bighat

If he goes 4-5 with 2 HRs tonight you're damn right I'll be sold. At least we'll have seen some flash of some potential. And yes, we absolutely have the right - no, we should EXPECT - our most highly touted hitter in years to be able to put together multi-hit nights. To be able to catch fire. Carry the team. Hit homers and get hot. That's what good baseball players do.

I must have missed something - is the league giving out points and awards for being injured? Last time I checked, being hurt all the time doesn't count for diddly. There are hundreds of first round draft picks who had a bum knee, an elbow, or a wrist keep them from becoming big stars. It happens every year, all the time, to many players on every team. Kirilloff has the same chronic injury keeping him out again this year - what's so special about 2 doubles in AZ? I really am cheering for Kirilloff, Larnach, Jeffers - all of them. I'm just stunned at the pure blind homerism, where you're all creating this magical world where these guys are All-Stars and you're all feeding this fantasy about how great these guys are and how great they're going to be. Based on what? 8 homers in 250 ABs? The straight facts are that none of these guys have done ANYTHING. Eddie Rosario's Twins career is running circles around these guys and at this rate they'd be thrilled if they could even sniff 30 HRs or 100 RBI. No results = no results. What we have from Kirilloff is 8 homers in 250 ABs, and a bad injury track record. Two doubles in AZ, good for him. Now let's start seeing some 4-hit games. Let's start seeing some multi-homer games. That shouldn't be too much to ask, should it? Or do these guys deserve a few more years to work out the kinks?

Where is this narrative coming from? Both Alex Kirrilloff and Trevor Larnach have had 254 and 413 career ABs, respectively. Kirrilloff is batting .240 with 8 HRs in those 254 ABs, and Larnach has compiled a .228 batting average with 12 HRs in his 413 ABs. In short: both have given a real opportunity - not just a cup of coffee - to earn a starting role with this team, and both have frankly been pretty darn disappointing. Throw in Ryan Jeffers and we have 3 top Twins prospects who have received a ton of chances and none of them are doing jack squat. These guys are 24, 25 years old. Luis Arraez is 25 years old - he didn't need 413 ABs to prove he was a major leaguer. Most of the time, good players show you who they are within a half season of ABs. For every Byron Buxton (guys who take years to develop) there are 1,000 Bobby Kieltys and 1,000 Paul Sorrentos. The odds say that it's far more likely that Kirilloff and Larnach aren't going to make it. Watching people lining up with excuses for these guys every week is getting a little old. At some point we are going to need some results. These guys were supposed to produce like Rosario and maybe even carry this team from time to time. It's time to be honest: they've given us nothing but headaches and disappointment. If I had to pick one to stay on the team, I guess I'd pick Kirilloff but that's more because of what I've seen from Larnach and Jeffers than anything else.

Great report, love how you show your work and I read the entire thing and was nodding my head. My only disagreement comes from this quote regarding Trevor Larnach: "I'm going to ignore his huge slump over the last month, and especially last couple of weeks and hope it's luck related rather than a repeat of last season." -- Since his debut, there has always been a huge group of fans lining up to make up excuses for his poor play. A guy like Miranda goes 0-for-5 and Twins fans are ready to jettison him to the Mighty Mussels, meanwhile Larnach goes 2-for-40 over a 3 week stretch and it's "just bad luck". But hey, it's your article and you can ignore and/or include anything you want! I just happen to disagree on Larnach. But like I said, great work dude and thanks for the post. Very impressed with your thoroughness and even more impressed with how you were able to get it down in writing for the masses. Well done.

I don't mind them trading hitters, just don't want them to trade AA or AAA pitching. I'd be thrilled to see the Twins flip Larnach, Kirilloff, Miranda or all 3 of them if they could.

Admittedly being a bit overdramatic with the "sell sell sell" nonsense. BUT frankly I'm really am having a hard time getting excited about this team. It's hard to devote an entire evening to watching the game because they score between 0-2 runs way too often, and that's an unwatchable product.

Very bullish on this Twins team - sell, sell, sell. Starting pitching isn't great, bullpen is full of holes and oh yeah they can't hit. They're incredibly lucky to have the record they do. Here's hoping they don't trade away any farm talent at the deadline, it would be a complete waste. Been shut out 9 times in just over 60 games, that's putting up a goose-egg once a week. Most days they score 1 or 2 runs, and then once a week they'll blow up for 11 which inflates the stats. Guardians should win 2-of-3 this week and 4-5 next against this team, I can't see them finishing higher than 3rd in the division once the dust settles. 80 wins would be a huge accomplishment with what they're working with.

No, because starting pitching only solves half the problem. In case you haven't been watching, this team can't hit. They scored 11 runs on Saturday, aside from that they averaged just 2 runs per game the rest of the week. They've been shut out 9 times in just over 60 games - they put a goose egg on the board once per week. There are a handful of good teams this year, and a lot of bad ones. The Twins are one of the few teams who are truly mediocre this season, it's just hard to see that because they keep playing against terrible competition. But we've seen when they go against the Dodgers, Astros and Yankees - they get blown out of the water. Leveraging the future of the franchise so you can pretend to compete in 2022 is not a wise decision. Play it out and see how it goes with what you've got.

Too true, man! Glad my pessimistic prophecy was incorrect - and by a mile!

Aside from Arraez and Correa I frankly don't see much to like. Looks like the B-Team to me. Hope they prove me wrong.

Scoreboard watching already: Cleveland losing to LA 6-1 in the 6th. Twins have Jeffers, Urshela (batting cleanup!?), Larnach, Gordon and Kirilloff in the lineup - plus NO Buxton and they have Bundy on the mound. Can't imagine this will go well.

Very well said. Regarding the guys you mentioned, the worst possible scenario is when they ALL play at the same time. For example, tonight the Twins have Jeffers, Urshela (batting cleanup!?), Larnach, Gordon and Kirilloff in the lineup - plus NO Buxton and they have Bundy on the mound. An 8-1 loss is all but guaranteed. Cleveland is one game out and could easily slide into a tie for first tonight. I just don't see how an offense like this can continue to compete. I really have no idea how the Twins have won as many games as they have...but thinking back, we can remember all of those early lucky/gifted wins, and the reality is that this might be more like a .500 or so team when it's all said and done.

Both doubles came with 2 outs. The Arraez double was mashed and the runner would have easily scored but it went over the wall and was a ground-rule double, meaning Sanchez had to come back to 3rd base. Miranda then couldn't deliver with two outs. The double by Buxton the next inning was hit so hard that it bounced back off the wall into play very quickly. Kepler really didn't have a chance to score, and he'd have been out at home. Correa then couldn't deliver with 2 outs. Twins should've, could've been up 5-2 or more by the mid 2nd inning, but the clutch hitting was nowhere to be seen.

The real story here: Cleveland is now just 1 game back. Twins may not even be in first place anymore by the end of this series. All of this playoff talk and deadline trade talk is kind of crazy considering they aren't going to make the post season unless they can hit the baseball. Because I'm afraid that no matter how much hand-wringing we do about the pitching staff, the real problem with this team is that they have too many games where they can't hit when it counts. They're in another deep scoring slump with 0, 3, 0, 5, and 2 runs scored over their past five games. And that five-spot was only due to a late-inning rally, they were well on their way to scoring just 1 run that game. Twins have light-hitting Urshela, Larnach, Miranda, and Kirilloff all in the lineup, with Jeffers rejoining them tomorrow. I really don't see how this team can win ballgames or score unless at least 2-3 of these guys start pulling their weight.

This strikes me as a wishlist, not a realistic possibility. It's just too perfect. An older "prospect" who never had much value until he had one good year, who also doesn't really have a position with this team just happens to be the guy everyone else wants and lands us Frankie Montas? C'mon, man. Get real. A guy like Montas is going to cost us something like Larnach and Kirilloff and/or Steer. We're going to have to prepare to lose some guys we really, really like.

Great series win, hope to see the same in AZ. One thing I fear this weekend is that Rocco will be resting lots of guys and putting in the "B Team" on at least 2 of the three games in order to have the team fresh for Cleveland. Twins are still just 7-7 so far in June and the Guardians have gained 2.5 games in the standings on them this month. Twins have a huge 3 game series at home against Cleveland starting next Monday, then they have another 5 game series at Cleveland the following week. We know how the Twins did against DET when they had that 5-gamer. Keep expectations realistic.

Technically I'm between jobs - my last day at my old job was this Monday, and I've still got almost 3 weeks until my new gig starts! For now I like to tell people that I'm "on sabbatical". Hitting the gulf side beach tomorrow, will head to the Atlantic side next week. Also plan to go to the Rays/Brewers Wednesday matinee on June 29th. I have a hunch that there are probably plenty of seats available.....

Twins fans awoke this morning to an unfamiliar sound: footsteps. Minnesota’s sat comfortably atop the AL Central standings for the past several weeks, but after getting shutout by the Mariners on Tuesday night, the division lead is down to just 2.5 games over the Cleveland Guardians. This afternoon the Twins (36-28) need a stopper on Getaway Day and will look to Sonny Gray, who returns to the rotation to face the Mariners (28-34) in the series rubber match. After a 2-week stint on the IL with a pectoral injury, Gray (3-1, 2.41) will hope to pick up where he left off. His last outing was May 29, when he notched a 6-inning, 4 strikeout performance in a win against KC. That marked the third time in a row that Gray had pitched 6 innings or more, a feat unlikely to be accomplished today as many assume he’ll be on a strict pitch count. Minnesota’s offense has gone to sleep in Seattle (sorry, I just had to), scoring just three runs in 2 games. They’ll look to turn things around against Marco Gonzales (3-6, 3.63). The Twins notched their first win of the 2022 season against Gonzales back on April 10th, battering the Mariner hurler for 6 runs over 2 innings, courtesy of a couple homers from Byron Buxton and a grand slam from Gary Sanchez. Play ball! Weather: A crisp 62 F, cloudy. Roof status unknown. Odds: Twins -120, Mariners +100 Lineups: Twins: 1. Byron Buxton (R) CF 2. Carlos Correa (R) SS 3. Gio Urshela (R) 3B 4. Gary Sanchez (R) DH 5. Luis Arraez (L) 2B 6. Jose Miranda (R) 1B 7. Ryan Jeffers (R) C 8. Max Kepler (L) RF 9. Gilberto Celestino (R) LF P: Gray (R) Mariners: 1. Adam Frazier (L) 2B 2. Ty France (R) 1B 3. Julio Rodriguez (R) CF 4. Eugenio Suarez (R) 3B 5. Jesse Winker (L) DH 6. Dylan Moore (R) SS 7. Luis Torrens (R) C 8. Taylor Trammell (L) RF 9. Sam Haggerty (S) LF P: Gonzales (L)

Don't know how the Twins keep running Jeffers out there at this point. There's no way that swapping him out for Godoy wouldn't be an improvement.

Oddly enough, nobody seems to mention that documentary much. Believe it or not, I saw that in the theater at St. Anthony Main when it was released. Sano was just a kid, I think maybe around 15-16 at the time? It's a must-watch for anyone who is interested in what type of environment the players from the Dominican Republic come from. At the time of filming they mentioned that 20% of pro (not necessarily MLB) players in the US come from the DR. Simply incredible considering the circumstances. Here's the trailer for anyone interested:

Yeah, agree that it's bothersome to see the Twins struggle so badly against subpar pitching. In their defense, they did manage 9 hits on the night - most coming from the top of the order. The bottom 3rd of the order (Larnach, Urshela, Celestino) was a horrific 1-for-11 with 7 strikeouts. The Twins have several unimpressive wins this year, which is much better than having a bunch of impressive losses. Sometimes you just put the W in your pocket and don't think too much about how it got there.

Would love to see Archer go 5+ tonight and keep building on what's been a relatively successful season.

Honestly that's where I'm at as well. This team isn't terrible, but they're not as good as their record indicates. Everyone's pretending that when Winder, Gray, Ober, and Ryan come back that they're going to be healthy for the rest of the year....it looks to me like we've got a bunch of guys (on offense too) with nagging injuries and there are going to be lots more IL stints for plenty of them. The Twins have been extremely lucky so far and I just don't see that holding up. Bundy, Sands, and Duffey shouldn't be on any major league rosters, let alone a division leader. There's a lot of smoke and mirrors so far, folks. That said, it's been a wild and fun ride for the fans so far and I hope it continues!

Pitch framing isn't the secret art that it used to be. Most catchers are highly trained in pitch framing these days, all younger C's in most systems are good framers. Even if Jeffers is better than most, it's not enough to make up for his incredibly terrible bat and horrific arm. The Twins have had lots of offensive drama: Buxton, Correa, Arraez, Larnach, Gordon, Kirilloff, Celestino...just about all of them have had articles devoted to their offensive contributions. Jeffers' horrific season has been hidden for the most part simply because there are other stories that are more interesting. But at some point the Twins are going to have to do something about a guy who plays half your games hitting .150 at the back of the lineup. The time for Jeffers to go down to St. Paul was 2 weeks ago. Anyone, literally anyone in St. Paul deserves a chance to prove he can do better.

Enough of Cole Sands - might be time for his agent to start looking at sending him out to join our old buddy Charlie Barnes in Japan. Guys like Sands and Barnes are just organizational fodder that end up in the meat grinder once in a while due to injuries. FWIW I think Barnes was far and away more successful than Sands in his brief stint.