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LAST NIGHT’S GAME RECAP Twins 3, Cleveland 1: Bullpen Dominates as Twins Take Series TODAY Twins vs. Pittsburgh, 7:10 pm CT Betting Lines: MIN -1.5, -230, 9.5 O/U Twins: Lewis Thorpe, LHP 2020: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K Thorpe last worked on July 30, finishing the final two innings of the game against the Cleveland Indians. In that one Jose Berrios gave up the 2-run homer to Francisco Lindor, but Thorpe was part of a bullpen that kept the deficit where it was. He’s thrown 42 and 20 pitches in his two outings respectively, and while he’s not entirely stretched out, this shouldn’t be a bullpen game either. It’s an extremely small sample size thus far, but Thorpe has seen success in 2020 by missing barrels. His 14.3% hard hit rate is outstanding, and while both his chase and whiff rates are down, he’s keeping hitters off balance. The repertoire doesn’t include high velocity stuff, but he’s featured his slider substantially more this season and it’s been a focus for multiple Twins arms. Pittsburgh: Derek Holland, LHP 2020: 5.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K Holland has made just one start in 2020 and it came against the Milwaukee Brewers. He was nothing short of awful in 2019 but sandwich a nice 2018 campaign for the San Francisco Giants in between that and another terrible season in 2017. Mediocrity across the board is what defines Dutch Oven, and there’s nothing that jumps off the page in terms of his numbers. Showcasing a very similar pitch mix to the Twins Thorpe, Holland does not have nearly the same positives in 2020 action. He has always been susceptible to the long ball, and he started his campaign with one in the debut outing as well. Holland has given up 2.0+ HR/9 twice in his career, and Minnesota’s righties should be licking their chops at that opportunity. LINEUP https://twitter.com/tlschwerz/status/1290356134180790273 TRANSACTION Another day, another transaction. Needing arms, the Twins brought back Caleb Thielbar. When he gets in a game, it'll be the first time since 2015 that he's been in the big leagues. NEWS & NOTES - Tonight will be the return of former Twins bench coach, Derek Shelton. He took over as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020. - Bad news for the Angels and Shohei Ohtani. He made it through just 1.2 IP in his second start since returning from Tommy John surgery and underwent an MRI yesterday. https://twitter.com/FabianArdaya/status/1290095415832883200 - The Phillies and Marlins have both had another day of no positive tests. Philadelphia resumes tonight against the Yankees while Miami is back in action tomorrow. - After playing in Minnesota the St. Louis Cardinals had some positive tests and there were postponements. They now appear to be in the outbreak category with a handful more. https://twitter.com/markasaxon/status/1290369901815791616 AROUND THE AL CENTRAL CIN 4, DET 3 (G1) CWS 9, KCR 2 CIN 4, DET 0 (G2) 1. MIN 7-2 (+22) 2. CHW 5-4 (+5) 3. CLE 5-5 (+1) 4. DET 5-5 (-11) 5. KCR 3-7 (-14) SEE ALSO Week in Review: Winning and Wondering Twins Bullpen: Ready When Needed Which 3 Twins Have Started the Strongest?

When Cherington sent Marte to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a pair of 19-year-olds, any questions regarding Pittsburgh’s intent were clearly answered. This team is bordering on a payroll lower than Mike Trout’s 2020 salary (sitting at roughly $43MM). In grabbing such young prospects in return, there’s a nice ceiling to dream of, but competition won’t be happening anytime soon. Still reeling from the Chris Archer deal with Tampa this is a club that Cherington needs to resurrect. So, with the major leaguer roster having more holes than a cannonballed Schooner, the former Twins bench coach might as well be given a complete rebuild to orchestrate. If that’s going to happen then names like Josh Bell, Gregory Polanco, Chris Archer, and Joe Musgrove should be on their way to the plank also. The Twins outfield is set, and first base is now covered, but those last two are guys they likely checked in on previously and could now grab as desirable booty. Chris Archer remains more name than ability at this point in his career. He hasn’t posted a sub-4.00 ERA since 2015, and while the FIP (save for 2019) was always strong, the results didn’t follow. Last year the Pirates hurler hopped back into the double-digit K/9 realm but did so while issuing a whopping 4.1 BB/9. It wasn’t there that he got burned however but instead, the longball hurt him to the tune of a 1.9 HR/9. Still sitting in the mid-90’s with his fastball velocity, Archer can remain a power pitcher at 31-years-old. He’s missing as many bats as he ever has, and his chase rates are on par with career averages. The 40% hard hit rate was a career worst, but it’s in line with an increase he’s survived in each of the previous two seasons. Where the numbers jump off the page is just how many fly balls left the yard. Generating ground balls over 44% of the time during his career, dropping all the way down to 36% last season and seeing the HR/FB rise all the way up to 20% did him in. Having an $11MM team option for 2021 and a $9MM salary in the year ahead, it’s a very comparable compensation assumption to what Arizona took on in Marte. Minnesota has some 19-year-olds of their own that could be added to the Pirates harbor. The more enticing option here however is Joe Musgrove. Just 27-years-old and not scheduled to hit free agency until 2023, the price tag will also be heftier. Pittsburgh certainly shouldn’t be overly motivated to move the former Houston Astro, but he doesn’t exactly fit into their window of competitiveness either. Nabbing some high-level prospects to cash in during the future may help make up for the loss of Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow, or Shane Baz. What’s there to like about Musgrove, a guy with a 4.37 career ERA and on his third organization? Well, everything. His FIP has generally outperformed his ERA, and he’s shown a strong ability to both command and control his pitchers. Although not a dominant strikeout guy, he racked up 157 in his first full year starting last season. Working in the low-to-mid-90’s Musgrove sees success predominantly as a fastball-slider guy. Last season his 12% whiff rat was a new career high, and he’s forced opposing batters to expand the zone over one-third of the time through his big-league career. Even in the juiced ball season that was, he largely avoided home run damage, and there wasn’t much of a spike in hard hit rate. https://twitter.com/Nashwalker9/status/1222184462424903680 Allowing yourself to dream on Musgrove is also betting on current infrastructure. You aren’t ponying up the pieces to get what he is today, as much as you are under the belief in what he could become. Twins Daily’s Nash Walker points out some similarities in numbers between Musgrove and Gerrit Cole over their last two seasons with the Pirates. Being of the belief that Minnesota, Wes Johnson, and the Derek Falvey brain trust could work their magic, this is some clay that could be worth molding. At the end of the day it still seems logical that the Twins make a trade for pitching. They were going to be hard pressed on the free agent market for that position anyway, and they have the assets to acquire almost anyone in the game. If Josh Kalk believes in Archer from his Tampa days, they could go that route. If Musgrove is a piece viewed as being on the cusp, he makes a good deal of sense. Maybe it’s neither and a different organization entirely. All I know is the Pirates have some booty, and you don’t even need to board the ship for them to be willing to pass it out. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email

Francisco Liriano, LHP, 35 years-old Pittsburgh Pirates, NL Central (40-43) Free Agent in 2020 What’s To Like For 13 years Liriano worked as a major league starter. This was the guy who popped up for the Minnesota Twins as a 21 year-old in 2005, and became an All-Star during his rookie campaign in 2006. Looking incredible that season the Twins seemed to have a partner able to pair with Johan Santana in an annual chase for Cy Young awards. Then he blew out his elbow. Fast forward through roughly a decade of good-but-not-great years and the Pirates now employ Liriano solely as a reliever for the first time in his career. Through 40.0 innings pitched this season for the Buccos, Liriano owns a dazzling 2.70 ERA. His 8.8 K/9 is a high water mark over the past three years and his surface numbers are better across the board. Statcast data doesn’t track back to Liriano’s debut but his velocity hit its peak at 94.5 mph during 2010. Since 2011 he’s lived between 92-93 mph and is still there today, so that consistency is a good thing. Suggesting he was an average starter is about as definitive as it gets when looking at Liriano’s ERA+. The park adjusted metric has him at 98 from 2005-2018. Working solely as a reliever this season, that metric is all the way up to 163. Given that 100 represents league average, all parties involved have to be optimistic with the output. Concerns Do some digging under the hood on Liriano and things can get dicey pretty quick. FIP is far from an analytically advanced metric, his 4.06 mark suggests a significant amount of regression could be coming. His xFIP mark, which is a more nuanced expected fielder independent pitching tally, is even worse at 5.05. It’s one thing for those numbers to be slightly above his ERA, but we’re dealing with very wide gaps here. Of 174 qualified relievers Liriano’s .259 BABIP checks in 54th. Registering in the bottom third, inching up closer towards the mean is a definite possibility. He’s also generating infield fly balls 17% of the time, which checks in 25th out of the same group. Although his pitches aren’t being walloped (just a 30% hard hit rate), there’s more than enough wiggle room for batted ball events to turn less than ideal. There’s no denying that the plate discipline profile works in his favor. Whiff rates are up, so to are chase rates, and contact rates are down. That’s a trifecta of goodness but can be adjusted to. Liriano has never thrown more changeups than he is right now, and relying on offspeed as he must, leaves less room for error. At the end of his career, this is a remade starter that’s carved out a solid showing working in a glorified long man role. High leverage innings have resulted in the highest (.688) OPS against, while late and close scenarios have produced a .729 OPS against. A fine year for him to wind down on, the upside for Minnesota doesn’t look to be worth the squeeze. See Also Raisel Iglesias, RHP, Reds Jake Diekman, LHP, Royals Ian Kennedy, RHP, Royals Sergio Romo, RHP, Marlins Shane Greene, RHP, Tigers Felipe Vázquez, LHP, Pirates Will Smith, LHP, Giants Liam Hendriks, RHP, Athletics Ty Buttrey, RHP, Angels Ken Giles, RHP, Blue Jays Sam Dyson, RHP, Giants Brad Hand, LHP, Indians Oliver Perez, LHP Cleveland Robert Stephenson, RHP, Reds John Gant, RHP, Cardinals Alex Colome, RHP, White Sox Seth Lugo, RHP, Mets Greg Holland, RHP, Diamondbacks Sean Doolittle, LHP, Nationals Kirby Yates, RHP, Padres 10 Relievers Minnesota Could Target