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I don't know. 5 minutes out of a day... 1440 minutes. That sounds like a ratio to me. I contend he's still being rational, rationing his enjoyment of the finer things in life, which in these days seem a bit harder to come by than usual. Good on him. TC Bear better be miked if it's AJ under the hood.

How can you argue about a team this deep. If they dont go 40-20, especially with the competion, i will be very surprised.

I'm guessing pinch runner will be the final thing they would consider in making their regular season roster... Maybe a playoff roster, but not a regular season roster.

But if the Twins win it all, it will make 2020 suck a little bit less. And if they do, I could care less what anyone who isn't a Twins fan thinks. Given the situation, they came out in top.

60-0!

Max Kepler vs Trevor Bauer again! Hopefully Bauer will pitch one of the Reds games.

"He went to Morehead State for 8 years. I hated him". I almost spit out my coffee.

60-0, still falling short of the major league record for wins by 56. (BTW, the major league record for Wins by a team playing exactly 60 games is 43. That was the 1873 Boston Red Stockings, precursor to today's Braves. Since only 6 teams in total have ever played that number, we're dealing with somewhat small sample size of course.)

My humble opinion despite not being the target of your question. And I have commented on this some time ago. Please understand I agree with punishment for breaking rules, whether deliberately done or not. But the punishment for Pineda was based on "normalcy". 80 games, then reduced as they believed his transgression was indeed accidental. Fine. But the punishment handed out was still based on a normal season. Terms of service time are being pro-rated for 2020 Despite it being a shortened season. Meaning 100% proration for service time despite what will now be less than half a full season. Pineda's suspension was originally half a season, or 50% of a season, carried out over 2019 and 2020. The lowering of his "sentence" comes out to approximately 43%, give or take. But with no proration for his punishment, he is now looking at something like 66% of games missed for 2020 ALONE. This doesn't even include games missed at the end of 2019. Combined, his punishment will now be well over 70% games penalized, which is not only more than his reduced number, but well over the original penalty guidelines. Again, OK with punishment. But how can you "award" extra service time on a prorated basis for some but "over punish" someone else in regard to the same abbreviated situation?

Agreed. IMO, this team is just too good, too balanced and too deep to not be targeting 40 wins. It would take massive injuries, illness or meltdown not to make a serious run at that number.

I have always liked Eddie Rosario as a player and a man. I have to say, it is kind of disturbing to hear Aaron Gleeman and others constantly insist we would be better off without him.(sorry Aaron i just listen to the podcast every single week) We all know the plate discipline analytics. The only time i remember anyone could say his defense was subpar was last year. Let us not forget he was hurt from sometime in June on, and he was asked to move to rf to make room for Araez bat. As a former outfielder i can guarantee it is not an easy transition from lf to rf. On top of that he still hit 30+ bombs and still 100+ rbi. Come on man! Who is ready to replace that? Cave? Wade? hell naw. Say what you want! Eddie Rosario is a valuable asset to this team. He came up with Every core player we have. To simply dismiss him is foolish. He is part of our Sano, Berrios, Buxton, Kepler, Polanco, etc group.. just saying.

I see 45-15. Trust me.

Did you not notice what transpired near the end of his reverie? A.J. Pi-erzynski. π, I tell you. Irrational. Worse than that, transcendental. It transcends reality. This is the dream of a madman.

Is there a speedster on the 40 man roster for the bench? i have been thinking about who I might pinch run if the Twins had to put a runner on second in extra innings. Wade and Cave might be the best options and they have very similar base running data but they aren’t difference makers. Both are near league median. They are closer to Sano than they are to Buxton. Would Nick Gordon be a better option? Is he enough of an improvement to take the Cave/Wade roster spot? Celestine is better but do you start the service time?

So, the Twins dropped their roster down to 29 players when MLB put the roster freeze on in March sometime... This roster is 30 players... The Twins likely will stick with those 29 and then maybe add one more player. So, who is that player? If I'm reading this correctly, it's Lewis Thorpe, right?

Just read this on MLB Trade Rumors: Same article also states that once a player is put on the active roster standard rules apply. 10 days if optioned unless injury necessitates a recall.

I'll take the under on all five. In each case I think there is a good chance that the actual number will turn out to be 0.

Colina needs to be on the list, IMHO.

Agreed. They match up well against the Royals, Tigers, and Pirates, and also the Reds. (1 game: Homer Bailey's triumphant return?) They could be well over .500 with the other 5 teams. The offense is obviously there. In a short season, depth of pitching works in the Twins favor. The eastern media's story could be that the Twins' record is a fluke. Remember the meme a few months ago that Atlanta would be swapped for Pittsburgh? It would have made the Central corridor more competitive.

I think this roster makes sense and seems the most likely. I wouldn't sleep on Poppen. Just have a hunch he's the next young RP to step up. And ST 2.0 could offer up a reprieve for Chacin, who didn't look very good in version 1.0. I like this team A LOT!

I’m not sure those answers have been announced yet. But I would guess that shuffling starting pitchers off and on the taxi squad won’t be allowed. My guess is the transaction rules will be pretty similar to “regular” rules as if the taxi squad was a AAA team. I still am not convinced that those players will be particularly useful as games start. Practice is practice. Playing in a game is very different. How useful is a guy going to be to come in in September to face 90 mph sliders when he hasn’t seen live pitching since mid July? Same goes for pitchers. Although, simulating game conditions is a little easier for pitchers. The taxi squads will have to play real games somehow. There just is no other way to keep them in game shape. No idea how that will work.

My question is - how frequently can you change your 30 man with your taxi squad? If you can do it everyday you change it with the next days starter and load up with relief and bats. Why put 5 starters on the squad if you aren't going to use them and have access to daily change?

It's gonna be weird not having any games against the AL East or West... but hey, the schedule really couldn't be any easier! We will only play one division winner and only 2 90+ win teams. No Yankees or Astros!

Ah, baseball, the field of dreams!

Let's crank it up boys and get ready to roll. Nelly, Josh, Mitch, Max, Eddie, Jorge and Miggy gotta launch the bombas while Luis is stingin' the ball and Buck is flyin' round the bases (and hopefully not into any walls). Stay safe--health is going to be doubly important in this short season.

“I’m falling asleep on the chair tonight” I haven’t used my phone charger next to the easy chair in months. It’s about time... Thanks for the hearty chuckle RBS

I think bombas.

Bauer is on quite the redemption tour with his video breakdown of MAX! owning him and then telling Aubrey Huff to pound sand. If he sucks against the Twins and crushes the rest, I might have to be less annoyed by him.

Option 3: Press "Like This" on this comment (or voice your support below) if you want us to piggyback Jake Odorizzi and Michael Pineda, preserving our top starters for the postseason.

Option 2: Press "Like This" on this comment (or voice your support below) if you want us to start Jose Berrios on 3 days rest in Game 163.

That does seem to be the only real training camp question at this point: Dobnak or Bailey for the 5th spot in the rotation? I don't think it will matter much at the start of the season. Even if the stated 5th SP keeps his spot all season, I expect the 6th SP pitches to the tune of only 30% less innings than the 5th guy.

Personally, I still think the 5th spot is Bailey's to lose for the first 39 games of the year. Given that he's the veteran and the one making 7 million dollars (whatever than is prorated), I think that's where he starts. Dobnak has pitched not even 35 major league innings, so forgive me if I have doubts about his ability to maintain rates of 0.3 HR/9 and 1.6 BB/9 this year. Teams have also had more than enough time to put together a scouting report on him now. Now that we're going all in, I don't think management is going to take those chances, and I also think Bailey can keep his upward trajectory going getting to work with Wes Johnson, as he was better in KC than with CIN in 2018, and then better in Oakland than KC. I'll also point out that Bailey has been a starter his entire major league career, beginning in 2007. Not one regular season relief appearance, the only one coming in the 2010 Playoffs. Dobnak, as someone who was pitching in the minors as recently as last year, is used to having to pitch a few innings here, and a couple innings there. If (when) another Twins starter gets injured, it would be a lot easier for Dobnak to jump from long relief to the rotation than for Bailey, because of Dobnak already being in that role for the last couple of years. If things go awry with Bailey or someone else gets hurt, Dobnak is certainly a nice option to have as a 6th starter. I also look forward to what Bailey might be able to do in shorter, higher velocity stints if that happens, or if Pineda takes his spot.

We must flatten the curve before Twins hitters get to flatten curves. Please everybody wear masks and wash your hands so I can stop using comparisons like that! Skol Twinkies!