stringer bell

I know Wallner got a start vs. a lefty in Houston. I was there.Larnach has gotten more play against lefties. Neither have been pinch hit for much, mostly because they don't have great options. Wallner has been struggling, so I'd say it's defensible.

You got your wish.

Yep, certainly a debatable call. I'd rather see Wallner, too. What is true is that Rocco has pinch hit far less and his lefty hitters have gotten far more chances against lefties than in any of the last three years. Also, I'm disappointed Lee didn't take second on the overthrow to third.

Because of the results in 2022 and 2024, I think there's quite a bit of negativity and it's grown with each passing year. I don't blame people for being critical and cynical. I blame people for being unfairly negative.

Who's left? And do you want to use three of your bench moves in the 6th inning? Because, the only logical pinch hitter would be Jeffers which would lose the only backup catcher and then someone would have to play second base (Bride, with Lee going from third to second).

Okay, time for a rant. I come to game threads and post-game threads and see posters second guessing literally everything that doesn't go right. The manager, front office and players are all justifiable targets, but it seems endless. You run and get caught stealing, you get roasted. You don't run and the guy hits into a double play, you get roasted. You bring in a reliever and he gets hit, you get criticized, keep the pitcher in for a third time through the order--similar snark. Clemens has been a big surprise and he's criticized for his BA. I was hearing howls when Wallner was rehabbing to bring him up right away. The same for Lewis, but when they struggle, they should have stayed down longer. I think Rocco Baldelli is lucky he is managing a team in Minnesota. He may well have been fired if managing in rabid cities like Philly, Boston and New York and maybe he should have earlier this year, but he's not the worst manager the Twins ever had (Ray Miller), but the incessant second guessing and meritless criticism for players' struggles is too much. The Pohlads seem totally tone-deaf and pretty unconcerned with a product that is losing interest and attendance, but I don't think the Twins owners are the worst in baseball. I've been a Twins fan since they moved here and I've seen most everything from world championships to "total system failure" and I like to be entertained by my favorite pro sports team. I also like to compare what's going on with my favorite team versus what other teams do. For example, Gipson-Long has used behind an opener until his last two starts and the Tigers have been really successful. Other managers pull their starters after two times through the lineup. It isn't just Rocco. Every other team has players who make fundamental mistakes, I guarantee it. End of rant.

Kody Clemens, coming into today, is hitting .220 for the Twins, but with an .820 OPS. That's better than anyone but Buxton. He's got 1.0 WAR in 46 games, more than France, Jeffers, Castro and as much as Larnach in fewer games. Yeah, it might be a mirage, but he has earned playing time as much as anybody.

Yeah, maybe you could steal a run there. However, it's gone on forever that LH hitter like having the first baseman hold the runner to open up the hole. If Buck is a near-lock to reach second there, I still want him to go.

I think Bader leads the team in infield hits. A combination of good luck, pounding a lot of balls into the ground and decent speed.

I'm more of a numbers person than many. Dividing a season in two should be done at the 81-game mark, the literal halfway point of the season and that is where we are today. We start the statistical second half today in the 82nd game. Can the Twins make the playoffs this year? Many on this site will scoff and the last eleven months have given plenty of reason to be skeptical. I think the Twins can make postseason, but it will have to come with sustained improvements in many areas: 1) The offense has to be much more consistent. When Byron Buxton is the most consistent player for your team, your team is not consistent. Buck has been great, and his health has been a big positive in the first half. Losing Buxton for a long period would likely end the Twins chances for postseason. Several guys have underperformed and turnarounds from Royce Lewis, Carlos Correa and Matt Wallner would make the Twins offense much more of a constant threat. I'm thinking Correa needs to lift his OPS to >.750 requiring an > .800 OPS in the second half. Wallner needs to get his OPS number above .800 as he has both of the last two years requiring something like an .850 OPS in the last 81 games. Lewis also needs to get his OPS in range with previous seasons and he would have to OPS well over .800 to do so. Beyond that, someone needs to man second base adequately and hit. Both Clemens and Lee have hit well and appear adequate in the field. One of them needs to continue to produce. 2) The team needs to win their share (or more) of close games. The Twins are on a nine-game losing streak in one-run games. That's kind of hard to do and only during their long winning streak have they won close to half of close games in the first half. Was that just buzzard's luck or is there a flaw that causes them to be poor in close games? I think it's a little of both--when you really need a run, a home run is 100% sure of getting that run and the Twins rank near the middle in that stat. They have little team speed to produce runs in other ways. 3) The Twins need to be fundamentally sound. Another possible reason for the Twins lousy record in one-run games is failing to make plays and failing to take advantage when teams give them an opportunity. Defensively, the Twins were pretty good through their long winning streak, but they've regressed considerably recently--poor routes, throwing to the wrong base, allowing runners to steal and advance all figure in. They've gotten solid glove work from Bader and France, in addition to the expected good defense from Buxton and Correa, but everyone needs to step up. Keeping their heads in games and limiting mental mistakes has to be a priority. I'd love to see them be positive performers on the base paths as well. With their low ranking in team speed, stolen bases won't happen much, but hopefully as a team they can take extra bases and avoid making outs when trying to advance. 4) The rotation needs more innings and more quality. Bailey Ober seems to have lost his mojo. He had been really good for quite a long time and now it seems every mistake is hit 400 feet. Pablo López will be out until August for sure, so everyone including Ober, needs to step up. It is also essential that the starters get deeper in games consistently, including SWR and Festa. The quality start stat has often been mocked, but getting more length is key in keeping the bullpen rested and productive. 5) The "front end" of the bullpen needs to be better. First of all, the back end has been pretty doggone good. Durán, Jax, Stewart, Varland and Coulombe have done their jobs and then some on the whole. The less trusted guys have shown why they are less trusted. Sands has regressed considerably, Topa has been knocked around in a couple of outings and the rest have ranged from okay in a small sample size to gasoline on a fire. I would expect some roster movement among the lower leverage bullpen arms and I would hope that the Twins could come up with better options than Joey Wentz and Kody Funderburk. 6) Someone needs to emerge. In the first half, it was Kody Clemens. Someone acquired in a trade, called up from the minors or picked up as a DFA needs to give the team a spark. Maybe it will be one of the pitchers the Twins signed and claimed recently, maybe it's someone at St. Paul. The Twins are 39-42, pretty close to where they were in 2023 when they won the division going away. This year that isn't going to happen. Detroit has won 51 games and only need to play .500 to win over 90. For the Twins to win 90, they would need to go 51-30 in the second half. Somewhere between 86 and 90 wins would put them in the middle of a wild card race. I think they can get there if most of the improvements I listed above happen.

I don’t think it’s quite as simple as that, but yes, Royce’s body doesn’t look the same as when he broke in. Some of that might be natural as he has reached his mid-20s. I think his lower body is going to be more vulnerable to muscle strains and tears and I’m certain he does plenty of stretching. He needs to find how hard he can push and not go over the red line.

Per the Twins on BlueSky, Festa is the starting pitcher.

For some reason the Twins think an opener works for Festa. I honestly don't know, but wonder if it's platoon splits against left handed hitters. If they use an opener for Festa, I hope the opener doesn't dig a deep hole for the Slim Reaper to pitch out of. My thought is that Wentz is rested and would be extra motivated going against the club that brought him to the majors and then let him go. If they go with an opener, he is probably the choice. Edit to add: If they choose to give either a opener or early reliever role for Wentz, I wonder if it is his last chance to hang with the major league team. He has been unimpressive thus far.

I kind of don't want to go down this rabbit hole, but kinda do. Ronnie Henriquez seems to have very similar stats for both the Twins and Fish in a similar sample size. He had 31 IP with the Twins and has 37.2 with the Marlins. His ERA is 2.87 with the Marlins and was 2.90 with the Twins. His FIP with Miami is 3.95 and was 4.02 with the Twins. His WHIP is 1.274 this year and was 1.161 in his two years in Minnesota. His ERA+ is 153 with Miami vs. 144 with Minnesota. All in all, pretty good numbers for both teams. Henriquez is a victim of too many option years used too quickly and never established himself as a late-inning guy too crucial to be optioned and then was a loser in the numbers game. I don't think it is bad coaching at all, but may well be poor use of of roster tools and underestimating his talent. I've liked Henriquez since the Twins picked him up and thought he was the wrong guy to both option and DFA in his past years with the Twins. So far, he is showing the front office that he is more valuable than other guys they kept at his expense.

Agree 100% with your comment about postgame threads. I probably follow ex-Twins as close as anyone, but mostly I’m cheering for a player I previously rooted for. As for Sands, I was driving home when the ninth inning was being played and listening to the radio broadcast—if ever it was a garbage-time inning, this was it. He got the first two outs and then couldn’t get strike three on four straight batters and according to Atteberry, all three hits were soft contact. I’m taking a long time to say that yesterday’s outing shouldn’t raise any red flags. I think last year, Sands transformed from failed starter to capable reliever. His stuff isn’t playing as well and that happens very often with relief pitchers. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is nicked somewhere, but relievers are volatile. I hope he has more success going forward because five inning starts look to be the norm for a while.

Agree, Jax has been every bit as good as expected since his rocky start. Baldelli always tries to give him the toughest hitters on the opposition and he is getting them out.

I believe Chris Gimenez hit a homer after pitching an inning in a blowout loss, so he is the last Twins pitcher to get a hit.

I saw the he was activated from the Saints’ Injured List. He homered and singled in his first game back and…….left the game early. Injured once again? I think that, if healthy, he could help the team a lot more than Jonah Bride, but he needs to get and stay on the field.

If they play, they'll play 9. Sucks, especially for the M's,

You're asking if they should burn an option for Lewis? I don't think that is necessary or what will happen. Hitters have twenty days of rehab before they must be reactivated. I think that is ample time for Lewis to get to some semblance of full speed and get his bat going. I don't think it should be a quickie three or four day deal.

A lot of day baseball today. I hope the first two games were rock bottom, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm in agreement that the current roster provides for a narrow window for them to be good. Having three players among the lower 5% in OPS as alternatives for slumping or injured players is short sighted. Those guys will play, and in Vázquez' case, play a lot. Jonah Bride shouldn't be on this team, particularly in the role he has--platoon player--in light of his less than stellar track record and in that track record he has severe reverse splits. Playing him only where he has had less success is just wrong. I believe Bride has sat against a lefty or two, with one of Larnach or Wallner in the lineup. That makes sense to me, but then what is Bride on the roster for?

Always interesting observations @Riverbrian. The promised change in catcher utilization never really came, did it? Vázquez had a nice road trip a while back, but has reverted to perhaps the worst offensive player regularly used in MLB. While the team OPS is below average, it isn't below by much. It takes a lot of singles to score five runs when your team lacks both power and speed. With Jeffers in the lineup, they can put out a card with only everyone a good night away from a .700 OPS and three guys over .800. To me, that is an average-ish offense, but no depth (three guys with OPS .509 or lower).

The Twins are not a young team. Brooks Lee is the only active position player born in this century and he's more than three years younger than the second youngest (Wallner). They don't have much team speed and it shows in their defense and base running. I'd like to say get rid of plodding bat-first or bat-only guys. Probably one of Larnach or Wallner. Two of the faster guys, Castro and Bader, are on expiring contracts, with Bader having a mutual option. Castro has been valuable for the Twins, but his base running and fielding have suffered. If the Twins can get good value, they need to let go of their multi-position security blanket. If Bader can be maintained for the mutural option amount or a bit more, keep him. On the pitching side, what was the envy of most of MLB has fallen apart rather rapidly and abruptly. Having four top starters in their 20s and effective and three of them under team control for multiple years is great. Then Pablo López got injured, Bailey Ober lost his mojo, and Chris Paddack reverted a bit. Add in the Matthews injury and suddenly the rotation was in shambles. More short and bad starts exposed the front end of the bullpen as suspect. I guess it just shows that pitching needs to be stockpiled. Other than perhaps Danny Coulombe, I don't see any easy sell targets in the Twins' BP. If they can get a huge return for someone, they should probably sell. I don't see Julien or Miranda as having much value in a trade and I don't hold a lot of hope for either helping the Twins long-term.

Almost-a-Twin Lovelady lasted one game with the Mets. Replaced by former Twin Brandon Waddell. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/06/mets-designate-jose-castillo-richard-lovelady-for-assignment.html