Minnesota Twins vs Cleveland Indians series thread

• wes_mantooth

  

  hoops23;860841 wrote:He's better than "ok"... Again, this is his 2nd season, and first full season.
  
  Does his defense need work? hell yes. But he's basically playing first for the first time this year. He's made some very good plays as well, so he's not a complete hack job in the field. It's also nice to see that his mistakes don't bother him at the plate.
  
  If LaPorta was worth a shit, Santana wouldn't be playing 1st base to begin with.
  
  Actually, looking at Santana's stats at 1B, he's pretty damn good..
  
  .993 Fielding percentage... 415 chances and only 3 errors.

  
  eh...I really don't care about the fielding percentage...a good first baseman reduces errors from his infielders...which he does not. Right now, he is a work in progress and he is just ok. He does seem clutch, but that does not make up for looking lost at the plate for half of the year. He seems like he has a high ceiling, so hopefully he turns it around.
• hoops23

  

  Well, compare his #'s to other catchers/most 1B and you might be a little more impressed..
  
  It's the same thing with people who get pissed at CP closing games, when truth is, no closer is lights out.
• wes_mantooth

  

  hoops23;860862 wrote:Well, compare his #'s to other catchers/most 1B and you might be a little more impressed..
  
  It's the same thing with people who get pissed at CP closing games, when truth is, no closer is lights out.

  
  lol...i am not going to agree with you on this one. A guy hitting for a piss poor average and getting screamed at for his effort on first base by druby....has a long way to go. Not saying he isn't going to get there, but he is just an average player as of now.
• hoops23

  

  wes_mantooth;860869 wrote:lol...i am not going to agree with you on this one. A guy hitting for a piss poor average and getting screamed at for his effort on first base by druby....has a long way to go. Not saying he isn't going to get there, but he is just an average player as of now.

  
  I'm not asking for you to agree with me, but to discount fielding % and count BA is inconsistent. BA is the worst offensive stat to judge a young player on.. He's played 156 career games, 110 of them this season.
  
  How about Evan Longoria, would you say he's "average"?
• bases_loaded

  

  Santana isn't supposed to have a high average. He's supposed to produce runs. And he does that as good as anyone on the team
• Footwedge

  Took Santana awhile to be a consistent hitter. I think he will be a good hitter for a long time to come. He needs to play some winter ball and learn to be a first baseman. Believe it or not but a 993 fielding percentage is not all that great for a first baseman. Like Tooth said, a good first baseman saves errors. Right now he is a liability big time wherever he plays in the field.
  
  LaPorta is an eyesore at first, and at the plate, and a Victor Martinez on the base paths. He has shown no improvement as the season progressed. What a cheap game winner that was tonight. The sooner we get rid of LaPorta, the happier I'll be.
• hoops23

  

  Footwedge;860893 wrote:Took Santana awhile to be a consistent hitter. I think he will be a good hitter for a long time to come. He needs to play some winter ball and learn to be a first baseman. Believe it or not but a 993 fielding percentage is not all that great for a first baseman. Like Tooth said, a good first baseman saves errors. Right now he is a liability big time wherever he plays in the field.
  
  LaPorta is an eyesore at first, and at the plate, and a Victor Martinez on the base paths. He has shown no improvement as the season progressed. What a cheap game winner that was tonight. The sooner we get rid of LaPorta, the happier I'll be.

  
  .993 would tie him for 12th in all of baseball in terms of 1B... I'd say that's pretty good.
  
  I agree with you that a good 1st baseman saves throws, but I think that's something that will come as he familiarizes himself with the position.
• bases_loaded

  

  Grab a catcher in free agency and leave santana at first
• Cleveland Buck

  

  Was at the game tonight. Exciting finish, but Christ does this offense suck. Watching them depresses me. LaPorta has got to go. We need a LF and 1B or C (depending on where you play Santana) and hope that Kipnis continues to play well and Chisenhall figures out how to hit at this level. Then we need a starting pitcher or two going into next year.
• hoops23

  

  Another starter or 2?
  
  Masterson/Ubaldo/Tomlin/Fausto/Huff/Carrasco/McAllister
  
  I'd say that's good enough, unless you can get another legit guy into the rotation. Carrasco and Huff are still pretty young, especially Carrasco...
• Crimson streak

  

  I wish marson could hit for a good average. The guy is a beast behind the plate.
• royal_k

  

  Santana has picked up his offense the last month and a half. At the end of june he was hitting around .220. He's raised it to almost .240, which is not easy to do this late in the season. And he's driving in runs, which is what he's supposed to do. His defense is way behind his offense. But he's basically learning to play 1st base on the fly at the ML level. I still believe 1st base is where he will end up. Marson is great behind the plate and we could live with his hitting if other players in the line up hit to their potential. Plus, he doesn't get consistant ABs. He may hit for a better average if he played on a regular basis.
• Glory Days

  

  There numbers arent too far off, especially when you look at the games played etc.
  
  Santana 390 AB, .238 BA, .800 OPS, 23 2B, 18 HR, 59 RBI, 72 BB, 92 K, 10 GIDP
  
  Laporta 284 AB, .239 BA, .707 OPS, 17 2B, 10 HR, 41 RBI, 19 BB, 69 K, 2 GIDP
  
  Santana 415 TC, 3 E, .993 F%
  
  Laporta 696 TC, 7 E, .990 F%
• hoops23

  

  While Santana has heated up big time, LaPorta continues to be lost at the plate. 72 walks, 53 more than LaPorta is also something else that LaPorta will never do.
• TBone14

  

  Not too far off? 18 more XBH. 18 more RBI. 52 more walks. Notice that OBP, a stat the Santana destroys LaPorta in, was not included in the above comparison.
  
  Also, I think Santana has atleast 2 triples and I don't recall any Laporta triples.
• BRF

  

  Santana only has three errors? Wow! Coulda fooled me. I remember 2 in one inning.
• september63

  

  Santana doesnt make plays that should have been made at 1B and at Catcher. Many times these result in passed balls for the pitcher and throwing errors for his infielders. If he has only 3 errors that is very misleading.
• TBone14

  

  september63;861322 wrote:Santana doesnt make plays that should have been made at 1B and at Catcher. Many times these result in passed balls for the pitcher and throwing errors for his infielders. If he has only 3 errors that is very misleading.

  
  3 errors at first base.
• Glory Days

  

  TBone14;861297 wrote:Not too far off? 18 more XBH. 18 more RBI. 52 more walks. Notice that OBP, a stat the Santana destroys LaPorta in, was not included in the above comparison.
  
  Also, I think Santana has atleast 2 triples and I don't recall any Laporta triples.

  
  you did notice the 100 more at bats Santana has right? thats why i said not too far off, a 100 more at bats for laporta and he may have numbers(not percentages) close to Santana and Laporta has 1 triple, Santana 2. and only 15 more XBH than Laporta. and I used OPS instead of the OBP.
• Glory Days

  

  september63;861322 wrote:Santana doesnt make plays that should have been made at 1B and at Catcher. Many times these result in passed balls for the pitcher and throwing errors for his infielders. If he has only 3 errors that is very misleading.

  
  he has 7 errors as catcher and a 75% stolen base stat compared to 53% for marson and 2 errors.
• royal_k

  

  Glory Days;861332 wrote:you did notice the 100 more at bats Santana has right? thats why i said not too far off, a 100 more at bats for laporta and he may have numbers(not percentages) close to Santana and Laporta has 1 triple, Santana 2. and only 15 more XBH than Laporta. and I used OPS instead of the OBP.

  
  Santana's OPs is almost 100 points higher, and his OBP is 60 points better. That's quite a big difference.
• iclfan2

  

  Not really sure why Kipnis is not playing. Do players really need this many days off? It's freaking baseball.
• lhslep134

  

  iclfan2;861406 wrote:Not really sure why Kipnis is not playing. Do players really need this many days off? It's freaking baseball.

  
  That's how I feel. If I was in the majors I'd play every single possible game (barring injury)
• royal_k

  

  iclfan2;861406 wrote:Not really sure why Kipnis is not playing. Do players really need this many days off? It's freaking baseball.

  
  The only reason, other than a day off, would be the twins are starting a LH pitcher. But, i don't like it.
• like_that

  

  lhslep134;861409 wrote:That's how I feel. If I was in the majors I'd play every single possible game (barring injury)

  
  Worked out for Cal Ripken Jr.
  
  Kipnis has a hot bat, it is just idiotic to sit him.