Rod Carews Birthday

I agree. None of these guys went into this with their eyes closed. None of them were misled into thinking "I'm sure this is OK and no one will have a problem with it." If they really were misled somehow, then they are too stupid to be in the HOF - especially the ones from the modern era. Why after a few years have passed should we decide to just throw out the rules and give them their privilege anyway? I think your analogy of your own children says it best.

That is a great question. Given the ridiculous number of variables, I'm not exactly sure how you come up with the data to figure it out. It's hard to know if the Twins are better off for having done it, meaning their injury history would be even worse, or if it doesn't really matter anyway. I happen to think the former, but I'm not sure how to test it.

You are right. Three guys from the Dodgers who will be in the discussion for MVP play almost every day. We don't have a single player as good as Ohtani, Betts, or Freeman and we haven't since the days of Mauer and Morneau. I don't happen to think that load management is the be all and end all. However, I also don't think it is as simple as "pencil your guys in every day and they will be fine". There are absolutely players who can go out there every day no matter what, but there are a lot more who need the mental and physical break in order to keep fresh for the end of the season. I don't think it's magic, but I don't think it's detrimental to the team.

Last year we definitely didn't. So far this year, I think Julien and Castro have played in every game, albeit not always in a starting role. I would be surprised if they weren't at the top of the Twins' list at the end of the season as well.

YES! Absolutely. It's not like he was tearing it up before the injury. He was "OK", but that's about it. Maybe he can find his hitting stroke a little bit in St. Paul while rehabbing.

The Braves might be the exception, as they have an absolute monster of a lineup, but for the most part, the Yankees, Orioles, and Dodgers aren’t that much different than the other teams where load management is concerned. For the most part, outside of a couple of “iron men” on each team, you have “every day” types who play around 130-140 games, plus some players who will be in the 100-110 game range. Some of that is surely due to injuries (which is part of what you are trying to avoid by resting them), but in many cases, the workloads are being controlled so that the player has something left in the tank in September. Whether that is the magic bullet or not is certainly open to debate, but it’s not an uncommon practice throughout the league.

In an ideal world, “positional flexibility” leads to everyone being able to play anywhere, but alas, the world is not ideal. A few guys can have that utility, but as you mentioned, some of them seem more lost at the MLB level than they probably should be. It surprises me that those determinations aren’t made at the A or A+ level and not left for AAA and the majors.

Putin definitely strikes me as more of a Yankee fan. 😂

I’m not sure this is a huge issue that needs to be solved right now. Almost every club has so-so arms at the back of the pen, so that’s not a unique situation. Given some additional time, I think that some of this will sort itself out. The answer may indeed be Alcala, Winder, et al. Part of the issue at this point is that the roles haven’t really solidified and time will change that. Until then, I expect they will keep running through arms to better gauge what they have, so that the end of the season bullpen will be much better than the current one. Plus, come playoff time, there will be some converted starters in the bullpen, and that worked out very nicely last year.

I think bringing up Martin and putting him in the lineup, both offensively and defensively, are have been very positive things. He hasn't lit the world on fire offensively, but he has shown the ability to take decent at bats and his speed will play on the bases. That will likely improve after he has some time to play/reflect/work on things in Saint Paul. Defensively, he doesn't look overmatched as much as inexperienced. He's not taking great routes and certainly is struggling with throwing the ball. Playing lots of outfield in Saint Paul should be very beneficial. Sending Martin back to AAA is definitely the right thing to do, but I'm also not down on the player or his potential at all. He's not going to be an all-star, but I think he's a useful future (and emergency) piece. We often forget that many players (IDK maybe most?) are sent back down after their first taste of the majors, and the smart ones use the experience to adjust and improve their game. Current Twins Buxton, Kiriloff, Larnach, Wallner, etc. all had to re-visit AAA and were able to take some appropriate steps. I'm hoping that Martin can follow suit.

It was a pretty weird way to get there, but the Twins are looking a lot like we had hoped they would. Certainly Jeffers is playing well above expectations, but there are many players playing about like we thought they would or even not quite there. And yet, we’re sitting with a solid record and probably room to grow. It’s a pretty good reality check for fans that this team is really pretty solid. The bullpen is a little worrisome in that there have been so many injuries to key people there. I still feel like if we could get people healthy, it could be lights out. But alas, that may not be possible. I’m not panicked about it yet, but the eyes should be open for some potential help. It probably too early for this, but if the rotation keeps on functioning as they are, Varland is a potential pen arm as could be Canterino. Later on, help could be on the way from the minors.

I remember Randy Bush as a walk drawing machine. I don't know if that's entirely accurate, but he seemed to walk as much as he struck out, which would be pretty amazing in this day and age. In his best seasons, he seemed like a guy who should have gotten more at bats, but maybe the limited sample size played to his strengths. Bush is one of those guys that doesn't get the credit, but fills an important role better than others could have. It's pretty hard to play 12 years with a team and not be pretty helpful.

Again, the real issue here is whether the Twins are comfortable removing the veteran completely from the equation at this early point in the season. Undoubtedly, Margo has been disappointing all the way around. However, cutting bait now means he is just gone and Martin and/or Keirsey have to be good or we're in trouble, and that's doubly true if Buxton is out for an extended amount of time this season. Personally, I think Martin has the tools to be a pretty good MLB player. He's doing "OK" in his first taste of the show and seems to be a guy that learns from the experience. I give him about a 60-70% chance of being who we need him to be. I think Keirsey could possibly have the tools to be a pretty good MLB player. Outside of defense, none of his skills stick out to me and I think he probably only has a 30-40% chance to be who we need him to be. So. . . . in theory, between the two of them, we should be ok, but it is pretty hard to feel really secure about the situation. Certainly, there is at least as much chance (30-40%) that Margot recovers and becomes a useful player again. After all, he did it once and isn't chronologically over the hill. So, do you roll the dice with the new guys or hang onto some hope with the veteran? I'm glad I'm not making the decision, because last season I cut Kepler about May 15. Apparently I was quite wrong. The Twins luckily didn't follow my advice and kept him. Apparently they have more information than me. Who knew?

Tune in midseason. I'm pretty thrilled with the SWR performance so far, but pitchers have highs and lows of a few games all the time and SWR has certainly experienced plenty of lows. If his current performance is here to stay, then absolutely, he is moving up the list, but it's too early to make that declaration. Let's enjoy it and hope it lasts.

Great article! These are the offensive statistics that I have been curious about but have been too lazy to investigate. It would be less anxiety inducing if they could be a little more consistent. The high to low roller coaster is enough to make me drink (more)! They have certainly been a lot of fun to watch the past couple of weeks though. Go Twins!

I believe you may have hit the most important criteria of all. We have much to be happy about.

And in reference to this post, PLEASE let's shut down the use of the rather loaded and undefined word "pipeline"! Even when things are going well, it just gives people something to complain about.

That's a crapshoot for pretty much every team. The Twins are in a better position than most. Years ago (and often) we were wondering who starters number four and five were going to be. That's where some of the really awful veteran signings came in. Enjoy what we have now, because it won't always be that way.

As I read this article, (and many articles for that matter), I feel like a lot of pent up Twins anger is coming out for people in the comments. The cut in payroll. . . frustrating. . . I get it, but it isn't ruining my season of being a baseball fan and you shouldn't let it ruin yours. The TV situation. . . also frustrating. . . but that doesn't really have to do with the players on the field. Falvine bashing. . . I suppose, but what good does it do you. . . that's not always based in reality either. In this case it has turned into a debate over the definition of "pipeline" and whether or not the acquisition/development of a pitching staff has followed a particular path, with outrage from some that we aren't drafting two or three pitchers a year who become successful major league starters. If they can't do that then we're not going to give them any credit at all. Spoiler alert: We aren't doing it, and neither is anybody else. It is pretty inarguable that the Twins have one of the better rotations in their history during the past couple of years, and yet, we want to complain about how we got there. Some were drafted (Ober, Varland, Jax, Sands). Some were traded for young (Duran, SWR) Some were traded for and developed a little more (Ryan). Some trades became injury reclamation projects (Paddack). Some were already established (Lopez). Does it really matter? YMMV, but I would say that it doesn't matter at all. We're in pretty reasonable shape at the moment, so I'm willing to accept it and be happy. It could be (and has been) a LOT worse. Imagine how hard we would have laughed a few years back if we were stressing over whether starter number 7 could handle it and who was next if he couldn't. Lots of years we were worried if we had a competent third starter or even a number two sometimes. Just for fun . . . who was the seventh starter in 1998? 2005? 2014? 2017? How about in their best years. . . 1965? 1987? 1991? If you can't even imagine who those names were, then that's exactly my point.

Or maybe not exactly like that. Those ERA targets are placed pretty low. Last year's league average pitcher had a 4.28 ERA. So. . . there are 30 MLB teams. Each of them have five starters. That's 150 starting pitchers. You're telling me that you would take 90 of those 150 starters before you would take Joe Ryan? That seems pretty ridiculous to me. Maybe (maybe!) you could argue that you would take 60 of them before you would take him, but even that seems like a stretch to me and that would at least make him a number three. I would argue that calling him a number two might be debatable but it isn't crazy either.

THIS. A thousand times this. I remember watching the Twins pitchers closely in the Terry Ryan era, but usually just to see when the blowup would happen and how ridiculous it would get. We usually had a decent pitcher or two but there were some pretty terrible players pitching as our fourth or fifth starter EVERY year. It was painful. Watching pitchers will never be completely pain free, but it is certainly better around the Twins than it used to be. It’s much better thinking that a game might be won 3-2 or 2-1 rather than knowing we had better score at least 5 or 6 runs to even have a chance.

I think calling it a “pipeline” by most people’s definition is probably a stretch, but as stated by others here, I really don’t care. They have managed to put together the best top to bottom rotation that the Twins have had in a long time and the team is winning and being successful. They have a couple of pitchers that they drafted originally, and several pitchers that they had the good sense to trade for. That they had the capital to trade is probably something else that can be considered for inclusion in the “pipeline.” If people want to argue about semantics, that’s fine, but for me, I would rather judge the team by its results, and those have been really solid.

That is true. Considering how much flopping goes on in that sport, it's hard to believe though!

In pretty much any sport, you go until the play is stopped by the ref/ump/official. Period. There was no way to know whether it was a serious issue when the player went down (certainly not in the heat of the moment). From the third base vantage point, he could have just as easily popped up, grabbed the ball and thrown him out. No controversy here.

Well, that could be cool. They certainly have the bandwidth, the funds, and the name recognition to be successful. Or will they price it so high that it isn't very accessible. Time will tell.