Muppet

Woo hoo! A new scoreboard! NOW I'm fired up about 2023.

Seems to me they should gamble bigger on coaches, trainers, and team psychologists.

Bah. Good luck for one team is often bad luck for the other. Without luck this would have been the last game in the 1986 world series.

This Twins team is not good. That's OK. I believe in luck.

He'll be fired by the Twins. Next year, he'll be picked up by the Tigers... or maybe the Pirates... and lead that team to win the World Series.

Jeez. Calm down. This team isn't great, but that doesn't mean they aren't fun. They are in a division with three teams doing everything they can to give the playoff spot to their rivals. But no one team is likely to win the world series. The Twins can pull it off... unlikely... but not impossible. If they did, I bet it would be much more exciting as a Twins' fan to watch them win than as a Dodger fan to watch them take it. If they don't make it to the playoffs, we got to watch Arraez make a bid for batting champ, Miranda and Duran with great rookie seasons, Nick Gordon come back to be a solid player. We saw Joe Ryan show flashes of the brilliant pitcher he might become. We have a solid pack of young players in Kirriloff, Larnach, (as well as Miranda, Gordon, etc) that might provide some real stability in the next couple of years. Plus we got to forget all about Sano. This is a great spot to be in for a team that was utter trash last year. Plus, if the Twins DO win it all, you know it will be due to an unlikely clutch homerun in the 9th inning by our unwitting savior Jake Cave.

They’ll be lucky if they get the chance to add to that streak this year

Just for fun I compared Byron Buxton's numbers this year to Vince Coleman's in 1987. Why? Because as a 10 year old in the 1987 season, Vince Coleman was by far the best player in the universe (as far as 10 year old St. Louis Cardinals fans are concerned). While they are slightly different players (e.g. Buxton can hit a home run), if Buxton had been playing in 1987 he would have been expected to steal somewhere between 40-100 bases. So, to see if it matters, I normalized both players numbers by the number of plate appearances Coleman had to compare the two projecting Buxton to have the same number of PAs. VC BB BB^ BA 0.289 0.224 PA 702 382 702 H 180 76 140 Singles 153 32 59 BB 70 34 62 On first 223 66 121 R 121 61 112 SB 109 6 11 %sb/o1 0.488789 0.090909 R+RBI-HR 161 84 154 Buxton has fewer hits (as would be obvious with a lower batting average), but he is also only hitting 59 singles compared to Vince's 153. So add BBs to singles and get a rough estimate of 223 times on first base for VC versus 121 for BB (not counting ROEs, HBPs, etc... sorry). So then, BB steals 11 bases compared to VC's 109 which is (very) roughly 49% vs 9% of times VC steals second when on first vs BB. (Big caveat, VC stole 3rd many times and home 2 or 3 times as well... so the numbers aren't perfect). So... does all this matter? Well.. if we look at the number of runs each generate by calculating their runs scored plus RBIs minus HRs, we have Byron Buxton generating 154 runs while Vince Coleman generated 161. Sure, there are a lot of missing factors, so make your own conclusions. I conclude that given the potential for stolen bases to generate runs (without even considering the increase number of throwing errors, passed balls, increased pitch counts, holding the first baseman on the line, etc...) yes... in fact stolen bases do matter.

I stand by my words from April 4. Those of you who put in wagers, prepare to pay out big.

From a brief look at the box score, the only thing that looks like a dumb move to me was putting in Pagan when the game wasn't a blowout. Assuming that Ryan was pulled because there was something wrong with him.

At the very minimum, they should be expected to take the lead in the top of the 10th.

I'm rooting for the underdog. If someone gets injured and a spot opens up, bring up Jake Cave. DFA Sano. Cave will be the black horse WS MVP!

It's a streaky game. He's been HR or K lately. But... I'll take a few well placed game winning HRs any day.

Buck is the new Sano (-150 pounds, + great defense + unused speed)

Predictions for 2nd half: Polonco starts to look like an MVP; Buxton does NOT get injured; Duffy is back; Sano comes back and is traded for a mid level AA pitching prospect so someone like the Reds who hope they can entice him to a couple more years and squeeze 15 HRs/year out of him. Pagan gets injured and, miraculously, the pitching starts to figure itself out. One of Miranda, Larnach, or Kirilloff goes on a tear (the other two continue to be hit or miss). Twins are a much better team in September than they are in July. They make the world series. And by a dramatic and unforeseen act of fate, Jake Cave is the Twins' 2022 world series MVP.

Many times in the past couple of years I had hoped that he'd get traded to a team that will play him more, appreciate him, and let him develop. He seems to have always been a bit of an afterthought here. I would imagine he'd get a few extra years playing MLB if he played somewhere else. This guy is a gamer. He's always one of the first to slap someone's hand when they score that tight run. He's always full of energy in the bench. He'd probably be more likely to get a hit with two outs and a runner on second than half the team. But everyone has always been quick to find reasons to hate on him.

The Twins will have to use innovative strategies like this unless they get several dozen extra million dollars to play with every year. They probably would have been able to pull it off had Duffy and Theilbar not turned into pumpkins, or if Paddack hadn't gotten injured. They started the year with 7 pitchers that could have been considered starters. Sometimes your key pieces poo the bed and things don't go as planned and you end up overusing underexperienced players and getting stuck hoping your guys get it together. Good thing there are 162 games in a season. And if they don't make it? There are worse things to worry about.

Might be worth pointing out that the Twins have the third most wins in the American League. Sure, they have lost some games. They have had some pretty lousy streaks. Lost to a few terrible teams even. But they don't seem that bad. But then again... it is only the managers fault when they lose. Not when they win.

Think of the prospect haul the Twins could get if they traded Correa, Buxton, AND Arraez!

Oh good. Thielbar to the rescue.

I think to myself "Now is certainly time to pinch hit Buxton." One second later: 'In play, runs'

I would be ashamed in baseball if this team makes it to the playoffs

They’re bringing in Jax? Thought he was warming up for the 10th.

Arraez is the only in the starting lineup without a hit.

Ribes. There. Are you happy?