jimbo92107

I'm siding with the relief pitcher advocates. Twins have blown too many leads, especially late in games. The team needs at least one, ideally two more dependable middle inning relievers. That way they can use Duran as the closer as often as possible. To make room, I would DFA Duffey and Pagan.

Zero, of course. Sano would be part of a package (plus a prospect or three) for a good RP from a team that has no chance to make the playoffs. Pittsburgh?

Talk about the perfect cure for a couple late-inning blown relief appearances. Doing the same thing to another team is...savagely satisfying.

Best thing for all parties would be: Sano belts some mammoth homers in St Paul, then gets traded in a package that gets the Twins a solid relief pitcher. Sano needs a fresh start on a team that needs a big bat and an okay 1B. He's still fairly young, immensely strong, and can hit those crowd-pleasing 450-footers...between all the KO's. He's just not going to be Frank Thomas 2.0, which was what some of us thought maybe he could become. But he'll always be a scary hitter, at 1B or DH. On this Twins team, Sano's place has been taken over by Miranda and Kirilloff, both of whom are better fielders and much higher average hitters. The Twins today are doing well with hitters that keep the runners advancing, stretching those 2-out situations into RBI's. They won today's game with just that - a line drive single to walk off the win. Miranda didn't need to knock one over the fence, so his good, flat swing was plenty to get the final run over the plate. Not ignoring Polanco's long ball, but even that was a calculated choice by a high-average hitter. Polo swung for distance because he knew at 2-0 the pitcher needed to throw a strike. This year's Sano might have swung at the first two pitches, trying to hit a home run from the get go. If Miguel Sano ever learns proper plate discipline, watch out world...

Juan Minaya, my hero relief pitcher of the week. Then you get Sweet Luis battling for a hit, and King Byron Buxton, First of His Name for the win. Love how Buck is so confident in his swing, he just barreled it perfectly, not bothering with the whippy follow through. Like a low 2-iron. A careful, measured home run swing.

Dick: Well I think we've had enough of the Guardians. Who was it said, "Home runs aren't hit, they're thrown." I've had enough of relief pitchers that give free passes and then throw cookies in the last couple innings of games. Thornburg, Cotton and Pagan can all take a hike, in my opinion. I would like to see the Twins replace almost half their relief staff. Get some guys with very low walk rates. That by itself would be an improvement. No more loading the freekin' bases without a hit. Geez!

Winder was a stud horse today. Looked like his future, which is an excellent MLB starter for years to come. Stood tall, good poise, Bert's "downward plane" mixed with high heat, excellent mix of pitches, stayed away from the middle, used a slow curve, a couple change ups, Also, he did a great job of executing from the wind-up and the stretch equally well. A lot of young pitchers look good from one, but not the other. Winder executed well while checking baserunners. On offense, well... wow. This lineup is capable of exploding for ten or more runs on just about anybody. So odd that they've been shut out completely a few times, but great pitching does happen sometimes, too. I know it's unrealistic, but six runs seems like a minimum for this offense.

...and we have... The Pagan Sacrifice. Walks two, then a hit to give up two runs. Now watch him burn through three guys quick. Nope, bringing in Thielbar. One more runs scores, then he strikes out the rest.

I think he helped revive the careers of a few Twins pitchers, including Duffey and Thielbar. Got a few more ticks on Jax's heater, too. He knows how to teach that specific kinetic chain required to throw a baseball in the mid to upper 90's. Maybe he even taught Duran to throw 103 without his arm falling off, I don't know. Anyway, a good pitching coach, but there are others. Not too worried. Good luck to Johnson at LSU.

Well, it was a great day for pitchers. Can't rag on Bundy, he did well giving up a single run. Can't even rag on the bullpen, they held. I don't suppose Marquez is on the market????

I am not so concerned with steals as I am with missed opportunities to advance after the catcher drops a ball in the dirt and it dribbles ten feet away. Any average speed player should be ready to break for the next bag after every pitch. Instead, I see guys just standing there, not even trying to take advantage, unless the ball goes all the way to the backstop. All I ask is that every player, even the catchers, do their three hops, landing the third hop just as the ball gets to the catcher. If the ball dribbles away, take off! Yes, guys like Buxton can steal on a clean catch, but a ball dribbling away gives you about two seconds to churn those feet. If you have any kind of respectable athletic speed, you should make it to the next base. That means everybody on the current Twins roster. No, I'm not saying a 270 pound, 40 year old DH should do this, or your player with a bad knee. Three skips is just what every kid in little league does, and it should work even better in the bigs.

Perfect observations, sound conclusions, logical suggestions. If we all yell at our computers, will the FO hear us?

I didn't predict it, but it's satisfying to see that Devin Smeltzer has become the team's most reliable starter. Ryan and Gray may have more impressive "stuff," but Smeltzer has command and a plan every time he toes the rubber. Once again, hitters were unwilling to offer at his first pitch slow curve. So, he kept doing it. Cleveland's lineup clearly was getting more and more frustrated by this soft-tossing lefty moving the ball all around the zone. The only thing they could do is hope the umpire missed more strike calls. That blown strike on the outside change-up cost Smeltzer a strikeout, a hit, and about 15 extra pitches. Bring on RoboUmp! Good dinger by Gordon. I like having him on the team, and I'm pretty sure Baldy does, too.

Pagan is a little like a roulette wheel. Stupid to play at all, but if you must, then bet once, and if you win, then get the hell out. Go buy a nice dinner on the house. Instead, Rocco bet twice on Pagan, and wound up with the Pagan Sacrifice. I'm trying to get across the extreme swings of the guy's pitching. If you get a nice box of chocolates, enjoy them and move on. Don't open the next box, because... Those might not be chocolates! Remember Samuel Deduno? Incredibly live arm, his heater would bend two-and a half feet. Hitters could barely touch him but Deduno could barely find the strike zone, and if he had to throw a "get it over" pitch, they tended to sail over the fence. Pagan is a little like that. His stuff is electric, but he's just barely got it under control, and he can implode just as fast as he can burn through three batters. Ultimately, you can't have guys like that in your bullpen. Sometimes you can't afford to see a reliever blow a lead.

He can burn through any lineup...after giving up a two run homer. The Pagan Sacrifice.

Of all the problems I see with the Twins, Kirilloff isn't one of them. He's a superb hitter, and he will soon make the adjustments needed to rake at the mlb level. He will be a high-average power hitter.

When the Twins signed Dylan Bundy, I thought it was a low-risk, low-reward gamble. Hadn't heard news about Bundy for quite a while, but what I did hear sounded like a guy whose arm was pretty much shot. First few games, I thought the Twins lucked into a mature pitcher with a new repertoire of dink and dunk off speed stuff. Then he had a spell where it looked like the league read his book and was beating him with it. Finally on Saturday Bundy showed that he can still be the pitcher from the first few games, and even a little better. Eight innings of one-run ball. He was getting first-pitch strikes with a slow curve, and AZ wasn't sitting on it. Bundy appears to be using a "just enough" approach. Just enough velo and command with his heater. Just enough bend and command with his curves and sliders. An occasional change-up, just enough fade. The common factor was command. He threw 70 percent strikes, and most of his off-zone pitches were sucker balls. It was a command performance, and it may have rescued the bullpen for the next series. Great job by Dylan Bundy.

You know, I think Bundy works better with a nine-run lead. Why is that..?

9-0.... That's pretty good for my blood pressure, I bet. Not Kirilloff specifically, but adding his bat may have increased the pressure on the opposing pitcher enough to cause disruptions in his plan. I'd like to see this exact lineup for a couple games, see if they score more runs in bunches.

You sir, have split the tail of the dart in the center of the bull's eye. Pat Reusse has always been a muck-raking style journalist. Not exactly dishonest, but tending towards the old "if it bleeds, it leads" formula. That includes using hyperbolic adjectives like "atrocious" for Nick Gordon's defense, where actually it might be more useful to note that we should not expect top performance from a guy that keeps moving around from one position to another. Gordon these days has played more in the outfield than anywhere else. He has gotten rather good at that, while his skills at SS have diminished a bit. Play him at CF for a couple weeks, then at SS for one game, don't expect greatness at SS. But if you play him at SS for two weeks, I suspect Gordon will get to about league average quality at SS. After all, it's considered the hardest position, right? In short, he's a good utility man, and gradually getting better as a hitter. Reusse has a daily article to write, so sometimes he just picks a target and pulls the trigger. Professional athletes should not expect to be treated fairly by a deadline-driven press.

The big comeback year from TJ is 2 years after, not 1 year after. Takes a pitcher about a year to find his game again. Don't expect a lot from Kenta. Love him for trying, but don't bet on it.

This isn't shaping up to be a Twins win-it-all year, but if they want to get as close as possible without selling the farm, they need to add one good reliever, then bring up every hot bat in St Paul. DFA Duffey and Smith Bring up Canterino and Balazovic Bring up Kirilloff and Spencer Steer In the playoffs, your #4 and 5 rotation pitchers become relievers, because you're trying to win each 3 of 5 series. Bringing up the hot bats puts a little more pressure on opposing pitchers. We have seen that pressure rise close to the breaking point lately, but not quite bubble over into bunches of runs. Steer and Kirilloff add just enough pressure to blow the lid off some games.

If that's who Kepler is, Matt Wallner will take his job in about a year. Another Larnach, with an ever stronger arm.

I can't be the only one to notice this - despite all the whiffs Ryan gets, when somebody does crank one on him, it goes a looooooong way.

What's with Kepler these days? He looks like he's just going through the motions, rather than improving his game at the plate. I've seen him pound so many balls into the dirt just like that... where is the adjustment? He would have been better off bunting.