stringer bell

OK, a lot of guys who have shown to be capable or better major league players have not performed--Polanco, Garver, Kepler, Sanó, and to some degree Cave. 2019 was when all of those guys were really good and maybe it is time to recalibrate expectations. Is there a Plan B? If the Twins continue to disappoint, they might be a completely different team after the trading deadline. The organization seems to be all-in on going for the formula of building around the long ball--no matter what the situation, try to hit the ball over the fence--and we've seen failures to score runners at an alarming rate. Bullpens have ups and downs. I'm not overly confident in the Twins' pen, but I don't think it is bottom quadrant, either.

The Twins face Oakland this after noon in the finale of a difficult road trip to the West Coast. The Twins are currently 6-10, having lost eight of their last nine games. They've lost two doubleheaders and three extra-inning games. Sixteen games is roughly one-tenth of a season and the Twins have had spotty pitching, poor hitting and have also made too many defensive mistakes. In other words, they have been a bad ball club. The opponent today, the Oakland Athletics, started slowly, but is now perhaps the hottest club in baseball having won ten straight games. The lineup is swinging well, they have a decent pitching staff and a fine defensive team. Today's starting pitcher matchup features Frankie Montas versus Kenta Maeda. Montas was drilled for seven runs in his first start, but has been outstanding since. The Twins counter with Maeda, who has been okay, but not dominant in his three starts. It would be a good time for Maeda to toss a gem, given the struggles of the team's hitters. Lineups and Comments: Minnesota (6-10) Arraez 2b Donaldson 3b Cruz dh Buxton cf Polanco ss Astudillo 1b Cave lf Rooker rf Jeffers c Pitching: Maeda 1-1 3.07 ERA Oakland (11-7) Canha lf Laureano cf Lowrie 2b Olson 1b Chapman 3b Moreland 1b Murphy c Brown rf Andrus ss Pitching: Montas 2-1 4.91 ERA Riddle is now on the COVID list for unspecified reasons, replaced by Telis (yet another catcher). Sanó is listed by ESPN as day-to-day. I don't know what his injury or illness might be. The fact that the team has a day off tomorrow and returns home for a series might be why the changes that have been made were made IMHO. I expect more roster moves when the team gets home.

When you’re going good.......and the A’s are, all kinds of things seem to break your way. Right now things are not going well for the Twins. They aren’t as bad as they look right now, but the team they are putting out there right now looks pretty brutal.

Not feeling confident about this. Thorpe might get his innings soon.

Looks to me like Shoemaker practically gives extra bases to base stealers.

Ouch, looked like there was a chance for a crooked number and.......,nothing.

Ankle-high splitter to LH batter—great pitch. Knee high splitter to same—horrible pitch.

I suppose that with two lefties starting today, it makes sense to keep Kirilloff in the minors (at the alternate facility) for the Oakland series. It is getting close to the time when the Twins garner another year of control over AK.

Didn’t know that Arraez had struggled so much so far vs. LH pitching.

Tortuga, the ball will find you.

Switch positions for Astudillo and Arraez? Thorpe is the extra player, but he pitched three days ago. How much could the Twins get out of him?

What about Garlick? I’m confused. I thought there were two players who tested positive and one of them was Garlick.

Two runs in four innings is pretty OK considering Thorpe has been at the alternate site since he was ruled to have a fourth option. I'm in favor of keeping Thorpe on the big league roster and sending Dobnak down for now.

With the COVID news, transactions will probably happen as a result of positive tests. Replacing Garlick with Kirilloff seems to make sense, although by the time they play again, Rooker may be ready to return from the injured list. I wonder if there is conversation of keeping Thorpe and sending down Dobnak, although perhaps both will be filling in if there is a positive test among the pitchers. 6-8 is disappointing, but no one in the Central has jumped way ahead. As far as makeup games go, with the long All-Star break and the game is in Denver, the Twins could do a makeup doubleheader on the Thursday after the AS game. Not ideal, but maybe as easy and fair as could be found.

Depending how Kirilloff is progressing, exchanging him for Cave makes sense. Jeffers has started slowly, but I don’t think either Telis or Astudillo are really capable of assuming the backup catcher role. Adding Braxton or Telis would necessitate a 40-man move.

Two on, none out, time for La Tortuga to pinch hit and ground into a triple play on the first pitch.

Hindsight is always 20-20. Consider three less-than-great outcomes in the homestand. Shoemaker breezed through five innings allowing no runs and holding a six-run lead, but then gave up four runs without getting an out and the bullpen gave up the lead and the game. Dobnak breezed through two innings, but got nicked for back-to-back doubles in his third inning, allowing the winning run and finally Pineda was pulled after seven outstanding innings and the bullpen gave up the lead. Common thread? All three didn't work out. Is there a magic bullet (or 8-ball) that says when to pull a pitcher? I do know that Pineda hasn't gone over seven innings in years. If I'm going to criticize the manager, it is probably that he is too patient with veterans. A lot of guys aren't hitting their weight and a lot of pitchers (especially the bullpen) haven't been reliable and no major role changes have yet occurred. It is said that patience is a virtue, but sometimes it is maddening.

No matter the situation, Rocco has not trusted Dobnak to face a lineup three times. I have found that unusual. Given his new contract, the Twins must see a good future for him and it would be as a starter IMHO, but he seems to be a throwback to the pitch-to-contact sinkerballers of 15 years ago.

Dobnak is not a one-inning maximum effort reliever. I'm sure he'd be fine in the rotation and I believe he will be good in a multiple inning relief role as well. Much of his bad numbers come from the third inning of the blowout victory over the Tigers where he gave up five runs in the bottom of the ninth. I don't think Dobnak is ideal to be the guy to pitch in the new extra inning setup, as he was in the season opener. I fully expect that Dobnak will be in the rotation within a month, somebody will get hurt or be ineffective, or perhaps the Twins will go to a 6-man rotation.

I think a role switch when Donaldson returns make sense with Arraez the primary 2B and Polanco filling in. That doesn't mean that Arraez can't play a game here or there in left or third, but that he is the primary starter and Polanco is the tenth starter. Polanco has only driven about three balls hard that I've seen, his K and BB stats are not promising. I do expect he will come out of it some, but I do wonder if the first half of 2019 was an outlier.

Odo had his first start for Houston tonight.

We’re talking about ten games here. Small sample size-yadda, yadda, yadda. Akil Baddoo won’t hit 64 homers, Polanco, Sanó, and Garver will improve. The question is whether these guys (and Kepler) will approach their top seasons or whether they are league average or below. Maybe a role reversal between Arraez and Polanco is in order. As far as Jake Cave, he has been the beneficiary of increased play due to Donaldson’s injury and the spring training demotion of Alex Kirilloff. I really expect AK will be with the Twins before the cold snap (in the weather) is over. As for the bullpen, yeah it’s still early, but Colomé hasn’t been sharp and he is really key to the ‘pen. Duffey and Stashak seem to have lost velocity, which is also concerning. I think Rogers, Robles and Thielbar have been very good. I think the lack of innings from the starters might expose the bullpen too much. So far, the team is losing a lot of “50-50 battles”, that likely won’t continue. However Cruz, Buxton and Arraez won’t stay as hot—Sanó, the catchers and Polanco won’t stay as cold, but the offense looks more like 2020 than 2019.

Ervin Santana back in the majors. His contract was selected by the Royals.

BTW—through 4 innings ESPN’s box shows Happ with exactly 2 swing-and-misses. I think Chief’s bet was a winner.

A reminder to all game threaders, there will be one game thread covering both games of the DH tomorrow. According to the Twins’ official website, it will be a true doubleheader with only an intermission between games. Six hours of outdoor baseball in 40 degree weather. Should be fun to watch (from my LazyBoy).