stringer bell

Manfredball will be in full swing in 2023. No more shifts, a pitch clock and bigger bases. The Twins will need to adjust to the changes and they will probably have to adjust more than most. The larger bases will make infield hits and stolen bases more common. The Twins will need to find a way to get more speed in their lineup and to be better base runners. They have been dreadful running the bases and have yielded oodles of stolen bases and that is not all on their catchers. At the very least, adding players with plus speed will be needed and a renewed emphasis on elements of "small ball" will have to be done. I am looking to 2023 because I believe the 2022 season is basically over. A large number of the Twins' top position players aren't playing (Buxton, Polanco, Kepler) and many viewed as emerging (Jeffers, Kirilloff, Larnach) aren't playing either. Carlos Correa has been an offensive disapointment. Add in that Max Kepler and Gary Sanchez have been playing at replacement player level and it is a near miracle that the Twins are still in a pennant race. They've had plenty of help from Cleveland and Chicago, but it appears to me that it will be a surprise if the Twins finish higher than third in the weak Central Division. I think there will be enough talent for the Twins to contend in 2023. A bullpen that includes Jhoan Duran, Jorge Lopez, Caleb Thielbar and Griffin Jax will be a far cry better than the bully that began the season in 2022. Add in prospective starters Joe Ryan, Sonny Gray, Kenta Maeda, Tyler Mahle and later Chris Paddack with guys like Louis Varland, Simeon Woods-Richardson, Josh Winder and Bailey Ober ready to step in, perhaps there wouldn't be as many short starts and so much pressure on the bullpen. There is position player talent as well. Jose Miranda has shown himself to be a major league hitter with perhaps a ceiling of star, Nick Gordon has developed into a competent major leaguer with positional versatility. Jeffers, Larnach and Kirilloff showed glimpses of what they could be before they were sidelined by injuries. Byron Buxton played most of the season on one leg and yet was valuable. If only he could get his health right for a season, the Twins become a different team. If Correa comes back, he is a fine ballplayer at a crucial position. If not, the Twins have sufficient funds to upgrade the team (pitching staff or position plauers). It is obvious that there will be more injuries, hopefully not as much as 2022, and also that some players will no longer be Twins in the coming year. Circling back to the mark that Commissioner Manfred has made on baseball, with a new Collective Bargaining Agreement in place, MLB is now going to recognize minor leaguers as a union. My fervent hope is that minor league players will get upgraded treatment in future years. Time will tell on that.

There isn't enough left to contend this year. Replacing bad players with equally bad players doesn't win games. The starting rotation, with all the injuries, doesn't have enough quality to go deep in games and the bullpen doesn't have enough good arms to pitch four or five innings every day. I've been an optimist about the Twins until the last couple of weeks. What is left just isn't sufficient to win games on a regular basis.

There is no comparison between the quality of the lineups put together for this crucial series in September. Due to injuries mostly, the Twins have three regulars who will exceed 502 plate appearances, the Guardians have five. In the starting lineups, the Guardians contains hitters with about 80 homers and 80 stolen bases. The current Twins lineup has about as many homers, but only 16 stolen bases. Cleveland has had injuries too, but the Twins don't have five of their regulars right now. I thought the death knell was when Polanco and Mahle went on the Injures List. They've lost too many key pieces to contend. If they can some way find their way into postseason, it won't be pretty.

Twins lineup: S H-AB RBI HR SB AVG L. Arraez2B 147-468 45 8 4 .314 C. CorreaSS 115-425 50 18 0 .271 J. Miranda1B 95-348 60 14 1 .273 N. GordonLF 88-320 36 6 6 .275 G. Urshela3B 107-408 53 11 1 .262 G. SanchezDH 76-347 48 14 2 .219 J. CaveRF 16-73 10 3 1 .219 G. CelestinoCF 61-246 19 2 1 .248 S. LeonC 9-57 4 0 0 .158 PLAYER W-L ERA WHIP IP H K BB HR C. Quantrill 11-5 3.55 1.20 152.0 140 101 42 18 D. Bundy 8-6 4.34 1.22 118.1 119 84 25 16

Again today I checked sources for information about the Twins' injured players and see no current information. If anyone has fresh information, please post it here. Thanks. Specifically, the last I've heard about Buxton is that he is expected to return sometime, no dates and no change on his recovery schedule. Larnach--according to the Twins' web site, he was expected to begin a rehab stint somewhere around 9/1, but as far as I know, he has not started a rehab assignment. Jeffers--pretty much the same, again no information that he has started a rehab assignment . Dobnak is on a rehab assignment in St. Paul and Winder is on the active list for the Saints. I haven't heard if there is any change in Mahle's status or if Polanco is ramping up toward being activated. Ober has made two rehab starts in Florida. I have heard nothing further.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? YES!

Great intro. Thanks UpstateNewYorker! The Yankees aren’t what they were in the first 100 games. Unfortunately, the Twins aren’t what they were invtge first 50 games. I hope the team can provide Varland with offensive and defensive support.

I do believe that the extra player for a doubleheader has to be on the 40-man roster. This would mean that when Varland is added, someone will have to be taken off the 40-man roster or sent to the 60-day IL. There really isn't a candidate for that. The other choices would include Jewell and Strotman in St. Paul or my personal favorite, a DFA of Caleb Hamilton coupled with the recall of Mark Contreras. If/when outfielders Buxton and Larnach are fit for play, it would appear that Contreras has no use on the 40-man roster. Currently, I don't see much use for Caleb Hamilton anyway.

But his WHIP is under 1.00. I'd chalk that up to SSS.

In addition, Celestino didn't admire the fly ball before running. I'm not Celestino's biggest fan, but I don't blame him on that decision at all.

IMHO, it wasn't ill-advised for Celestino to go for two there. It took a perfect play of the carom and a perfect throw to get him.

Ex-Twins 2 RBI vs. Twins--Ex-Yankees 2 RBI vs. Yankees.

Bremer said that Kirk and Trevino were the best-hitting catchers. I'd take the youngsters Rutschman and Raleigh in a heartbeat.

Well, the Twins are deservedly huge underdogs in New York. It is a long shot that they win the series, but this is why I continue to watch sports. This is not the Globetrotters vs. the Washington Generals. At some point the law of averages will take over and the numbers will regress to the mean. I'm not brave enough to suggest that it will be this week, but at some point the Twins will start winning their fair share of games against New York. Outside of Judge, this is a team that has struggled big time for quite a while. The Twins are more desperate (tied for the last playoff spot) but I just don't know if the Twins have enough left to beat a competent team.

The cost in prospects was for Mahle to help make the playoffs in ‘22 and help the team win in ‘23. If Mahle is successful in 2023, he may not provide the value that the prospects will eventually produce, but then again he might get them into the playoffs, so I do say the jury is still out. Spencer Steer might have a fine career or he might parallel Josmil Pinto or Willians Astudillo.

Okay, maybe there's fault to find here. The problem has been injuries for all of the guys named. Medical staff might be on the hook for okaying guys with arm issues and the brain trust could be catch flack for gambling on the health of guys with injuries. Beyond that guys like Fulmer and Lopez haven't been as effective after being acquired. Falvey and Levine could be faulted for acquiring these guys during breakthrough seasons and then have them regress to the mean. Lopez and Mahle will be back next year and could recoup the value received. I won't dispute that the trades haven't panned out as of yet, but I think the jury is still out.

I was looking for a place to comment on the death knell for the 2022 Twins. I think this thread provides the proper content and context. 2022 has provided truth positive that the AL Central is the weakest in MLB. With Chicago being perhaps the biggest disappointment in MLB, the division has been there for the taking. The Twins haven't been good enough to pull away despite Cleveland and Chicago hanging around .500 and Detroit and Kansas City only being 70-win teams. That the division is so weak is justification for trading for Lopez, Fulmer and Mahle. None of their acquisitions have lit it up for the Twins, which is surprising and disappointing. I expect the division to be better in 2023, but I think the Twins should be considered among the favorites. They added good pitchers who will be under team control in the coming season. The nucleus of the team is talented and pretty young. They may have a hole at shortstop, but they also will (hopefully) have a premium athlete ready to go by June (Lewis) or perhaps a return of Correa. If Correa opts out, there is salary room to add a front-line starter. The bullpen looks to be much better than the '22 version and there are prospects of a decent rotation. Back to 2022. First and foremost--injuries have really unraveled this club. Key position players like Polanco, Buxton, Kirilloff, Larnach and Jeffers have suffered injuries. Of course, this isn't new for Buxton and Kirilloff and the pitching staff has been nicked repeatedly and now the arm injuries are piling up. Every club can talk about injuries, so that doesn't excuse lack of productivity from the offense. The Twins haven't scored runs commensurate with their hitting statistics. Their base running has been terrible and they haven't produced as a club with the game on the line or with runners in scoring position. Is the front office culpable? Well they've gambled and lost on injuries. Paddack had elbow issues known when he was acquired, Mahle was coming off the IL with a shoulder issue and Buxton was given a long-term contract despite his injury history. The pitching pipeline hasn't produced much help in the rotation, although Jax and Duran have certainly added to the bullpen. Honestly, I think their decisions have made sense, but the results of the highest profile moves have been so-so at best. Things could change in '23, but patience only lasts so long.

Larnach and Jeffers can come back yet this year. It is procedural to put those guys on the 60-day list. The return time has been pushed back and there are no guarantees they won’t be pushed back farther.

Adley Rutschman (3.8 WAR) and Steven Kwan (4.0 WAR) are both having great rookie years. Miranda has been very good, but those two plus Rodriguez have been better and play much better defense.

Seems to me that the claim of Davis was made to provide a bullpen arm for the Chicago series, while Sanchez would be designated as soon as Mahle was deemed healthy. The White Sox (and Yankees) are mostly a right handed hitting rendering Davis pretty inconsequential, and Davis has pretty extreme platoon splits. A host of guys seem close to ready to provide multiple innings out of the bullpen (Dobnak, Winder, Sands, Ober, Smeltzer) with Smeltzer unable to be promoted for another 10 days unless there is an injury. Sanchez could be DFAed, Megill could be optioned or maybe the Twins could bid farewell to Pagan. It will be interesting to see what happens. As I type this, I wonder if Gray is headed to the IL. We shall see.

Celestino is fine as a fourth OF, but he’s being exposed as an everyday player.

This game is far from over. The Twins have had opportunities to have a big lead, but so far only up two. In that ballpark, they need a bigger cushion. This game is really big with Cleveland way behind—they have a chance to put their foot on the throat of the Sox and tie Cleveland. Losing tonight would be a real missed opportunity.

Cleveland hasn’t scored in well over 20 innings. Hard to believe they’ll score six in the last four at-bats.

Cave for GG.

That has been their outfield since the Polanco injury (with Gordon moving to second). Garlick did start one game against Boston but Cave replaced him later in the game.