stringer bell

The Twins will face starters 4-5-1 in the Kansas City series and will throw their (now) 4-5-1 starters against them. #1 starter for the Royals (Grienke) doesn't throw much harder than Hill, but he has a few more pitches. I think the offense will pick up, but fear a bit of a letdown in the pitching department.

Closers are overrated. Firemen are the key parts of bullpens nowadays, especially if they are capable of going more than one inning.

There is a lot to sort out, particularly with the bullpen. Giving a job to Pagan to close games seems a bit of a stretch, but with Alcala injured, Thielbar (so far) ineffective and Duran quite a question mark (single or multiple innings, can he be used on consecutive days?) I don't know if there are any better options. Most likely, a starter or two will eliminate himself, as well. Glad to see the good work by the starters.

Hill was out of the game and the Red Sox used all their lefty relievers on Sunday. Kepler hit for Garlick as soon as a right hander came into the game.

Looking at the pitcher usage, if the Twins can continue to get 6 innings from their starter or long man, they can use three relief pitchers per game and still be used every third day. Coulombe, Romero and Pagán haven’t been used since Saturday and should be ready to go for Tuesday for sure. Duffey, Thielbar and Stashak had today off. Lots of options. The key is to average less than three innings out of the bullpen per game. Edit to add: this is counting Winder with the starters. He and Gray worked 7 innings on Saturday.

Well, we all knew we should have kept Liam Hendriks.

He’d probably win a batting title like Moreau and Cuddyer. ?

I don’t think you can give enough credit to Joe Smith today. Second and third, one out and the heart of the order coming up and he gave them nothing.

1) A lot of guys in St. Paul will get released. I think May 1 will be a big day for minor league staffs, as well as parent clubs. There just aren’t enough innings for everyone. 2) I think Thielbar has two years of rope. He’s been successful with his pitch mix and hasn’t lost much, if any, velo. Jax almost made my list, but so many people think he projects to be a solid bullpen arm. Today’s performance had me going from “I’m done with him” to “that’s a great pitch” and back. I think he’ll survive a May 1 cut down perhaps being optioned, but no DFA. 3) I think Garlick is on the team until they find a better RH corner outfielder. Not sold on him, but he fits what the club needs and his development won’t be hurt by sitting on the bench. 4) So many guys in St. Paul with big league experience. As I said earlier, pretty soon many of them will have to either be promoted or let go. Does anyone know who has opt-outs? 5) I think the ideal when they are down to 13 pitchers is to have two in St. Paul and two in Minneapolis who can shuttle back and forth. They’ll also need to add a third catcher sometime, but I guess that move wouldn’t be made until the need arises.

A nice tidy little game, about three hours thirty minutes. Twins had nine hits and seven walks. Boston had 11 hits and two walks. Well, the results were what Twins fans wanted. Bundy 2-0 with a <1 ERA. I'm sure everyone saw that coming. Speaking of Bundy, there was a show on Bally Sports yesterday about card collecting and they had a Native American guy talking about Native American players and and their playing cards. Bundy was included as a Native American. Did not know that. The host of the show was Matt Strahm, who pitched for the Sox in the two games they won.

Jax moving up on my 40-man casualties list.

The right guy is up now to put some this in safe territory.

Really good at-bat for Celestino.

Yes, it is nice to have a utility man who can catch. Turtle has some outstanding assets, but also some huge liabilities.

Who's the backup catcher now?

Close your eyes and swing I guess. Note to bighat, it is snowing here in Minnesota for (I believe) the twelfth day out of 18 where I live.

Really? I like Duran over Coulombe against Devers all day.

Stay positive Aggies. There are 2 2/3 innings to pitch yet.

I think it was the checked swing strike on appeal.

Yes, the GDPs were painful, but to me it was the one-pitch popups with runners in scoring position. Willians is allergic to being patient, which negates the superior contact rate.

So, Duran for the seventh and eighth and then ?????

Four runs doesn't mean the bats are back.

Mill mentioned this, but the Red Sox runner was already on third. Sanchez should have run Devers back to the base and tagged both runners. It worked out okay, but it was a needless throw and then Devers was advancing to the plate.

Joe Smith--fireman.

Well, they got the out without the run scoring, but they allowed the runners to advance to second and third.