stringer bell

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.

I expect most on TD won't like this lineup. It is as left handed as possible (all five LH hitters plus three switch hitters) and is pretty suspect defensively. Thanks to a run of pretty good starting pitching (except SWR) the bullpen is fairly rested on the 12th day of a 15 consecutive day stretch. It is early days yet, but except for Outman, the lowest OPS in this lineup belongs to ............Keaschall. I was checking on some team splits and found some interesting information. The Twins currently have a better OPS against left handed pitching. .695 vs. LH, .684 vs. RH. They also have a higher batting average against southpaws--.232 to .216. Also, the Twins are middle of the pack in hitting with runners on base, runners in scoring position and the bases loaded.

I liked the signings of Bell and Caratini when they happened. I think Bell should mostly DH. I don’t have a big problem with Caratini being the alternate first baseman. Playing first more than anyone else is probably overuse. Did Bell suffer some sort of arm injury early in his career? He seems to shot put the ball when he throws and his swing looks rather strange as well. I guess it works for him.

The Twins currently have the most plate appearances against left handed pitchers by a wide margin and have the fewest plate appearances against right handed pitching by an equally large margin (>60). They also have by far the most plate appearances with the bases loaded

I remain unconvinced about the Twins’ bullpen. Depending on who is in the field, the fielding is somewhere between a bother and a fatal flaw. They have starters and a half-decent lineup. There is something to build on.

No problem with the system as it is. I was at the game and when the shot came on the screen, I thought the ump was right. I don’t think it reflects poorly on the umpires to be challenged and for calls to be overturned on such incredibly close pitches. Yeah, if a pitch is well out of the zone or clearly in the zone, the ump should be criticized, but umps are seldom that wrong. The main adjustment the umpires need to make is that there shouldn’t be a shrunken 0-2 strike zone or an enlarged 3-0 zone.

Martin’s going to have to wear the three CS for a while, but that OBP is pretty doggone impressive. If the Twins would have had challenges remaining last night, I’m pretty sure he would have had another walk and one less K. The last pitch looked low and away to me.

I’ve heard that too. Must be the voices in my head.

Somebody (still) needs to find a batting helmet that fits Lee’s noggin.

I believe Martin had arm surgery when he was a minor leaguer. Much like Keaschall, when he debuted with the Twins he hadn't fully recovered and his arm was well below average. According to statcast, he now has a 55th percentile arm (certainly not a cannon) but satisfactory.

He's also hitting below .200 thus far for the Saints.

Martin is getting his first ever start in right field today.

Bobby Nightengale reporting that Lewis is already feeling better and expects to be on the IL for the minimum (ten days), Nightengale reports that the team was cautious because they had two more games on artificial turf and Lewis' injury was to his lead (plant) leg for his swing.

Yeah, yeah. The TD faithful have written Lee off as a shortstop. Shelton hasn't. He's the regular shortstop until he isn't and it makes sense if Lee is viewed as an everyday player. I have my doubts about Lee as well, but giving him more than two weeks to show what he can do is the right thing to do. Same for Wallner, same for any one else that has struggled.

Kreidler in the starting lineup at third base and Larnach gets a start against a lefty (Wallner out). BuxtonCF R 0 1 0 .180 .543 MartinRF R 0 2 2 .286 .795 Keaschall2B R 1 7 2 .204 .532 JeffersC R 1 6 0 .294 .856 BellDH S 3 10 0 .289 .978 Caratini1B S 0 4 0 .275 .662 LarnachLF L 0 2 0 .263 .808 Lee, BSS S 1 5 0 .206 .564 Kreidler3B R - - - - -

We can't be sure, but it appears he's playing this much because the Twins are facing so many left handed pitchers. Martin has started one game against a right hander and it was is center field because Buxton was dinged. I don't really think Martin is a better hitter against right handed pitching than Larnach or maybe even Clemens, but I think there's more in his overall game than either of those guys offer.

I wonder if Kreidler and Morris have made it across the border at this point. If Kreidler got a good night's sleep, he will probably be in the starting lineup today. Another left hander! What is it, nine out of fifteen games?

I don't disagree. Triple A numbers don't always predict success. Just ask Mickey Gasper. IMHO, Outman has one thing that Keirsey doesn't. He has big time power, but just doesn't make contact nearly enough. Outman's speed has surprised me. I googled his sprint speed and the reply was that it was elite (28.9 fps). His sprint speed was recorded as 28.5 in 2025. That is equal to Keirsey and faster than Austin Martin.

Outman was good in AAA last year as well,

Per Bobby Nightengale, Kreidler and Morris recalled with Lewis and Laweryson on the IL.