Muppet

So he has only given up runs in 2 of 11 outings for the Twins. Not bad. He could be the closer.

Then you’ve missed the point. They are a different team in the past 50 games than the first 50. (Roughly speaking )

To my eyes, this team looks significantly different than it did back before they had that team meeting. Just a note on the average 5 runs per game, it is the standard deviation that has changed. It has gotten smaller. It is much more likely now that they score between 4-6 runs per game than before when they'd score 10 one game, then 1 or 2 for the next two. Nearly the same avg runs per game, but much higher likelihood for more wins. But on the field, Kepler is killing it; Jeffers is doing great; Buxton's dead weight has been on the IL; Miranda and Larnach's bats have been replaced with Julien and Lewis. Gallo is sitting on the bench more; MAT has become a power supply with an OPS of .889 in August. The starting pitching is still showing signs of brilliance. Joe Ryan had his time off to recover from the 8-9 blown games where he stunk do to injury, Kuechel is pairing well with Ober (if only Ober can keep the runs down), Few complaints with Madea, Grey, Lopez. The bullpen still stinks, but now we actually get to blame the losses on them. Before, it didn't matter how bad they stunk because there was no way the team could win with 1-2 runs per game. But I'm actually feeling better about the bullpen. I'm hoping a little more rest for Duran can fix him a bit. I'm thinking Jax is hopefully able to get some better luck back. Thielbar seems to have good numbers, even though whenever I tune in he's giving up runs. Winder has the ability to come out of nowhere and throw 4 scoreless innings. BUT soon we'll be able to have Ober and/or Madea or Ryan in the bullpen. And we might be getting back Brock Stewart. If we are able to bring back an injured bullpen piece and move a starter or two to the back end when it matters (i,e, the playoffs) then the front office essentially achieved what everyone hoped they'd do (add 2 mediocre+ bullpen pieces) without giving up a single prospect. Also a good thing Kepler and Pagan didn't get dumped. All of this is happening against some of the better (not best) teams in the league. They're beating teams like Seattle, Texas, Arizona, Philadelphia and having competitive losses against other good teams rather than always getting blown away. Call me crazy, but I'm thinking this team not only looks better than the first half team, but they have the depth and consistency that could (gulp) win a game or more in the post season. This team is.... good!

All the teams know that the AL Central crown is a portkey that will take them straight to Voldemort.

If you haven't noticed that the Twins heavily use platoons are you even a fan? Is it so terrible to use a guy who rocks against left handed pitchers, but struggles against righties in situations where he'll mostly hit against lefties? If he joined the team he'd immediately be the batting leader ahead of Correa, not because he's a great hitter, but because he'd be one of the few people on the team who has enough ABs to qualify. So yes, I'd use him in a platoon role. And the Twins would be better off.

This is the Twins. Why is that so surprising?

Tick.... Tock.... ..... ..... .....

He (Trey Mancini) would be an upgrade from Gallo, but maybe not enough of an upgrade to even make a blip on the radar.

There could be a drop off, but then again, Gray seems to be losing it lately and Keuchel seems to be doing better than expected. Maybe Gray will get it together and Keuchel really is a pumpkin, but there is also a really good chance that the drop off isn't THAT large. The more important thing is Gray can't win games because he can't get run support. It is also my opinion that right now Gray isn't any better (or much better) than Madea, Ryan, Lopez, and Ober. Having a strong top 4 and a mediocre to good 5 isn't the worst thing. Losing 3 straight playoff games without generating more than a very small handful of runs is one of the worst things.

MIght be massive., but might not be either. I think typically if someone is dominating AAA, they aren't terrible when they come up to the majors. Besides, Gray will lose 100% of 1-0 games when the Twins fail to score any runs. They need hitting both now and next year.

The Kepler plan seems to be falling into place very nicely. See if he gets a hot streak, then trade him. His value right now is higher that it will ever be. Yes. I trade Kepler ASAP.

They are in a bit of a predicament as they are likely to be in the playoffs, but they aren't a playoff caliber team. They'll most likely be out in the first round. That said, once in the playoffs anything can happen. I'd look for a mix of buying and selling. I'd ship off Sonny Gray for a RH OF hitter and the biggest basket of promising prospects they can get. When Gray is good, he is really good. But the Twins can't win 1 run games if they aren't the ones scoring that run. I expect (or hope) this team will be much better next year. Wouldn't want to sacrifice any of that potential for an unlikely deep run this year.

After the game last night it is clear that the Twins are just out of their league. They are a good team, but not a great team. They have too many players that don't hit well and strike out too often. Half of their relief pitchers are not consistent enough. I'm sure they were well aware of their weaknesses going into the season. Their only hope of squeaking out a winning season and a possible playoff run was to rely on good starting pitching, defense, and finding new ways to play the data. None of those things are working out right now, but I don't blame them for trying. While they might have a better chance of winning if Royce Lewis hits instead of Kepler with a righty on the mound --- despite the reverse platoon issue, they still don't have a very good chance of winning against a team that far outmatches them. Once we go through the however many stages of grief there are, and accept that this is not a world series winning team, we can sit back and have fun watching the young players develop; get excited about those rare good defensive plays (if they ever happen) from our supposed gold glove, mendoza line hitting outfield; and hope for the miracle that Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago end up even worse catapulting the Twins into the playoffs. Once in the playoffs, any team, no matter how bad, can get lucky and take it all. Playing the data is one of their only hopes. It isn't working. But neither is stellar starting pitching.

Just wanted to jump in to remind everyone that data is plural... ahem... data are plural. Datum is singular. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

Prediction: Twins swept by Detroit, then win two of three both in Atlanta and Baltimore.

Didn't like the deal then and I don't like it now. But I get it. The pitching depth is terrible. One more starting pitcher goes down and we're stuck with a bullpen game. Arraez may be the best hitter in baseball for the next 12 years, but he will spend so many of those years with the Yankees or Dodgers that when he enters Cooperstown, nobody will have remembered him as a Twin anyway, regardless of this trade. Correa, Buxton, Larnach, Vazquez, and Miranda weren't supposed to be this terrible. We'd still be headed for a sub .500 season even with Ted Williams on this team. All that said, I'd prefer to watch the next 2 years of sub .500 baseball with Arraez on the team instead of Doyle Alexander Lopez.

The season is long. All players have their ups and downs and deserve a little patience. That said, DFA the MF ASAP.

With Buxton on 2nd and 2 outs, I will pinch hit Arraez for Gallo every single time.

If there was ever a loss to be excited about, this was it. The Twins, who have been unable to hit most of the year, came back and nearly beat the best team they've played. Most people contributed, a lot of the runs given up were due to bad luck rather than bad pitching, and they kept going after Cuzzball tried to hand the Dodgers the win. That was the kind of intensity we'd expect from a playoff game. Let's hope Ober can get a complete game today.

Unfortunately baseball is hard. It is even harder when you play against other teams that are also trying to win.

If the Twins are playing this well before Correa heats up, I'm not worried. Clearly the team will have ups and downs, but if they go a month or two with Correa, Buxton, even Kepler firing on all cylinders, then they're gonna start looking like a really good team. Let's hope its that version of the team that is playing when they start facing the better teams.

Time to let him go. He’ll get many more opportunities and more playing time with a lower team. He could be one of the best players on the As or Royals. But he’ll always be the last bench guy on the twins.

They said he'd be primarily a DH until May. I'll wait at least until mid May to decide whether to expect him back in the field. As for the anemic offense so far... it is still April and he has always been streaky. Last year his offensive numbers were pretty close as DH as CF. Let's hold tight a bit and wait until summer before we start getting antsy.

I hope Gordon gets DFAd and picked up by a team that can use him every day (if there are any). He is obviously struggling now, but he'll come out of it eventually. He's had a career of bad luck and he'll never get the playing time he needs with this team to get better and show what he can do. Flay away little birdie. Be free.

We are at peak baseball in the US mainland. Time for a team in San Juan or Monterrey.