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2021 Season | Series #45 | Indians @ Twins | Sep. 14-15, 2021

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The Twins have scored five runs today.

Playing Harold and Franmil in the outfield has cost us three of them...although no errors were charged.
 
Bobby goes the other way and hustles for a double.
 
The Twins have scored five runs today.

Playing Harold and Franmil in the outfield has cost us three of them...although no errors were charged.
Harold routinely costs Tribe pitchers nearly every game he plays in the outfield.
 
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Some players just never disappear.

Ross Detwiler and Trayce Thompson were added to MLB rosters today.

Detwiler has made $12 mil in his career. Thompson has probably made $2 mil.

Not a bad gig, if you can get it.
 
Some players just never disappear.

Ross Detwiler and Trayce Thompson were added to MLB rosters today.

Detwiler has made $12 mil in his career. Thompson has probably made $2 mil.

Not a bad gig, if you can get it.
was gonna say. - where do I sign up
 
it would seem Allen's couple of decent starts were little more than a dead cat bounce
 
First game was a Tribe shutout loss until Straw's line drive knocked out Ryan. Hedgie came through in the clutch again. McKenzie keeps rolling along and so does Clase.

That was an impressive blast by Zimmer, but as I've said, I'd rather have three 375-foot home runs than one 450-foot moon shot, but Zimmer gives you the moon shot every other month or so.

Zimmer, Harold, Mercado, Gimenez - none of them are moving the needle IMO.

In the second game Allen got curveball happy and started nibbling. He was afraid to challenge the Twins with his fastball the second time through the order and they went 5-for-7 with a line drive out.

Josie is hitting .200 in September. Wecome back, Berto.

Owen Miller is starting to grow on me. When he swings at good pitches to hit the ball usually jumps off his bat. He's a strong kid. He has to stop chasing pitches on the margins that he can't barrell.

Who do we have that's better to play second next year? Not Gimenez, not Chang, and not Clement. There's Freeman, but he hasn't even played any AAA yet. He's 22 with 164 career at-bats at AA.
 
Wouldn't it be something if the FO traded for a 2B when we have so many young MIFs coming?

On the surface it seems implausible. But within the framework of having a contending team in 2022, maybe not so much.

If the FO could find a young, controllable super utility type whose first position was second base, but had the chops to move into the super utility spot once a youngster showed he could take over, it might be a possibility.

I think it was assumed...and I admit that I did...that SOMEBODY would grab second base and run with it. But the results look more like four guys running away from the job.

Honestly, does anybody feel comfortable installing anybody we have right now as next years regular 2B?

I dont.

I dont see the next nineteen games changing anything...and I am not enamored with the idea of using spring training desert mirages as the way to choose one.
 
Wouldn't it be something if the FO traded for a 2B when we have so many young MIFs coming?

On the surface it seems implausible. But within the framework of having a contending team in 2022, maybe not so much.

If the FO could find a young, controllable super utility type whose first position was second base, but had the chops to move into the super utility spot once a youngster showed he could take over, it might be a possibility.

I think it was assumed...and I admit that I did...that SOMEBODY would grab second base and run with it. But the results look more like four guys running away from the job.

Honestly, does anybody feel comfortable installing anybody we have right now as next years regular 2B?

I dont.

I dont see the next nineteen games changing anything...and I am not enamored with the idea of using spring training desert mirages as the way to choose one.
Considering how well the signing of Cesar Hernandez worked out last year I could see the FO being tempted to try and repeat that for one year rather than going with one of the collection of AAA guys we have now.

I'll make the argument for Yu Chang at 2B next year. Here are his 2021 numbers:

April - June: 17-for-105, .162 BA, 2 HR, 11 RBI
July - Sept: 24-for-84, .286 BA, 5 HR, 12 RBI

Multiply his July through mid-Sep numbers by 6 gives you:

504 AB's, 30 HR's, 72 RBI's, .286/.318

It looks to me like the dramatic improvement in the second half is tied to his willingness to wait longer on the pitch and go the other way.

I would be OK with a second baseman who hit .286 with 30 HR's and 72 RBI's. You could argue that he mostly plays against lefties, and that's correct (104 AB's against lefties versus 81 against righties), but his BA and OPS are higher against righties (.222 to .212 and .682 to .646). His splits are nearly even.

I'm not pushing for Chang, but based on his performance the last 10 weeks he's by far the best option at second base if all the available payroll increase goes either to getting some corner outfielders or extending Bieber/Jose and we're left to deal with 2B internally.
 
Indians second basemen in recent years:

2016 Kipnis .275, 23 HR, 82 RBI in 610 AB's
2017 Kipnis .232, 12 HR, 35 RBI in 338 AB's
2018 Kipnis .230, 18 HR, 75 RBI in 530 AB's
2019 Kipnis .245, 17 HR, 65 RBI in 458 AB's
2020 Hernandez .283, 3 HR, 20 RBI in 233 AB's
2021 Hernandez .231, 18 HR, 47 RBI in 376 AB's

If Chang could hit .270 with 25 HR's and 70 RBI's, which is a little below what he has been doing since July 1, I would be fine with that for one year if there was no better alternative.
 
IF Chang could hit .270 for an entire season with 25 dingers he would be our starting 2B....and if the FO thought that was realistic, they wouldn't have acquired nearly twenty MIFs thru various trades and other acquisitions over the last several years.

But Chang has never hit close to .270 over the course of an entire season, excepting rookie ball when he was 18 yrs old...and he has only hit more than 13 home runs in a season once, when he was 21 yrs old.

The FO can't make decisions like fans do. It can't ignore all the ugly and simply focus on hot streaks. Over the course of this season in Cleveland he has a 72 wRC+.

For his MLB career, his wRC+ is 65...35% worse than average. In comparison, Jake Bauers...everybodys reference for futility...has a wRC+ of 81.
 
IF Chang could hit .270 for an entire season with 25 dingers he would be our starting 2B....and if the FO thought that was realistic, they wouldn't have acquired nearly twenty MIFs thru various trades and other acquisitions over the last several years.

But Chang has never hit close to .270 over the course of an entire season, excepting rookie ball when he was 18 yrs old...and he has only hit more than 13 home runs in a season once, when he was 21 yrs old.

The FO can't make decisions like fans do. It can't ignore all the ugly and simply focus on hot streaks. Over the course of this season in Cleveland he has a 72 wRC+.

For his MLB career, his wRC+ is 65...35% worse than average. In comparison, Jake Bauers...everybodys reference for futility...has a wRC+ of 81.

Chang struggled badly in his only longer look he has had in the pros, but since he came back, he's been actually solid... it's do we give him one more year or chance he will destroy us if we trade him/cut him...
 
Somebody that we cut loose is gonna have a productive year down the road.
 
Perfect throw by Kepler nails JRam at second.
 
FAST first inning..both halves.. onto the second frame...
 

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Video

Episode 3-13: "Backup Bash Brothers"

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