twinbythebay

I said it in the game thread yesterday, and I'll say it again here. I don't understand the absolute disgust that a lot of Twins fans seem to have about the bullpen games. I would understand it if they didn't have a deep bullpen, if the top guys were being overworked, or if they were trying to do this regularly over a 162 game season. But for this 60 game sprint of a season, when you have a bullpen that has proven its depth and effectiveness, if they give you a better chance to win games than using an unproven rookie starter like Duran, why not have regular bullpen games? I've heard all of the arguments about overworking the bullpen, but they just don't hold any water. None of the bullpen arms have been overworked, and I don't think they've lost a game yet this season because they weren't able to use certain pitchers because of lack of rest. Even looking at the bullpen chart after the doubleheader, Rogers, Duffey, May, Romo, and Clippard should all still be available to pitch today. Hopefully they only have to use two or three of those guys today, and then the others can be used tomorrow, as needed.

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...

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.

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!

I thought this might be the case as well, but when I looked it up on Fangraphs, the Twins' O-Swing% (which is the % of balls outside of the strike zone that they swing at) is actually down compared to last season (32.6% in 2019, ranked 10th in MLB vs. 30.1% in 2020, 15th in MLB). Furthermore, their Z-Swing% (which is the % of balls in the strike zone that they swing at) is WAY down compared to last season (70.8% in 2019, 4th in MLB vs. 65.9% in 2020, 23rd in MLB). Overall, they're making about the same amount of contact when they swing in 2020 vs. 2019. This suggests that they're not being aggressive enough this season since they're looking at significantly more strikes without swinging. It seems like this could be coaching related... Perhaps they've been preaching more patience at the plate this season? Although, I'm not sure why they would want to change their approach after last season's success at the plate. It could also just be that they've only played 35 games and are still honing their eyes at the plate. Or maybe it's simply a matter of more plate appearances going to more patient hitters, since free swingers like Schoop and Cron are no longer on the team.

What is our old buddy Mike Redmond up to these days? Can we sign him as a Special Consultant for Clubhouse Fun?

I get what you're saying here. We all want to see the Twins win as many games as possible. The thing is, with the stupid playoff format this year, winning the division is heavily disincentivized compared to a normal season. Considering that every playoff team has to play a best-of-three series in the first round, no matter how they finish in the regular season, I would argue that their odds of advancing past the first round are only marginally higher if they win the division instead of finishing second or third and still getting into the playoffs. As a Minnesota sports fan, I just felt the need to clarify that my seemingly optimistic stance about this team is really based in a longer term pessimism. Just wanna make sure I don't lose my MN sports fan cred.

It just plain sucks to watch this lineup right now. That being said, let's all just take a deep breath. Go take a look at the playoff odds on Fangraphs. By their projections, even after this awful weekend of games, the Twins still have higher odds of winning the World Series (6.6%) than missing the playoffs (5.2%). Right now is a much better time for them to be slumping than a month from now. Also, even if disaster struck and they lose the rest of their games and miss the playoffs, I still think it would be incredibly short-sighted to make any management changes based solely on this goofy, short season. Are there really Twins fans out there who are willing to overlook last year's 101-win season and fire someone based on a few bad weeks this season?

I see what you did there... /tips hat

I love me some Jason Isbell, and I'm absolutely tickled by his tweet. I agree, let's keep on riding Red Hot Randy until the wheels fall off! Also, that call of the Sox walk-off made me chuckle: "Good night Guaranteed Rate Field!" Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue...

Who has said that you're no longer allowed to enjoy the pleasures of sporting events? The game that you were hoping to watch yesterday was postponed by one day. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans today. The inconveniences that these protests have caused to the average fan are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things...

I think the point is that you unnecessarily set up a straw man by arguing against the players being considered "brave" when literally nobody was saying that.

His "California Math" policy won't be too popular among teachers...

Here's the thing... You don't have to listen to these athletes' opinions at all if you don't want to! If you disagree with kneeling during the nation, maybe wait until the game starts before tuning in. If you don't want to hear the players' opinions on any politics, then maybe don't read or watch what they have to say. Everybody is entitled to their opinions, athletes included, and nobody is forcing you to consider or even listen to their opinions.