Danchat

Ugh, not a fan of Colon going up against the Yankees lineup after he had a poor start in AAA. That's going to be an ugly outing. I'm guessing Gee gets DFA'd unless they put Haley on the 60 day DL, but I don't think that'll happen.

Here's the Twins' lineup: 1. Brian Dozier ® 2B 2. Zack Granite (L) CF 3. Joe Mauer (L) 1B 4. Miguel Sano ® 3B 5. Max Kepler (L) RF 6. Robbie Grossman (S) DH 7. Eddie Rosario (L) LF 8. Jorge Polanco (S) SS 9. Jason Castro (L) C Wow, they're serious about getting Granite some ABs. I'd also like to see Polanco on the bench... Mauer will replace Buxton, who's headed to the DL.

Game Thread: Twins @ Astros, 7/15 @ 6:10 CT Probable Starters: Ervin Santana (10-6, 2.99 ERA) vs Joe Musgrove (4-7, 6.04 ERA) -5 Thoughts- 1. Examining Joe Musgrove If the Twins are going to have any chance to beat the Astros for the first time this season, they’ll need to topple Musgrove. However, Musgrove has already been disastrous, allowing 27 runs (all earned) in 29.2 innings in his last six starts. In four of those starts, he’s given up 4 or more runs (including a 7 and 9 run game!). If the Twins work this right, they should be able to get him out before he throws five innings and start wearing down Houston’s bullpen. Musgrove has given up 10.7 hits per 9 innings and 1.8 HRs per 9, so the Twins need to hit him up to win this one. 2. Twins Hitters Summer Stats Let’s take a look at how Twins hitters have fared from June to July so far, and perhaps we will find some interesting things in their stat lines. (stats come from Baseball-Reference’s Game Logs) (if you’re not familiar with the triple slash line, it’s (.Batting Average, .OnBase %, .Slugging %). Jason Castro (.223/.291/.340) Joe Mauer (.287/.359/.400) Brian Dozier (.238/.307/.424) Jorge Polanco (.162/.208/.232) Miguel Sano (.254/.329/.472) Eddie Rosario (.310/.355/.491) Byron Buxton (.237/.297/.347) Max Kepler (.270/.333/.460) Robbie Grossman (.242/.355/.333) Eduardo Escobar (.330/.375/.500) Kennys Vargas (.235/.303/.358) My thoughts: Castro, Mauer, Dozier, and Kepler look about where they should be. Sano’s batting average and contact rate have dropped, though I never expected him to stay above .300. He’s probably going to be a .260 to .270 hitter with tons of power and strikeouts. Meanwhile Rosario and Escobar have been lighting things up. Rosario needs to be in the lineup every day until the hot streak ends and Escobar will probably be playing more often too with Polanco’s struggles. Grossman is still an OBP monster but he brings very little power as a DH/corner OF. Buxton’s numbers are actually a tad lower than I expected, but let’s take a closer look: Two of the struggling bats in the lineup have been Buxton and Polanco. Each of their seasons have had turning points: Byron Buxton Apr. 3 to Apr. 24 (.105/.177/.140) Buxton Apr. 25 to July 14th (.250/.324/.360) Jorge Polanco Apr. 3 to June 23rd (.253/.302/.366) Polanco June 24th to July 14th (.115/.167/.164) Wow, their stat lines during their positive and negative streaks are incredibly similar! Polanco isn’t flailing away and striking out at a 50% clip like Buxton was, but he’s hitting more pop-ups and weak contact than usual. He needs to figure things out and get that bat going again. It’s his best tool and I believe he can get back to at least that his earlier 2017 line. Not sure about his defense though… 3. Lineups Twins Astros 1. George Springer ® CF 2. Jose Altuve ® 2B 3. Josh Reddick (L) RF 4. Carlos Correa ® SS 5. Carlos Beltran (S) DH 6. Yuli Gurriel ® 1B 7. Marwin Gonzalez (S) LF 8. Evan Gattis ® C 9. Alex Bregman ® 3B 4. Shameless Advertisement I know this is completely unrelated to today’s game thread, but If you’re a big Vikings fan and you want something to do over the boring offseason, I created an Opening Day Lineups Quiz on Sporcle (similar to the annual one we try here at Twins Daily). It will test your knowledge on Vikings starters since 2010 – click here to try it. One more shameless advertisement – if you’re a Vikings fan, go visit Purple Pain and join the discussion! A lot of us there are holdovers from Vikings Journal, a now defunct forum that was supported by the same people behind Twins Daily. 5. Tomorrow’s Game Thread I hope you guys will be around for tomorrow’s game thread, as I have a special event planned. Yes, the Strat-O-Matic Simulation will return. If you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about, Strat-o-Matic Baseball is a board game that simulates a baseball game quite accurately. I will posting how the simulation results in real time alongside the actual game, similar to how I did a couple times last season. Will the Twins finally be able to top the Astros, if only in a simulated game? We will find out tomorrow! Alright Twins, time to beat the best team in the American league!

Wow, two errors by Houston's defense. This is our chance...

This game is going to end at midnight at the rate these ABs are going...

Berrios may have had a bad outing but at least he only gave up one extra base hit. Hughes has already given up 3 XBHs to the first 4 batters he's faced. And unlike the rest of you guys, I'll won't be checking out. I'll be here until the end - not because I think the Twins can still win, just for curiousity. I want to see if Houston can score 20+ runs and break some records.

If you're looking for a silver lining, at least Granite doesn't seem capable of overthrowing the cutoff man with that arm of his, unlike Rosario. We really need to see more Adrianza and Escobar at short. Polanco needs some time on the bench to clear his head.

Seriously? One bad outing against the best batting team in baseball and now you're giving up on him long-term?

I did not expect Granite to hit second, so let's hope he proves himself there.

I'm glad the Twins didn't sign them when they had the chance over the offseason. It has turned out that putting Grossman, Vargas, Escobar, and whoever is hot at DH has worked pretty well (.252/.346/.403 so far) and saved the Twins some cash. Still, if we could get Bautista on the cheap, I'd give him a share of the DH role. He has always hit HRs easily at Target Field.

I think you could put May in the starters 8-10 slot on the 'depth chart'. You don't count on him contributing in 2018 but you hope he'll be able to get in there at some point.

This is exactly what I was going to post. I like me some Polanco, but if you trade Gordon, we're stuck with a rotating door with Polanco doesn't figure things out. I don't think Vielma is a starter at short, I don't think Lewis will end up at SS, and the best guys are years away. I would still make Gordon available and consider sending him in a trade for starters with multiple years of control, but I would hold onto him very tightly.

I've been thinking of an idea for a couple years now - I think Meyer could be a solid reliever. Not sure if he'd ever be able to stop giving up walks, but facing 3-5 batters while throwing 97+ mph. I just don't think he's going to cut it as an MLB starter.

I don't think Adrianza's going anywhere. He is the front office's guy and they've moved DanSan and Vargas off the roster for him. And with his solid bat so far, he can rotate with Polanco and Escobar with Jorge's play dropping off.

Are we sure he'll be ready by then? Do we even want him to be pitching this soon?

But then who takes the open spot in the rotation? We can't just pray for rain.

Wow, the Orioles sure know how to blow a lead. Now we just have 7 more innings to get at least one run...

By having our bullpen allow them to score double digits, you mean?

Belisle vs Machado again? Molly is playing with fire.

Yep, he was added to the 40 man roster over the offseason.

This reminds me of the Rosario call-up back in 2015 and Kepler call-up back in 2016. Both were just to get a cup of coffee and stay on the bench, but both took the bull by the horns and ended up become starters quicker than imagined. I'm not sure if Granite will do the same thing, but it'd be great if he could.

Rosario has been going nuts at the plate lately. He's even been taking the occasional walk - he's looking more and more like a legit MLB player. Though he needs to work on his throws... some of his throws to the cut-off man have been really bad.

I'm not the biggest fan of this signing, but why not sign a 44 year old guy who's 285 pounds? Joking aside, he should be a fun personality and it's not everyday you bring in a guy who pitched back in 1997. On the downside, he had a 8.10 ERA (decent FIP tho) and can barely touch 88 mph. As long as Falvey doesn't give him a long leash (I don't think he will), I'm fine with this.

Because he wants to avoid having Pressly pitch, of course.

I think Hildenberger is ready to take or at least share Duffey's role. He looks legit. Meanwhile, Polanco is looking really bad... I know he has a better bat than this, and recently he's been making more errors. Ugh.