AKTwins

I’m not surprised the twins haven’t been able to land the big names. Teams want major league ready controllable pitching. Twins don’t have that at the moment with Winder hurt, Balazoic struggling, and Canterino injury prone. Obviously we aren’t trading joe Ryan. The twins do have major league ready hitting, but I don’t think they are trading Miranda or Lewis Teams may not be interested in Steer and Waller is off to a slow start in AAA. The rest of the twins prospects are near, but not yet major League ready. i a, thinking they pick up someone like Jordan Lyons for a pitcher. My guess is they get Gallo but I don’t think they sound give up much of anything.

The pitcher I really like on their team is Strahm. He is on the IL though. After the Dyson mistake not sure if they want to risk. I think Vasquez is a good “break glass in case of emergency” if they cannot land a better option.

Looking at Baseball savant Jorge’s hart hit % is 40.8% which is the highest of his career. The mlb hard hit average % is 35.6%. Issue is Jorge is not making as much contact. His strike out % is 23.2% which is the highest in his career. I see Jorge’s issues as the same issue the vast majority of hitters are having. The pitching is elite and hitters are making as much contact. Jorge has had some bad luck so I can see his batting average creeping up to the .250-.260 range and his OPS ending up in the low 800s

Twins have a lot of 3B/2B/LF type prospects with Steer, Julian, and Encarnacion-Strand. Martin also profiles for those positions. Then Miranda plays 3B. Miller looks to stay at SS but he too may be in the mix at those spots. Not to mention Kiriloff, Larnach and Celestino all play or can play LF. Very nice probed to have. I am think Steer would be a trade piece at the deadline. Plenty of team will want an MLB ready IF. He will be valuable.

On second thought, I don’t think they would need to give up nearly as much for Mancini and Lopez. I think for reliever the front officer would look for a saavy vet type in the mold of Romo, Clippard or Joe Smith. Ian Kennedy maybe a decent option. They could use another left handed in the pen. Maybe AJ Puk or Matt Strahm.

For 1B I also think Trey Mancini should be considered. A right handed bat and known as a great club house guy. He will fit in well with the team. He won’t cost too much prospect capital. I am think some in the 25-30 range, FV 35+. It would be great if they could package him with Lopez, but I think that will cost a prospect in our top 10 with his remaining team control. Maybe trading Canterino and someone outside the top 30. Or maybe Steer (we have a log jam of 2B/3B prospects) and a lesser pitching prospect such as Steven Cruz or Gipson-Long.

So I take it Bechtold is officially moved to catcher. Anyone seen him catch or head any inside information on his progress? Would be interesting to see if he can develop into a mlb level catcher. I am also intrigued with Holland. He is starting to hit a little consistently, granted lower in the line-up. He definitely has mlb level athletism. He is probably further along with his hit tool than Kiersey. Maybe he has a shot to be a 4th OF.

I think a large part of the reason Lewis was thrown so many strikes was due to his place in the batting order. Teams typically throw better pitches to the 7-9 hitters, hoping they get themselves out since they are typically weaker hitters. Plus you don’t want to walk a guy with the top of the order coming up, which will have the better hitters. Lewis batted 9th alot. They didn’t want to walk him and face Buxton with runners on or Polanco with a runner on. This is not to take anything away from Lewis. Lewis did what you are suppose to do and that is hit balls in the zone. On the same note, I think part of Miranda’s issues have been that he is batting higher in the lineup.

Kiriloff was optioned and Sano placed on 60 day DL

When Larnach went on the IL, I figured Gilberto would play everyday. I wish he would. Rocco seems to want to play Gordon against the righties. Gilberto offers more at the plate. Plus, Kepler hasn’t had to play CF, which I think has helped Kepler avoid nagging injuries in the early going

I had to be a wet blanket on the pitching performances this week, but the A’s line-up is really bad. I would say worst in the mlb. Is there anyone in the As line-up, other than Murphy b/c of his defense, that would play for the Twins right now. I wouldn’t want any of the A’s starters, outside Murphy, even with all the Twins injuries. I guess Larauno, but he wasn’t hitting at AAA. It has the 2012-2014 twins vibe. A lot of Chris Parmalee and Alexi Castilla types. But the twins did what they were supposed to do and beat an inferior team. They did it hurt and short handed nonetheless,

Kirilofff should be in St. Paul, playing everyday and figuring things out. My understanding is that with the COVID issue that player called up does not need to be on the 40 man. So Palacios, Robertson, Contreras or Terry would be fine for a couple days.

I would like to recognize Gary Sanchez as a catcher. Coming into the season I thought he would be better by getting out of NY, but not by much. I was thinking if he went from horrible to not very good that would be great. However, he has handled a young and talent starting pitcher extremely well for his 1st two starts. Morneau said last night that Sanchez had one of the strongest arms for a catcher in the league. I was little perplexed by that but he was showing off the arm strength last night. I was happy for him when he threw out a runner. At Tampa the stolen bases were on Bundt, with his high leg kick, and Columbes slow wind up. If, or when, Sanchez starts hitting the Twins will have one of the better back stop tandems in the league.

Thanks for clarifying that. No issues then. I am thinking Smeltzer or Rodriguez for SP. the. For a position player Palacios or Robertson.

Losing Arreaz for 10 days won’t kill the Twins from a position standpoint since Miranda plays the same positions, but that also assumes no one else gets hurt. From the starting pitcher stand point things will get interesting if Gray and Ober are not ready. They could call Sands up again but with options limited per year they may want to hold off. Enlow, Jordan and Villamont aren’t ready. They could try Henriquez or Strotmam but neither of the. Seem ready either. Do they outright Villamont or Godoy and put Smeltzer on the 40 man? Can Sano go on the 60 day IL? Can they do a bullpen game with Jax going 3 innings and Duran going 2 plus?