stringer bell

Paxton and Trevor Rosenthal both done for this season and both were discussed as potential Twins free agent signees. Health is a valuable commodity.

Particularly heartening to see Buxton with hits on the right half of the field. He still isn’t going to hit many ground balls through the gaping hole between first and second. Personally I’d like to see him line a few into the right-center gap, just to see him run out a triple.

Ryne Harper is with the Nats at least until they get some more players off the COVID list.

Trevor Hildenberger promoted to the Mets today.

Sanó seems on his way to Mark Reynolds territory. Yes, he'll hit a lot of homers, but will have prodigious strikeout totals. The slumps are too long and deep and the periods of elite hitting are too short. Alex Kirilloff may find a home at first base instead of left field. I do want to say that I don't think Sanó's problems are weight or attitude. He plays hard and seems to be a good teammate. He hasn't developed into an all-around hitter despite hard work.

I certainly liked what I saw from Waddell in Spring Training. I thought that he was not on the taxi squad when the Twins went to Milwaukee. Was he added when Donaldson went on the IL and Rooker moved from the taxi squad to the 26-man roster? As far as adding Law, the Twins would have to make some other move to make space on the 40-man roster.

Celestino was protected last year, correct? I wonder if the timing had anything to do with it. I think it was a gamble by the Twins to not protect Baddoo and it does look like they will lose this specific gamble. Detroit isn't going to contend and it looks like there will be sufficient opportunities for the youngster to play and perhaps smooth the rough edges of his game. It seems to me that position players who aren't likely to perform with the major league club are very seldom protected, while the Twins (and most other MLB lteams) protect pitchers who might be a year or even two away from contributing. Detroit is one of maybe five teams that can get away with carrying a Rule 5 guy because their probability of contending is so low. Bonus--the kid has come out hot with noteworthy hits, mostly against his former organization! Last thought. It looks like Akil Baddoo is a guy who might have all the tools. He seems to have good speed and a decent arm to go with developing hit tools. With the exception of top of the top choices Lewis and Buxton, the Twins seem to have gravitated toward hit-first players and it kind of shows on the major league team. there is a real lack of team speed outside of Buxton.

Right now if Cruz or Buxton would be the first hitter in the bottom of the tenth, I’d walk either of them.

Garlik's bust will be next to Baddoo's in the Hall of Fame.Seriously, we're a week in to the season and there's a lot of baseball to be played. At this moment, Garlik is contributing, as is Astudillo, the two guys who were being debated about as far as their place on the roster. I am concerned about two Twins hitters at this early point in the season--Garver and Sanó--both seem to be getting beat on breaking pitches and fastballs. Garver's 2019 season is looking more and more like an outlier and frankly I hope he can be as productive as he was as a rookie. I don't think he as good an overall receiver as Jeffers, so he needs to hit. Sanó seems to be descending into Mark Reynolds territory. The droughts are too deep and periods of dominance are too short. Maeda hasn't had great command in his first two starts, but I'm less worried about him. He seemed to find his groove in the middle innings today, but lost it in the sixth.

So by the time the team plays their first home game, every position player will have at least one start. Only Sanó and Polanco have started every game so far and both have played innings at a position other than their primary position.

The title of this thread seems to indicate that the Twins didn't execute in extra innings (the 10th) but the reality is that they failed to advance runners throughout the game. I know that in today's strikeout heavy era, getting a runner on second and none out is an automatic run, but the Twins failed every time. IMHO, the Tigers stole one today--the Twins had more and better chances and hit two balls out of the park and still lost. Stashak was unimpressive again and given that he has options, he would seem to be the first pitcher sent out. Astudillo keeps hitting and despite not making the play on a slow roller, he appears to be pretty comfortable at third. I think Rooker's SSS so far this year has negated his good performance from last year. He did make a really nice catch yesterday, but he is in the big leagues to hit and he doesn't look like he is going to make enough contact to be an offensive asset.

I agree especially considering a right handed hitting catcher was at the plate.

Great battle between Arraez and Mize. Luis is going to win a lot of those battles, but this time he came up short.

The Legend of LaTortuga! It's early, but he's been good filling in.

I haven't been counting, but Happ doesn't get many swings and misses, but OTOH the contact has been pretty weak. Goodrum hit the ball hard in the third, but Happ was able to pitch around an extra-base hit.

Somehow I don’t think Ureña will last long.

This game might go almost five hours at this rate.

Brings to mind, a former Washington Senator (Griffith organization) third baseman Ed Yost. He wasn't a high percentage hitter, didn't have great power but still led the league in walks several times.

I think Clay was the next lefty to be called up at some point last season, but because Thielbar was successful, he never got a chance.

Arraez should be in the lineup almost every day. Great approach at the plate and he has performed decently in the field.

Nice win today and a really fun game last night. It looks like Arraez, Simmons and today's Game Threaders are in midseason form.

Really surprised they stayed with Pineda through the 5th, but the result was positive. I don't think they would want to tempt fate by sending him out for the sixth with a bit over 80 pitches.

My guess is a migraine for Buxton, but who knows.

Some pretty poor managing of challenges.

Buxton? Goodness, what next?