Minnesota Twins Talk

This team has been up and down to start the year. How many wins do you think this team will even out to?

The booing hasn’t reached AJ levels yet, but I have heard a smattering of boos when Josh Donaldson was introduced at Target Field during the last two games. Josh can be an abrasive guy, as evidenced by more than just the the “sticky stuff” controversy last year with Gerrit Cole, and this year’s dust-up and bench clearing brawl related to mocking the Chi-Sox’s Tim Anderson by calling him “Jackie” (in a Sports Illustrated interview, Tim Anderson may have made a mockable comment, when he referred to himself as “Today’s Jackie Robinson” - but that interview was FIVE YEARS AGO). Those who are booing also might mention that Josh was injured too much (not his fault) and d…

Syndergaard is pitching ok for the Angels with a 3.69 ERA but with 5.8 strikeouts per 9 innings. He is also averaging a hair over 5 innings per start. He is on a 1 year 21 million contract. Should we trade for him and what would it cost to acquire him?

Look's like Maeda's rehab is moving from Fort Myers to St. Paul. Maybe we will see him in late July or early August?? Or is that being too hopeful?

Its not a secret that Tyler Duffey's 2022 season has been frustrating, Duffey said it himself after giving up 3 runs against the Yankees last night: (Link to article you can find this quote Tyler Duffey's struggles continue against Yankees (mlb.com)) Duffey is going through the worst stretch of his career by far, Although it wasn't long ago that the Doof (self-appointed nickname) was one of the more trusted back end options on a Twins playoff team, so what's changed? lets take a deeper look at some of his numbers to see if we can find some answers. The first and most obvious metric to look at when trying to examine why a pitcher has seemingly fallen off …

The opener has been a forgotten strategy in recent years. Last time it was truly utilized was 2018, when we were trying to ease in Kohl Stewart, Stephen Gonsalves, and Aaron Slegers. The strategy seemed to help Gonsalves at the time (12.1 IP, 2 ER in 3 games after an opener vs. 11.68 ERA as starter), Stewart (20.1 IP 1.33 ERA after an opener vs. 6.33 ERA as starter), and Slegers (6.1 IP 2.84 ERA after an opener vs. 7.1 IP 7.36 ERA as starter). Perhaps we should start looking into this strategy again to ease Sands into MLB action, get Bundy to eat more efficient innings, and if Balazovic gets on track in AAA, easing him into the majors as well. Thoughts?

Why can't we just enjoy baseball? Why must we pick everything apart to find fault? And most importantly, why must someone be blamed and crucified?

The Twins’ pen is a unit that has struggled thus far in 2022. However, there have been some bright spots, such as Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax. Which Twins relievers do you trust?

Bundy goes up against Cole tonight. What would a reasonable performance look like for a back end start against an ace. I looked at the game scores of Yankee opposing starters this year. Is a game score at the 25 percentile one that we should expect from a starter in the back end of our rotation. That game score was 40 to 41 and is owned by Berrios and Kikuchi. Berrios (41) pitched 5.1 innings and gave up 4 runs. Kikuchi pitched 3.1 innings and gave up 3 runs - 2 earned. Berrios had another 2nd quartile start a little closer to the median. He pitched 5 innings and gave up 3 runs. The median game score against the Yankees is 54. Garcia pitched 5 innings and gave up 2 runs. …

MLB Trade Rumors reports that Cody Stashak will be out for the rest of the season. More than likely the Twins will add him as another to the growing 60-day IL. Plus Alcala had a setback after one appearance at Ft. Myers. Alcala is still at least a week away from being able to be activtaed. And one could assume that he was going to need as much work as possible on rehab. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/06/cody-stashak-to-undergo-season-ending-shoulder-surgery.html Just another day in Twins Injury Land!

Recently TD had article about how Pagan, and all season people have been posting about him. First, is he being unfairly attacked because he was part of the Rodgers trade? I mean he did not ask to be in that trade, but people seem to be comparing the two. More on that later. Yes, early on he was walking way to many guys and walking the tight rope. When you look at his per game break down, for some reason he has been terrible against Detroit, but against other teams his numbers are not too bad. Take out Detroit, which are all his blown saves or blown lead, one was in 8th so not a save, of 1 run leads. He has given up 4 runs, 2 ER, but he did give up a HR in the…

The Twins’ bullpen is a group that has, while not as much as 2021, still struggled in 2022: Team Reliever ERA: 16th Team Reliever WHIP: 19th Team Reliever HR/9: 30th A mix of injuries and underperformance has contributed to this bullpen’s bad start. The Twins have a few viable pen options, such as Joe Smith and Jhoan Duran. How do you fill in the gaps?

Even you feel we do not need a new starter, you can never have too much good pitching. There are a couple of pitchers on the trading block and are expected to be traded. The top prize would be Frankie Montas, with Luis Castillo as the fall back for teams. There are others out there but going to talk about these two right now. We all know Montas is going by deadline, the question will be to whom and for whom. Castillo is expected to go to. Both have 1.5 years of control now, so value is only going to go down if they are not traded this year, and both teams did full on fire sale. Montas is the number one pitcher out there, and having a good year overall. What wo…

Prediction... Yanks will take at least two of the next three games with the Twins. It's obvious these two teams are light years apart in terms of their abilities and talent. This three game series will amplify that fact. But at least the Twins are in a better spot than last year (or so it would appear).

The Twins losing week ended on a positive note and several players had a chance to show their talents. I am left with these impressions. Palacios has a plus major league glove at SS and minimally will be a valuable piece on the bench. I am thankful that the rule 5 was canceled. Cotton looks like a useful mid game arm and should remain on the roster. I want to see more from Moran. Miranda looks much better at the plate. He looks like a helpful depth piece that can move back and forth on options. Gordon has really improved in the outfield and is worthy of a spot a major league roster. Celestino looks like a future starter. I wonder how much he …

I know there’s reason to vent right now. I get it. But is this team’s 5-8 skid really Baldelli’s fault when the team is missing half its rotation, its star shortstop, and multiple bullpen pieces? Are the late bullpen implosions really Baldelli’s fault? How much do you actually think Baldelli tells his pitchers about how to throw the ball? And do you really think he’s intentionally throwing games? Now why would he do that? What exactly is there to suggest that he is doing that? Baldelli isn’t a perfect manager, but he doesn’t get all of the blame whenever the team is failing.

So, I go to preview today's game and see Astudillo listed among Twins batters? I don't see any roster move. Any insight?

Is there any type of an update with him at all? Also, are there any other updates on anyone else out? Ryan? Gray? Thanks!

In just over a month, Luis Arraez has improved his average from .296 to .358 (including back to back hitless games last week!). Could we see him make a run at .400 this summer? Seeing him win a batting title would be pretty amazing.

The Twins made a big splash with trades and by signing Carlos Correa this summer. Correa had started slow and has been injured but will his 2022 season improve? According to my Magic 8 ball, “Signs point to yes.” There are a number of “replacement” players on the Twins roster because of those trades, signings and non-signings. Here’s a quick review of the replacements. Their stats through 6/6/2022 are below. Gary Sanchez replaced Mitch Garver at C Gio Urshela replaced Josh Donaldson at 3B *Carlos Correa replaced Isiah Kiner-Falefa at SS **Luis Arraez replaced Nelson Cruz at DH ***Emilio Pagan & Jhoan Duran replaced Taylor Rogers Let’s address …

Who Should Represent the Twins at the All Star Game?

The Twins will have several players returning soon. It isn’t a roster crunch. There aren’t enough good players to create that crunch. There will be some challenging decisions. I think the position players is pretty clear. There will likely be 12 until June 19. Position players Jeffers, Sanchez, Arraez, Polanco, Correa, Urshela, Gordon, Larnach, Buxton, Kepler, Celestino, Garlick. That is a little thin in the infield but Kepler can play 1B and Arraez and Gordon have the other three. Hopefully Lewis joins the team when they need to drop to 13 pitchers. They could keep Miranda but who goes down? Palacios is probably in Correa’s spot until he returns. The…

Let's start with the Twins - two big investments: In 54 games Byron Buxton has 1.4 WAR, and a line of 221/296/517 - OPS+136. He has played in 38 and started 37 games 70.3%, He has played 28 games at CF 51.8%. 12 HRs Carlos Corea 1 WAR 279/344/402 122 OPS+ 35 games and 34 starts - 64.8% of games. Now are they earning their big salaries (of course not, but I am not talking reality, I mean in baseball are they doing what is expected)? Other big contracts by comparison: Mookie Betts - 3.2 WAR, 308/391/607 174OPS+ 16 HRs Trevor Story - 1.5 WAR, 230/325/448 116OPS+ Francisco Lindor - 1..6 WAR, 259/339/433 121 OPS+ Semien - 0.3 WAR, 1…

The next 17 games are absolutely critical. The Twins need to go 12-5 or better yet 14-3. Two games vs Oakland, 8 games vs Detroit, and 7 games against KC. That followed by 3 games in Toronto, 3 games vs Yankees, 3 games vs TB, and 3 games in Seattle. We need to bank as many wins as possible before we hit that stretch. Record:9-8

The Berríos trade is starting to look better and better. He's been up and down all season and got hammered against the Angels today.

Last seven games he is 0-3 with a 10.5 ERA....... He's now blown 3 saves on the year.......he ain't perfect. Just sayin'

Tyler Thornburg, that is. Yep, I know that's not exactly big news. Recently DFA'd by Atl. He's a 33 year old righty. We signed him to a minor league contract. I'm guessing he goes to STP for now, but I have no doubt we'll see him at some point.

Chi Chi Gonzalez (Friday's starter) and Ian Hamilton will be two of the replacements. Edit to add: Celestino is back with the team too from the COVID IL, so he might be another replacement.

Imagine the Twins are opening up a playoff series today against Tampa. You're Rocco Baldelli. Who's your starting catcher? Exactly. It's Sanchez and it's not even close. Sanchez is batting .231 with 4 HR and 21 RBI. He's got an OPS of .720 and his Hard-Hit % is 49.5. Ryan Jeffers is batting .198 with 3 HR and 12 RBI. He's got an OPS of .626 and a Hard-Hit % of 37.3. This is not meant to criticize Jeffers, in fact Jeffers seems to make a fine complimentary catcher and his defensive WAR is 0.4 compared to Sanchez -0.2. But Jeffers hasn't thrown out a runner yet (0-13) while Sanchez has a career mark of throwing out 28% of runners attempting to steal on …