Whammy

Ryan O'Hearn feels like the right level of: 1. Playing well this year (176 OPS+) 2. Decent track record (125-ish OPS+ the last three years) 3. Doesn't cost too much money ($8M in 2025) 4. No long-term commitment (free agent after this season) 5. Probably wouldn't cost too much to acquire (pitching prospect in our 10-15 range?)

I'm sure there's a reason why Wallner has to wait until tomorrow. I'm just not seeing it. Not like we're facing a lefty.

First of all, it's been relatively widely discussed. It probably hasn't found it's way into an official article because nobody is willing to go on the record and be like "yep... the Pohlads have been borrowing money against the Twins." Given the Pohlad's portfolio, it certainly makes sense that they might need to borrow money against a fully realized asset (the Twins) to help some of their assets that aren't performing great (Commercial Real Estate) Second of all, it shouldn't actually matter. Just like how much I owe on my mortgage doesn't dictate how much the a new buyer (and the bank that's loaning them the money) will pay for it.

Because the Pohlads borrowed money for their other businesses and used the Twins as collateral. Every article should explicitly state this, but most don't. The debt piece is infuriating for several reasons. 1) As I said above, most articles don't mention that the Twins didn't directly generate that debt. It was a debt placed on the Twins by the Pohlad family. Essentially a reverse mortgage on a "house" that was already paid off. 2) The debt should have absolutely nothing to do with the sale of the team. It should sell for what it can sell for and then some of the proceeds from the sale can be used to pay off the Pohlad's debt. The same way, when I sell my house, the buyer isn't buying the house at market value PLUS how much I still owe on the mortgage.

Definitely. What rain is out there, is mostly light rain. Everything scheduled for today is happening.

That's definitely a factor and one I can't analyze. But purely from a "is it raining" perspective, they really screwed this one up.

The Twins acting meteorologist should be fired. Calling these games two hours ago and now having the rain be about 30 minutes from being done for the night is embarrassing. It was relatively clear to see on the radar loop.

Interesting that they announced postponement. I actually came on here (as an extremely amateur meteorologist) to say that I thought the radar was looking better and I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to get a game in tonight. I expect very little rain after 6pm. Could be that they feel like the field can't take it, but don't we always hear about the awesome drainage of Target Field?

OOPS... used quote instead of edit

That strange 3 city, cross country road trip is because we swapped home series with Tampa Bay. Originally, that was a home series and we would've been going to Tampa over 4th of July (right after playing in Miami). Now that turns into a 3 series homestand going into the All Star break.

Totally. Win the first one and figure it out from there.

I bet Coulombe is available. They didn't run him out there for a second inning so they might be able to use him in game 2

Doubleheader not a great time for our pitchers to have what feels like and off-the-charts high pitches per plate appearance. 186 pitches - 36 batters faced through 8. 5.2 pitches/PA Feels incredibly high

According to Dougie, Kody Funderburk will be the 27th man tomorrow.

If they don't call up a SP, they'd need to pitch someone on short rest on Sunday Festa last pitched on the 6th. I bet he gets called up for the day.

I read the first half of your first paragraph, then went to go look up Nelson Cruz stats, years, etc. Then I came back with receipts and would you look at that... I had wasted my time. You already had them. Obviously that's a 10 out of 10 outcome, but stuff like that DOES happen and there's maybe even a better example, more recently than Cruz.... Brent Rooker

Can we replace Joe Ryan with Paddack in the Jim Bowden trade article now?

I personally feel like his drop in velocity is overstated. 2022 - 100.8 2023 - 101.8 2024 - 100.5 2025 - 100.5 Extremely flat over the last 4 years. Maybe 2023 was the outlier. Also, that 1.3mph drop somehow always gets round up to "2 mph drop" by people trying to make a point. And they talk about 2023 like he was gassing it up to 104 every outing. I'm not totally sure how to look it up, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if there were actually just a couple months in 2023 where he WAS regularly in that 103-104 range that pulled his yearly average up 1 mile per hour over his 2022 average. I know this wasn't REALLY the point of this article and I did enjoy reading it, but I just needed to vent a little about this decreased velocity narrative. Edited to add: He threw 12 pitches 103.0 or higher in 2023

Resale apps (in MN) have to include taxes and fees from the start now. It’s awesome.

Absolute thievery if we get this win. Baltimore fans would (rightly) be beside themselves.

Jax didn't pitch on Tuesday (same with Duran)

Orioles doing their best Twins impression today

Who's this ump an why is his zone so tiny?

If I was to rank those from most concerned to least concerned.... Castro - Ignoring what the numbers are telling me, he just hasn't looked very good. The fact that the numbers back that up only adds to the concern. Concern meter at 7/10 SWR - I think most can agree that he punched a little above his weight last year. So, coming into 2025, I was completely on board with giving him a starting job, but also a bit skeptical of him being as effective as 2024. The skepticism seems to have been relatively warranted based on his first 1/4 of the season. His results have been slightly better (slightly lower ERA, slightly higher K rate), but the eye test and advanced numbers tell a different story. My concern is that he'll continue to give us average to below average results (5 IP. 2-3 runs allowed) and it'll block a higher upside option at AAA. Concern meter at 6/10 Hard Hit % - Not sure that an elevated HH% has translated to an elevated HR rate, but as the weather warms that might change a little. I think that's just kind of the type of pitching staff we have. Going to give up some hard hit balls, but if you limit the walks (Lowest in Baseball) and have a high strikeout rate (7th in baseball), then you'll mostly limit big damage. Add in the fact that the bullpen has a lot of depth and we have Festa and Matthews sitting in AAA if one of the pitchers really starts to give up big damage, I'm left largely unconcerned. Concern meter at 3/10 Varland - You're sort of double dipping here with the overall hard hit %. Varland specifically feels small sample-ey to me. Concern meter at 2/10 Bader - Love his defense. Love his attitude. His offense is a bonus. He can still be a valuable member of a playoff team batting 225. Concern meter at 1/10

Ironically... the longest post of the thread. I DO agree with you though, that at times Justin can get extremely long-winded.