CoachDW

I stand corrected. Casilla’s hit was in one of the last games in the MetroDome, not Target Field. I still say Dan Gladden is a poor play-by-play announcer but he nailed that call.

Alexi Casilla had two walk-off hits, one of which ended maybe the most memorable game ever played at Target Field, Game 163 against the Tigers. I am not a big fan of Dan Gladden’s radio play-by-play but the guy probably had his best-ever call on that ground ball single into right field that scored Carlos Gomez. To this day, I still get chills hearing it.

Bean5302; "I see Ryan as 10th in fWAR 12th in FIP , but tied with 2 other guys for 7th in bWAR and in sole possession of ERA+ just ahead of 2 guys who are 1,000% more likely to make the team (deGrom and Skubal)." Granted, Skubal will make the team, he's the reigning Cy Young Award winner, and an ace on the Division leading Tigers. But DeGrom is currently on a third place team that has a losing record. So DeGrom is 1.000% more likely to make the team than Joe Ryan? What is it about DeGrom's numbers that you think are so superior to Ryan's to make that statement and make you that confident? I could argue that right now, DeGrom's stats are no better than his Rangers teammate Nathan Eovaldi, who also should be considered. A lot can happen between now and the All-Star break, but at this juncture to state that DeGrom is 1,000% more likely to make the team than Ryan seems like a huge statement to make without much evidence to back it up.

If he continues to pitch as he has so far, I think Joe Ryan has an excellent chance of being chosen. When picking starters for the All-Star team, pitchers with high win totals are always named. So far, Ryan is tied for fifth in the AL in wins with 5, trailing only Rodon & Fried of the Yankees who both have 7 and are virtual locks to be picked by their manager, Aaron Boone, and Hunter Brown (7) and Casey Mize (6). Ryan is tied for seventh in WAR with Rodon, and ranks 6th in Ks/9, so he certainly has to be considered among the top starting pitcher candidates to be selected. Among relievers, Jhoan Duran has to be in the running as well. He doesn't have huge saves totals (currently ninth in the AL with 9) but among relievers he is tied for third in WAR with Josh Hader (1.2), trailing only Andres Munoz' 2.1 and Luke Weaver's 1.5. Byron Buxton probably has a shot, but he would have to come back strong from his injury to be considered. Unfortunately, and as usual, the Twins will probably end up with only the mandated single representative on the All-Star team this year.

I agree with what Mark G. posted; my main beef is I simply don't care for the offensive style of ball this team plays and haven’t since the Rocco & Falvey era began. While I enjoy a pitcher who throws a gem, or a defense that makes jaw-dropping defensive plays, the most exciting part of baseball to me is the ability of teams to perform on offense. Homeruns are fun and I love seeing them, but I also appreciate teams whose offense can consistently get men on base, steal a base and take the extra base, and put pressure on the pitcher and defense on the basepaths with speed and aggression. Falvey and Rocco have assembled players who don’t do any of those things. I believe that outside of only a few players, the Twins overall team speed is below major league average. Almost never stealing a base, running station-to-station while waiting around for a big blast and striking out at a high rate is a dull brand of baseball, and that’s what we have seen under the current regime. Contrast this with the exciting ball being played by the Brewers, for instance, who had 6 steals in the first inning and a club-record nine in their 14-1 win over the Athletics yesterday. “That's one of the ways we win,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “We win by collecting hits, taking walks, stealing bases, having the threat to steal, which gives you a better pitch to hit sometimes. That's one of the ways we can beat you.” The Brewers currently are first in all baseball in stolen bases while only six teams have fewer steals than the Twins. The Brewers are fifth in runs scored, while only four teams in the majors have scored fewer runs than the Twins. The Brewers don’t need to hit homeruns to score, as they have hit only six more home runs this season than Minnesota, and only three teams have hit fewer dingers than Rocco’s team. The Brewers are definitely not the Harvey’s Wallbangers of old, and they are also not an offensive juggernaut as they are below league average this season in walks, homeruns, slugging, OPS, OPS+ and league average in on-base percentage. But they are first in steals and fifth in runs scored, and are exciting to watch. Make no mistake, I am a lifelong Twins fan and no lover of Milwaukee, but the Brewers have an offensive style of play that I find fun to watch, and one that seemingly is totally foreign to Minnesota. The aggressive way they play is working for the Brewers, who have a winning record while statistically having worse pitching so far this season than the moribund Twins. Outside of the pitchers, Falvey and Rocco have put together a team of bulky, unathletic plodders who are defensively challenged and playing uninspired baseball that is hard to watch, and Twins ownership is not holding them accountable and apparently doesn’t even care. That’s my beef.

Definitely time for Rocco to go. Pull the pin on his ineptness PLEASE! He couldn't motivate a starving rat to eat a delicious piece of cheese. Enough!

As a person who is never quick to pull the trigger on a manager or head coach solely due to their won-loss record, I feel that it is evident that Rocco Baldelli should be shown the door as manager of the Minnesota Twins. After watching his entire tenure, it is my opinion that he is a poor in-game manager who has no idea how to motivate players. His leadership style is so passive that there is never any sense of urgency, just a "stay the course" attitude that constantly prevails, even in the throws of last fall's disastrous tailspin. In his post-game comments today, he stated that with the score the way it was, it was important for Buxton & Correa to "get off their feet" as if it were the dog days of August instead of the season's fourth game. Yes, from a very logical point of view maybe pulling them made some sense because it is a long year, but it definitely sent the wrong message at the wrong time. I felt for certain that last year's late-season collapse would be the impetus to finally give Rocco the axe, and I was certainly hoping that would occur, but apparently Twins fans are stuck with more of his poor managing that we have already had to suffer through for years. It would just be sad if it wasn't so infuriating.

One bit of trivia about Little Big League - the woman who portrayed Jenny Heywood, the kid manager Billy Heyward's mom in the film, is actress Ashley Crow. She is the mother of Chicago Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong.

But sharing the Pohlad's business plan for right-sizing would likely really sink the White Sox down to the very depths...oh, wait...

Chuck Knoblauch deserves to be in the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame for his accomplishments on the field. After leaving the Twins he used HGH and was arrested for assault, two terrible black marks on his character and career, but these occurred well after he left Minnesota. In a Twins uniform he was a dynamic player whose Twins career deserves induction. He was actually elected to the Twins Hall back in 2014 but after the arrest for assault his enshrinement was cancelled. Chuck Knoblauch was not a Hall of Fame human being after leaving Minnesota, but he was a Hall of Fame Minnesota Twin baseball player. It is sad his accomplishments will never get the official recognition they deserve.

Typical Twins fat, juicy Nothingburger. Have they trademarked that yet?

Fun article. I had never heard of Duluth native Spence Harris. He definitely was a contact hitter, as in 438 major league plate appearances he had 39 walks and only 33 strikeouts. It certainly was a different era of baseball.

Superb article.

Perhaps Del Unser was drafted as a pitcher, but he certainly was not a starting pitcher in the majors, as he was an outfielder who played first base once in a while in the big leagues. He was noted for being a good pinch-hitter during his career. Bret Boone may have been better than Luis Rivas, but certainly not Chuck Knoblauch who many people, including myself, thinks is deserving of being inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame - he had seven or eight outstanding seasons with the Twins that I think are largely forgotten after the fans soured on him after he demanded to be traded in the late 1990’s. It’s a shame that his accomplishments in a Twins uniform are not more highly recognized by the Minnesota fan base.

According to FanGraphs transactions, Caleb Boushley was optioned to the minors earlier today. Caleb, we hardly knew ye! Austin Martin & Jorge Alcala are back up, and Byron Buxton is on the 10-day disabled list.

Mike Clevinger is going to re-sign with the White Sox on a one-year deal, according to MLB Trade Rumors. That would have been a nice additon for starting pitching depth for the Twins. It will be interesting to find out how much he is signing for.

So, is that a picture of Festa or Canterino? It would be nice to have the pictures of the players captioned.

I am also in the camp of "it's too soon to extend" Royce Lewis. Both Royce Lewis and Bobby Witt are special talents, but Witt is a full year younger than Lewis and went from a 20 HR/30 SB rookie year to a monstrous 30HR/49 SB sophomore campaign. Witt has already chalked up over 1,300 plate appearances in the big leagues while being very durable, playing in 150 & 158 games in his two seasons. Lewis has "sky-is-the-limit" potential, and had a breakout half-season last year, but he only has 280 total big league plate appearances and has played a total of only 70 games due to injury, which is a concern. In my experience, players who are injury-prone tend to remain injury prone, and freakish injuries or not, in his career Lewis has certainly been bitten by the injury bug. If Lewis can play a full season without a major injury and continue to put up numbers like he did last year, an extension might certainly be justified, but for now -- I want to see Lewis make a believer out of me in 2024.

Oh, of course, the seam-shifted wake and the Magnus effect. Now I get it.

Reportedly, the Twins picked up $8 million dollars in the deal with Seattle. Use that money to sign FA starter Mike Clevinger to a one-year, $10 - $11 million dollar deal. By signing him, you get a solid starting pitcher and lose no prospects in having to trade for a starter, and Clevinger can give the Twins 125 - 150 very effective innings. He is coming off a 3.3 WAR campaign with a 3.77 ERA in 24 starts & 131 innings last year. The Twins need another guy who takes the ball every fifth day, and that's exactly what they'll get with Clevinger. Since Paddack is coming back from injury, it is unknown how many frames that he will be able to throw, and the same goes for DeSclafani ( and there is no telling how effective he will be). Adding Clevinger to a rotation of Lopez, Ober, Ryan, and a mixture of Paddack/Varland/DeSclafani would go a long way to making me feel much more comfortable with the starting staff heading into the 2024 season.

Don't forget "DIsco" Danny Ford, "Chief" Mark Salas, or "Everyday" Eddie Guardado...