Brandon Warne

It’s overcast and warm as the Minnesota Twins prepare to take on the Cleveland Indians in the first of three games to start a six-game homestand. It’ll be a pair of righties tangling on the mound, as the Indians will send Danny Salazar (4.15 ERA, 3.72 FIP in 80.1 innings) out while the Twins will counter with Bartolo Colon (6.77 ERA, 4.73 FIP in 94.1 innings). More on that in a bit. The Twins come into the series 59-57 -- five games behind first-place Cleveland and in search of their first win over the Indians in Minneapolis. The Indians are 64-52, and 6-4 over their last 10 games, while the Twins are 8-2 over their last 10. This is the time to take advantage of head-to-head divisional matchups, manager Paul Molitor said. “Obviously it carries a little more significance than the other times we’ve played them during the year,” Molitor said during his pregame availability. “They’re the team in our division that’s above us. The inter-divisional games are always two-game swings each and every time you play. You can cut (the deficit in the division) to four or increase it to six -- we’re aware of that. We’d like to continue to do some of the things we’ve been doing.” What are those things, you might ask? “We’ve been pitching well enough,” Molitor said. “Our offense has been as hot maybe as it has been all year. We hope to continue to do that. We’ll try to keep it in perspective with the amount of games we have remaining, and the fact you’re just trying to win games. It should be fun with Colon pitching tonight and the Indians coming in on a nice night at Target Field.” Please click through to ZoneCoverage.com to read the rest of this article here!

No?

The link at the bottom takes you to the full 25

We’ve established the rules for post-July 31 trades. Now we should take a look at who the Twins might target, right? It’s pretty easy to isolate three areas where the Twins can use some help: Starting pitching Relief pitching Batters who can hit left-handed pitching The pitching woes are hard to miss. Only the Rangers (6.4) have gotten fewer strikeouts per nine innings from starting pitchers than the Twins (6.9), and just four teams have posted higher ERA from their rotations than the Twins (4.89). Similarly, only five teams have a higher bullpen ERA than the Twins (4.53), and no team has a bullpen fanning fewer batters per nine than Minnesota (7.6). With that said, the Twins bullpen has been quite a bit better of late. Only seven teams have a lower ERA over the past 30 days than the Twins (3.53) out of the bullpen, and that comes with 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings, 2.0 walks per nine and a groundball rate of 47.4 percent. When it comes to making bullpen additions, it’s not just adding that player to a bullpen, though. It’s also swapping out the worst player on the other side of the bullpen. And while that’s a bit tougher to do now than it was a couple months ago, subtracting a Buddy Boshers or an Alan Busenitz now is a bit tougher of a decision than Matt Belisle or Craig Breslow would have been two months ago. Still, there’s room to improve. As an offense, the Twins aren’t far from the middle of the pack. They have a collected wRC+ of 97 — tied for 13th with the Cubs and Reds — and have been around there most of the season. Against righties, they have a 99 wRC+, which is 13th in MLB. Against lefties though, it’s just 89 — 21st in MLB. So the Twins could use some help against lefties, and that’s easy to see with the struggles of Max Kepler, Joe Mauer and others against southpaws this season. So let’s take a look at some pieces that might be made available over the next couple weeks to see who might be a good fit for the Twins: SP Marco Estrada – Toronto Blue Jays Estrada is probably atop every general manager’s list this month as far as teams seeking starting pitching help. His ERA is unsightly (4.85), but it’s backed by a 4.35 FIP, more than a strikeout per inning and a strong recent run. He’s got a 2.08 ERA over his last four starts, which includes pitching the Jays to wins over the Yankees and Astros — the AL’s two best offenses. This deal might take time to get done, as the Jays are just four games out of the second Wild Card and maybe haven’t quite packed it in yet. Please click through to Zone Coverage here to see the rest of this story.

One exercise that is fun, and in the interest of full disclosure gets a lot of people reading and talking, is ranking things in order as a “power ranking.” No seriously, if you call something a “power ranking” you’re guaranteed to see traffic go through the roof. I’m thinking of calling my podcast “power ranking.” OK, I’m kidding. But it’s a fun exercise to apply to a team’s 25-man roster. My general theory — and this can be altered if viewers think there is a better way — is to base a player’s ranking on how they’ve played to date, with a bit more weight placed on recent performance. We’ll also consider myriad reasons why players might be doing better than others, such as role the player was used in and so on, but at the very least, this is to get people talking. In parenthesis, you’ll find the previous ranking for each player. We last did rankings on May 25, and will most likely do them one more time before the end of the season. Or perhaps more often, if people suggest they really like them. Send hate mail to Tom Schreier. 1. Eddie Rosario (Previous ranking: 18) It’s not just that he’s been hot lately, but his season numbers are really starting to look great. Rosario is hitting a stellar .296/.337/.503 for the season. That’s good for a wRC+ of 119 — 11th among qualified left fielders. That’s ahead of some pretty good players, too, like Nomar Mazara, Andrew Benintendi, Matt Kemp, Brett Gardner and Michael Brantley. Since July 1 — Rosario’s five-hit game — he’s hitting an insane .333/.376/.581. Wonder if anyone has written about him lately? 2. Ervin Santana (no change) Santana’s had a fine year, even with all the ebbs and flows. Through 24 starts, Santana has five complete games and a 3.28 ERA. However, that comes with a 4.71 FIP, thanks in large part to 25 homers allowed and not particularly strong strikeout and walk rates. He’s a sturdy No. 2 on a team that has no ace — so everyone moves up a notch. It’ll be interesting to see how holding onto him plays out. He’s managed to avoid serious injury for almost all of his career, but father time is undefeated. 3. Brian Dozier (4) Just another ho-hum 20-homer season for Dozier — his fourth in a row. He’s hitting a solid .258/.334/.473, playing fairly steady defense and has hit a robust .298/.350/.605 over the last 30 days. Only Rosario (160) has a higher wRC+ over the last 30 days than Dozier’s 148. It’d be nice to see what he could do hitting third or fourth, no? 4. Miguel Sano (1) Miggy gets big props for hitting .269/.354/.511 on the season, but he’s been pretty cold of late. Over the last 30 days, he’s hitting just .255/.295/.439, and he hasn’t been particularly good at staying within the strike zone after starting the season off really strong in that respect. It’s been a fine season, but it would be nice to see it ascend to a great season for the young monster. 5. Jose Berrios (6) A rough couple starts have sullied his overall season numbers (4.27 ERA), but he’s still improved by leaps and bounds from last year, isn’t walking anyone and is keeping the ball in the yard. Chalk it up to the ebbs and flows of being a young starter. 6. Trevor Hildenberger (NR) Hildy gets the nod over the elder Belisle solely because of the beginning of the latter’s season. Both have been absolutely terrific of late, as Hildenberger hasn’t walked a batter in the last 30 days with 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings and a groundball rate of 55.6 percent. He could just as easily pitch the ninth inning moving forward if manager Paul Molitor so chooses. He has some interesting options out there. 7. Matt Belisle (22) Forget the start of his season or even the home run he allowed to Justin Upton; Belisle has been terrific now for about two months and deserves some love. Sure, he’s not an ideal option to close games. Nobody on the team is, really. But since his blow-up in San Francisco back in mid-June, look at these numbers: 22 games/24 innings, 23-5 K/BB ratio, 1.13 ERA, .209/.261/.326 line against. That’s legit. 8. Tyler Duffey (7) Duffey hit a bit of a speed bump not too long ago that pushed his ERA over 4.00, but he’s on the cusp of bringing it back under (4.04) as he’s been brilliant for the last month. Over the last 30 days, Duffey has a 1.42 ERA (2.35 FIP), more than a strikeout per inning and 0.7 BB/9. He could also be in the mix to close out games. 9. Bartolo Colon (NR) The BART has gotten better with each passing start. He’s got a 4.02 ERA with the Twins, and despite virtually no strikeouts (4.6 K/9) has walked 0.9 batters per nine and has managed to keep the ball in the park for the most part (1.2 HR/9). There’s virtually no risk here, as he can be immediately DFA’d if he falls apart. But the value he’s already provided has been a really, really nice find for the Falvey-Levine duo. 10. Byron Buxton (12) He just pushed the OBP up above .300, and he’s been terrific over the last 30 days: .313/.370/.415. If he ever does that over a full season, he’s a full-fledged superstar. For players 11-25, click here to go to ZoneCoverage.com!

OK.

Kennys Vargas spent one day with the Minnesota Twins in his latest stint, as the club announced Thursday morning that the first baseman/designated hitter has been sent back to Triple-A Rochester following the previous night’s game. Vargas appeared in Wednesday night’s game to pinch-hit for starter Bartolo Colon, popping out in foul territory in the eighth inning. Vargas, who was granted a fourth-year option by MLB, has been promoted by the Twins four times this season, but has failed to capitalize on playing time at either level this season. He’s hit just .243/.289/.429 in 190 big-league plate appearances, and only marginally better in 173 with the Red Wings (.221/.341/.441). September roster expansion and his performance in that final month may go a long way to dictating what sort of future Vargas has in the organization. Moving in the other direction is left-handed pitcher Dietrich Enns, who’ll make his MLB debut by getting the start against the Brewers and Zach Davies at Miller Park on Thursday night. The move allows the Twins to back each of their starters up a day. That means Kyle Gibson, Jose Berrios and Ervin Santana are lined up to face the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park over the weekend before the off-day on Monday. Enns came over in the Jaime Garcia deal, and was already on the 40-man roster of the Yankees. He battled a shoulder issue earlier in the season, but came back to post a 2.29 ERA at Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre in seven starts prior to the trade. Enns fanned 8.5 batters per nine innings, walked just 2.3 and posted a stellar 1.02 WHIP. He is, however, already 26 years old, so he’s more or less a finished product with little left in the way of physical projection left. At that age, he’s also just a half-year younger than the average International League (Triple-A) contemporary — which isn’t saying much since it’s a breeding ground for older players not quite able to make the leap to the bigs. Please click through to Zone Coverage to read the rest of this story here.

I don't think anyone knows what put Polanco in the spell. He's out of it. Case closed.

The idea that he only walks is misguided. He's hitting .245/.372/.371 -- a 106 wRC+. It's not ideal, but I'd prefer high OBP, lower SLG than the alternative (Kennys Vargas, most likely). As a fourth outfielder, it's fine.

Keep Grossman as the fourth and trade Granite, then. You have three starting OF who can all play CF so it really isn't a bench necessity.

If Mauer's going to play most of the time, Garver makes sense as a platoon option off the bench. Kepler can play first, too.

Frankly I might move Robbie and sign J.D. Martinez.

I see no reason you can't have a bench of Garver-Adrianza-Escobar-Granite next year. Polanco starts at short, and you have insurance at every spot.

It sure was. And FWIW, Lo Conner is Escobar's nickname for him, stemming from his resemblance of Paul Walker in the Fast and Furious movies.

I believed that until I wrote that piece before the season that I linked in the article. Now I wouldn't move him.

In late August, teams around MLB will wear uniforms with nicknames on the back as the first-ever “Players Weekend.” It’ll be spanning Aug. 25-27, and the jerseys will have unusual designs to inject some more personality in the game. You can find the full actual list of nicknames the Twins will wear here: But if we were in charge, what would we put on the jerseys? Here’s our list -- and it’s all in good fun: Jason Castro - Michaels Chris Gimenez - The Janitor Joe Mauer - Joseph Patrick Mauer I Brian Dozier - Lo Conner Jorge Polanco - Hip Hip Miguel Sano - Power Banana Eduardo Escobar - Caballo Ehire Adrianza - Sedoso Eddie Rosario - El Asesino Byron Buxton - Beep Beep Max Kepler - Mr. Germany Keplert (obviously) Robbie Grossman - ROBBIE Kennys Vargas - KEN Please click through to Zone Coverage for the pitcher list here.

Matt Garza was in a charitable mood on Tuesday night at Target Field. His team staked him to a 1-0 lead, and he gave it back twofold. His team turned around a half-inning later by doubling the original lead to 4-2, and he again paid it back doubly by again putting his team behind the 8-ball with an 8-4 deficit. The final damage for the right-hander was 3.1 innings, eight earned runs, four home runs allowed and an early shower as the Twins pummeled their old friend 11-4 in front of 34,186 fans. It marked the second game in a row the Twins had drawn 30,000-plus fans, as they pushed to within a game of .500 and a game-and-a-half of the second Wild Card spot, which is co-owned by the Seattle Mariners, Kansas City Royals and Tampa Bay Rays at the close of business Tuesday night. The win was the Twins’ third in a row — all in come-from-behind fashion — as the team wrapped a six-game homestand with a 4-2 record despite giving up the first run of the game in each one. The weapon of choice for the Twins on Tuesday night was the long ball, as they scored their first nine runs all on home runs. There were repeat offenders as well, as Max Kepler poked a pair of home runs in the third and fourth innings — both off Garza — while Eddie Rosario victimized Garza on the way out and then Brewers reliever Jeremy Jeffress in the fifth inning. Please click through to Zone Coverage to read the rest of this story here.

OK.

It’s mostly sunny and super warm as the Minnesota Twins prepare to wrap up the first half of a home-and-home series with the Milwaukee Brewers. Youngster Adalberto Mejia (4.30 ERA, 4.85 FIP in 83.2 innings) will take the mound for the Twins, while former Twins righty Matt Garza (3.68 ERA, 4.03 FIP in 88 innings) will toe the rubber for the Brewers. More on that in a bit. Miguel Sano is back in the lineup after a three-game absence following being hit by a Tony Barnette pitch on Friday night at Target Field. Sano took batting practice with the team on Monday, and is ready to get back in the swing of things by hitting and playing third. “No question,” Molitor said about the bump to the lineup Sano provides when he’s in the lineup. “We all know his impact on our club when he’s contributing and the things he can do to help us win. I thought his BP yesterday was a little tentative or timid. I think he was trying to feel his way out a little bit. I still thought that in the right situation I might give him a shot if it came up. But today he was out for early work in the 3 o’clock hour and you could see that there was more confidence, and the ball was really coming off his bat.” Sano will wear a pad on the affected area, but Molitor doesn’t expect much of an adjustment period for the slugging third baseman. “Not too much,” Molitor said. “I’m sure they’ve toyed with it a little bit to make it feel right. It’ll be a bit of a different feel, but obviously your hands are in a position to hit and you just have a little more protection.” Please click through to Zone Coverage to see this post in its entirety here.

You may have noticed that Eddie Rosario has been hitting higher in the order of late. Part of it has been that the Twins have faced a number of lefties lately, and he’s one of the few batters on the team holding their own against them. Part it is also that Miguel Sano has been sidelined for the past few days after getting hit on the hand with a pitch against the Texas Rangers. But perhaps a large part of it stems from the fact that Rosario is having a nice offensive season, too. For the season, Rosario is hitting .284/.323/.464. The on-base percentage is a career-high by nearly 30 points. He set his career-high in walks for a season on July 5 with 16. That’s not a misprint -- he drew more walks in the first half of 2017 than he did in all of 2016 or the year prior. We’ll come back to that in a bit. It’s not as though Rosario has stung the ball all season long -- at least not from a results standpoint. The 26-year-old left fielder headed into June hitting a very Rosario-like .269/.302/.431. He then hit .291/.341/.519 in the month of June and has been swinging well since, with a slash line of .297/.342/.492 over his last 54 games. His K/BB ratio is 41-13 over that stretch, and while that won’t make anyone forget about Joe Mauer, it is important that he controls the strike zone better -- as we noted this offseason when we projected a possible breakout. From the surface, it’s not hard to see that Rosario is taking a better approach at the plate. While he’s still susceptible to swinging at pitcher’s pitches early in counts or getting himself out, he’s done a much better job laying off pitches outside of the zone. Rosario’s chase rate in his rookie season was 45.6 percent. In other words, he swung at pitches out of the zone nearly half the time -- a staggering figure. That improved to 41.7 percent last year and now 36.7 percent this season. The American League average is 29.7 percent, so while there has been some improvement, more could still be justified. The improved discipline also shows up in his swinging strike rate. That rate peaked last year at 15.3 percent, but is down to a career-low 12.1 percent this season. Again, while that’s progress, it’s still a bit off AL average (10.4 percent). Please click through to Zone Coverage to read the rest of this article here.

For the second night in a row, a Minnesota Twins starter dug a hole in the first inning. For the second night in a row, a starter tossed a complete game at Target Field. Unfortunately for the Twins, the parallels stop in between those two sentences. One night after Bartolo Colon dug an early 2-0 hole and pulled himself out of it in a complete-game win, Rangers stud lefty Cole Hamels continued his July roll into August as he scattered four hits and just one unearned run in a 4-1 win over the Twins on Saturday evening. It was the 16th complete game of Hamels’ career, and his second in a Rangers uniform. Hamels had his way with a much-maligned offense that was without the benefit of the wrist-and-rest combo of Miguel Sano and Joe Mauer, respectively. Manager Paul Molitor said after the game that Sano was not available and that his status will be reevaluated in advance of Sunday’s series finale -- a game the Twins must win to salvage the set. Despite striking out just five Twins on the night, Hamels got 14 swinging strikes overall — including nine on his trademark changeup. On his fifth-inning strikeout of Eddie Rosario, Hamels threw a first-pitch ball, then backed it up with three swinging strikes — all on changeups — to record the first out of the inning. Please click through to Zone Coverage to see the rest of this story here.

It’s overcast and warm as the Twins prepare for game three of a four-game weekend series against the Texas Rangers. It’ll be left-hander Cole Hamels (4.01 ERA, 4.64 FIP in 76.1 innings) dealing for the Rangers this evening with righty Kyle Gibson (6.08 ERA, 5.52 FIP in 94.2 innings) returning from Rochester to make the start for the Twins. More on that in a bit. The roster move initiated Friday night became official on Saturday, as Zack Granite was sent out to Triple-A Rochester to make room for Gibson. Manager Paul Molitor said he didn’t see a player who lacked confidence in his ability to help the team in the big leagues when he delivered the message that Granite was going back to the minors. “I just emphasized the fact that he was able to step in on an almost everyday basis when (Byron Buxton) went down and held his own,” Molitor said. “I complimented him on the way he had kind of a fearless approach to his first run through the major leagues. I don’t think anything really intimidated him too much.” Molitor relayed that Granite’s biggest takeaway to his first stint in the big leagues was “It’s a lot more detailed up here, but it’s the same game.” Molitor said that speaks of Granite’s confidence, but that the team just felt it was better suited to him to get to play every day in the minors rather than in a supplementary role in the big leagues. Please click through to Zone Coverage to read the rest of this article here.

Like a young fighter perhaps half his age, Bartolo Colon was on the ropes and in danger just two pitches into Friday night’s game. The Minnesota Twins righty allowed a single to leadoff hitter Shin-Soo Choo and a double off the fence in right to shortstop Elvis Andrus, and the Rangers were immediately in business. One batter later, Adrian Beltre looped a single into center to bring home both runners, and the Rangers had an early 2-0 lead just 10 pitches into the game. At this point, who knew it would be a historic night for the 44-year-old righty in just his fourth start in a Twins uniform? “I think the odds were fairly long to imagine after that start that we’d see him out there in the ninth inning,” manager Paul Molitor said of Colon completing the game after digging such an early hole. “Obviously impressive. He kept telling me he was good. After the seventh he said, ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ve got the last two.’ I wasn’t as sure as he was, but he made it stand up.” Yet that was the case, as Colon more than settled down the rest of the way as he went the distance for a complete game — the 37th of his career — in an 8-4 win over the Rangers on Friday night at Target Field. Colon got Rougned Odor to ground into a double play to end the first, and his offense immediately went to work, scoring four runs in the opening frame and another in the second to give him a 5-2 lead that stood the rest of the way. Please click through to Zone Coverage to read the rest of this story here.

It’s overcast and warmer than Thursday as the Minnesota Twins prepare for game two of a four-game weekend set against the Texas Rangers. It’ll be left-hander Martin Perez (5.13 ERA, 4.48 FIP in 112.1 innings) toeing the rubber for the Rangers against righty Bartolo Colon (7.70 ERA, 5.09 FIP in 78.1 innings) for the Twins. More on that in a bit. Manager Paul Molitor said there were no reported issues with the grass in the outfield after multiple concerts were held at Target Field while the team was on its California road swing. “I heard no issues,” Molitor said. “I didn’t really see it have an effect on anything that transpired last night. I went out there and looked at it. It’s pretty typical. They do a really good job of getting it back into as level as possible in a short time when you have your field trampled and staged upon.” Kyle Gibson was in the clubhouse prior to batting practice, and was returning from a strong short stint with the Red Wings which included pitching in his own back yard in a game against Indianapolis (Pirates Triple-A). Gibson estimated he had around 70 family members in attendance. “It was a lot of fun,” Gibson said. “It was one of those things that was a little bittersweet. I was just talking with Neil (Allen), and obviously I didn’t really want to see family at that time. But I found out I was going to Indy, and there was a little bittersweet excitement. I got to see my grandparents who I haven’t seen in four months. They’re 80 years old and getting older, so I got a chance to have some really good quality time with the family.” Gibson’s paternal grandfather isn’t able to travel much and his grandmother on that side doesn’t care much for baseball unless he’s pitching. Gibson said he didn’t really change up too much at Rochester. “Mollie and Neil only had good things to say,” Gibson said. “I think it was just a numbers game at the time. They said ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing.’ I felt good against Detroit and Houston. I had a little unlucky stuff there, but I’ve been feeling really good. I feel like execution has been a lot better. I’m still trying to get ahead of guys and execute as many pitches as possible.” Gibson lasted five innings in his only start down with the Red Wings, allowing just one hit with five strikeouts and no walks in an outing interrupted by a 50-minute rain delay. Please head over to Zone Coverage to see the rest of this column here.

I've always wondered about this. Next chance we get to ask them questions, I'll see what they say.