Red Sox (Early) vs Twins (Woods Richardson): 4/15/26, 12:40pm

[RpR]

[Western SD Fan]

2 minutes ago, Hrbowski said:

Good at bats at the end of the game

The Twins at least forced the Red Sox to fire up their bullpen again.  It may not show in the scoreboard, but it is the little things that affect a bullpen as the season goes on.

[wavedog]

Kriedler is the new Wallner look at that OPS - except with better defense - lol! 

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Welp.

I guess we don't always win...

[Patzky]

1 hour ago, Baumer67 said:

Sim is going to be the only Twins pitcher with any losses in the last 10 games.  I think it's time to try Morris in his spot in the rotation.

I get that.. would we consider Keaschall at DH and Gray at third, Kriedler at second?

[Patzky]

3 hours ago, Peter said:

A game like this was bound to happen-regroup and beat reds this weekend 

Two out of three would be great!

[Hubie29]

Bullpen and 40% of the rotation is going to be a season killer. Banda couldn't start for a town team squad.  We need to get at least decent pitching from Ober and SWR to keep us in their games. 

[RpR]

2 hours ago, Patzky said:

I get that.. would we consider Keaschall at DH and Gray at third, Kriedler at second?

Gray at 3rd and Kreidler at SS; Lee is just not good enough for SS.

[lecroy24fan]

After watching Banda I'm ready for him to be wished well in his future endeavors. I haven't seen one thing about him that says MLB pitcher. Or even AAA. 

 

(Fair disclosure I was listening not watching today)

[tony&rodney]

6 hours ago, Hubie29 said:

Bullpen and 40% of the rotation is going to be a season killer. Banda couldn't start for a town team squad.  We need to get at least decent pitching from Ober and SWR to keep us in their games. 

Senior Mens Leagues and Town Ball teams have great variance. Some are as good as college teams. Professional baseball players are good athletes and MLB players are elite at their skill level. Most fans couldn't play catch with an MLB guy much less get a bat on the ball if they tried to hit. There is a special skill level needed to play in the majors, few have it. Despite any unhappiness fans may have with this hitter, fielder, or pitcher it is good to remember that they get paid and we pay.

That said, even MLB fellows lose their edge. When they lose the fine line of skill needed to remain in The Show, they are prime pickups for a local nine. In the 80s, 90s, and 00s, I played against more than a few former MLB players who still loved baseball and got a kick out of playing with the dad bods. One pitcher was only four months removed from being DFA'ed. So, eventually when there is a player ready to replace X, Y, or Z the Twins will make roster moves. Until that moment the 26 person roster is what Twins fans will get to support.

[Hubie29]

10 hours ago, lecroy24fan said:

After watching Banda I'm ready for him to be wished well in his future endeavors. I haven't seen one thing about him that says MLB pitcher. Or even AAA. 

 

(Fair disclosure I was listening not watching today)

I would say he is probably the 13th pitcher on the team in pecking order.  I agree with you he is terrible, but he shouldn't get into a game where the score is within 5 runs. 

[MGX]

A lot of early season over reactions. I  don't expect great things from Banda, but he's had 9 outings - 5 good results, 1 where gave up 1 run in an inning & his last three have been awful. We want more consistency from our bullpen for sure. but we just finished the 1st half of April. Over the last two seasons Banda appeared in 119 games including 3 starts for The WS champs & pitched well. I'd give him a little more time before deciding to cut him loose.

The comments further above on SWR are an even bigger over reaction. He's had 4 starts - 2 good & 2 not so good. In the two bad starts he created his own issues, but the defense behind him didn't help either. In his career he's made 55 starts & pitched to a reasonable level of success. Removing him from the rotation in mid-April would make no sense at all.

[stringer bell]

Coming to this thread late (Friday morning). Completely concur with @MGX that it is too soon to make judgments on Banda and particularly SWR.

I read that Banda's velo is down considerably (2-3 mph) and that is a red flag. He was used a lot by the Dodgers last year, but fairly well shielded from facing elite RH hitters. With three left handers in the 'pen and no shut down right handers, Banda has faced more neutral opportunities. If he continues to struggle in his next several appearances, I wouldn't be surprised if he was cut loose or finds his way on the Injured List. 

Woods Richardson would seem to be the definition of a back-of-the-rotation starter. He doesn't have plus velocity or movement, so his margin for error is pretty small. He has provided value for the Twins in each of the last two years and is still a minimum salary guy who is quite young (25). I doubt anyone else in the organization could step in and be consistently better. He also seems to be a good student of the game and gets a lot out of his ability.

Among the position players, the current "darlings" would be Gray and Kreidler. Gray is 30 and had 122 plate appearances coming into this year. So far, he's hit surprisingly well, but I'm skeptical that he will be able to sustain that performance. He does seem to be this year's version of Kody Clemens and my thought is that he continues to hit and Clemens doesn't, that Gray could assume some or all of Kody's current role.

Kreidler is undoubtably a very good defensive player on the left side of the infield or in the outfield. However, in about 200 plate appearances, he is a .141 hitter. If he can hit just a little bit, he can help this team. The record says that is unlikely. He's homered twice which make his OPS skyrocket, but it is tough to believe that he can hold his own against big league pitching.

Finally, Matt Wallner had hit another dry spell. With it being so early in the season, his numbers went from pretty good to substandard in a short time. He keeps striking out at a Gallo-like pace. I don't know how much runway the new manager has for him, but a straight up switch for either Alan Roden or Emmanuel Rodriguez probably isn't out of the question if the struggle lasts another week. Roden had quite a long snag at St. Paul, but has hit well this week, while Emma has been the most consistent of the Twins' top prospects at St. Paul. 

 

[MGX]

On Wallner I could see them letting someone else being the LHB vs LHP (36 PA's - .152.222/.273 - .495 OPS). I like that he was given a chance to hit LHP's, but it wouldn't be a bad thing to give some of those opportunities to Larnach to see how he does.

I don't think a roster move is at all likely, nor should it be. When we start facing a normal amount of RHP's he'll be more productive. The one thing I'd really like to see from Wallner is a willingness to adjust his approach with 2 strikes. All hitters struggle with 2 strikes, but he's only 5-43 with 4 BB's. That's obviously a SSS, but he has always struggled a lot more than the average hitter with two strikes (career OPS of .424 in over 600 PA's). Conversely, any time he's ahead in the count he produces - 1.084  career OPS in almost 400 PA's.