stringer bell

Pérez' velo is down just a bit, is it not?

Tough inning for Pérez. He has not yielded much hard contact, but they've got a crooked number and he's not done yet.

The play for Merrifield was not easy, particularly for a non-outfielder (IMHO), To his credit, Merrifield made the play and it looked routine. As far as speed, the Twins appear to have only Buxton with game-changing speed. I think that one reason why the Twins should hang on to Nick Gordon is that he could provide speed along with Buck. There isn't much speed besides those guys in the top tiers of the organization. Polanco, Kepler, and Rosario run well, but not to the point that they are disruptive.

Gonzalez has played precious little right field until this year. I speculated that he would play left with Rosario and Kepler manning the other two spots when Buxton is on the pine. Margo hasn’t looked particularly comfortable in right, but I think he’s better than “a butcher” out there. Adrianza isn’t slow, but he isn’t fast. Last year he got thrown out several times on the bases. I don’t recall any terrible throw outs this year and his base running sequence on Thursday was textbook. A second baseman was playing right field and he had to run to his left and then make a throw to his right on Schoop’s hit. Merrifield did it perfectly, but it’s a chance to take with two outs.

Trying to be fair here. It looks like Hernandez has been very consistent at the bottom of the zone, not so much on the outside corner. As far as missing the pitch to Cuthpert, it was no worse than the 3-2 ring up of Encarnaciòn less than a week ago.

Ugh. Should have gotten one out, but Parker has been tough to watch.

Parker?

Hello everyone and welcome to the game thread for the Royals vs. Twins on Joe Mauer Day. The weekend is all Joe Mauer all the time and his elevation to the Twins' Hall of Fame along with the retirement of number 7 has brought back many Twins' greats and Mauer teammates. There will be a sellout crowd tonight and I would expect the game to start later than the posted 6:10 start time. Mauer and his career have been discussed to death on this site, so I will leave that topic and concentrate on the game. First thought--With now a two-catcher rotation and ten very capable players everyone is getting days off. Adrianza is in the lineup at least twice a week and Gonzalez gets four or five starts in a week. This is keeping everyone fresh and shows the quality and versatility of the position players on the 2019 Twins. Second thought--Jake Odorizzi has been nothing short of fantastic this year. The win-loss, ERA and WHIP numbers are off the charts. I would think unless he stumbles there will be an All-Star berth for the free agent-to-be. Third thought--One of the Twins' most indispensable players left the game early. I suspect Buxton will sit out today, but a long-term injury for Buxton could be damaging. Let's hope Byron stays healthy. Fourth thought--Except for Taylor Rogers, the bullpen had last night off. Getting a couple of the struggling members in a low-leverage situation would be a chance to "hit the reset button" and be more effective going forward. Fifth and last thought--The opponent. The Royals aren't very good, but they have gone about rebuilding in a good way. They have lots of young players, team speed, decent defense. They need to hit and pitch better. Today's starter, Glenn Sparkman, is coming off a good start. Please post lineups when they become available. I'll be enjoying a parade in my former hometown tonight, so I'll have to catch up after the game. Go Twins!

Lots of young position players under team control for several years--Buxton, Sanó, Kepler, Polanco, Rosario, Garver. A top ten prospect in the middle infield and two other guys (Gordon and Arraez) who appear to have major league futures at second. On the pitching side, only two starters are under team control for next year and there's only one bullpen arm worth keeping beyond this year. While I'd like to see the Twins pick up a half-season rental, they should use some of their prospect excess to acquire team-controlled pitching for seasons after this one.

Full house, but only 2:22 time of game. The beer vendors won't get as much as they might have if the game went longer.

I think Kyle would have started the ninth if it was still 0-0, but it's a save situation and they will want to let Rogers start the inning.

I think that blame is on Romero. He had a clear path to making the club out of spring training and has been given opportunities and hasn't performed, simple as that. That he has been given multiple opportunities tells me the club believes in his potential. I would assume the coaching staff has communicated with him what they are looking for and what he needs to do.

I keep waiting for Romero to "get it" as a bullpen member, but so far just about every outing has been dicey. Coming in with a nine-run lead, I expected him to finish off the game and he couldn't get an out. He has the talent to be a really good bullpen piece. I hope he does get it sometime in the near future.

Really miss having left handed options in the ‘pen. Now it’s a battle of the (bad) bullpens.

Who hits bombas today? No Sanò or Rosario.

I'll be at today's game! Should be fun. I get to see Big Mike labor for five or six innings. Yea! Of course, after that is the bullpen! I hope the beer is cold and refreshing.

Absolutely need to improve their bullpen. They will have to trade prospects I would imagine and perhaps assume some money on the contracts they would acquire.

The league has adjusted to Pérez' adjustments. He'll have to adjust a bit more, but he's got a live arm and enough stuff to be a successful starting pitcher. Regarding Encarnación, he is on most everything right now. I would guess right now the word in the Twins' clubhouse is "don't let that guy beat you". May is walking a tightrope on the mound, but the fastball up is hard to square up. If he could drop an occasional curve in there, and get ahead in counts, he could be really effective. Who sits tonight vs. a soft-tossing lefty? About the only sure thing is that Garver replaces Castro.

To me, Sanó angst is all about the hype. When he got to the majors, the comparisons were to Frank Thomas and triple crown winner Miguel Cabrera. He was supposed to be a power hitter who would hit .300 or better. His debut half-season gave us believers plenty of evidence that he would be such a hitter and soon. The first half of 2017 was more "proof". Injuries combined with struggles the last half of 2017 and most of 2018 show that he's not really improved. We were promised Miguel Cabrera and we're getting Mark Reynolds. I am not sure if it is potential wasted or if this is what Sanó was meant to be. Also, he just turned 26, a lot of players have broken out in their mid to late 20s.

How about Doolittle from the Nats?

Torreyes placed on the restricted list, whatever that is. He is no longer on the 40-man roster.

They cleared a spot when Addison Reed was DFAed, but used it for Smeltzer, I believe. Meíja is the only guy on the IL and he was put there on May 2.

The Twins take on the Tigers in Detroit this afternoon starting at 3:10 PM Central Time. I'm sure the starting time has something to do with television or TV rights. Shadows may or may not be a factor in the game with the odd starting time, but I'm confident the Twins will find a way to score some runs against the Tigers. This is the ninth game of a 10-game road trip for the Twins. They have already guaranteed a break-even trip, winning five of the first eight games. The Twins have the best record in baseball once again, having a fraction of a percentage point higher winning percentage than Houston despite being one less game over .500. The news overnight was that La Tortuga, Willians Astudillo, was optioned to Rochester, with the accompanying announcement this morning that pitcher Ryan Eades would be called up and will get his first chance in the majors. When the Twins were playing out the string in 2018, it was fun to watch Astudillo hit and run, and wonder about his very interesting skill set. This year, the hits aren't falling and watching the team win has been entertaining in itself. Good luck to Eades. So far the call-ups from Rochester to fill the last couple spots in the bullpen have been unsuccessful, but one never knows with relievers. It is looking more and more to me that they will have to go outside of the organization to get quality bullpen help this year. No lineup posted yet. Baldelli continues to give all of his players days off and avoid unfavorable matchups. Top candidate for a day off would be Schoop and perhaps Rosario. Kyle Gibson takes the hill with an additional day of rest. Gibson has a good 6-2 record, 3.75 ERA and 1.219 WHIP, but somehow has a WAR of only 0.4. I don't get WAR, especially for pitchers. If I don't get a lineup posted, I would appreciate if one is added. Thanks! Edit: Lineup posted. Play ball at 3:10! TWINS (42-20) Kepler RF Polanco SS Cruz DH Cron 1B Gonzalez LF Sanó 3B Schoop 2B Castro C Buxton CF Gibson P Tigers (23-37) Goodrum SS Stewart LF Castellanos RF Cabrera DH Dixon 1B Castro 3B Beckham 2B Greiner C Jones CF Farmer P

Any word on the move to clear space on the 40-man?

I really don't want to sidetrack this thread further, but I'll say this, I'm not saying Schoop is better or worse than Dozier and if there is a conversation about that, it shouldn't be in this thread.