Eris

The Twins have 12 players on the IL. 9 are pitchers, 6 plays are on the 60 day IL. It does create some interesting 40 man roster management issues as each additional player added means one more player that can not be protected. Therefore the Twins will likely add AAAA type pitchers. In addition, there are a number of prospects with significant innings limitations. It would be useful to construct a 40 man roster for next year. as a means of comparison, here are some select IL for a few teams. LAD 9 Houston 4 Toronto 2 Data is from https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/disabled-list/current-player/toronto-blue-jays/

MLB is opening an investigation. I think it is one of these issues that regardless of Donaldson’s original intent, that this has gone on for several years is unacceptable. I look for Donaldson to be suspended. He also did not help himself with his half hearted apology after the game. The first link is an excellent article on this issue. https://yanksgoyard.com/2022/05/22/yankees-josh-donaldson-calling-tim-anderson-jackie-robinson-problematic/amp/ https://wtop.com/mlb/2022/05/leading-off-mlb-investigates-anderson-donaldson-incident-2/

Details are linked below for anyone wanting more info. https://clutchpoints.com/rumor-the-real-reason-mets-failed-to-trade-for-padres-eric-hosmer-before-start-of-2022-season/amp/

The criteria I believe they use is rookie eligibility. Celestino had 62 PA last year so he qualifies by that criteria. Time on the active roster is also considered (which I don’t know how to determine other than to indicate he wasn’t up that long). Rookie Eligibility Definition A player shall be considered a rookie unless he has exceeded any of the following thresholds in a previous season (or seasons): • 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues. • 45 total days on an active Major League roster during the Championship Season (excluding time on the Injured List). A player must have rookie eligibility to be considered for any MLB rookie awards -- such as the American League or National League Rookie of the Year Award -- or appear on any MLB Pipeline prospect lists.

I don’t understand all of the stats but I read what I understand. Isn’t the eye test the reason Derek Jeter won 5 gold gloves while accumulating -DRS in 4 of those seasons. How do you refute this without statistics. Or that Kent Hrbeck or Doug M deserved gold gloves. https://www.si.com/.amp/mlb/2021/11/20/derek-jeter-carlos-correas-golden-glove-comments-it-doesnt-warrant-a-response I was certainly surprised that Royce Lewis did as well as he did. For several years we have been reading scouting reports (from Keith Law and others) that indicated that Lewis had a hole in his swing and was likely not an MLB shortstop. My reading of this article is that Lewis received too many good pitches to hit, (perhaps because of the above mentioned hole in his swing) and I look forward to Lewis making the adjustments to either hitting or laying off breaking balls just off the zone.

Jomboy media break down on Angel Hernandez. Posting because the 2nd strike call on Kepler was well of the plate.

1) Where do you follow the Twins from? Saddle Brook, NJ. I was born in New Ulm, MN and last lived in MN in 1995. 2) What's your jobby job? Physical scientist working in the chemical industry, mostly on personal care and preservatives 3) How 'bout hobbies? Photography, hiking, raising butterflies. I released 100 monarchs last year 4) How long have you followed the Twins? Since 1970 5) How many games do you attend a season? 1 or 2. 6) Who is your favorite all-time Twin? It used to be Kirby until.... I will give 4: Rod Carew, Tony Olivia, Jim Kaat, and Joe Mauer 7) Who is your current favorite Twin? Buxton 9) What is the most memorable thing you've seen in person at a Twins game? Jason Kubel hitting a 2 out grand slam against Mariano Rivera at Yankee stadium to give the Twins a 6-3 victory in May 2010. It was also bat day. Yankee Stadium was just rocking until the grand slam. 10) What is your favorite all-time Twins moment? What I watch most often, especially if I am in need of a pick me up is Kirby's catch and home run in game 6. The most emotional moment is Joe Mauer's final game

Talking about lighting a fire under the team. Amazing what happens when every player who has played worse than Royce Lewis realizes that they may be sent down or cut. Do players actually think in these terms

The one stat that is most important is the W-L of the team when Byron Buxton is playing. There have been some variations of this stat on the other Buxton threads. https://calltothepen.com/2021/09/25/importance-byron-buxton-minnesota-twins/amp/

It is a great title. Good job at such a late hour of the day.

If you were to subtract of the 5 games Buxton mixed following his knee injury the figure would be 23/30, which equates to 124 games for the season.

There was a nice write up in the WSJ comparing him to Rod Carew and Tony Olivia. He has a K% < 10. Think of him as a Luiz Arraez but with speed and a good arm. He was at Oregon State with Larnach when they won the college World Series.

When he was with the Twins, Ervin Santana was said to have a partial tear in his UCL. I went looking for an article and found some described it as a sprained UCL. Not sure of the difference, but Ervin Santana pitch effectively for many years on that elbow with out needing surgery. My point is that a partial tear does not necessarily mean TJ. Also I have linked another article from 2018 that indicates that 25% of the MLB pitchers have TJS at some point in their career. I think most FO see TJ as a risk that has to be mitigated with appropriate depth. https://www.lonestarball.com/platform/amp/2009/3/29/814424/bp-on-hurt-angels-pitchers https://www.billjamesonline.com/tommy_john_surgery_in_major_league_baseball/

The 36.4 K% is just appalling. He is right down there with Joey Gallo in terms of MLB career worst K%. This year might be the end of the line for both of them. i am somewhat surprised he has not been put on the 60 day DL, as the Twins are down to there last available bat on the 40 man roster.

Josh Donaldson makes headlines for a slow jog to first https://nypost.com/2022/05/09/yankees-duo-catch-attention-with-slow-jogs-to-first/

The Padres were willing to give Paddack and Pagan away to a team that was willing to take on about 2.5 years of Eric Hosmer’s contract. Dominic Smith is someone who the Mets had high hopes for who plays below average LF and 1B and has had a couple of decent offensive years. https://www.si.com/mlb/mets/.amp/news/mets-could-send-dom-smith-to-padres-for-chris-paddack-eric-hosmer-plus-more

I couldn’t find a place to put this so created a new thread. https://nypost.com/2022/05/07/supermom-raised-two-mlb-sons-tylor-megill-trevor-megill/

It has been posted by D Park that Carlos Correa’s finger is broken

Seeing Duran’s splitter get crushed reminded me of Jim Hoey. He too had a high octane FB but hitters would tee off on his splitter.

Here in NJ, cases are above where they were in February when the Omicron variant first swept the country. Being that MLB no longer tests on a daily basis and that people are infectious 1 to 2 days before showing symptoms, there is the potential to have more than a few players infected. if I am reading this article correctly, the Covid IL and replacement policy is the same as last year, including the ability to have a taxi squad. As far as I know, the Twins do not currently have a taxi squad, is this correct. https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2022-03-16/mlb-eliminates-regular-covid-19-testing?_amp=true

I think Max Kepler would be the backup 1B on the roster. Although he has not had many innings there in the majors, he did spend some time at that position while in the minor leagues.

It does make you wonder what the Rays were thinking. His minor league numbers look good. His negatives are that he only had two pitches and at 25 years he is a little old for a prospect. The general MLB philosophy is that someone with 2 pitches can only be a reliever and therefore expendable in a trade. I am wondering what Wes Johnson’s contributions to his success are. Also, if memory serves me correctly, Brad Radke only had 2 pitches

I feel that I should have placed more of a premium on finding a spouse who loved baseball back when I was dating. In fairness, I feel that my spouse misrepresented herself. She went to more baseball games with me while we were dating than she has in the 30 years we have been married.

On Celestino. While I agree that he needs to play every day for his development. He provides the Twins with a lot of defensive flexibility. He has appeared in 4 of the last 6 games although once as a PR. He has enabled the Twins to PH for for their outfielders (mostly Garlick and Larnach, sometimes Kepler) late in the game to get more favorable match ups at the plate and to upgrade their outfield defense over Larnach and Garlick. Normally a team would only carry one defensive forth outfielder. This is a role occupied by both Gordon and Celestino. When the roster contracts, Celestino will likely be sent down.

I don’t know much about how WPA is determined. Surprised that Pagan had the second highest WPA last night. I would have given him a negative WPA for the nail biter he created by issuing 2 BB and for the 2 or 3 balls in the dirt with the bases loaded. Had he pitched a clean 9th, would his WPA have been the same.