stringer bell

The Twins entertain the Rockies tonight. It is Colorado's first visit since 2017, so previous matchups probably don't matter much. The Rockies are 30-40 in the tough NL West. They feature former Twin CJ Cron at first base. He leads the team in homers and RBI. I frankly don't recognize many of their players other than shortstop Jose Iglesias. Starting for the Rockies is German Marquez, who has poor numbers, but who doesn't when you pitch half of your games at Coors Field. The Twins are coming off losing two straight series, first losing two of three in Arizona and then losing two late-inning leads to Cleveland and surrendering first place to the Guardians. For the third straight game Byron Buxton is out of the lineup. Also out are Trevor Larnach and Gary Sanchez. Nick Gordon, Gilberto Celestino and Jose Miranda (apparently Rocco reads TD!) are in the lineup. Dylan Bundy hopes to back up his eight inning performance in Arizona this time against another NL West club (Colorado). I expect many runs to be scored and the winnner will be the team that makes the most of their opportunities. The Twins are virtually tied with Cleveland. The Guardians face the Red Sox this weekend while the Twins wrap up their homestand against Colorado. It is an opportunity to retake the lead and the Twins will being going on the road after this weekend. HITTERS H-AB RBI HR SB AVG C. JoeLF 69-254 16 5 3 .272 Y. DazaCF 58-181 16 0 0 .320 C. BlackmonDH 67-252 38 11 2 .266 C.J. Cron1B 81-274 52 17 0 .296 B. Rodgers2B 60-235 32 6 0 .255 R. McMahon3B 60-242 37 6 0 .248 J. IglesiasSS 63-208 18 0 2 .303 R. GrichukRF 54-211 34 7 2 .256 E. DiazC 35-157 18 4 0 .223 HITTERS H-AB RBI HR SB AVG L. Arraez2B 76-218 25 4 2 .349 C. CorreaSS 59-195 23 7 0 .303 M. KeplerRF 50-208 31 7 2 .240 G. Urshela3B 57-218 29 6 0 .261 A. Kirilloff1B 10-49 5 0 0 .204 J. MirandaDH 29-127 16 4 0 .228 N. GordonLF 38-145 9 2 3 .262 R. JeffersC 30-150 20 5 0 .200 G. CelestinoCF 34-112 5 0 0 .305 PLAYER W-L ERA WHIP IP H K BB HR G. Marquez 3-5 6.16 1.55 73.0 89 66 24 14 D. Bundy 4-3 5.17 1.31 54.0 61 44 10 10

It has been an ongoing struggle to work with Sano. He simply doesn't have great bat to ball skills. He warms and cools, but there are immense holes in his swing. I guess he is what he is.

I think Larnach is in more jeopardy than Garlick, Miranda or Kirilloff. Further, unless Garlick stops hitting lefties, I think he is safe. A lot can happen in a month as far as roster goes. I would expect that someone will be injured by then so that there is roster room for Sano.

On to July. There is now a google doc with a schedule for July Game Thread Introductions. There are only 22 game dates in July because of the All-Star Game and frequent off-days. Currently, there are 8-9 games unassigned, so there are opportunities for other Twins Daily readers to try their hand doing an introduction. The more the merrier! Also, the more points of view represented, the better overall view of the game (from our computers!). Cheers! Here is the link to the schedule for July: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10MLQZoK8t240wkBwaFPEhd28R1TtVadQGH3l2-8aIlc/edit

Welcome back to my ongoing little thread where my opinions come out to play. I hope to add to the conversation about the Twins. When last I wrote, the Twins were in first place and my attention in the division was the Chicago White Sox. That has changed. Cleveland has climbed into first place, winning three straight series on the road and sits atop the AL Central. I attended the matinee yesterday and saw Cleveland first-hand. They are a pretty good club and playing very well right now. They've da eveloped enough hitters that the top 2/3s of their lineup is good. Their bullpen looks much better than the Twins and they have an abundance of speed, which helps them in the field and on the base paths. Cleveland isn't very deep, but if they avoid injuries, they are a complete team that will have a winning record. Alex Kirilloff is back with the Twins. When I wrote about this team just before Opening Day, I opined that AK's floor was Mark Grace offense and Will Clark defense and his ceiling was Mark Grace defense and Will Clark offense. After his wrist woes, I was worried that he would never be the same player he could have been. Now, I'm back on the bus for Kirilloff. He's going to hit and he is going to be a fine first baseman (IMHO of course). Trevor Larnach meanwhile has hit the skids. Since June 1, his OPS is .429, and he's struck out 24 times in 68 plate appearances. He still looks like a better hitter and ballplayer than the guy who played last year, but he might soon be losing playing time or perhaps he'll be sent back to St. Paul. Speaking of demotion to St. Paul, if all the position players are healthy, the Twins have two too many on the major league roster. Miguel Sano will start his rehab probably in July and the Twins would have 20 days to wait before they have to bring him back to the majors. Most likely, there will be injuries to players that make the unpleasant decisions of demotion or DFA moot. That said, if all of the 15 players are healthy, it is still a tough call as to who should be sent down or DFAed. My vote would be Larnach and Nick Gordon, but my opinion could change. A third choice would be to DFA or trade Sano. I don't think that is out of the realm of possibility. I wish Ryan Jeffers could throw out a few runners. He is a good receiver and seems to synch well with the pitchers and I think the bat will come around. I am running pretty cold on Gary Sanchez these days. Yes, he has power, but he's hitting about .215 and watching him "run" down the first base line probably upsets me more than it should. Luis Arraez is having a great season, but he's not a lock for the batting title. In fact, right now he trails Tim Anderson of the White Sox in BA. Anderson had an injury and is below the plate appearance threshold, but he's hitting .354 to Arraez' .349. Arraez is a .216 hitter with a .534 OPS against lefties. He should get several days off when the Twins face southpaws. It appears that the pitching coach and the manager don't trust Tyler Duffey at all right now. If this is in fact the case, it might be time to bid him farewell. With current pitcher usage, every bullpen arm needs to contribute and currently Duffey isn't contributing. There are bullpen arms on the horizon (returning from injury) and if the Twins are saherious about contending they will pick up at least one late-inning reliever by the trade deadline. Devin Smeltzer has really done a nice job as a soft-tossing lefty in the starting rotation. I hold my breath every time he throws an 88 mph fastball over the plate, but he is getting the job done. He's also thrown more six inning or more starts than anyone on the team except Joe Ryan. I'll close with my continued confusion about Byron Buxton. I am not a doctor, so I don't know if putting him on the IL to work through his knee tendonitis is the right call. What the Twins are getting from Buxton is much, much less than what the Twins got from him in 2021 (in 60 games). He has only played 33 games in the outfield and he is not a threat to steal a base. His value is almost exclusively from hitting home runs. IMHO, the plan isn't working if this is what we will see the rest of the season. According to the Twins web site, Buxton's knee has not improved since suffering an injury in April.

I'd rather have Miranda in the lineup than Sanchez. I also agree that Gio is just an okay ballplayer. Maybe a smidgen above average on both sides of the ball, but certainly not a cornerstone. Honestly, I think Miranda will outhit him, but I don't trust Miranda's defense anywhere. Starting him at least once a week at DH and third would be fine along with platoon duty at first base.

Disagree. Kirilloff is a first baseman who has played outfield because others can't play any position but first base. He is IMHO clearly the best defensive first baseman that the Twins have. That he is versatile enough to play the outfield only adds to his value, but his best defensive position is first base and he is a good defender at that position.

He’ll pitch the doubleheader game in Cleveland. If he performs well, he may well stay with the team.

Is there enough belief in Kirilloff and Larnach that the Twins would trade Max Kepler?

Kirilloff has struck out three times since his return. IIRC, all three Ks were called and all were out of the TV strike zone box.

And the speedy Sánchez will start the 11th on second.

Use the whole field Kep.

Worried about a GDP.

I’ll take the walk the way Buck has been swinging today.

He’s already gone 2 innings. No way he comes out for the 11th.

Yes! Get ‘em now (bottom of 10)!

This Gonzalez kid is gonna be good.

Straw got to the ball easily and was in decent position to throw.

Snap. If Gordon is safe, game over.

13-21 in stolen base attempts.

I don’t mind going for the win in the ninth.

I wanted to see Kirilloff walk them off.

Smalley was calling them sliders….potato—pa tah toe.

Infield hit, now two missed strike calls.

Cleveland bullpen gave up three, Twins bullpen (in one less inning) gave up two. That’s the way it goes. I’d definitely take the Cleveland ‘pen over the Twins ‘pen, but on any given day………