Andrew Thares

I could roll with this lineup. I think the biggest question for me right now is do I trust Gibson and Perez with the ball in their hands. I think between, Gibson, Perez, Smeltzer and Thorpe, two make the roster and two are watching from their couches like the rest of us.

With the Cleveland Indians on a mission down the stretch, the Minnesota Twins have needed to do their own dirty work to try to clinch their first division title since 2010. Luckily, the Twins have taken care of business, so far, against the bottom-feeders of the American League Central, and with tonight's 4-2 win over the Detroit Tigers, their magic number is suddenly down to two, with five games to play.Box Score Odorizzi: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 64.5% strikes (60 of 93 pitches) Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Cave (2 for 4), Wade (2 for 3, 2B) WPA of +0.1: Wade .207, Odorizzi .180, Rosario .160, Astudillo .108 WPA of -0.1: Sano -.179, Polanco -.157 Jake Odorizzi did an excellent job keeping the Twins in the ballgame, as the bats struggled to come through in the early innings. After a Detroit double and single led to a run in the first inning, Odorizzi allowed just one more baserunner, on a walk, while striking out six more hitters. He did come back out to pitch in the bottom of the seventh, but was pulled during his warmups when Rocco Baldelli noticed something was off. The report was Odorizzi was lifted with hamstring tightness, so hopefully this shouldn’t be much of an issue for him as we move into postseason play. It took a while, but the Twins bats finally woke up in the seventh inning against Spencer Turnbull. Jake Cave led off the inning with a sharply pulled single into right field. LaMonte Wade Jr. followed that up with an excellent at-bat that resulted in a double down the third base line, and suddenly the Twins were in business with runners on second and third, with nobody out. This prompted Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire to go get Turnbull, and bring in David McKay to face Willians Astudillo. This proved favorable for the Twins, as Astudillo came through with a base hit up the middle to give the Twins their first runs of the game. After a Jason Castro hit-by-pitch and a Nelson Cruz intentional walk, Eddie Rosario came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs, and he came through with a ringing double that made its way to the wall in left, scoring Astudillo and Castro, giving the Twins a 4-1 lead. Following Jake Odorizzi's six innings, Kyle Gibson came into the game to try to protect the Twins three-run lead. Gibson gave up a couple of singles in the inning, but struck out the other three batters he faced, popping as high as 96 MPH on the radar gun. He came back out in the eighth, and after the Tigers cut the lead down to two, thanks to a couple of doubles, things suddenly looked very interesting. However, after a visit to the mound, Gibson settled in to get the final two outs of the inning. Taylor Rogers came on in the bottom of the ninth and pitched an easy 1-2-3 inning, picking up his 29th save of the season. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games Wed at DET, 5:40 pm CT (TBD-Norris) Thu at DET, 12:10 pm CT (TBD-Zimmermann) Fri at KC, 7:15 pm CT (TBD-TBD) Last Game Twins Game Recap (9/22): Twins Offense Erupts for Twelve Runs Over Royals Click here to view the article

I know what you are probably thinking: “Whoa whoa whoa, hold on, if there is one thing that is set about the Minnesota Twins starting rotation, it’s Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi are their clear cut one and two starters.” This is a sentiment that I completely agree with and is why I think starting Randy Dobnak in game two of the ALDS would be a good idea for the Twins. So, before you go off on why you think this is a terrible idea, just hear me out for a second.With the suspension of Michael Pineda, and the poor performance from Kyle Gibson and Martin Perez, it is becoming more apparent that the games, outside of the ones Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi start, will need to be pseudo “bullpen” games to get those valuable 27 outs. While conventional wisdom would be to have Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi start the first two games of the series, and then piece together games three and four with the bullpen, the Twins might actually be better off by splitting the Berrios and Odorizzi starts. By having Jose Berrios go game one, and Jake Odorizzi go in game three, the Twins can focus games two and four (if necessary) around getting all 27 outs from the bullpen. By having them do it in games two and four, everyone who pitches those nights will get a guaranteed off day the next day, as the teams will have a travel day as they change venues. So, if Rocco needs to burn through almost every arm in the bullpen, he can do so, and they should be back and ready to go for the next game. However, if the Twins were to wait until game three to first implement this strategy, or if they were to start someone like Kyle Gibson or Martin Perez, who could get pulled earlier than expected, it puts the Twins in a real tough situation for game four, as everyone that would pitch in game three wouldn’t get a night off before they might be called on again. Another benefit of using this strategy is that the Twins can essentially stock their bullpen with 10 or 11 arms, depending if the Twins carry 12 or 13 pitchers on their postseason roster. This will give Rocco Baldelli the ability to have a short leash with some of his pitchers and avoid letting one guy completely ruin any chance of winning that ballgame. It also protects the bullpen, if Jose Berrios or Jake Odorizzi was to have a short start, from needing to burn through the most valuable bullpen arms to get through that game. So, this brings up the still lingering question: Why is Randy Dobnak the guy I think the Twins should turn to in game two of the ALDS, as opposed to guys like Kyle Gibson, Martin Perez, Lewis Thorpe or Devin Smeltzer? The answer is simply this, I believe he has the best chance to give the Twins three or four effective innings before Rocco needs to turn the chains loose on the rest of the bullpen. Kyle Gibson’s struggles of late have been more than apparent, so to trust him to get through a few innings without surrendering a bunch of runs to either the Houston Astros or New York Yankees roster might be a fool’s errand. Additionally, with both the Astros and Yankees lineups being loaded with a ton of right-handed hitting sluggers, Dobnak is the only pitcher on this list (other than Gibson) that would give the Twins a platoon advantage. While Randy Dobnak isn’t a pitcher who will strike fear into the hearts either the Astros or Yankees lineups, he does have the ability to be effective in a turn or two through either one of those lineups. Dobnak has been a professional pitcher since 2017, and in that time, he has posted a career 2.57 ERA in the minor leagues, and a 2.01 ERA in 22 1/3 innings pitched at the major league level. His performance this year led him to being named the Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Another thing that Dobnak does well is suppress fly balls. In his brief time with the Twins in 2019, Dobnak’s has a flyball rate of 18.1 percent, which is the seventh lowest of the 525 MLB pitchers who have thrown at least 20 innings this season. For the season as a whole, Dobnak has allowed a fly ball rate of just 22.7 percent in his 157 2/3 combined innings between the minor and major leagues. This ability of Dobnak’s to prevent opposing hitters from hitting fly balls could be of upmost importance, especially if game two of the ALDS takes place in Yankees Stadium. At the end of the day, the Twins playoff hopes could very well rest on the shoulders of Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi. Unfortunately, those two can’t start every game for the Twins, so they will need to get creative to find the best way to get outs effectively in the games where they are not on the mound. By splitting up these games, it will give the Twins a lot more flexibility for utilizing their bullpen, as they can take full advantage of two built-in off days throughout the course of a series. Click here to view the article

This game had pretty much everything you could ask for from a great baseball game. An historic home run, three different comebacks to tie the game, and a walk-off hit-by-pitch by Ronald Torreyes. When all was said and done, 22 different Minnesota Twins played a part in their 9-8 win over the Chicago White Sox.Box Score Perez: 4.2 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 70.3% strikes (45 of 64 pitches) Home Runs: LaMarre (1), Sano (30) Multi-Hit Games: Rosario (3 for 6, 2 2B), Gonzalez (3 for 6), Arraez (3 for 6, 2B) WPA of +0.1: Gonzalez .359, Rosario .307, Wade .254, Torreyes .164, Rogers .144, LaMarre .122, Romo .111, Cruz .102, WPA of -0.1: Harper -.402, Sano -.214, Littell -.145, May -.143, Polanco -.114, Schoop -.100 After the Twins failed to hit a home run in their 5-3 win over the White Sox last night, it was Ryan LaMarre of all people who hit the Twins first home run of the series, leading off the bottom of the third inning. It was just LaMarre’s third home run of his major league career. The homer drew this great reaction from Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Ryan Saunders. Later in the third inning, Miguel Sano helped the Twins make more major league history, when he belted his 30th home run of the season, making the 2019 Minnesota Twins the first team to ever have five different 30-home run hitters in the same season. Sano’s home run traveled 482 feet, and became the second longest home run in Target Field history, behind only Jim Thome’s 490 foot blast back in 2011. Unfortunately for the Twins, the pitching staff was unable to hold the 5-0 lead they were given. Martin Perez was hit all over the yard tonight, giving up 10 hits in just 4- 2/3 innings. Somehow, he managed to give up just three runs. In the top of the sixth, Trevor May gave up home runs to Zack Collings and Adam Engel on back-to-back pitches, and just like that the game was tied. Tyler Duffey had another excellent outing tonight, striking out the White Sox' 3-4-5 hitters in the top of the seventh inning. Duffey has now worked 22 consecutive scoreless outings, dating back to July 28th. Over that time, Duffey has 33 strikeouts to just five walks in 19 2/3 innings pitched and has lowered his ERA from 3.82 down to 2.39. It was Sergio Romo’s turn in the top of the eighth inning to keep the score tied at five. Which is just what he did, getting a couple of big strikeouts with a runner on first to end the inning. However, he did so with an obvious limp after every pitch. The Twins came out to chat with him about it, be he insisted he was fine and stayed in the game to get the final two hitters. It will be worth monitoring this situation in the coming days to make sure nothing comes from it. Both Taylor Rogers and Zack Littell had to work out of jams in the top of the ninth and the top of the tenth respectively, to give the Twins hitters extra chances to try to win the game. The first two batters reached against Rogers via an error by Jorge Polanco, and a fielder’s choice by Rogers, when he tried to make the play at second after fielding a comebacker but was late with the throw. However, he was able to battle back by inducing a double play and getting Eloy Jimenez to strike out. In the tenth, Littell gave up two singles to lead off the inning. Then, after a sac bunt, Rocco Baldelli decided to load the bases with an intentional walk. That moved paid off, as Littell got a pop out and a flyout to get out of the jam. The Twins weren’t as fortunate in the 11th inning as they had been in the innings prior, as Tim Anderson led off the inning with a no-doubter off Zack Littell. Littell did a nice job not surrendering any more runs in the inning, keeping the White Sox lead at just one run. This played out huge for the Twins in the bottom of the inning, when Jonathan Schoop led off the inning with a single. He got pinch run for by LaMonte Wade Jr., who advanced to second on a C.J. Cron ground out, and to third on a wild pitch that barely got away from the White Sox catcher. This aggressive base running kept the Twins alive, as Mitch Garver came through with a sac fly to tie the game back up at six. In the 12th inning, Rocco Baldelli turned to Ryne Harper to get three outs, and the Twins bats back up with a chance to win the game. Harper did get those three outs However, that wasn’t until after he had surrendered a two-run home run to Ryan Cordell, giving the White Sox a 8-6 lead. Harper nearly gave up a few more runs, as the White Sox had first and third with two outs, but Harper got Eloy Jimenez to ground out to end the inning. The Twins may have been down but they certainly weren’t out of it, with the middle of their order due up in the bottom of the 12th. Nelson Cruz got the rally started with a lead off single, which was immediately followed by a double from Eddie Rosario, and just like that the Twins were in business. Then Miguel Sano came to the plate, and was immediately set down on three pitches. After Sano came Marwin Gonzalez, who after falling behind in the count, came through with a base hit to bring both Cruz and Rosario around to score, tying the game at eight. However, the Twins weren’t done quite yet. Luis Arraez followed up Gonzalez’s single with one of his own, Arraez’s third hit of the game. That brought LaMonte Wade Jr. up to the plate and he smacked a line-drive single up the middle. Fortunately for the Twins, Tony Diaz has learned from his mistakes earlier in the season, and held Gonzalez at third on a throw that would have had him out by 30 feet. This loaded the bases for Ronald Torreyes, who came in as a defensive replacement for C.J. Cron in the top of the 12th, and this happened. Postgame With Baldelli Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games Wed vs CHW, 6:40 pm CT (Cover-Odorizzi) Thu vs KCR, 6:40 pm CT (Montgomery-TBD) Fri vs KCR, 7:10 pm CT (TBD-TBD) Last Game Twins Game Recap (9/16): Berrios tosses a strong 7.1 innings Click here to view the article

2019 has been a bit of a Hollywood season for the Minnesota Twins. After finishing 2018 with a record below .500, and losing a player who has been the franchise’s cornerstone for the last 15 years, Joe Mauer, expectations were tempered heading into the season. Then, from almost the moment the season got underway, it was obvious that this Twins team was something special. However, unlike many great teams, the Twins don’t really have a clear-cut guy who is leading the charge for them night in and night out, but rather they feast on the fact that they can get production from seemingly anywhere. So, that begs the question, who is the Twins MVP for 2019?To unpack this question, I am going to present a few names of the guys that I think are the most deserving candidates for this award, and make a case for each. Then, we will let you guys decide, in the comment section down below, who you think the Twins MVP is. Note, these players are listed in no particular order, and are not necessarily in the order of how I would vote. Max Kepler The talent that Max Kepler has for the game of baseball has been obvious for years now. However, that talent never really translated to a ton of success as a big leaguer. Sure, he was a solid, league average, right-fielder, but at the end of every season, he left you wanting a little more. This year, Max Kepler has brought that little more. His 4.4 fWAR ranks first among all Twins players, and his 4.1 bWAR ranks second. Kepler also leads all Twins players with a Win Probability Added of 3.01 (per Fangraphs). This doesn’t come as a big surprise, as he was seemingly the only Twins hitter coming through in clutch situations during the middle part of the season. Jose Berrios Jose Berrios has been a rock star in the Twins rotation for most of the season. His little dip during the month of August is the only thing holding him out of the conversation as a top-three finisher in the AL Cy Young voting. Overall, his numbers are still excellent. Across 181 innings, Berrios has a 3.63 ERA and a 3.9 fWAR, which is a number that has been only surpassed by four other Twins pitchers in a single season since 2000 (Johan Santana, Francisco Liriano, Brad Radke and Phil Hughes). Nelson Cruz While it might be weird to have a DH in the debate for team MVP, it would be even weirder to leave Nelson Cruz’s name off this list. Cruz has been not only the best hitter in this Twins lineup, but one of the best hitters in all of major league baseball. His 1.001 OPS ranks fifth among all qualified hitters in 2019. He has also paced the way on this historic, home run-hitting ball club, with 37 round trippers of his own. Taylor Rogers In the months leading up to the trade deadline, pretty much the only reliever who Rocco Baldelli could count on to get crucial outs late in ballgames was Taylor Rogers, which is something he has done incredibly well. Among the 160 qualified MLB relievers, Rogers’ 2.89 Win Probability Added ranks fourth. Now with a bullpen deep enough to complement Rogers, he can be saved to pitch in only the highest leverage situations to maximize his talent down the stretch. Jorge Polanco In the first half of the season, Jorge Polanco appeared to be the runaway favorite as the Twins Team MVP. This hot start led him to getting the nod as the American League starting shortstop in the All-Star Game. Polanco’s bat, and fielding abilities have tapered off somewhat in the second half, but you can’t ignore his overall performance. Polanco leads the Twins by a comfortable margin in bWAR, at 5.5, and ranks fifth among all qualified MLB shortstops with a wRC+ of 124. Mitch Garver In 2019, Mitch Garver has put together an historically great season for a catcher. His 30 home runs, hit in games that he was catching, is the most by a Twins catcher in team history, and he’s done so in just 328 plate appearances across 85 games, as he has been splitting time with Jason Castro behind the plate. To give you some perspective on what kind on home run pace that is, if Garver had as many plate appearances as Mike Trout this season, and hit home runs at that same pace as he has been, Garver would have 55 home runs this season, easily leading the way in major league baseball. Miguel Sano While Miguel Sano hasn’t been with the Twins for the entire season, he has still put up some great numbers. Sano has also hit some of the most dramatic home runs in recent memory for the Twins organization, including last night’s grand slam to put away almost any hopes of the Cleveland Indians catching the Twins in the race for the American League Central title. Given all the struggles and criticism he went through in 2018, to bounce back like he has in 2019 is nothing short of remarkable. As we can see, there are a bunch of players who deserve some recognition as the MVP on one of the best teams in Twins history. Now it’s your turn to weigh in. Who do you think is the MVP of the 2019 Minnesota Twins? Is there anyone you think I left off the list? If so, feel free to make a case for that player as the Twins MVP. Click here to view the article

With the Washington Nationals throwing Stephen Strasburg up against Martin Perez for the Minnesota Twins and their depleted lineup, it was going to be a tough test to secure the second win in as many nights for the Twins. The Twins had a few chances as the game went on, but failed to come through with any clutch hits, as they fell to the Nationals by a score of 6-2.Box Score Perez: 5 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 65.6% strikes (59 of 90 pitches) Home Runs: Polanco (21) Multi-Hit Games: Arraez (3 for 5), Polanco (2 for 5, HR), Castro (2 for 4) WPA of +0.1: Cruz .101 WPA of -0.1: Perez -.220, Rosario -.161, Astudillo -.159, Adrianza -.105 The Nationals jumped all over Martin Perez, from the get-go. After retiring Trea Turner for the first out of the game, Perez gave up a double to Adam Eaton, walked Anthony Rendon, a single to Juan Soto and a single to Ryan Zimmerman. By the time the Twins even sent their first hitter to the plate, they already trailed by a score of 2-0. The top of the third started off like a pretty harmless inning. Martin Perez retired Adam Eaton and Anthony Rendon to get two quick outs, but after a walk to Juan Soto things got interesting. Perez got Howie Kendrick down 0-2 and delivered a quality slider down below the zone that Kendrick lifted into right field for what looked like a routine fly out. However, with Eddie Rosario, nothing has been routine for him in the outfield this year, and that was the case with this fly ball, as he let it sail over his head for an RBI-double. Just two pitches later, Ryan Zimmerman made the Twins pay dearly for this mistake, as he took Perez deep to give the Nationals a 5-0 lead. The Twins were able to answer back with a couple of runs in the bottom of the inning, thanks to a Luis Arraez one-out single, and Jorge Polanco taking Stephen Strasburg deep to cut the deficit down to three. Polanco’s homer was the Twins 277th of the season and gave the Twins the lead in the home run race over the New York Yankees. During the middle innings the bats for both teams stayed quiet. The Twins relievers, Zack Littell, Brusdar Graterol and Fernando Romero, all pitched scoreless innings to keep the Twins in the game. Unfortunately, the Twins were unable to take advantage of that. They put up a two-out threat in the fourth, thanks to a LaMonte Wade walk, and a Jonathan Schoop double, but Jason Castro was rung up on strikes to nullify that threat. In the bottom of the eighth, the Twins had yet another chance. The Nationals made a questionable move to bring former Twin Fernando Rodney, and his 5.54 ERA into the game to face Polanco, Cruz and Rosario. The inning started off strong for the Twins, as Polanco reached on an infield hit, and Cruz drew a walk, but then Rosario, Astudillo and Adrianza all hit lazy fly balls to the outfield, killing the Twins' chances. All this was done, by the way, with Mitch Garver waiting in the dugout with his helmet and batting gloves on but was never called upon to take an at-bat that could have tied the ballgame. Randy Dobnak came in to pitch for the Twins in the top of the ninth, and promptly gave up a solo home run to Trea Turner, to extend the Nationals lead to 6-2, which would be the final score of the ballgame, as the Twins got a couple of runners on but failed to score in the bottom of the ninth. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games Thu vs WSH, 6:40 pm CT (Corbin-Gibson) Fri at CLE, 6:10 pm CT (Odorizzi-Civale) Sat at CLE, 6:10 pm CT (TBD-TBD) Last Game Twins Game Recap (9/10): Berrios Bounces Back in Twins Win Click here to view the article

It has been a rough little stretch for the Minnesota Twins of late. With the announcement of the Michael Pineda suspension, and a string of Twins' injuries, leading up to Byron Buxton undergoing surgery on his labrum, shelving him for the next 5-6 months, the Twins needed something to go their way. Fortunately, that is exactly what happened tonight, as Jose Berrios looked to be back on his front-of-the rotation form in tonight's 5-0 win over the Washington Nationals.Box Score Berrios: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 67.0% strikes (63 of 94 pitches) Home Runs: Garver (30) Multi-Hit Games: Arraez (2 for 4, 2B) WPA of +0.1: Berrios .455, Garver .143 WPA of -0.1: None The story of tonight was unquestionably the bounce back performance from Jose Berrios. After posting an 8.07 ERA over his last six starts, Berrios gave the Twins seven scoreless innings tonight against the Nationals. Berrios had a perfect game going into the fifth inning, until Howie Kendrick singled on a line drive to Eddie Rosario in right. The Twins got their first real scoring chance of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning, after Luis Arraez drove a one out double over the left fielder’s head, setting the table for Jorge Polanco and Nelson Cruz to drive in the first run of the game. However, neither was able to come through with a clutch hit, and the game went to the seventh inning scoreless. In the bottom of the seventh the Twins finally broke the scoreless tie, thanks to Mitch Garver blasting his 30th home run of the season. The Twins were able to add one three more insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, effectively blowing the game wide open. The inning started with a Jonathan Schoop hit by pitch, followed by a Luis Arraez single. Then after a wild pitch from Nationals pitcher Tanner Rainey, Jorge Polanco came through with a two-run double. The bases were reloaded thanks to walks from Eddie Rosario and Mitch Garver, leading to an Ehrie Adrianza sac-fly for the Twins fifth and final run of the game. Those insurance runs were important, as Taylor Rogers was up and warming in the pen to get the save, but instead he was able to get the night off, as Trevor May came in and sent the Nationals down 1-2-3 to finish off the Twins win. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games Wed vs WSH, 6:40 pm CT (Strasburg-Perez) Thu vs WSH, 6:40 pm CT (Corbin-Gibson) Fri at CLE, 6:10 pm CT (TBD-TBD) Last Game Twins Game Recap (9/8) Clevinger Shuts Down the Scuffling Twins Offense Click here to view the article

With all the excitement surrounding the 2019 Minnesota Twins, it is hard not to get wrapped up in this season, and to be frank, Twins fans should be. Seasons like this don’t come around that often. That being said, at some point, even if the Twins make a run all the way to the World Series, the 2019 season will come to an end, and every team will need to quickly shift into building their rosters for 2020. For the Twins, that focus will be centered around rebuilding the starting rotation, as Jake Odorizzi, Michael Pineda, Kyle Gibson, and Martin Perez ($7.5 million team option) will be free agents at season’s end. So, I thought it would be a good idea to look into who might be some of the big names the Twins could be linked to this winter.The first area of discussion will be whether the Twins should offer Odorizzi, Pineda or Gibson a qualifying offer. Last year, the qualifying offer amount was 1-year and $17.9 million, so we can project that number to be somewhere between $18 million and $19 million this year. Thanks to Kyle Gibson’s poor performance of late, and the 60-game suspension handed down to Michael Pineda for use of a masking agent, the only likely candidate for the Twins to extend a qualifying offer to is Jake Odorizzi. If you want a deeper dive on what might go into that decision for the Twins, Cody Christie wrote an excellent piece on the subject earlier this week. The Twins also have a few options within their organization, like Lewis Thorpe, Devin Smeltzer or Brusdar Graterol, but their best options might come from outside the organization. Luckily for the Twins, they will have plenty of money to spend this winter, as they will have only roughly $90 million on the books entering the offseason. That’s with only losing Jason Castro and Jonathan Schoop from the lineup. So, who are the top pitchers that the Twins could look to spend some money on this winter? Let’s take a look. Gerrit Cole Among the list of upcoming free agent starting pitchers, Gerrit Cole will most definitely be the prize of the class. With Cole just turning 29 on Sunday, he will have a few more prime seasons ahead of him. Cole is practically a lock to receive a qualifying offer from the Houston Astros, but with a pitcher of his caliber, it shouldn’t have much of an impact on teams wanting to sign him like it did for other starting pitchers in recent years... pitchers like Dallas Keuchel and Lance Lynn. So far in 2019, Cole has a 2.81 ERA (2.88 FIP), with 13.58 K/9 and 2.19 BB/9 in 176 1/3 innings pitched, across 28 starts. Hyun-Jin Ryu For much of the 2019 season, Hyun-Jin Ryu was the clear-cut front-runner for the National League Cy Young Award, as he had a 1.27 ERA through his first 15 starts. However, he has seen some regression lately, as he has a 4.31 ERA over his last 11 starts, including giving up 21 earned runs over his last four starts. Despite this, Ryu should still remain a top target for teams looking to add a front-line starting pitcher. For his career, Ryu has a 3.03 ERA (3.35 FIP) in 719 1/3 innings. Madison Bumgarner We all heard plenty about Madison Bumgarner as a potential Twins target before the trade deadline.. Well this winter they will have another shot at the one-time ace, as he will become a free agent. Much like Cole, Bumgarner is a strong candidate for a qualifying offer. However, unlike Cole, there is a real chance this qualifying offer could impact teams’ willingness to pursue him. Despite a slightly higher ERA this season (3.81 in 2019 vs 3.26 in 2018), Bumgarner has done a lot to help his market value in 2019, as his strikeout and walk numbers are greatly improved from where they were a season ago. Additionally, Bumgarner has shown that he is back to full health, as he has already made 30 starts in 2019. Zack Wheeler Much like Madison Bumgarner, Zack Wheeler was linked to the Twins before the trade deadline, and also like Bumgarner, he wasn’t actually moved, as the New York Mets surprised everyone when they decided to be buyers instead of sellers at the deadline. Wheeler is yet another likely candidate to receive a qualifying offer, and if that’s the case, he too could see that impact his signing. Wheeler has had a bit of down year in 2019, has his ERA is a full run higher than it was in 2018. However, many of the underlying metrics suggest he is still the same pitcher he has been over the course of his career. Cole Hamels Despite being well into the latter part of his career, Hamels is still preforming at the top of his game. So far in 2019, Hamels has a 3.69 ERA (3.89 FIP) in 126 2/3 innings. Additionally, Hamels’ strikeout numbers are still around where they were in his 20’s, pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies. It’s hard to say if Hamels will get a qualifying offer, but it would make some sense for the Cubs to do so, as he could easily be worth a higher-priced 1-year deal. Stephen Strasburg Stephen Strasburg’s availability this offseason will rely entirely on what he decides to do with his 4-year $100 million player option that he has at season’s end. If he chooses to opt out, Strasburg will join Cole and Ryu among top starting pitchers available this winter. Despite being overshadowed by Max Scherzer over the past few seasons, Strasburg remains as one of the top starting pitchers in the game. In 2019, Strasburg’s 5.3 fWAR ranks sixth in major league baseball. What happens with Strasburg will undoubtedly be the most intriguing story line as the 2019-2020 offseason gets underway. As we can see, there are plenty of options available for the Twins to target to bolster their starting rotation, and I didn’t even get into the possibility of making a trade. What the Twins actually end up doing is still very much up in the air, but one thing is for sure, Twins Daily will be there every step of the way to cover to Twins, even as we start to hunker down for the winter. What are your thoughts, do you see any of these pitchers sporting a Twins uniform in 2020, and if so, who do you think is is the most likely candidate? Click here to view the article

With two weeks of nothing but Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox behind them, the Minnesota Twins opened up perhaps the franchise's most pivotal two week stretch in nearly a decade tonight in Boston. The Twins appeared to be sailing to an easy victory, with an early 6-0 lead, however, a couple of Red Sox home runs made things very interesting. In the end, the Twins walked away with their second one-run victory in as many days, and extended their lead in the American League Central to 6.5 games.Box Score Thorpe: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 58.3% strikes (35 of 60 pitches) Home Runs: Cruz (35), Sano (27) Multi-Hit Games: Arraez (2 for 4), Sano (2 for 5, HR) WPA of +0.1: Rogers .146, Dyson .133, Cave .101 WPA of -0.1: None Back in June, in Target Field, Rick Porcello had one of his best starts of 2019, in what has otherwise been a down season for the 2016 AL CY Young Award winner. In that start, Porcello threw seven shutout innings, leading the way to a rare Twins shutout this season. Tonight, that wouldn’t be the case, as the Twins jumped on him early. After a Max Kepler hit-by-pitch and a Nelson Cruz walk, Luis Arraez appeared to load the bases with a one-out walk of his own, but a 3-2 pitch that clearly missed the strike zone high, was called strike three. Fortunately for the Twins, Miguel Sano came up with a clutch two-out base hit, bringing Kepler around from second to score the game’s first run. It was another clutch two-out hit that allowed the Twins to add to their lead in the third inning. Jorge Polanco started the inning with a leadoff single. That was followed by a one-out double off the Green Monster from Luis Arraez, but when Miguel Sano failed to advance either runner, thanks to a strikeout, it was up to Jake Cave to deliver. Deliver is exactly what Cave did, has he drove a high fly ball that hit high off the center field wall for a two-RBI triple. The Twins pounced on Rick Porcello yet again in the fifth inning. It all started with this leadoff home run from Nelson Cruz. Luis Arraez followed up that home run with a single into right field, his second hit of the game. This put an important runner on base, as Miguel Sano obliterated a baseball just a few pitches later, ending the night for Rick Porcello. Everything was going along smoothly on the pitching side of things, until Lewis Thorpe lost all sense of command in the fifth inning. Randy Dobnak had opened the game with a shutout first inning, striking out Rafael Devers and J.D. Martinez in the process. Thorp came in to start the second, and had three excellent innings. However, after Thorpe gave up a single, two walks and a wild pitch to the first four batters of the bottom of the fifth inning, his night was done, and on came Trevor May to get out of the jam. May got Mookie Betts to fly out to get the second out, and was one strike away from limiting the damage to one run, when Rafael Devers did this to him. The game got even more interesting in the seventh and eighth innings. Tyler Duffey led off the seventh with two strikeouts, but after a Jackie Bradley Jr. ground-rule-double, Rocco Baldelli went to Sam Dyson, who promptly issued a wild pitch and a walk. He was able to get out of the jam, when LaMonte Wade Jr. made a long running catch to end the inning. Dyson stayed in to pitch the eighth inning, and got both Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez out to lead off the inning, before getting lifted for Taylor Rogers to face the left-handed hitting Andrew Benintendi. Benintendi then proceeded to hit an opposite field home run over the Green Monster, cutting the Twins lead down to one. After hitting Mitch Moreland, Rogers was able to strike out Christian Vazquez to get out of the jam. Things got even more nerve-racking in the bottom of the ninth for Taylor Rogers and the Minnesota Twins. Brock Holt made his way aboard with a seeing-eye single to lead off the inning. The pinch hitter, Gorkys Hernandez, then proceeded to advance him to second base with a sacrifice bunt, bringing the dangerous top of the Red Sox order up, with the tying run in scoring position and just one out. Taylor Rogers then reared back and got two of the biggest outs he has gotten all season, getting Mookie Betts to hit a comebacker to the mound for the second out, and striking out Rafael Devers to end the game. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games Wed at BOS, 6:10 pm CT (Berrios-Rodriguez) Thu at BOS, 6:10 pm CT (Perez-Eovaldi) Fri vs CLE, 7:10 pm CT (TBD-TBD) Last Game Twins Game Recap (9/2): Late Labor Day Offense Propels Twins Click here to view the article

Trevor May had high expectations to help lead the Minnesota Twins bullpen, coming into the 2019 season. However, the entire narrative changed for Trevor May after what amounted to three straight poor performances, coming out of the All-Star Break, that caused Twins fans to lose almost all faith in him whatsoever. This caused Trevor May to go back to the drawing board to figure out what was going wrong, and what came out as a result has morphed him back into the dominate reliever that we all expected him to be.During the first half of the season, Trevor May was one of the more reliable options coming out of the Twins bullpen. At the All-Star Break, May had posted a 3.06 ERA, and was holding opposing hitters to a .596 OPS. Once play started in the second half, it quickly fell apart for Trevor May. It started with him giving up a costly, go-ahead home run, to Carlos Santana, late in the game against the Cleveland Indians. He followed that up, his next time out, by giving up a three-run home run to Dominic Smith, when the Twins were holding a 3 to 2 lead in the seventh inning. In both instances, the opposing hitter took Trevor May deep on a braking ball that he failed to get down and out of the zone. In his next outing after that, Trevor May failed to protect a 5 to 3 Twins lead late in the game, against the Oakland Athletics, and just like that all the good work he had done all season, was seemingly erased. Over the two weeks, following those performances, Trevor May made just two appearances, as it appeared that the Twins were giving Trevor May some time to get himself right. That plan has paid off big time for the Twins. Since that mini-break, Trevor May has morphed himself into a whole new pitcher. In the month of August, Trevor May allowed just one run, and had a 19 to 3 strikeout to walk ratio across 13 and 1/3 innings pitched. As a result, hitters had a staggeringly low .363 OPS against Trevor May, over that time. So, what has made all of the difference for Trevor May? While many people have pointed out that he seems to be throwing his fastball harder of late, that really isn’t the case. In the month of August, his average four-seam fastball velocity was 96.0 MPH on the nose, which is actually slightly down from the 96.5 MPH he was averaging in July. The real difference with Trevor May hasn’t been the velocity of his fastball, but rather, the frequency of use of his fastball. From April through June, Trevor May threw his fastball 61 percent of the time. In July, that frequency dipped, down to just 54 percent of the time, as Trevor May was focusing more on the use of his slider. However, since the beginning of August, Trevor May has all but scratched that mindset, and is now rearing back and challenging opposing hitters with his fastball at a 71 percent clip. Download attachment: Trevor May Fastball Pitch Percent.PNG When you consider Trevor May is as a pitcher, this bulldog style approach makes a lot of sense for him. Among the 160 pitchers who have thrown at least, 500 four-seam fastball this season, on Giovanny Gallego has a better wOBA allowed on his four-seamer than Trevor May’s 0.228. That just shows how effective of a weapon Trevor May’s four-seam fastball really is. If Trevor May can continue to have this much success against opposing hitters, he will make a great addition to Taylor Rogers, Sergio Romo, Sam Dyson and Tyler Duffey as established and reliable relievers down the stretch and into the Postseason. Not only will this give Rocco Baldelli plenty of options to get outs, but it will take some of the pressure off the starting rotation to go deep into games. Click here to view the article

As the season starts to wind down, every Minnesota Twins game seems that much more important. With the Cleveland Indians blowing out the Detroit Tigers, the Twins needed to hold serve against the Chicago White Sox to maintain their 3 1/2 game lead in the American League Central. Fortunately Michael Pineda, and the back end of the Twins bullpen were up to the task, leading the Twins to a 3-to-1 victory.Box Score Pineda: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 67.4% strikes (60 of 89 pitches) Home Runs: Gonzalez (15), Schoop (19) Multi-Hit Games: Cruz (2 for 4) WPA of +0.1: Pineda .177, Duffey .108 WPA of -0.1: None Bomba Counter: 255 There was a scoring chance for the Twins right away in the first inning. Jorge Polanco drew a one out walk, and Nelson Cruz drove him over to third with a single, giving the Twins first and third with just one out. Then Eddie Rosario stepped to the plate, and with Lucas Giolito showing he didn’t have he best control early, Rosario swung at the first pitch, which was out of the zone high, and popped up to the third baseman. Giolito was able to come back in strike out Miguel Sano, and the Twins early threat was squandered. In the second inning, the Twins went back to their routine to put a couple of runs on the scoreboard. First Marwin Gonzalez leadoff the inning with his 15th home run of the season, giving the Twins nine different hitters with at least 15 home runs this season. A few batters later, Jonathan Schoop blasted a home run of his own, giving the Twins a 2-0 lead. The White Sox were able to bounce back with a home run of their own, when Tim Anderson took Michael Pineda deep to lead off the fourth inning. This was the only blemish, on what was otherwise an excellent start for Pineda. Since the start of May, Michael Pineda has a 3.60 ERA, which is slightly better than Jake Odorizzi’s 3.64 ERA and Jose Berrios’s 3.71 ERA over that time. If those three can carry that level of performance into the postseason, the Twins will have three pitchers that can give their offense a shot to win each and every game. Eddie Rosario made up for his inability to come through in the first inning by driving in a big insurance run in the eighth. Following a couple of one-out singles from Jorge Polanco and Nelson Cruz, Eddie Rosario poked a line drive into center field, bringing around Polanco to score. With two outs in the inning, Max Kepler pinch hit for Marwin Gonzalez, and hit a popup into shallow left field that looked like it was going to drop. However, it held up just long enough for While Sox outfielder Eloy Jimenez to run underneath it and make a nice sliding catch to end the inning. It was later announced that Marwin Gonzalez was lifted due to an abdominal issue, but nothing more was said about the issue before the end of the game. The Twins bullpen was on display tonight, showing just how valuable the trade deadline additions really were. After Pineda’s five strong innings, Sam Dyson, Tyler Duffey, Sergio Romo and Taylor Rogers each gave the Twins one scoreless inning to secure the Twins win. Among them, Sergio Romo deserves some recognition. He came in for the eighth inning to face the White Sox 2-4 hitters, and he made them look silly, striking out all three. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games Wed at CHW, 7:10 pm CT (Odorizzi-Detwiler) Thu at CHW, 1:10 pm CT (Berrios-Cease) Fri at DET, 6:10 pm CT (TBD-TBD) Last Game Twins Game Recap (8/25): Pérez Impresses, Twins Beat Detroit for Series Win Click here to view the article

A prospect is promoted late in a season and impacts a team's championship aspirations. It is the stuff of an overly romantic novel. But baseball is a romantic game for a reason: stuff like this happens. Which brings us to the excitement surrounding Twins pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol, and his similarities to former Rays pitching prospect David Price.I think by now, we all know how great of a prospect Graterol is, so I won’t spend too much time talking about his 1.53 ERA across three minor league levels in 2019, to go along with the 2.74 ERA he posted in 2018, and the 2.70 ERA he posted in 2017. Not to mention his electric fastball that has been clocked as high as 103.8 MPH just last weekend. On Monday he will turn the ripe old age of 21. It is safe to say that Graterol has a promising future. Why can’t the present look equally as bright? Several pitchers have made an accelerated jump between AA and AAA to pitch for contending teams in need of their services, and have done so without that move jeopardizing their careers. One such player is David Price, whose promotion to the bigs in 2008 so far parallels Graterol's year. From their first year in 1998 through 2007, the Tampa Bay Rays were the laughingstock of major league baseball, compiling a meager .399 win percentage across that span. In fact, only once did they reach the 70-win mark. However, before the season, they changed their name from the Devil Rays to the Rays, and instantly went from bottom-feeders to AL East champions, winning 97 games. In September, the Rays made a big move to bolster their pitching staff by calling up their top pitching prospect David Price, despite him having thrown just 75 combined innings between AA and AAA. He was just the spark the Rays needed to take them all the way to the World Series. Price made five appearances (one start) before the end of the regular season. Over those five appearances, Price had a 1.93 ERA, with 12 strikeouts and four walks in 14 innings. During that Rays postseason run, Price made five more appearances, all in relief. In those five games, Price gave up just one earned run in 5 2/3 innings. He did this while pitching in high leverage situations, helping him collect a win probability added of 0.459 in that relatively small amount of work. In 2009, Price was moved back into the starting rotation, and has put together a strong career. It is possible that the Twins are planning on using Brusdar Graterol in a similar manner this season. Ever since he has returned from the shoulder condition that kept him sidelined for two months, Graterol has made seven strong outings, all of which having been two innings or less. In those seven outings, Graterol has pitched 11 1/3 innings without giving up a single run while striking out 12 batters and holding opposing hitters to a staggeringly low .382 OPS. With his recent call up to AAA, it appears the Twins are ramping him up to help out in their bullpen down the stretch. If Graterol is to help the Twins this postseason, he must first be placed on the Twins 40-man roster before the end of August. With the Twins currently having just 39 guys on their 40-man roster, there is already an open spot. For those of us hoping that the Twins can get a spark to jolt their pitching staff down the stretch, Brusdar Graterol might just be that guy. Click here to view the article