stringer bell

BP in consecutive half innings.

Not a clean inning after getting a four spot.

Nice inning. Wow, this club is on fire!

We didn't want Gio.

A small nit to pick. Adams was DFAed and yesterday was claimed by the Tigers and is on their 25-man roster.

While Max Kepler hasn't exactly been consistent this year, I think his season has gone very well. After the excellent series against the White Sox, Max's OPS is .889, second only to Shin-Soo Choo of the Rangers among AL right fielders. Kepler's WAR is listed as 1.6, again second among AL right fielders (behind Mookie Betts). We are just about to the 1/3 mark of the season. Multiplying the traditional stats by three would yield a season of .276, 36 homers and and 99 RBI. I guess that would be pretty good! Batting at the top of the lineup a 3 or 4 game snag could end up being a 1-20, but right now Max is rolling. Combined with his very good defense and youth (26 years of age), it looks like the Twins made a good move extending Kepler.

I have believed for some time that the Twins need to augment the pitchers they have in the bullpen and I still believe that. However, I certainly like what I see in Magill and Duffey. First of all, there's plenty of velocity for the reinvented Duffey and also Magill. Their numbers look good so far this year. I do want to see them perform in higher leverage situations, before I'm sold, but signs are promising. Harper has also been very good and seems to be the choice to replace Hildenerger in the bullpen rotation, but I wonder if his effectiveness will diminish as the league learns about him. I thought May would perhaps be the guy to step forward, but so far I'm haven't seen enough to believe in him. The team's insanely good stretch won't last forever, so I'm sure we'll see the bullpen tested. I do want to see how it holds up before a lot of assets are spent on a bullpen guy.

It might be pretty fresh and the Twins are in the headline. Maybe mlb has a little less respect than ESPN. http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/page/powerrankings052719/power-rankings-twins-rise-al-elite-reach-no-1

FWIW, ESPN power ranking have the Twins second behind Houston. No respect?

104 after yesterday's game.

Twins face Gio tomorrow, who has been effective so far for the Brewaahs. I wonder how they will fare.

Austin D Adams was claimed by the Tigers. The Twins may get to face him in the near future.

I said AL and Verlander allowed three runs in 6 innings.

The numbers keep getting better. Three consecutive wins over Chicago, each by seven runs, plus 21 for the weekend. Two more homers to stay at 2.0 per game, and now a record of 36-16, 18-8 at home and 18-8 on the road. Astounding.

The extra mph seem to be helping Odorizzi and Pérez, too. Maybe this BP will be okay after all. Ten game lead! I'm having chicken stir-fry.

6-1 in the bottom of the ninth, but the Tribe have the bases loaded and nobody out.

At the beginning of the season, May was my pick to lead the team in saves. The only team he is going to lead in saves is Rochester.

Don't look now, but the AL leader in ERA after today will probably be Jake Odorizzi.

I though Rocco would at least let him pitch to Tilson and Moncada, but Magill got the outs. I want to trust Magill, but last year he walked too many and then gave up homers.

Probably Odo's last inning. 86 pitches entering the sixth.

Probably the most substantial change is that "keeping the ball down" does little good. It seems a majority of homers are hit on pitches just above the knees to well below the strike zone. Not many swing planes in play to hit pitches in the top of the zone.

I have been out and about and tried to catch up on the Twins Daily site here at 8:45, I have some thoughts that might spur on conversations. Feel free to comment on any of these thoughts. Minor League Injuries and Disappointments--Today's announcements about a season-ending injury to Akil Baddoo, surgery for Luke Raley plus two of the better starting pitching prospects (Gonsalves and Graterol) are going on the injured list adds to an already long list of missed time due to injuries. Royce Lewis, Wander Javier, Nick Gordon, and Alex Kirilloff, all top prospects, have all missed time and there are others. These injuries sap the depth available and also reduce the number of trade chips available at the trading deadline. In addition, the players named are missing valuable development time. Seth has also written about this in the minor league forum. Adalberto Mejía--When he was placed on the Injured List, it looked to me (and most on TD) that he was being "stashed". It's been two weeks since he went on the IL and according to media reports, Mejía won't begin throwing until next month. I believe the young man has potential and he could be in the starting rotation next year. First of all, maybe the nagging injury caused his ineffectiveness. Secondly, he has three decent pitches and maybe he would be better served to be a starter. If he could be an effective reliever, there is a need for another lefty in the bullpen. Position Players--Two players are on the Injured List and the Twins still have quality players top to bottom. With less than 20 plate appearances, it can't be said that Arraez is a good player, but every indication is that he is. Nominal bench players Adrianza, Astudillo, and super-utility player Marwin Gonzalez are good players and all have stepped up when they have an opportunity. Jake Cave is toiling at Rochester and could be recalled in the event of an injury. I believe this club has enough talent and depth to withstand a normal amount of injuries and ineffectiveness and remain among the very best offenses in MLB. BTW, Astudillo has shown me enough to believe he is a good enough receiver to stay in the majors only as a catcher (another good pitching performance today with the Turtle behind the plate). Kyle Gibson--Since I had a two-minute conversation with him at Spring Training, I've been a Gibson fan. He's received criticism here for being a "nibbler" and not being able to get deep into games. I think some of that is justified, but Gibson can't throw pitches in the middle of the zone, he needs to own the corners. When he's sharp, he gets ahead and gets weak contact and swings and misses. Gibson has morphed from a pitch-to-contact sinkerballer into a guy who uses all his pitches and gets his share of strikeouts. While he probably won't ever be an ace, he is a competent, durable starter who will most likely get paid. I hope the Twins keep him beyond this year. Bullpen--Things haven't exactly gone as planned. Hildenberger flopped in May, Romero wasn't good in the spring, hasn't been good enough to stay in the majors so far, and a couple of other arms have failed to impress in major league auditions, but the bullpen has been okay so far. I don't anticipate that they'll be successful throughout the season. Tyler Duffey and Matt Magill are throwing hard enough to be capable relievers in this day and age. If Magill can keep pitches in the strike zone, I think he can be a valuable high-leverage reliever. I do think the Twins definitely need to upgrade in the bullpen to have success beyond the regular season and probably to help the club make postseason. My, the first 51 games have been fun! It would be great to keep it up all year and beyond that, it would be fun to have a top-tier team for years to come.

Has the FRE come to an end? Fernando Rodney DFAed by the A's. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/05/as-dfa-fernando-rodney-select-wei-chung-wang.html

This move does clear a spot on the 40-man roster, so the team could claim some other team's DFA. When does the claim sequence come from this season's record?

I met twinssporto at Target Field (and I owe him a beer!). Good guy, I think. He's moving toward empty nestism, so he's become more involved in following the Twins, including his participation in game threads. He did echo the recurring mod theme of dealing with negativity when we discussed the game threads. I guess I'd have to look at his overall contributions on the site, but I think he could be good.