins would think of letting him go. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if he's quickly sent to the DL due to a minor or lingering injury at some point this season to give Morales an opportunity to stay with the Twins.
And your weekly pick-me-up Seinfeld clip:
The Twins offense also had a solid performance. Jason Kubel hit two home runs on Saturday, his third and fourth of the year, for his third career multi-home run game. Delmon Young had three hits on Saturday and finished the series with his average up to .255. Jose Morales picked up four hits in the finale and is now hitting a tidy .375.
This brings us to the subject of catcher, and with Joe Mauer set to return Friday, you have to wonder if Morales isn't the better option to back him up. Obviously I don't think the team is considering getting rid of Mike Redmond, but Morales has easily been a superior player thus far. You have to give Redmond some leeway as he's proven to be a solid catcher offensively and defensively, but he will also turn 38 years old on May 5th and his performance is way down.
From 2005 to 2007, Redmond hit .312/.353/.381, but he batted just .287/.321/.333 in 2008 before starting this year with an abysmal .226/.258/.314 line. His OPS has also fallen at least 50 points every year since 2006. His arm has declined, too. From 2005 to 2007, Redmond caught 41.2 % of potential basestealers (35/85); last season, though, he caught just 21.7 % (5/23) and this season he's only thrown out 9.1 % (1/11). Despite this drop in caught stealing percent, he has still not made an error since joining the Twins in 2005 and his passed ball this year was his first since 2005.
All of which is to say that Redmond's slow start may be more than that. Granted, I think he will hit better than a .572 OPS over the course of the season, but some of that is most likely an irretrievable decline. Because of his veteran status and general amiability, I seriously doubt the Twins would think of letting him go. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if he's quickly sent to the DL due to a minor or lingering injury at some point this season to give Morales an opportunity to stay with the Twins.
And your weekly pick-me-up Seinfeld clip:
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