Seven Game Lead with 30 Games to go

[stringer bell]

The Twins 10-6 win in the series opener against Cleveland gives them a seven game lead in the AL Central with 30 games left on the regular season schedule. They have eight games remaining in a stretch where they play Texas and Cleveland for thirteen consecutive games. If the Twins emerge from this gauntlet with the current lead they will have all but iced the division championship. 

Assuming they leave Cleveland with a safe lead, what should the Twins do after that? Here are my suggestions:

1) Rest guys who need it. Not many players have been iron men, but most by now are battling nagging injuries. Correa has noted his foot is still painful, Kepler and Taylor are not 100% and the list goes on. Donovan Solano is 35 and will easily have played more this year than he ever has in the major league career.

2) Protect the rotation. Pablo López is approaching his career high in innings and pitches, Sonny Gray is on track to work his most innings since 2015. There is no need for those guys to go deep and throw a lot of pitches in games if the Twins have a safe lead.

3) Sort out the post-season bullpen. Thielbar, Duran, Pagán and Jax are set. No one else is certain. The Twins would love to have Brock Stewart come back and blow hitters away as he did in the first half of the season. Starters Kenta Maeda, Bailey Ober, Dallas Keuchel and even Joe Ryan could end up as bullpen pieces in the post-season. Maybe a guy like Kody Funderburk is lightning in a bottle. 

4) Welcome back returning injured players. Castro, Buxton and Kirilloff are all thought to be ready to return in the next two weeks. All should have large roles for the Twins in the post-season. They will need at-bats to get sharp and it is thought Buxton will get some time in center field (which will also give Michael A Taylor some time off).

5) Keep winning. Except for Tampa Bay (and maybe Cincinnati) future opponents will be looking to 2024 and beyond. Even resting guys like Correa and Kepler and limiting innings for the rotation, the Twins should win a lot of games in September this year. Winning helps a lot of issues. 

[wsnydes]

The thing that I'd be watching closely in this circumstance is how well the offense is performing.  If they're finally starting to click for an extended period of time, I'd hate to stunt that momentum.  That said, getting guys like Kepler, Taylor and Correa healthier heading into the postseason needs to be considered.

[mnfireman]

51 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

1) Rest guys who need it. Not many players have been iron men, but most by now are battling nagging injuries. Correa has noted his foot is still painful, Kepler and Taylor are not 100% and the list goes on. Donovan Solano is 35 and will easily have played more this year than he ever has in the major league career.

4) Welcome back returning injured players. Castro, Buxton and Kirilloff are all thought to be ready to return in the next two weeks. All should have large roles for the Twins in the post-season. They will need at-bats to get sharp and it is thought Buxton will get some time in center field (which will also give Michael A Taylor some time off).

5) Keep winning. Except for Tampa Bay (and maybe Cincinnati) future opponents will be looking to 2024 and beyond. Even resting guys like Correa and Kepler and limiting innings for the rotation, the Twins should win a lot of games in September this year. Winning helps a lot of issues. 

4 should take care of 1 which should lead to 5.... 

[GusGus11]

Agree with all you said. My biggest

Main things would be resting guys like Correa. He needs to give that foot some time off when games stop mattering. Other vets as well.

Id use the time to get Buxton and AK at bats to get up to speed for October but also ease them in smartly with injuries.

Be smart with Lopez and Grays innings but dont go too overboard. You dont want to take them out of a year long rhythm and have them go like 8 days between starts regularly. Id more just limit pitches per start.

Let the young kids play against lefties and see what they can do. Wallner went yard yesterday. Just give some reps to create October options.

[tangopudding]

I think giving Carlos a 10 day rest on the IL makes sense.  Maybe after tomorrows game..  Couldn't hurt.

[jorgenswest]

Last year they were 6 games over through August 30. They finished 6 games under. There is a lot of season left. 

[Trov]

1 hour ago, jorgenswest said:

Last year they were 6 games over through August 30. They finished 6 games under. There is a lot of season left. 

Yes, people are acting like we got division locked up.  We have a lot of bad teams to face finishing up the season, and Cleveland has a lot of games against playoff bound teams, or fighting for playoffs, but lets see where we are next week after our last game with Cleveland.  

[GusGus11]

1 hour ago, jorgenswest said:

Last year they were 6 games over through August 30. They finished 6 games under. There is a lot of season left. 

That team was already decimated by injuries though and the Guardians had about 45 regression canidates last year.

So of course *knock on wood* we could fall into 10 injuries in the next 2 weeks or something. Or Kwan and Co can all find their syringes/astros cheating equipment again to revert back to unsustainable production.

But the situations through Aug 30th this year is much different than last.

[Mike Sixel]

4 minutes ago, GusGus11 said:

That team was already decimated by injuries though and the Guardians had about 45 regression canidates last year.

So of course *knock on wood* we could fall into 10 injuries in the next 2 weeks or something. Or Kwan and Co can all find their syringes/astros cheating equipment again to revert back to unsustainable production.

But the situations through Aug 30th this year is much different than last.

Ya, the Twins aren't starting their 8-10th best OFer all at the same time like last year. Julien wasn't on the team. Lewis wasn't on the team. All their players were hurt except CC and Jeffers.....this isn't the same as last year at all.

[SpicyGarvSauce]

23 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

Last year they were 6 games over through August 30. They finished 6 games under. There is a lot of season left. 

Way too much to be 'resting guys.'

[Cris E]

It's already happening. So far in the past couple weeks they have sent Ryan, Ober, Castro and Buxton to the IL and I expect more are coming.

[SpicyGarvSauce]

Lead is now down to 5.

Giddy up.

[stringer bell]

I’m bumping this because the lead is now a little larger and there are twenty games to go. Cleveland won three of six total when they needed to win at least five of six. I think postseason plans should now be the top priority.

If 10 days off would significantly improve his sore foot, Correa should go on the Injured List. Gray and López don’t need to go that extra inning at this point and guys like Michael A Taylor should be working back to be ready the last week or so before the first round. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

8 hours ago, stringer bell said:

I’m bumping this because the lead is now a little larger and there are twenty games to go. Cleveland won three of six total when they needed to win at least five of six. I think postseason plans should now be the top priority.

If 10 days off would significantly improve his sore foot, Correa should go on the Injured List. Gray and López don’t need to go that extra inning at this point and guys like Michael A Taylor should be working back to be ready the last week or so before the first round. 

I don't think Correa needs to go on the injured list, as his ailment is not something that resolves with rest. Plus, he's playing very well right now.

But two guys should be resting pretty much every day from here until the end of the season. I would pull pitchers at the 80 pitch mark. I'd avoid going back-to-back with a bullpen arm if at all possible.

[mnfireman]

56 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I would pull pitchers at the 80 pitch mark. I'd avoid going back-to-back with a bullpen arm if at all possible.

I would agree except that the bullpen is still inconsistent at best. Asking the bullpen to cover 4 or more innings is not a good strategy, unless they are piggy backing starting pitchers.

 

[notoriousgod71]

1 hour ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I would pull pitchers at the 80 pitch mark. 

So... business as usual?

[Brock Beauchamp]

2 hours ago, mnfireman said:

I would agree except that the bullpen is still inconsistent at best. Asking the bullpen to cover 4 or more innings is not a good strategy, unless they are piggy backing starting pitchers.

 

I would be using Varland, Sands, Hendricks, etc to go 2+ innings.

[mnfireman]

7 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I would be using Varland, Sands, Hendricks, etc to go 2+ innings.

They have been trying. The radio said the plan was for Varland to go 2 yesterday, but his performance required another reliever. Sands and Headrick and others have performed their way out of 2 inning appearances all too often to trust the BP too much.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Just now, mnfireman said:

They have been trying. The radio said the plan was for Varland to go 2 yesterday, but his performance required another reliever. Sands and Headrick and others have performed their way out of 2 inning appearances all too often to trust the BP too much.

Yeah, it's not going to be possible if the bullpen simply cannot perform.

[mnfireman]

1 minute ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Yeah, it's not going to be possible if the bullpen simply cannot perform.

At least Cleveland is helping this year (so far) and maybe the team can clinch with enough time to set the rotation, rest injuries, and look towards the future.

[stringer bell]

The Twins remain closer to Houston (2nd seed) than they do to Cleveland. Magic number is now 12.

[Fatbat]

6 hours ago, mnfireman said:

At least Cleveland is helping this year (so far) and maybe the team can clinch with enough time to set the rotation, rest injuries, and look towards the future.

If the rotation stays at 5. Lopez gets game #1

[stringer bell]

48 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

If the rotation stays at 5. Lopez gets game #1

I think that's been the plan for a while.