stringer bell

Alex Kirilloff had another good game in his rehab for the St. Paul Saints, including a go-ahead single in the ninth inning. There have been no reports of health issues and Kirilloff has been on rehab with the Saints since approximately September 1st. It would seem that he is ready to be back with the Twins in time to see major league pitching for a while before the team starts the post season. With the new rule limiting September rosters to 28 players (14 pitchers), someone will have to be taken off the roster to make room for AK. It would seem there are three choices: 1) Jordan Luplow, who has gotten platoon starts against left handed pitching. He's been unimpressive and does have a minor league option. 2) With fourteen pitchers and a bullpen that is mostly rested right now, the Twins could option a relief pitcher. 3) Joey Gallo plays the same positions as Kirilloff and except going 2-2 with a homer against a position player, only has one hit since his four for four day in Philadelphia. Joey's BA is well below .200 and his OPS is around league average. Gallo hasn't been regularly starting, even against right handed pitching with his usage mostly as a defensive replacement or the league's largest pinch runner. Gallo can't be optioned, so the club would have to DFA him to make room for Kirilloff. Most of Twins' fan base is ready for Gallo to exit the scene. Gallo plays hard and when he does connect, hits the ball a long way, but I think it's time to say goodbye to Joey and his 43% strikeout rate. I don't know if the Twins front office agrees, but it is past time to move on.

This has been on my mind a lot. I believe Larnach will be out of options in 2024, Austin Martin and Lee look like they will get their big-league baptisms next year and then there are guys like Helman, Severino, and Prato that also might merit a chance even though they aren't top prospects. Add in Jose Miranda, who displayed a major league bat in 2022. The Twins have the ability to return starters (under contract or team option) at every position except center field. (counting Buxton as a DH), so the St. Paul guys would mostly be looking at utility positions and the Twins have Castro, Farmer and Solano. I don't think the Twins can carry that many veteran utility guys, so I think at least one and maybe two of Castro, Solano and Farmer will be gone by Opening Day next year despite their good performances this year.

I don't think so. He has remained on the 40-man roster, so he should be good to go on a post-season roster. In regard to the OP, I don't think Ober was mishandled. The one thing is that he has been denied Major League service time when he has been deserving of being on the roster for the entire season, but since he has a minor league option and other starters did not, he has logged some minor league time. It won't change his arbitration eligibility or when he becomes a free agent.

Miranda has options available and has shown what he can do when healthy. He is always going to be a bat-first guy which limits his ceiling, but playing acceptable first and third base will help him get and keep a major league job. I concur with those that think that trading him would be selling low. Hang on to him and use the option next year if necessary.

The raw number of strikeouts by individual players or a team doesn't tell the whole story. First and foremost, strikeouts most accurately are measured as a percentage of plate appearances. Bremer usually mentions what number of Ks a batter has in his official at-bats. The more accurate number is strikeouts per plate appearance. Here are those numbers for each Twins hitter this year. Name/Strikeouts/Plate Appearances/K%--Gallo/142/332/42.8 Correa/123/546/22.5 Taylor/118/354/33.3 Buxton/109/347/31.4 Julien/101/323/31.3 Kepler/90/413/21.8 Solano/87/391/22.3 Jeffers/82/281/29.1 Castro/80/329/24.3 Farmer/71/292/24.3 Kirilloff/69/258/26.7 Polanco/67/281/23.8 Larnach/67/188/35.6 Vázquez/66/304/21.7 Wallner/59/187/31.6 Lewis/44/188/23.4 Miranda/24/152/15.8 Luplow/13/51/25.4 Garlick/11/30/36.7 Gordon 11/93/11.8 Stevenson/3/17/17.6 Team/1437/5357/26.8 The team clearly has a strikeout problem that is deeper than one or two players. Subtracting Joey Gallo's plate appearances would still leave the team with the highest strikeout percentage and replacing his plate appearances with team-average K% would still leave them in jeopardy of establishing the all-time strikeout record. Further, rookies Wallner and Julien are not part of a strikeout solution with both well over 30% Ks. In modern day baseball, a 25% K-rate is termed acceptable. In the old days, Harmon Killebrew led the league in strikeouts and K'd 21.3% of the time. That is a lower rate than anyone on the Twins with more than 160 plate appearances. The team has two prospects--Martin and Lee-at Triple A who figure to make more contact and two of the top K% guys--Gallo and Taylor--will be free agents this off season. Perhaps the answer is a more concerted two-strike approach or maybe protecting the plate on close pitches (I don't have the numbers, but the Twins seem to take an inordinate number of called third strikes). The team will most likely advance to the post-season as the all-time single season K leaders, but I don't think it is sustainable year to year.

Base running blunders cost runs, but so does not taking extra bases. Not going first to third on a single or scoring from first on a double subtract from runs scored. Kepler, Solano, Miranda, Vázquez and Correa are all extremely conservative on the base paths.

A longer look back show the Twins going 8-7 while playing first-place Milwaukee and then Texas and Cleveland both home and away. Not great, but good enough to keep a nice lead and enjoy a softer part of the schedule. They still play Tampa Bay (at home) and Cincinnati (on the road), but the rest of the teams have losing records and are looking to 2024.

Cleveland is still breathing, but it will take an incredible run for them to challenge the Twins and the Twins would have to pretty much fall on their faces. Not impossible, but the 99% chance that the Twins would win the division is probably on the mark. The Twins did the best job they ever have against Ramirez (that I can remember). 8-46 with no homers and only 3 RBI. So they didn't let the opponent's best player beat them.

I think the Twins are geared to at least go toe-to-toe with any of their AL Central competition. However, their system is not without faults. I don't see a lot of top line pitching in the minors and most pitchers are volatile. This year's major league pitching has been very good, but with the potential loss of two current starters plus a thin bullpen, next year and beyond could be a concern. I think Cleveland will remain a threat as long as they continue to churn out good pitching. Detroit also has some really good position players plus several young arms that could propel them towards the top. The Twins will need to keep getting better if they want to be Central royalty. In order to consistently compete with the best in MLB, they still need to take a couple steps forward.

I think it's worth mentioning that BBRef now gives the Twins a 99.2% of making the post-season. ESPN say 98.9%.

Health and depth are far superior to last year.

If the Twins win tomorrow, they'll move from 17 to 14 (tiebreaker).

It looks like the team not making it to the post-season is Texas. They're losing big (again) to Houston. The beneficiary is Toronto, the team I've thought the Twins would play all along.

Cleveland has suffered injuries, much as the Twins did last year. They've been concentrated in their pitching staff. Then the Guards decided to sell, letting Civale, Rosario and Bell go before and at the trade deadline. They aren't what they were last year and it looks like next year they'll have a new manager.

Guardians Roy!

Surprised Donny Barrels isn’t doing the interview in English. He’s been in the majors since 2012.

I’d 10 times rather listen to Plouffie than Laudner.

I think he has played better in the field than anyone expected. He’s been a real asset on the bases, as well. I continue to wonder whether the Twins will be able to roster Kyle Farmer, Donnie Barrels and Austin Martin next year.

I thought they’d use Duran regardless of the margin, but Rocco trusts Pagán enough, I guess.

Okay Royce, pretend the bases are loaded.

Joey Gallo, the world’s largest pinch runner.

Another lead off guy on.

Camera angle matters.

Need to plate the runner from third this time.

and we’re tied.