Cody Pirkl

I have no way of knowing whether the prospects are ready but I have all of the confidence in the world in them if the Twins believe it. I agree that you can't replace Cruz's bat with any of these prospects, but he's getting to the age where you have to ask if Cruz himself can live up to what he's done for these last two years. With regards to Rooker, yes he's a bad outfielder but he also played 0 1B in his last season in the minors. Maybe we'll see that change, who knows. With regards to pitching in the minors, I think you'd be surprised. Everyone knows Duran and Balazovic and they're probably the closest, but guys like Enlow and Canterino also look like solid future pieces. The Twins will still sign some pitching this offseason. I don't suggest the Twins field a full team of minor leaguers. The thing is though, someone like Kirilloff is considered to be one of the best hitters in the minor leagues and he's getting close. If they don't bring Eddie back, would you rather they just hand the job over to Cave? They're not going to sign George Springer or Marcell Ozuna. They'll throw in a backup for a month or two until they decide to bring Kirilloff up. Why not just do it right away? You can't just keep your top 100 prospects down for as long as the Twins are competing in case they come up and don't add to the team right away.

2019 seems like a lifetime ago. Much like the world we live in, our Minnesota Twins were completely different. The Bomba Squad reigned supreme (aside from in October of course), and you can’t blame the Twins for running it back in 2020. What we learned since then however is that it’s time to move on and forge ahead. The Bomba Squad is a thing of the past.The “Bomba Squad” label was more than a fun nickname for the 2019 Twins. It represented not just the daily lineup, but a persona for the team. It represented the energy they had as well as the tactics and strategy they used to pummel opponents into submission as underdogs for an entire season. At the heart of the Bomba Squad were players like the Mike Piazza-esque Mitch Garver, AL All Star Starting Shortstop Jorge Polanco, bonafide slugger Max Kepler. Eddie Rosario led the team in RBI and was the idea man behind the “Bomba Squad” name. Most entertaining of all was watching the club’s 39 year old leader Nelson Cruz continue to dominate at the top of the offensive leaderboards. Games were never out of reach as any given player stepped to the plate supported by the air raid siren and the roar of the crowd at Target Field. Maybe pitching was a concern, but they had more than enough quality arms to ride to 101 wins behind the record setting offense. If you watched baseball in 2020, you know this year was far from a repeat. The Twins managed a similar pace for wins, but it was obvious things were different. They rarely managed a comfortable win regardless of the opponent. The offense and pitching appeared to switch spots, as they won most games in spite of the offensive performance. Kepler looked uncomfortable, Polanco was painful to watch, Garver was one of the worst hitters in baseball, and even Cruz faded down the stretch after looking like his prime self to begin the season. The circumstances of 2020 surely played a role in the team we watched for 60 games and it’s fair to question where things would have ended up in a full 162. Regardless of this, 2020 was a reminder of the nature of baseball. A lineup made up of largely the same players looked completely different just a year later. It was fairly easy to see the frustration in failing to live up to these standards among the players, and the shift was difficult to accept for fans as well. And in that lies the issue. Even in 60 games we discovered that it’s unhealthy to base expectations on a record setting team. It’s the reason a largely successful regular season felt disappointing. The Twins are still a fantastic team poised to compete for years. They just didn’t earn that success by scoring double digit runs seemingly every other night as everyone expected. 2019 may have been a once in a lifetime performance on offense. That doesn’t mean the Twins are on the decline, quite the contrary. They have tons of exciting talent nearing the national stage. It’s just hard to expect the young talent on it’s way will ever resemble the style of the Bomba Squad and that’s okay. After another disappointing end to the season, it’s time for the Twins to make their own expectations rather than basing them off of one of the most accomplished offenses baseball will ever see. Fans need to abandon the mindset that frustrates them when an offense can’t consistently overwhelm an opponent. The Twins will simply have too good a team these next few years to dwell on a nickname from two years ago. The future of Twins baseball is going to be an exciting one. It’s time to accept this reality and embrace it. It’s time for the “Bomba Squad” to go. — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter here Click here to view the article

Ildemaro Vargas #1

They're not letting everyone go. Rosario has literally 3 MLB ready replacements. In terms of Cruz, it'd be nice to have him back but two years is super risky for a 40 year old who fizzled to end the season and suffered from injuries. Filling the DH spot shouldn't be very difficult with all of the Twins options, albeit it won't likely be to the level Cruz has provided the last two years. Will Cruz definitely be able to provide that though? Pineda is already signed through next season at which point he'll be 33 years old in 2022. He's barely eclipsed 30 starts in the last three years. The only reason they brought him back was because his price was so low from his suspension. With all of their young pitching in the minors and guys like Berrios and Buxton to focus on, they're not going to spend much if any time pursuing an extension with him.

Actually even Aaron Gleeman has alluded to this. Two postseasons against two teams that didn't even boast the top of the leagues's starting pitching and guys like Eddie, Kepler, Polanco, Sano etc. have done absolutely nothing. It's fair to question whether these guys for whatever reason just lack the ability to hit in the pressures in the postseason. Gleeman talked about possibly shopping Garver, Sano and even Kepler. Eddie is gone, that's just a given at this point. Expect the Twins to pursue an extension with Kirilloff this winter to avoid service time issues for starting him on Opening Day in 2021. They'll definitely approach Cruz but if he wants multiple years I'd guess they let him sign elsewhere. They've already been burned on the risky Donaldson contract. I can't see them taking a leap on an aging slugger again, especially given Cruz's injures and struggles to end the season. There's a non zero chance somebody signs him for $18 million and he turns into Edwin Encarnacion next year. The Twins should be focusing on the younger prospects given their caliber. The core of Sano, Kepler, Polanco etc. aren't toast or anything, it's still a good core to have. I just think after two crash and burn failures that it may be a good idea to give some new faces a chance to see if they can come in and hit the reset button. A few of our prospects have the ability to be the face of this team. If ever there were a time to take a leap, it's now.

Rosario gone: Definitely. If they started Kirilloff in that game, there's no way they don't trust him to play opening day, and he's much cheaper and quite possibly better. Garver and Jeffers: I don't think much needs to be figured out. They'll probably split time and if Garver rebounds even a little bit they probably combine for one of the better tandems of catchers in baseball Marwin: I think you have it backwards on Marwin. He barely eclipsed replacement level and was one of the worst regular hitters in all of baseball. He was the slowest runner on the team and that includes Cruz. Marwin looks absolutely cooked at 31 and quite possibly may not even get a major league deal with a bad team. Cruz: Probably gone if he wants two years Pitching: Would love to re sign Hill. Probably won't extend Pineda. The only reason they re signed him in the first place was how cheap he was from his extension. Berrios is going to hit the open market, that's a fact. I think I remember them offering him Aaron Nola money and he wanted more which is an absolute joke. They definitely won't trade him though.

Eddie is probably as good as gone. If they believe Kirilloff could start today, they think he can start on opening day next season and Eddie is the odd man out there.

Miguel Sano hasn’t had the season he expected from the very onset of 2020. His overall numbers look bad, but Sano has been the same streaky hitter we’ve seen in years past. Heading into the postseason, Sano may be one small flick of a switch from being the monster he’s shown he can be.2020 has been a tale of three seasons, or rather three streaks. The first was a brutal cold streak. Sano spent much of his early summer quarantined in a room in his home with an asymptomatic COVID diagnosis. While the virus didn’t take its toll on his body, his ramp up time was affected. He opened the season 1-17 with no walks and 8 Ks as fans panicked. The turn of the calendar was kind to Sano, as he seemed to adjust on the fly. He was one of the best hitters not only in the Twins lineup, but in all of baseball. Sano hit .284/.394/.636. He was 73% better than a league average hitter according to wRC+. In a lineup that was struggling mightily, Sano was seemingly putting on a show night in and night out. Unfortunately as the Twins offense has heated up in September, Sano has gone ice cold again. He sat a few times with neck stiffness at the peak of his performance and it clearly ruined the roll he was on. In September he’s well below the Mendoza line and hasn’t managed to get on base even 20% of the time. Having only one peak to go with his two valleys on the season has left him with an overall line that barely shows him as an above league average hitter. His talent is undeniably so much better than this. Download attachment: Sano Savant.PNG Sano has shown his entire career that he has an unmatched ability to punish mistakes when he makes contact. While he’s the worst case of swing and miss you’ll find across the MLB, his plate approach when he’s at his best is enough for him to cause his fair share of damage. When he’s taking bad pitches and drawing his walks, he’s dangerous. And that’s exactly what’s missing from Sano’s game right now. Sano’s walk rate is sub 3% in September and was a solid 0% in his first 17 ABs where he looked lost. Even if you weren’t paying close attention, his quality of at bat is much different this month than when he was peaking in August where his walk rate was over 10% higher. We’ve seen a lot more flailing at pitches well off the plate in September. So what’s Sano’s issue? Plate discipline is typically a pretty consistent skill among hitters and it seems to come and go in Sano’s case. Combining July and September, Sano is hitting under .200 against fastballs with expected stats that don’t offer much inspiration. In August however, Sano made more contact with fastballs and paired it with an exit velocity over 101 mph. He hit .372 against the pitch and slugged .814. His launch angle was 17 degrees which is prime for barreling the ball when you’re averaging 101 mph off the bat. September in particular has been strange. Sano has seen more fastballs, swung and missed at them less and somehow is doing less damage. It might be as simple as him just missing his pitches. He’s not whiffing on fastballs, but I have more than a few ABs in mind where he fouled off pitches he would have crushed a month ago. In addition, his launch angle has risen from 17 to 24 degrees against fastballs which means he’s getting under the ball much more often instead of lining it into some poor stadium seat in the second deck. All of this adds up to something just barely throwing Sano’s timing off in my opinion. He sometimes looks to be cheating on pitches and winds up sacrificing his plate discipline, in other cases he’s just missing fastballs and either fouling them off or popping them up. At any rate, this isn’t one of the deep slumps we’ve seen from Sano over the years. He sinks or swims with his ability to connect with fastballs. He’s not completely missing them, but rather seems to have just a miniscule timing issue ever since he sat with his neck injury. He’s taking some big swings now that suggest the neck isn’t bothering him, but he may very well still be looking for his perfect timing again which I’d argue is very close. You should feel relatively good about Sano headed into the playoffs. He always seems to be one swing away from breaking out of his slumps and he appears to be right on the edge of exploding again according to his swing and miss rates which are all that matter in Sano’s case. If we see some smart at bats and timed up fastballs to close down the season, the Twins first round opponent likely won’t be able to afford a single mistake to the slugger. Miguel Sano is the kind of hitter who can carry a lineup when he’s right, and with the Twins looking not quite as lifeless as of late, he may just make our 1-9 too much to handle in October. — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter here Click here to view the article

Max Kepler was coming off a career year in 2019 that inspired the imaginations of Twins Territory. The “next step” was discussed all offseason as well as dreams of the next Christian Yelich. 2020 has been far from what we’d hoped for Max Kepler however, and his performance as a whole is reason for concern.Kepler’s 2019 was fantastic with a .252/.335/.519 slash line, good for a 121 wRC+. He looked likely to continue that performance after slugging two homers on opening day off of Lucas Giolito. Since opening day however, Kepler has a line of .198/.302/.343 with a 78 wRC+, typically coming from the leadoff spot which has cost the Twins dearly. The first difference that stands out in his 2020 profile is his performance against left handed pitching. In 2019 Kepler managed to hit .293/.356/.524 against lefties, which actually bested his numbers against righties. In 2020, Kepler has cratered to a .105/.205/.132 line. While we held our breath that Kepler had suddenly learned to hit lefties, there are very few left handed hitters in history that can sustain equal or greater success against left handed pitching than right handed. The contrast between last year’s performance and the rest of his career suggests that Kepler probably had a career year that may never be replicated, let alone improved upon. I’m no hitting mechanics guru, but something has changed in Max Kepler’s swing. I couldn’t point out the specifics in a side by side breakdown, but I can use his numbers to prove it. For starters, Kepler’s average exit velocity has dropped from 89.7 to 87.7 mph and his hard hit rate has plummeted from 42.1 to 33% This isn’t super crazy to see happen naturally, but in this case it probably has something to do with his average launch angle increasing from a healthy 18.2 degrees to 22.7. We’ve seen tons of pop ups on pitches Max would have punished last year, and it’s made him a flat out liability at the plate in 2020. What’s even more troubling has been Kepler’s defense. He was sneakily one of the best defensive right fielders in all of baseball in years past, and this year has been far from it. We’ve seen Max contribute to losses in a big way recently by dropping a routine fly ball and failing to make a throw to first base from shallow right field. His defensive metrics say this is more than just failing the eye test. His Outs Above Average according to Statcast has dropped from 7 to 0. His Universal Zone Rating has decreased from 9.9 to 2. All of this despite a career best sprint speed. So what’s causing an all around career worst year for Kepler and how do we fix it? Part of it is likely good old fashioned regression. After last year’s 100th percentile outcome, Kepler is probably seeing his 10th percentile play out. In a full season, it’s not likely that Kepler would continue at this rate for the entire year assuming you believe in his talent. Unfortunately across 60 games, it’s going to look ugly in the record books. The more important consideration is that this season is unlike any other. The Twins are playing much worse on the road and for good reason. The protocols players have to follow are strict, and each player will likely handle it differently. Kepler has made costly mistakes this season that appeared to be caused by a lack of focus, and it’s not hard to imagine why given the state of the world. There’s no sugarcoating the fact that Kepler looks far from the player that led a 101 win team in fWAR last season. It is difficult however to pull too much of a conclusion from 60 games during the weirdest season of baseball in history. What do you think of Kepler’s struggle? Extenuating circumstances, or is Kepler just not the player we believed he was after 2020? — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter here Click here to view the article

With regards to Kepler, he probably shouldn't be leading off at this point. If he can't hit lefties at all (all signs say he can't) he's a .220 hitter with minimal on base skills. Polanco shouldn't be in the top half of the lineup. He appears to have made the decision to avoid striking out at all costs this year, and that includes refusing to walk or hit for any power whatsoever. He can be 2-0 and take a half swing at a middle-middle pitch to try and sneak it up the middle and it makes no sense.Those two by themselves regressing are where the offense has gone. It's not the defense's fault that Dobnak is doing poorly either. The shift hurt him last night, but his whiffs keep dropping and his walks and hit batters keep going up. If he doesn't have the control and command he showed to start his career, he's not a pitcher that can survive in the MLB.

It’s easy to get caught up in a pennant chase, especially with all of the moving pieces this year. Because of that, we might be looking right past a few storylines that deserve more attention. Here are 3 things that may be worth worrying about.Dobnak’s Control Regression was always expected for Randy Dobnak, just not in the way we’ve seen so far. The sinkerballer may have benefitted from batted ball luck and an improved defense, but we always figured the floor was set. Dobnak is successful because of a pitch to contact profile complemented by a “no free passes” approach. Unfortunately, the last few starts have seen the walks creep up along with his ERA. A 6.8% walk rate is still good, though it’s the second highest it’s ever been in his professional career. Paired with just a 13% K rate, success is going to rely on every single ball put in play being an out, or sometimes even a double play for Dobnak to keep that ERA at respectable levels. Dobnak surely won’t be starting game 2 of the playoffs this year. That being said, he’s going to pitch some important innings down the stretch and it would be nice to pencil him into the back end of the rotation for 2021. However, a 6.04 ERA and 5.06 FIP in his last 5 starts gives us a look at the tightrope Dobnak walks. His control in his next few starts will be interesting to watch after his last two starts have uncharacteristically yielded walk rates over 10%. Missing Polanco Going into Tuesday’s double header, the story was Donaldson and Cruz returning from injury to play both games even though Buxton sat out game two. However, people seem to have overlooked Polanco’s absence in game two after getting a “breather” the day before as well. At this point we just assume every injury is more complicated than the update provided by the Twins. It’s very uncharacteristic of Polanco to sit out two games in such close proximity. It could have very well been a small nagging injury the likes of which will recover after the two off days. There’s always risk however that it’s a lingering issue that could get worse. We saw last year that it takes a lot to get Polanco off the field, and the lineup will rely on his bat which has recently heated up heading into October. Keep an eye on Polanco. Duffey’s Missing Velocity Tyler Duffey’s fastball currently sits at 92.6 mph on the season, missing about a tick and a half from his 2019. Especially for relievers, this can be more than enough to be a pitcher’s undoing. In Duffey’s case, he’s still the dominant reliever he was last year with a 2.16 ERA and 3.00 FIP. Regardless of this, it’s fair to wonder if his success can continue to this extent with so much missing on the fastball that’s crucial for pairing with his curveball. So far the one difference we’ve seen is Duffey’s average exit velocity allowed increasing from 89.4 mph to 92.2, putting him in the 4th percentile. This could be a case where things aren’t bad until they are, as the rest of his peripherals check out. On top of hoping for the velocity to come back, it’s also fair to wonder where it went. The season has had far from a normal ramp up time for pitchers, and IL trips are at an all time high. We’ve also seen occasions where he’s gone 5-6 days without making an appearance, which is strange to see considering Duffey is likely the Twins best overall reliever. If he has a nagging injury, time is running out. Any kind of aches and pains may affect not only Duffey’s effectiveness, but his durability. Hopefully Duffey continues to look great and we see some 95 mph fastballs to finish the season. All three of these situations may prove to be unnecessary worries looking back, but if one of them turns out to be an ongoing issue the repercussions could leave the Twins limping into the playoffs like last year. The finish to the season will provide plenty of fun baseball to watch on the field, but it may be worth keeping an eye on these issues that currently seem to be flying a bit under the radar. — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter here Click here to view the article

The Twins pitching staff has done an incredible job this season of keeping the team afloat, but do you even remember that we're supposed to have five regular staring pitchers? Heading into September, the depth we all expected to open the season is finally looking like it may materialize, and that should help this team in several different ways.Michael Pineda returned this last week to fill in on what would have been a bullpen day against the Chicago White Sox. The bullpen days have come to be a source of frustration for many, as the Twins had been turning to this tactic twice per week for some time before Pineda’s return. Jake Odorizzi has also been throwing and appears to be nearing a return, which means the Twins will have six quality pitchers to consider for the rotation. Moving into September, it may be time to check out how these two additions will positively impact the Twins. The Bullpen: The bullpen was a strength to open the season and still is to this day despite a few blemishes. Bullpen games every fifth day however have been taxing on our back end arms, especially given the lack of off days in the schedule to this point. Even with a 28 man roster, we’ve seen several relievers cycled in and out as arms have been unavailable. Having to rely on your bullpen for nine innings instead of three or four is going to catch up to us even in a 60 game season, which some are saying is already happening. Filling those innings at the beginning of games will be nice for our bullpen’s workload, but it will also afford us more options at the back end of games. We saw this the other night when we thought all of our best arms were spent against Chicago… We all forgot about Matt Wisler, who hadn’t been used as a traditional reliever since August 11 and has put up a 0.96 ERA on the season. He picked up a save against a right handed heavy Sox lineup with his ridiculous slider before being used as the opener again on Friday in the double header, hopefully for the last time in 2020. If nothing else, five starting pitchers will save guys like Wisler for the high leverage matchup spots they can thrive in. Roster Turnover: As previously mentioned, the Twins have had to cycle guys on and off of the roster far more often than they’d have liked. Needing those added innings from your bullpen every week on top of a normal workload has resulted in seeing guys like Thorpe, Coulombe and Minaya taking up 28 man spots, and in the latter two cases, 40 man spots. While not a huge inconvenience for the front office, this may be part of the reasoning behind the delay in calling up young talent to try to help the struggling offense. Not needing that extra arm in the bullpen affords the opportunity to give a 40 man spot to guys like Rooker who have waited more than long enough to get their chance for a role in an offense that’s never been more in need of help. Rich Hill: It may be time to talk about Rich Hill. While it was a risk free move that was hard to disagree with, he hasn’t shown any semblance of the pitcher we’ve seen in recent years. His 14.7% K rate is about half of what he’s managed in any season since 2010. We’ve now seen on multiple occasions him hitting a wall after three innings or so and completely imploding, putting the game at risk. He may have one more start before Jake Odorizzi returns, at which point the Twins will finally have the luxury of choosing their rotation. We could see them go to a 6 man considering how conservative they’ve been, although I doubt it with the many off days ahead. One more ineffective start from Hill might force the Twins to stop gambling every 5th day on an arm that was always considered a long shot. Whatever roster decision they make from there is anyone’s guess, but so far it’s hard to imagine Odorizzi stepping in and not putting the team in a better place. As we head into the last month of the season, it sounds strange to say we should appreciate having five starting pitchers again. Unfortunately, that’s reality as things have played out far from expected. Regardless, knock on some wood and consider that moving forward, things should be looking up barring any further injury to the rotation. The bullpen will surely benefit, the Twins should have added flexibility on the 40 man, and Hill’s status will become sink or swim to the team’s benefit. Five starting pitchers will be fantastic, six will be a luxury. Let us know below how you think the Twins will benefit from finally getting the pitching depth they planned on all along. — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter here Click here to view the article

The issue isn't a lack of planning for offensive regression. They got Donaldson, they couldn't have done a whole lot more on offensive improvements. 1. There's no way to make up for just how terrible the offensive studs from last year have been. Kepler is a below average hitter if you take out the first game of the year. Rosario has a couple games but has been well below average. Polanco might be the least impactful bat in the regular lineup and he's in the 2 spot every night. At some point you have to look at how incredibly sad it is that we have 3 players who are above average on offense and say it's nobody's fault but the players. Slumps happen but things like Kepler dropping the ball last night should make you wonder whether this is just a baseball slump or if guys are just sleepwalking to the park and taking it into the game with them. Be mad at the players for this free fall, not the front office. 2. If you really want to be mad at any organization moves, it should be that they haven't brought up any other bats. Literally the entire league is bringing up prospects looking for a jolt. If the Twins aren't going to do that now then I don't know when they will. They don't want to trade them, they don't want them in the Majors. It makes no sense.

The Twins have the makings of a competitive team on their injured list alone as they’ve been unable to field their projected team for the majority of this shortened season. While injuries ravage all of baseball, Minnesota is clearly one of the teams hit the hardest, and today I’m going to count down who the Twins are missing the most.7 - Zack Littell Littell came on strong in 2019, posting a 2.68 ERA and 3.62 FIP in 37 innings. Most notably, he gave up just 3 runs across the final 3 months of the season spanning 30.2 innings. 2020 has not been so kind however. Regression was expected, but nowhere near the 9.95 ERA he’s posted to begin the season. His walk and K rates are identical thus far, which never ends in success. It may just be that the elbow injury that sent him to the IL was an issue before it took him off the field. While it would be nice to have Littell back to full strength, the bullpen has been the bright spot of this team and we can afford to give him time to heal. It’s been reported that Littell has thankfully improved and while he may not miss significant time, it’s unclear if he will return when first able in the middle of next week. 6 - Cody Stashak Stashak was off to a nice start to 2020. He’s given up some homers (2.57 per 9), has a low BABIP allowed (.214), and has walked a few more hitters (7.1%) to contribute to his FIP of 4.87 going against his 3.86 ERA, but his K% has jumped to 35.7% and the walk rate is likely to decrease according to his history. Stashak is another valuable albeit luxury bullpen piece that can take his time getting right. He’s already past his 10 day timeline but it sounds like his ailing back is improving. Stashak should be back sooner rather than later. 5 - Homer Bailey Many people were underwhelmed with the Bailey signing. The fact of the matter is that after seeing TBD 2 times per week for pitching matchups all season, Twins fans should be begging for Bailey and his 4.57 ERA in 2019 to return. Any starting pitcher on the IL is greatly missed right now and even if you have reservations about Bailey’s abilities, you have to admit that his injury has negatively affected this Twins team. Biceps tendonitis currently has him placed on the 45 day IL which puts him out until mid September. One more setback likely means we signed Homer Bailey for a single appearance in a Twins uniform if we haven’t reached that point already. 4 - Mitch Garver This one may be controversial. Garver should rank higher looking at his 2019 numbers. The issue however is the beginning of his 2019. Something was clearly very wrong with Mitch Garver before his trip to the IL as displayed by his .154/.262/.212 slash line. The likely scenario is that he’s somewhere in between the historically great player we saw last season and the struggling player we’ve seen in 2020. While I’d expect Garver to rebound to some extent upon his return, his move to the IL didn’t directly hurt the team given the lack of impact he’d made to that point. Avila has been solid and Jeffers has looked just fine as a right handed bat behind the plate. We’re likely to see a lot more of the duo, as Garver’s intercostal strain will likely keep him out plenty past his 10 day designation. 3 - Jake Odorizzi Similar to Bailey, missing a starter right now hurts. It’s much worse for Odorizzi however considering his All Star campaign in 2019 and his assumed role as the #2 on this staff before opening the season on the IL. An 8.10 ERA in 10 innings so far doesn’t impress, but Odorizzi hasn’t really had a chance to ramp up this season. Odorizzi could very well be back from his abdominal contusion by the middle of next week to try to make his case to factor into some sort of playoff role. 2 - Josh Donaldson You could argue Donaldson should be #1. Donaldson himself was another slow slarter slashing .182/.296/.318., his 41.4% whiff rate on fastballs is unlike anything we’ve ever seen from the slugging third baseman in his career. Still, while he changes the lineup by coming anywhere near his 132 wRC+ in 2019, the Twins have an admirable replacement in Marwin Gonzalez on both offense and defense even if he has cooled off from a hot start. We can afford to let Donaldson heal much more than we can afford to rush him back early. That being said, it sounds like he’s hitting dingers in St. Paul which could be a good sign for his timeline. Donaldson should be nearing the end of his IL stay relatively soon. 1 - Byron Buxton Buxton at 1 has everything to do with the replacement options. An already left handed heavy outfield of Kepler and Rosario is now complemented by either Lamonte Wade or Jake Cave. This is an unfortunate reality considering the team has already struggled against left handed pitching. Wade and Cave haven’t even sniffed the offensive ability Buxton flashed at times this season, and the defense is no comparison. Buxton’s surgically repaired arm has improved and should be off the IL when first eligible next week. There’s some ability to interchange some of the players here, but as a whole this just goes to show how much production the Twins are missing out on to the injured list. Disagree with the ordering? Let us know below! — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter here Click here to view the article

Is that a result of the bullpen game though? If Maeda pitches that day and goes 6 strong, the offense still failed 4 or 5 times with RISP and no outs. We should have scored 7 or 8 runs in that game but instead had to empty the bullpen because the offense once again scored a few runs early and then mailed it in. Back ends of bullpens are nasty everywhere you look this year, but the Twins are getting absolutely smothered by some of the worst relievers on some of the worst teams in baseball. The result is exactly what we've seen which is scoring a few runs early off the starter and then riding the bullpen the rest of the game to a narrow victory. It's not really an issue against good teams like Cleveland as we saw in game one but there's simply no excuse to rely on that strategy against teams like Kansas City.

I have a couple observations about this one. 1. People seem to question going right to Alcala in stead of maybe Duffey for the top of the order in the 6th. Alcala was going to throw high leverage innings in this game one way or another unless the Twins put the game out of reach. If you use Duffey in the 6th, the top probably comes up again and Alcala is still the next best available reliever behind Duffey. On top of that, Alcala has definitely earned an expanded role. This was the worst appearance of his Major League career which is bound to happen at some point. 2. People are upset about the wrong things when it comes to the bullpen games. We have plenty of arms to pull them off, especially against teams like KC. The real problem in this instance is that the offense missed every single opportunity to put the game away in Kansas City on Sunday. We had to use our best relievers to steal a win from one of the worst teams on the schedule right before heading into Cleveland. We smothered them with our horses in game one since we could use them back to back, but the difference tonight was that they could use their best arms and ours weren't available. It comes down to the offense taking care of business against the bad teams. Guys like Poppen are prime for those bullpen games but when it's a 1 run game because the offense got shut out by KC's bad middle relievers, those low leverage guys aren't going to be able to match up with the teams you want to see them against. Again, Alcala is fine for that spot, but if things went the way they should have in KC, he wouldn't have had to be the first guy out of the pen.

2015 was a long time ago in any context, but such a gap in between Major League pitching appearances is nearly unheard of. Caleb Thielbar has had a long road back to wearing a Twins uniform, but the pitcher lovingly labeled “Meat Raffle” has earned the opportunity and could be around for a little while.We all explored Thielbar’s history when he was signed on a minor league deal this winter by the Minnesota Twins. It was a fun story but one with an unsure ending. Afterall, how often do we see the Twins take a flier on a familiar name only to never hear from them again? A quick look into Thielbar’s recent history should have raised an eyebrow. In the last two years, Thielbar split time between Detroit and Atlanta and put up serviceable ratios. In 2019 particularly, he managed a K rate the likes of which hadn’t been seen from him to that point. Despite putting up a 10.85 K/9 in over 76 innings and a 3.30 ERA, Detroit somehow didn’t see Thielbar fit to crack their historically bad roster at any point during the season. They instead dealt him to Atlanta down the stretch for possible bullpen depth where he remained at AAA and continued pitching well. Thielbar was essentially ready to call it quits that winter, signing on as a coach at Augustana University before the Twins coaxed him back with a contract offer and a bullpen that lacked left handed pitching. While he didn’t make the roster out of summer camp, expanded rosters and a taxi squad suggested an opportunity was coming. So here we are. Thielbar has 6 appearances in his return to Minnesota and appears to be doing fantastic. The Twins have used him in relatively high leverage spots, including a 10th inning game with a runner on second and early in Rich Hill’s shortened start before the game got out of hand. In 6.2 innings it’s hard to take anything too seriously, even if his 2.70 ERA is backed up by a 3.01 xERA and 2.72 FIP. There’s more to it however. In Thielbar’s last season in 2015, Statcast had just debuted to afford us the ability to deep dive into a player's raw talent. While he didn’t get much opportunity in 2015, we can still see that Thielbar drastically improved his spin rate across the board since then. Throwing a fastball, slider and curveball in 2020, he’s upped the spin rate of each pitch by about 400 RPMs. While this affects movement, it’s also the likely source behind some of the swings that make Thielbar’s 90 mph fastball look 98. Speaking of the fastball, Thielbar appears to have made it his number one weapon, throwing it 56% of the time and limiting hitters to a .178 expected BA and .314 expected SLG. The 3.4 inches on average of horizontal movement he gets on the pitch is near the tops of the league. This is all the more impressive considering the pitch only averages 89.8 mph. Thielbar’s future is undecided with the Minnesota Twins. While he’s not the type of young high octane arm we so often get excited about, he appears to have a like minded view of analytics with the front office and pitching coach Wes Johnson, and has certainly benefited from it. We’ve seen the Twins start to lean more heavily on Thielbar as the bullpen workhorses have become stretched thin, and he’s only succeeded thus far. A few more strong outings likely cement his spot on the roster for the long haul. Regardless of what the future may hold, the Twins have yet another player on their hands with a tremendous story as well as success to back it up. Years ago it was unbelievable that a local legend from Randolph High School of about 150 students was making his debut for the Twins. It’s all the more unbelievable that in 2020, he’s added to the legend by earning a spot once again. Welcome back to Twins Territory, Meat Raffle. — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email — Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter here Click here to view the article

If the Twins wanted a righty, I think we've already seen a prime candidate in Trevor Rosenthal from the Royals assuming he continues to not blow up with walks (he nearly did the other day). I think he'd be cheaper and is a high leverage flamethrower that the Twins are missing aside from May. I think they'd be better off looking for a lefty though, and I'd love to see them inquire about Gregory Soto out of Detroit's bullpen. Absolutely awful last year which may suppress some of the value he has in the 5 years of control he has left. He's been absolutely lights out this year and is looking like a bigtime breakout so far this year.