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minman1982

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Everything posted by minman1982

  1. minman1982
    Even if he is "ready" to come back for the playoffs, does it make sense to do so? If everyone else is contributing, why mess with a good thing? As for his future with the team beyond this season, who knows what that will bring. While I dream of seeing a full season of healthy Byron Buxton, I don't think that will ever happen. Unfortunately, I think he will be a uniquely talented player who could never stay healthy enough to make full use of his talents.
  2. minman1982
    You have to like that starting rotation. In a five game series, starting off with Gray/Lopez for Games 1 and 2. Bring in Ryan for Game 3 and Maeda for Game 4. Kuechel is around as insurance or a long reliever, if anyone gets themselves into trouble. Now, can the bullpen support them against a playoff caliber offense? That is is the key question.
  3. minman1982
    Took only 28 pitches to do it. I would call that a successful showing by the pen.
  4. minman1982
    The dumpster fire that is the rest of the Yankees starting rotation is probably helping Cole out here. He is legitimately putting his team on his back. The Twins, on the other hand, have had a solid starting rotation this season. Gray and Ryan are certainly the two best but the others have been better than Cole's rotation mates to start the season. Honestly, I don't care much about the hardware as long as Gray and Ryan keep doing their thing. It would be awesome to go into a five-game series in October knowing that you have TWO guys who you can count on to get in done in game 1.
  5. minman1982
    I don't understand why the "fair" ball double was not reviewable. That seems like it should be. As far as ball and strikes, here is what I would propose. Umpire behind the plate calls balls and strikes. A pitcher, catcher, or batter can challenge a ball/strike call before the next pitch is thrown. Each team gets two such challenges a game. If the player challenging wins the challenge (the call is overturned), the team gets to keep the challenge. If the player challenging loses the challenge (the call is upheld), the team has one less challenge. If the umpire behind the plate has five successful challenges against him/her in a game (calls that are overturned on challenge), they must be replaced by another umpire on the crew.
  6. minman1982
    Totally agreed. I feel the Twins matched up well with the Dodgers last night. A couple of bounces (or calls) their way instead of the Dodgers way and they win this game. A mistake pitch to Muncy early on, the "double" down the first base line late in the game, or the Kiriloff at bat in the tenth, if one of those goes the Twins way, they probably get the W last night. That is baseball though. Time to brush off the dirt from last night and play another one tonight.
  7. minman1982
    Even though it ended with a loss, I am pleased with the outcome of the game. After going down 5-1, it would have been easy for the Twins just to call it a night and it felt like this game was going to be a blow-out. I am happy that the team rallied back and made it a good game. The Dodgers are one of the better teams in MLB and have been for a while. The Kiriloff strikeout in the tenth was just deflating. It felt like they had an opportunity to get another couple of runs that inning or possibly blow the game open. If the first pitch is correctly called a ball, I don't think Kiriloff swings at the second pitch (why would you swing at 1-0 with a pitcher who is clearly having control issues?). I also probably give Kiriloff the green light on 1-1 with a one run lead, bases loaded, and one out in the tenth. The third pitch was an absolute garbage call. Catcher sets up outside, pitcher misses several inches inside, not even close. I have to give Kiriloff some credit for not saying something that would get himself kicked out. They did still have a one-run lead and his glove was needed in the field. Sure, the Twins had plenty of other chances but this at bat felt like the classic gut punch that us Minnesota sports fans are accustomed to.
  8. minman1982
    Twins win 1 and lose 2 than go to Anaheim to win 2 and lose 1. A 3-3 road trip before hosting the Giants next week.
  9. minman1982
    Got to love the starting pitching right now. If my math is right, they pitched 36 innings giving up 9 earned runs and striking out 43 in 6 games this last week. If the offense does its thing, which is showed the last two days what they can do when all the cylinders are working, this should be more than enough to make every games a winnable game.
  10. minman1982
    This is why I am glad that the Twins started 2023 with six or seven good options at starting pitcher. Before they offer Mahle a contract, it would be worth seeing how Ober and Varland do, how Paddack's rehab is going, and/or if someone else in St. Paul really step up. As we are seeing now, depth at this position is never a bad thing.
  11. minman1982
    I really want to say a Twins sweep but I have a feeling that the Sox will find a way to steal one. I will go Twins win series 2-1.
  12. minman1982
    The ERA+ stat is probably the most telling of how dominant Gray has actually been in the month of April. 567 is an absurd number that probably should be on someone's video game system, not a real life thing. It is worth noting that he faced both Houston and New York this season and pitched a combined 14 innings striking out 21 batters while giving up 7 hits, 1 ER, and 3 BB. That is a 0.64 ERA and 0.714 WHIP against two good offenses. I know he is just one clunker start away from blowing all this up and he is simply on one of those great runs that happens to players every now and then. Let's bask in the greatness we are seeing while it lasts.
  13. minman1982
    Only the Oakland Athletics (who clearly are not trying to field a good team) have allowed more runs than the Chicago White Sox. Hopefully, the Twins can get some offense going when they visit the South Side this week.
  14. minman1982
    Isn't this why the Twins went out and got a guy like Pablo Lopez? They knew that Kenta Maeda had some question marks and that Mahle was coming back from a shoulder injury and had question marks too. They needed another arm that they knew could give them five or six innings a game once a week. I would say that the Twins probably have seven guys who could be counted on as solid starters when you include Ober and Varland. If you throw SWR into the mix, there is another arm that can probably get them a solid five or six innings of work. In a pinch, even Headrick could probably start a game and give them five innings. Who knows what Paddack is going to be like when he comes back. If they get really desperate, there is always Josh Winder hanging around (he looked awful this weekend so I would not give him a start unless I was absolutely forced to). The Twins have enough depth that they can weather this storm because they have learned from the last few years what happens when you lack that depth.
  15. minman1982
    I was at work and couldn't watch. What is up with Maeda? Does he need some more time to recover from TJ or is it time to find a new role and let Ober or Varland start in his place?
  16. minman1982
    I agree. Polanco will play tonight. Looks like SWR on Sunday then.
  17. minman1982
    This is great, thanks for the explanation. With someone like Pagan, would the Twins even try to demote him? Even if he absolutely implodes, it seems like he would certainly not agree to go to St. Paul and would rather be released. Would it be better for the Twins to release him outright?
  18. minman1982
    Lopez certainly seems like a guy who number 2 starter is his floor and true ace is his ceiling. To get him locked up for four years at just over $18M/year is a steal.
  19. minman1982
    A week ago, I would have been happy with a win against the Astros and a win in New York (2-5). The fact that the Twins took the series from the Astros and split the series with New York makes me overjoyed. Sure, a series win in New York would have been nice but I am pretty happy with what I am seeing. The pitching has been outstanding. Even on Saturday and Sunday, the starters kept the Twins in the game. If the offense had been able to do something, maybe they win won of those two. Joe Ryan was great in the game on Thursday. We would all be talking about his performance if the Twins hadn't spotted him to a 9-0 lead. I thought Pablo Lopez was outstanding this afternoon. It is a shame that he got no support from the offense. Sonny Gray has continued to look good. Even Varland looked decent. I think it is hard to say who the "ace" is right now because they have three guys in Ryan, Gray, and Lopez who all could fit that mold. The offense needs some help. The Twins are averaging 3.9 runs/game and if you take out the two blowout wins (11-1 in Miami and 11-2 in New York), they are averaging 2.9 runs/game. That is not good enough. Maybe they let Buxton play the field a couple of games and see if that helps him at the plate. Maybe Polanco and eventually Kiriloff coming back will get things started. Maybe C4 is turning it around. Something needs to change.
  20. minman1982
    Let's say this trend continues for the next four to six weeks. Dominant starting pitching that keeps the team in games, a solid bullpen, and an inconsistent offense. When do the Twins shop a guy like Varland or SWR or Dobnak to see what they can get in return? If they can get someone who can play the outfield and not be an offensive black hole like Taylor, maybe it is worth sending one of these guys somewhere else. There are plenty of other opportunities that open up if the starting five continue to be lights out given that the Twins have two or three young guys sitting in St. Paul that might be good MLB starters.
  21. minman1982
    If I were to rank them from shortest leash to longest leash, here would be my ranking: 1. Pagan: it shouldn't take much for the Twins to want to move on, especially if they can move Maeda to the bullpen. 2. Maeda (as a starter): if he struggles and/or Varland, Ober, or SWR are doing well, moving Maeda to the bullpen to make room for one of the young guys makes sense. 3. Solano: as soon as Polanco and Kiriloff are healthy, someone has to go. That someone is probably Solano. 4. Gallo: Even though he may seem like he is expendable, there are a lot of ways Gallo sticks around. His ability to play many positions makes him somewhat valuable especially if he can provide some offense. 5. Mahle: unless he reaggravates his injury and/or multiple of the Ober, Varland, SWR group are doing really well, he is going nowhere. 6. Taylor (aka the Byron Buxton insurance plan): unless he turns out to be a complete black hole on offense, he is going to get playing time. When you consider who the Twins have had to play in the previous couple seasons when Buxton was out, Taylor is a clear upgrade. 7. Gray: totally safe and going nowhere.
  22. minman1982
    I honestly don't see a problem with the closer by committee model. Put your best pitchers in the most impactful spots of the game. That isn't always starting the ninth inning. I would fine with Lopez, Duran, or Jax in this role depending on the situation. Maybe even give Alcala a chance or two.
  23. minman1982
    I wanted to check the performance of Archer and Bundy over the last few seasons to see what the Twins could have expected going into 2022. From Baseball Reference: Archer last pitched more than 150 innings in a season in 2017. From 2018 to 2021, he pitched 287.1 innings in 62 starts. By my math that is about 4.6 innings per start over this time frame. Bundy's largest number of innings pitched in his career is 171.2 in 2018. If we use the same time frame (2018 to 2021), Bundy pitched 489.2 innings in 91 starts or 5.4 innings per start. From 2018 to 2021, Archer and Bundy averaged about 5 innings per start. Expecting them to go six innings would have been completely unreasonable. Four to five innings per start was probably a reasonable ask for these two guys. The problem isn't one short start or one weak link. When the team has 51 games started by two guys like this, there is a lot of additional strain on the bullpen.
  24. minman1982
    I think the thing that will separate the 2023 Twins from the 2022 addition will be the starting pitching. The acquisition of Lopez, Ober's great spring, and guys like Varland waiting in the wings gives me hope that this can be a good to great rotation. When the Twins are healthy, they are both offensively and defensively superior to both Cleveland and Chicago. The big if is can they stay healthy. I would put both the Twins and Cleveland in the 85-90 win category. I am not a big believer in the White Sox. They have the same injury questions that the Twins have with less depth. I think this is really a two team division and give the Sox 75-80 wins. Detroit and Kansas City will be so far behind it doesn't matter where they are at. Both are probably among the five worst teams in baseball right now.
  25. minman1982
    The way I see the Twins SPs is that there is quite a bit of potential upside but also a lot of question marks as well. If things go well, the Twins could end up with one of the better SP staffs in MLB. If all of these guys have great years, there would be no hole in this rotation. With that said, there are plenty of spots where things could get derailed. The Twins do have some competent depth options so it isn't like they are going to need to rely on Griffin Jax or Martin Perez to start a bunch of games. The potential for greatness is there, which is something we haven't been able to say for a while.
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