AlwaysinModeration

Agreed. That seems like a pretty cheap price.

Excellent visual, that really makes it easy to peruse. Are the players highlighted in red what the Twins traded for Stroman and Giles, or is it the Bumgarner-Smith package?

His humor is going to fit right in here in a few weeks when he is a Twin and starts posting on TD.

Also, is it strange that I kind of want to see Adrianza at second today?

No Buxton. Any word on how he is doing?

I’ve got no problem with the Rogers use last night, for three reasons: 1. Stamp out any hope of Cleveland coming back. 2. Good chance you won’t have a chance to use him Sunday, so he’s got two days rest coming. 3. It wound up being relatively low-leverage, even though the game itself wasn’t very important. Giving Rogers a low-stress outing instead of always trotting him out with the game in the balance is probably welcome by him. If it wasn’t Cleveland, I might have had more of an issue with it. But that was a game you had to put away. Don’t try to get cute with it, trying to save him for a chance the next day that may never come. Just end the game right then and there. Good work, Rocco, and Rogers. Now, Berrios—sweep the leg!

I get that Albie Weiss had himself a helluva night with 4 hits, two homers and a double....but Spencer Steer must be saying how the hell do I earn hitter of the day honors around these parts?!? 5 for 5, two doubles, plus a walk to get on base all six plate appearances!!!

Isn’t the story...they did it after every win?

Numbers: check Fun: check

Another way of looking at it, is here are the eight guys I want the Twins to avoid trading, if at all possible: 14 Luis Arraez 2B 2 Alex Kirilloff OF 19 Misael Urbina OF 3 Brusdar Graterol RHP 6 Jordan Balazovic RHP 9 Jhoan Duran RHP 1 Royce Lewis SS 7 Keoni Cavaco SS This means Larnach and Javier could be included on the trade chip list.

Love looking at the system this way, thanks for putting it together. If I were the GM, I would put the following ten guys, all between #8 and #23 on their prospect list, on the block as chips, and see what I can net in return: 13 Jeffers C 20 Blankenhorn 2B 23 Miranda 2B 11 Thorpe LHP 21 Gonsalves LHP 8 Rooker OF 17 Baddoo OF 10 Enlow RHP 18 Alcala RHP 12 Gordon SS

The folks at IndiansDaily must be really thrilled with the Mercado read on Polanco’s double. I can’t imagine the pitchforks that would be out on TD if, let’s say, Marwin or Arraez had made a mistake like that. (I was going to say Buxton, but who are we kidding?)

1. Wes Johnson 2. Rocco Baldelli 3. Nelson Cruz’ naproom

Another ten starts tomorrow.

Twins season by tens: 6-4 7-3 6-4 6-4 9-1 6-4 7-3 5-5 5-5 Still haven’t managed a losing ten-game stretch. .633 win percentage, third best record in baseball.

I think you were right, but I don’t think it means what you think that it means.

This gamethread had some serious hot takes.

For as fast as he is, he’s exceedingly cautious.

True, last year, he was much better, 100%.

Buxton leading off. Get on and get in.

PANIC!!1!

The Twins really excel when Buxton is doing well at the plate as well as roaming the OF. The Twins sure could use another player in double digit homers.

I will mark down one vote for 0% chance. It’s true, Cleveland could catch or pass Minnesota by August 1. That is definitely within the realm of possibilities.

Just speculating on the chances the Twins manage to trade for Trevor Bauer. He’s an iconoclast, does his own thing, spent years working with Driveline baseball, has a million pitches and lots of unique drills and stretches, and insists that he will be going year by year for contracts. Cleveland is extremely hot right now and is looking to hunt the Twins down. Bauer would be a big part of that chase. And of course trading within the division means the Twins would potentially spend years facing some of their best prospects playing for Cleveland. But, but, but - Derek Falvey has a really close connection with Bauer. That was the source of the Indians trading for him from the Diamondbacks in the first place (where his newfangled ways weren’t appreciated.). He hugely embraces, and really, has been at the vanguard, of new approaches to pitching, strength training, tunneling, improving velocity, etc. He says he was an average athlete who through persistence and video and repetitions and creativity and science created himself into a great pitcher. I can’t imagine that Falvey wouldn’t love to get Bauer back on his team, and I am sure Wes Johnson would love to work with him and talk shop. He’s 28.5 years old, eligible for one more year of arbitration. He’s posted 16 WAR in his career, including 3+ the last two, and increased his K% the last three years. What are the chances he is a Twin by August 1, and what would the Twins need to give up to land him?

I agree with Brian / Stringer that defensive positional flexibility has been an important part of the team’s success this year. Two points I would add to this discussion. 1. In addition to defensive flexibility, I think that Falvey and Levine have done a good job of trying to upgrade every spot on the roster they possibly could. This has resulted in a deep roster that Rocco can use successfully. In the past, the 23-27 guys on the roster were really marginal, and it never felt like Ryan was trying to get anything better than mediocre with those fringe roster spots. 2. In addition to “defensive positional flexibility” and “maximize every roster spot”, the third tenet I am seeing emerge is “ability to put bat on ball.” I was thinking about this when Buxton botched the suicide squeeze play. He’s way down the list of players I would want doing that. When you look at the roster, you see Astudillo clearly at the top, followed by Arraez, Polanco, and Rosario. Those four guys have elite contact skills. I think that skill is almost becoming underrated in the age of launch angles and strikeouts. But come playoff time, I think the ability to put the bat on the ball becomes more valuable. (Also makes me think Kirilloff might have a better future with the club than Lewis.)