ashbury

Get ready to hear Kyle's name mentioned now and then.

Rocco didn't want to get into details, and implied the team is working on an official statement concerning Farmer. But at minimum, some teeth seem to have gotten jarred loose, and there was a major laceration; a "procedure" is planned for today. Scary scary scary. Good luck to you, Kyle.

Which, the 1.35 ERA or the .537 BA?

You know what? Get ready for a surprise. I think you're right, at least about the first part of your argument. I went looking for what a successful team did last year, and by looking first at the Dodgers I stopped because I think I found your "poster team" for running the same starting lineup out there successfully. Indeed, they were so confident in their roster that they went with only 12 position players, meaning one backup catcher, two utility fielders, on Opening Day. 16 pitchers rounded out the opening day 28 man roster. And then they backed up their planning with execution. I looked mainly at April, because that's what we're actually discussing right now in 2023, and the Dodgers' 2022 edition had essentially the same starting 8 (catcher's a special case) day after day. Looking at the players' b-r.com Game Logs, I see leadoff Betts playing 19 out of 20 games in April. Freeman was 20 for 20 as was Trea Turner. Justin Turner was 19 for 20. Muncy was 20 for 20. I expected to see days off as I went down the opening day batting order, but the bottom of the order of Taylor, Bellinger, Lux were in 18, 20, and 17 of April games. And there were next to no "cheap" appearances - occasionally during blowout wins the starters would sit in the 7th inning or whenever, but I think i spotted only one late-inning insertion of a starter who rested. So it's certainly possible if you have the roster for it. I think I have to turn my attention to how FalVine have constructed their roster. To make ends meet, our FO has demonstrated a willingness to assume more injury risk, in the name of acquiring top-tier talent. The Dodgers by contrast have the financial luxury to make all their decisions based on bang, not bang-for-buck. Or else, they've just done a great job at accumulating top-tier ironman talent, but being able to pay all April starters but young'uns Gavin Lux and Will Smith above $10M in 2022 couldn't have hurt. It occurs to me now that the Dodgers might not accept Byron Buxton and his injury history in trade, no matter how small the price. He doesn't fit their profile. It's hard to do an apples-to-apples comparison but I think the discussion of the Twins 2023 roster comes down to how would other teams deal with the individual players in question. If the Dodgers were forced to accept Buxton on their team, would they work him like a rented mule in CF, or let him DH and have an occasional day off during April. I don't know how to answer that because Buxton is a different player than it looks like LA would even choose to have.

Please, never begin a headline with Firstname Lastname. I read slowly and for an instant there I thought I was about to read of some injury for the player. How about New Weapon for Pablo Lopez, instead.

Wait, wait, you didn't finish!

When all the dust settles in September and we find out who the Twins' main rival turns out to be, can we go through their season game logs for them too, and find out whether they put out a less-than-ideal lineup in less than 10% of their games? IOW, every team does this, do they not?

I was disappointed it took this many posts for somebody to point this out. He had off-season knee surgery. There is rehab that follows such surgery. I trust the team's staff to be using all the medical advice they are being given, and if the rehab protocol is extending into the regular season, and they've decided a month of DH-only is the right course. I'm not second-guessing. I do now and then lament the cost of it - we have MAT batting ninth in the lineup instead of a more capable DH higher in the order - but that's all it is, a cost of doing business, not a grievous mistake or intentional malfeasance or "golly, players today are soooo soft". And if they did sit Buxton until he's 100%, then we still have MAT in the lineup and a replacement DH who might not reach Buxton's level of production at bat.

Helps optimize the cash flow. At least in small samples.

The similarities to real life seem stronger than the differences. Or, as Rocco said once, "more real than not real."

"[N]ot yet accomplished enough to be among the Twins top relievers." Emilio Pagan turns 32 in under a month. Give him a few more years before we give up on him.

She raised 3 good kids, and 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

Yes but, as it was, Duran made only 3 pitches to register his out, so unless he woulda gotten 3 outs on 1 pitch each, we can thank Byron and Jovani for collectively saving our bullpen ace a little wear and tear! Who knows which game in the near future that this will pay off?

Pitch him late-until-it's-close, you're saying?

I would. A division rival is coming to town on Monday. Better to have a more-rested bullpen when the games potentially count double in the GB column. And no bullpen survives on just 3 arms anyway. I'd plan on Alcala for the ninth, Thielbar for the eighth, hope Mahle makes it through six and we only have to close our eyes and pray during the seventh with a tandem of Pagan and Sands. Actually I'll work Mahle like a rented mule*, close my eyes during the entire bullpen ordeal, and hope an eight-run lead is enough cushion. * No. Shoulder fatigue concerns will actually override any one game's needs.

Key play: Vazquez's base hit in the 8th. Not so much for the insurance run it brought in, but because without it the chance of Buxton coming up to put the game out of reach* was about zero. * barely, as we found out

I can get used to this. Please use this headline freely during the season.

At least you can't accuse anyone of being front-runners.

Ash's Mom: "We'll burn that bridge when we come to it." (She was renowned for her malapropisms.) Matt Wallner has his chance now to affect these discussions considerably.

Nice? Nicest of the day in the majors, according to baseball-reference.com's Game Score metric.

Now we can ask, to whom does Carlos go when he's scuffling, and what does that player's chart look like?

Yes, he truly ... knocked it out of the park?

None taken. It's just a what if scenario.