Danchat

I'm going to start a new thread for the 40 man discussion, so look forward to that. Also, I see that Squirrel has also engaged in a very similar topic here in a blog, so give that a look if you haven't yet.

I think we will see Rosario rise up the rankings as time goes on, as his hitting was fantastic for a 19 year old. Perhaps one day we will get a Rosario back in LF!

Oof. Looks like it's time to flip over to Thursday Night Football.

I’m shocked the Mariners are still in it. Their roster is not good and their hitting and pitching both look below average on paper, yet here they are. It’s inexplicable that they’re a good 13/15 games ahead of the Twins.

Thanks, though I was planning on doing an update to it this weekend. Things have changed considerably the past few months, and I am interested to see the opinions on who should be 40 man protected.

I, for one, cannot wait for Colome's last appearance as a Twin.

Nice to see Garza getting used in a high leverage situation. I would've like to see more of the young relievers get chances like this.

There's a Sano smash for an insurance run!

Darn, Ober almost made it through the whole season without hitting the IL. He should be fine.

Alright Clutch Gordon, here's your shot!

Already 0 for 3 in RISP. Ugh.

The Twins will face off against the Blue Jays one more time today, as they will try to avoid losing 90 games, which will require a 4-3 finish or better. But instead of talking Twins, let's go over a few things that are more interesting than the Twins! -- The AL Wildcard Race -- With 7 games remaining, the Blue Jays find themselves 2 games back behind both the Red Sox and Yankees. The Mariners are also 3 games back (somehow), but let's have a look at who's left on the schedule for those three teams: Blue Jays At Twins Vs Yankees - 3 games Vs Orioles - 3 games Yankees At Red Sox At Blue Jays - 3 games Vs Rays - 3 games Red Sox Vs Yankees At Orioles - 3 games At Nationals - 3 games The Blue Jays don't control their destiny, but their 3 game series against the Yanks will be their most important one of the year. Then they get 3 freebies against the Orioles. It is fair to wonder about how much the Rays will try with their #1 seed locked up, which could provide an easy final series for the Yankees. As for Boston, well, if they screw this up, they have no one to blame but themselves. -- Mike Baumann Debuts for the Orioles -- While this may not be related to today's game, I wanted to give some congratulations to Michael Baumann for making it to the big leagues with the Orioles. Baumann attended Mahtomedi High School, and just so happened to be in the same grade as I through Kindergarten to 12th grade. It's quite the surreal feeling to have someone you grew up with reach the elite of elite levels of their craft. Here is how he's pitched over his career: Year Age Tm Lg W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9 SO/W Awards 1 Yr 1 Yr 1 Yr 1 Yr 1 1 .500 9.90 4 0 0 0 0 10.0 13 12 11 2 6 5 48 6.87 1.900 11.7 1.8 5.4 4.5 0.83 2017 21 BAL-min A-,Rk 4 2 .667 1.28 11 10 0 0 0 42.1 27 13 6 2 19 43 1.087 5.7 0.4 4.0 9.1 2.26 ADN,OLS NYPL,GULF 2018 22 BAL-min A+,A 13 5 .722 3.17 24 24 0 2 0 130.2 105 49 46 9 53 106 1.209 7.2 0.6 3.7 7.3 2.00 FDK,DEL CARL,SALL 2019 23 BAL-min AA,A+ 7 6 .538 2.98 24 22 1 2 2 124.0 85 43 41 4 45 142 1.048 6.2 0.3 3.3 10.3 3.16 BOW,FDK EL,CARL 2021 25 BAL-min AA,AAA,A 4 3 .571 3.44 18 18 0 1 0 70.2 47 32 27 6 34 71 1.146 6.0 0.8 4.3 9.0 2.09 BOW,NFK,DEL AANE,AAAE,LAE 2021 25 BAL AL 1 1 .500 9.90 4 0 0 0 0 10.0 13 12 11 2 6 5 48 6.87 1.900 11.7 1.8 5.4 4.5 0.83 He's had a rocky time in the majors so far, but I will be rooting for him! And hopefully the Orioles get better at baseball, eventually. Lineups Alek Manoah (R) 1. George Springer (R) DH 2. Marcus Semien (R) 2B 3. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B 4. Bo Bichette (R) SS 5. Teoscar Hernandez (R) RF 6. Corey Dickerson (L) LF 7. Santiago Espinal (R) 3B 8. Danny Jansen (R) C 9. Randal Grichuk (R) CF Griffin Jax (R) 1. Luis Arraez (L) 3B 2. Byron Buxton (R) CF 3. Jorge Polanco (S) 2B 4. Josh Donaldson (R) DH 5. Max Kepler (L) RF 6. Mitch Garver (R) C 7. Miguel Sano (R) 1B 8. Nick Gordon (L) SS 9. Jake Cave (L) LF P.S. Coincidentally, while I was writing this, I looked outside and I saw a Blue Jay! Is that an omen that Toronto will win today?

I am aware of this, but at this point I think it'd be better for him to face more MLB pitching rather than minor league pitching to finish the year out. I'm sure he'll be spending plenty of time at AAA in 2022.

Good inning from Moran there. More of that, please!

This is the best site for it: https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/depth-charts/twins Under the "Options / Or Rule5 Status" you can see what year the player is eligible for the Rule 5 draft. By my opinion, I think Lewis, Miranda, Winder, Enlow, and Sands are locks, while there are a handful more who are decent candidates to be protected.

That was one of the worst strike calls (on Springer) that I've ever seen. That pitch was a half foot inside and Jeffers obviously had to stretch far outside the K zone to get it, but I guess he framed it well enough. Yuck.

I'm torn on Stashak. I'd be bad if they DFA him just to see him revert back to his usual self, somewhat like what happened to Littell. But does he have enough upside to be worth keeping around? It seems unlikely he becomes a high leverage reliever here... though give him to the Rays and he'll become their closer. Thorpe and Smeltzer can go, neither have the stuff and Thorpe is brittle as heck and is out of options. I've had enough of the soft-tossing lefty starters. Jax and Barnes are debatable, but I don't think they are MLB starters and can be DFA'd without many problems. They could be worth having as rotational depth in AAA, but is that worth a 40 man spot?

My pen would be: Rogers, Duffey, Thielbar, Gant, Alcala. Moran and Garza in AAA. I just don't trust the veteran filler guys (Farrell, Minaya, Coulombe) to be any good in 2022 despite their numbers. They should go after some FA options or a trade candidate or two to fill the pen up. No way in heck I'd bring back Colome. Gant is not a starter, and has had strong stretches in the pen. Cano could be an option midway through 2022.

Yikes, both Balazovic and Sands had bad starts in their postseason appearances. Darn.

That looked like an error to me, it was a groundball that went in between the 2B's legs. That's an error in my book.

8 Ks in 4 innings is still pretty darn good. Only 4 baserunners in that stretch.

Well, Garver's picking up where he left off. He nearly hit a HR in his first AB, too!

An hour in and we just got out of the 2nd inning? Yuck. Jax doesn't look like an MLB pitcher.

Simmons and Garver were activated today, taking the spots of Maggi and Rortvedt. It looks like Maggi may never get a MLB PA. Rortvedt deserves more ABs in the majors…

I think it’s safe to say they will be adding a SS in free agency/trade, it just depends who that is… Lewis might be the guy in 2023, but the other internal options really aren’t “options”.