Minnesota Twins Talk

Lopez didn’t deserve a save in tonight’s opening game versus Texas. Starts great, gets out, goes 1-2 on second batter and decides to not accept success. Typically starts nibbling and issues the walk that should have cost the game. Wake up! Buzz a representative fast ball in there. Anything. If he hits a homer it’s almost not as bad as a walk.

So there's still 52 games left in this season. But based on the past couple of weeks, the future of this year's Twins looks bleak. The Twins are 7-9 so far in the second half. I appreciate the moves the Twins tried to make in acquiring Mahle, Fulmer, Lopez, and Leon. But it's clear the Twins are at best a .500 club and with Cleveland and Chicago smelling blood, these sharks won't be missing an opportunity for an easy meal. Considering that the Twins have 6 of their last 9 meetings against the White Sox in Chicago, and 5 of their last 8 against the Guardians in Cleveland, I think it's safe to assume the Twins front office should now be thinking about the 2023 season. …

https://twitter.com/AaronGleeman/status/1560308123763605504?t=IE6VqCpMFBLTeaT5po1sVA&s=19

Anyone watching tears to my eyes.

All season long, there had been something nagging at the back of my head about seeing Bundy and then Archer - or vice versa - go back-to-back. Then John Bonnes finally pinned down the problem - they're the two most likely pitchers to have short starts. Couple that with a crappy bullpen for most of the season and it's a continual recipe for disaster. You're burning a bunch of relievers to cover for two mediocre/bad pitchers and that makes it really hard to set up an effective bullpen. These two should have been separated in the rotation months ago. The next off day should see Gray move up a day and wedge his starts between the two weakest links, giving the bullpe…

I read Rocco Baldelli's comments after the 4-2 loss to the Angels yesterday. I quote, "(The last two losses) felt like games that if we played good baseball and did the things we wanted to, we had a chance to win. We just didn't do much offensively. ... It's not rocket science. We've got to score some runs and there's different ways to do that." Really?! Seriously?! That sounds like a stereotypical straight-line leading into a comedy skit on SNL. So here's the thing. You know Baldelli is struggling with how to fix a broken team when he responds like Captain Obvious to why the Twins are in a death spiral. "WE'VE GOT TO SCORE SOME RUNS AND THERE'S DIFFERENT WAY…

Coming into the season we thought we had a closer, or some did, in Taylor Rodgers. The Twins pulled of the day 1 trade flipping him for Pagan and Paddock basically. Others were involved but they were all current MLB players changing right before season started. At first, both Rodgers and Pagan had success, but Pagan was getting by with giving up a ton of walks and some hard contact. There was many fans upset because Rodgers through 20 gams was nothing short of amazing. Giving up a run, striking out about a runner per inning, and walking only 4, but hitting 3 batters as well. He was still 17 of 17 in saves. Meanwhile, Pagan started to struggle, Paddock got put o…

How about split with Dodgers and 2 of 3 against Angels? Why not? Then its 13 of 16 at home to close out the month. Make this the staytment month as in we are in this to stay this year.

There is an article in today’s STRIB that is more of a eulogy for the ultimately disappointing Twins career of the former can’t miss prospect. Once many of us worried Miguel would go elsewhere and become another David Ortiz. Now it’s Chirp Chirp.

How much do injuries affect team performance, and W-L record? Using Spotrac IL tracker, I put together this team-by-team record of current IL trends for each team. The Twins rank tied for 2nd in most players spending time on IL this season, 4th in most games lost, and FWIW 13th or so in salary lost to IL. Only Cincinatti has lost more players to IL, with 33. OTOH, Cleveland is 2nd with fewest games lost, the Twins standing a healthy 61% more than Cleveland in total games lost. The average number of players lost is 20.6, median is 20 as well. Twins are 37% above MLB average. I will leave to others with stat skills if someone has the interest and time …

Sorry if this was posted elsewhere......

I was there. Game 7. 1987. Didn't know I was going till the day of. My buddy and I were given tickets. It was like the rapture after they won. Thought the Metrodome sign was gonna get trashed. 70 yr olds high fiving in the streets with 1000s of others. The thing I remembered most about that team was the grit. Hrbeck-like attitude. Along with guys wanting the ball on the hill. Guts enough to throw backwards in the count. Oh, and the studs, who were paid to be studs...showed up nightly!

Curious if anyone received an email like this? Comes from apfco.com- which I see is a promotional products company in Grand Rapids MN. Curious if it is legit. I am leary of giving out contact info to companies or individuals I am not familiar with. Thanks

Fangraphs ranks prospects traded at the deadline According to fangraphs.com, the Twins gave up the 8th, 25th, 26th, 37th, 57th, and 66th best prospects of those traded at the deadline. It really seems like the Twins did well in limiting what kind of assets they gave up vis-à-vis what other teams gave up.

So don't know if anyone said anything anywhere else on here. But yes there is a Jomboy with Rooco losing his mind about the call. Rightfully so. Anyways Jomboy calls the call horse Dookie too and said Gary Sanchez' set up was text book and exactly how he should of caught it and executed.

Looking at Quality Starts, before picking up Mahle Smeltzer actually had the most QS at 6, Gray has 5. Smeltzer had a couple bad starts and got sent to the Saints. Why? Even with those couple of poor starts he has a 4.0 era this year and a 2.0 era at target field. With our bullpen still lacking depth why is he not on the roster? Seems like he would be a great option to pick up 6-7 inning work with Rocco’s penchant for not letting SPs pitch into the 6th. Does he maybe have no personal interest in that kind of role?

Questions for Discussion: 1. How many wins do you expect the Twins to finish with? Why? (Vote Above) 2. What is the best-case scenario for the Twins? What would need to happen? 3. What is the worst-case scenario for the Twins? What would need to happen?

Today, the Blue Jays got a favorable overturned call in their game against the Twins at Target Field that, in the end, gave them their winning run. Twins’ manager Rocco Baldelli was not a happy camper after the call was overturned. Skip to the 1:40 mark to see the segment where Rocco shares his thoughts on what happened.

The Red Sox DFAed Jackie Bradley Jr. today. With the Twins run of injuries, would the Twins consider bringing him in as a stopgap? He remains an outstanding defensive player and has pennant race and postseason experience.

Cleveland DFAed Franmil Reyes. With the Outfield injuries is he a guy the Twins would claim to use atleast until Larnach and Garlick get healthy? 26 yr old with massive power (Sano like at bats tho) and contract is like 4 million for the year so around a million left.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/08/alex-kirilloff-to-undergo-season-ending-surgery.html

This is a classic case of a front office and coaching staff getting the absolute maximum out of a player and they deserve some recognition for it. Nick Gordon was destined for the waiver wire 12 months ago after scuffling between the minors and majors and suffering long-haul Covid. It was apparent he wasn't going to be an MLB shortstop so they re-cast him on the fly, trying him all over the diamond. In 250 PAs, Nick Gordon now has a 119 OPS+ on the season. How'd he get there? By the front office and coaching staff being *very* aggressive with his platoon usage. He has 207 PAs against RHP and only 43 PAs against LHP.

Falvey was I’m MLB on XM. Few tidbits. They view Mahle as a middle of the rotation starter. I thought they higher hopes for him. Duran will be the reliever used in high leverage points at any time in the game. Larnach and Maeda are the players most likely to get healthy and help in the home stretch in Sept. A prospect they really like is Varland and stated he may help out sooner rather than later. Also talked about trading Povich an Steer. Also How well Miranda and Gordon are playing really well.

It’s the stretch run of the 2022 season. Twins fans look forward to meaningful baseball in August and September, and maybe October too! Yet much commentary has been shared this year on the lowly state of the AL Central, and that the Twins may have had a different approach to the trade deadline if they played in either of the other divisions, while a team like the Orioles may have taken different decisions in they were in the AL Central. While opinions vary, it seems that divisional alignments play a significant role in playoff chances and related roster management decisions. Additionally, the expanded playoff format has created the unseemly arrangement of one d…

- Jose Miranda is a disaster with a glove on. We can attempt to hide him at first where it is not as painful as watching him play third. But with Buxton at DH, Arraez has to bat somewhere so he is at first as well (trying to hide his glove) and wanting Miranda's bat in the lineup, third becomes an option. However, even when catches the ball, his throws are terrible. It is not like we do not have a Gold Glove caliber third baseman on the roster. The answer to the whole logjam is to play Buxton in center. That way Miranda and Arraez can split first and DH. This leads me to my second point. - We were told that by Buxton only playing centerfield twice a week…

Someone just sent me this and it's pretty cool, thought I'd bring more awareness to it. MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Today, catcher for the Minnesota Twins, Gary Sánchez, launches his $30,000 “Swing for the Fences” Scholarship on Bold.org. Sánchez created the scholarship as a way to pay it forward and support underrepresented students in Minnesota. Three winners will be announced at a Minnesota Twins game, and each will receive $10,000 to pursue their education and “swing for the fences” in life. Sánchez spent the majority of his childhood playing baseball in sandlots in the Dominican Republic. In 2015, he made his debut with the New York Yankees, and by 2016, he was deeme…

First, I'm hoping this doesn't turn into a whining thread. This team was terrible last year, and is competitive this year.... A month ago, I was all in for dealing for a legit starter and two RPs. While I don't think this is an elite team, it is a good to very good team. Unfortunately, they have really struggled and are much closer to .500 than they were. I still like the offense, as inconsistent as it can be. But, man, losing your second, third, and fourth best OFers for the year is tough to overcome. I think this is where I and many here depart. No team should be expected to overcome that, and yet many here are angry that they don't have replacements. I think…

It’s literally Christmas in Twins Territory right now, yet it is currently 90°F+ outside & no snow in sight. Key Acquisitions • RHP Jorge Lopez • RHP Tyler Mahle • RHP Michael Fulmer • C Sandy Leon Questions for Discussion - please stick to the realm of these questions 1. What grade do you give Falvey & Levine for these moves? 2. What do you think of what was done? Does it make the team better? Why or why not? 3. Are the Twins better suited to make the postseason this year? If they make the postseason, are they better suited to win a game and (possibly) a series if/when they get there? 4. How do these moves change the out…

According to this FanGraphs article, the Twins improved their chances of making the postseason more than any other team at the trade deadline (+7.4%): Which Teams Improved the Most at the Trade Deadline? Of course, that's due to a few factors: the Twins additions the lack of additions for Cleveland and Chicago (who saw the second and third largest playoff odds declines, respectively) starting with a pessimistic projection for the Twins, so we had more room to improve it (Fangraphs still has the Twins projected to narrowly finish 2nd -- no respect! ) The article also includes odds of winning the World Series, and the Twins didn't move th…

In his trade deadline roundup, Ken Rosenthal writes that the Twins need to make a splash and rival officials are predicting the team to fade away as the summer rolls along. One official said the Guardians are better than the Twins, which is probably a fair assessment... but the shocking prediction from another official is that the White Sox will win the division by 5+ games when all is said and done. That's a lot of confidence for a team that has underperformed at every turn through 100 games and currently sits four games back of the Twins, a team that peaked at four games over .500... on April 16th. So, how likely do you think it is the Twins will win the …