AL Central Thread '19 Edition

[Shanemansj13]

Hopefully the Indians don’t continue winning at this clip vs the good teams my god

Offense has really been struggling, especially driving in RISP. Pitching has been overall great but you need hitting to beat the top teams. They better pick it up or we will see that Twins lead balloon.

 

[Shanemansj13]

Soler is a fucking scrub.

Bases loaded no outs and a 2-0 count.

Swings at a ball literally 10 feet off the plate.

Ends up a sac fly. Now royals need another hit.

It doesn't matter how good these Royals are (actually think they have a really nice lineup), they always seem to fight against the Indians. Get 2 runs in the 14th and they have to fight their way to a win still. BP was great overall though

 

[Shanemansj13]

Get Billy Hamilton the fuck off of this team so Brett Phillips can come back up next week, Royals. Easily the most redundant and pointless player on the roster, that serves no obvious use other than be the lowest tier of tradebait.

Hamilton is garbage. The only thing he is good for is tracking down balls in the outfield. Other than that he sucks balls and dick.

 

[Shanemansj13]

3 at home against the Stros
3 at home against the Angels
3 at home against the Rangers

At least they get the next 9 at home.

Then 4 at the Twins. Then play the Red Sox and Yankees. We will definitely see what this team is made of in the next 3 weeks.

 

[Shanemansj13]

Twins, Mets Have Discussed Noah Syndergaard

By Steve Adams | July 26, 2019 at 7:11am CDT

The Twins and Mets have had discussions surrounding Noah Syndergaard since the Mets have made the right-hander available, reports La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Minnesota has been linked to virtually every arm on the trade market — starter and reliever alike — so their inclusion in the Syndergaard bidding hardly comes as a shock. Nor is it surprising that Neal indicates that the Mets have focused in on top prospects Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff as potential headliners in a deal.

Lewis, 20, was the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2017, and the shortstop entered the season ranked as a consensus top 10 prospect in all of baseball. He’s scuffled a bit in his first exposure to Class-A Advanced, hitting .243/.295/.384 through 410 plate appearances. Lewis, though, is still rather young for the Florida State League and is still generally regarded as a premier prospect, even if there’s a bit more of a divide on his status at the moment. Baseball America dipped Lewis to No. 21 on its latest update of the game’s top 100 minor leaguers, while Lewis resides at No. 2 over on Fangraphs’ latest update.

Kirilloff, 21, also entered the season regarded as one of the game’s 20 best prospects. He hasn’t replicated last season’s dominant numbers between Class-A and Class-A Advanced, but the outfielder has turned in a .284/.351/.403 slash in 261 plate appearances against older, more experienced competition with Double-A Pensacola.

The Twins have reportedly been loath to part with either Lewis or Kirilloff — the same has been true of top pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol — although Syndergaard brings a different level of appeal to the table than most other arms known to be available. He’s controlled through the 2021 season (a year longer than Marcus Stroman or Mike Minor), has multiple dominant seasons on his resume (unlike Matthew Boyd), is still in arbitration as opposed to on a guaranteed contract (unlike Zack Greinke) and, despite a lackluster ERA on the season, offers some of the best raw stuff of any pitcher in baseball.

Syndergaard still averages 97.7 mph on his heater with a slider he can throw in the low 90s, and every club in baseball surely has its own ideas about how to restore his bottom-line results to their previous levels, which more closely aligned with his premium arsenal. The Twins, in particular, have added incentive to pursue controllable starters; each of Jake Odorizzi, Kyle Gibson and Michael Pineda are free agents this winter.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

As pessimistic as I am about the Royals as an organization- flushing the sub-replacement players out of their lineup permanently would make the team noticeably more competitive very quickly.

Brett Phillips has done so well with his new swing the past two months, he has earned another shot at MLB, imo. He has seen enough MiLB pitching, he needs to fix his swing if he's a serious MLBer, let alone a good one. Still a question as to what happens with Merrifield (likely staying, but you never know with a team like the Cubs) but this could be interesting to watch down the stretch


LF: Gordon (10-5, not going anywhere most likely)
CF: Starling
RF: Phillips/Merrifield
3B: Dozier
SS: Mondesi
2B: Merrifield/Lopez
1B: O'Hearn/Cuthbert
C: Viloria
DH: Soler

Could be the makings of something pretty respectable next year. Not sure why you want to keep Merrifield and Gordon willingly, but... Dayton Moore gonna Dayton.

 

[navamind]

Twins, Mets Have Discussed Noah Syndergaard

By Steve Adams | July 26, 2019 at 7:11am CDT

The Twins and Mets have had discussions surrounding Noah Syndergaard since the Mets have made the right-hander available, reports La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Minnesota has been linked to virtually every arm on the trade market — starter and reliever alike — so their inclusion in the Syndergaard bidding hardly comes as a shock. Nor is it surprising that Neal indicates that the Mets have focused in on top prospects Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff as potential headliners in a deal.

Lewis, 20, was the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2017, and the shortstop entered the season ranked as a consensus top 10 prospect in all of baseball. He’s scuffled a bit in his first exposure to Class-A Advanced, hitting .243/.295/.384 through 410 plate appearances. Lewis, though, is still rather young for the Florida State League and is still generally regarded as a premier prospect, even if there’s a bit more of a divide on his status at the moment. Baseball America dipped Lewis to No. 21 on its latest update of the game’s top 100 minor leaguers, while Lewis resides at No. 2 over on Fangraphs’ latest update.

Kirilloff, 21, also entered the season regarded as one of the game’s 20 best prospects. He hasn’t replicated last season’s dominant numbers between Class-A and Class-A Advanced, but the outfielder has turned in a .284/.351/.403 slash in 261 plate appearances against older, more experienced competition with Double-A Pensacola.

The Twins have reportedly been loath to part with either Lewis or Kirilloff — the same has been true of top pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol — although Syndergaard brings a different level of appeal to the table than most other arms known to be available. He’s controlled through the 2021 season (a year longer than Marcus Stroman or Mike Minor), has multiple dominant seasons on his resume (unlike Matthew Boyd), is still in arbitration as opposed to on a guaranteed contract (unlike Zack Greinke) and, despite a lackluster ERA on the season, offers some of the best raw stuff of any pitcher in baseball.

Syndergaard still averages 97.7 mph on his heater with a slider he can throw in the low 90s, and every club in baseball surely has its own ideas about how to restore his bottom-line results to their previous levels, which more closely aligned with his premium arsenal. The Twins, in particular, have added incentive to pursue controllable starters; each of Jake Odorizzi, Kyle Gibson and Michael Pineda are free agents this winter.

Is this going to be the bizarro-Johan trade?

 

[PEOPLESCHICKEN]

Cheer up, Twins playing the Sox starting tomorrow.

#pollyanna

 

[PEOPLESCHICKEN]

It doesn't matter how good these Royals are (actually think they have a really nice lineup), they always seem to fight against the Indians. Get 2 runs in the 14th and they have to fight their way to a win still. BP was great overall though

I cannot believe anyone has not said this already but.....

these Indians have heart

 

[Fountain City Blues]

I cannot believe anyone has not said this already but.....

these Indians have heart

Hart and pashun winz da WAR

 

[PEOPLESCHICKEN]

I am slummin' tonight brothers. After 7 years I had to give back my Macbook Pro yesterday. Now I have a cough Chromebook. I feel like I am in steerage class

 

[PEOPLESCHICKEN]

Hart and pashun winz da WAR

And it IS a war!!!

 

[ChiSoxFan]

#pollyanna

#WhiteSoxRunIn2029

 

[Gopherfan84]

Twins, Mets Have Discussed Noah Syndergaard

By Steve Adams | July 26, 2019 at 7:11am CDT

The Twins and Mets have had discussions surrounding Noah Syndergaard since the Mets have made the right-hander available, reports La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Minnesota has been linked to virtually every arm on the trade market — starter and reliever alike — so their inclusion in the Syndergaard bidding hardly comes as a shock. Nor is it surprising that Neal indicates that the Mets have focused in on top prospects Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff as potential headliners in a deal.

Lewis, 20, was the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2017, and the shortstop entered the season ranked as a consensus top 10 prospect in all of baseball. He’s scuffled a bit in his first exposure to Class-A Advanced, hitting .243/.295/.384 through 410 plate appearances. Lewis, though, is still rather young for the Florida State League and is still generally regarded as a premier prospect, even if there’s a bit more of a divide on his status at the moment. Baseball America dipped Lewis to No. 21 on its latest update of the game’s top 100 minor leaguers, while Lewis resides at No. 2 over on Fangraphs’ latest update.

Kirilloff, 21, also entered the season regarded as one of the game’s 20 best prospects. He hasn’t replicated last season’s dominant numbers between Class-A and Class-A Advanced, but the outfielder has turned in a .284/.351/.403 slash in 261 plate appearances against older, more experienced competition with Double-A Pensacola.

The Twins have reportedly been loath to part with either Lewis or Kirilloff — the same has been true of top pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol — although Syndergaard brings a different level of appeal to the table than most other arms known to be available. He’s controlled through the 2021 season (a year longer than Marcus Stroman or Mike Minor), has multiple dominant seasons on his resume (unlike Matthew Boyd), is still in arbitration as opposed to on a guaranteed contract (unlike Zack Greinke) and, despite a lackluster ERA on the season, offers some of the best raw stuff of any pitcher in baseball.

Syndergaard still averages 97.7 mph on his heater with a slider he can throw in the low 90s, and every club in baseball surely has its own ideas about how to restore his bottom-line results to their previous levels, which more closely aligned with his premium arsenal. The Twins, in particular, have added incentive to pursue controllable starters; each of Jake Odorizzi, Kyle Gibson and Michael Pineda are free agents this winter.

No way we part with either of our top 2 prospects for anybody who would be available on the trade market.

 

[Shanemansj13]

One athletic pitcher. Plesac

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Diekman gone

Zimmer in

Duda gone

Ryan O'Hearn in

Just need to get Hamilton outta here and the Royals can be considerably more fun.

 

[Shanemansj13]

If the Sox can hold on it’s down to 1!!

 

[ChiSoxFan]

If the Sox can hold on it’s down to 1!!

It's in the bag now. They'll still bring Colome in with no save opportunity probably.

 

[VikingFan2k2]

This is unbelievable. Cleveland won't stop winning.

 

[Voltaire26]

If the Tigers win their next 62 games, they will be 92-70 ... I still think that may not be enough to take the division. DAMN!!!