The Brewers are running out a pitching trio these days that nobody wants to see in the playoffs. Corbin Burnes (3rd), Brandon Woodruff (4th), and Freddy Peralta (not qualified, but would be about 5th with like 10 more innings) all rank in the top 10 in baseball in ERA. I don't know if any of you have been paying attention, but the Twins starting staff have been slightly worse than that. Want a couple silver linings that may give a little hope for the Twins future? Here's what I got:

The highest any of the 3 were ranked on prospect lists (according to baseball-reference) is 46 (Baseball America ranked Burnes there in 2019). Woodruff maxed out at 61 in 2018 (again by Baseball America) and Peralta was never on a top 100 list. So you don't have to be a top 10 global guy to have a sub-2.50 ERA!

In 2018 and 2019 Burnes had AAA ERAs of 5.15 and 8.46. In 2017 Woodruff's AAA ERAs were 4.30 and 4.04. So nothing insane there! (Peralta dominated AAA pretty well)

Burnes was 25 before he established himself in the bigs. And he didn't lose a minor league season to a pandemic! This is Peralta's first dominant major league starting season and he's 25. Woodruff was also 25 when he established himself as a quality major league starter. So our guys, especially considering the pandemic mixed in, that aren't exactly 19 or 20 anymore aren't super old!

That's about all I have, though. The Brewers are an organization that tends to go for velocity in their pitchers while the Twins go after elite pitches, whether it be a guy's slider, splitter, whatever, and aren't as big on velo specifically. I don't know if there's really a right or wrong answer there. The Brewers are more open to bringing guys up and letting them get experience in the pen before moving them to the rotation, though. I don't know if that would have been the Twins plan this year if nearly all of their top prospect arms hadn't been injured, but they feel like an org that prefers starters start and relievers relieve. I don't know what each team's feelings on inning increases are, but it feels like the Brewers don't care as much, but I don't have any hard data to present on that right now.

I'm certainly not suggesting the Twins are going to have 3 "homegrown" guys with 2.50 ERAs in the near future, but not every superstar arm are top 10 global prospects or show up at 22 years old and slice the league up. So maybe not all hope is lost?

Starting Pitchers:
Mil- Adrian Houser: 7-5, 3.44 ERA
Min- Charlie Barnes: 0-3, 6.56 ERA

Starting Lineups:
Mil
Kolten Wong 2B
Willy Adames DH
Christian Yelich LF
Avisail Garcia RF
Luis Urias SS
Lorenzo Cain CF
Rowdy Tellez 1B
Manny Pina C
Jace Peterson 3B

Min
Luis Arraez DH
Byron Buxton CF
Jorge Polanco 2B
Josh Donaldson 3B
Max Kepler RF
Miguel Sano 1B
Brent Rooker LF
Ryan Jeffers C
Andrelton Simmons SS

Charlie Barnes. Sigh. 

This is literally unrelated. I'm just impressed when anyone can steal off of Yadi and Yadi doesn't even mind. 

P.S. Kolten Wong now plays for Milwaukee

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gbiJPutzcuI

19 minutes ago, shortround81 said:

This is literally unrelated. I'm just impressed when anyone can steal off of Yadi and Yadi doesn't even mind. 

P.S. Kolten Wong now plays for Milwaukee

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gbiJPutzcuI

Yadi may be smiling on the outside but on the inside…

Game should be starting on time:

 

Not much different than normal for the offense

Seems like the Twins used to have starters get action in the bullpen in the majors before starting. The obvious best example is Santana.

But Falvey seems to believe starters need to be starters. I wonder if Cleveland does the same thing??  Is this where he got that idea? 

Wes Johnson and the pitching coaches have done well before this this season, so it seems hard to pin the blame on him/them. 

1 down, only 4 to go, for Charlie.

That's all right. We got the meat of our order coming up next inning. Kepler .211, Sano .215, Rooker .192, Jeffers .206. Houser's already looking nervous.

Great infield

Charlie's Cruising!

1 minute ago, LVTwinsfan said:

Great infield

And at a bargain price, too!

7 minutes ago, Dave The Dastardly said:

That's all right. We got the meat of our order coming up next inning. Kepler .211, Sano .215, Rooker .192, Jeffers .206. Houser's already looking nervous.

Mmmm meat!

 

Some A1 sauce?

Or grey poupon?

Charlie's still cruising! Rocco isn't about to pull him out, is he?

Barnes taking a cue from Albers, it seems?

 

Can't complain...

 

(well, i can if i really try, but that would take effort)

2 minutes ago, Dave The Dastardly said:

Charlie's still cruising! Rocco isn't about to pull him out, is he?

He's got a hair trigger pulling... what do managers pull pitchers with?

Just now, sampleSizeOfOne said:

He's got a hair trigger pulling... what do managers pull pitchers with?

Rocco:  "Here, pull my finger".

Damn, you can really see the difference when Buxton plays CF.  Much smoother, and running the proper route.

3 minutes ago, RickOShea said:

Rocco:  "Here, pull my finger".

I approve of this managing style.

 

The opposing team won't know what hit 'em.

 

(i seem to use that phrase a lot)

9 minutes ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

He's got a hair trigger pulling... what do managers pull pitchers with?

 

32 minutes ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

Mmmm meat!

 

Some A1 sauce?

Or grey poupon?

Garvesauce! 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

oh… wait…. Rats

Sano, you can do it!

Nice double Sano!

Need to get through the next half inning ASAP

The brew crew is praying for rain, BARNES, has got em rattled!

Hope Cain is okay!

 

Was gonna say usually it's Buxton taking second on a single like that...

Injury delay… did Donaldson’s legs fall off?

El double!

Way to stand still Simmons. 

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE!