Rik19753

This trade deadline, the Guardians have traded Amed Rosario and Aaron Civale, two solid but underwhelming regulars. What they got in return was playing time for their young players and a consensus top 50 prospect in Kyle Manzardo. This is exactly what the Twins should be doing IMO. When you think about it, Amed Rosario was the Guardians' version of Max Kepler. Both are solid bets to put up around 2.0 WAR, which is the definition of average. Both have single flaws in their game that they just can't improve upon (Rosario with his defense, Kepler with his batted ball tendencies). And the most important part is, both are blocking their respective teams' prospects from getting playing time. The difference is, the Guardians' took the route of ditching said player the first chance they got. And to take a flier on a washed-up pitcher, no less (no offense Thor). The Twins have hung onto Kepler like a baby clinging to their blanket, and the argument that Wallner is not ready to overtake him is getting weaker every day he plays. The Twins can probably still get something for Kepler now that he's hot. The time to trade him is now. As for Civale, he had two years of control left and the replacement for him is not as clear as Rosario. Losing him opens a hole in the rotation that is already riddled with injuries, so I have no doubt that if they were thinking about just this year, they would much rather have him than not. Nonetheless, the Guardians thought that he was unspectacular enough that they would rather acquire a top prospect and bank on other players being capable enough to fill the gap. The parallel I draw from this is Jorge Polanco. Polanco is one of my favorite players, so it pains me to say this, but it's time to part ways with him while he still has some value. I think he could still net us a top 100 prospect easily with his team-friendly options and the dearth of bats in this year's market. While losing Polanco from the lineup this year stings, this team is not good enough to justify hanging on to Polanco just for the minor upgrade he provides from Solano/Farmer. As for the future, the combination of Julien, Royce, Lee and maybe guys like Severino and Miranda should be more than enough to fill in for him, both on the field at 2B/3B and from an offensive contribution standpoint. The Twins' tendency of clinging on to veterans has hampered the team. It's time to retool and give the young guys a chance. Honestly, with how the teams has been playing, banking on a prospect carrying your team to and through the playoffs (a la Arozarena or Soto) might actually be the move that maximizes your chances of winning the World Series.

This is definitely not a great move on the Angels' part from a roster-building perspective. Nonetheless, I love it. In this day and age of sabermetrics and data, it seems like it's exceedingly rare for a team sitting in the Angels' position to throw caution to the winds and go all-in. While it certainly doesn't bode well for them long-term, I love that they have faith in their team, and faith in Ohtani and Trout, to lead them to the promised land this year even despite their recent history of ineptitude. I understand why most teams don't do this, but I'd like to see more of this "do or die" mentality from these fringe playoff teams. It makes the sport much more entertaining IMO. I'll definitely be rooting for them this year.

Wow, that was totally unexpected. Now I think I like the trade even better from the Twins' standpoint! But really, this move is very head-scratching to me. As Mike mentioned, I get the fact that they are trying to create playing time for their prospects at SS. However, by acquiring Syndergaard, it seems they are now taking away playing time from their pitching prospects (who have largely been pitching very well).

What does this mean for the Guardians? Do they have anyone to play SS? If they are handing over the reigns to Gabriel Arias and his .590 OPS they are basically throwing in the towel.

I think this is a great move. While it seems like most in this comment section see Floro as a middle or low leverage reliever with upside, that does not do him justice. It would be a shame to write him off just because of his 4.54 ERA. He's definitely not in the Hader tier, but I would put him in the next tier, which is the "not elite but very darn good" tier. Just looking at his underlying numbers, they are very similar to Jax. Floro has just been hurt by an enormous BABIP of .397, but his batted ball profile suggests that he has done nothing to deserve it. Floro: 24.0 K%, 6.4 BB%, 0.45 HR/9, 55.1 GB% Jax: 24.7 K%, 6.5 BB%, 0.43 HR/9, 57.9 GB% I wouldn't be surprised if the FO has checked off their "acquire high leverage reliever" box off their to do list after this move.

Shouldn't Duran be pitching precisely because it's a tough position to be in? You should always want your best pitcher pitching in the most important situation. The difference between giving up 1, 2 and 3 runs is huge at that point. I'm actually fine with letting Ortega pitch the 9th. Having Duran in extras is a huge advantage and they haven't been using him in tie games in the 9th as far as I can remember.

Why do you not use Duran in the 8th after Moran created that mess? As good as Pagan has been recently, it baffles me that you let the other guys blow a 4 run lead while Duran sat in the bullpen. Most times, I agree with or understand the bullpen management, but that was a major head-scratcher for me.

Very true. The Twins are 8th in run differential right now, which is already decent; if they had average production with the bases loaded they would probably be somewhere around 5th.

One of the more frustrating aspects of this 2023 Twins teams has been the struggles in bases-loaded situations. Their traditional slashline in 85 PA with the bases loaded is ridiculously bad: AVG: .169 (Last) OBP: .212 (Last) SLG: .239 (29th) OPS: .451 (Last) These numbers themselves gives you more than enough information on just how bad they've been, but here are some crazy stats that drive home the point even further. ・The Twins have hit 9 singles in these situations. The Dodgers have hit the same number of grand slams. ・The Twins have 12 total hits. The White Sox have hit 13 doubles with the bases loaded. There are 5 teams that have hit more than 13 XBHs. ・20 teams have a batting average higher than the Twins slugging percentage. ・12 teams have a slugging percentage higher than the Twins OPS. ・There are 407 players that have more than 85 PA this year. Only 8 have a OPS under .451.

It is a treat to watch Kirilloff and Julien in the same lineup. They are special. Hopefully Royce can join them soon. As bad as the lineup has looked at times this year, the future seems bright with Kirilloff, Julien, Royce and Correa forming a solid top of the order. Hopefully Buxton can turn it around and get in the mix, then we would have a solid top 6 with him and Jeffers.

Agree that the game is over. But that is unfair to Duran. Even the best relievers give up runs.

Hey, they signed him and selected him for the opening day roster, didn't they? If we're going to complain about them letting go of guys like Coulombe, we need to give them credit for signing guys like Castro and Brock Stewart. Castro is really looking like a quality asset. I love that his plate discipline has been improving recently. If he can maintain his 7.0% BB rate (career rate is 5.0%), with his speed and defensive versatility, he is going to be a very good utility player.

I know that Bellinger is a sexy add given that he's a former MVP, but I think signing him would be a huge mistake. The reason being that there are actually a ton of similarities between him, Gallo and Kepler. And we all know that most of us want Gallo and Kepler gone as soon as possible. All are formerly great hitters that are struggling at the plate due to one reason or another. They are all above-average to elite defensively, which has helped them maintain value through their struggles at the plate. And before you tell me that Bellinger has seemingly figured it out in Chicago, go look at his statcast page. It's full of blue. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/cody-bellinger-641355?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb His average exit velo this year is 86.4. That is in the 9th percentile. He's never had a exit velo under 89.3, and that's including the years where we struggled mightily. If we sign Bellinger, we are going to be stuck with another left-handed hitting middling outfielder who is too good/expensive to sit but not good enough to actually have a positive impact. No thanks.

So far this season (not counting tonight's gem by Lopez), Arraez has 2.8 WAR while Pablo has 2.2 WAR. I think tonight's performance raised Pablo's WAR to at least 2.5 WAR. WAR isn't the end-all-be-all, but the trade has not been nearly as lopsided as people make it out to be.

I think you double counted today's stats. He has 111 IP and 138 Ks. That's still tremendous though. He might come close to 200 IP by year's end. Even though his ERA isn't tremendous, I think he is the ace of the staff. He's now 3rd in the MLB in Ks, behind only Strider and Gausman.

Pretty surprised given we have an off day tomorrow and with Jax and Duran being well rested. Rocco must be pretty serious about giving our SPs more chances to go deeper into games.

Royce may be the true superstar that we desperately need. The Twins have too many average players who are too good to cut but not good enough to provide significant value IMO. Guys like Wallner, Kirilloff and Larnach are nice, but it is easy to find these corner outfield type of players as evidenced by Gallo and Kepler. Royce seems like the kind of player that has the tools to become a MVP type talent, and that is truly exciting.

In the series finale against the Tigers, the Twins deployed their three best relievers in the 8th, 9th and 10th to secure the win. Brock Stewart, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran combined for 3 hitless innings while striking out 4 and walking only one. In recent weeks, this kind of performance has been par for the course for this trio. In the month of June, they have combined to pitch 27 innings (basically 3 full games) and have only given up 2(!) earned runs. This got me thinking, where does this trio rank amongst the RP in the league? So I did a little research, and here is what I found. ERA ranks (out of 175 qualified relievers) Stewart: 1st Duran: 10th Jax: 93rd xERA ranks (out of 151 relievers) Duran: 10th Stewart: 14th Jax: 15th WAR ranks (out of 175 relievers) Jax: 8th Stewart: 41st Duran: 71st These stats seem to indicate that the Twins have 3 relievers that are closer-caliber. We have come a long ways from depending on guys like Pagan and Colome to close out games, folks. The starting pitching has been great, but this may quietly be the biggest strength on the team. P.S. The team that may stake a claim to having the best RP trio is the Orioles. Going by ERA, their 3 best relievers rank 2nd, 5th and 38th. 2 of those pitchers are Cano and Coulombe. I want to give credit to the FO for building a great bullpen, but maybe I shouldn't.

He has 2 hits today and a .770 OPS on the season as a rookie. He does strike out a lot, but I don't see how he isn't a good hitter. Granted, he probably shouldn't be batting leadoff this early in his career, but that's on the Twins, not Julien.

Solano can do all the celebrating he wants as long as he keeps hitting. We can start complaining about his excessive celebration when everyone starts hitting like him.

Solano hitting 2nd isn't exciting, but he sure deserves the spot with the way that he is hitting.

Baez is good. I looked away for a split second after I was convinced that Vazquez had a hit up the middle and did a double-take after seeing him get thrown out.

Gallo looking like he's trying to rip his hair out on the bench. While I dislike his performance, I can't help but sympathize with him.

We need to give Vazquez the Linval Joseph oxygen mask before he goes out to catch the next inning.

Is it just me or does anyone else get annoyed when Twins players start walking to first after taking strike three? It seems like the Twins hitters do this way more often than opposing hitters.