Minnesota Twins Talk

There are still multiple posts about the retrace deadline, which is cool. But it's over and done. Where are the Twins NOW, and what is to come? Reality points: 1] The Twins are 66-42 with a 3 game lead in the Central on Thursday the 1st of August. They have the 3rd best record in the AL, and the 4th best record in all of baseball. Games played are not the same, but they are roughly 4 games back from the best record in the AL. 2] Ted wrote a great piece a couple of days ago, that I can't find at the moment, that stated the Twins had a winning record against .500 or better teams that would lead to an 88 win season. Think about that for a moment. This current Twins tea…

I realize this is a bit premature, but would it be far-fetched to start thinking of Nelson Cruz as an MVP candidate? I was perhaps one of the few on this board who was not that crazy about the Twins signing him over the winter, but my skepticism has turned to admiration. This guy has been amazing this year! 39 years old, or any age, he is putting up some very impressive stats. Maybe he won't be having more 3-homer games, but can he continue playing this well down the stretch?

http://www.startribune.com/nelson-cruz-sergio-romo-pick-up-slack-wehere-newcomer-sam-dyson-fails/515144702/ Reusse's column says there's a strong likelihood Buxton is heading back to the IL after his latest crash into the center field wall... Just in time to miss most of, if not all of the Cleveland series next week... Nothing official yet, but doubt Reusse would have tweeted it or ran with it in his column if he didn't have a good sense this was happening.

In spite of the disheartening game 3 loss to the Marlins, 5 of six ain't bad and now the huge 7 games against Braves and Indians to wrap up the 13 game run. Thank goodness Cron is back and better Buxton already be on the IL to allow time to figure out the lineups. Ditto Dyson for the bull pen. No way to explain his performance with Twins so far given his last 7 with the Giants with no runs allowed. Tough pitching match up tonight but somehow need 2 of 3 against Braves and at least a split with the Indians to not lose any ground. Indians just keep on winning so maybe they are due for a little tail spin. 4 of seven in these games would be great. 3 of 7 tolerable. Just get …

Byron Buxton on IL (left shoulder) Michael Pineda on IL (right triceps) Lewis Thorpe - optioned Jake Cave - recalled CJ Cron - activated Zack Littell - recalled

Passions, emotions, frustrations, whatever … will be running high throughout the day, throughout the weekend, and maybe throughout the end of the season, depending on what is/isn’t done or does/doesn't happen. Whatever your feelings and opinions are, please, express them, as that’s what we’re here for and why TD exists. How you may choose to express them, however, is a different matter. We hope that no matter how angry or jubilant we get, no matter what we like/don't like, that the discourse still remains respectful and civil. What this means: -Don’t make things personal. Rebut the post without making generalized assumptions as to whom you think the other poster is, i.e…

If the Mets were to be willing to move him to the Twins what sort of package would it take? Would something like Graterol, Javier and Larnach be enough? That too much? What do you think?

Just speculating on the chances the Twins manage to trade for Trevor Bauer. He’s an iconoclast, does his own thing, spent years working with Driveline baseball, has a million pitches and lots of unique drills and stretches, and insists that he will be going year by year for contracts. Cleveland is extremely hot right now and is looking to hunt the Twins down. Bauer would be a big part of that chase. And of course trading within the division means the Twins would potentially spend years facing some of their best prospects playing for Cleveland. But, but, but - Derek Falvey has a really close connection with Bauer. That was the source of the Indians trading for him f…

Per La Velle in his latest at the Star Trib: Denied a top-line starter in trade talks, Twins turn to Plan B I gotta say, the notion that Syndergaard is "no longer viable" seems dubious to me. There's still a ways to go until Wednesday afternoon's deadline. Posturing and misdirection are common around this time. The Mets are dreaming if they think they're going to get an established young big-leaguer of Buxton's caliber. However, if the report is indeed true, it sounds like the Twins are fully swinging their focus to the bullpen. Thoughts?

August 12 is the Twins' next off day. It is at the end of a rugged 13 game run starting tonight with 3 against the Marlins. Then its straight into a 10 game home stand concluding with 7 games against teams with Native American team names. 1 leads the NL East, the other is 2 behind the Twins in the AL Central. I think its fair to say that the standings on Aug. 12 will say an awful lot about the standings on Sep. 30.

Are there any relievers left?

I'm sad there is no game tonight. I will be forced to watch the Bachelorette...If the Twins flew to the #1 Latin party city in the US Sunday night, what could they possibly find to do for 2 days?? And we can't forget about Max Kepler's favorite pitcher, the "Wild Thang" Hey Ricky Bauer, if you can sail a football 400 feet, please report to Vikings training camp...I could say so much more but..."a little high and just off the plate" will have to do. What are your Random thoughts?

I see the Giants involved in a rumor looking for a 2B. They have bullpen depth. Twins have middle infield depth. How about Schoop for Watson? I think it is rental for rental as I believe Watson has a player option. I think both teams improve a weak spot using their depth without sacrificing future.

Do we know what they are doing right now? Does the front office? Right now the bullpen is: Taylor Rogers Tyler Duffey Ryne Harper Trevor May Cody Stashak Carlos Torres Lewis Thorpe Devin SmeltzerHalf of them are rookies (and/or starting pitchers) or Carlos Torres - which means they are all pretty much supposed to be used in lower leverage situation, one would think. Are they forcing Rocco to use Rogers/Duffey/Harper/May as his go-to guys in close games? Were they just trying to stop him from using Magill/Parker/Morin in high leverage situations? If so, they picked a bad time to hamstring bullpen depth and paid the price. On a positive note, you gotta think this means …

Buxton activated from Concussion injury list, Poppen recalled. Smeltzer rewarded for his good work with an option to Rochester. Cave sent down to clear room for Buck.

So if anyone's been watching the Twins since the all star break, one thing is becoming brutally clear. They are on borrowed time when it comes to leading, and having any chance of ultimately winning, the division. Their recent losses to Oakland and the New York Yankees have exposed a major flaw in their chemistry that has been brewing since the season began. The bullpen. It was blatantly illustrated in the game last night against the Yanks when, despite building an early 6 run lead in the fourth, and then scoring 2 in the eighth to retake the lead they had lost in the top of the inning, they were unable to close out the game, eventually giving up another 2 runs in the…

Finally the Twins have pulled off a trade. Sad part they had to give up cash to acquire him.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/07/falvey-on-twins-deadline-approach.html Discouraging to say the least. From the article: Fans probably shouldn’t expect any true blockbusters out of the Minnesota front office. Falvey says he’s “actively working that market to try and find ways to improve this club,” but strongly suggests it won’t come in the way of adding new core or high-end rental pieces. This year’s successes, he says, will surely come “from the group that’s in that clubhouse right now.” Deadline moves are likelier to function as “supplements” to the roster core.

Here are some things it proves: 1. Oakland's pitching staff is REALLY, REALLY GOOD! The Twins offense did not look anywhere near this against Oakland. Our hitting wasn't atrocious. But it wasn't doing what it's doing in the Yankees series. 2. I will not watch Twins-Yankees games. I pretty much have watched almost every Twins game this year. But I have no interest in watching when the Twins play the Yankees. It's not worth the frustration anymore after decades of losing to them. Everyone will call game 2 a classic but actually it went pretty much according to how the Yankees games always go since we were the Washington Senators. When you lose routinely to a team since …

Honestly, I expect this article to die a quick death simply because our favorite website is absolutely inundated with similar posts. And I think that would be a shame, because I think this SHOULD be the place where we can talk and post HONESTLY about what is, what we hope, and what may be. Some of my opinions here are memory, and memory falters. And I simply will not take the time, at this moment, to research season by season numbers. So blast me all you want to as a result. But before we get in to TODAY, I want to reflect a bit on yesterday. From 2011-2014, the Tigers ruled the division with an average win total of 92. They slipped to 5th place in 2015 and rebound…

Get some help for the bullpen. Immediately. Don't dither over the decision, don't haggle hard over the cost. Don't let others beat you to your preferred targets. You have a lineup. You have reasonably strong starting pitching. Your team battles. Crowds are showing at Target Field, TV and radio ratings are up. The entire region is engaged. Don't blow this. Don't chicken out. Don't worry about the possible cost 4 years from now. Do it. Now. Do not let this bullpen cost you any longer.

I thought at least Stewart and maybe also Stashak would be shuttled today to get fresh arms. It isn’t reasonable to expect any pitcher to go more than 5 against the Yankees. Since the All Star break only 1 starter has gone 7 and one other 6. Some good starters didn’t make it 6. They need to expect no more than 5 from Odorizzi and be ready with at least 4 from the pen. Without moves I am not sure they have are prepared.

Kirby Yates is having a fantastic season. The best of his career, by far. Currently the holder of an ERA under 2, a WHIP of 0.81 and WAR of 2.5. Needless to say Kirby Yates is probably at his peak right now. If the Padres want to maximize his return they should trade him while he stays up there. However, how high is that peak and what would it take to get Kirby Yates? Most likely at some point Yates will likely regress a little bit (ZiPS has him at at 2.55 ERA the rest of the way), but looking at his body of work over the last 2.5 years he has been a solid relief pitcher with a high strikeout rate. And that is where I think the Twins or any team vying for his serv…

I'm going to play a little devils advocate here on Boyd. It seems the majority is in favor of unloading top prospects for him. I personally feel he's peaked. His last 8 starts are as follows: Cle: 6 IP 5 ER 0 BB 8K KC: 7 IP 4 ER 4 BB 10 K CWS: 5.1 IP 4 ER 0 BB 13 K Tex: 7 IP 4 ER 1 BB 11K Cle: 6 IP 5 ER 2 BB 6K KC: 4 IP 4ER 2BB 6K MN: 7IP 3ER 0BB 8K ATL: 5IP 3 ER 0BB 9K The K/BB ratio is fantastic, I will give you that. However, his only quality start came against us and he has not been dominant since May. Additionally, these are not top tier teams he has been facing of late. I do not see this as a guy who puts us over the top (not even sure he'd crack our top 3 SP…

He appears to be good for the Twins and for baseball. From the Wall Street Journal 3/6/19: "Astudillo has a strange skill set in today’s major leagues: He actually hits the ball. Fifty-nine players struck out more before the All-Star break last season than Astudillo has in his entire minor-league career." "This man is baseball’s most unlikely, yet most reliable, viral sensation. In a game last September, his mad dash from first to home in 11.63 seconds—cheeks puffing, tongue dangling, long, curly hair swept in the wind—was like “Chariots of Fire”-meets beer-league softball. Astudillo said later he “wanted to show that chubby people also run.” https://www.wsj.com/a…

This shocked me. According to fangraphs, the Twins starting pitchers are second in total innings pitched* but only 5 innings behind first place Houston, despite playing three fewer games. Our starters are averaging 5 and 2/3 innings per start which is the best (although it's a basic tie with Cleveland). 10 years ago, the best team averaged 6 and 1/3 inning per start. I've been complaining that our starters aren't going long enough but they are going longer than everyone else. I'm stunned. The game is changing a lot. (I'm also not sure how fangraphs is measuring the openers in this manner). *AL only

Did anyone else notice how each A's batter takes at least 6 or 7 pitches to be out, if they are out? Or how about clutch hitting situations? This, my friends, is real baseball. Real baseball is making that pitcher battle for every single out in the game. As far as I am concerned, the only hitter in our lineup that is a hardballer right now is Luis Arraez. The relentlessness of the A's lineup makes even me tired, watching from my easy chair. Can't imagine how much it tires out our pitching. Our hitters need to come up with a new approach. At least Sano is looking like he wants to attempt real baseball. Excellent approach at the plate tonight for him.

Can you guys that pay attention to details more closely than I do tell me why I shouldn't loathe Trevor May right now? The mega two handed fist pump on the mound yesterday after the third out strikeout put me over the top. He let an inning get away from him and bailed himself out before completely melting down. You don't fist pump that, you walk off the mound and go away.

Dustin Morse just tweeted the Twins Transactions. As Jeremy Nygaard was first to mention, Cody Stashak was added to the 40 and 25 man roster. In addition, Lewis Thorpe was called up. To make room, Zack Littell was optioned and CJ Cron placed on IL.

So, pretty interesting to see this on Twitter ... https://twitter.com/JOLaMaKina/status/1152635080210362375 They just want to get money ...