Riverbrian

I was in attendance. Opposite side of the field so I didn't get a good look at the catch into the netting. But I did get a good look at the Lewis homer. Felt Good... like breathing out after holding your breath for a long time. On the way to the game... I was listening to Falvey on the radio. I listened to how carefully he chose his words and meaning of what he was saying when talking about Royce working out at 2B. He clearly had kid gloves on for whatever reason. Certainly minimizing the workouts and certainly minimizing the odds of Royce playing 2B in the near future. It sounded like Royce had some concerns about it and it sounded like Falvey was trying to walk it back. I certainly don't know the details but I was thinking to myself... you've got to be kidding me. The President of Baseball Operations shouldn't have to dance around this as carefully as he was. Royce should play where the team needs him to play. End of story. If Royce doesn't like that... Oh Well. And wouldn't you know it... after all of that Falvey dancing in the pre-game. In comes Royce to play 2B after Santana pinch hit for Julien. He had two chances and made them both. Certainly not worth the drama of whatever Falvey was trying to calm. It was a close game. Julien was not going to face a left hander. Santana was not going to play 2B after he pinch hit for Julien. So Santana to 1B moving Miranda to 3B and Lewis to 2B. Rocco could have used Farmer or Helman at 2B which would have sat Santana or Miranda down. Could have used Martin at 2B and Helman to LF. However... It's the top of the 6th, no score and plenty of game to go. Lewis at 2B keeps our best possible lineup for 4 innings when offense was still needed. Lewis to 2nd was much to do about nothing. Play him there some more. Pinch hitting for Larnach and Julien in the 5th is why it was necessary.

I certainly understand the excitement of the homer and I also understand the etiquette required in that situation. However... Yelling "Noonan" because Lewis homered will certainly be hard to explain to your buddy.

Helman is right handed. Keirsay Jr is left handed. Let there be no doubt that the Twins are committed to the bit. Someone will have to play for Larnach when a lefty starts. I'm sure Buxton will knock Helman back down when he returns... Falvey said on the radio that Buck is ready to play some games. Helmen's stay may be short. Unless someone gets hurt in the meantime. Tuesday... The left handed Jeffrey Springs. will toe the rubber for the Rays. Helman might draw a start in that one unless Buck only needs one rehab game with the Saints. If he does start on Tuesday... I hope he goes two for two until the Rays bring that right hander in to end his career. Go Helman... I am pulling for you. Incidentally... the last time I said... actually... the only other time that I've said Go Helman was when I was cheering for mayonnaise.

I'm thinking the Arb Raises may add significantly to the 95M. Jeffers, Ober, Ryan, Lewis, Duran, Jax and Castro are going to get good increases.

Any team that claims would have to take the whole contract. There is no opportunity to pay a portion down. The Giants will probably try to move him in the off-season and then they can pay down some of the 12 million in order to get a deal done.

Which would be around his career total. So... Good Gravy... Let's hope he doesn't go 0 for 19!!! 😄

The Twins clearly have injury issues. The Twins have clearly had injury issues for quite some time. I will even go as far to say without researching it. When it comes to the talent that we have lost due to injury... we may have had it worse than the majority of the other 29 baseball teams. However... I'll add as strongly as I can add. All major league teams have to deal with significant injuries. All teams must build their roster in anticipation of injuries. Failure to do so results in failure plain and simple. You have to look beyond your starting 9, beyond your 5 man rotation, beyond your 3 best bullpen arms when putting your team together.

Not really arguing what you are saying. I do understand what you are saying. I have no way of proving what I think because Royce has been horrible at the health thing and he would ultimately be my proof if healthy... which he consistently hasn't been so all I got his what I think. I Just believe in my heart... that Royce when ON THE FIELD and in the lineup. Belongs in the conversation. But, I understand the importance of increasing his sample to a punctuation mark on my what I think.

I've tried it with my wife when she says I'm slumping around the house The Black and White Security Camera in our bedroom recorded her reaction.

So Stephen Colbert and Royce Lewis has the secret to dealing with a slump

It's not a slump... Royce said earlier this year that he doesn't slump. 😄

I'm not really arguing your point... perhaps just muddying it up a little. I'd say Royce Lewis belongs in that superstar. Health hasn't cooperated and in my opinion... health is the thing that has kept him out of that group... but I believe he belongs in that group. I'm not saying who I think is better amongst those three... I'm saying Royce belongs in that conversation. Health is why he isn't but if on the field... I got him in the conversation. You point out the health issue on the superstar level. Our biggest issue is that Willi Castro, Carlos Santana and Max Kepler lead the team in AB's. They have been average players to slightly above average players. The stats they are producing isn't lead the team in AB stats. In Cleveland and Kansas City... Ramirez and Witt lead the team in AB's. The Twins have done a decent job covering for our significant losses with a better lineup 1 through 10 as you point out. You'll notice the 1 through 10 (not 13) as I'm tossing Margot, Farmer and Vazquez overboard. 😉 As a team, the one offensive thing that Kansas City is doing better than Minnesota is hitting with runners in scoring position. Kansas City leads baseball with a .294 BA with runners in scoring position... 2nd in MLB with a .831 OPS. The Twins are hitting .245 with runners in scoring position good for 21st. 18th with .741 OPS. Kansas City is 30th in K's with runners in scoring position (Therefore Best). Cleveland is 28th. Twins are 13th which is better than last year but... we haven't been as clutch despite what I believe a deeper team.

PA's 169 HR 10 BB 18 K 62 Adds up to 90 Dinosaur Bones has been hit by a pitch an astounding 12 times to take 102 of his 169 PA's away from BABIP consideration. 13 Singles 14 Doubles 1 Triple 67 PA's that can only be used for this stat is small enough to fluctuate significantly.

I agree his BABIP is not sustainable so it is bound to come down. However... If his hard hit rate continues it just may not come down far enough to cause a crash. Sometimes high BABIP is simply hitting the ball hard. He's not blooping the ball and finding green... He's lining rockets into the gap and off the wall. Not to mention the ones that clear the wall at a pace of every 14 AB's. He's at the 488 PA Mark of his young career. Career BABIP is still high at .361 so he's holding his ground pretty good. Line Drive rate is trending up. I would like to see that K rate improved. If that goes up... he just might flash like Joey Gallo did as a youngster. . For now... I'm enjoying the tattoos that he is putting on the baseball. At the very least... For Pete's sake ... play him while he is getting lucky if that is what BABIP signifies. 😉

Understood. The Bottom line is SF is hoping someone will claim him and take over the payment. It could happen but I'm thinking he will be Giant until the off-season at least and that point... the Giants will try to put him into a package and off load the money.

If MLB likes it... I'm ok with that. What needs to change is the claim order process. What teams get the jettisoned players? Last Year Cleveland was able to gain a potentially unfair advantage over the other teams in the playoff race because they happened to have a worse record than the others. That worse record could have been the difference of 1 single game. The Angels released enough talent last year to potentially single handedly provide one squad with difference making talent over everybody else. When a Jordan Luplow gets released... it barely moves the needle. The Angels released needle movers. The Angels changed the game and did so quickly when they dumped Giolito, Moore, Lopez and Renfroe plus others. 3 of them ended up in Cleveland. The Angels saved 5.7 million dollars dumping a significant portion of their roster and Cleveland spent 3.7 million dollars for the stretch run. I'm OK if MLB likes the releasing of difference makers... that's fine. They just can't end up on single one team. The Claim order process needs to be changed and it hasn't been to my knowledge. The Angels exposed a loop hole last year... that hole is still looped. In the end... it wasn't enough to push Cleveland into the playoffs... but it sure could have. What the Giants did is the same concept... save some money in a lost year although it isn't near the scale of what the Angels did. As I complain about this... I fully admit that if the Twins would have swept up all the players last year instead of Cleveland... I'd probably not be as concerned. 😉

Good Post and I agree with most of it. Not willing to replace Watkins for a couple of mistakes but I agree with the rest. I admit I didn't see or at least notice what Margot did on the play. However this base running mistake as described by others would be his mistake alone if Watkins didn't windmill him. The 3B coach needs to factor in a Margot mistake before waving his arms so I'm ok pinning it on Watkins. On the other hand. Context is important. Sale on the mound with the ability to strike out the side with a runner on third and nobody out should also be a factor in his decision making. Being out by a mile will take my other hand defense of the decision and make it worthless. On Kepler... No idea who screwed up and I could tell that Kepler and Watkins were having a heavy discussion about it so... I'll just assume someone screwed up and screwed up critically.

When the Angels did that last year... It was an unfair advantage granted to the team that just happened to be in the catbird seat at the time of the transaction. IE worst record out of playoff contenders. This should have been addressed after it happened last year. I won't dispute the claim that MLB Commissioners office is the worst. However... I have a sneaking suspicion that the MLBPA is the most powerful union of all the major sports and I think they can be a major roadblock to what I think is necessary change. The current language that allows Moore, Giolito and Lopez to be available for one team to significantly upgrade their roster is language that is crafted in negotiation with the MLBPA.

I get that it's a minor point but in my opinion it's a major point in my mind that I just have accepted because it always happens. I never look at error stats because the stat has no value when Margot doesn't get an error on that play. I would give out a lot of errors because I have higher expectations of a major league player. I think Martin should have gotten an error on the Ozuna double in extras the night before. Tough Catch I know but a catch that a major league CF should make. He got to that ball. But then again... I'd be tougher on the errors if I was the judge of them. That way the error stat could possibly be close to meaning something. I wouldn't be opposed to Julien getting an error for throwing the ball home with very little chance of getting the runner but I admit that would be pretty harsh in the opposite direction. .

I'm a big fan. The guy has as much stuff as any starter we've had in the rotation in quite some time. I've already got him in the rotation for next year and I have high hopes to go along with that spot in the rotation. I'm comfortable with him starting in the playoffs. I hope the team keeps producing the young pitching. I'll take a Festa, Zebby, SWR or whoever is next over a DeSclafini, Archer or Bundy innings eater type every single time. Keep em coming Twins... Keep em coming. The farm is starting to produce and it's exciting.

My best guess is that they are not willing to do that. If I understand the process... I may not understand it but I believe. The Giants are hoping someone will claim him and take the 12 million next year off their hands. If he goes unclaimed which is possible because of the 12 million. They will rescind and Rogers will remain a Giant for the rest of the season and quite possibly next year since the 12 million is going into Taylor's pocket and he is pitching decently.

It was the Angels that did it. IMO... MLB needs to close this loophole.

There are things that I'd like to see them do differently. Yet I am 100% behind them. Hope they get comfortable in the land of 10,000 Lakes. Ultimately I will judge the front office on development because that's the only way success can be sustained.

With Matt Wallner going 0-2 vs. the left handed Sale last night (Including a rocket to the 1B). His OPS vs LHP has fallen to .792 Using 100 AB's as a qualifier - His current OPS overall (vs. both arms) is 1.011 which is tied for third in Baseball with Juan Soto. He is top 3 in baseball despite starting the season 2 for 25 before being sent down back in April. He has been 36 for 113 (.318) since his return. 23 of those 36 hits for extra bases. 9 of the 23 extra base hits were home runs. I remain of the opinion that Matt Wallner should play every single day. I'm starting to think that Wallner and Lewis belong in the same conversation.

It will be interesting to see what the club does when Lee returns. Someone will have to report to AAA... could that person be Lee?