Huskertwin

Well done as usual Stu! I need me one of those Tommy Herr bobbleheads!

I agree with this. Our hitting was horrible far too often last year. Taking Arreaz's bat out (along with the walks he takes) would leave a bigger hole than adding one starting pitcher who pitches every 5th game. The Twins need to develop some quality pitching of their own.

The teams the Twins are playing often walk the batter ahead of Sano (often Cruz of late) just to face him. Sano made them pay a couple of times in May, but as noted, he made many more outsin those situations.

I ignore most of the new stats and use my eyeballs from watching the games. Donaldson hasn't hit well in the clutch as most of his hits and homers seem to come when the game has already been decided. He has had some bad luck hitting into the shift on balls up the middle. I don't see a deadened ball when Buxton or Refsnyder hit it, to name a couple of players. His average is higher because he walks a lot, but the Twins are not paying all that money him to walk that much. I sure hope he does turn the corner soon as it would make a huge difference for the team.

This is the second time Arraez has faked an injury to try to take the embarrassment away from a bad slide or decision. It should have been his left shoulder that was hurt, but he grabbed his right shoulder which didn't hit anything coming into the bag. And both times once he got to the dugout everything was fine. I love the guy, but he doesn't have to be a drama queen on those type of plays. We're on to you Luis.

They won the second game of the doubleheader so I guess they're back to the Twins, pending further results in Cleveland.

Rough day from the big league team all the way down (especially the Twins and Saints). The injuries for the Twins are diluting the minor league teams rosters, but its not a good sign seeing some players that have been up for the Twins (this year and in the past) are not doing well in the minors. But great to read about Cano at Wichita. Nice to read about a reliever anywhere in the system shining.

Thanks Seth for all the information you provided here and I look forward to reading these weekly (as well as the daily) reports all season long.

When there's a fire going on, most people wouldn't wait until the season is over to put it out. Rocco has had the benefit in the past from having a competent bench coach next to him. But this year with no bench coach (RIP Mike Bell & losing Derek Shelton to the Pirates) has exposed Rocco even more as a bad in-game manager.

I also enjoy reading these minor league game summaries and I know it's a lot of work to put those together on a daily basis, so thanks to Matt, Allen, David, Ted, Steve and anyone else involved. Also, it's nice to have the video clips available. I also just subscribed to MiLB.TV to be able to watch as many of the games as I can this year. It seems like a bargain ($39.95/year - $20 with a promo since I also subscribe to the MLB.TV package) to be able to check all 4 levels of the Twins (and other teams) minor league teams.

I've been a Turtle fan from the get go. Although he may not be getting it done in the 10th inning, the Twins as a team aren't either. The team seldom gets the runner from 2nd to 3rd, let alone home. I do have a little 2021 comparison for people who want a little "bang for their buck". This is a comparison of Astudillo's 2021 stats compared to Josh Donaldon's stats. Astudillo// Donaldson Salary:/ $573,500// $23,000,000(avg of 4 yr contract) Games:/ 20// 20 Plate appear:/ 65// 75 At bats:/ 64// 69 Hits:/ 20// 20 Home Runs:/ 3// 3 RBI's:/ 11// 10 Strike outs:/ 4// 11 Batting Avg:/ .313// .290 Slugging %:/ .484// .446 OPS:/ .792// .877 Now I would take Donaldson's fielding at third any day over Turtle's, but he's done adequate around the field from watching the games. This is a small sample size with a lot of season left to change. But I guess what I'm saying is: Don't be grumbling on La Tortuga. He's been of of our more dependable hitters and players so far this season.

I remember an interview NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin had with Joe Buck where Irvin was talking about his first season with the Dallas Cowboys as Tom Landry was about to retire. They'd lose a game on Sunday and on Monday he had some players come up to him and remind him that the paycheck was still going to be there later that week. That infuriated Irvin and when his coach from the U of Miami Jimmy Johnson got the job to replace Landry, he gave Jimmy the names of those players and Johnson worked on getting them off the team. Could the Twins be in a similar situation? We have given early extensions to players like Kepler, Polanco and Sano that looked like good ideas at the time. But now we see those players not playing with the intensity and results they had before the extensions. Also, Rocco Baldelli might have lost this team already. He's always been too laid back for me and has babied the players since he's been here (with scheduled days off and IL visits that last past the normal period). If someone treats you like a baby, you might start acting like one. I think one could make an argument that he doesn't hold the players accountable for bad play. I know that players are professionals and should be able to hold themselves accountable to play hard, but being realistic, the players in general in the Majors these days have changed with the large money that is being paid to them. I guess I prefer my manager to be a little old school and want and try to win games and make the players also want to win as well. I know there's an argument that Baldelli's teams have won the AL Central division that last two years, but those teams were teams that should have been expected to do even more. The Pohlad's went out and upped the spending for the teams the last three years from the $90-100 million area to the $125-135 million area. If these teams don't produce you could expect to see the owners decide to spend less in the future, to stay profitable as attendance could be dropping. And can we finally put the "pitch framing" strategy in the grave? I'm tired of watching our catchers give up bases and runs on wild pitches and occasional passed balls because they can't shift over on balls in the dirt to keep the ball in front of them when they're positioned with their legs spread out. Traditional catchers position themselves to be able to catch those balls in the dirt or wide. I think putting runners in scoring position or actually scoring on balls that get past the catchers far outweighs the calls we might get by "framing" the ball. Every umpire has their own strike zone and we all watch them make good and bad ball/strike calls irregardless of any help from the catcher. If the ball hits the ground, the missed ball is called a Wild Pitch and thus the catchers are probably less concerned since the missed ball doesn't show on their fielding stats.

As others have mentioned, I also was surprised when Dobnak only pitched the one quick inning midway through the game. It seems to me that Rogers doesn't do his best when coming into the middle of an inning with someone else's runners on base (and this goes back a couple of years as well). I think Robles would agree with me. It was nice to see Rogers pitch two clean innings after that, and I didn't expect him out their that long. Rocco has gotten burned many times over his tenure by not having a pitcher warming up at early signs of trouble. It seems to be a situation where he wants to go inning to inning with one pitcher at a time, whether the pitcher is going well or not.

Just for the record, he didn't have a perfect game going as he'd hit Hiura with a pitch to lead off the 5th inning. But it sure was a masterful outing for him.

It was an Amoco Certicare can for oil or such, but all of the cans were empty that I've seen. Here's a link to an Ebay auction someone has up that will show you the different sides of the can. I hope it's OK to post the link for copy and paste use. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Harmon-Killebrew-Vintage-Amoco-Certicare-Metal-Oil-Can-Unopened-Minnesota-Twins-/133022822932

Well done there Tom. There sure appears to be some help there the Twins could use and stay on budget and still sign a couple of more high profile guys.

Thanks for the article and I watched the YouTube video as well. I've watched many times over the years on a fuzzy VHS tape. Harmon was my hero growing up and I was able to meet him six times or so over the years. He was always so nice to me and my twin brother. First met him at an autograph show in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and we gave him one of his signature model gloves and the old gas station giveaway metal can. He appreciated that and would always remember me when I saw him other times over the years in Nebraska and Minnesota. And we even exchanged Christmas cards for a few years until his way too early passing. He was a Hall of Fame baseball player and also a Hall of Fame person!

The Orioles took Rickey Ramirez, RHP (Twins) in round one of the AAA minor league Rule 5 draft. I believe he was an A ball player. Houston took Joe Record, RHP (Twins) in round 1 of the AAA minor league rule 5 draft. The Twins took Jhonleider Salinas, RHP (Rays) in round 1 of the AAA minor league rule 5 draft.

Twins pitcher Tyler Wells was taken by the Orioles in the 2nd round.

I'd also like to add that I'd like be looking to get a new manager, that makes the players want to win and doesn't baby them all season, so they can "be healthy for the post season". That's not working out.

Here's the link to my spreadsheet (which hopefully will open for you): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pZqVZ_fHFfICOzVMH2rlwTBGMSeQsTLuSLle-kaijz0/edit#gid=0 Thanks John and/or anyone else involved with producing this fun spreadsheet! I had fun trying to work this out. I left Rosario off the list as I'd trade him. I guess I'd trade him for prospects to keep the rest of my list here intact. But otherwise I'd try to get a starting pitcher for comparable value or a closer (and leave off Rosenthal) and prospects for the balance. I'd like to trade Donaldson if anyone was willing to take his contract (which I doubt), and would also listen to trade options for Sano, Polanco and Kepler. But without any of those trades I'm wanting to improve the starting pitching by bringing Odorizzi back (or someone else like Paxton in the same price range) and signing free agent Mike Fiers (Oakland A's). I want a real closer, so I'm rolling the dice on Trevor Rosenthal hoping for a repeat of his 2020 success. I'd bring May back for 6M, Clippard and Thielbar (or someone comprable to Thielbar). I'm ready to give Lamont Wade a shot over Jack Cave as the 4th OF. As much as I want Cruz back, I was worried by his September slump so I'll let him go and go young with Rooker, Kiriloff and Blankenhorn on the team to share the DH spot when not playing in the field. I still want some "Turtle" time although Adrianza might make more sense. I'd search a bit deeper first to try to find someone comprable but with more pop in their bat.

It drives me crazy when you shift 3 players to the pull side (like with Bregman up) and then pitch the ball to the outside edge, which he easily hit to the spot where the 2nd baseman would normally be. The over shifts take away from a pitchers ability to pitch effectively.

Gotta save those innings on the starting pitchers, so they'll be ready to go for next season! Geez Baldelli, it's the playoffs - keep those good starting pitchers with low pitch counts in the game!

I definitely wanted Maeda to come out for the 6th inning and then follow with Stashak, May and Duffey. They were the best we had coming into the series. Baldelli's use of the bullpen during the season, (trying to keep relief pitchers from gong out there on back-to-back days) will hurt in in the playoffs (while we last) with the games being played on consecutive days. Don't forget to consider using Dobnak or Hill (as someone else mentioned) Tuesday for relief in game two like Dusty Baker did for the Astros in game one.

There's been a lot of swings and misses at those low outside sliders for the last 6 weeks at least. They'll keep seeing more, but doubt they quit swinging at them (and missing them).