stringer bell

Sanó is not on the 60-day list yet. Players brought up for COVID list players do not have to be on the 40-man roster. If the don’t want to mess with Lewis, Palacios could be a good choice. Smeltzer for Bundy makes sense.

Arraez and Bundy to the COVID-19 IL. No replacements named yet.

To call Winder a bullpen arm is really misleading. Except for his one inning vs. the Dodgers, he has been the designated long man to come in if and only if the starter can’t make it even four innings. He’s really been a starter-in-waiting and he will have his second start soon.

Not mentioned was the five double plays hit into last night. They lost another base runner when Sanchez was hit by Celestino's line-drive single, that would have plated a run. The Twins were 8-28 for the game and only had three at-bats with runners in scoring position. Sometimes, it is not your day.

Pretty good play by Gordon, but the O's get at least one back. Now two.

Down two after 3.5 innings.

Bad luck there.

These innings are like mirror images. I hope the Twins can end their fourth the way Baltimore finished their third.

Three or four this inning will make the game much more interesting.

Bundy will wear all 6 runs there, but the Twins gave Baltimore five outs and immediately after each misplay, the next player went deep.

6-0 again.

This inning is not going well.

While I kind of agree with you, I would add that if Nick were to be DFAed, there is almost no chance he would be unclaimed. He’s become an infielder-outfielder and he provides speed. I think he was 10-11 stealing bases last year, but is 0-2 this year.

Nice play Nick!

No man’s land.

I presume Polanco is DHing due to banging two balls off his leg. Buxton scheduled day off. Kepler I’ll.

Was he nicked up on the slide in second base? I remember that the trainer was tending to him as Polanco slammed two straight foul balls into his leg.

Bundy is a key to this in the first half of the season IMHO. He’s pitched great, but the lack of velocity makes his margin for error really small. I don’t know how he will hold up over a full season, but I was impressed by his adjustments after getting ambushed by Tampa Bay.

Let’s just have a little context for Joe Ryan. He’s a rookie. Who looked very promising last year and has followed it up with outstanding performance so far this year. Bremer and particularly Morneau seem ready to put him in Cooperstown based on less than 10 starts. Last night’s start was okay I guess, but he allowed a lot of base runners and threw a fairly high number of pitches in a pretty short start. Jeffers is what, 24 years old? He catches a good game and has good power. There are not going to be a lot of homers to left and left-center at OPCY when the wind is blowing in.

About a week ago, I started a thread entitled "A Few Random Thoughts". Since then, the Twins have continued to win games and (mostly) look promising doing it. I have assembled another helping of tidbits for discussion. I hope they generate discussion and debate. 1) Injuries have happened, most notably upcoming surgery for Miguel Sano. Those injured are Sano (1st base), Garlick (corner OF), and Kirilloff (corner OF/1st base). As usual, when injuries occur, they seem to cluster. First base options now are Luis Arraez and Jose Miranda. 2) Two starting pitchers remain on on the Injured List. Both look like they will be back shortly. If/when all return, Winder probably goes back to a long relief role. I would predict that someone will be injured or ineffective and that Winder doesn't spend much time in the long relief role in May, unless he is the one who is ineffective. 3) Dylan Bundy impressed me with his six innings of work in the game the Twins lost to Tampa Bay. He gave up four runs before he got an out, but still managed to limit the bullpen to two innings. That he gave up six runs shows how little margin for error he has without overpowering stuff. That he pitched six innings showed that he can make adjustments on the fly and be effective. 4) By trading both Mitch Garver and Ben Rortvedt, the Twins bet big on Ryan Jeffers, who hit below the Mendoza Line in 2021. Right now, it looks like an excellent bet. The batting average is subpar, but the OPS+ is over 100 and he is a good receiver. Gary Sanchez is not a perfect complement to Jeffers, but he has been okay behind the plate and not an automatic out. 5) The promotion of Jose Miranda highlights the importance of positional flexibility. I would expect that Miranda will get a lot of starts at first base, due to the injuries of Sano and Kirilloff, and that he is comfortable playing first probably led to his promotion over someone else. 6) I fear this might be a lost season for Alex Kirilloff. From the reports I've read, he is not pain-free and early results from St. Paul do not show a hitter who is able to mash at that level, much less the next level. My expectation for this season for Kirilloff was that he would establish himself as a major league regular on the way to a fine career. Now I am wondering if that ever will happen. 7) Last night, Caleb Thielbar and Tyler Duffey had good outings. Up to that point, both had had disappointing starts to their season. Both veterans seemed to have more zip on their fastball and Thielbar featured much better command of all his pitches. The bullpen pitcher who concerns me most is Emilio Pagan. Far too many walks and deep counts, combined with a propensity to give up home run balls worries me. He is being used in high-leverage situations and really hasn't hurt the team yet, but it's nervous time when he's on the mound. My list is a bit shorter than last week, probably because the team has played so well. Please discuss and comment. Thanks!

I forgot about Stashak. He's rested and ready and now has a five-run lead.

A little better velo and command for both Duffey and Thielbar. Good results.

Six outs to get. Coulombe, Moran and probably Smith available. Perhaps Duran?

Even if he strikes out here, Larnach looks a lot more comfortable than he did last year.

Second XBH of the season for Gio.