hogan873

This series was definitely not meaningless to the Twins.

Abreu has played 32 games at DH. His performance while at DH is very similar to his performance while at 1B. He may prefer playing the field, but this isn't a guy who refuses to play DH. Besides, I get the feeling Abreu will play where he's asked to play.

A few folks on this board: Jose sucks and should be shot out a cannon to Mars A few folks on this board: Jose is literally a god in a baseball uniform, and I have a shrine to him in my garage Most of us on this board: Jose is a pretty good hitter, and less than average fielder, and he'd be a nice option at DH for a couple years There. If you haven't read this thread yet, don't waste your time.

The lead-off home run scared me, but Cease settled down and pitched very well. He was locating his fastball which allowed him to throw some really nasty breaking balls for swings and misses or locking up hitters. I think he should have been given the opportunity to get the third out in the seventh. Once Marshall came in and fell behind 2-0, it was pretty easy to see a big hit coming. The 11 strikeouts were really nice. Quite the performance. Eloy is showing what type of hitter he's going to be. His second home run was effortless, and he hit two balls to center well over 400 feet. McCann once again saved the day. I think the extra rest he's gotten lately has paid off. Collins' triple would have been a home run in a lot of ballparks, but his first career triple was nice to see. I hope he gets plenty of opportunities this month.

Castellanos or Puig would be okay. With Anderson and Puig on the same team, that would be a lot of attitude. At that point, might as well go sign Bumgarner and be chock full of attitude.

I agree. One can't live by only traditional stats or advanced stats. The problem on this board is that there are a few who, in regards to Jose, look at only traditional stats and ignore advanced stats, and there are a few who will look at only advanced stats and find the ones that say Jose sucks. Jose is a good hitter who isn't as good as he used to be. But he's going to end up with 30+ HRs, 110+ RBIs, and 35+ doubles, all while batting around .275 - .280. Still pretty good.

I'm not sure this is unique to Abreu or not, but you can look at traditional stats and see that he is pretty good, and you can look at advanced stats and convince yourself that he's not very good. The Sox have score 549 runs this year, and Jose has driven in 100 of them. That's 18.2% of the runs. The player with the next most RBIs is Moncada with 63. His WAR is 1.4. I'd argue that's low only because without him, the Sox would have had to rely on others to score those 100 runs. Without those 100 runs, the Sox would have lost more than they have...a lot more. Maybe it's more of a fact that Jose truly is more valuable to the Sox than he would be to another team. On the Twins, who seem to hit every baseball out of the park, they have no one with more than 86 RBIs. But they have 5 players with more RBIs than anyone else other than Jose. So, for a team like the Sox who struggle to score runs (and give up a shitload), a guy like Jose is really valuable. So, all of my above ramblings lead to me believing that Jose is better than he's given credit for, due in large part to the team he plays for. Because the Sox give up so many runs and don't have a lot of offensive punch aside from a couple guys, someone who drives in nearly 20% of the team's runs is pretty damn important. How important would he be on a team team with Robert, Madrigal, a more improved Moncada, an improved Jimenez, and a more consistent Anderson? I'd argue he'd still be important, but he won't be the best hitter on the team and probably won't be driving in the most runs. I still believe he's valuable to this team for a couple more years, especially considering he most likely won't cost a lot.

Scoring more runs that the opponent wins games. Runs occur, typically, when one batter drives in runners and/or himself. Jose has driven in 100 runs this year, and 72 of those runs were other players. Considering the revolving door of #2 hitters (I'll at least acknowledge that Leury as the lead-off has been consistent) and the lack of OBP by the bottom of the lineup, Jose has been effective in driving in runs. He's #2 in RBIs in the league and 6th in the majors. That's pretty good in my book. He's never been a great first baseman, and he's not getting any better. His walks are way down, and that's taking a toll on his OBP. He's not the same hitter OVERALL as he was. But he's till a run producer and a threat to hit the ball out of the ballpark at any time. For some reason, some fans love to shit on their own. Honestly, though, the population of Abreu haters on this board is probably as low as the Abreu worshipers. I think the majority of us like him and wouldn't mind seeing him around for a couple more years at $12-$14 million a year, especially with him taking on more of a DH role. He certainly still has value, and his value as a leader and mentor cannot be undersold.

That last pitch was perfect. Absolutely filthy for that situation.

If the price is right, I wouldn't mind seeing him back next year. As others have said, we'll need more than the traditional 5 starters.

I think Harper would have been the better fit for several reasons. However, I don't think the Sox ever stood a chance to sign him, and I'm not sure it was all about money. I believe Harper wanted to go to a higher profile team.

Really nice offensive game. Eloy's blast was another mammoth shot...no way it was only 434. McCann's slam was perfect. I wish I had been able watch the game vs. following it on Yahoo and then searching Twitter for clips. But, this team continues to show glimpses of what it can (and will) be.

Very cool idea. I wonder how tickets will be sold. With only 8000 available, it would make sense for at least a portion of them to be sold via lottery giving people a chance to buy them.

Advanced stats are MUCH more important to front office folks than TV announcers. And that's really the way it should be. Whether announcers are talking about a hitter or a pitcher, they're going to talk about the information that appeals to their audience. As far as ERA, I think it's still a very good indicator of a pitcher's performance; especially starting pitchers. I hear Stone say often that ERA doesn't matter as much for closers. I'm not sure I 100% agree with that, but I can understand it. For a starter who may throw 180-210 innings in a season, a low ERA is a true indicator that they are a good pitcher. Wins and losses are too often controlled by bad defense and/or no offensive support.

With Robert up and Kopech back, that's two holes filled. Madrigal could very well be up next year, and that would be a third filled. They would still need to add at least one more starter, hopefully a difference maker, and a right fielder/DH. They could and certainly should be ready to compete in 2020, but a few moves would be needed to make it more likely.