Steve Lein

Yes, went in and fixed. I remember double-checking that, going "was it really Doug West, like the Timberwolves also had?!" Somehow my brain still saw 'Doug' at that point though it clearly is 'David,' haha.

This week, with the help of Out of the Park, we’ve simulated the 91/19 World Series, a seven-game battle between the 1991 Twins and the 2019 Twins. With the series tied at three and only one remaining chance to bring home the Minnesota-Series bragging rights, managers Rocco Baldelli and Tom Kelly were ready to utilize every ace up their sleeves.For the legendary manager of the 1991 Twins, the first one he pulled out was announced just hours before the first pitch was thrown. With his options limited for starting pitchers, he would turn to rookie lefthander Denny Neagle, who in game three had looked like an ace while holding the 2019 Twins scoreless through seven innings. He began this one with a quick one-two-three inning, needing just seven pitches to retire Jorge Polanco, Luis Arraez, and Nelson Cruz. His offense then immediately got to work for him in the bottom half against Baldelli’s big-blind check move of Michael Pineda, who was on the losing end in Game 3. Second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, as he had also done to lead off their third matchup, ambushed Pineda with a bunt on an 0-1 pitch. It got past Pineda, and since Miguel Sano was playing in at third base, he was unable to cut it off in front of Polanco at short, who’s throw to first was a step late. Going back to the well for perhaps the coaching move of the series, Kelly again had Kent Hrbek batting second, and once again he rewarded his manager’s faith by launching the first pitch he saw into the first rows of seats above the baggy in right field. It was his sixth home run of the series, and 15th RBI for the ’91 team. In the second inning it was Baldelli’s turn to play his cards right, and since his team was known as the Bomba Squad and had just set the Major League record for home runs in a season, it was a bit of a bluff that paid off big. The inning started with back-to-back four pitch walks to Mitch Garver and Sano, then Max Kepler, C.J. Cron, and Eddie Rosario all followed with hard hit singles that put them out front 3-2. Neagle struck out Byron Buxton in his attempt to limit any further damage but followed that up by walking Polanco as the lineup turned over, again loading the bases. Luis Arraez then clubbed an opposite field double that scored two more and brought Kelly out of the dugout, his first trick having failed. “Yeah, the greenhorn didn’t get the job done,” the skipper would pan at the podium after the game when asked about the decision to start the rookie. With a smirk he continued, “It was Gardy’s idea with the options we had, I don’t think he’ll ever trust a rookie again.” Nelson Cruz and Garver added two more singles and two more runs to the tally before lefty David West was able to shut it down. In the inning, twelve men came to bat for the 2019 team, and seven had crossed the plate. Baldelli’s team took the second inning pot with three walks, five singles, and Arraez’s double instead of any Bombas. “It was a little different than how we did it throughout the season, but we’ll take ‘em how we can get ‘em,” Baldelli exclaimed in the locker room after the game. “We needed all those chip shots!” The ’91 Twins were able to get a few of those runs back in the following innings, as Mike Pagliarulo snuck a fly-ball just inside the foul pole and over the baggy in right for a two-run homer in the bottom of the second. Kirby Puckett led off the third with a ball that ricocheted hard off the folded-up seats above the baggy in nearly the same spot. Pineda’s night was over a batter later, after surrendering a single to Shane Mack. Baldelli then called upon Ryne Harper again, who allowed just one run over the next three innings, providing a good counter. Reliever West got the ’91 Twins into the fourth inning but was lifted after a two-out walk put runners on the corners for the 2019 squad, and Kelly again reached up his sleeve by bringing in his closer, Rick Aguilera, earlier than he ever had to try and squash any further rallies. This gamble paid off and by the time Aguilera was out of gas, Kelly’s team had reclaimed much of their chips at the table. He retired the first nine hitters he faced, five of them on strikeouts, and although he was clearly unhappy when Kelly came out to get him after allowing his first hit - a single to Miguel Sano in the seventh —it was clear to his manager he had given him all he had. “You saw Aggie want to tear my head off when I went out there to get him,” Kelly said about the extended mound meeting before he finally got the ball out of Aguilera’s glove. “He still hasn’t spoken to me, but that’s the type of competitor he is. He would have stayed out there until he could only lob it underhand if I let him.” Kelly maybe should have let him lob a few over, as Mark Guthrie proceeded to allow a double to Kepler that scored Sano after a passed ball put him in scoring position, and the 2019 Twins got a needed insurance run for an 8-6 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, Hrbek and Chili Davis drew a pair of walks, and with two outs Harper lined a shallow single into center field. Ignoring the stop sign from his third base coach, the hulking Hrbek took a gamble of his own rounding third and luckily caught Byron Buxton by surprise. His double-pumped throw to home came in off target and Hrbek’s headfirst flop beat Garver’s diving tag attempt to the plate to make it 8-7. “I’m sure you can tell I’ve never slid headfirst in my life,” Hrbek quipped post game, the road rash on his cheek and chin still red and covered in dirt. “There was no way I was gonna be able to stop at third there with the momentum I had built up.” The teams traded zeroes in the eighth inning, but it wasn’t due to lacking drama. The Bomba Squad got a single from Jorge Polanco in the top half that prompted Kelly to bring in Kevin Tapani. Luis Arraez then singled on a 3-2 pitch, and after an intentional walk to Nelson Cruz to load the bases with one out, Tapani stared down the highest Leverage Index situation of his career. He rose to the challenge, striking out both Garver and Sano to keep his team within one. In the bottom half a leadoff single from Pagliarulo prompted Baldelli to turn to Tyler Duffey, who induced a double-play ball, bringing Kent Hrbek to the plate down one. He was right on a couple 95 MPH fastballs up in the zone, fouling them straight back, before sending the third one deep into center field. Off the bat it didn’t seem like it was going to get out with that low of a trajectory, but surely it was going to land for extra bases. That was until platinum glove center fielder Byron Buxton turned on the afterburners to run it down at a full sprint speed of 33.4 feet-per-second, a Statcast era record, just short of the warning track before crashing into the wall just shy of where the baggy rises in right-center. Kepler helped him up off the track with a strong slap to his backside, his jaw on the turf in bewilderment. “Didn’t get enough air under that one” said Hrbek in his presser, shaking his head. “That kid is #^&@-ing fast.” Buxton would make noise from the batter’s box in the ninth as well, the adrenaline likely still coursing through his veins. After two one-out singles from C.J. Cron and Eddie Rosario, Buxton sent a grounder up the middle past a diving Greg Gagne to score Cron who beat Puckett’s throw to home with a foot first slide through Brian Harper’s legs as he fielded the hop over the plate. Kelly then brought out Jack Morris from the bullpen, looking to keep his team as close as he could, and Black Jack did his thing in striking out Ehire Adrianza and Arraez to keep the game within two. In the bottom of the ninth Baldelli couldn’t have felt better about sending out his season long bullpen weapon and closer, Taylor Rogers, looking to complete a 3-1 series comeback and hoist the trophy with all the state of Minnesota. “That’s the situation you dream about as an MLB closer,” Rogers remarked to Fox Sports North’s Marney Gellner in the clubhouse. “You just hope it goes a lot different than it did.” That’s because after Rogers got both Puckett and Mack to ground out to start the inning, Chili Davis’ solo home run into left opened the portals of doom with two outs for the 2019 squad’s best reliever. Brian Harper followed with a single to left, then Gene Larkin’s double down the left field line scored him all the way from first to tie the game at nine and send the Homer Hanky faithful in the stands into pandemonium. When Rogers stepped back onto the mound to face Greg Gagne, the decibel meters at field level in the Metrodome were registering a constant 130+ decibels, equivalent to a F-16 taking off from an aircraft carrier, and this beat writers glass of [not water anymore] was rumbled off my workspace in the press box. Gagne tried to channel the energy in the stadium and took a big cut at the first pitch fastball from Rogers, sending it toward center field. It had the height but fell harmlessly into Buxton’s glove in center for the third out and a brief reprieve from the overwhelming noise inside the homer dome, so this one was going to extra innings. Nelson Cruz got things started in the tenth by crushing a 3-2 pitch 108.1 MPH to deep center that Puckett couldn’t catch up to, resulting in a double and the go-ahead runner in scoring position. Garver moved him 90 feet away with a fly ball to the warning track in front of the baggy, then Sano stepped into the box with one out. For all the earlier excitement in the game, this at-bat would prove anti-climactic, as a 1-2 slider in the dirt bounced and was deflected by Harper towards the visitors’ dugout, allowing Cruz to scamper home for a 10-9 lead. Sano struck out and a fly ball from Max Kepler ended the inning, but the ’91 team now had work to do. After blowing the save in the ninth, Baldelli stuck with his closer to start the tenth, as the left-handed hitting Pagliarulo led off. Pagliurulo grounded out before Chuck Knoblauch lined a single into right field to put the tying run on base. Even though the next hitter was left-handed and his name was Hrbek, Baldelli wanted a fresh arm to face the Bomba Squad’s killer in the series. He went to Trevor May and the noise started creeping upward in the dome again as three straight balls made the count 3-1 to the slugger. May’s next pitch perhaps surprised Hrbek a bit, coming in a little softer than his normal mid-90’s heat at 88 MPH, and he was only able to send a can of corn out to center for the inning’s second out. That brought up Kirby Puckett, and he kept the rally alive with a single into left field, putting Knoblauch in scoring position for Shane Mack as perhaps their last hope. On a 2-2 pitch, he smashed a ground ball at 107 MPH the other way that looked like it would get past C. J. Cron at first base with the aid of the turf, but his reactionary dive allowed him to get just enough glove on it. As he pushed himself up off the turf he looked into his glove just to make sure the ball was in there, then put his hands up in the air in celebration as he stepped on the base for the game’s final out. “I kind of panicked for a split second when I saw the ball in my glove, it just happened so fast,” Cron said of his game saving play. “I didn’t even feel the ball hit my glove, so I didn’t think I had it, then it’s like ‘where do I get an out?!’” he laughed. Luckily for him, that out was just a few feet away, and he and the rest of his teammates could get to celebrating their series comeback from 3-1 and holding off the onslaught that was Kent Hrbek’s series MVP winning performance. It was only the second time a losing player has ever won the award in a World Series. “He can have it, my goodness” Rocco Baldelli remarked in the champagne covered clubhouse media-scrum after hearing about the award. “I don’t know who the heck else you could give it to after what he did this series, but I think my guys are fine with the other trophy!” It was then that Hrbek barged into the visitor’s clubhouse, exclaiming “Who’s got a beer for me?!” while unceremoniously dropping that MVP trophy into the nearest garbage can. He had to duck a bit as cans came flying at him from every direction, but he joined in on the celebration all the same. You can find the box score and pitch-by-pitch results for Game Seven attached below. If you would like to learn more about Out of the Park Baseball 21, please click on this link. If you would like to try it, you can also download it for 10% off the regular price using the code TWINSDAILY. Finally, be sure to go back and see the recaps for: Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Game 4 Game 5 Game 6 Click here to view the article

I came here to say the same thing. I laugh every time.

Loved watching these!

Justified is also one of my top 5 shows ever, if not the top. Good choice! The Shield (also from FX) is also a good one to dive into if you never have. Walton Goggins is in that too.

Just one clarification on Royce Lewis: "He then started primarily out there in the Arizona Fall League, where he looked like a natural and was voted MVP." This is not true, he played primarily 3B, with 17 total games in the infield (4 at 2B, 1 at SS), and played in CF only 5 times. They gave him some exposure there, and he's certainly athletic and fast enough to be good to great out there, but the Twins haven't exactly made OF any type of even second priority for him yet (that said, I still believe OF is where he ends up playing for the Twins).

Dobnak was awesome when I saw him on Tuesday last week, and that was followed up by Chacin looking terrible on Friday. They were complete opposites in terms of the contact they gave up. Predominantly weak for Dobnak, predominantly crushed against Chacin. I think you can confidently put Dobnak in the 5th spot right now, and for me it would not be particularly close.

Colina went 99-100-100-99 on the sequence of fastballs I was watching on the stadium gun. Big fan of his potential for the bullpen. Imagine he'll get sent across the parking lot to get stretched out soon, but theres a lot of similarity to Graterol with him.

From this list I'm a big fan of Hackimer's results. Mason is an intriguing one to follow. Clay also has some interesting results. You're missing the obvious choice for something like this to me, though I'd argue it would be more along the lines of how Brusdar Graterol reached the majors last year. That guy is Edwar Colina.

This is a great look at why Arraez is a great hitter. It is not, however, showing anything about his power potential (unless maybe you're prognosticating for doubles). His barrel % last year was 2.7% (that's "Not great, Bob"). I think it's an extremely fair and accurate description to call him a "contact hitter," and he doesn't need to change in any way.

It is strange though, as you could easily apply my assumptions to the 3-batter part instead of the end-of-the-inning if the guy comes back out... I've read about 30 articles/etc... on the rule, and am astonished I haven't seen this scenario discussed.

To question 1: Yes, I'm saying because he fulfilled the "pitch to the end of a half-inning" part he can be removed whenever the next inning. To question 2: I think they would have to include such wording in the rule for that to be the case, and it's not there (from what I've seen).

The rule doesn't state this scenario from what I've seen, so I would assume it is taken care of by the pitcher has "pitched to the end of a half-inning" portion and he could be removed at any time beyond that.

Honestly, I believe shifting was born out of encouraging batters to try and pull and launch every pitch, not the other way around. I think the premise is the opposite of what you're arguing.

I'm a fan of the 3-batter minimum. What gets annoying in games is when 3 pitching changes are made in a single inning. I think it also adds depth to the strategy of deploying your bullpen, not takes it away. No more LOOGY easy button. I also dislike shifts. There's nothing exciting about a liner through/over the dirt getting picked and throwing the guy out at first from a shallow outfield. I hate that. Now, that doesn't mean I'd want to ban it, but do think the area an infielder can start should be loosely defined, and I'd like to see that not include the outfield. I'm okay with shifts being geared to cut off ground balls, but not your textbook line-drive singles.

"However, none of his injuries have any connection to the others. They are all, in essence, freak events." Disagree with the above 100%. Buxton is the best outfielder on the planet when healthy, but because of those skills (speed, fearlessness) he puts himself into the situations to get himself injured. He has literally hurt himself multiple times by running into walls. This is an event that has been repeatable with him, so sorry, it's not a freak thing. There have been multiple plays I can recall where my response was "Byron, you had no business even trying to make that play." The one that sticks out to me is he got burned on a liner to center, no chance to make the catch, but instead of holding up and playing it off the wall, he kept going back and slammed into it at full speed after the ball bounced off it and away from him.... He didn't hurt himself bad on that one I don't think, but he literally rammed himself into the wall for no reason. He needs to reign that in some to stay on the field.

I give them a solid B+. I love the transition from pitching to Donaldson to bring in an "impact" player. However, I don't grade trading for Maeda that well. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have him here, but as others have alluded to, I don't necessarily think he was the right type of target. The cost is probably right on it's own in the trade, but I loved the potential of having Graterol (even as a RP), and if I were making such a trade, I would have thought much bigger and probably just held off on it until July. Granted, you certainly can say that another big fish can still come in July now, but then in that perfect world I don't think Maeda ends up starting a playoff game for you (traded for ace, Berrios, Odo), so the move is sort of a wash for me either way. They didn't need pitching help to win the division, they need it to win a playoff series. All that said, I will gladly eat my shorts if it plays out differently. Definitely a different type of offseason for the Twins!

Never trust the sites that track MiLB stats on a prospect's physical measurements. They use what they went into the draft as, and never update until they make the majors.

Don't make this trade worst, Minnesota Twins. I already have stated I hate losing Graterol for Maeda already, but I will hate losing a Balazovic or Duran just as much. Throw in a lottery ticket if anything else has to come from Minnesota, and certainly not anymore pitching. If they want a prospect starter to replace Graterol, the best I'd be offering is Blayne Enlow, and maybe that means someone else gets added from the Twins too.

Doesn't have to be Graterol. In this reference I'm just using his name as the type of chip he could be. I'd rather lose him or his type as a part of a bigger deal for a better player.

Agree completely with this statement. Don't care if it's as a reliever.

Mostly why I hate it. This is a move that didn't need to be made now. You very likely could have gotten more in July for Graterol as well if he was performing, or you know, because he was performing you don't move him. I would much rather trade a Graterol + Larnach + Gordon + Baddoo type package for an ace at the deadline that's a clear attempt to help the team win a title, than Graterol for Maeda right now for what I see as a an attempt to help win the regular season. I don't think they needed that help, and they paid a high price for it. Also, in general, I don't think Maeda is as good as everyone is trying to make him out to be. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any questions about why he wasn't starting. I could argue he was the 7th best starter on the Dodgers out of anyone they had start games. Moving from NL to AL, 32 years old...I just don't see the thinking here, it doesn't match a need.

(I'm very late to the party, but) Graterol's 100 MPH fastball is far from straight.

White Sox don't worry me for this year. In my opinion, they've blown their wad of cash too early in their rebuild. This was trying to buy a winner instead of continuing to develop one (which I think they were doing good at), which I don't feel ever works in that first season. I think they're about where the Twins were in 2017. They probably win 80 games, but I don't think they take a huge step forward to challenge for the division.