twinbythebay

Basically just because he's so versatile defensively, and the Twins don't have many other good options right now. I agree, he has been awful at the plate, but so has most of the rest of team. I would love it if a couple guys stepped up and made it so that he doesn't have to play so often, but that hasn't happened.

They DFA'd Vargas yesterday to make room for Donaldson. I wonder how close Littell and Stashak are to returning... If one of them isn't close to coming back, they could move them to the 45-day IL and add Rooker. But It's probably much more likely that they just call up Astudillo and/or Wade.

It's not as cut and dry as that. Rocco has said that they have a detailed plan to ease Buxton and Donaldson back into playing every day in order to minimize the risk of reaggravating any injuries. Ensuring that these guys are fully healthy and back to their normal selves in four weeks is more important than winning the division.

Rooker seems much more likely to be called up than Kirilloff if Kepler goes on the IL. And if Arraez also goes on the IL, perhaps it's finally La Tortuga time? This entire series featured little-league-level defense from both teams. If the Twins made the plays they should've made tonight, Berrios probably gets through 7 innings. Very ugly to watch, but kudos for the Twins for taking full advantage of the Sox errors. I think this is also the first time in like 10 games that the Twins have had more than one multi-run inning, which is a sentence that just made me very sad to type. I'm not going to check, but I highly doubt that last year's team had such a streak at any point in the year. Also, every time I start thinking that Rosario is awful, he makes me bite my tongue. Tonight was a great example. His OPS for the season is still pretty bad, but still higher than the Twins' overall OPS on the season, sadly...

It's really going to depend on how September plays out. Each of our starters should have 4-5 more regular season starts, but (barring injury) I would be shocked if both Berrios and Maeda weren't in the top 3. Given how Pineda looked last night and how he looked down the stretch last season, I'd say he has the inside track to take that third spot. That leaves the #4 spot (if needed) for either Dobnak, Odo, or Hill. Dobnak has performed the best of the three so far this season, Odo might have the best raw stuff of the three, and Hill is the playoff-tested vet. I will say that this rotation inspires far more confidence going into the postseason than last season's rotation.

Totally agree with you on this. It's akin to the old saying about how the most popular guy on a football team is often the backup QB. A lot of people are clamoring for Kiriloff, Lewis, etc. to be called up, and it's possible that they would excel in the big leagues right now if given a chance, but they simply haven't proven enough yet to warrant such a big jump IMO. Rooker, on the other hand, seems to have a proven track record at AAA, so I would have no problem giving him a shot over Cave.

It's absolutely amazing to me that it took professional baseball teams over a hundred years to come to such shocking realizations as "You should throw your best pitch as much as possible" and "You should put your fielders in the spots where the other team typically hits the ball"

That's kinda what I was thinking... It might've been Rocco's way of sending a message. Of course, I'm sure if you asked Rocco, he'd say he just wanted to make sure he gave Kepler a full night of rest or something like that.

Buxton is the straw that stirs the drink... the Twins are just so much better when he's on the field.

Same ol', same ol' with the bats... At least Pineda looks good.

I long for the days when I thought the Gonzalez signing was brilliant... He's just so, so bad now.

He's also got one of the highest OBPs on the team. The sad fact is that Rocco doesn't have many viable options at the moment... Plus if Sano hits leadoff, it removes the possibility of a GIDP from at least one of his at bats.

Yeah, Sano is gonna have ABs like that, it's just who he is... I can live with it as long as he obliterates the ball like he's been doing lately.

This would be true if we had more than two hitters that were able to get on base consistently...

Why? He's been one of only two productive hitters this year. I don't have a problem with them throwing some sh*t against the wall and seeing what sticks.

I dunno, there might be some leftover bad juju from him losing his mind over a "triple play" that turned out to be one out...

That sounds good in theory, but none of the Twins' speedy guys have been able to get on base consistently this season. Cruz and Sano have been productive, but when they have seven guys around them in the lineup that can't swing their way out of a wet paper bag, teams will just pitch around them (as we saw with Cruz's IBB last night in the 8th).

Gordon has not been in St. Paul at all. He tested positive for COVID in July before Summer camp started, and he was reportedly hit hard enough by it to land in the hospital (more evidence that this virus should not be underestimated). He is just now getting back to physical activity and definitely won't be ready to play at all this season.

Y'know, it also just occurred to me that this losing streak has roughly coincided with Bert's stint as color commentator. How do we get Morneau back in the booth??

Romo should be available tonight, along with Alcala, Thielbar, Wisler, and some of the "lesser" arms. I know, I know, that doesn't inspire much confidence, but can they pitch any worse than the "high-end" guys did last night? Thielbar has surprised the hell out of me so far; is he all smoke and mirrors, or did Falvine pluck a diamond from the rough?

So it looks like you're expecting a whole lot of nothing from Pineda?

Which of the relievers, exactly, are being overworked? Compared to last year through 36 games: Rogers has pitched 12.1 innings, 3.1 fewer innings than last year May has pitched 14.0 innings, 1 more inning than last year Romo has pitched 11.2 innings, 0.1 fewer innings than last year Duffey has pitched 14.1 innings, 9 more than last year (this is one of the outliers, mostly due to Duffey proving himself in the second half of last season) Clippard has pitched 15.1 innings, 11 more than last year (Cleveland didn't call him up until late April last season) Wisler has pitched 15.2 innings, 3.2 more than last year Alcala has also pitched 14.1 innings, and no other reliever besides those mentioned above has pitched more than 10 innings this season. I know everyone likes to yell "OVERWORKED" when the bullpen falters multiple times in a week, but the facts just don't support this narrative. The bullpen as a whole has pitched significantly more innings this year than last year through 36 games, but this year's bullpen is also much deeper and Rocco has been careful to spread the innings around pretty evenly. I don't think anyone has pitched more than two games in a row so far. So why does the bullpen seemingly suck right now? I don't know... I tend to think it's more due to random variance than anything else. Their results earlier this year were probably a little lucky, and now that luck seems to have turned. The lack of offense is also probably somewhat to blame. When there's a cushion to work with, a bad inning by the bullpen here or there can be overlooked. When they're constantly working in tie games or 1-2 run leads and the bats aren't bailing them out in the late innings, they can't afford to have any bad innings.

How DARE you come in here with your well-reasoned, non-panicked take?! You didn't even call for anyone to be fired or cut!

Seems a bit hyperbolic to say that they "need" to win this game...

Now the bats need to not completely disappear for the rest of the night...