CLE 9, MIN 7: Bullpen Crumbles on Night Kimbrel Signs With Cubs

Last night was just a weird game. Cleveland had to piece together a bullpen game after Carrasco's news. A long rain delay midway through the game. A really slow pace of play leading up to the delay. No need to look at this game and think it is an indication of either team, really.

As many others have noted, Perez was bad again. Starting a game with a 4 pitch walk set the tone for him to struggle through his outing. Sano made an error and Castro had a passed ball that resulted in the Twins defense standing on the field for an extra half hour or so while Perez worked incredibly slowly.

The bullpen concerns are very valid, but I am more concerned with the fact Baldelli is reluctant to bring Rodgers in too early in a game. Bring Rodgers into the game after the rain delay instead of Parker, let him try to get 6 outs and kill any hope Cleveland has in a comeback. All too often it feels like Baldelli wants to get to the 9th with a lead for Rodgers to protect when Rodgers might best be used earlier to help lock the game down.

As it pertains to Kimbrel, the Twins front office has done an incredible job of keeping their payroll flexibility open for future years. A Buxton extension and a Rosario extension are more important. Neither extension prevents the Twins from signing Kimbrel, of course, but there is always some trickle down impact on future signings. I am optimistic the Twins will look to SF or Oakland for more affordable (and possibly more productive) bullpen help.

Bad loss. Cleveland was in a desperate and almost hopeless position, and still they found a way to win the game (or the Twins found a way to lose it...whichever you prefer). It's the kind of bad loss, great win, that can have lingering effects, on both clubs IMO. We'll see.

Hopefully, this thing for Carrasco is quickly controlled and remedied from the standpoint of his health.

Castro and Perez did not seem to be on the same page last night. Pretty bad throwing error by Sano (wasn't terribly close) and he'd already been bailed out by Cron earlier.

Lindor sure is a beast, though. He's absolutely crushed us so far this series (5-7, 5 R, 2B, 3 HRs, 2 BB, 1 K). That's outlandish. Please take a day off. Please let us know how we have offended you so we can apologize. My goodness.

probably a bit more concerned about Perez myself. Wondering if the league is figuring him out. 

I think he is just not used to pitching this much. They should take advantage of the 10 day IL and make up a lame injury to give these guys a break.  Berrios might also benefit from a little time off as well.

I knew the Twins were going to lose when the game was delayed 90 minutes and the crew decided to let the game finish with the outfield flooded.

Too bad.

I love the headline for this article, btw.

 

Fernando Romero has the stuff, but, does he have the confidence needed to anchor the bullpen?

What is the current thought process on Romero - that he needs to gain confidence and dominate AAA?  Is there benefit at some point to bringing him back up to work with Wes Johnson?

Bad loss. Cleveland was in a desperate and almost hopeless position, and still they found a way to win the game (or the Twins found a way to lose it...whichever you prefer). It's the kind of bad loss, great win, that can have lingering effects, on both clubs IMO. We'll see.

 

Hopefully, this thing for Carrasco is quickly controlled and remedied from the standpoint of his health.

This is the bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that the Twins get swept by Cleveland. Then, we look back and say what a terrible impact this sweep had on the Twins season. Or, is that just the battered Minnesota fan in me talking?

This is the bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that the Twins get swept by Cleveland. Then, we look back and say what a terrible impact this sweep had on the Twins season. Or, is that just the battered Minnesota fan in me talking?

Yes.

The Twins bullpen ERA (6.10) is 26th in baseball over the last 3 weeks.  Things are not trending in a good direction for the group and I'm more than a bit concerned about the impact on the team if there aren't upgrades in the very near future.

Now that the Kimbrel notion is over, it will be interesting to see how quickly the front office makes a move or two to add some bullpen arms.  Interesting tradeoff.  If you wait until the trade deadline, there are potentially more teams as trading partners since more teams will be in 'sell' mode. However, last night's game illustrated that the pen needs some reinforcements sooner rather than later.  If anything, the amazing start to the season and big divisional lead likely buys some extra time for the front office to find the right deal(s).  We are in a position of strength rather than being in desperation mode.  A guy could get used to that sort of thing.......

Isn't it more appropriate to just divide total wins and losses by ten to put them in "football terms"?

 

By that measure, the Twins are 4-2, and Cleveland is 3-3. (And Cleveland has both head-to-head games left to make up ground.)

 

FWIW, Cleveland's 10 game records:

7-3

5-5

5-5

4-6

5-5

4-6

1-0 (so far)

 

You wouldn't call that 1-2-3 so far, relative to the Twins 6-0.

I didn’t really think it through very much, honestly. However, I think 6-0 vs 1-2-3 is much more reflective of the current division standings than 4-2 vs 3-3.