stringer bell

Nice write up. I agree that all three players have helped in the past couple of weeks. Moran was perhaps close to being sent down, as was Castro. De León’s line doesn't look great, but he's certainly pitched well since being recalled.

The Twins 2023 season is 50 games in, close to a third of the schedule has been played. Byron Buxton has started at DH in 44 of the 50 games and appeared as a pinch hitter in one other game. In at least one respect, the plan is working. Buxton has appeared in 90% of the Twins games. In his career, he has played in more than 80% of Twins games just once (2017) and that is the only year where he appeared in more than 92 games (roughly 60% of the schedule). In looking at Buxton's career, he became a dangerous hitter in 2019. Prior to that season, he had never had an OPS+ of more than 93 and since 2019, his lowest OPS+ is 115. This has been fueled by an increase in power, not so much getting on base. This year, Buxton is walking at the highest rate of his career (13%) which has increased his on-base percentage to .344 (second best only to his number in the COVID year). Buck has 10 homers, which would project above 30 for the season. In the past month, Buxton has begun to steal bases (6) and use his still-astonishing speed to take extra bases. He is graded out at three runs above average in BBRef and that would project to about ten runs above average for the full year. Last year, in 92 games, Byron was rated as one run above average while playing injured. I noticed that Buxton's average with runners in scoring position was low (.156 I believe), but that he had produced four homers and fifteen RBI. There is certainly room for improvement there and it is needed if the Twins want to win games in October. I have questioned the decision to limit Byron Buxton to the DH role, but if it allows him to play in more games than he ever has, it might be worth it. If he can remain a force at the plate and on the bases for as much as 150 games, questioning the decision gets much more difficult.. I would love to see Byron in the field and free-wheeling there and on the bases, but I doubt that will ever happen. His adjustment to being a full-time DH hasn't been seamless, but seems to be working, on balance.

That's a pretty accurate view of the roster comings and goings, noting that someone else will probably get nicked in the meantime. I think Correa's status is the most pivotal. If he is put on IL, he will miss his reunion visit in Houston, probably the only "away" park where he wouldn't be booed. A Gallo IL stint would allow easy activation for Kepler (easy in that no one would be demoted). Kepler's case is another one where a judgment call was made to place him on IL and now it has been two weeks and there is no certainty he'll be back on Friday. While I agree with Brian's take that Garlick will be spending lots of bench time, if Kepler is activated for the Blue Jays series (and Gallo isn't placed on IL), I think Wallner will be sent back to St. Paul. I think there are two options for transfer to the 60-day IL--Gordon and Alcala--so making a spot for Lewis shouldn't be too difficult. Making a spot on the active roster would probably be sending Miranda back, unless there is another injury.

Lewis played seven innings. A single and double with two RBI and a stolen base. On the negative side Royce struck out twice and made a fielding error at third base.

Only five innings from two of the top three starters pretty much defeats this thought. With the nicks to Correa and Gallo the Twins were playing with a two-man bench, one of whom was Vazquez. The Twins have roster decisions to make on Friday. 1) Correa--he's missed two games and it appears his foot injury is worse than originally reported. 2) Gallo--fought to stay on the active roster when he got injured in the home opener and likely doesn't want to go on the IL for a tight hammy. The Twins played him at first to save his legs and held him out today. 3) Kepler might be available Friday, which would provide too many left handed corner OFs. If Correa needs to go on IL, would the Twins consider bringing back Miranda? He's not hit at St. Paul, but there aren't many options left without going off the 40-man.

After a little hitless snag, Lewis got a 2 RBI double in his second at-bat today.

I'm a little more optimistic about Moran lately and Stewart seems to have the ability to wriggle out of jams, although he actually got some help from other relievers. De Leon seems to have pretty good stuff. This bullpen isn't a helpless case. Jorge Lopez and particularly Jax could do with staying out of the highest leverage spots right now

Hindsight is 20-20. If Lopez successfully handled the seventh, Duran would probably be pitching in the eighth or ninth, maybe both. I will say that Rocco uses pinch hitters in exactly the opposite way.

Approaching 100 pitches. Probably needs quick outs to stay in through the sixth.

Taylor is the prototypical bottom of the order hitter. Pretty long stretches of futility and just when you think he'll never get a big hit..........he does something really good.

A great race and all the Twins needed to do was win one of two at Fenway!

Less strikeouts, more GDPs. Hard to have a preference.

Good job Sonny.

Big plate appearance right now for the Giants.

Agree with the OP that his pitching is much better than the ERA. There are opportunities in the bullpen, so he certainly should be given a shot. With no options, it is thrive or lose him.

The club is above .500 and above the mean in run-scoring. They strike out way too much and I think that perhaps a two-strike approach is needed, but they aren't as wobegone as the loudest voices on TD are saying. Whenever a team is not hitting, they look bad. I'm guessing if you ask the fans in Cleveland that they still like their offense when they make contact, they'll say they'd like to see more runs scored. Also, unless someone has proof, I don't buy the idea that "a few double digit wins" skews the run-scoring numbers. The composition of the roster has a lot of guys who are "bat first" (including Buxton if he's only a DH). They don't have much team speed and things like hit-and-runs are non-starters because of the lack of contact by the hitters. Defensively, the club is mostly competent, but there aren't many "oh, my!" plays. When mistakes are made, they aren't made up by out-of-zone plays or other extremely athletic plays. Coupled with so-far outstanding pitching, this club should be a contender. Add in some dynamic play by guys who weren't available at the start of the season, it's possible they might be better than a contender.

Okay, Kirilloff in right and Gallo at first ‘cause Joey is nicked up?

Henriquez has barely pitched. I don’t think the whole story for his season has been written yet.

How many innings does Sands have in him?

Regression to the mean stinks.

Bullpen game for the Giants? Maybe that explains the mixed righty-lefty lineup.

With the injuries to two starters and SWR's apparent struggles, I would rate Headrick as the first option for a spot start for the Twins. I think keeping him available for that spot precludes him from being a candidate for the major league bullpen at this time. The same argument might be made for Woods Richardson.

The other "26" thing about Castro is his age. Despite having more than 1000 big-league at-bats, he was born the same year as Kirilloff and Larnach.

Gallo had left the previous game with a pretty bad bruise on his leg from a foul ball and I do believe Rocco will protect Kirilloff a little by giving him days off since he started the season late.

I'm glad you listed Ortega. He was out for a month with an injury, but has big league credentials.