PopRiveter

This situation wouldn't be nearly so intriguing if it weren't so wildly uncertain. It is so amplified since he's (potentially) coming back to high-stakes baseball as we enter a pennant push. I can equally imagine him sinking the ship or absolutely turbo-charging this lineup. Either way, I sure am a lot more interested than I was at this point last season. Isn't it cool that we arent't stuck this year just anticipating what sort of return our losing team may get for trading away productive veterans? 2022>2021

I think you’re right. I voted anyway so I could see the poll results, but I think it will take some IL shuffling. I also think it is possible they are spending the time trying to work a trade to move a position player (Urshela? Gordon?) for a reliever.

This is definitely the most interesting storyline at present. I’m not as convinced as you that they are actually going to give Sano a shot. I’d be shocked if they just dfa him, but I’d bet they are shopping him hard for any feasible bullpen arm. The Kepler injury cracks open a door that every healthy player has been really good at holding shut. Trading Urshela really seems like a shrewd move to me from today’s vantage point. I am so curious to see how this shakes out. Trade season is usually the only part of the baseball season I don’t enjoy (unless you count the off-season), but this has really made things intriguing.

I am 100% convinced the Twins need to give Sano some PA’s to see if he has a run in him. I am 100% convinced they may not do so. I am 100% convinced he could hit .100/.100/.250 if they do. I am way more interested in watching this play out than I am seeing whatever happens at the trade deadline. I know they need relievers. Blah blah blah. That is just so boring.

Bless the Detroit Tigers.

Well that was a welcome occurrence!

But they already scored a run today!

That was a slick DP

Wow. I'm surprised. I expected the opposite of this:

I'd consider handcuffing him to Archer. Let Archer keep preparing to start inning #1 and have Winder prepared to follow him in every 5 days with the goal of pitching the balance of the innings. I doubt you'd need much if anything from the rest of the bullpen for those games. He'd stay conditioned much like a starter and pitch a lot of innings with maybe a little less pressure and attention.

I'm really only thinking about 2022 and I found it enlightening to look at those OPS+ splits by defensive position. From that vantage point, the offensive production from catcher has not been bad, and the offensive production from DH has been excellent (though Jeffers' stats as DH are horrible.) Arraez has already corrected the deficiency at 1B. LF stands out as the weak spot where an upgrade would be most impactful- and Kiriloff might be on his way to fixing that.

This got me to look into the splits since a lot of Sanchez PA’s and some Jeffers PA’s have been at DH. Twins catchers’ stats combined (when catching): .205/.273/.390 .662 OPS 346 pa, 19 2b, 13 hr, 41 rbi I hate that batting average, but the power helps. Overall those numbers seem fine to me for the catching position. So what does sOPS+ think? sOPS+ 101 That’s almost exactly average. Not a strength, not a weakness.

Yeah I find it hard to argue any same four players were part of the core of both the ‘87 and ‘91 teams. Teams just morph so fast, but Cody picked the same 4 names that jumped to my mind. However, check back in a month and I bet at least one of those four will swap out. Good thing it’s not a 4-man roster.

He stole a base last night and I thought "As long as Buxton is healthy enough to steal a base, it will be a good week."

He doesn’t pitch right? When I consider it today, I just don’t see how that acquisition would address a need for the Twins. However, it could look very different a couple weeks down the road. A baseball season can humble me repeatedly.

I don’t want all those bases on balls wiped away from the record books.

Bad, bad, bad missed opportunity by AK

Agreed through and through. He’s what is right about baseball.

Sooooooo this game wasn’t boring afterall

Soooooooo Buxton hits one out? anyone?

That throw by Jeffers was imperfect.

That’s a tough break for Duran. Let’s see him focus and sink the next ship

Good news?

It’s probably just fine if you interpret it properly, but it is absolutely not as simple as “predictive era” unless all contact is equal. Some pitchers tend to give up hard contact, others induce pop-ups, grounders, foul balls, etc. FIP purposely ignores that.

The more I learn, the more FIP is dumb. It is appropriate for 1 pitching style- strikeout pitchers. Very misleading for any other style. Great measure for Perkins.