ThejacKmp

Its that "salvage the season" I don't totally get. It's May. Let's pretend the Twins bats take off at the same time Cleveland's pen gets better. Doesn't that basically make this a brand-new season but shorter? (I know Cleveland is up 4.5 but the teams play each other a ton and offense is more important than bullpen so you'd think improvement of both would help the Twins more). And doesn't a shorter season mean more variability of result? Doesn't the worse team on paper benefit from variability? (e.g. The Cavs would love to make the Finals a winner-take-all game while the Warriors want to make it a best-of-21). I think parts of the Twins season have been bad. The offense has been bad. But I look at the standings and the potential of this team and I think, "The Twins are going to be in 1st place in a month."

To a point I agree. Bullpen performance is extremely variable so it's hard to see the Cleveland pen being this awful. That said, bullpen performance is extremely variable and Cleveland has leaned on a dominant pen for the past few years. Maybe the pendulum has swung the other way. Andrew Miller is on the DL and has been bad – maybe he’s not the shutdown guy he was, especially with a big workload the past few years. Bryan Shaw signed for more elsewhere (and has sucked) and the rest of the guys don’t have a great track record. Not crazy to say that Cleveland’s pen won’t be great. And they don’t have the farm system/payroll to go find expensive solutions. Dozier has hit for three years now and has been streaky for large parts of it. Sano has had his K rate go up but his BABIP is also way down over his career norms. Buxton, who knows? Polanco coming back should be a huge boost even if he isn’t August Polanco. The Twins solutions are all internal (with the possible exceptions of a minor backup catcher/4th OF upgrade). I think I’d bet on the Twins offense putting it together more than the Cleveland pen becoming a strength. My bigger concern is if the rotation can continue to be this good. I’m cautiously optimistic since improvements by Lynn/Santana should counteract any regression by Romero/Odorizzi.

Agreed. Totally different if Buxton was hitting 9 and you've got Dozier/Sano/Rosario etc. coming up. Then hope for the double that Buxton scores on. But with Adrianza and then a pinch-hitter coming up, you have to send him one of those first pitches.

Baseball Reference doesn’t have yesterday’s game up yet but 4/26 to 5/28 is .779 OPS. Not sure why you’re upset about that? Those are the numbers. Yeah they start with a good game. That’s the way you do it when you’re saying someone has turned it around after a slow start that makes their overall numbers look worse than they actually are. Just like how you pick May to show Robbie is struggling and ignore the end of April. That is not Grossman’s only solid game: 4/21: 2/4 with a 2B 4/26: 3/4 with a 2B and HR 4/27: 3/4 with a 2B and BB 4/30: 2/4 with a 2B and BB 5/07: 3/4 with a 2B 5/08: 1/4 with a 2B and 2 BB 5/11: 2/4 5/13: 2/4 with a 2B 5/19: 1/2 with 2 BB 5/21: 1/2 with a BB and a SF 5/28: 2/4 with a BB Robbie Grossman is miscast being an everyday player. But the Twins have had significant injuries to Mauer, Sano and Buxton and that’s mean more Grossman than you’d ideally want (4-5 times a week and a lot of DHing instead of 2-3 times a week and a lot of pinch hitting). That doesn’t make Robbie Grossman a bad player or the scapegoat for the Twins struggles. He’s just had to play out of role. As Mauer comes back and Buxton (hopefully) starts to hit, you’ll see Robbie fade back into a more natural role – 1 or 2 OF starts per week and some PH duties when the Twins need a solid professional at-bat.

I guess I just don't understand the concept "The Indians have been underperforming but the Twins are a bust because this is who they are." Seems like there are two assumptions there: that the Indians are a good baseball team and the Twins are not. This could be who the Indians are and this could be a blip for the Twins as the bats take off in June and the pitching stays solid (or improves with Santana back and Lynn improving).

I almost agree. But then I think of Cole DeVries starting and I shudder. And then I think about being excited for a Sam Deduno start and I whimper. I think I prefer it this way. At least you're always in a well-pitched game.

Grossman since April 26th: .779 OPS. That's fine for a bench player, not ideal for a starter (but certainly not awful). The issue is that Grossman is DHing too often due to injury. Hopefully with Mauer back Thursday and Polanco back in a month Grossman will have a role that fits his talents better. Logan Morrison since April 27th: .827 OPS. That's with a .284 BABIP that is in line with his career stats so it's not like he's getting lucky. He's likely not going to be the guy he was last year but that .827 OPS would be about halfway between normal Logan Morrison and 2017 Logan Morrison. Logan Morrison has not been the problem for the last month.

Are the Indians underperforming or is this who they are? You're comfortable saying the Twins are a bust but not the Indians? I'd be more worried if the Twins pitching was imploding. I trust that the bats will get rolling at some point. There's too much talent for them not to. Hopefully in a week, this is a distant memory. Let's not get too pessimistic.

Not really. He steals second, gets bunted to 3B and scores on Morrison's fly ball. It was the perfect time for some small ball since injuries have made the bottom 1/3 of the Twins lineup so feeble.

I don't think it's nitpicking but I'm not sure who to blame for it. It didn't feel like he was going at any point. I know its a lefty on the mound but relievers aren't known for controlling run games particularly well. Especially when the count went 1-0 it seemed like he should be off. That gives Adrianza another pitch to lay down a bunt and get Buxton to 3B. Morrison's fly ball scores him. Would be interesting to see if Buxton had a green light and never got comfortable or if Molitor was behind playing it cautious.

The actions you're talking about are the ones a team takes when it is out of the race – promote youth, get rid of veterans. That's not the Twins, it's still May. They’re still contending. Navaretto would be so much worse than Wilson. So much worse. He's likely not as good at calling games (youth) and his AA OPS is .624. If things went well he might put up a .550 OPS in the majors. You’re going to get worse offense and you may stunt the development of a guy who seems like he could be a serviceable backup someday. If you want to upgrade Wilson, look outside the organization. Which is to be expected, third catchers are never good. Grossman is a better option than Wade because he can hit right handed. He's also got a .779 OPS since April 26 and went 2-4 with a walk last night so odd timing on calling for him to be released. Wade may be a good player for the Twins someday but he doesn't fit this team due to his handedness (and should be playing every day). Also curious why you would want to cut Grossman (who you would likely lose) vs. Lamarre (who is worse and you wouldn't lose)? I can buy Gordon over Petit, though I think it would be short-lived since Polanco is due back in 30 days. Gordon should be playing every day so he’d be stunted playing a utility role. But down for a 30 day experiment. Adrianza should stay though, you’ll need a utility infielder at some point (Escobar seems likely to be a regular whether that’s 3B, DH, SS or 2B on any given day). He’s just miscast as a starter but that was always true – the Twins didn’t have great options once Sano and Polanco were down. Now that Sano is back, Adrianza at short shouldn’t be an everyday thing. Not fair to blame any of the guys you’re blaming. The Twins aren’t struggling because Petit, Adrianza, Wilson and Grossman are playing the way they are. All of those guys are role players who are doing as well as could be expected. The Twins are struggling because Dozier is inconsistent, Mauer is hurt and Sano/Buxton can’t hit. Let’s place the blame where it should belong. And be excited Mauer is back Thursday, that will make this lineup much more dangerous.

So you think that the Twins team batting average is artificially high because their dominant bench has such high batting averages compared to the starters? Bobby Wilson, Ryan LaMarre, Gregorio Petit and Robbie Grossman? C'mon. The Twins batting averages (21 out of 30 this year) is the worst you've ever seen? They're not close to the worst in MLB this year. That's hyperbole. "The Twins batting average is not good" is a solid point. "The Twins batting averages are the worst I've ever seen" is hyperbole. It took me 12 seconds to find ESPNs team batting averages and rank them lowest to highest. Not a difficult fact check at all. Hyperbole rarely is tough to disprove, it jumps rights out.

Amazing what Suzuki is doing at age 33 and 34 with Atlanta. Almost 500 at bats and a 127 OPS+. Don't think you can blame the Twins for that one - he showed no indication that he had this in him. Literally his two best hitting seasons are coming at ages 33 and 34. Insane. Good to see JRM hitting. He was never as bad as he seemed for the Twins - he'd hit in MLB and MiLB before. Glad it's happening in the NL.

The Twins control Garver through 2024 so that long-term development is real, regardless of age. The Twins have a vested interest in having Garver turn into a solid big league starting catcher - it would be very valuable. We too often think that guys are fully formed by age 27 and learning is over. Garver is very much still developing. You're seeing if Bobby Wilson is good enough to be a backup (so far the answer is no). But in 2013 he put up a 660 OPS. That's not great but for a backup catcher that might be good enough that any realistic upgrade is not worth the price you'd pay. Bobby Wilson is new to the Twins, they need to see what they have. Thus far, not much. Get Lucroy!

Nice hot take with a side of hyperbole. There are nine teams in the majors that have a lower team batting average than the Twins. That’s just this year. And just at the MLB level. Perhaps this is the only team you’ve ever looked at so that’s why it’s the worst collection of batting averages? Let’s cool it on the relentless negativity. It’s May. The Twins are 3.5 back in the division. The sky is not falling Chicken Little.

They were planning on Garver having this year and next to learn under Castro. That got thrown under the bus with Castro's injury, which could not be foreseen. I'm glad they're focusing on Garver's long-term development by easing him into everyday catching (which again, isn't just the physical part but also the mental game-calling, memorizing hitter tendencies, working umps etc.) It's also worth noting that its not a bad idea to see Wilson a bit more to see what he has. Give him a chance to solve your problem at backup catcher before you go shopping at the expensive deadline. Only way to see what he has is to play him a bit more. The fact that it eases Garver's time is icing on the cake. This feels way to instinctively negative. The Twins eased Garver at catcher in the minors for a reason - they had other guys they liked too and they didn't want to push him too hard. Those are things I trust coaching staffs to do correctly, perhaps in ways I don't understand as a layperson.

No need to go get a SS with pop. They have 30 games until Polanco is back. The time to do that would've been April. RH hitting 4th OF is the only real hole on this team. That's a relatively minor one. The key for the Twins will be not overreacting to struggles. Buxton needs time in the bigs. Sano as well. Dozier will hit, Mauer will heal. Morrison will continue to hit like May and not April. Just gotta give it time.

I think we're also forgetting that Garver has never been an everyday catcher in the minors. He's shared time with Turner and gotten reps at 1B/OF/DH. Last year he caught 67 games which, given his late season promotion, was around half the games. The Twins may want to phase him up to catching 80% of the time so he doesn't get overwhelmed. I think we should hold off on criticizing the Twins til we see how this is in a month. For the future, I want Wilson for a month while they look at Astudillo and the market. I want them in on Lucroy if the A's sell and have no interest in Realmuto (and his price). If Lucroy isn't available, bring up Astudillo.

Colon for the Twins last year: 5.18 ERA on 5.31 FIP. (Lance Lynn 2018 FIP = 4.95 for reference). He gave up 4 runs or more in 6 of his 15 starts. He just wasn't very good. If the Twins had signed him that would be criminal. He is not good, he gets by on the fan support and the name recognition. His last start bombed (six runs on four HR). His FIP is 5.20 but his ERA is 3.51. He's gotten lucky so far and the wheels are falling off. Sick of hearing how great he is. He's old, he's not good.

Cleveland's lineup and bullpen just aren't as good as they were. That starting pitching is still really good but they're overrated. Twins have had just about everything go wrong and they're in it. They get Sano and Buxton hitting, Dozier streaking, Joe walking and Polanco back and this team could be a second half buzzsaw.

Cats are better than dogs. They don't hump your leg. They don't smell bad. They don't demand to take walks. They crap in a toilet box. They don't beg for food. You can ask almost anyone to take care of your cat when you're out of town. Someone has to really owe you or be related to take care of your dog. Cats don't jump on you when you walk in the door but I see that as a good thing.

Does Cave going down mean Sano coming up?

Top one, no one out, the bases are full A manager's time to ponder and mull Double play depth or bring fielders in Which one makes us more likely to win? Keep 'em back I say, let's get two! Even though trailing stinks like poo Our goal here is to keep it to one We'll score more runs before we are done If we were dumb and crept up close Worried about one run at the most Crack goes a ball in the gaping hole Round the bases our enemies roll One becomes two and then two becomes four Into the pen, our starter can't take any more This game is already getting way out of hand Playing from behind, stuck in the quicksand Sometimes it's easy to spout a platitude "Fight every run to the death my dude!" But trust me when I say this advice you must take Early it's better to bend and not break

Give him today off and get him in Seattle for Friday's game against Lefty James Paxton. The Twins lineup could use the right-handed thump.

For these: is there any chance we could list out the Top 20 and just put a DNP next to guys who DNP. It would be interesting to see the whole top 20 daily and to see when position players get a day off etc.