stringer bell

Gray has been great so far, but it is only 27 plate appearances. He is a 30-year-old career minor leaguer. I'd wait a bit before giving him that much playing time.

Dozier hit 80 homers at Target Field. Buxton passed him late last year.

It was for a while IIRC! I was at Target Field on a day he hit two bombs, one was the second longest ever here (again IIRC).

I said before the first pitch of the season that the team as composed should do well against left handed pitching and they proceeded to struggle mightily against decent, but not elite, left handed pitching. Now against elite left handed starting pitching, they have knocked out Skubal, Framber Valdez and Crochet. They also hit around two other lesser lefties. The key to their success vs. left handed pitching has been the switch hitters. Caratini has been their first baseman vs. lefties and his slash line (against LHP) is .438/.391/.829. Bell, who was dreadful last year vs. southpaws is .324/.433/.757 and Lee is .333/.560/.893. Most switch hitters are stronger from the left side because they see so many more right handers. That hasn't been the case for the 2026 Twins. The team offensive numbers are shocking considering where this team was last year and how they started this year. They are within a few runs of leading all of MLB in runs scored (Twins have scored 92, leaders have 95), they are tied for second in homers despite their top HR guys having only 3. Their splits with the bases loaded, runners on, runners in scoring position are among the best in baseball. Finally, they've hit a lot of three-run homers and a grand slam. If, and it's a huge if, they can continue to score like this through the All-Star break, one commodity that is pretty easily attainable is relief pitching, especially guys in their free agent walk year. That is getting about three months ahead of the game, but we can dream can't we?

It looks like Cleveland will win and stay tied with the Twins, but for a few minutes they will be alone in first place.

No words!

That could be a disabling injury for Wallner.

Give me Molitor and Perkins for the analysts every time.

Lefty on the mound.

Good sequencing, lots of walks and much improved productivity with runners on base. In the Toronto series, the Twins put about 95% of their offense into three innings and scored 18 runs in those three innings, actually enough to sweep the series. Toronto OTOH put tons on runners on base and couldn't get them home, particularly on Sunday. The Twins have hit two months worth of three-run homers and one grand slam in two weeks. They haven't banged into a high number of double plays despite having a lot of guys reach first base and a lot of slow runners hitting with those runners on first base. Will this good fortune last? I doubt it. It is fun when it all works.

I've been on the Martin bandwagon since last year. He came back from injury and some Triple A time with an excellent approach at the plate and much-improved defense in the outfield. After seeing a lot of him late in the 2025 season, I thought the obvious comp was Steven Kwan and I continue to have that opinion. Yes, he lacks power and his base running has been a mixed bag, but the skills he shows in getting on base are legitimate and very valuable. Because he is a top quartile runner, I expect the base running will eventually become a strength. It is a pretty small sample size, but Martin has positive defensive marks this season in left field and last season (post trade deadline when he was used regularly). I would think he would now be an acceptable backup in center field with the better jumps and routes he has demonstrated in the last nine months. The main question to me is whether Austin Martin should be a "regular", a guy that will get over 500 PAs if he stays healthy. I think that despite their nice current run, the Twins are positioned to find out. ,

I expect Kreidler plays third against the tough lefty. The Twins are facing four more left handed starters in the six-game homestand if the schedule holds. That would be 13 lefty starters in the first 22 games. Incredible.

Position changes are fascinating. Some work, some are disasters. I would speculate that if Rodriguez or Jenkins shows he’s in the majors to stay, that then might be time to discuss moving to a corner with Buxton. im not sure Culpepper is a shortstop long term, but he’s got better tools than Lee, so he should keep playing the three infield positions.

I have seen this for a while. There are a number of posters waiting for their whipping boy (Wallner, Lee and Outman are the popular choices right now) to fail. This is a flawed team with several soft spots, which I’m sure will be exploited during the season. The whole has been greater than the sum of their parts lately and they’ve been fun to watch. Credit to the manager and the coaching staff so far. With good health and a couple of bullpen breakthroughs, they just might have a winning season.

Four more lefties in the coming week. That would be 13 LH starters in the first 22 games.

Yeah, I'm watching that score. Last year, the Twins were tied for first place after six games (2-4 record) never to take the lead. It looks like this year, they will be tied after 16 games.

Kaat won 93 games after he left the Twins and pitched for ten more years. He won 20 games twice for the White Sox and had two 7 WAR seasons. Maybe a typical player would be on the downside, but when Kaat was released he had a lot in the tank. I am convinced that Carew would have won more batting championships if he had stayed with the Twins. He was a great player for the Twins, not so much for the Angels. Calvin was a throwback. The Twins didn't win as often as they should have because he wouldn't pay the freight and he was slow to get into free agency. We all know baseball was his livelihood, but he needed to spend more to stay competitive.

The Waseca stuff was the last straw for Rodney, so it wasn't all about money. it was about money with Bert and Kitty.. We'll probably never see another owner who is truly his own GM.

Cautionary tale. In both 2024 and 2025, the Twins had big early winning streaks after slow starts that convinced many that they were legitimate contenders. Complaints about Rocco even slowed down. It seems there aren’t any really good teams in the AL, but I don’t think the Twins are contenders even without any dominant teams. I’m glad they’ve shown some spark and maybe there will be some decent crowds Calvin knew baseball and he had a number of great players, but drove three Hall of Famers (Kaat, Carew, Blyleven) out of town in their primes This is a different era. The Twins should have enough resources and talent to be contenders most of the time. I still think this is a transition year and we’ll see a lot of turnover whenever baseball starts after the 2026 World Series.

The Saints are 5-9. Culpepper is hitting .250, Jenkins, Gonzalez, and Rodriguez have lower averages. Marco Raya gave up six runs today when he entered the game with an 8-4 lead. Altavilla gave up a walkoff grand slam to lose the game. Brebbia, Smith and Matt Bowman have been the most effective relievers. None of the veteran relievers I mentioned are on the 40-man. Kent can’t be recalled unless someone goes on the IL. Fedko hit three homers and a triple today and that raised his BA above .200 and his OPS above .700. I’d suggest Fedko in a part-time role to replace Outman, but he too isn’t on the 40-man.

I think you’re ready to jump on Lee for every soft hit to the left side. Vladdy’s single was a turf hit and I’d say less than 10% of shortstops would get a glove on it. The pop fly over Lee’s head was a tough play. I didn’t see him misstep, but it is possible that he did. If that is the case a direct route would might have allowed him to catch the ball. I’d agree that Lee hasn’t distinguished himself on defense and I would guess he has made zero “out of zone” plays, but infields can’t stop every 10 hop bleeder from getting through. While the Twins defense hasn’t graded out well, we’ve seen a few soft hits find grass (turf) for the Twins.

The Twins timing this year is interesting. I think they are playing Toronto and earlier Baltimore and Tampa Bay at exactly the right time, even though they were 1-2 against both the O’s and Rays. OTOH, their timing for weather looks unfortunate. They’re home for a week with rain and snow in the forecast almost every day.

I'll echo earlier comments on this thread. St. Paul was supposed to be all that and right now they aren't. So far, no one has forced their way to promotion, with Gonzalez and Jenkins off to really slow starts.

An obscure former Twin passed away recently. Chuck Nieson pitched an inning each in two games in 1964. He allowed a home run, a walk but struck out five of the eight batters he faced. Nieson was born and raised in California, but stayed in Minnesota after his professional career ended and passed away at the age of 83.

Last year for whatever reason, the Twins were the most penalized by missed ump's calls on balls and strikes. ABS would help to level the playing field, so it is a good thing IMHO.