White Sox 6, Twins 2: Walks and Mistakes Cost Twins Early in Disappointing Series Finale

[Permanent Twins Fan]

59 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

They do? Look at St Paul’s roster and report back. I don’t have an immediate solution for SWR but the Twins are one of the last teams in MLB to give up on a 25 year old SP. This isn’t a playoff contending team. 

I don't think they could do any worse than 0-7 with a 7.74 ERA. He is not giving the Twins a chance to win. Also, this might not be the best team, but we are only 1/2 game back of the wild card

[Vanimal46]

Just now, Permanent Twins Fan said:

I don't think they could do any worse than 0-7 with a 7.74 ERA. He is not giving the Twins a chance to win. Also, this might not be the best team, but we are only 1/2 game back of the wild card

It can always get worse. Same reasoning applied to Max Brosmer starting at QB for the Vikings. 

[Parfigliano]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

This could have been the opportunity for SWR to assert himself.  He failed. 

Didn't see the game but the boxscore says that "failed" is being generous.

[Blyleven2011]

We can taste the 500 record getting closer ...

Our roster chokes and the opportunity of 500 vanishes away ...

Wednesday night we got pounded into submission and we couldn't respond at all in todays matinee loss , no killer instinct and it's been lacking for many years with this roster ...

When the team plays good they are just an average team , when the team plays bad , they are BAD ...

[jkcarew]

1 hour ago, JD-TWINS said:

His salary is almost free, unless one is a beaten down Twin’s fan and thinks everyone should play for the minimum.

He’s definitely a platoon! RH pitching throws 70-75% of the time. His defensive stats (in ‘26) are solid per analytics guys on this site a week ago. His .9 WAR at this point with some starts at DH show his defense can’t be weak or the WAR would reflect that.

Buxton is having a great year and so is Jeffers ………. they are at 2.0 & 1.7 WAR respectively.

Martin, his former platoon partner, has earned more playing time and has a 1.1 WAR.

Larnach is 4th on the club with a .9 WAR.

If the TWINS could sign 3-4 more guys for $4.5M and know they would be on pace for 2.7 WAR for the year, they’d do it in a heartbeat …….. & they would be in first place in the Division. They assumed Keaschall - Lewis & Wallner would have those numbers and it isn’t happening!

Both can be true. Larnach can be the 3rd or 4th currently best performing position player on the team, and still not be very valuable. He’s on a bad team. There’s nothing that he does particularly well for a maybe-average defensive corner outfielder…maybe better OBP (this year anyway), but almost no power. More Larnach’s will bring more mediocrity. Yes, he’s not near one of the clubs current top problems. Still, in the longer term you gotta aim higher.

[mark allen]

2 hours ago, Patzky said:

The problem is we don't have enough options. Maybe Abel will be back by July. 

maybe put Andrew Morris back to a starter

[jkcarew]

Twins one of 4 teams who are at least 10 games under 500 against teams with winning records (500 or better)…Twins, San Francisco, California, Colorado.

Winning percentage against winning teams they’re 3rd worse. (Yankees having played only TB and Mil are the worse in an anomaly, Colorado is 2nd worse, then Twins, followed closely by KC)

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, jkcarew said:

Both can be true. Larnach can be the 3rd or 4th currently best performing position player on the team, and still not be very valuable. He’s on a bad team. There’s nothing that he does particularly well for a maybe-average defensive corner outfielder…maybe better OBP (this year anyway), but almost no power. More Larnach’s will bring more mediocrity. Yes, he’s not near one of the clubs current top problems. Still, in the longer term you gotta aim higher.

No argument in aiming higher - younger guys aren’t available yet. My point is Keaschall is a bigger problem - Catcher is a major problem, less Jeffers - Having to play Bell 90% of the time is a problem - very, very fortunate that Clemens has found some magic to become an average hitter - the fact that Outman is rostered ……..all these things said, Larnach shouldn’t be near the Top of anyone’s list trying to fix the Team for the next 4 months.

He had 118 LH pitcher AB’s in ‘25 - numbers suffered. In ‘24 his platoon was in place and he hit .259 with a .771 OPS & 116 OPS+ …… essentially mirroring this season to date …..,only his OBP is up 45 points in ‘26 and strikeout are down.

[Western SD Fan]

I think it's too easy to tear down SWR for today's start and he definitely deserves much of the criticism for the year in general.  When Shelton was interviewed postgame, he told the press that Rojas was scratched about an hour before 1st pitch and told SWR that he was going to step in and make the start.  Today is SWR's first appearance with less than 4 off days between appearances and after he threw 35 pitches on Monday.  When I saw the change from Rojas to him, I expected it to be a scramble drill.  I didn't expect much out of the game today whether it was Rojas or SWR since the original move to have Rojas start seemed a bit haphazard.  I can only assume that Rojas will have to go on the IL or optioned to St Paul because the Twins will now need bullpen help for the rest of the road trip and their next day off is June 8th.

[knothole61]

5 hours ago, Linus said:

I get it but I’m not worried about that right now. I think Rojas has the potential to be one of our better pitchers and don’t need to see him sidelined for 18 months with TJ. 

Elbow problems are often killers...they almost never seem simply to go away after some rest. With the speeds these guys are throwing today there's so much torque applied to that joint and its ligaments that it's a wonder any can stand the strain for long. Sadly, I can't imagine that the Brewers' fast ball prodigy (Misiorowski) will be able to whip the ball with abandon for too much longer...but time will tell. And I certainly hope that I'm wrong in the case of Rojas.   

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

12 hours ago, Patzky said:

doormats like Detroit, Boston and Houston. 

Here's to doormats.

I'd prefer that those teams STAY doormats for a few seasons.

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

5 hours ago, Western SD Fan said:

I can only assume that Rojas will have to go on the IL or optioned to St Paul because the Twins will now need bullpen help for the rest of the road trip and their next day off is June 8th.

A good assumption. Unless we want to see Arcia pitching again we could use an extra arm or three in the bullpen. 

[mikelink45]

11 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

The offense wasn’t supporting any starter in games he’s played in. Run support for SWR this season when he left the game:

1, 1, 4, 1, 0, 0, 2, 2, and 1 today. Prime Nolan Ryan ain’t winning jack squat with that run support. 

Prime Nolan Ryan did not have an ERA of 7.74 either.  How many teams score 8 runs per game?

[Parfigliano]

9 hours ago, jkcarew said:

Both can be true. Larnach can be the 3rd or 4th currently best performing position player on the team, and still not be very valuable. He’s on a bad team. There’s nothing that he does particularly well for a maybe-average defensive corner outfielder…maybe better OBP (this year anyway), but almost no power. More Larnach’s will bring more mediocrity. Yes, he’s not near one of the clubs current top problems. Still, in the longer term you gotta aim higher.

Launch is one of their best offensive weapons and if on a different team he's a part time player.  

That's a problem.

[Riverbrian]

9 hours ago, jkcarew said:

Both can be true. Larnach can be the 3rd or 4th currently best performing position player on the team, and still not be very valuable.

I watched a guy take a balloon... twist it around... Then he set it on the table while he said Giraffe. 

I felt it was still a balloon. 

It takes some twisting to get there. 😉

[Patzky]

2 hours ago, Bangkok Twins Fan said:

I'd prefer that those teams STAY doormats for a few seasons.

We can't begrudge the Pirates Athletics and White Sox for wanting to escape the doormat status.

[Patzky]

12 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Really doesn’t help that pre-arb Louis Varland is the best reliever in baseball now…

The ship has sailed...as have the SS Jax and the Cutter Correa. They don't all have happy voyages 

[Patzky]

9 hours ago, mark allen said:

maybe put Andrew Morris back to a starter

Hed probably give us three or four more effective innings than the three or four we get from SWR, granted.

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

19 minutes ago, Patzky said:

We can't begrudge the Pirates Athletics and White Sox for wanting to escape the doormat status.

I'm with you on the Pirates and A's, but not sure I want the White Sox leaving the cellar.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

13 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

The offense wasn’t supporting any starter in games he’s played in. Run support for SWR this season when he left the game:

1, 1, 4, 1, 0, 0, 2, 2, and 1 today. Prime Nolan Ryan ain’t winning jack squat with that run support. 

The way SWR has been pitching, would require the 1927 Yankees for winning run support.

[David Maro]

First off SWR was probably going to pitch in this game after Rojas started. We saw the same problem with him game after game walking himself into trouble. You can't go 0-2 on a hitter and then walk them. His splitter is not working,no one is swinging at it because it is noncompetitive.

Looking at the roster who believes that there is more than 2 or 3 starting players on this team. Everyday its who's at 1st,2nd,SS and now even CF. For this team to be were its at in the division is a surprise to everyone. It's more because the Royals and Tigers are worse. All the folks who thought that the White Sox would be bad haven't been paying attention. At this point they own the Twins. 

[DJL44]

15 hours ago, Patzky said:

The problem is we don't have enough options. Maybe Abel will be back by July. 

Ryan, Ober, Bradley, Prielipp, Matthews. That’s five - SWR can stay in the bullpen.