As for Gil, lots of talk up here that he's dealing with shoulder fatigue. His velocity hasn't had a big drop but command has been an issue for him the last two starts.
Still think part of the issue with SWR is that he was part of three different organizations early on in his career and there was no MiLB in 2020. He's found some consistency with the Twins and what they want him to do, and he's doing it quite well. Not sure about ROY. But, it does look like the Twins have a long-term piece to their rotation to go along with Pablo, Ryan, Ober and hopefully Festa. Future's bright for the rotation.
Guessing it came from when Montgomery was on the Yankees and CV on the Red Sox. There were a few seasons where he was pretty solid at the plate especially against lefties.
Dare to dream of a starting rotation of: Pablo, Ryan, Ober, SWR, and Festa. Everyone healthy and pitching well. That's a legit long-term rotation.
Also of note, Festa's a NJ native and grew up about 90 minutes from where I live.
Correct on Funderburk. Absolutely should be Thielbar but he's a made man. And they likely want to keep Henriquez around if they need a reliever to pitch 2+ innings.
1. Rocco pulled Ryan last week. Turned it over to Sands. Tossing gas on the fire with Sands in a high leverage spot.
2. Rocco let Jackson pitch the 9th and essentially conceded the game.
3. Rocco put Alcala in the game last night despite his starter throwing less than 90 pitches and having retired 14 of 15.
There's layers to it. Not all one-run games are created equally. Some instances, you'll have a big lead and hang on. Other times, you'll be down big, get within a run and fall short. Managers not always at play.
But these last four games, we've seen some really bad bullpen management and its bit them in the ass each time. That's on Rocco.
Ryan should have pitched the 7th. The bullpen has limited options - that's on the front office. But it is on Rocco to read the room and not be so quick to yank his starter.
Four straight 1-run losses. That's the sign of a poorly managed team.
I wouldn't mind Julien getting another look. Wallner, not sure. Even last year, I didn't see him as a long-term piece. Big swing and strike out prone. The book was written on him and at his age, we might have a situation where what you see is what you get.
Dobnak's not on the 40 so someone would have to get the boot. There's a couple of names that readily come to mind, lol, but not sure the Twins would do it for Dobnak.
Houston has a run left in them. I don't think they will be sellers.
Texas likely is a seller but I could see someone (Yankees?) making a much bigger offer than the Twins. And honestly, rightfully so. At this point in his career, Max is more likely to be on the IL in October than he is winning playoff games.