stringer bell

Tough stretch of games and I think it's time for them to handle a left handed pitcher. I'm not sure that pitcher is Kershaw, but they also get Detmers and Sandoval in Anaheim.

Frankly, I don't want the Twins to be good enough to win the Central. I want them to be good enough to go toe-to-toe with any playoff team. The long playoff losing streak must end and personally I won't be satisfied with just making the playoffs.

If I recall, Erickson and Liriano both suffered injuries that impacted their seasons greatly.

40-man room was just made. Dereck Rodriguez apparently was DFAed and claimed by Atlanta. There is now room to add a player (Lewis, Celestino?) to the 40-man roster. Also, if they want to play it that way, they could add a non-roster pitcher.

The Dodgers are playing well right now, but each Twins starter has a decent chance to shut down any lineup. I don't think it is hopeless in either LA or Anaheim, but I think the Twins need to "win" the starting pitching matchups to have a decent chance to win series.

After their offensive explosion vs. the Cubs, the Twins are averaging 4.65 runs per game and above the mean. They are 11th of 30 in runs per game. I agree that the offense has not been consistent, and there have been far too many games with three runs or less.

The three Saints pitchers who pitched today and are on the 40-man roster all got knocked around. Winder yielded seven runs in one inning, Henriquez three in and inning and a third and Balazovic five runs (three earned) in three and two-thirds. Not exactly beating the doors down to get a promotion. I see the bullpen as being quite short and other than the addition of Stewart and some nice long relief from Headrick, the Twins haven't found reinforcements from St. Paul. I know the team liked Ortega, who has recently come back from injury and pitched okay, otherwise it appears the cupboard is pretty bare. We may yet see Randy Dobnak in a Twins uniform this year.

All of those bad offensive numbers improved quite a bit in the last two days. Beating up on the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th guys in an 8-man bullpen is the way to do that. I doubt that the Twins have had more one-sided victories than other teams with winning records, but I'm sure the naysayers will be reminding us that they "ran up the score" on a cooked bullpen and a position player. It won't be easy on the west coast. The Twins get Syndegaard, Kershaw and May when they face the Dodgers and get two lefties and Ohtani (I think) when they face the Angels.

All players can be outrighted once (without their consent) but it is doubtful Gordon would go unclaimed.

Maybe the Twins will end this game out of the basement in team batting average.

Six hits in the third. Great start.

Trevor gets to wear the vest!!

I don't think you can have too much pitching. Both the Twins' starters this year and bullpen so far bear that out.

That was the rip on Berríos, as well. Berríos is listed at 6’0”, but might be a bit shorter.

Close 3-2 pitch.

Keep that wrist healthy AK!!

Good first inning for the Twins. It looks like the wind might be holding up balls in the air. That's probably not good for a club that relies so heavily on the home run.

Call me a curmudgeon, but I really don't care how far Gallo or any other slugger hit the ball. I think that was some of the love for Miguel Sano and a bunch of other power hitters. The art of hitting a 360 foot homer is a lot more important to me than the ability to hit the ball almost 500 feet.

Louie looked pretty good in his last outing. The one before he left too many off-speed pitches over the plate. He's got plenty of fastball, but the off-speed stuff needs to be sharp.

1. I wrote a blog entry thinking about what a healthy Kirilloff could do for the Twins' lineup. I wore rose-colored glasses. 2. The Twins haven't been lucky with attendance this spring. Getting the Astros and Yankees while school is in session and the weather is questionable is a tough break. Cub fans have lifted the numbers this weekend for sure, but they probably would have had more people if it was sunny and 75. 3. The mlb commercials say that the new rules have increased scoring, stolen bases and excitement. The Twins really haven't been in on run-scoring and strikeouts issued and accrued have to be an all-time high for this Twins team. It is certainly a quicker game, but I don't know if the numbers are holding up for increased scoring . 4. I made a list of qualified hitters with a lower OPS than Correa. There are some notables--Brengman, Jose Abreu, George Springer, Andres Gimenez, Nolan Arendo, E Hernandez, Machado and Benintendi. Correa has been pretty bad, but he has some notable company. 5. I think there will be a bunch of roster moves with the pitching staff coming up. Sands failed to impress and threw more than 50 pitches, Alcala seems to need a reset if not longer-term demotion, and Moran still frustrates more than impresses. I can speculate some possible replacements--Jordan Balazovic, Oliver Ortega or maybe Headrick. The bullpen seems at least one or two reliable arms short.

Fixed it for ya'.

Guards are playing early (on Peacock) leading 1-0 in the fifth. They had a nice comeback win vs. the Angels last night, scoring 6 in the eighth to win.

The Twins' offense this spring has been frustrating and disappointing to this point in the season. Any team with the worst team batting average in MLB wouldn't be satisfied with their hitting, add in an inordinate number of strikeouts and puzzling underperformance from high-priced talent and it figures that players could be booed at home. As compared to when the 2022 season ended, this club is healthy, especially on the position player side. Max Kepler will be out for ten days, Royce Lewis will finish his rehab assignment at the end of May and everyone else that figured to contribute this year is available. The most recently available player is perhaps the most significant. Alex Kirilloff returned from the Injured List and rehab just over a week ago. The Twins and your's truly see a potential All-Star--someone who can both get on base and hit for power, who can lengthen the lineup and put runs on the board. Much of the reason for optimism is from his dominance in the minor leagues and brief flashes of a healthy AK mashing major league pitching. It's all dependent on a wrist. Kirilloff has had his last two seasons ended early because of wrist pain and subsequent surgery. The second surgery was major, some have called it experimental, The Twins have brought AK on slowly, with no real setbacks. So far, so good. The results on the field have been excellent (only 22 plate appearances), Seven hits in sixteen at-bats, with six walks and three strikeouts. Two homers and a double. When the wrist began to impact Kirilloff in the last two years, he quit driving the ball and hit lots of weak grounders. So far, he's hit a high percentage of balls on the ground, but he's hitting the ball hard and the two homers yesterday show that he can drive the ball. What's reasonable for this year? AK should get something north of 400 plate appearances and if he can become a full-time fixture, he could get to 500. In 500 plate appearances, perhaps he could hit as many as 20 homers and I think the batting average could be above .300, which would make him a unicorn. I think if he walks at a 2:3 ratio to strike outs, it would show newfound selectivity. He has not chased out of the zone and has taken his walks so far. A .300 BA combined with a > 10% walk rate would be outstanding for a player in his first full year. I'm pulling the projected numbers out of the air. I am also showing my optimism for Kirilloff's ability. I think he can be an elite offensive player and a fine defender. Someone who can really get the offense rolling. I hope in a few months, that people will say this blog has aged well.

Concur

Vazquez has been brutal at the plate since the first week. I think there is a case to be made to at least even up the playing time. Thursday-Friday was a great time to catch Jeffers in consecutive games--day game on Thursday with a lefty starting for the opponents on Friday. Jeffers hasn't been awesome, but he's gotten on quite regularly and he is the greater power threat. I really don't think the difference in defense is that much, even in the running game.