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stringer bell

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Everything posted by stringer bell

  1. stringer bell
    Last thought first, Gordon back by July 1? From what I've read, the recovery time for a fractured shin is in the 4-6 month range. I've been believing Nick will be on the 60-day list when they need to clear a 40-man spot for Lewis. RH hitting specialists did do their job last night. Castro has been a valuable utility guy as of late, mitigating the loss of Nick Gordon. I don't want to see it, but I think the lineup will be okay without Buxton (if he goes on IL). There are some pretty good options for each position including DH.
  2. stringer bell
    Also wanted to commend Farmer. Solid at third base and right now he's hitting very well. He needs to stay in the lineup at least until his hot streak fades.
  3. stringer bell
    The raw numbers (ERA, WHIP) don't look much beyond #5 starter, but he does get a lot of swings and misses and has had a decent number of 1-2-3 innings.
  4. stringer bell
    Speculation on injuries and lineups. Watching MAT run out a double play grounder, I'm not convinced he's 100%. I believe this is still his back barking at him and that he'll try to keep going, but it probably means there is a need for someone else to cover center field. Especially with the latest news on Buxton, it isn't going to be Buck in center any time soon. There were three outfielders DFAed in the last 48 hours--Brett Phillips, Adam Engel and Aaron Hicks. It is possible the Twins might go out of the organization to back up Taylor. Another player I noted doing some odd stretches was Correa. I wonder if his back is still a problem. Again, I doubt he will end up on the Injured List, but with the pending arrival of Royce Lewis and the possible disabling of Buxton, it might happen that CC gets some days off or maybe is used at DH. Roster moves: Switching out Garlick for Kepler (if he's ready by midweek) still makes sense. I already saw that Buxton won't be playing today and I wonder if he ends up on IL. I think it's infinitely better to get him to where he has been than to have to try and get him through this injury without shutting him down. It really didn't work last year. If Buxton does go on IL, the man who should come up is the best hitter. I'm not sure who that is--Contreras, Miranda, Wallner? It would appear to me that two injured players are candidates for the 60-man IL--Gordon and Alcala--so adding a player not on the 40-man shouldn't be a problem, even allowing for a space for Lewis.
  5. stringer bell
    Kirilloff is going to be ahead of Larnach. With Taylor in center, it would be Gallo in left, Kepler in right (when off IL) and Kirilloff at first. Moving Buxton to center would allow Larnach to DH or for a rotation between the four left handed hitters.
  6. stringer bell
    Willi Castro is having a nice road trip. He's played all over the place been solid and hit a little bit. Last night, he got a squeeze bunt down and hammered two balls, one a line out and the other a double. With Gordon out and Taylor seeming to be wearing down, he may get more time in center field. He might just be all right out there.
  7. stringer bell
    He wasn't having a good time when the home plate ump missed strike 3 on the lead off hitter of the inning and two pitches later had a double. That was the worst missed strike I've seen this year.
  8. stringer bell
    As I understand it, Sands is the "long man" out of the bullpen. If a starter leaves early due to injury or ineffectiveness, he would be expected to go multiple innings, probably at least 3 and maybe as many as 5. In their brief stays on the roster, Simeon Woods Richardson and Brent Headrick were in the same role. The work for these guys has truly been low leverage and is the one slot in the bullpen where all of the work is expected to be low leverage. The Twins don't want to waste service time and development on a prospect, if they can help it. My theory is that with the injuries to Maeda and Mahle, Headrick is now considered too likely a spot starter to be used in this role. Good for Sands, he get major league service time and if he's effective when used, he might be considered for some high leverage innings
  9. stringer bell
    If Headrick is in the 8th spot in the bullpen, it just isn't worth it. The last guy in the bullpen has been the long guy who hasn't pitched in a close game yet. He's more valuable in St. Paul waiting for a spot start.
  10. stringer bell
    Got to believe the choice would be Taylor vs. Larnach.
  11. stringer bell
    If the Twins bring up Contreras or any other center fielder or pursue Aaron Hicks, that will tell us (the fans) that they aren't going to use Buck in center field any time soon. I didn't know Taylor's back issues were ongoing. Without Gordon, there really isn't much depth in center.
  12. stringer bell
    Tried Pagán Wednesday and Jax last night, neither could hold up. I don’t think they have many better options right now. Someone suggested that maybe Ryan should have taken the seventh. They must not have seen the rockets the Angels hit in the sixth. Pagán hadn’t blown a game with the lead this year until Wednesday. I don’t know if they can give Jax many more chances right now—his slump has been going on for a while—but getting him going is pretty important going forward. With Alcalá, Moran and Jax all performing below expectations, somebody has to step up.
  13. stringer bell
    Aaron Hicks got the DFA tag from the Yankees today. He's still a good fielder (I think) and a switch hitter who is historically better as a RH hitter. Should the Twins be interested, especially given his struggles the last two years?
  14. stringer bell
    Pretty apparent the last two games the plan was to have Lopez pitch the eighth and Duran pitch the ninth if they had the lead, but both days the seventh inning guy (Jax) gave up the lead.
  15. stringer bell
    I think he's a one-inning guy, but I think we'll see Oliver Ortega sometime (maybe soon) and while the stats don't jump off the screen, I thin he would be a capable middle guy.
  16. stringer bell
    Official: Twins website has Gordon on 10-day IL and Kyle Garlick activated. No other moves. ESPN reports Polanco will not be playing tonight. Edit to add or possibly correct: ESPN's comment was about Tuesday's game which incorrectly said that the Twins were playing against the Twins. No word if Polanco is out of the lineup tonight.
  17. stringer bell
    Wondering about the lineups for tonight and tomorrow. If Polanco isn’t playing, he should go on the IL IMHO. I’m pretty sure Gallo and maybe Larnach also are on the bench at least once in the first two games. Garlick will probably get two starts as well.
  18. stringer bell
    Garlick is the reported replacement for Gordon. I presumed this would be the call due to the short window before another outfielder (Kepler) will be activated and the fact that the Twins will face two lefty starters in Anaheim. The other part of this transaction would be what I would call "messing with prospects". Garlick is 31 and his MLB profile is pretty much set. The other players in St. Paul that are on the 40-man roster are all prospects to some degree. Would the Twins want to fly Julien or Wallner to Anaheim just to have them sit on the bench and then send that guy down on Tuesday morning? I don't think it's good use of service time or development for those guys. They also could have recalled Miranda, but it would be a real mixed message to send him back in four days. Kepler's pending activation (assuming Garlick is sent down) would leave the Twins with an extra left handed hitting corner outfielder (Larnach, Gallo, Kepler) and short a utility-type and alternate center fielder.
  19. stringer bell
    I guess I wasn't very clear. I wasn't agreeing totally or disagreeing totally. My point was that even in a lower leverage role there will be times when a reliever faces a high-leverage situation. The very best at manipulating situations still will have their #5 or #6 guy in what turns out to be a game situation. You said that Pagan had seldom been in that type of situation so far and I opined that it would become more frequent as the season moves along.
  20. stringer bell
    It is a virtual certainty that there will be more high leverage going forward. The rotation will get stretched and so will the bullpen and there will be more situations that can't be handled by the 2-4 preferred relievers. The Twins have been carrying a long reliever for most of the year who hasn't been considered for high leverage work. I don't know if other teams have stuck to having a long man and I expect that Rocco would use the long man in the event extra innings extended a game past maybe the 11th or 12th in some situation or if the (otherwise) last man was injured. Thielbar's injury and Jax' relative ineffectiveness at least temporarily moved Pagan into a higher leverage role, for which he has struggled.
  21. stringer bell
    And another ex-Twins catcher will be back in the majors. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/05/mets-to-select-gary-sanchez.html
  22. stringer bell
    The Twins didn't "just let him go". There was a clause in his minor league contract that allowed him to take a major league contract from another team and the Orioles offered that contract. Secondly, since he was on a minor league contract and in order to put him on the Opening Day roster, they would have to take someone off the 40-man roster. It isn't as simple as "they should have kept Coulombe".
  23. stringer bell
    Ben Rortvedt will make his Yankee debut in the near future. Maybe the Yankees will win that trade. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/05/yankees-place-jose-trevino-on-il-with-hamstring-strain-recall-ben-rortvedt.html
  24. stringer bell
    There are lots of comments about no one having a bullpen full of shutdown relievers. Probably true, but it seems many teams have guys who come in and mow hitters down. IMHO, the clubs that employ such guys believe their pitchers have the ability to be shutdown relievers. Having 3-4 who should never face high leverage is going to cost games. A lot of us have soured on Moran, for example, but I think he might manage to become quite serviceable. I thought Alcala also had a chance to fill that second tier and maybe when (and if) his arm is 100% that might be true. Stewart does look like a find, although the non-intentional walks are a concern.
  25. stringer bell
    I'm not a huge fan of Emilio Pagan. I have thought his spot on the active and 40-man rosters should have been taken by someone with more upside all year. His recent performance (until yesterday) lowered my full-throated complaints. I'm not going to rip the front office if they do nothing, but I just have to believe there are better alternatives. Yesterday was just too much his history. Come into a manageable situation, lose command of the strike zone and yield a big extra base hit. He doesn't have good enough command to get hitters to go after his out pitches and he doesn't have enough stuff to get away with middle-middle fastballs or cutters. Nobody is perfect (except somehow Yennier Cano) but the blowups are too frequent with Pagan and he's at a point where it is doubtful he will ever get better. There has to be a better answer.
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