Seth Stohs

Yup, Mike Trout is the best player in baseball, has been for a decade and is clearly on e of the best (if not the best) players in baseball... But I assume he gets written about in our pregame recaps pretty much every day because his dad played in the Twins minor leagues in the mid-'80s?

Last night, the Twins announced the following: Zack Littell removed from the IL. Cody Stashak placed on the IL (lower back inflammation) Ildremaro Vargas added to roster. Cory Gearrin DFAd. OOPS - I didn't scroll up far enough to see this was already mentioned. My bad!

I always think that there is such a fine line between: Passive --> Patient --> Middle Ground --> Aggressive --> Over-Aggressive And it's possible to be all of those things... Last year, Garver was very patient, knowing the strike zone so well. At times this year, he has looked almost Passive... Last year, he was aggressive on his pitches which I really think helped him to a great middle ground. This year, it's been more in the Passive/Patient range... And, again, even that isn't true all the time, can change from at bat to at bat. I' have zero concerns for Garver. He knows the zone well and he won't miss pitches for too long.

Yeah, I tend to agree with it, especially as it's played out. As Rocco said, those guys will get plenty of opportunities to protect leads. The next two games, Rogers was used and a couple of the other top four guys were used. in a lead. And, as Doc said, the Twins second tier relievers are pretty good too. Also, while it is still only a 60-game season, teams just can't treat it as if every game is life and death. That is exactly how to burn them out.

I'd prefer Telis to Astudillo, but you're probably right, especially since he's on the 40-man roster already.

Tuesday afternoon, the Minnesota Twins announce that they have acquired infield Ildemaro Vargas from the Diamondbacks in exchange for cash considerations.Vargas was with the Diamondbacks on four occasions in 2019. The 29-year-old hit .269 with nine doubles, a triple and six home runs in 92 games. He was off to a slow start this season and after hitting just .150 over 20 at bats, the Diamondbacks Designated him for Assignment. Vargas has spent parts of the past four seasons with the Diamondbacks and in 126 games, he has hit .257/. 287/.387 (.674) with 10 doubles and seven homers. In his career, Vargas has played all four infield positions as well as left field, though the majority of time has been spent at second base and third base. Rocco Baldelli said before Tuesday's game "He's a guy we really like in a lot of different ways organizationally. A guy that we think can do a lot of different things. Versatility. Plays around the infield. Can help you pretty much anywhere. Good contact bat, probably a line drive type bat regardless of who he is facing. Can probably get the barrel on the all. All reports, some of them coming from Escy (Eduardo Escobar) over there, say he's a really good guy too, a guy who will fit in very well in the clubhouse. You add all that up, looks like an interesting guy that can complement our group and compete in a lot of different ways." Vargas grew up in Venezuela. He originally signed with the St. Louis Cardinals, but after six seasons, he became a free agent. He played briefly for Bridgeport in the Atlantic League to start the 2015 season, but the Diamondbacks signed him by May. He debuted in late June of 2017. Baldelli didn't yet know Vargas's travel plans but likely he will meet the team in Minneapolis. Nothing has been finalized yet. It will also be interesting to see how the COVID protocols play out. Things have certainly changed. "A lot of our discussions go beyond the baseball part of it. Most of what we used to talk about, you acquire a player, you are just talking about the player, what he can do, how he is as a guy, all kinds of different things. Now we're talking about testing protocols, when the last time that he went through it, how we're going to approach it, where we're going to fly him in to, how that flight's going to work, talking with Vargas about how to approach that commercial flight. That's what we end up spending our time on." Baldelli said that the Twins are likely to go beyond the MLB protocol which may mean some rapid testing, maybe some daily testing, for a little while. In addition, the Twins announced that Willians Astudillo has been removed from the Injured List and optioned to the team's alternate site in St. Paul. Baldelli noted, "He's doing very well physically. It's been 18-plus days since he's been off (the COVID list) and moving around. He's in great shape." He added, "Not much is going to change as far as what he's doing, he's doing very well. Knowing that he's an option for us always, at any given point, is a very good feeling. You never know when those moves are going to be needed. They could come at any time." Click here to view the article

The Twins signed Casey Lawrence to a minor league deal in January. No big league camp. Just minor league camp. (like Lane Adams and Juan Minaya and a whole bunch of former MLB players) He pitched in 38 games for the Blue Jays and Mariners in 2017 and 2018. He's 32.

I'm just going to guess that Littell comes back on Tuesday as a 2-inning opener. It's not really based on anything. Hunch, I guess. But before the game, Rocco hinted that he will likely use a variety of pitchers in that game in some order. Tells me it'll be an opener situations. Wouldn't be surprised if Smeltzer comes in next. Remember his MLB debut last year against the Brewers? Maybe there's a matchup there they can take advantage of.

You are correct... I edited that sentence! Thank you!

I don't think I would change anything up, at least not yet. Their pitching has put them in a position where they can let guys work through the early-season struggles. The team needs Garver, Arraez, Sano to get going, and the way to do that is to get them at bats.

Here were the Top 10 highest paid YouTubers of 2019... Crazy! https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2019/12/18/the-highest-paid-youtube-stars-of-2019-the-kids-are-killing-it/#15f9c82538cd

I sure wouldn't mind being a millionaire YouTuber...My guess is that Royce has made Zero dollars with this site... I'm referring to the many, MANY people who have become rich thanks to YouTube.

Jake Odorizzi officially activated from the IL today, taking Donaldson's roster spot.

When the 2020 season started, the one thing we knew with certainty about the Minnesota Twins is that their offense would be fantastic. Just 14 games into the 60-game season, the offense has not looked great, but has it been as bad as we think?We all remember. The 2019 Minnesota Twins offense, the Bomba Squad, hit .270/.338/.494 (.832) with 318 doubles and 307 homers. Then this offseason, the Twins added former MVP Josh Donaldson coming off of a season in which he was named the National League Comeback Player of the Year. He hit .259/.379/.521 (.900) with 33 doubles and 37 home runs. However, through just 14 games, the Twins offense just has not clicked. The Twins have had several big innings in which they scored as many as five runs. But most nights we have seen the offense put up a lot of zeroes. Nelson Cruz is hitting .365/.411/.596 (1.007) with three doubles and three homers. Max Kepler and Marwin Gonzalez, along with backup backstop Alex Avila, have posted an OPS over .800. However, most of the Twins hitters haven’t yet taken off. Mitch Garver is just 3-for-27 (.111) with 13 strikeouts in 27 at bats (34 plate appearances). Luis Arraez is hitting just .216. Miguel Sano is 5-for-37 (.135) with two walks and 18 strikeouts. Jake Cave had two of the biggest hits early in the same (two-run, first-inning single on Opening Day, and a grand slam), but he’s just 3-for-23 with 10 strikeouts. Donaldson was off to a slow start, hitting just .182 with a .614 OPS in seven games before injuring his calf. But as a team, how are the Twins doing relative to other American League teams? Is this a Twins issue, or has the offense struggled around the league? Overall, the Twins are hitting .236/.316/.414 (.731) with 68 runs scored. They’ve hit 20 home runs in the first 14 games. As of Saturday morning, here is how those numbers rank relative to the 15 American League teams: Batting Average (.236): ranks 7th On-Base Percentage (.316): ranks 6th Slugging Percentage: (414): ranks 7th OPS (.731): ranks 6th Home Runs (20): ranks 3rd Runs Scored (68): ranks 2nd Runs/Game (4.68): ranks 3rd, behind the Astros and Yankees HR/Game (1.43): ranks 4th, behind the Yankees, Angels and Tigers So, yes, the Twins offense has struggled early in this season. But relative to the rest of the league, the Twins remain in the upper-half of the league. Again, that’s not to say that they’ve been good. Instead, it speaks to the struggles of the bats across baseball. While the Twins twice scored 27 runs in their opening series against the White Sox, they have now scored 41 runs over their past 11 games, an average of just 3.73 runs per game which would rank only ahead of Cleveland, Texas and Toronto among AL teams. One of the big talking points as the season started was that the pitching would be ahead of the hitting. Aside from that first series, that statement has generally proven true. Look at what the Twins have done with their pitchers. The starting pitcher may work through the lineup twice, and then in comes relief arm after relief arm. In many cases, those are big arms with sharp sliders. No question that the uniqueness of the 2020 season has played a part as well. There was spring training. Then the players were quarantined for three months, much of that time not knowing when or even if they would play a season. While pitchers can work on things in the bullpen and maintain their arm strength, it’s not quite the same for hitters. While they can work on tees, off pitching machines and occasionally against some live pitchers, it’s different. It’s not game speed or situations. If this was a ‘normal’ season, it might be a little concerning, but we would be less than 10% into a long season. We wouldn’t be worried about to any great extent, trusting a player’s track record. However, when the Twins/Royals game is complete on Saturday night, the 2020 regular season will be 25% over. 14-15 games is still a small sample, but when so many want to note that each game is theoretically worth 2.7 games, it might be easier to get worried, to press, to try to do too much. But now, it’s still important to remember that 75% of the season remains. There is time to turn things around for the players and as an overall offense. While Josh Donaldson was off to a slow start in his seven games, his track record certainly suggests that he will be able to turn it around soon. That is, if he can get on the field following his stint on the Injured List. Luis Arraez has been playing on sore knees. He still has more walks than strikeouts, so his approach is still the same. That should lead to good things in time. Likewise, Mitch Garver continues to see lots of pitches. He has done a nice job of not expanding the strike zone. He has also hit several bullets right into the opponents’ shifts. For those two players, the league has made some adjustments. Now those players will work to adjust to those adjustments. Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton have been streaky hitters throughout their careers, even when healthy. Both missed significant time through the three-week Summer Camp and started slow. Sano has struggled with contact, but he’s hit some mammoth homers. Byron Buxton has a double and two home runs over his past three games, and he may have been robbed of another homer. In the meantime, the Twins pitching and defense have been even better than expected, and because of those things, plus some very timely hitting and some clustering of the hits that they have had, the Twins are 10-4. That’s the best record in the League. But hopefully soon the Twins offense will take off and become what we hope they become, and if that happens, this team can be scary good. Click here to view the article

Right now, they have: LHP Sam Cay, RHP Cory Guerrin and C Tomas Telis. Aaron Whiteifield is still with the team. He's kind of on the taxi squad, but can only be "called up" if there is an injury or a COVID illness. So right now they're at four.

I would think Odorizzi will take that spot on Saturday before the game.

Twins top prospect Royce Lewis started his own YouTube page since the quarantine started. He's posted several entries. Some are short. Some are a little longer. He did an MTV Cribs style episode of his new house in Texas. His new episode this week is a Roundtable chat with Lewis, Trevor Larnach, Travis Blankenhorn and Caleb Hamilton. Check it out here and subscribe to his YouTube page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKdAatuuO4E

Even at the time, I thought they made a pretty good haul on a reliever. My comment at the time was that Alcala could become Pressly at some point in the next few years, and Celestino has a ton of potential. That 2018 trade deadline is really starting to bear fruit.

Aaron Whitefield was "optioned" after last night's game to put the Twins roster at 28, which it is going to be for the remainder of the season. Also learned this morning that the taxi squad will now be FIVE players instead of three players.

Based on the recent comments here, I might be unique in saying that I like three-run home runs. I mean, for the Twins.

Thank you for sharing that link... I definitely encourage people to listen to it!

Baseball America also updated their Top 100 prospects following the draft... Here is where the Twins and some others ranked: #28 - Royce Lewis #35 - Alex Kirillloff #48 - Trevor Larnach Also: #60 - Max Meyer #65 - Brusdar Graterol https://www.baseballamerica.com/rankings/2020-top-100-prospects/