stringer bell

With no minor leagues until yesterday, I don't think Thorpe or anyone else should be criticized for short starts when they haven't had a chance to stretch out in minor league games. Thorpe has been pretty good, but I was hoping to see mid-nineties fastballs.

Disappointing, but far from unexpected.

So what happened to Thorpe's added velo?

Why can't we have nice things? About half of my reasons for watching the Twins are shelved.

I think that barring injury, Kirilloff will get most of his at-bats as a left fielder. Sanó is under contract and his value and productivity do not increase while he's sitting on the bench. Rocco just about has to play him when he's healthy, maybe not every single day, but more often than not. Much like last season, at some point the big man will time things out and start making hard contact frequently.

Yep, Arraez has truly struggled against lefties and has virtually no extra base pop against southpaws. He's still a bit of a tough out, drawing his share of walks, but there is not much point in playing Luis against lefties.

Sanó is 1-16 vs. lefties this year. His lifetime OPS split is .816 vs. right handers and .841 vs. left handers. It seems that when he's slumping or red hot it really doesn't matter which hand the pitcher is throwing with. I don't think that makes him a good or reliable platoon partner. It seems to me that the most likely way for Sanó to succeed is to run him out there until he finds his stroke, but I don't know if the Twins can afford to do that.

I had the same thought, but also share the Twins' apparent skepticism about Gordon's abilities. In particular, I don't think the Twins view him as a shortstop.

With Arraez exiting yesterday's game due to possible concussion symptoms, it seems possible that placing him on the concussion list will leave a spot open for Sanó. That would mean that the Twins' middle infield depth is............Willians Astudillo. Not a solution long-term, but possible for a week or so.

Stretch him out now that games will be starting soon so that he can replace Shoemaker? I just spent an hour plus crafting a poll and posting and this might answer it.

The reports are that Miguel Sanó is about ready to come off the injured list. Sanó was one of the major disappointments of April, logging a .111 batting average and .555 OPS. The Twins are otherwise as close to full strength as they have been since the first inning of the first game of the season. Among the position players, the club has switched out Ben Rortvedt for the struggling Ryan Jeffers and added Alex Kirilloff to essentially take Sanó's spot. Kirilloff is an outfielder/first baseman. He's logged most of his minor league innings in right field, then first base and lastly left field. The question on many Twins fans' minds is what the team will do next and the followup is what they should do next. Here are my thoughts in no particular order on the possible scenarios for the Twins next move: 1) Option Kirilloff back to the minor leagues. It has been an interesting ten days for the Twins former #1 draft choice. Alex Kirilloff is hitting .184 with only one walk and 11 strikeouts in 40 plate appearances. He's got two singles, a double and four homers and has a BABIP of .125. Kirilloff isn't going to homer once per 10 plate appearances, but he also isn't going to keep hitting the ball this hard and not find the grass for singles and doubles. Next to signing the other Alex (Columé) to an extension, I think the most unpopular move the Twins' front office could make would be to demote Kirilloff. 2) Option Jake Cave to St. Paul. With Kirilloff's emergence, Jake Cave won't be getting much playing time. Cave is a capable outfielder, who has been the manager's choice to fill in for Buxton in center field whenever Buck has been unable to play. Cave runs pretty well and in his career has hit right handed pitching quite well. The numbers this year and last have been poor, however. Max Kepler has played a lot of center field and could cover for Buxton for a short absence. I think this is the popular choice with the Twins' fan base. 3) Option Kyle Garlick to St. Paul. Garlick had a strong spring training and won a spot on the Opening Day roster as a backup corner outfielder who would get his chances versus left handed pitching. The early results were promising, but Garlick first slowed and then was placed on the COVID list. He's had only one start since being reinstated and was hitless. Garlick's strength is hitting, particularly against lefties. From a roster makeup point of view, it makes sense to have somebody who might pound LH pitching as a backup outfielder, since Kirilloff, Kepler, Cave and Arraez all hit left handed and it would appear that all are vulnerable to same side pitchers. 4) Option Willians Astudillo to St. Paul. The short, stout pony-tailed Turtle is popular and totally exasperating. We know La Tortuga will grab a glove and play anywhere. For a guy with that body, he does okay wherever he is put in the field and he is insurance so that the team can hit or run for their catchers. Astudillo will get some hits, no walks and lots of first-pitch popups, but he doesn't strike out either. Again, given this roster's construction, it probably makes sense to have a versatile right handed hitter as a bench player. 5) Demote a pitcher (or place him on IL). That would mean going with 11 pitchers--what a concept. Oldtimers like me can remember going with nine-man pitching staffs and four-man rotations. That's not going to happen, but going one pitcher short for a few days could work. I doubt this front office would take that "risk" and they probably are correct. 6) Send Sanó on a rehab assignment. Sanó has been out less than two weeks, but always seems to take a while to find his swing. It would be a de facto demotion for the Twins' slugger, but it would buy time for the team to figure out how to proceed. 7) Find an injury. Someone who has been underperforming or who might otherwise be demoted might have a sore pinky or nerve irritation in their non-throwing arm. All the clubs do it to some degree and if the Twins don't want to burn an option on a player, they well may find an injury.

Yeah, keep him. They’ll have to move people around, but Alex needs to play, and Arraez should be in the lineup somewhere against right handed pitchers.

Good battle between Big Mike and Merrifield.

Three off the roster and two return. What is the final move? Sanó is on the IL for at least two more days. Another pitcher? Perhaps they will promote another catcher.

I'm not sure that Kirilloff will be sent down when Sano returns. I don't see any point to keeping Rooker on the squad and Lin will be sent down when either Kepler or Garlick return from the COVID IL. Any of Garlick, Jeffers or Astudillo could be sent down as the third position player removed for those coming of the IL. Also, injuries could pop up and someone else could go on the IL. I'd like to see AK get another week in the majors, especially since the minor league games won't start during that interval.

I do think they they hand Buck a Player of the Month trophy for April despite missing about 20% of the first month.

I haven't looked at Kyle Gibson's season since his Opening Day start, in which he allowed four hits, three walks and five earned runs in a third of an inning. Since then, he has pitched very well. In four starts, he's logged 27 innings, allowed 20 hits, three runs (two earned), five walks and 22 strikeouts. Gibson pitches today against another ex-Twin, Martín Pérez, as the Rangers entertain the Red Sox tonight. Gibson was always a personal favorite of mine, stemming in large part from him taking extra time to talk to my brother and me six years ago in Fort Myers when he autographed a baseball. He was a new dad at the time and shared how his personal life had changed.

I understand the "make one guy the primary catcher" idea but both have been killing the team with their lack of hitting. Garver had one game where he hit a homer and a double, but hasn't done anything since. Jeffers hasn't gotten anything going at all and both are striking out at prodigious rates. I think it makes sense to alternate them until somebody puts together a week of good hitting. I like Jeffers' defense better than Garver's, but neither have received nearly well enough to make up for pitiable offense.

For my own mental health, I’m going to dial back my attention to this club. Nothing is going right and every decision seems to be the wrong one. When they come out if this, I more than check box scores.

Twins visit Cleveland with an early start. Could someone post the lineups?

Garver has been brutal for the short season in 2020 and so far this year. I don’t think he’s a good defensive catcher, so he has to hit and he’s failed to do that since some time in 2019. Perhaps expectations should be more modest than his 2019 numbers, but his production in 2020 and this year has been dreadful.

Donaldson, Cruz and Buxton all go out. I would have bet that they'd at least tie the score.

Donaldson makes those plays on slow bouncers look easy. Pretty sure they aren't.

TBH, Shoemaker looked all right in the first. The second hitter poked a somewhat elevated pitch to center for a single and the third hitter hit basically a pop fly double.

Nice at-bat Arraez!