Brock Beauchamp

Except they didn't force him to overload on sliders, as he has thrown it slightly less this season than he did last season. He has actually returned to leaning more heavily on his sinker this season than he did last season, too. I think we can chalk up most of Randy's issues to injury and not having a defined role. I suspect being thrown into the bullpen in a rush set him back and by the time he would have normally recovered, he was injured. Season Team Level FB% SL% CT% CB% CH% SF% KN% XX% 2019 MIN MLB 59.3% (92.7) 27.9% (84.2) 12.9% (85.8) 2020 MIN MLB 48.4% (91.6) 35.3% (83.5) 16.3% (85.7) 2021 MIN MLB 59.5% (91.7) 33.2% (84.3) 7.3% (84.6) Total - - - MLB 55.2% (91.9) 32.8% (83.9) 12.0% (85.4)

I don't think they tinkered with his primary pitch at all, it was the addition of the slider they worked on. And given his finger injuries, I'm not sure we should be surprised his sinker stopped working, as it's such a feel pitch.

To be fair to Nick Blackburn, he was a legitimately solid pitcher for two consecutive years, averaging 200 IP and a little over 2.5 rWAR a season. Ober could easily end up worse than Blackburn when all is said and done. I don’t think he will but it’s certainly possible.

The Twins would have to go 3-23 to finish the season to finish with 100 losses but hey, I guess it's possible.

Well... do you, punk? Last July, we started a new community initiative where we offer prizes for the most liked posts and blog entries on the site. We'll post these awards four times a year: first half of the season, second half of the season, offseason, and spring training. Probably. Unless it becomes a miserable experience, at which point we reserve the right to stop at any time. These prizes... aren't great, to put it bluntly. They kinda stemmed me from reading comic books in the 1980s and loving the "No-Prize" award in every letters page written by the editor of Marvel Comics, signed off by Stan Lee and wow... I'm getting old real fast with that sentence so I'm gonna stop. But the prizes, while not great, are incredible. This season has been such a train wreck, such a total collapse of all things at once, such a complete and utter failure across the board that it was difficult to decide which of the many ripe fruits I should pick off the Minnesota Twins 2021 tree to celebrate this season finally coming to a close. But ultimately, I had to go back to the source of our collective misfortune and, at that point, it became clear what most needed celebration: the 2021 Minnesota Twins bullpen. And once that clicked into place, I realized there was only one place I could go with the second half community prize: A Ron Davis commemorative display. This display not only features Ron Davis' epic 1984 campaign with the Minnesota Twins but it also features Ron Davis' epic 1984 campaign with the Minnesota Twins. 2021 Twins fans surely can commiserate with everything I said - and didn't say - in that sentence. But there's more than just a few trinkets included in this display, as the below video will show to you skeptics still standing in the back: Ron Davis Commemorative Display Prize Ron Davis Prize.mp4 Yes, you heard that right. That is Grammy award-winning artist Sarah McLachlin singing her 1997 hit "Angel" from her 8x platinum album, Surfacing. So if you have the nerve, feel the moxy, can be the spoon, will channel your inner Randball's Stu... this perfect piece of Twins history could be yours, all you have to do is write the most popular post in the Twins Daily community. That could be a comment on a news story, a reply to a blog post, or even a blog comment. For the lucky person who can be all those things to all those people all at the same time, you will win the ultimate piece of Minnesota Twins memorabilia. I know, you just want this thing so much but remember, YOU HAVE TO EARN IT. Just like Ron Davis.

Watching the game it was a decent, though mostly uninspiring, start. The line looks worse than it should because Thielbar relieved Jax and promptly added a run to Jax's stat line by giving up a home run to a .500 OPS hitter (see my above post).

I agree but there's very little lost in getting him starting innings right now. Converting him to a reliever in September means he'd get maybe 5-7 innings, tops, against MLB hitting. As a starter, he can face 3-4x as many hitters, which is probably what he needs most right now.

The next hitter was Austin Meadows and Thielbar should have faced him whether Cruz walked or singled, which probably why they let Jax pitch to Nelson. Austin Meadows slash against RHP (Jax): .256 .344 .548 .891 Austin Meadows slash against LHP (Thielbar): .199 .277 .278 .556 A huge problem with this season, I'd argue the biggest problem, is that the Twins pull the right levers but then the players go out there and vomit all over the baseball diamond. At the end of the day, the player is the one who has to perform. The loss of the lead is 100% on Caleb Thielbar for failing to get a same-sided hitter who is terrible against same-sided pitching out. And he not only didn't get Meadows out, he gave up a home run to a guy slugging freaking .278 against LHP. Inexcusable. EDIT: And I just realized Meadows' LHP splits there are INFLATED because they include his home run against Thielbar. After calculating minus the homer, his OPS against LHP entering that Thielbar appearance was a terrible .527 and that means his slugging percentage was probably about .260.

Nailed it, this world is all about verticality and it's not good for consumers because we're ultimately left with 1-3 choices and none of them fit our particular preference.

It's becoming more likely by that day that zero pitchers will win 20 games this season. Basically, the only one with a shot is Urias and it's going to require perfection through five starts to accomplish the feat, as I doubt he'll get a sixth start (currently at 15 wins).

I tend to agree, though signing a 2/3 might be too tall an order for this team, in which case I'd settle for a 3/4 in their place. Someone similar to Pineda a couple of years ago. Which means getting the trade right for a good 2/3 becomes of the utmost importance. While we've only seen one start, I'm close to pencilling in Joe Ryan to start 2022. Not because I have so much faith in him but because the Twins need competent pitching at the league minimum and that won't happen if these guys aren't given a shot to pitch in Minnesota.

Maybe, but Maeda wasn't the reason the Twins lost and Graterol wasn't the reason the Dodgers won.

Ah, in that case, Graterol definitely has the advantage due to service time, doubly so now that Maeda is out for 9-12 months.

I was referencing Gunnar saying Graterol would have the nicer career, not who "won" the trade. Though I think, in the end, both will be satisfied with the trade. But as of right now, the Twins probably received more from the trade, as it's hard to see them winning the division in 2020 without Maeda.

Graterol needs to start pitching A LOT better very quickly if he’s going to top Maeda’s career 13 fWAR. It’s really quite difficult to accumulate value as a reliever. For example, even someone like Craig Kimbrel has only 19 career fWAR.

It's kind of amazing how Minnesotans extend their "yeah, you betcha" attitude to elite athletes.

Fair enough! Though my personal point was significantly more nuanced and deserves recognition as such.

Yeah, this is quoting me. And guess what, Joe Ryan literally will not make another start with the Saints and the Twins are doing exactly what they should be doing. Which was my point all along. After all, I said... And then the Twins called him up six days later. I find it hard to complain when they do the things I'm vocal about wanting them to do. They literally did exactly what I wanted them to do.

I don't really see how you draw that conclusion. Ryan went to the Olympics, pitched on an erratic schedule, returned and started two games, and now is going to pitch in Minneapolis. That's pretty clearly a development and preparation decision with little to nothing to do with service time. When could the Twins have called up Ryan, the day before he pitched the semifinal game in Tokyo? The timeline doesn't work out.

I think SWR is a coin flip. He has 11 starts at the AA level but has questionable surface level stats. It's hard to say where the Twins will place him to start 2022, which will factor heavily into whether he's a prospect in 2023.

I think Martin will be up next season. He already has over 350 PAs at the AA level with a month left to play. Lewis, you're probably right.

In Ryan's case, not being called up made a lot of sense. He only started two games after the uneven schedule of the Olympics. Miranda? You got me there. I feel he should have been with the team when Donaldson couldn't play third. I suspect it's a 40-man decision but I still don't like it.