mrguy

While the fielders are also to blame for completely falling apart that inning, I mainly just don't think Banda needed to come in at all and giving up the only hit the batter he faced got in the 6 ABs he had just proved it was not the right matchup call. Can't even justify it stat wise since Carter Jensen hits lefties better than righties(though his stats aren't remarkable on either side). It felt like Shelton jumping the gun on Paredes being in the only jam he found himself in with the order turning over and wanting to hope a more experienced high leverage guy could bail him out only for the inning to completely go south. Just a questionable management decision.

A lot of things went wrong with this game, but the thing that stands out to me is having a bullpen game with a manager who seemingly didn't trust some of his pen arms. The bullpen obviously isn't great, but these kinds of games live and die by manager decisions. Paredes was pitching well even if the strikeouts weren't there, only gave up 2 hits the whole outing with 1 walk in 50 pitches but somehow didn't trust him to try and get out of the 1st and 3rd jam with 2 outs in a game that was specifically trying to avoid stretching too many bullpen arms? To me, that was the first domino that led to this game being lost, this isn't even getting into the fielding which was rough all game for everyone not named Kody Clemens. Outside of that, not much to say, the offense was there when it needed to be early on, but for a bullpen game, it was not well managed and too many questionable choices went down and too many routine things were just not handled well

I mean more in the sense that he's up in that bulk role because Ober is out even if they don't plan on using him as a starter.

I mean, so far, doesn't seem like either team really benefitted from that trade, so I don't think anyone really will care if they cut him loose at this point

Paredes as the bulk guy today is pretty much guaranteed, I assume they want to keep his schedule lined up with his St. Paul schedule so when Ober is back they won't throw off their rotation. Same reason he came in on Sunday to take up the bulk of that game despite being up to fill Ober's spot. Now that the last minute debut on short rest(Twins broadcast on Sunday said he had to fly to Pittsburgh at like 3AM and arrived right before the game) nerves are gone, I'll be curious how his control is today. Hopefully the offense can also make up for the fact that they're probably going to have to cover for Morris/Paredes and maybe Adams today in case things go south for the young pitchers

i think it's better to maintain morris a bit, he's been solid in short bursts across his last few games, keeping him limited so he can be used again in higher leverage later in the series might be better especially if that means he can continue hitting 99MPH

I'm going to guess tomorrow, Morris goes 1 maybe 2 innings with Paredes taking the bulk 3-4, maybe 5 if he's efficient enough with Adams or Gomez finishing the game depending on the results? 3 back to back younger arms handling the bullpen game would be an interesting assessment to see where the depth is at this moment in time.

Looks like tomorrow they're going to have Andrew Morris as an opener? I'm guessing it will be him and Paredes piggybacking with Paredes getting the bulk of the game?

I think part of the decision could've also come down to some of the options brewing in AAA right now. Even if SWR held on a bit longer, Ryan Gallagher or CJ Culpepper are both starting to improve in AAA, Paredes had already quickly established himself in AAA, and Prielipp and Rojas while both already on the 40 man are mainly up in the majors due to injuries early in the season from guys like Abel. Had those injuries not happened, the conversation would've become who's spot on the MLB active roster should they take. I feel like this was a decision that was probably going to happen at some point this season, but the other factors affecting the Twins right now just forced that decision to happen sooner rather than later.

There was an open spot open I think from when they DFA'd Garcia, SWR opened a second spot. I assume they DFA'd SWR because both the decision to call up Paredes/have him available as additional depth with options and the acquiring of Lawrence were both being discussed in the organization and SWR's performance was what ultimately allowed both to happen

I don't think it's that, it may for some guys like CJ Culpepper or Raya or Prielipp, but generally I think the idea was to give more options by having more guys get as many innings as possible and seeing who actually works rather than only having a few guys throw a lot of innings with a bunch of 1 inning relievers that don't go anywhere. It's probably easier to get someone who can throw 70 pitches to stretch out to 90 pitches or scale them back to 20 than it would be to only have 5 guys in a level than can throw 100 pitches with not many other choices if something happens or they don't pan out and having a bunch of guys in a level that can do that gives more options and flexibility.

I think of the guys under this "Travis Adams" plan, he was absolutely the guy who benefitted the most out of this system change. It led to him getting the most innings in his professional career while demonstrating the best control out of most of the guys under that system. Last year, he was one of only 6 pitchers in the twins' minor league system to go over 100 innings and among those 6, he had the lowest WHIP as well as the lowest ERA being an entire point lower than the next person with the second best K/BB rate. Now entering this year, even though strikeouts are still a concern, he still had more strikeouts than innings this last month in St. Paul and an interesting note was that exactly half the runs he's given up in AAA all came in his first game up there while since that game he's had a 2.02 ERA. That I think is what made them decide he might be useful to the org in the future, quick adaptability to higher levels, which is always the biggest hurdle across player development when someone moves through the system. I think he would work as a middle of a rotation starter or a bulk reliever depending on the route they go with him if they do eventually plan on keeping him around, he definitely has the control to handle that kind of work even if right now he's more a temporary option to cover injuries. All the while, it's still commendable that he's been able to steadily rise through the system in the background while having comparable to sometimes better performances than some of the top prospects in the org and it's nice to see him get rewarded for that.

With Paredes being the guy up with Ober out, I wonder what the plan is for the starter role given Paredes came on in bulk relief today? No shot Adams was the starter option of the two that got called up, right? Either way, Paredes' debut was overall solid, obviously giving up back to back walks to start the outing was rough(and the catchers interference absolutely didn't help to make the inning smoother), but after that he was pretty in control only allowing one hit and one walk in the remaining 3 innings he went out for and striking out 3 all on whiffs. The stuff generally profiled fine too with his fastball surprisingly getting whiffs despite profiling as his weakest pitch. Now that the last minute debut nerves are gone, I'll be curious to see both if they keep him up long enough to get another appearance and if he adapts to big league hitters more efficiently if he does.

After that rough situation to be put in for you debut, Paredes settled in well overall. 3.2IP, 2H, 1ER, 3BB, 3K with the 3 walks being the most he's given up in a game this year. Obviously just filling space for now and will end up back in St. Paul soon-ish, but not a bad debut.

I might chalk that first inning to debut nerves in a kind of tense situation, that was a much more efficient inning. I'd be curious if they let him out for one more now that he's settled down a bit(might as well to maintain your "higher leverage bullpen arms" if those exist lol).