Twins 4, A's 3: Bullpen Completes Sweep of Oakland

[stringer bell]

10 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

Cotton, Rodriguez, Garlick and Godoy come to mind as adds/drops from the 40 since opening day.

I guess you’re right, but they haven’t lost anyone to a DFA since the season started. My bad. 

[darwin22]

Regarding Pagan.......let the FACTS speak for themselves over his last 5 appearances:

3 saves

1 hold

1 blown save

IP: 4.67

K's: 7

BB:  8

Total pitches thrown:  140/ 28 pitches per outing.

Summation:  NOT the answer as closer.  Not the answer in"closer by committee."  Time to get him into some lower leverage situations.  Hate to mention it, but back many years ago "RD" had some success in closer role until the wheels totally came off.  Pagan is riding on 2 wheels right now....barely.

[Unwinder]

I was going to comment that I'm really apprehensive about all these one-run wins that could've easily gone the other way, especially against teams like the Athletics, but then I thought about the roster. Correa's out, Buxton's out, Arraez is out, Larnach's out, Garlick's out, and Sano is out (on top of being ineffective). It's pretty great that with all of these guys gone, the Twins have the depth to stay in close games.

[LA VIkes Fan]

Great to sweep the As when half of the starting lineup is out. Think about it, of the 8 positions only 4 positions had starters in or available the lineup for more than one game this weekend - Polanco, Kepler, Miranda/Urshela, and Jeffers/Sanchez. Pretty amazing we could beat anybody 3 straight. Great seeing Lewis and Celestino perform well, and Miranda is close. Pitching is really carrying us but the young guys are making a contribution. 

The only real disappointment is Kirilloff. He looks bad. I'm guessing  a lot of it is phycological with the wrist as much as it is physical.  Godoy is probably the first one to go back to AAA when Arraez is ready but Kiriloff has to be second when Garlick or Larnach can come back. Sad to see, but Kirilloff needs to go back to AAA and really show he's ready before he should be on the 26 man roster. I hope that when Correa is ready to play full time in about a week (DH until then), that Lewis stays to play 3B/DH with Urshela, Miranda stays to play 1B with Arraez and  Celestino stays to be the LF/DH/4thOF tandem with Larnach. Bye bye to Garlick and Sano (60 day injured list) and option Kirilloff.  

[stringer bell]

Assuming that the position players return on schedule and without further incident, Godoy, Kirilloff and Lewis would be optioned to St. Paul in that order IMHO. There just won’t be enough playing time for Lewis if all but Sanó are healthy. 
 

Kirilloff needs to hit, but he could force the Twins to choose between himself, Garlick and Celestino. 

[mikelink45]

9 hours ago, ashbury said:

I'll say again, as with the last time he pitched... I don't like Pagan pitching critical innings, in comparison to some theoretical ideal that could be had... but given his limitations, I have some grudging appreciation for his approach.  (As long as it works.)

In the game thread, I gave the outline of how I expected the inning to go, and except for a flyout to end the game rather than a strikeout (on what should be ball four, I added for amusement) it pretty much went that way.  I believe, for better or for worse, he pitches to a plan - specifically he aims to finish the inning before reaching the top of the order.  Today the first batter was the #5 guy, and he went after him, but (I infer) only in a way to allow the batter to get himself out.  If that works, great, on to the next batter.  But he seems always to have an eye toward the next batter, who will be easier.  And the next one easier still (not taking into account pinch-hitters),  On down to the #8 guy, if he hasn't got two outs yet, then he goes after him.  Ditto for the #9 guy with two outs. 

You can view it as playing with fire, because such a plan involves being okay with putting on baserunners.  And quite possibly his game plan is not as I have stated - I'm not a mind reader.  But for his past couple of games, it has worked well to check who leads off the ninth, and work out the logistics.  A lot easier on the nerves to accept that he'll put a couple of guys on because he doesn't want to give in.

Good teams will not give him the luxury that Oakland and Baltimore do to play with walks and putting men on base.  I see horrid days ahead if we keep putting him in this position.  

[Trov]

The most recent stretch of games show how important having depth in the 40 man, and even a little more, is needed to win in a season.  We are down several starters but still getting wins.  Our pen has been solid, something people thought would be a dumpster fire this season coming into season.  Our starters overall have been very good too, despite using 7 different starters so far. 

[Squirrel]

10 hours ago, Unwinder said:

I was going to comment that I'm really apprehensive about all these one-run wins that could've easily gone the other way, especially against teams like the Athletics, but then I thought about the roster. Correa's out, Buxton's out, Arraez is out, Larnach's out, Garlick's out, and Sano is out (on top of being ineffective). It's pretty great that with all of these guys gone, the Twins have the depth to stay in close games.

Perspective is a good thing.

[Squirrel]

Pagan … I don’t think he’s the closer. I don’t think we have one. It’s a traditional mindset that I think most teams are moving away from. But usage … yes, it makes me very nervous seeing Pagan warming in the 9th when the game is close. But it seems that’s all we’ve had is close games. Duran is young and somewhat new to relieving. (He’s a starter … has he been used in a relief role much in his development?) They aren’t going to use him every day. while I don’t know the reasons, I’m sure the Twins have lots of reasons why certain pitchers are being used in certain situations. Could some of this be a result of not having Alcala? Definitely, imo. As much as these close wins could have easily been lost, they weren’t.

[ashbury]

6 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Good teams will not give him the luxury that Oakland and Baltimore do to play with walks and putting men on base.  I see horrid days ahead if we keep putting him in this position.  

I'm clicking Like because I don't actually disagree with a word you say.  But your response was not really relevant to my point.  If he's put in to pitch the ninth, I've resolved to enjoy watching how he approaches his work.

And then cheer in the unlikely event he succeeds.

But my calm over the process stems from not really seeing this as a championship caliber season.  Things change if it starts to look like we can beat the good teams - because I don't think Pagan can.  Farting around while disposing of the likes of Baltimore and Oakland doesn't really register one way or the other.

[Schmoeman5]

In regards to Pagan, Justin Morneau  made a comment that Pagan was working on a new grip. I know these pitchers work out every day. But if that's why he's struggling with his command then why isn't he in St.Paul trying to get his BB/9 back on track instead of in meaningful regular season games? Before this season his BB/9 ratio was 2.5/9  and now it's over 10. Or is that not an option