MackMan

I think he is at best, a low 2 high 3 just because of his make-up and consistency. Now I think another of development with the pitching staff and he should have a servicable secondary pitch. Of course, this all depends on what kind of money the organization is willing to spend this off-season on FA pitching and what they have coming up from the minors. As of right now he is a very durable player who has minimal time on the IL. So that is something he has going for him. So I would say, unfortunately, for the Twins, he is about the best option we have for the front end of the rotation. Nobody else has stepped up and shown that they deserve the Ace position on the team. But with the amount of pitchers that aren't working deep into the game anymore, it almost seems as if the "Ace" is going away from the game outside of few players who have been around for a long time (Scherzer, Verlander, DeGrom just to name a few). I just think its a shift in the game that has been happening for a few years now.

Honestly, I think most of these changes are for the better. 1. Pitch Clock-There are too many MLB pitchers out there that haven't had to deal with a pitch clock. Maybe just a handful?? But for the most part, these guys are pretty used to it by now. They understand that they cannot take forever. Also, with the ear piece thing, it should be much of a problem at this point. 2. Limiting the shifting of infielders is fine. At the same time I also don't like it because it doesn't teach hitters to use the whole field. It allows them to continue to pull the ball to their respective fields. Is it going to help the Twins? With Keplar, absolutely. With Arraez, probably not. Its gonna be a double-edged sword for most teams. 3. The larger bases and limit of the "disengage" of the mound will definitely help speed up the game and potentially help limit injuries to fielders when a player slides into the bag. Now there will be almost no excuse for a fielder blocking off a sliding lane for the runner. All in all, I think these are changes that need to come to baseball. This is a game that doesn't do much changing, whether that be for better or worse, but IMO this is a step in the right direction.

I agree. Make something along the lines of: If you don't use your whole salary in one season, you lose the difference from next season's salary cap. For example. Salary cap for 2023 is $220 million. Twins decide to go cheap and only spend $200 million. Now for the next season (2024), they have a salary cap of $200 million. Think of it as a penalty for not using all their budget. If the use their whole budget in 2024, when 2025 comes around, the salary cap is bumped back to $220 million. In the business world, if you don't use your whole budget, more often than not that money is taken away the following fiscal year. Why not make it similar for baseball?

Now I don't think that this would be a good trade. Personally, I think that Martin or Lewis would be the better trade. Of course, there would be a package deal. Maybe a package of Martin/Lewis, Duran, Gordon/Arraez, and Rooker. The A's would more than likely take Martin over Lewis because he hasn't lost back-to-back seasons.

I believe this is the right move for both pitchers. I believe that Jax will succeed in the pen. I think He'll end up similar to Trevor May. Similar number during their first season. As for Thorpe, I want him to succeed but this is a for sure final showing for him. If he struggles, I think he is going to be DFA'd again. IMO he just hasn't shown us anything that gives him the right to be in the starting rotation. Now he could certainly be one of those "bullpen" starters when its a bullpen day. He just needs to show that he can bounce back from the injury and maintain replacement level because as we all know, we have a plethora of young guns ready to come up and help out the team.

At the same time, yesterday was one of his worst starts of his career. I'm not denying that he didn't use stuff in the past, but yesterday was downright awful. Even he would/was embarrassed by the way he was pitching.

Hey I'm not saying JD has a legitimate gripe here, but we will have to see what happens the rest of the way with Giolito's spin rate. Also, on a side note, Gerritt Cole has looked pretty down Earth since they started the checking of equipment. As shown below when he went to Houston, his numbers significantly changed. Now, maybe HOU had a better pitching coach that worked with his mechanics a little bit more or the game finally clicked for him and he started to see success. But at the same time, it is interesting to see the sharp drop-off in BAA and SO%. Will be interesting to see what he looks like for the rest of the season.

I too believe it is a little bit about National Coverage. With all the ball games being stuck behind a paywall, it limits who is able to watch the games. I use YouTube TV and cannot watch Twins baseball. I get Dodgers/Yankees/Padres/Atlanta/Washington/ETC...because those are "big" market teams. Not to mention those teams are successful (well, more than the Twins anyways) and that Bally Sports is refusing to come to agreements with TV providers. And I can hardly listen to the games because 1) Radio Stations around my area just don't care to play the game 2) Sirius and MLB force you to upgrade you package 3) I wanna see what happens in the game. I also believe that the reason baseball isn't as popular is because people are too caught up in "violent" sports such as football and basketball. Activities where there are more contact. Our society is moving more sedentary than it has ever been, which means our children are more heavy/overweight/obese than they have ever been. This comes down to what sports are more available to the kids. For example, as a heavier-set child, you are more than likely to join football and like it because it's a sport that is built for you.

First off, I feel bad that he got injured. I don't wish injuries upon anyone in the MLB because that could and sometimes does, completely derail their career. Especially with pitchers and their UCL. Most of us know, that when pitchers come back from Tommy John Surgery, they usually aren't the same pitcher. Velocity is down, control isn't there, mechanics are out wack due to compensating for something, and even loss of flexibility in their elbow. To put it plain, injuries suck. Secondly, I believe he should be suspended. He admitted to cheating. How is this any different than when Pineda and Polanco got suspended for PED's. I understand it is harder to prove that a pitcher is cheating, than a hitter using PED's. But cheating is cheating. The worst part is, if you haven't watched the Carlos Rodon interview here, he goes on to state that pitchers who get caught are going to serve more time than the Astros did when their cheating was PROVEN. The rule that pitchers should not be using foreign substances has always been on the books but never enforced until now. And the pitchers are throwing fits about it, because they can't pitch anymore. Thirdly, the MLB was afraid of the too strong offense 2 years ago. So they changed the ball and look where we're at. Having to change pitching to get the offense back up so its exciting to watch baseball. Manfred is not handling the past few years very at all. We all know by looking at the stats that offense is down as a whole. Pitching is dominating the game. I personally believe it is a cyclical thing. Pitching goes up, hitting goes down. Hitters catch up and pitching drops. Eventually everything is going to even out.

Trading Cruz does hurt the team chemistry. But from an organizational stand point, it makes total sense. Clear up some cap space, allow some rookies to get more AB's, and when Garver comes back, he can be our DH. I know some of you might be wondering why Garver and not Sano, Rooker, or Jeffers. Well to be frank, Garver is a better offensive player than what he brings on defense. We all know that Garver isn't the best catcher in the world. Prior to his injury he was hitting very well, considering the season we're having. He was drawing walks, striking out less, getting good contacts, and finally hitting HR's. Sano is not what we need at DH. He strikes out too much, doesn't put the ball into play, and just looks lost at the plate. He is a player that just swings and prays to make solid contact. If it weren't for his past, he more than likely wouldn't have a spot in the starting lineup. He had 1 good season where he hammered the ball and everyone is waiting for that Sano to show up. I highly doubt he is going to show us that again. Yes, exit velo and xBPA are cool stats to look at and see if you're barreling the ball, but they don't mean much if you aren't getting hits and RBI's in timely situations. Rooker is in limbo right now. He has above average power, but like Sano, is having issues putting the bat to the ball. Yes, he has been hitting and drawing walks down at St. Paul, but that just isn't enough to warrant a full time DH spot for him. He is also less marketable because he is a liability in the field. Noodle arm, trailer hooked up to the semi, and 2 gears of granny gear and 1st gear don't help him break the lineup. At this point in his career is looking like a journeyman that will constantly be used when someone goes down on injury. A typical AAAA guy. Jeffers is going to be our future catcher, unless he absolutely loses the ability to hit the ball. He is a better catcher than Garver. Plain and simple. I'm not knocking that Garver can't catch, but he has constantly been touted as being below average, but he has been improving for the past few years. We know that Jeffers is more than likely going to be splitting time with Rortvedt in the future. He has some pop in the bat but again, he has struggled this year at the plate, much like the rest of the team. Although, he has been turning it around since being recalled after Garver went down with his injury. Maybe there is something going on in St. Paul with their staff that could brought over to the big league club.

This season will hurt the Twins just based upon the fact that there is no roster expansion to 40 when September rolls around. That is usually a decent time to give some of these prospects their "cup of coffee". Especially if we are going to have a season like the current one that we have.

Even the MLB app is ripping on Sano. Can we please not use him in situational hitting? I personally believe that letting Celestino should have stayed in the game. Gotta let the young guy do something. You can't protect young players forever.

This is a very unique story. I mean, I wouldn't put it past the Colonel to have cursed them for sure. Especially with the that long of a losing streak. I mean, in MN we have the Wolves which have suffered very similar in terms of success.

Honestly, this is not being a baserunning wizard. This is more like First baseman makes a blunder and causes his team to look foolish. This was seriously worse than watching children play the game. Lets break this down a little: 1. There were 2 outs. All the first baseman had to do was step on the bag 2. They continued to throw the ball around the infield. That is a little league mistake. 3. The defense clearly forgot how many outs there were in the inning, otherwise he wouldn't have ran the runner back home from first base. 4. The manager let this happen. Unacceptable. He should have known and should have been relaying this to the team. 5. The pitcher should have seen the first baseman run him back and should have covered first. PFP is done for a reason during ST. I have a feeling that the Pirates are going to be working on some basics in their next practice session. Like 9-10 yr old stuff, because that is exactly how they played on this play.

This was a nail-biter throughout. Neither team hit particularly well, as both teams combined for 9-58 ( .155 avg). Instead today was all about opportunity and timely hitting. And the Twins just happened to get their big hit when it mattered the most. Now I'm not saying either pitcher was dominant, but Pineda's experience showed as compared to Lopez, as he was able to work out of the 3rd inning with back to back walks while facing the run producers of the O's. Of course, after the 3rd inning Pineda settled in and was firing on all cylinders. Unfortunately the first 3 innings really ate up his pitch count, so he wasn't able to go a little deeper in the ball game (then again, Rocco really doesn't allow too many starters to go past the 6th). When the 6th inning came around and we had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 down, I was afraid we were going to squander that opportunity and lose the game. Luckily, Sano (and his streakiness) came through when we needed it the most. He has single-handedly won us 4 games as of late (of course, it was all behind the long ball and pitching keeping it close). If Sano can continue to play this well during the "soft" portion of our schedule, 10-3 or 11-2 is very realistic. Heck, if we can get starting pitching like today, we have a chance to even go 12-1, so long as we can keep our bats alive and going. Now the 9th was a bit of scare. Unfortunately, you never know which Robles you are going to get. There is one thing that is guaranteed when he comes in: The game will slow down. Whether it slows down because of walks, hits or him just taking his time between pitches. Today was obviously due to hits. He showed us that he definitely has closer material in that he allowed runners on, but was able to work out of the jam and get the win. I do commend Rocco and Wes, in that they need to give the player some confidence out there. If they would have pulled him after his 3rd batter, who knows that that could have done to his confidence as well as the game.

It was a soft single...that went a little further.

Wait!?! Are the Twins reading whats on here? Because we were just talking about hits and working the pitch count and what do they start doing? Getting hits and working the pitch count.

Big Mike is having a decent game. Outside of that one bad pitch, he is rolling along. Falling behind but still able to get the K and getting routine outs. Too bad the offense is squandering his good outing...again

Only slightly. Or at the very least working the pitch count.

I saw the play. They clocked it at about 82 mph. Which isn't bad, he just isn't enough to throw from deep in the hole. Is he quick enough and have good instincts to play SS? Yes. The only thing that will hinder him there is his arm. But I believe when Lewis gets back and able to fully recover, Gordon and Lewis might make a troublesome middle infield for a lot of teams.

I totally understand that, but at the same time as I said, Berrios has shown us that he is interested in testing the waters come FA. Also, we have a slew of veteran contracts expiring this off-season. Again, we would have to clear a few spots on the 40-man if we are going to try get some big names come the deadline. I would say keep who we can, and everyone else is available for the right price, regardless of our standings. Of course if things take a turn for the worst, we have a fire sale and shed a lot of these veteran contracts to teams that can and are willing to take them.

If we went 40-10 that would be a horrible strategy. I wouldn't offer Duran or Balazovic just for the simple fact that if Maeda keeps his form, he's going to be demoted to the bullpen or sold off for cash considerations or another bridge player. Berrios has clearly shown us he isn't interested in being with us long-term. He has all but said he wants to test the FA market when he's available to do so. On top of that, Big Mike's contract is up at the end of the year. Yes he has been consistent, but he may want too much for our team to keep him, with young arms in waiting. And Shoemaker and Happ's contracts are coming to an end. The FO and fans have pretty much known that these 2 are just stop-gaps before Duran and Balazovic reach the big leagues. Also we have to look at the fact that Cruz's contract is up at the end of the year and it seems as if father time is starting to catch up to him (not making contact with fastballs up in the zone like he used).

Garlick has been dealing with a groin injury for the past week or so. He is choosing to be a team player and play through it until we start getting some bodies back from the IL. Now that Kiriloff is back, I think you'll see him play just a bit less (due to injury). Maybe more PH situations. Now with Arraez out, we need another utility player outside of Austidillo, (as he is now our official back-up catcher) because Gordon just doesn't have the arm to play anywhere outside of 2nd. Maybe a spot defense switch in LF but IDK if he has any playing time there in the minors.

I agree. Pitchers do have the upper-hand because they know that hitters are not going to change their approach. If they're a pull hitter, they will always be a pull hitter until they cannot catch up to the pitch anymore. As you mentioned before, Kepler is struggling because teams are starting to figure him out. They know that if a ball is tossed middle-in, it is going to be sent over the right field wall. So how to you counter that? Throw away, whether that be high, middle, or low. And if he beats you that way, then so be it. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that hitters are too predictable and not willing to adapt to what they see from the defense (outside of a few). I agree that eliminating shifts would hurt the game. It removes the coaching aspect of the game, as did the requirement for relievers to face 3 batter or finish the inning. If a team is shifting to have 3 (or 4) on the right side of the diamond against...lets say Joey Gallo, it is up to Gallo to be able to recognize this and adjust. Comes back an old saying, "Hit 'em where they ain't." If a player cannot adjust to team shifting on him, then (in my opinion) he has a hole in his swing.

In the article I stated above, there was a portion that stated it was easier for the pitchers to simulate real game situation when doing bullpen sessions and during practice. I mean, for hitters, they aren't facing 90 mph fastball during BP on a field. IF and thats a big IF hitters are facing the 90 mph fastball, its in the tunnel. They aren't facing live pitching with the velocity and location change that a normal pitcher would give them. I don't know if this is a portion of the effect that or not, but it is possible that this could be causing a shift in gameplay and the hitter's attack. As for the pitchers adapting better from a shortened season. Maybe. Hard to tell because from what I saw, the pitchers knew that it was going to be a sprint last season, so (I'm assuming) they chose open up on all cylinders last season. And from what I've been seeing this season, a lot of pitchers are struggling outside of household names.