AlwaysinModeration

So assuming “Ryne Stanek” is the opener, who is the, um, starter?

“Dollar Dogs: Just a Dollar!” That’s all I got.

Quick, someone post the clip of Francisco Lindor trying to catch a ball that got stuck in the D Ring again.

If it makes you feel any better, if the Twins lose by a ten-spot today, I will disavow ever having read Chiefs opener today.

Thanks—I literally just saw a bit on him going to Japan on MLB trade Rumors. I did meanCarter Stewart, just forgot the name. Funny that I remembered someone you knew instead.

What happened to Caleb Stewart? Hope the Twins can get him as a potential buy low guy who tumbled.

This is the best gamethread opener of this series yet! (I too am ignoring yesterday’s game entirely; it didn’t happen.)

Demasiado cerveza y galletas, pareces como una tortuga. Eres un fracaso.

Lets hope Rutschman falls to 13. Thanks for doing this series, look forward to seeing whom the Twins nab. My wildly uninformed guess (yet slightly better informed now) is Jung or Carroll.

Tomorrow eat mor chikn

Back in the 2017 off-season I pulled up some comps for Ervin, concluding in that offseason, and then again at that trade deadline in July of 2017, while he was having a great year, that they needed to trade him as soon as possible: Offseason before 2017 season: "Peavy pitched a 101 ERA+ at 33, then pitched two more years, 108 and 74 at age 34 and 35.Guthrie posted a 132 at age 33, then went 102-95-72, done at 36.Lohse posted 133 at age 33, then went 115-107-68, done at 36.Millwood posted 88 at 33, then 127-81-115-90, done at 37.Loiaza posted 108 at 33, then averaged 83 and was done at 36.Doug Davis (106ERA+ age 29-33) posted a 108 ERA+ at age 33, then bombed to 57 over the next two years, done at 35.Steve Traschel posted a 107, then posted 88 and 94 in his age 35 and 36 season, playing sporadically at age 34 and 37, done at 37.Miguel Batista posted a couple of 103/102 seasons as a starter after 33, and became a solid closer for some of those years, lasting until 40.Javier Vasquez posted 81 and 106 in his age 33 and 34 seasons and then retired.Brad Radke, who posted a 110 ERA+ from age 29-33 posted a 104 at age 33, and then was done.Finally, Ervin Santana pitched a 124 ERA at age 33, with a 101 ERA+ from age 29-33 (including years of 74 and 90 in that stretch.). He's headed toward his rapid decline phase, although he might post another 100+ year or maybe two if he is lucky. He also has a history with PEDs, which may have helped him more in the past than going forward. The Twins should trade him for whatever they can get." July, 2017: "I stick by that assessment. He's been good this year. He won't be good for long. Trade him now." Epilogue: He posted an ERA+ of 135 in 2017, and helped the Twins get to the WC game (and then bombed out in NY in that game). Since then, ERA + of 54 and 48. It was quite the fall....but it was pretty easy to spot that coming.

Buxton crashing into a wall again sours the win, but what an amazing story (and performance) for Smeltzer.

Yes, it was really amazing that Jeffries came up with that ball. Coupled with the diving’s catch by Gamel, and the Twins were thaaaaaat close to scoring twice as many runs.

14Ks in 6IP?! That’s remarkable.

The Graterol thing is obviously the screaming headline here, but the possibility of Gonsalves needing TJ looms large as well.

It’s almost as if there are better thing to focus on than the draft.

Honestly, Chief’s joke was the only bad part of last night’s game.

I’m confused. This thread has traditionally been a place to find “fun” ways to describe the Twins’ futility. I’m nonplussed by all of these actually fun numbers this year. Ho him... Twins on pace for 327 HRs. Buxton on pace for 61 doubles. Perez and Berríos on pace for 23 wins. Twins on pace for 110 wins. Rosario on pace for 48 homers. Sano on pace for 83 HRs in 117 games. Astudillo on pace for 6 homers, 6 walks, and 10 strikeouts.

Does anyone remember “TWIB Notes” from the This Week in Baseball show? Maybe use a play on that: TWIB Notes, TD Edition. Thanks for putting together these summaries, John. Interesting to see the big picture of the site. I’d suggest a review of game thread #s (and thank any thread starters who did multiple threads).

Twins season by tens: 6-4 7-3 6-4 6-4 9-1 That’s a nice run. Particularly impressive that two of their last three games they have been down three runs and still won. Still hard to fathom they are putting up these kind of offensive numbers with Cruz and Garver out. The Twins have scored 90 runs in their past 10 games.

This visit, if I were to guess, is for Wes Johnson to get Brusdar on the mound with Trackman and Rhapsodo and see where he’s at and see if there are any mechanical changes they want him to focus on.

One thing not mentioned yet that I like about Rocco’s management style: he sets the lineups for an entire series at a time at the beginning of the series, so the players know which days they will be playing. That might have been done before, not exactly sure, but it’s definitely being done know, and I think it makes a lot of sense.

Everyone who had Martin Perez over Matt Harvey as the clearcut better free agent signing raise your hand.

In his career, Martin Perez has never come close to striking out a batter per inning in any given season. This year: 53Ks in 53IP. He’s also given up (way) more than a hit per inning every year in his career (for example, in 2017; 221 hits in 185IP) except 2014 (50 hits / 51 IP). This year: 45 hits in 53 innings. And that’s with a reasonable .293 BABIP. New cutter, new coach, new confines, new confidence. Lock this guy in.

Twins are on pace for not only the most home runs in the league, but also the most wins in the majors.