Doctor Gast

Here comes Richards to save the day

Ragans is weakening, let's pound him! but good ABs

Darn it!

Here we go Lewis!

with poor ABs they won't need a BP

Come on guys you gotta make em count

Come on Jeffers you're due!

Nothing against Julien but Keirsey has been long overdue for a call up. I think they're afraid he might show up Margot. Which wouldn't be hard to do.

Where do you get that I ever said to keep Festa & Matthew in AAA? & overload Hill, SWR, Lopez & Ober with Varland in the rotation? With Hill in the rotation, we'll be free to put Varland in the BP & evenly distribute innings to keep all arms including Festa & Matthews fresh & healthy. Our objective now isn't who'll start the elimination game in the playoff (that'll work itself out, whether it's a BP game or other). It has to be to nail down a playoff berth by adding to all our options on the table not to limit them, when things don't work out the way they say it will.

Just throw the young guys in there & see what happens. It sounds like we got the division all wrapped up, so why not? I'm all for giving our young guys experience, that's what I've been advocating all season. But we haven't even clinched a playoff berth yet. Things can go south very quickly. Paddack was supposed to take Gray's place & pitch 150+ innings, DeSclavani was to be our savior. Ryan was supposed to lead us well into the postseason. Lopez was to win the CYA. How long can Lopez, Ober & SWR keep up this pace? W/O running out of gas or getting injured? Can we depend on Festa & Matthews to pitch like seasoned MLB veterans? when they aren't even seasoned MiLB players or even high level of college playoffs. We can't depend on Varland to pitch more than 2X through the order. Festa & Matthews are going to get a lot more experience than anybody could have imagined just a short time ago. So I wouldn't worry about taking innings away from them. I want Festa & Matthew's experience to be a very positive one. Putting too much pressure on them isn't the way. Being mentored by Hill is the way. Should they sign Hill? The answer is yes. Are they going to? IMO, no. Why? IMO the FO doesn't feel they have to do something, just to do something. So they'll play it safe & do nothing

Rich Hill is a well-seasoned & smart veteran who knows what he can do & what he can't do. That is one reason why he uniquely opted out of going the whole season (so you can throw last season's stats out the window because they don't apply to this season). He will eat innings but more importantly, he'll be a stabilizing force to help navigate young rookies through some potentially turbulent times. What impresses me the most about Rich Hill is his ability to mentor young pitchers which will be very valuable for a rookie-dominant (Matthews, Festa, SWR & Varland) rotation that could pay dividends for many years beyond this season. Should the Twins sign Rich Hill? Unequivocally, yes, if we want to win. I didn't see the need to sign veterans Margot & Santana but I definitely see a need here, especially a Rich Hill. We can hope that nobody else will get burned out or hurt & that volatile rookies will magically act like veterans where we can totally depend on them. But I don't like to operate solely on hope w/o anything to back it up. Plus the LHP Hill could be used in the pen come postseason.

I think you can also throw Varland in that same category that an opener would be beneficial.

IMO the added stress quite often leads to physical stress when trying to meet the standard that's set before them as a rookie they often go beyond what they can physically can handle & burn out. IMO that was part of Liriano's problem. I hope that doesn't happen to Festa or Matthews.

Margot is occupying a valuable roster spot that'd deny Keirsey a deserved opportunity to shine & Twins a much needed LHH bat.

Watched the CWS/ NYY game. CWS went the other way a lot & played good small ball with new interim manager's win over Yanks. I enjoyed that game as much as ours.

Leave him alone. His true value is his defense. Both Vazquez & Martin don't strike out much.

A good comeback win. Go Twins!

It's very easy to be optimistic about Zebbie & wish him the best. IMO he seems a little rushed. It seems much safer to have gone with mainly Martin & Keirsey instead of signing Margot. Signing a solid Rich Hill to help steady the rotation seems safer. But I'm all for giving our own guys an opportunity. I really hope it all works out.

We are at the stage of being worn down & places of lack that needed to be shored up at the off-season & deadline, competent SP depth & LHRP, wasn't. Plus not enough long relief to keep the rotation & BP fresh & healthy. We added where we didn't need to add & the additions didn't produce or produced less than what our in house players would have out produced. Oh! Margot has been good. Margot has been handled with kid's gloves & yet he hasn't been that good. Margot has taken the role that should have been given to Martin. (Nick you have been hard on Martin. Martin as a rookie has been asked to do a job that many season MLB veterans can't do, that to bat against tough MLB RHSPs while Margot basically faces only easy LHSPs. While having comparable batting stats & Martin being superior in the field besides just learning the OF). Martin is also a sparkplug on the basepaths, magically producing needed runs & starting rallies. W/O Margot, Martin would have taken Margot's role & really ran with it, and (LHH) Keirsey would take the natural batting advantage against RHPs that (RHH) Martin was forced to do. Wallner brings much needed offense from the left-side, we need more. We really need the hot (LHH) bat of Kiriloff that was one of our best if not best hitter in the beginning of the season when he was healthy. Granted that Santana has been producing but has he been producing as well as a Miranda/ Kiriloff (healthy) tandem at 1B? Not even close. IMO if Kiriloff was restricted to DH/ 1B duties any injury suffered would have been much shorter & less severe. Only time (RHH) Miranda plays 1B is against RHPs because (SHH) Santana has trouble against them. IMO investing time & money in Margot & Santana who'll be gone next year is a waste. Time should have been invested in our own players who are our future. We had plenty of depth in the OF & 1B where we did not need either of them. And money could have been spent else where. Vazquez has been getting better the more he plays, which is very welcomed. Varland has been pitching great inside the parameter of his profile (basically 2Xs through the order). Varland should have been called up & kept up along time ago in the spot start/ long relief role which could have avoided some our recent problems. A spot start/ long relief core should be established as soon as possible to relieve the pressure off the rotation & BP especially the young SPs that aren't used to that many innings & pressure of MLB. Topa has hardly pitched this season & now he has a "fatigue" arm? Topa has confessed that he was having knee & arm problems prior. (LHP) Hill is a smart SP that can eat innings while putting us in situations to win games. At the same time sharing his vast knowledge of the game to our young SPs would be priceless. IMO depending too much on green rookies is too much pressure to put on them at this point. Hill knows what he can accomplish in a short season.

In "The Athletic" it stated that Correa was fine until he laced up his cleats. I mentioned before that his footwear could be the problem. And the solution could be much better insoles. There should be technology out there that could give him the support & cushion that his feet need. Castro is great but he's being over-stretched at SS on a steady basis. We absolutely need Correa back as soon as possible offensively, defensively & emotionally.

The trade was doomed from the beginning, it was a bad time to break up the Polanco chemistry for him & the Twins. The Twins broke out of it & Polanco did not, he has never been this bad ever for the Twins. The only way the Twins could possibly come out on top was to flip Gonzales to get a solid SP. Twins don't flip players, they get flipped here. The longer they hold onto Gonzales the harder it'll be to move him & less they can get for him. IMO Gonzales will not make it to MLB as a Twin.

SWR is underrated. IMO the most important day of the season was the double-header where we clinched a series tie. Yesterday was important as well as today. This is a very important game in Festa's career but I don't want to put too much pressure on him.

It's hard for me to see the Twins warming up while there's a ceremony honoring a Twins honoree going on. It seems disrespectful. It shouldn't be a big deal but a loss is a loss & this could be a big one.

IMO something different should be done about these long overdone ceremonies which is a big disadvantage to the home SP. I wonder how many games we've lost because of them? In spite of that Sims pitched a great game, CLE was a different team with that lead-off HR. Jeffers miscue didn't help where we needed to complete every opportunity we had. Once CLE pitching machine started it was hard to stop. It was also tough w/o Correa & Lewis in the line-up. Big mistake sending Varland down again we desperately need him up here to take up some slack.

Tough blow for Joe & the team, he was surprised that it was that serious. That goes to show any slight discomfort should be quickly addressed. It'd be hard for Ryan to be top-ready for the playoffs. Stewart has been almost all season so he'll be missed but have been used to not having him around, Keaschall has no bearing on Twins' near future.