Cody Pirkl

After the Twins early exit from the postseason, GM Derek Falvey hinted that some shake ups to the roster's core weren’t out of the question after the regulars disappointed yet again. In what looks to be an unprecedented offseason looming, there are several reasons that may make Miguel Sano the perfect “core” piece to look to trade.Miguel Sano is Good: I love Miguel Sano, and you should too. Trading him should make you nervous if you remember a man named David Ortiz. He’s been an above average hitter according to wRC+ in every season but two and is almost 20% above in his career as a whole. In addition, he’s locked up for about $10m/year with a team option through 2023. As we all know, Sano is incredibly streaky and swings and misses… a lot. That being said, he also set the pace for Major League Baseball when it comes to average exit velocity, hard hit % and barrel rate in 2020. He also shifted to 1B and held his own at a new position this last year and looks to be a viable option to remain there for the near future if it fits a team’s needs. Sano should fetch a good amount of value on the trade market. NL Designated Hitters: The National League will likely adopt the DH moving forward, a position some feel Sano is destined for in the future. Despite Sano’s encouraging debut at 1B, it’s fair to wonder what the future holds for him in the field considering his 6’4 frame and injury history. A team could just cut bait on his transition to 1B and utilize him solely in their lineup to avoid injury. Furthermore, the DH was sort of sprung on the NL this year, and they largely suffered at that position. Competitive teams relied on players like Matt Carpenter (84 wRC+), Ryan Braun (99 wRC+), and Jay Bruce (83 wRC+) for example. There should be no shortage of teams willing to pay handsomely for a controllable slugger to immediately step in as they try and plan more carefully for a full season of designated hitters in the NL. Kirilloff the First Baseman: Alex Kirilloff is hopefully here to stay after impressing in his trial by fire in the playoffs. While he played right field and is assumed by many to be a corner outfielder, Kirilloff actually spent close to half of his time at 1B in 2019. The Twins had the foresight to recognize their inevitable log jam in the outfield and began the switch. Kirilloff’s bat appears to be up to the task when it comes to producing at the level of an MLB corner infielder. Furthermore, reports are fairly high on Kirilloff’s defensive prowess on first base. The Twins did a fantastic job in getting Sano acclimated in a hurry, and Kirilloff already has about 300 innings more at the position than he did. If the Twins believe in Kirilloff’s bat enough to hand the position over to him, trading Sano opens a nice path to keep Rooker on the team as well as give Larnach a chance in the outfield. All of this while shedding payroll and getting a healthy return for Miguel Sano. Do I actively want the Twins to trade Miguel Sano? Not really. The topic of shaking up their core is a bit nerve racking when looking at the regular season success of this squad over the last two years. That being said, if the front office feels they need a change to get over the postseason hump, I’m interested in what they can scheme up. There are too many other core pieces that are valuable and affordable i.e. Kepler, Polanco, Buxton. Sano has ample replacement options and players of his skill set may be at an all time high when it comes to trade value. If a shake up of the Twins core is on the horizon, I think Miguel Sano may be the odd man out. Do you agree? — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter here Click here to view the article

2020 was a nightmare season for Lewis Thorpe. The Australian lefty just never got his footing and looked ineffective in what was essentially a lost season. While there wasn’t a single Twins fan who was arguing to keep Thorpe on the Major League roster by mid season, it may also be a mistake to completely give up on him.Even before this season turned into the patented nightmare 2020 we’ve all grown accustomed to, Thorpe was already struggling. He showed up in the spring as the favorite for many to snatch the 5th starting spot. Instead he was sent to the minor league side of camp after taking an absence from the Twins training facility. While it’s easy to say that a 2-3 week absence from Spring Training should likely remove you from the rotation battle, it’s hard not to feel for the guy when he’s so far from home. Then came the mess that was the 2020 baseball season. Spring Training was halted only to be picked back up months later. Thorpe competed in summer camp and received opportunities, but he just never looked right. His fastball had dropped from 91.2 to 89.7, rarely touching 90 on the radar gun. In some outings the fastball was as low as 86-87. The rest of his offspeed pitches dropped a few ticks as well as he just never had an effective pitch to turn to with the life missing from his fastball. There were no indications of injury. Most troubling of all, his walk rate ballooned to 13% (matching his strikeout rate). Unlike his 6+ ERA in 2019, his 6.06 ERA in 2020 was backed up by a 6.99 FIP. He had a career high walk rate as well as a K rate about half of what he put up in any other professional season. Everything matched up to the eye test that was telling us that it just wasn’t working out. Is it a coincidence that this happened in the weirdest season in MLB history though? In addition to a mess of pitching injuries, tons of pitchers began the season with steep declines in fastball velocity including big names like James Paxton, Charlie Morton and Blake Snell. The slow ramp up of Spring Training gave way to a rush to the start of the season in July’s summer camp. Many of them ironed out their velocity issues as they continued making starts. Unfortunately for Thorpe, he was in bullpen duty and didn’t have much of a routine. He was eventually sent down and wasn’t seen throughout September. While Thorpe certainly dropped a few spots in the depth chart as a result of his 2020, it’s fair to mention that he’s only a year removed from being a pitcher the Twins were excited about. There’s no guarantee that Thorpe is going to be back with a vengeance in 2021. His 2020 was nothing short of brutal and we have no minor league numbers to see if he made any improvements after his demotion. That being said, he’s a talented left handed pitcher who fell flat in a season that we’ll likely see many players rebound from in years to come. He’s definitely still a commodity that other teams would give a shot to, and certainly has shown the talent to make the most of it. I don’t think the Twins are going to give up on Lewis Thorpe, and I don’t think that we as fans should want them to. — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter here Click here to view the article

This is always so weird to see. People were split on Donaldson between "we need his energy" and "his energy isn't going to fit in with this team". Bauer didn't have any real issues in Cleveland other than throwing that ball over the CF fence and no issues at all in Cincinnati. People worry about chemistry too much. When's the last time in Major League history a successful team brought in a talented player who didn't mech well with the clubhouse and it made them worse?

I mean its 42.6%

I agree that it's not worth trashing the whole team but I don't think the Twins want to do that either. I'm a believer that guys like Kepler and Garver were hugely impacted by the logistics of this season. That being said, the Twins have too much talent waiting for a shot in the minors to continue running it back every year after this core of players has crashed and burned so spectacularly two years in a row now. I don't think the goal is to clean house and replace all of the incumbents with young guys and roll the dice. I think it's more about making the most of the talent they have at their disposal and maximizing value. If they think Kirilloff can be as good or better defensively than Eddie and better on offense, why not shop him or non tender him and use that $10m to improve elsewhere? If some combination of Larnach, Rooker and Kirilloff can play 1B and provide a more well rounded profile than Sano, why not trade him for a pitcher or another piece that fills a hole on the team? In the end I think it'll only be a guy or two from this "core" we've seen the last two years that gets mixed up a bit.

The Twins shopped Eddie at the Winter Meetings last year and the only team interested was the Marlins who were hurting for a left handed power OF bat. Even then they wouldn't give up anything worthwhile for him unfortunately. Now he's a year older and making more money. It's sometimes hard to believe by watching him but according to the metrics that teams use, he has proven himself to be a bad defender with his most athletic years behind him. He also possesses one of the worst plate discipline profiles you can possibly project for a player as they enter their 30s. I think he has a few years left in the tank, but I can't see him having a resurgence or breakout like Hicks had that leaves us wondering what the hell happened. Also I wouldn't be surprised if Eddie is worth $4-5m in the free agent market this winter. If the Twins call a team up offering Eddie, they'll know we're just trying to get Kirilloff into the opening day roster and we'll probably non tender him if we can't find a suitor. Why would they give anything up and pay double what they could pay him if they just wait it out?

Sano whiffed over 40% of the time but Cruz himself whiffed about 35% this year. It doesn't come down to swinging and missing, it's whether or not Sano is walking and hitting mistakes. If Sano can somehow be somewhat consistent with what he did in August this year, he's be a great DH. Unfortunately that month was sandwiched between two months where he was an easy out and did neither of these things.

I have no way of knowing whether the prospects are ready but I have all of the confidence in the world in them if the Twins believe it. I agree that you can't replace Cruz's bat with any of these prospects, but he's getting to the age where you have to ask if Cruz himself can live up to what he's done for these last two years. With regards to Rooker, yes he's a bad outfielder but he also played 0 1B in his last season in the minors. Maybe we'll see that change, who knows. With regards to pitching in the minors, I think you'd be surprised. Everyone knows Duran and Balazovic and they're probably the closest, but guys like Enlow and Canterino also look like solid future pieces. The Twins will still sign some pitching this offseason. I don't suggest the Twins field a full team of minor leaguers. The thing is though, someone like Kirilloff is considered to be one of the best hitters in the minor leagues and he's getting close. If they don't bring Eddie back, would you rather they just hand the job over to Cave? They're not going to sign George Springer or Marcell Ozuna. They'll throw in a backup for a month or two until they decide to bring Kirilloff up. Why not just do it right away? You can't just keep your top 100 prospects down for as long as the Twins are competing in case they come up and don't add to the team right away.

2019 seems like a lifetime ago. Much like the world we live in, our Minnesota Twins were completely different. The Bomba Squad reigned supreme (aside from in October of course), and you can’t blame the Twins for running it back in 2020. What we learned since then however is that it’s time to move on and forge ahead. The Bomba Squad is a thing of the past.The “Bomba Squad” label was more than a fun nickname for the 2019 Twins. It represented not just the daily lineup, but a persona for the team. It represented the energy they had as well as the tactics and strategy they used to pummel opponents into submission as underdogs for an entire season. At the heart of the Bomba Squad were players like the Mike Piazza-esque Mitch Garver, AL All Star Starting Shortstop Jorge Polanco, bonafide slugger Max Kepler. Eddie Rosario led the team in RBI and was the idea man behind the “Bomba Squad” name. Most entertaining of all was watching the club’s 39 year old leader Nelson Cruz continue to dominate at the top of the offensive leaderboards. Games were never out of reach as any given player stepped to the plate supported by the air raid siren and the roar of the crowd at Target Field. Maybe pitching was a concern, but they had more than enough quality arms to ride to 101 wins behind the record setting offense. If you watched baseball in 2020, you know this year was far from a repeat. The Twins managed a similar pace for wins, but it was obvious things were different. They rarely managed a comfortable win regardless of the opponent. The offense and pitching appeared to switch spots, as they won most games in spite of the offensive performance. Kepler looked uncomfortable, Polanco was painful to watch, Garver was one of the worst hitters in baseball, and even Cruz faded down the stretch after looking like his prime self to begin the season. The circumstances of 2020 surely played a role in the team we watched for 60 games and it’s fair to question where things would have ended up in a full 162. Regardless of this, 2020 was a reminder of the nature of baseball. A lineup made up of largely the same players looked completely different just a year later. It was fairly easy to see the frustration in failing to live up to these standards among the players, and the shift was difficult to accept for fans as well. And in that lies the issue. Even in 60 games we discovered that it’s unhealthy to base expectations on a record setting team. It’s the reason a largely successful regular season felt disappointing. The Twins are still a fantastic team poised to compete for years. They just didn’t earn that success by scoring double digit runs seemingly every other night as everyone expected. 2019 may have been a once in a lifetime performance on offense. That doesn’t mean the Twins are on the decline, quite the contrary. They have tons of exciting talent nearing the national stage. It’s just hard to expect the young talent on it’s way will ever resemble the style of the Bomba Squad and that’s okay. After another disappointing end to the season, it’s time for the Twins to make their own expectations rather than basing them off of one of the most accomplished offenses baseball will ever see. Fans need to abandon the mindset that frustrates them when an offense can’t consistently overwhelm an opponent. The Twins will simply have too good a team these next few years to dwell on a nickname from two years ago. The future of Twins baseball is going to be an exciting one. It’s time to accept this reality and embrace it. It’s time for the “Bomba Squad” to go. — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter here Click here to view the article

Ildemaro Vargas #1

They're not letting everyone go. Rosario has literally 3 MLB ready replacements. In terms of Cruz, it'd be nice to have him back but two years is super risky for a 40 year old who fizzled to end the season and suffered from injuries. Filling the DH spot shouldn't be very difficult with all of the Twins options, albeit it won't likely be to the level Cruz has provided the last two years. Will Cruz definitely be able to provide that though? Pineda is already signed through next season at which point he'll be 33 years old in 2022. He's barely eclipsed 30 starts in the last three years. The only reason they brought him back was because his price was so low from his suspension. With all of their young pitching in the minors and guys like Berrios and Buxton to focus on, they're not going to spend much if any time pursuing an extension with him.

Actually even Aaron Gleeman has alluded to this. Two postseasons against two teams that didn't even boast the top of the leagues's starting pitching and guys like Eddie, Kepler, Polanco, Sano etc. have done absolutely nothing. It's fair to question whether these guys for whatever reason just lack the ability to hit in the pressures in the postseason. Gleeman talked about possibly shopping Garver, Sano and even Kepler. Eddie is gone, that's just a given at this point. Expect the Twins to pursue an extension with Kirilloff this winter to avoid service time issues for starting him on Opening Day in 2021. They'll definitely approach Cruz but if he wants multiple years I'd guess they let him sign elsewhere. They've already been burned on the risky Donaldson contract. I can't see them taking a leap on an aging slugger again, especially given Cruz's injures and struggles to end the season. There's a non zero chance somebody signs him for $18 million and he turns into Edwin Encarnacion next year. The Twins should be focusing on the younger prospects given their caliber. The core of Sano, Kepler, Polanco etc. aren't toast or anything, it's still a good core to have. I just think after two crash and burn failures that it may be a good idea to give some new faces a chance to see if they can come in and hit the reset button. A few of our prospects have the ability to be the face of this team. If ever there were a time to take a leap, it's now.

Rosario gone: Definitely. If they started Kirilloff in that game, there's no way they don't trust him to play opening day, and he's much cheaper and quite possibly better. Garver and Jeffers: I don't think much needs to be figured out. They'll probably split time and if Garver rebounds even a little bit they probably combine for one of the better tandems of catchers in baseball Marwin: I think you have it backwards on Marwin. He barely eclipsed replacement level and was one of the worst regular hitters in all of baseball. He was the slowest runner on the team and that includes Cruz. Marwin looks absolutely cooked at 31 and quite possibly may not even get a major league deal with a bad team. Cruz: Probably gone if he wants two years Pitching: Would love to re sign Hill. Probably won't extend Pineda. The only reason they re signed him in the first place was how cheap he was from his extension. Berrios is going to hit the open market, that's a fact. I think I remember them offering him Aaron Nola money and he wanted more which is an absolute joke. They definitely won't trade him though.

Eddie is probably as good as gone. If they believe Kirilloff could start today, they think he can start on opening day next season and Eddie is the odd man out there.

Miguel Sano hasn’t had the season he expected from the very onset of 2020. His overall numbers look bad, but Sano has been the same streaky hitter we’ve seen in years past. Heading into the postseason, Sano may be one small flick of a switch from being the monster he’s shown he can be.2020 has been a tale of three seasons, or rather three streaks. The first was a brutal cold streak. Sano spent much of his early summer quarantined in a room in his home with an asymptomatic COVID diagnosis. While the virus didn’t take its toll on his body, his ramp up time was affected. He opened the season 1-17 with no walks and 8 Ks as fans panicked. The turn of the calendar was kind to Sano, as he seemed to adjust on the fly. He was one of the best hitters not only in the Twins lineup, but in all of baseball. Sano hit .284/.394/.636. He was 73% better than a league average hitter according to wRC+. In a lineup that was struggling mightily, Sano was seemingly putting on a show night in and night out. Unfortunately as the Twins offense has heated up in September, Sano has gone ice cold again. He sat a few times with neck stiffness at the peak of his performance and it clearly ruined the roll he was on. In September he’s well below the Mendoza line and hasn’t managed to get on base even 20% of the time. Having only one peak to go with his two valleys on the season has left him with an overall line that barely shows him as an above league average hitter. His talent is undeniably so much better than this. Download attachment: Sano Savant.PNG Sano has shown his entire career that he has an unmatched ability to punish mistakes when he makes contact. While he’s the worst case of swing and miss you’ll find across the MLB, his plate approach when he’s at his best is enough for him to cause his fair share of damage. When he’s taking bad pitches and drawing his walks, he’s dangerous. And that’s exactly what’s missing from Sano’s game right now. Sano’s walk rate is sub 3% in September and was a solid 0% in his first 17 ABs where he looked lost. Even if you weren’t paying close attention, his quality of at bat is much different this month than when he was peaking in August where his walk rate was over 10% higher. We’ve seen a lot more flailing at pitches well off the plate in September. So what’s Sano’s issue? Plate discipline is typically a pretty consistent skill among hitters and it seems to come and go in Sano’s case. Combining July and September, Sano is hitting under .200 against fastballs with expected stats that don’t offer much inspiration. In August however, Sano made more contact with fastballs and paired it with an exit velocity over 101 mph. He hit .372 against the pitch and slugged .814. His launch angle was 17 degrees which is prime for barreling the ball when you’re averaging 101 mph off the bat. September in particular has been strange. Sano has seen more fastballs, swung and missed at them less and somehow is doing less damage. It might be as simple as him just missing his pitches. He’s not whiffing on fastballs, but I have more than a few ABs in mind where he fouled off pitches he would have crushed a month ago. In addition, his launch angle has risen from 17 to 24 degrees against fastballs which means he’s getting under the ball much more often instead of lining it into some poor stadium seat in the second deck. All of this adds up to something just barely throwing Sano’s timing off in my opinion. He sometimes looks to be cheating on pitches and winds up sacrificing his plate discipline, in other cases he’s just missing fastballs and either fouling them off or popping them up. At any rate, this isn’t one of the deep slumps we’ve seen from Sano over the years. He sinks or swims with his ability to connect with fastballs. He’s not completely missing them, but rather seems to have just a miniscule timing issue ever since he sat with his neck injury. He’s taking some big swings now that suggest the neck isn’t bothering him, but he may very well still be looking for his perfect timing again which I’d argue is very close. You should feel relatively good about Sano headed into the playoffs. He always seems to be one swing away from breaking out of his slumps and he appears to be right on the edge of exploding again according to his swing and miss rates which are all that matter in Sano’s case. If we see some smart at bats and timed up fastballs to close down the season, the Twins first round opponent likely won’t be able to afford a single mistake to the slugger. Miguel Sano is the kind of hitter who can carry a lineup when he’s right, and with the Twins looking not quite as lifeless as of late, he may just make our 1-9 too much to handle in October. — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter here Click here to view the article

Max Kepler was coming off a career year in 2019 that inspired the imaginations of Twins Territory. The “next step” was discussed all offseason as well as dreams of the next Christian Yelich. 2020 has been far from what we’d hoped for Max Kepler however, and his performance as a whole is reason for concern.Kepler’s 2019 was fantastic with a .252/.335/.519 slash line, good for a 121 wRC+. He looked likely to continue that performance after slugging two homers on opening day off of Lucas Giolito. Since opening day however, Kepler has a line of .198/.302/.343 with a 78 wRC+, typically coming from the leadoff spot which has cost the Twins dearly. The first difference that stands out in his 2020 profile is his performance against left handed pitching. In 2019 Kepler managed to hit .293/.356/.524 against lefties, which actually bested his numbers against righties. In 2020, Kepler has cratered to a .105/.205/.132 line. While we held our breath that Kepler had suddenly learned to hit lefties, there are very few left handed hitters in history that can sustain equal or greater success against left handed pitching than right handed. The contrast between last year’s performance and the rest of his career suggests that Kepler probably had a career year that may never be replicated, let alone improved upon. I’m no hitting mechanics guru, but something has changed in Max Kepler’s swing. I couldn’t point out the specifics in a side by side breakdown, but I can use his numbers to prove it. For starters, Kepler’s average exit velocity has dropped from 89.7 to 87.7 mph and his hard hit rate has plummeted from 42.1 to 33% This isn’t super crazy to see happen naturally, but in this case it probably has something to do with his average launch angle increasing from a healthy 18.2 degrees to 22.7. We’ve seen tons of pop ups on pitches Max would have punished last year, and it’s made him a flat out liability at the plate in 2020. What’s even more troubling has been Kepler’s defense. He was sneakily one of the best defensive right fielders in all of baseball in years past, and this year has been far from it. We’ve seen Max contribute to losses in a big way recently by dropping a routine fly ball and failing to make a throw to first base from shallow right field. His defensive metrics say this is more than just failing the eye test. His Outs Above Average according to Statcast has dropped from 7 to 0. His Universal Zone Rating has decreased from 9.9 to 2. All of this despite a career best sprint speed. So what’s causing an all around career worst year for Kepler and how do we fix it? Part of it is likely good old fashioned regression. After last year’s 100th percentile outcome, Kepler is probably seeing his 10th percentile play out. In a full season, it’s not likely that Kepler would continue at this rate for the entire year assuming you believe in his talent. Unfortunately across 60 games, it’s going to look ugly in the record books. The more important consideration is that this season is unlike any other. The Twins are playing much worse on the road and for good reason. The protocols players have to follow are strict, and each player will likely handle it differently. Kepler has made costly mistakes this season that appeared to be caused by a lack of focus, and it’s not hard to imagine why given the state of the world. There’s no sugarcoating the fact that Kepler looks far from the player that led a 101 win team in fWAR last season. It is difficult however to pull too much of a conclusion from 60 games during the weirdest season of baseball in history. What do you think of Kepler’s struggle? Extenuating circumstances, or is Kepler just not the player we believed he was after 2020? — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter here Click here to view the article

With regards to Kepler, he probably shouldn't be leading off at this point. If he can't hit lefties at all (all signs say he can't) he's a .220 hitter with minimal on base skills. Polanco shouldn't be in the top half of the lineup. He appears to have made the decision to avoid striking out at all costs this year, and that includes refusing to walk or hit for any power whatsoever. He can be 2-0 and take a half swing at a middle-middle pitch to try and sneak it up the middle and it makes no sense.Those two by themselves regressing are where the offense has gone. It's not the defense's fault that Dobnak is doing poorly either. The shift hurt him last night, but his whiffs keep dropping and his walks and hit batters keep going up. If he doesn't have the control and command he showed to start his career, he's not a pitcher that can survive in the MLB.

It’s easy to get caught up in a pennant chase, especially with all of the moving pieces this year. Because of that, we might be looking right past a few storylines that deserve more attention. Here are 3 things that may be worth worrying about.Dobnak’s Control Regression was always expected for Randy Dobnak, just not in the way we’ve seen so far. The sinkerballer may have benefitted from batted ball luck and an improved defense, but we always figured the floor was set. Dobnak is successful because of a pitch to contact profile complemented by a “no free passes” approach. Unfortunately, the last few starts have seen the walks creep up along with his ERA. A 6.8% walk rate is still good, though it’s the second highest it’s ever been in his professional career. Paired with just a 13% K rate, success is going to rely on every single ball put in play being an out, or sometimes even a double play for Dobnak to keep that ERA at respectable levels. Dobnak surely won’t be starting game 2 of the playoffs this year. That being said, he’s going to pitch some important innings down the stretch and it would be nice to pencil him into the back end of the rotation for 2021. However, a 6.04 ERA and 5.06 FIP in his last 5 starts gives us a look at the tightrope Dobnak walks. His control in his next few starts will be interesting to watch after his last two starts have uncharacteristically yielded walk rates over 10%. Missing Polanco Going into Tuesday’s double header, the story was Donaldson and Cruz returning from injury to play both games even though Buxton sat out game two. However, people seem to have overlooked Polanco’s absence in game two after getting a “breather” the day before as well. At this point we just assume every injury is more complicated than the update provided by the Twins. It’s very uncharacteristic of Polanco to sit out two games in such close proximity. It could have very well been a small nagging injury the likes of which will recover after the two off days. There’s always risk however that it’s a lingering issue that could get worse. We saw last year that it takes a lot to get Polanco off the field, and the lineup will rely on his bat which has recently heated up heading into October. Keep an eye on Polanco. Duffey’s Missing Velocity Tyler Duffey’s fastball currently sits at 92.6 mph on the season, missing about a tick and a half from his 2019. Especially for relievers, this can be more than enough to be a pitcher’s undoing. In Duffey’s case, he’s still the dominant reliever he was last year with a 2.16 ERA and 3.00 FIP. Regardless of this, it’s fair to wonder if his success can continue to this extent with so much missing on the fastball that’s crucial for pairing with his curveball. So far the one difference we’ve seen is Duffey’s average exit velocity allowed increasing from 89.4 mph to 92.2, putting him in the 4th percentile. This could be a case where things aren’t bad until they are, as the rest of his peripherals check out. On top of hoping for the velocity to come back, it’s also fair to wonder where it went. The season has had far from a normal ramp up time for pitchers, and IL trips are at an all time high. We’ve also seen occasions where he’s gone 5-6 days without making an appearance, which is strange to see considering Duffey is likely the Twins best overall reliever. If he has a nagging injury, time is running out. Any kind of aches and pains may affect not only Duffey’s effectiveness, but his durability. Hopefully Duffey continues to look great and we see some 95 mph fastballs to finish the season. All three of these situations may prove to be unnecessary worries looking back, but if one of them turns out to be an ongoing issue the repercussions could leave the Twins limping into the playoffs like last year. The finish to the season will provide plenty of fun baseball to watch on the field, but it may be worth keeping an eye on these issues that currently seem to be flying a bit under the radar. — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter here Click here to view the article

The Twins pitching staff has done an incredible job this season of keeping the team afloat, but do you even remember that we're supposed to have five regular staring pitchers? Heading into September, the depth we all expected to open the season is finally looking like it may materialize, and that should help this team in several different ways.Michael Pineda returned this last week to fill in on what would have been a bullpen day against the Chicago White Sox. The bullpen days have come to be a source of frustration for many, as the Twins had been turning to this tactic twice per week for some time before Pineda’s return. Jake Odorizzi has also been throwing and appears to be nearing a return, which means the Twins will have six quality pitchers to consider for the rotation. Moving into September, it may be time to check out how these two additions will positively impact the Twins. The Bullpen: The bullpen was a strength to open the season and still is to this day despite a few blemishes. Bullpen games every fifth day however have been taxing on our back end arms, especially given the lack of off days in the schedule to this point. Even with a 28 man roster, we’ve seen several relievers cycled in and out as arms have been unavailable. Having to rely on your bullpen for nine innings instead of three or four is going to catch up to us even in a 60 game season, which some are saying is already happening. Filling those innings at the beginning of games will be nice for our bullpen’s workload, but it will also afford us more options at the back end of games. We saw this the other night when we thought all of our best arms were spent against Chicago… We all forgot about Matt Wisler, who hadn’t been used as a traditional reliever since August 11 and has put up a 0.96 ERA on the season. He picked up a save against a right handed heavy Sox lineup with his ridiculous slider before being used as the opener again on Friday in the double header, hopefully for the last time in 2020. If nothing else, five starting pitchers will save guys like Wisler for the high leverage matchup spots they can thrive in. Roster Turnover: As previously mentioned, the Twins have had to cycle guys on and off of the roster far more often than they’d have liked. Needing those added innings from your bullpen every week on top of a normal workload has resulted in seeing guys like Thorpe, Coulombe and Minaya taking up 28 man spots, and in the latter two cases, 40 man spots. While not a huge inconvenience for the front office, this may be part of the reasoning behind the delay in calling up young talent to try to help the struggling offense. Not needing that extra arm in the bullpen affords the opportunity to give a 40 man spot to guys like Rooker who have waited more than long enough to get their chance for a role in an offense that’s never been more in need of help. Rich Hill: It may be time to talk about Rich Hill. While it was a risk free move that was hard to disagree with, he hasn’t shown any semblance of the pitcher we’ve seen in recent years. His 14.7% K rate is about half of what he’s managed in any season since 2010. We’ve now seen on multiple occasions him hitting a wall after three innings or so and completely imploding, putting the game at risk. He may have one more start before Jake Odorizzi returns, at which point the Twins will finally have the luxury of choosing their rotation. We could see them go to a 6 man considering how conservative they’ve been, although I doubt it with the many off days ahead. One more ineffective start from Hill might force the Twins to stop gambling every 5th day on an arm that was always considered a long shot. Whatever roster decision they make from there is anyone’s guess, but so far it’s hard to imagine Odorizzi stepping in and not putting the team in a better place. As we head into the last month of the season, it sounds strange to say we should appreciate having five starting pitchers again. Unfortunately, that’s reality as things have played out far from expected. Regardless, knock on some wood and consider that moving forward, things should be looking up barring any further injury to the rotation. The bullpen will surely benefit, the Twins should have added flexibility on the 40 man, and Hill’s status will become sink or swim to the team’s benefit. Five starting pitchers will be fantastic, six will be a luxury. Let us know below how you think the Twins will benefit from finally getting the pitching depth they planned on all along. — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter here Click here to view the article