Western SD Fan

I found a snapshot what happened to the Cleveland infielders last night when they landed in Minnesota. They were kidnapped and forced to watch Twins fielding all night.

Nice AB by Lewis to force Cantillo to throw strikes.

Taj was so fast. We didn't even recognize that the game started!

I'm not so sure about having all four of them in the same booth. Seems like a wreck waiting to happen. I honestly thought they would trade games during the series.

Forgot to ask @Church of Kreidler. Are you excited about Kreidler finally being exalted on his proper throne at SS?

Plouffe is the play-by-play man tonight and will be in the booth during the entire series. I would assume he would be there for the weekend as well since this weekend is Dick Bremer's Twins HOF weekend, but assuming always gets me in trouble. 😉

They have done this the past couple of years. I thought before it was just one game, but this year it is the entire series.

Be warned for this series. This series is the annual "All Analyst Broadcast Series." Plouffe is your play-by-play man tonight with appearances from Morneau, Perkins, and Span this week.

Gaurians (Cantillo) Vs Twins (Bradley): 7/7/26 6:40pm CDT That's right Cleveland. We respect you so little that we refuse to spell your nickname correctly!

Back when the heat index at game time was consistently in the 120+ degree range.

This smells like the team finally had to make a decision on Buxton because they just needed help. Prior to Saturday, I think the decision was largely Buxton's to make on how he was progressing. We will never know the conversation that occurred. I would have to think that Shelton went to Buxton when they flew to NY and asked if he could go or if they needed an outfielder. Buxton has been a warrior and has tried to play through injury to his own detriment at times. They would have been better served with Buxton going on the IL over the weekend in NY, retroactive to last Monday, and still could have been off the IL in time for the AS Break. Great opportunity for Roden. I'm sure he will be platooned in to begin with, which also means Fedko should be getting the start tonight (he is!). Hopefully, he does well and they can't send him back down when Buxton comes back.

I would also like to add that Outman has taken his defensive chops to Detroit as well. The last Tigers game I watched, he took a bad route and let a ball get over his head. This would be my arguments for Roden promoted over Jenkins at this current moment: Roden is on the 40-man. Jenkins is not. This plays out in multiple ways, the least of which is that the Twins would have to make a roster move to DFA someone. There is enough chaff on the 40-man that they could DFA someone today and make room for him if you needed him. It matters more in roster construction after the season. I took this off of Copilot (results may vary), but it doesn't sound like that the Twins need to add him to the 40-man in November to protect him from the Rule-5 draft. If there is a labor stoppage, he could still report to spring training and the minors since he is not on the 40-man roster and could be promoted as soon as baseball resumes. The MLBPA is making a hard push to change the number of years before arbitration or free agency, and I wouldn't want the best prospect to lose a year of that due to some crazy grandfather rules or adjustment to the arbitration rules. I'd rather the Twins go into this with their eyes wide open, as they have been shut for most of the past 3-5 years. Rule 5 Draft context (taken from Copilot) Players signed at age 18 or younger must be on the 40-man roster within five seasons; those signed at 19+ must be protected within four years. Jenkins is 21, so he’s not in immediate Rule 5 risk, but if Minnesota doesn’t add him to the 40-man list before the 2027 deadline, he could become eligible for the Rule 5 Draft While Roden is touted as a great OF, he is not considered the backbone of the future like Jenkins is. Both have injury history. If I'm going to sacrifice somebody to the rigors of MLB vs AAA, I'd rather it would be Roden. I want Jenkins to prove that he can stay healthier longer than a Klondike bar can stay frozen in a corn field during a hot Southern Minnesota day before I trust to start his clock. Jenkins probably would have been up here already had he not been injured. As for current roster construction, you can bring Roden up right now. Since roster construction typically works itself out, we now do not have enough LHB to fill out a platoon whereas at the beginning of the season, we had too many options. Roden could come in for Fedko and Jeffers would take Gray's spot. If Kreidler did get hurt, Arcia or Gray would be a train ride away and you could fill in-game issues with Lee, Lewis, Caratini, and Bell. This arrangement is likely only for a few weeks if you expect Jeffers to be traded by the deadline. We need Roden for more immediate help. That doesn't mean that Jenkins isn't ready as he likely is. There is more to a roster than just saying that the player is ready. Until the economics change in baseball, the Twins have to do shrewd moves like this to keep their players in-house and cheap for as long as they can. Ultimately, that is why Jenkins will need to stay in the minors at least until 2027.

Add to that Clemens has been a hitter has been making contact this year. His K% is below ML average. A long time ago, this was the exact situation to hit-and-run.

Many an elite closer had command issues when they first came up. I remember a young Chapman would walk or hit about as many batters as he would strike out. Duran also had control issues. He almost alternated between strikeout and walk when he first came up. That's why I still have promise for Rojas (wherever they finally figure out where to put him), Raya, and Culpepper. Currently, I think Raya has the best chance of being a solid bullpen piece. He was highly touted, the luster has come off, and now he has made it to the other side no longer shackled to the expectations heaped upon him when he was drafted and brought up through the system.

This isn't going to happen. The Twins won't pay the price necessary, either in money or prospects, to bring back that kind of a pitcher. I don't think I would want them to do that either. This is not a WS team or a deep, competitive AL team. This team is likely a .500 team that, in the weak AL, could make the playoffs. I would settle for a couple of solid relievers that would make the likes of Laweryson, Orze, and Adams not needed on the team anymore. Upgrading your floor would do more wonders than a shut-down closer. I've been in the camp that we need to buy and sell this trade deadline. We have the likes of Larnach and Bell which could be flipped with a prospect for a solid reliever or bring back prospects that could be spun for pitching help later, similar to AJ Preller in San Diego. Jeffers should bring back more, but nobody really knows as a catcher of his quality hasn't been on the trade market in a long time. Unfortunately, bullpens are built in the offseason, not at the trade deadline. Probably the largest reason I don't want the Twins to do much for the deadline. I'm not sure how much I really trust Zoll to make the best trades that will make the Twins a better team going forward. I don't need to see what's in the mystery box.

I wonder if Gameday has the same jinx powers as announcers do?

That's the balance of analytics I believe we all wanted to see. We all know what the numbers say. They should be a tool, not a manual.

He's approaching 100 pitches. If he was at 94-95, I'd have him come out for one batter in the 8th before turning it over to Morris. I'm not so sure now.

If I had to predict the rest of the game from the pitching side, Ryan will get the 7th. If Ryan gets into any trouble, you'll have Morris. Unfortunately, by default of bullpen rest, Laweryson would get the 8th and Gomez would get the 9th. Not a save situation, but he hasn't pitched since Wednesday with a day off tomorrow in a not out-of-control game.

Today has been a good day for the hitters. They have kept pressure on the Yankee pitching staff and keep pushing runs across. Too many times this year, we have seen the Twins get 3-5 runs in the first 5 innings and then go to sleep the rest of the game while the bullpen enters the chat and spams everywhere.

I meant to ask what sort of sorcery does Kreidler practice to get that kind of bounce?

I believe they have shown that challenging on a 0-0 count is important as it changes the entire outcome of the AB depending on whether the count starts 1-0 or 0-1. 0-1 or 0-2 challenges make little sense as does most challenges with 2 outs, unless there are RISP. I am glad that Shelton has told the pitchers not to challenge pitches. Interviews with pitchers earlier this year suggest that they think everything near the plate is a strike.

The advanced metrics people have been trying to diminish it ever since they created wRC+ thinking it is superior. Here is a clip from the conclusion of a Fangraphs article describing just that. "Generally speaking, RBI is not a useful measure of offensive performance. It may be useful as a way to explain the events of a game, but a player having 100 RBI and another having 75 RBI tells you almost nothing about those two players and the seasons they had. Generally, it’s hard to rack up huge RBI totals while having a horrible season, but there are much better stats available, even if you want one that rewards hitters for advancing runners. The key is you have to reward them for all runner advancements, not just the ones that lead to runs." Here is a link to the article: Stats To Avoid: Runs Batted In (RBI) | Sabermetrics Library I personally don't believe this as the good RBI guys (if there are any left) do things during their AB that increases their chances of getting that RBI. Choke up on the bat, try to shoot the ball to the opposite side, try to get the ball in the air, work the count, etc. For all of our complaining of Bell, he does put together professional AB's more often than not, especially with runners in scoring position.

Actually, he has a Tesla with a full glass rooftop so the drive-up MRI machine can just take the image directly from the vehicle.

But he's not supposed to be reaching for green fairies!