Week in Review: ALL THEY DO IS WIN

Is this team for real? I still have no idea. But they keep winning and that makes me happy. So I hope the winning continues. 

I'd rather see Miranda get a shot first (since his 2021 was spectacular, he has more AAA experience, and he actually plays positions of need like 1B). Lewis looks like a future star at SS, and he should be on max innings there instead of being rushed up to play out of position, and hit once in a while.

Larnach looks like he's taking the next step (finally), and with Kepler, Correa, and now Polanco all having their bats wake up, the Twins no longer need to warp their top prospect's development to rush him (or Miranda) up to the bigs. Catcher is back to be the weakest part of the lineup, and that's okay with the rest of the order hitting.

Hooray for Ricky, the screaming rally goat. None of this would have happened without him. Thanks for the great summary of a great week in Twinsville.

Thielbar will come around. I am more concerned with Pagan and Duffey and they are fine for now.

A big positive for this Twins team is their improved defense. Just a pure visual and totally biased observation of mine sees a better defense at C, 2B, SS, LF, CF, and RF this season. 1B and 3B are pretty even and health in CF and RF makes a difference. Correa and Polanco have looked outstanding. Gordon and Celestino bring some speed and defense to the team. Celestino and Gordon are still improving on routes but their speed helps them cover inexperience. 

Thielbar's command has been bad, but he's actually throwing harder than ever. Hopefully he can get better control over his new velocity soon. If he does I think he'll be good again.  He has actually still been missing bats and getting mostly weak contact.

Duffey, on the other hand, has continued giving up hard contact all over the place, including today. I'm pretty concerned about him, and I'm also afraid he's going to get a longer leash and more high leverage opportunities because of his history of being good for Baldelli.

I've been critical of some of the moves the FO made this off-season, or more to the point, some moves they DIDN'T make this off-season when I felt opportunity was in their favor. And I think that's only fair. If I'm going to be supportive of them, as I have mostly been, I think it's fair to me/us to be critical as well when we see things we either don't like or don't understand. I'd like to think most of us, myself included, are fairly intelligent in our opinions and critiques, But I've always maintained that being an amateur GM doesn't allow me/us all the perspective and information or perspective that those in charge have. And I stand by a few complaints/issues I initially had as a semi-intellegent fan, even though I stated I liked a lot of things about this team. But I have to tip my cap to the FO for what they have done thus far. I know it's a long season,  but just about everything they've done thus far has been SMART.

I can't help but break down a few points as discussed here.

1] The rotation has been crazy good, even with limited IP. Including Bundy's bad Friday, the rotation has what, one or two games that could actually be called "bad"? Can Bundy keep it up? He's never been the ML SP prospect hopes held in store after early injuries, but he's flashed good for some bad teams, and even flashed greatness in 2020 and part of 2021. Has he learned, grown, and been influenced by Johnson and the Twins to "level out" his abilities and just be a solid, quality SP yet again? Early results say yes. But what if it's a mirage for only part of a season? (NOT saying it is!). Then he buys time at the WORST. Archer has been a find! And credit to HIM and his handlers to get healthy and prepared as much as the Twins for taking a shot. He looks as good as he did in his heyday and only needs to continue to ramp up IP over the next few appearances. Paddack has me wondering what is going on in San Diego. Or, again, more to the point, how many kudos do we give to the FO, Johnson, and the rest of the staff to just be better/smarter to see talent and potential and work with it for the best outcome? Because the early returns are very encouraging. Ober has looked as good as last year before his groin issue. Hopefully he's back soon. Winder has looked good out of the pen and then had a tremendous 1st ML start today. Oh, BTW, Ryan looks like one of the top SP in the league so far. What in the world happened to early reports he was FB heavy and deceptive but his secondary stuff was in question? I'm NOT going to anoint him to some title this early in his career, but he's throwing 4 pitches consistently and getting results. 

Maybe the FO and staff are smarter than we thought?

2] I felt the offense had a chance to be very good. There were question marks to be sure. I was most concerned about Jeffers, Sanchez, Urshela and AK, but had hope for ALL 4. Jeffers has been flashing big time and getting in a groove. All I asked for in regard to Sanchez was to actually improve defensively as he claimed to be working on while just hitting .225-.235 with his customary power and .300 OB. Well, he's done that, if not better. Change of scenery? I never realized how good of a glove Urshela had. I can't wait for Miranda to be part of our future! But now I'm looking at how Urshela fits even with Miranda for depth and roster flexibility. AK, IMO, is huge to the future of the lineup as a fixture at 1B, who can still play a solid OF, and be a high quality bat in the middle of the order. I've also believed Larnach could be an important bat but honestly didn't expect him to look this good this soon after he tailed off last season and then lost the rest of 2021 due to injury. He looks like he's ready to stay, so I'm uncertain about AK, when ready, and how the roster looks going forward. And that's a GOOD kind of "trouble" to have to deal with.

But I HAVE to make a special note about Kepler. What is happening with him? He's always been an enigma despite his talent. He's a great RF and good CF who has a good eye and sweet swing who has just never been better than "good" other than 2019. A couple of seasons, milb and MLB, he hit LHP, but other years he just flaild against them. I used to argue he was at least a full year behind other prospects, despite his results, due to his introduction to baseball coming from Germany. But he kept climbing and producing and then 2019 happened. And then he suddenly regressed. Suddenly, now, fully healthy and 29yo, has time, experience, and coaching suddenly taken hold? He's suddenly hitting LH again, and even hitting the ball the other way. Are we seeing a final maturation of Kepler? Man I sure hope so!

3] I understand and yet hate the Twins approach to building a bullpen. For the most part, they've been successful. But at some point, you HAVE to have the arms you can count on. And right now, this is the ONE part of this team and it's success that concerns me. Losing Alcala really hurts. Lewis has been a great addition. Duran looks like a potential stud and difference maker. Pagan has the ability and proven results to be a solid piece, despite a bad outing recently. But right now, despite a strong April and good start to the season, and some good games, we are still "sorting out" the pen. Duffey and Thielbar have the stuff and experience to rebound and be part of a playoff team. But they better figure it out soon. Rosters are going to be reduced soon. And unless something changes, there are a couple of guys at AAA that may force the FO to make a change. Because right now, despite "decent" BP production with a winning record, the BP is the one potential weakness of what could be a legitimate playoff team.

Given the hot performances of Royce Lewis and Jose Miranda in St Paul, I've got to figure Gio Urshela's time in Minnesota could be growing short. Yes, Urshela has proved himself defensively, and yes, he has done some damage with his bat. But Lewis and Miranda look like much better bats, and both are probably good enough to play 3B without costing the team. 

If Urshela does get displaced, I hope it's Miranda. His power bat will play well from the hot corner. Meanwhile, I agree with others that Lewis would be better served playing daily SS for the Saints than riding the pine as a sub for the Twins, or playing out of position at 3rd. 

It has only been one month (Not even since Opening Day was April 7) but this team feels very similar to me to the 2019 team with how they bounce back from losses and the expectation that they will have a chance to win every game they play. Every game has a few different guys stepping up, total team efforts, pitching/hitting/defense all playing well.

I think this next week will be telling. 7 winnable games on the horizon. Hopefully the bats start to heat up with the weather improving. This past week has my expectations high for this team, I am very much looking forward to cheering for a team that has serious playoff aspirations once again.

Most cocktail parties are fun an hour in. By midnight, they can be magical or turn ugly. 

They need to figure out first base. Sano seems utterly lost. His move to the "IL" was predictable. The only thing really injured is his OPS. I am an Arraez fan but he is not a corner infielder on a championship team. He is a great bat, tons of watch but is a minus defender everywhere. DH him. Use him off the bench.

Promoting Miranda to third and moving Gio to first intrigues me. Gio is certainly athletic enough to be a better defensive alternative than Sano or Luis. Miranda/Gio has to be accretive to Gio/Arraez or Arraez/Sano.  

But in any case, lets enjoy this!! As the poet Crash Davis said about a winning streak, "they don't happen very often." 

Ps. Good post Doc. 

A win today would push them over .600. 

While I agree the pen might be a weak spot right now remember they get Maeda back as some point and could ease him back as a pen arm.  They also should get Alcala back as well. If they wanted to they could use one or two of the starters as pen arms in the playoffs so there should be options down the stretch to help the pen if needed.  

There are arms and options for the pen later in the year.

I get some frustration with Sano but we shouldn't question an injury. He is injured. Sano is an important piece if the Twins want to play extra baseball this year. Let's hope he gets squared away in the next couple of weeks.

Arraez is so much fun to watch but Urshela plays strong defense and there have already been a half dozen plays at third base where one can see the importance of defense. Luis will continue to see at bats but he needs to be very productive with line drives because long fly balls won't cut it for him. It is a long season and many players will get opportunities. If someone steps forward with a hot bat and/or glove there will be room in the lineup. We are seeing this right now with Larnach's bat and Urshela's glove.

A 12 - 9 April is a real achievement, particularly given where we were last year, but also historically.  Relying on memory rather than checking years previous, but  usually this club started slow in the first month, then broke out in May and June in many of their best years.  15% of the season is not enough to tell where the club is going just yet, but they are red hot right now with considerably more upside than down.  It would be fair for critics to say they would have done things differently, but if this success holds, management should get considerable credit for this off-season rebuild.