Week in Review: Bounceback in Baltimore

12-7 on April 21st...better than anybody expected.

Keuchel/Kimbrel?  Pass.

MLB semi-elite? No doubt. MLB semi-doubts? No doubt.

Fight tooth and nail the next 2 1/2 months, and then be super aggressive at the Trade Deadline...

Best way to the playoffs....not reacting in April...good start or bad start.

Now 7-0 against KC, DET, and BAL. 5-7 against rest of schedule. On to Houston.

The most notable performer in the bullpen was actually Ryne Harper, who pitched three times and allowed zero runs on three singles while recording 15 outs. He's fast changing his narrative from "good story" to "good reliever."

It seems the rest of the story is left out again. Harper was also 2/3 (5/8 on the season) inherited runners scored for the week, coming in against Toronto on Tuesday to bail out Gibson and hold the fort with runners on 1st and 2nd with one out and the Twins only down 2-1 in the 6th ..... and let them both score with a pair of singles before he walks away with a 0.00 ERA (a 2/2 outing). Am I the only one that thinks that is a big part of a reliever's story - the inherited-runners scored - and should always be included in a discussion of their perfomance? The Twins lost the game by one... 6-5, so those two runs that were charged to Gibson but let in by Harper, were significant.

Harper came in in the 4th with 2 outs and a runner on second on Thursday after Pineda had just imploded and turned a 3-1 lead into a 6-3 deficit, and struck Galvis out swinging on 4 pitches. Harper continued to pitch 3 more stellar innings, and kept the score at 6-3. Now that was impressive, albeit with a much lower pressure threshold. I really hope Harper continues to improve and baffle. We certainly need it in the pen.

Now 7-0 against KC, DET, and BAL. 5-7 against rest of schedule. On to Houston.

If they do as well against the White Sox as against these three teams they should be in pretty good shape.

Early, we don't know much.

Like, is Baltimore a terrible team? Not clear the way they played Boston and New York. But, how good are Boston and New York? Don't know.

Toronto gets some breaks at Target Field, Twins don't hit and Toronto take three of four, and then sweep Oakland out west. How good Toronto? Hard to say.

Things swing wildly the first months.

Twins will hit homers. Defense is solid to excellent. Pitching? Don't know.

Cleveland? Great starters, decent bullpen, weak on offense. Hard to repeat.

Division for the taking if Twins can pitch.

I'll take .600 ball, regardless of the opposition.

A sweep is good medicine for the foul feeling you get after losing a series that you think you should have won.

Toronto is hot, and like the old saying goes - "It isn't always who you play, but when you play them."  (Can we switch our schedule and go to the Bronx this week?)

The Twins bullpen is lacking in depth, but they are still currently tied for the third best record in MLB.   Knock on wood, the team is staying healthy since the regular season started.  Every team has their issues - some more than others.  

I'm certainly happy that the Twins don't have the Yankees' IL that's looking to compete with the weight of Johnny Cash's Cadillac title, and it's also nice that they don't have to call career 582 OPS Pedro Severino to pinch hit for career 579 OPS Cedric Mullins when the game is on the line.

While it's true that these are early days, the pressure on everyone is eased when the team is 12-7 rather than 7-12. If we play + .500 over the next three series, we'll be in good shape. The Astros are playing well, but not lights out. They are bound to lose at home soon. Let's hope the Twins deliver there first home losses for 2019.

"If the Twins can acquire an equivalent talent to Ryan Pressly, for an equivalent price that Houston paid, they should be looking to make that move at least once."

Or we could have just kept him in the first place.......

"If the Twins can acquire an equivalent talent to Ryan Pressly, for an equivalent price that Houston paid, they should be looking to make that move at least once."

 

Or we could have just kept him in the first place.......

Let's not forget how frustrating he was for the bulk of his Twins tenure.

Waiting is truly overrated. To me, doesn't matter how Alcala & Celestino ever become in the future. The Pressly trade made our team worse. We need him NOW and for the next few years.... not maybe in 2 or 3 years, or maybe even more (and then go through several years of inconsistency, like Pressly, before becoming a player like Pressly had become, and worth a trade for another team). We already had a need, and the trade made it worse. Alcala & Celestino may be great (I'll take money that they won't and won't even make the show....) and they may be a bust. Doesn't matter. This trade did not make the team better. If and when they might, it still doesn't matter, because it made this team worse. Could our staff had helped Pressly develop further? I don't know. They had their chance for years. That is the only question I have.

Let's not forget how frustrating he was for the bulk of his Twins tenure.

It only makes me think of how frustrating, for years time 2, that Alcala & Celestino will be if and when they even make it to the show. Wait 3 to 4 years for them to show up, and then inconsistent and frustrating for a couple more....... I want to forget about that already.

A lot of great news and great points of discussion!

1] You can't just "take away" a bad start, in the case of Odorizzi. But in the course of a season, there will absolutely be clunkers. And as early as the season still is, removing that clunker shows a guy actually throwing pretty well. His problem, thus far, is a sudden loss of control mid-game. Why and how does it get fixed is the question. I would prefer him as my 5th SP, not my 4th, but he is solid if the sudden control hiccups can be curtailed.

2] Offensively, we have seen the potential of this team. I maintain the offense is just heating up. Someone, in another thread, and I forget now who, pointed out we had such a high OPS that regression seemed inevitable. I don't disagree with that. The point is a few guys have been white hot and a few guys are just starting to really warm up. Meaning, overall, IMO, the lineup becomes more balanced and deeper as everyone starts to perform to their ability.

3] Bullpen. Ugh! Its an ongoing issue, right? I still say its been better than at least I expected, despite a couple blown games. May is a huge key. His stuff is way too good to be struggling the way he has been. Not sure what's holding him back. But a mkre steady May does a lot! It's easy to say Mejia is here because he's out of options. But he's here because his stuff is good! About a month in, we've seen very good and very bad from Mejia. Can attitude, (Not a bad one, just accepting his role), and Johnson smooth him out to be more consistent with his stuff? If those 2 can settle in, this pen suddenly has 5 pretty good arms available. And it's not exactly far-fetched to see that happening.

I absolutely agree with h2oface in regard to inherited runners scoring. And Harper should be more than a good story with good but perhaps skewed numbers at this point. But he shows potential. You have to start somewhere. But I would refrain from cannonizing him at this point. But, a rookie, a possible find, still only in the first 30 days of the season, I wouldn't villianize him yet either.

You need and should have 5 guys you can count on. We aren't there yet, but could be. You need one guy who has a role and is solid in that role. It's OK, even on great clubs, to have a 7th spot rotating from various prospects and the such. Unfortunately, we aren't there yet.

Brings me to point #4.

4] Pressly. To this day, I wouldn't have made that trade. Pressly was not always good/great. We need to remember that! The FO felt the deal was too good to pass up. Maybe so. Time will tell. But trading from weakness is never smart, IMO. He could be that one extra arm we really need right now. Instead, we are waiting for Romero, or someone else, to step forward or make a move for help at some point.

May settles down, so does Mejia, and at least one of Reed, Magill, Reed, Romero, or someone else steps forward, we are suddenly taking a deep and welcoming breath. But I would have stuck with what I had.

I just thought we wanted to dump Pressly in mea culpa fashion. No one can argue that when he put on the orange and blue, he was suddenly lights out. I must blame that on how Pressly was used in MN--whether it was a mental issue, a physical issue or a pitch selection issue (I prefer this latter argument).

Was it a bad trade? I can't predict the future, but we got prospects for a solid reliever. Houston snapped that up like like a dog with a rib-eye, but was it the worst of all of the deals we made last year? IMHO, hands down.

Great, another Pressley thread.

I'll argue it. He wasn't "suddenly" lights out. This is a common misconception among Twins fans. In the 6 weeks leading up to that trade he was a beast for the Twins: 2.76 ERA, 24/7 K/BB, 19% swinging strike rate in 16 IP. He had a .222 opponents AVG even with a .342 BABIP. 

 

Yes, Pressly did take a step forward after going to Houston and ramping up the CB usage. But with the exception of a 3-outing stretch in June, he was lights-out for the Twins too. He had turned into the player they envisioned all along, and they dumped him. 

Maybe I was a bit hyperbolic, but there isn't any question that once he got to Houston, he just obliterated the opposition. His numbers were gaudy to say the least.