Western SD Fan

or stay off the ski slopes of the restroom

If Nance gets through the 7th, we stand the best chance to make it with hopefully Morris and Gomez to follow.

Our newest shiny toy is warming up in the bullpen. It would be nice if he wouldn't have to walk a tightrope in his first inning of action with the Twins.

Sans the Lewis home run, there has been plenty of weak contact and he has induced 2 double plays. Baffled seems appropriate. Not every pitcher needs to toss 10 K's to be baffling.

I was going to say that Meckler didn't need any help getting the bat to the ball this game and almost showed why with that very long foul ball.

Only if he makes a stop in Mandan, ND at the Cloverdale plant to pick up some sausage.

Can't do it. Flo is protecting Progressive Field in Cleveland. Mahomes is still on wedding vibe layover. And the Farmers guy just thinks it's too darn hot to show up.

9 extra pitches for Ryan because Keashall couldn't catch the ball. That's the difference between 6 and 7 innings.

Nice cover by Lewis. I agree with Morneau's take on 1B. Always take it yourself if you think you can beat the runner no matter if the pitcher is on first or not.

A bit surprised that Mauer is not there today. Also somewhat surprised that Plouffe didn't stay the weekend since he was already in Minnesota for the previous series.

With apologies to @Patzky, I'm posting the lineups from both teams. I like seeing this later in games and I don't remember anymore which handedness the next scheduled batters are to help determine where it appears the bullpen will be going.

And this is why Joe Ryan's pitch count is always too high. When it seems necessary to strike out the side every inning because of the defense behind you, your pitch count is going to suffer. Needing to pitch to 2-3 extra batters a game can determine whether you get a quality start.

Agreement that they need to pick whoever is in the top 3 that is available. If the Twins want to save money on slot value, the place to do it is after this pick. Maybe you can tease a talent from going back for their senior year in college or going to college at all if they are a HS or JC player. The only way I see them not making that pick is if they have determined that the one that lands in their lap refuses to sign with the Twins. I cannot imagine a pick this high would do that, but you can't rule it out. The Twins would need to communicate that to the public to not get skewered in the press.

Things are already looking up for today's game.

I will take every rally dancer I can find if the Twins can get a hit to bring in some runs.

This is beginning to set up last year. Last year, they lost a winnable series against the Pirates before the ASB and then folded like a cheap umbrella against the Rockies and Dodgers. This year, it's looking like the Angels, Cubs, Cleveland, and the A's

I was thinking how many undershirts the players are going to need to get through the series.

Nice small ball Twins!

Laz Diaz and Brian O'Nora are retiring after the season.

Agree. That was meant more for @Church of Kreidler to express his concern that he hopes to see Kreidler on Sunday. Bad news for him since Soriano is a RHP. Too bad as Gray really shouldn't be out there.

If you're throwing darts, they've been hitting 1's and 3's instead of 18's, 19s and 20s. Does Nance hit those numbers? No, but does Nance hit 12s-15s instead of 3's and 5's. Yes.

I've got bad news for you for Sunday.

At least we are having a civilized conversation over here, unlike over at Jays Centre. I checked over there to see the other side of this trade. Some just want to sell outright and there's a few comments over there that would have been given warnings and/or timeouts here. Just wanted to point out the thoughtfulness of our community.

I thought the goal from Zoll during trade season was to improve the bullpen? We are not trading for relief help like Chapman or any of the high-end relievers which would have to give up a bunch of trade value. These trades are the type that we need to improve the floor. The hope is that Nance is better than the likes of Adams, Orze, Rojas, Rogers, or Funderburk. The likely corresponding move would be to move Adams. Is Nance all of a sudden going to elevate the bullpen to a shut-down pen? Not likely. Is Nance not going to cost us games like some of the others on the roster? More likely than not.

Let's do the exercise pretending there is an actual plan to re-sign Jeffers to a FA contract. First, you should have tried to do this last offseason if you are actually serious about trying to sign him to an extension. Below is the list of the current highest paid catchers with their current contracts. If you don't see a contract, it means they are still under arbitration. Jeffers isn't worth the top 3, and a new contract is likely in the range between the lines (Salvy and William Conteras). The current QO is $22.025 million. For the people who want the QO, you're asking the Twins to pay nearly $5 million OVER the highest paid catcher in MLB. Doing a QO makes no sense for a catcher. This seems absurd for a catcher all for the privilege to get a draft pick in either at the end of the 1st round or the end of the 2nd in which you will have to wait 2-5 years to see any results for. Our drafting and developing hasn't had the best track record in the last decade or so. Also, if you thought that we had no bullpen help now, take away another $5 million and see how our bullpen will be next year. My theory would be to try to entice him with a 3/$42M or a 4/$50. You are overpaying in AAV for fewer years as an honest contract would be near Murphy and Kirk. I still think that if you were serious about bringing him back, you would have already tried to re-sign him. All of this to say that they should probably trade him for the best offer they can find provided they are not giving him away.