longstrangetrip

True, but with the Yankees likely to start a lefty (Paxton) in Game 1 and another one (Happ) in Game 4, we need to focus on Arraez and Schoop's OPS against LHP....917 for Schoop and only .696 for Arraez. Even though Schoop hasn't had success against Paxton, I have to believe Rocco needs to go with him in Game 1. I'd hate to see Luis miss the series, but Schoop will be a very good replacement against lefties.

Without a doubt, Rogers will be used to get the final outs. Houston and NY being so righthanded is actually to Taylor's advantage, because his back foot slider makes him devastatingly effective against righties....213 BAA and .620 OPS against righties, .277 BAA and .676 OPS against righties. Granted, his HR rate is better against lefties, but I'll take his overall numbers against righties.

Our elite bullpen struck out 14 Royals today, including 8 of the final 9 outs!

I have only one issue with Arraez...I'm tired of hearing almost all the Twins announcers trip over themselves trying to out-Hispanic each other pronouncing his name!. Call me a curmudgeon if you must, but I'm calling him "arise"...with no rolled R. Other than that, I love this kid. Great in the dugout, acts like he belongs rather than a rookie (i.e. confident), terrific pitch recognition, lightening quick wrists, and adequate speed and defense...and he's only 22. He hit a consistent .331 in 6 seasons in the minors, and was only a teenager hitting against grown men in half those seasons. How about hitting .348 with less than a 10% K rate as a 17-year-old? Luis should be our leadoff guy throughout the playoffs and for the next 10 years at least.

Some may find this hyperbole, but the current bullpen reminds me of the recent championship Kansas City bullpen. Rogers, Duffey, Romo, and Littell have all been terrific, and Graterol shows great promise. The Harper story was fun while it lasted, but it's clear it is time to move on from him. I'm not troubled having May though as our 5th (or 6th) guy in the bullpen. 5-6 guys with great stats and swing-and-miss stuff is all you can ask for in a bullpen.

I'm glad you mentioned Littell. In his last 18 appearances (dating back to June 18), he's only given up a run once...that's phenomenal! Add May and Littell to the Big 4, and I certainly agree with the OP's premise that we have a very good bullpen. Kudos to the front office once again.

After a decent night's sleep, I realize that my math is faulty. I forgot about the DH, so there's only room for 5 becnh players if Rocco goes with 11 pitchers. Turtle doesn't make the cut if everyone is healthy. Bench (assuming Castro starts) is Garver, Gonzalez, Cave, Adrianza and Schoop.

I agree. Plus, it would be odd and perhaps unprecedented to leave off a popular (and relatively productive) player who has been on the roster all season.

That was my first thought too, Mike, but then I couldn't come up with a 14th position player to go along with my 11 pitchers. Who do you have in there instead of Turtle if Rocco goes with 11?

Fun to be thinking about the postseason. And with Cleveland losing their hottest hitter the past two months for the rest of the season and Kluber not ready yet, I would be surprised if the Twins didn't win the division. I think this question is easier than I originally thought, with the only question in my mind being the 11th pitcher ( I see no need to carry more than 11 in postseason) assuming everyone is healthy come playoffs. I have the 8 position players most of us consider starters now (catcher is either Castro or Garver), along with Schoop, Gonzalez, Adrianza, Cave, Castro/Garver and Tortuga (I like having a third catcher in case Rocco wants to pinch hit for Castro). I don't think anyone in the playoffs can match that bench. 11th pitcher would be Littell for me right now, but someone else may rise to the surface with a great September.

Ha, anyone under 30 is a "kid" to me...heck, maybe under 40! Anyway, I was lucky to have the front row last night (stubhub can be a beautiful thing), and VerHagen's stuff was quite impressive...downright overpowering. When I looked up his stats online, his lack of success in the minors was surprising given his stuff. It's clear to me his TJ surgery and shoulder issues have held him back. He looked more like the AAA 2018 version of himself last night...51 K's in 32 innings and a 1.65 ERA. The Twins are free swingers, so a guy with good stuff can make them look foolish at times. But I haven't seen anyone make Arraez look foolish all season, and VerHagen did it twice. Yeah, he missed his spot a couple times, and Sano and Cruz made him pay big time. But the rest of the night he was legitimately lights out. I have issues with how three of our pitchers failed against the light-hitting Tigers, but I don't fault our hitters at all (except for perhaps Polanco against Farmer)...VerHagen was scary last night.

You never know what you're going to get when you trade prospects for a starter, and we don't know what the asking price was for Stroman (Mets gave up a first rounder and a second rounder). But we do know this: since the trade, Stroman has walked 10 and given up 10 earned runs in his 19 innings. Not very good. I'm guessing this board would be pretty unhappy right now if we had given up a recent first and second rounder for that kind of pitching performance. Minor would have been a terrific pickup, but at what cost? Texas was likely asking for a couple of our top fivers (the fact that Minor was not dealt tells us every GM thought the asking price was too high), and I personally would have been unhappy to see a combo like Graterol/Kiriloff gone in exchange. Our pitching is troubled right now with Berrios struggling, but I still think the front office did the right thing in not overpaying for pitching help.

I get the frustration with losing to the worst team in the league with our supposed "ace" on the mound against a pitcher with a 6+ ERA. But don't sleep on this Verhagen kid. He obviously missed his spots last night a few times, but his double digit strikeouts were legit. He's a big imposing guy on the mound, and easily throws mid-90s with a wipeout slider...striking out Arraez twice tells you how good he can be. I think he has a promising future. Yeah, I left the game a little down last night, but still found a lot to enjoy on a perfect evening watching a team in first place: 1) Double HR games by 2 different players, as we pulled within 20 of the all-time record...and it's still August! 2) Cruz's rocket in the first inning...I don't know that I've ever seen a ball hit harder. 3) the joy of watching Luis Arraez hit, even on a 2K night. He still got a hit, and could have had another on his liner to left in the first. He is unique in the box...scanning the field before each pitch to see where the holes are (and then actually hitting them!), moving up in the box as the pitcher winds up if he's expecting a breaking ball, his antics after taking a pitch, etc. This guy would be fun to watch even in a 100 loss season, but we get to watch him in a pennant race. 4) the continued improvement of Duffey and May as more reliable middle inning guys...they both looked great last night. 5) the marvelous game Castro had behind the plate despite his pitchers not making things easy on him. 6) Gardy walking angrily out to the mound with steam coming out of this ears after his reliever's fifth straight ball...pulling your pitcher with a 1-0 count...priceless! But it worked! That said, I have to agree that Berrios maybe should miss a start or two. It was heartening to see his velocity up in the mid-90s the first few innings, but discouraging to see it drop down to 91 by the 5th and 6th. Rocco needs to see this earlier. And we gotta win the next 2...

Couldn't agree more. I was at the game last night on a gorgeous evening, and although disappointed in the result, thoroughly enjoyed watching this entertaining team. Yep, bring on September! That said, can we please bring on September WITH Byron Buxton. I know his absence is not the only reason for our recent mediocre record, but I seem to notice something in almost every loss that would have been better with Buck in there. Last night it was the slicing double to right that Gonzo couldn't quite get to (don't get me wrong...I like Gonzo...but he's not Kep in RF)...I'm fairly certain Kepler would have caught that ball if he hadn't had to play center in Buck's absence. The sample size is too big to ignore: Twins with Buck in the lineup: 56-25 (a .691 percentage...far and away the best in baseball) Twins with Buck out: 21-26 I still see this team as a contender if Byron can return. But without him, it will be a very short post-season.

You need to look at the still shots of the play in this thread. The ball hasn't quite gotten to the catcher's glove, and if Adrianza is 40 feet away, I'm 18 feet tall and have a future in the NBA! Adrianza was out by about 12 feet, and with a proper lead with the first baseman playing so far off the bag, he gets to the plate just as the ball is arriving...a much tougher play for the catcher to make. But while we can quibble about measurements, we can't quibble with the fact that it was poor baserunning and careless first base coaching. There is no excuse for the potential walk-off winning run not getting the best lead he can get.