Brock Beauchamp

Paddack looking good tonight so that's a plus.

Playing the left-handed matchup. Arraez doesn't hit well against lefties while it's the one thing Garlick does moderately well.

We're ten games into the season and haven't really learned a damned thing about the hometown team. The good lineup is underperforming, the bad pitching staff is overperforming, dogs and cats are living together, it's mass hysteria. And it's approximately 14 degrees in the Twin Cities. Thankfully, the Twins are back on the road because baseball is not meant to be played in this weather. Anyway, the Twins started the season against three teams that should be in the playoff mix: the Mariners, the Red Sox, and the Dodgers. The team held their own against the Mariners and Red Sox - despite some of the most god-awful games of baseball I've seen in awhile - and laid down and died against the Dodgers, as teams are wont to do when the blue Los Angeles team shows up in town. Are the Twins good? I don't know. Do you? Don't lie, you have no idea, either. Well, maybe we're about to find out. Perhaps the most important part of contention is slapping around bad-to-mediocre teams and the Twins are facing a few of those in the next few series. No one expects much from the Royals and Detroit is an unknown, much like the Twins. Those two series will tell us a lot about what to expect from the Minnesota Twins through the summer months. Holding your own against good teams in lousy weather is great and all but you need to butter the bread against teams likely to finish under .500. Oh, and the Twins also face the White Sox sandwiched between the Royals and Tigers. Let's just hope Buxton is back on the field when that happens because yikes. On the bump, we have Chris Archer, who I'm legitimately excited to watch pitch. Given the velocity he was flashing in his previous start, he could be a legitimate steal for the Twins and a feather in the cap of this beleaguered front office. Lineups Twins: 1B Luis Arraez L 2B J. Polanco S SS C. Correa R RF Max Kepler L CF Nick Gordon L 3B Gio Urshela R LF T. Larnach L DH Gary Sanchez R C Ryan Jeffers R P Chris Archer R Royals: RF W. Merrifield R 2B Nicky Lopez L 3B Bobby Witt R DH S. Perez R LF A. Benintendi L 1B H. Dozier R SS A. Mondesi S CF M. Taylor R C C. Gallagher R P Carlos Hernandez R

Unlike some of the above, this is actually controversial with baseball fans: Baseball should start aggressively changing its rules and shouldn't stop until the product is as entertaining as it was in the 70s and 80s. And I mean aggressively. The pitch clock should have been here five years ago. The shift should have been banned before 2020 or 2021. At this point, we should be seriously considering moving the mound, changing the spacing between bases, and way more wild stuff than we're talking about right now.

I'm interested in doing this but it would be ill-advised to do this before the pitch clock is implemented, as that will also have an impact on velocity. We need to see what impact the pitch clock has before making more drastic changes.

This is a really bad idea not based in reality. If memory serves, the past three Buxton injuries have happened either at the plate or on the basepaths. So we're trading a platinum glove just to keep him off the field?

I'm a lot more confident now than I was two weeks ago, having seen Lewis start off the AAA season in all-out Beast Mode.

I've wondered about that but unlike Cleveland, the Twins have so many hitting prospects in the system, it's hard to see that kind of offensive failure happen here.

It's way too early to declare anything but early results on this patchwork rotation are making Falvine look like ****ing geniuses.

Oh, I wasn't really worried yet, but watching the past few games was brutalllllllll. Just boring, bad baseball.

The Twins have a very good opportunity to chase Hill this inning.

Wait, the Twins scored runs?!?!!?!?! PLURAL?!?!?!?!!?!?!

Sano should not be taking on 3-0 there.

Interesting. Until a few minutes ago, I wasn’t sure Kepler knew left field existed.

They’ll play the Orioles sooner or later.

I could also do without Sano.

It’s more interesting to watch the Brewers offense than the Twins and the Brewers aren’t exactly known for their hitting prowess.

Miss the ball?

Not really, though. A lot of that 2019 team is now gone. Half the lineup wasn’t wearing a Twins uniform in 2019.

After a week of baseball, my expert analysis is that the Twins are under .500 because they’re not good at scoring runs.

I’m entirely over watching Max Kepler play baseball.

This is why we pay you the big bucks, Chief.

You should stay home. The CDC still recommends three day quarantine if exposed. You're welcome.

Yeah, the most glaring downside of this off-season is the exit of both Garver and Rortvedt. Catching went from an organizational strength to a weakness in a week.