Riverbrian

If I'm being Shawshanked... Does that make me one of the screws? Do I have to buy beer for everyone cuz RPR is doing my financial planning?

not quick or alert in perception, feeling, or intellect; not sensitive or observant; dull. Synonyms: unobservant, dim, slow, boorish, gauche, imperceptive, blind, insensitive, tactless, unfeeling not sharp, acute, or pointed; blunt in form. (of a leaf, petal, etc.) rounded at the extremity. indistinctly felt or perceived, as pain or sound.

That's the 2nd time you've used "obtuse" today. Did you learn a new word?

Farmer: 63 AB's vs RH 54 AB's vs LH DH - Larnach/Miranda C - Jeffers/Vazquez 1B - Miranda/Santana 2B - Lee 3B - Lewis SS - Correa LF - Martin and Castro (No Platoon) CF - Buxton RF - Kepler/Margot Utility - Castro or Martin Fill in everywhere (There will be maintenance days for all) With that said... I wouldn't call up Lee at this moment. But... It's easily enough done and it improves the MLB roster in theory. If Lee goes Jackson Holiday on his debut. Castro and Martin can both shift to 2B and Wallner can be called up to take LF. Lee will get playing time. With that said... I wouldn't call up Lee at this moment.

Exactly It's a 13 man roster. There is no reason to expect him to better than our best to justify a call up. To justify a call up for Lee or anyone from AAA. That player simply needs to be better than the bottom of the major league roster. Right now... statistically... it's Kyle Farmer at the bottom. I don't understand the thinking that Brooks Lee won't play unless Lewis or Correa yield the playing time. Willi Castro and Carlos Santana are everyday players on this team... they can yield playing time. Brooks Lee can be worked in... easy peasy. With that said. 60 AB's in St. Paul... He's looking great so far. I'm excited about how he is doing... but can we give him a few more AB's please before we start chucking bodies out the door to clear room? He's not even on the 40 man roster yet. If we are adding to the 40 man and knocking a player off to make room while also holding back a player on the 40 man roster. I'd be much more interested in Keirsay Jr. at this point in time. 192 AB's - .937 OPS - 16 Stolen Bases - Plays a good CF. -- 27 Years Old with a clock ticking. Unfortunately for Keirsay and Lee who need a 40 man spot plus a 26 man spot. The Twins have a couple players swinging real well in the past 30 days who are already on the 40 man. Wallner and Severino are my first phone calls. Wallner last 30 days: 100 AB's - 1.149 OPS - 13 Dingers Severino last 30 days: 73 AB's - 1,240 OPS - 7 Dingers

As for Santana over the past 30 days. 98 Plate Appearances - 16 for 83 (5HR's) BA - .325 - OPS 1.007 Vs RH - 72 PA's - 20 for 60 (3HR's) BA - .333 - OPS 1.011 Vs LH - 26 PA's - 7 for 23 (2HR's) BA - .304 - OPS .993 We are talking small sample sizes of course. Santana joined our club in the off-season with recent low stats against right handers. However, for the month of June in the year 2024 at least. Carlos Santana has been fantastic and I'd like him to keep playing as long as he is playing fantastic. Do I expect him to keep going at this pace? I don't... However... let him play as long as he is playing well. Margot on the other hand... Based on his career against Right Handers, Based on how he has done against right handers this year and based on how he is currently doing in this small sample size of the last 30 days... He can be replaced by a left handed hitter at any time. After the off-season concluded. I questioned if it made sense to keep Polanco instead of spending the Polanco money on Santana, Margot and DeSclafini. This is how I felt on opening day. It's June 2024... With hindsight at my disposal... I still wonder if it made sense to spend money on Margot and DeSclafini and I will add Farmer to that group. That's 14 million that could have been spent on somebody else. However... I'm going to take Santana off my list of off-season money spent concerns for the moment since he has out performed Polanco to this point. The front office doesn't get to use hindsight and neither do I though. Ultimately my concern remains the commitment made to players who specialize in hitting left handed pitching. I think the front office over did it and is going to have maneuver around it. Which they've done pretty good considering that we are currently in playoff position.

Since Martin was called up on June 13. (10 Games - Austin has started 6 of them) The Twins have faced 7 right handed starters and 3 left handed starters. Austin has made zero starters against left handed starters. He has started 6 of the 7 starts vs RH. He's being reverse split to cover for the collapse of almost our entire left handed hitting group of specialists. Rocco has basically made him a left handed hitter from the right handed batters box. In 25 PA's since being called up - Martin has gone 10 for 22 -- OPS 1,020. VS. RH - 22 PA's - 8 for 19 - OPS .974 VS LH - 3 PA's - 2 for 3 - OPS .1,333 As for the call answering of Margot. Over the same 10 games. Margot has started 6 of them. All 3 of the games started by left handers and 3 of the 7 games started by right handers. In the past 30 days Margot has answered the call to the tune of: .288 BA - OPS .823... Looks good answering the call. However: Vs LH in the past 30 days - 28 PA's - .440 BA - OPS 1.180 vs RH in the past 30 days - 40 PA's - .176 - OPS .565 Margot still needs to be sheltered from right hander pitchers. He is still facing more right handers than left handers. Back to Martin... I can't believe I'm saying this but I am. I sure hope Rocco lets the right handed hitter face left handed pitching!

Minnesota's own Bob Dylan All along the Watchtower.

He's ready if he changes his walk up song. White Horse by Chris Stapleton is lyrically wrong for a guy trying to claim a major league job. Any song with "I ain't there yet" in the lyrics is a problem.

This is a Bergamasco with a hat

"Local Contrarians" Is there some specific place that is cranking these contrarians out. Do they all come from Shakopee or St. Olaf? Did they all come across the Iowa border? If that's the case... we may need to build a wall. Are there classes that teach it? Or is it Mom's fault every time?

Big Picture View from me. Typical game results in any given season. Win Some Lose Some... Try again tomorrow. Sometimes the superstar fails with the game on the line... sometimes the guy barely hanging on to a major league job comes a big. Sometimes a line drive is caught while a bloop falls in. There are 95 games left to go. If they lose no more than win 40 of them... They got a shot at the playoffs. Grind it out. Get back on Television so we can watch... damn it.

Never mind. I never said that.

Last Year a total of 24 pitchers pitched in relief for the Twins. Two were position players (Luplow and Castro) and 4 were excess starters (Kuechel, Paddack, Maeda and SWR). So Let's call it 18 relief pitchers utilized in 2023. This Year... 65 games in... have utilized 19 pitchers in relief. One Position Player (Castro) and one excess starter (Varland). So Let's call it 17 relief pitchers... 65 games into the season. I'd say the revolving door is still revolving. In Comparison to last year. 2024 -- The Twins bullpen ERA is currently 3.72 Ranked 14th in MLB 2023 -- The Twins bullpen ERA was 3.95 Ranked 15th in MLB Here are some other unrelated bullpen numbers just for everyone's enjoyment with no conclusion by me drawn from any of these numbers. The Top Bullpen in baseball this year belongs to Cleveland and it isn't really close. #1 - Cleveland 2.36 #2 - LA Dodgers 3.15 #14 - Minnesota 3.72 Cleveland has only used 12 pitchers in relief this year. Cleveland utilizes the pen 3.76 Innings per game. The Dodgers utilize the pen 3.75 Innings per game. Minnesota utilizes the pen 3.52 Innings per game. The Milwaukee Brewers (#4 Best Bullpen ERA) utilize the pen more than any other team at 4.11 Innings Per Game. The Mariners (16th Best Bullpen ERA) utilize the pen less than any other team at 2.97 innings per game. If the season ended today the following teams are in the playoffs (Bullpen ERA Rank)(Starter ERA Rank)(Team OPS Rank). #1 - Yankees (10)(2)(3) #2 - Guardians (1)(19)(11) #3 - Mariners (16)(4)(23) #4 - Orioles (3)(3)(2) #5 - Royals (20)(9)(14) #6 - Twins (14)(25)(7) #1 - Phillies (7)(1)(4) #2 - Dodgers (2)(8)(1) #3 - Brewers (4)(16)(8) #4 - Braves (5)(12)(12) #5 - Cards (13)(18)(19) #6 - Padres (17)(17)(10) I'm not claiming that bullpen is the key to winning baseball games but the teams that are winning games sure seem to rank high and feel pretty comfortable at the moment. The 5 teams that are currently in the playoffs that do not rank high in the bullpen are: Mariners: Getting by with starting pitching alone. If they suffer some injuries in the rotation they are going to need Rodriquez, Polanco and the rest of the offense to do a 180 and go Kepler in the 2nd Half. Royals: Same thing as the Mariners. If they suffer some starting pitching injuries. The MJ Melendez types will need to turn it around to keep them a float. Can Lugo keep Lugoing even if he stays healthy? Twins: Offense is carrying them and we (Twinsdaily faithful) largely don't like the offense as it stands. Cards and Padres: They are in the playoffs at the moment by default. The Cardinals have a .500 winning percentage and the Padres are below .500 -- Both teams are average across the board. There are 8 teams nipping at their ankles. Of those 8 teams... the Pirates have been highly ranked in the Starters department and the Reds are highly ranked in the Bullpen department. Pirates rank 28th in OPS and the Reds rank 21st in OPS.

https://lptv.org/sen-tina-smith-puts-pressure-on-comcast-after-twins-fans-go-without-games/ Tina wrote a letter. That oughta do it. Because of this letter... I'm pretty sure someone is holding all the doors wide open so Comcast doesn't run face first into a door while in such a hurry to return to the conference room.

Not the Padres... impossible... they were the shining example for every small market team to follow.

Agree with the sentiment of the post. Not sure if larger payroll invested in the pen is the answer but a larger investment in talent is important. It's Martha and the Vandelas in the bullpen. You can't hide anyone.

I have a tendency of typing more words than necessary. It makes me colorful and confusing at the same time. 😉 I use OPS as a down and dirty stat all the time to make points about players I believe in and players I don't believe in. It's a nice stat... for the majority but it isn't right for the extreme players on the fringes and therefore I'm willing to break away from it from time to time. The Fringes? Gallo for instance... In the case of Joey... I don't care how high his OPS is. I don't want that low batting average and strikeout rate. I want the feeling that the player is actually capable of driving that runner in from third with less than one out. Somehow Someway. We can put a number on the board. In the case of Arraez... I don't care how low his OPS is. If there is a runner on third and less than one out and I can choose any hitter to send up to the plate. I'll take Arraez almost every time. If you have a Gallo... He is much more effective if he has Arraez hitting in front of him because the two run shot is better than the solo. That's what I meant by somebody has to get on base so the OPS guys can OPS. Should have said... SLG guy can SLG. I believe in OPS but it's not going to lead you to Arraez. It'll lead you to Gallo instead and I just can't endorse that sort of behavior. There will always be a place on my team for Luis.

Your implying what I'm implying. I'm not pretending that OPS is some one-dimensional stat. I understand how OBP is calculated I understand how SLG is calculated I understand how OPS is calculated using OBP and SLG. Arraez needs to walk a bunch more if he wants his OBP to rise enough to cover for his low slugging numbers and that is nearly impossible to do enough to cover for slugging. There are currently 5 MLB qualified hitters with an OBP over .400. There are currently 88 MLB qualified hitters with a Slugging Percentage over .400 If you don't slug... it's harder to carry a high OPS. It's a slugging dominant stat despite it's 50/50 calculation.

Alex needed a big year this year so he could be part of 2025 plans. He is not having a big year and I'm not sure how he can be a part of 2025 plans. Due to not burning that last option with an IL stint instead of a minor league assignment... this may have bought him an extra year but he may have to do some major leap frogging with that extra year. I understand the pressure and temptation to stay quiet through injury but players who try to play through injury and struggle don't get hero status from me for toughing it out. They get a pile of non-flattering stats added to their career totals... that's what they get. They hurt the team with their hurtness.

Willi Castro's can be found when given opportunity. Most don't get opportunity. I'd rather give a 2nd opportunity to a Willi Castro or a 1st opportunity DaShawn Keirsey than watch a Joey Gallo blow his 40th opportunity. Also... for all major league baseball players trying to keep a major league job or earn one. Multiple positions are multiple doors to walk through in search of that opportunity.

OPS is literally 50% about getting on base.

Still not comfortable commenting on these game recap "make it official" threads because I'm still not able to watch the game. I need the important context that can only be gained from watching. With that said... while I believe that Rocco over did the pinch hitting last year by miles. I realize that I can come across as anti-pinch hitting at times as a result. I'm not. I would have had no problem with Santana pinch hitting for Miranda in that spot last night. The 9th is when you pinch hit... not the 4th or 5th and 2nd inning. Unless of course... there was some context from not watching the game that I was missing. Way to come up clutch Mr. Santana.

I got me one of those yellow jerseys and I will still wear it with Pride. Even with his struggles... I'm still a Pablo Lopez fan. Although with his recent struggles... I will also wear that yellow paper bag.