The Young and the LaRoche
Hmm, it was worth a try. It’s my first post in a while, so I’ll leave the title alone for now.
I wanted to post to say how awesome Delmon Young has been this season. His triple slash numbers for .295/.333/.500 are only up slightly from his rookie year with Tampa (.317/.336/.476) but that doesn’t mean Delmon hasn’t ‘turned the corner’ in 2010:
Exhibit A: 1.57 K/BB
What is this? A decent strikeout to walk ratio?? Last year, his rate was 7.67 K/BB – that’s about an 80% improvement! He has pretty much halved his strikeouts, and almost doubled his walk rate.
Exhibit B: 11.0 EBH% (Percentage of plate appearances resulting in an extra-base hit)
Delmon’s new selectivity has led to an increase in power, from an Isolated Power of .142 in 2009, to a .205 mark this season. For the record, Joe Mauer has an ISO of .129 and a 9.2 EBH% so far this season. (To be fair, a ton of Mauer’s plate appearances end in walks).
The title of this post also mentions a LaRoche, Andy LaRoche specifically. The Pirates just called up prized prospect Pedro Alvarez to play third base, and LaRoche no longer has a position to play. My thinking is: how about the Twins try to acquire LaRoche instead of the carcass of Mike Lowell? LaRoche is younger and was once Baseball’s #19 best prospect. He could take the place of Brendan Harris on the roster, and could either serve the same purpose as Harris or start at third. If Gardenhire decides he wants to start LaRoche at third, Valencia should be sent back to Rochester to play every day. It looks like LaRoche is nearing arbitration, so the Twins would be able to non-tender him after this season if he doesn’t work out.
I guess it all depends how ‘out of favor’ LaRoche is in Pittsburgh. If they still think he has untapped potential, they might be asking more than the Red Sox will ask for Lowell. If they are willing to give him up for a mid-level prospect or two, I say the Twins should give him a try.
Jason Who?
Just thought I’d share this:
Hint: That is not Jason Kubel
Opening Day!
Well, that was a little bit of a let down. Baker was his normal terrible and wild early-season self, and the big bats were pretty quiet. Denard Span looked especially bad, with three strikeouts, but Joe Mauer also looked like he wasn’t his normal patient self. Hopefully it was all opening day nerves, and the boys will be back to normal soon.
On a positive note, Pat Neshek and Jesse Crain looked pretty good last night and both had wicked sliders working. It’ll be important for those two to keep up the good work with Nathan down and out. I see that Rauch was named the official Closer, and I’m okay with that. Pat Neshek might end up being the better choice once he’s 100%, but I think it’s a good idea to pick one guy to start as the closer. Everyone will know their role and it won’t really disrupt anyone’s preparation routines.
I was also impressed by Delmon Young. It was exciting to see him turn on an inside fastball and crush it to left field. Add in a little speed (infield single and stolen base) and not looking too goofy out in left field and it looks like we might be getting closer to the guy Bill Smith thought he traded for. I hope Gardy gives him a pretty long leash this season so that he can get his confidence back.
I also want to give a shout-out to my favorite ex-Twins: Garrett Jones and Carlos Gomez. Go-Go was 3-4 with a home run for the Brew Crew, and Jones mashes two homers for the Pirates (one which ended up in the Allegheny!)
Wow
That title just about covers how I feel: wow. As everyone knows by now, the Twins won the American League Central Pennant last night by beating the Detroit Tigers in 12 innings. Almost everyone came up big for the Twins, considering they used 12 position players and eight pitchers.
Scott Baker survived his trademark big inning to turn in a quality start; Jon Rauch continued to impress me with his late inning performances; Bobby Keppel is my new hero; Alexi Casilla (or Sexi Lexi, as I lovingly call him) was clutch for us AGAIN; GoGo made things happen; O-Cab came up big with a go ahead homer and a game saving double play; Punto took great at-bats and got himself on base; Kubel’s moon shot (or Kubes Shot, as I call it); Tolbert’s clutch game tying hit; Nathans fireman work; Mahay’s ownage of Granderson; Cuddy’s good at bats and good defense (for a right fielder, he’s pretty good at getting the tag down when he’s pulled up off the bag); Mauer being Mauer; Delmon scaring them into walking him; Crain, though he gave up a run, pitched well and had great stuff; oh man, I could keep going.
One thing that leaves a slightly sour taste in my mouth was the game had by home plate umpire Randy Marsh. He squeezed Matty G and Baker BAD: I counted 4-5 pitches that came in just below the waist and broke to about 3 inches above the knees, right in the center of the dish, called balls. Porcello was getting those, and Rodney’s pitches (even lower, I might add) were called strikes. I do have to say, though, Nathan did get a LOT of favorable calls which helped us greatly. However, the real source of the sourness was the missed “hit by pitch” call on Inge. Now, it just grazed his jersey and the bases were loaded: the umpire could have totally decided he wasn’t going to let the winning run score that way and that it was so close he could claim he missed it. I’m not saying that’s right, but it could have happened. More likely: it was so loud in the ‘Dome, he just couldn’t hear the hit. It happens, umps miss things like that, but I’m sure Tigers fans are still groaning about it today. And rightfully so.
Time to face the Yanks! With zero time to rest, the Comeback Twins must now find the energy to take on the monster that is the New York All-Star Tea… er.. Yankees. Sure, the Twins are 0-7 against them this year. Sure, the Yanks have the best offense money can buy. Sure, they also bought the two best pitchers available last winter. Who cares? This Twins team has been written off so many times, I can’t put anything past them anymore.
That being said, the pitching match-up isn’t very favorable: Duensing vs. Sabathia. We can only hope that Duensing can be craft enough to fool Yankees hitters who haven’t seen much of him and that Sabathia will continue to struggle in the playoffs. His TERRIBLE final start of the season either means he will have corrected his flaw and be tuned up for the post season, or that he’s fatigued and the Twins might be able to jump all over him. He has wrecked the Twins in the past, so we will have to see.
The Line-up for tonight’s game:
Span CF
Cabrera SS
Mauer C
Cuddyer 1B
Kubel RF
Young LF
Harris DH
Tolbert 3B
Punto 2B
I only have one problem with it: no Carlos Gomez. Jose Morales was schooled by Porcello last night (I think he swung and missed six times, striking out twice) so Harris will get the start instead. While that move by itself is rational and understandable, I would have rather seen Gomez in center, Span in left, Young in right and Kubel DHing. In my opinion, the benefit of having Gomez and Span in the outfield far outweighs the offensive bump obtained by having Harris DH. I shudder every time I think of Kubel and Young gimping and bumbling around at the corners. Gardy’s decisions have works so far, so LETS DO THIS!
I have to admit, it feels really weird to be here without Morneau in the line-up. It makes me a feel a little guilty: its pretty sad to see him sitting on the bench, unable to help his team. If the ‘Dome is going to crack the spine of our MVPs, maybe a couple rain outs will be tolerable after all.
Time for the Twins to Get Crazy
Up until today I applauded the Twins for refusing to blow their prospects on rent-a-players at the deadline; I didn’t want them to become a team that sacrificed the future to ‘win now’. Then I read LaVelle’s article this morning and I got scared. All Twins fans should be scared. Morneau, Nathan and Mauer all voiced their frustration with the front office for not getting them the “missing piece” at the trade deadline. What happens if these guys lose faith with the Twins and jump ship at the end of their contracts? Tell me, in this “future” we are protecting, who will be the next Joe Mauer? Justin Morneau? Joe Nathan? Sure, there are talented arms down on the farm that could develop into a dominant closer, and there are talented hitters down there, but there are no guaranteed successors to the Big Three. We do, however, have those guys playing for us right now and they need help. I also happen to think that this year is the perfect time to go all-in: Cuddyer, Kubel, Nathan, Mauer and Morneau are all having career years, yet the team still has some major holes to fill if they want to be a World Series caliber team. Can we guarantee that everyone performs like this next year? Remember 2006 when we had the same “perfect storm” of career-years but were knocked out in the first round by Oakland? The following season (2007) showed us we can’t count on something that special happening again, or for guys to stay healthy.
I’m going to get crazy here and propose a deadline move the Twins could make. Not only would it give the club a boost this season, but it would show our Core that management wants to win. Not to mention it will show the fans that the Twins will put a winning product on the field, encouraging them to brave the snow next season at the new stadium. This move is totally hypothetical, maybe even whimsical, but I don’t think it’s 100% impossible:
In my opinion (and don’t get me wrong, I am no expert) the Twins major holes are: Middle Infield, Relief Pitching, Starting Pitching. Perhaps even in that order, though the middle infield and bullpen have been equally atrocious at times. Actually, the Twins starting pitching had been pretty terrible lately as well. Here’s my idea: work out a trade with the Blue Jays. I know, I know: “Not another Halladay idea!” right? Hear me out though because I’m going to get much crazier than “Perkins and scrubs for Halladay”. Read more