Dman

As a Twins fan conditioned to think\say that pitching has let us down this offense stinks. They cannot string anything together. I thought that maybe after the HR bats came out in Cleveland that maybe things were starting to gel but after only get 1 run off of Cease this team has problems. Still time to get it together but they need to start picking each other up. You look at the averages and OPS of this Chicago team and you have to admire that lineup. Their pitching is certainly equal to ours as well. So not too surprised at the results as these games can go either way but the White Sox are going to be this good for a looong time. I hope out guys can bounce back.

I was happy he got that hit. Gets that monkey off the back right away. I have been curious about what type of player he would be since he has been moved around a lot. A second baseman with power is not a bad thing to have and being able to handle multiple positions helps as well. Personally I don't see this team needing left field help anytime soon but being able to manage 2nd and 3rd is nice. With his lack of speed his bat will have to carry him. He broke out in 2019 but the bat to this point has been more average than exceptional. He seems to be the typical Twins hitter this FO seems to covet. A 250 Average with a 300+ OBP and plenty of power. We will see how things work out for him but he is off to a great start.

That game surprisingly knocked the wind out of me. I know that game could have gone either way but it feels like the baseball gods are against us this year. It feels like it has been forever since Chicago has won the division and that baseball gods will give them the edge this year and maybe beyond. I am not too wrapped up in the Twins winning the division as they are coming off that crazy wonderful 101 win season where almost everything went right. They are still a very good team and will have a chance to get hot and win it all. It just doesn't look good for winning the division IMO.

Looking at this series before it started I never expected a sweep. All those Shiny one point ERA's or 2 point ERA's and a very good Indians bullpen made it appear they would\should be in every game. Yeah they haven't been hitting the ball all that well but the heart of their lineup can still do some damage. Baseball is a strange game as somehow someway the Twins won all three and the revived Home Run Bomba bats did the damage. They even got HR's with guys on base. With the offense struggling so badly this year it has felt like this team just isn't that good and yet they currently are one of the top teams in baseball. If the bats truly are back I think this team can do some damage in the playoffs because the starting pitching is much improved and the pen can hold it own. Let's grab some wins in Chicago and see what happens.

Honestly I didn't think Rookers bat would look this good at the MLB level even in a small sample size, so his debut was impressive to me. Just when it seemed he was comfortable he gets hurts. The guy has had some seriously bad injury luck pretty much every year. I feel bad for him and wish him a speedy recovery. He can certainly hold his head high for helping the team while he was there.

Did anyone else notice that on most of those HR's the ball was right down the middle of the plate? I guess the Indians pitchers have so much confidence in their Breaking stuff that they don't think it matters where they place it? I was a little surprised Plesac didn't work the corners a bit more than he did. It seems like pitchers seem to guess when to throw a fastball down the middle on the first pitch and doing that to Rosario generally isn't a good idea when you can generally get him out with stuff off the plate and yet they tempted fate anyway and lost. I guess the Indians plan was to pitch aggressively and make the Twins earn getting on base and it did allow their pitcher to go 7 innings but I don't think that plan allowed for the 5 HR's they gave up last night. Nice to see the Twins finally bust out the Bomba bats. Let's hope the bats are here to stay as they head to the post season.

Sorry I said 2020 but that is not right I think they got them in 2018 or 2019. I mistype'd that.

If they win we have bragging rights. If they lose we have better draft position. Since this isn't a full (real) season I am ambivalent about winning the crown just want to see the team in the playoffs. Always rooting for the win but am fine to let the chips fall where they may. I only see the positive win or lose.

For the most part I agree with you. As we have literally witnessed starting pitchers no matter what round can be dangerous picks because you never know what injuries might happen to the arm or if they will develop into a viable major league pitcher,but here is the rub. Generally if you want to find an arm with "special" qualities you are going to find them in the first round. Lets take a trip through the division and I think you will see what I am talking about. Lets start with the White Sox. While we have to go back in time a little and they did not personally pick all the pitchers they have they did trade a pitcher they got in the 1st round (Sale) for another pitcher taken in the first round Giolotto and I would say that has worked out pretty well for them. They also got another 1st round pitcher from Washington in Dunning and although it is small sample size he is off to good start. They also have the hard throwing and almost unhittable although also wild Michael Kopech waiting in the wings and he was a supplemental 1st round pick. Just this year they took Garret Crochet a lefty who can wing it up to 100 mph with the 11th pick in the draft so yet another 1st round arm. These are the type of arms that can make a difference, that can separate from a more average starter. Its not like Chicago spent all their draft capital on pitching as they arguably have the best lineup in the division as well and to top it all off they are a very young team with some of their best tied up for the next 6 years. Yes they took chances and they haven't won anything yet but they have the look of team that could win a world series and those 1st round arms look to play a big part in that. Kansas City I believe tripled down on 1st round pitchers in 2020 and got Asa Lacy, and Brady Singer in the first round and they are in top 50 prospects in MLB and I believe Singer almost threw a no hitter yesterday. They also have Daniel lynch in the top 100 as yet another first round arm and that doesn't even include Jackson Kowar who didn't make the top 100 this year but certainly could in the near future. All high quality arms likely to impact their team soon. The pitching poor Royals look like they will be in good shape very soon all with those solid 1st round pitcher picks. Detroit did the same thing taking Casey Mize and Matt Manning at the top of the draft is successive years. Guys with Ace like stuff and Multiple highly rated pitches. Mize has struggled in his debut but the high end talent is there and he seems likely to harness it in time. So you can see that grabbing 1st round pitching can be important to finding guys that have potential to be better than average pitchers and often times that is where dominant pitching comes from. You can still do what the Twins do and grab a bunch a pitchers later but why not take a chance now and then on top shelf talent in the 1st round especially when you have so, so many Left field\1st baseman type hitters? Believe it or not there is a point where that strategy no longer makes sense. Right now and into the future they are locked and loaded for outfield, 1st base and DH. They could possibly use middle infield help and oh yeah they lack young high quality starting pitching. I like the potential of Balazovic and Duran but lets be honest they are not even close to stretched out yet so unlikely to help much even next year. The Guys behind them have potential but nothing like the 1st rounders I just mentioned for the other teams. So while we might be developing good pitching our competition might be developing great pitching and that might be the difference in where we end up the next 5 to 6 years, Now I know I left out Cleveland and I know Falvey is from that school of thought and maybe there is a trend in the making there but to this point most teams either get their pitching in free agency, trades or high draft picks. Yep lots of lower drafted guys make it too but that doesn't mean a team needs to skip trying to draft pitching in the first round. Especially a team that appears to have quite a few hitters in the pipeline as it is. I know the FO loves the pitching they have in the pipeline but I am skeptical it will be make enough of a difference versus the talent our competitors have. I hope I am wrong but I think based on what I have written above a case can be made that I am right as well.

Yeah Gipson looks like he has pitches that miss bats but his pitch mix could likely use help. Legumina had decent numbers before getting hurt which makes me wonder if he is destined for the pen. I am not sold on Headrick but he is that crafty lefty all teams seem to like in the later rounds. Sean Mooney had some good stats before needing Tommy John so could be a good grab for a 12th round pick. Dylan Thomas looks like he has the strike out stuff to be a closer. Cody Laweyson had an impressive Minor league debut and could be one of those Dobnak type finds. So Yeah I agree with you they took a lot of bites of the apple getting lots of pitching in the lower rounds hoping a few of those guys work out. The Twins also have a couple interesting young arms that came from international signings in Donny Breek and Anthony Escobar. Both of those guys have a ways to go but have shown very good potential and performed well to this point. So again to your point the well is not dry. It just remains to be seen yet if Falvey can duplicate the no name pitcher success that Clevelend has been able to produce to this point. I guess we will all have to wait and see but given that our division looks to have some of the best pitching in baseball for the foreseeable future if these guys don't turn out then our chances for the playoffs are slim to none.

OK I'll bite. I like a lot of things this front office has done from day one but I do wish they would have taken more pitching higher in the draft. KC, Detroit and the White Sox all have drafted high quality hurlers in the 1st round and I don't think the Twins have taken one since Tyler Jay which was a huge mistake. Looking at our competitions farm systems they all have a fair bit of top 100 pitching in the pipeline. Granted we have some guys with potential but Balazovic is the only pitcher we have in the top 100 and he is at the bottom end at 90. Yeah, yeah i know that doesn't mean anything as Cleveland can pull pitchers out their hat and the Twins appear to have done the same to some degree with Dobnak but to me the odds favor our rivals at this time. While I get the strategy the Twins have used to try not to make mistakes in the 1st round the fact that they continue to load up on fairly slow footed\postionless hitters doesn't exactly give me confidence that they can put together a winner. The two guys they chose early that have 5 tool potential (Lewis, Cavaco) have the bat as their weak spot which could make them less effective if they ever do make it. It remains to be seen if the Twins stocking up on Left field, 1st baseman type hitters with hard hit rate turns out but IMO with so many of those types of players in the system I would have liked to see them take more chances on pitching. While there are things I feel are weaknesses in their strategy I can say they have maintained a good farm system even while picking later in the draft. As Rdering mentioned I feel like they have been saved by their international signings as a lot drafts came up pretty dry in 2013, 14 and 15 and we really haven't seen much of anyone but Jeffers and Rooker from 2017 on so hard to say how to feel about those drafts just yet. I will say I have enjoyed the Twins new approach to pitching development and have never felt better about that area than I do now. The thing is I believe our competition is a step ahead of us in that department and that might end up being the difference between making the playoffs out of the central or not. Here's hoping the FO has a few aces up their sleeves.

I have been lower on Rosario than some but I still think the Twins keep him next year unless they can work out a trade. I just don't think DFA'ing him makes sense. He is improving his chase and walk rate and while he isn't hitting the ball as hard as we would like he is still getting his fair share of HR's I could see him splitting time with some of the young guys next year but he is still a valuable veteran and this team will still be in the think of things in the central. I really like Larnach and Kirillof but who knows how they would adjust or be ready next year. Kirillof has had plenty of injury issue's and Larnach hasn't been tested above AA so I still think keeping Eddi around for one more year makes sense.

I wasn't a fan of the pick when it happened as it felt like a big reach but have been proven wrong from the moment he started in the Twins system. I think he batted around 400 in his debut at E_town and never really looked back. Gotta say I am pretty surprised he was picked to come up. He didn't have a great spring training with the bat and only in the system a couple of years but once again he gets an opportunity and proves people who don't believe he can do it are wrong. Here's to hoping we have a great catcher for years to come.

I don't know if Rogers is just becoming too predictable or isn't throwing as well this year but they need to stop using him in the ninth. He has been far from dominant this season what ever the reasons right I would rather anybody but Rogers out there in the ninth (Well maybe not Littel). Anyway I am guessing the ever supportive Rocko isn't going to panic and change anything so hopefully Rogers becomes dominant soon.

If that is the complete list then I am not too concerned. While I like Reed and Clay we seem to be pretty set with Relief arms as it is and the Twins have been pretty good with relief arm reclamation project's as well. If we lose some of those guys then so be it..

I think that is an interesting thought. I know it is a bit out there but if that was the case the trade ends up being Pressly, Outfielder Jaylin Davis and pitchers Prelander Berroa and Kai-Wei Teng for Alcala, Celestino and Dyson. Dyson ends up actually hurting the team in 2019 and is no longer with the team so if the subtraction of Presley could be linked to the needed adding of Dyson then the Presley trade does look a lot worse. Granted the Dyson deal was an odd and unforeseen case of bad luck but still if you taking everything into consideration that would be a high price to pay for losing Presley and only gaining Alcala and Celestino. Personally I think there is some merit to thinking this way but there is no way to prove they would or wouldn't have made those moves if they still had Presley.

I like your analysis here. I think they still make the Romo Trade even if they had Pressly as it freed up a spot for 1st base prospects (Lewin Diaz who would need to be added to the 40 man) and added a pitcher that didn't need to be added to the 40 man while also netting Romo. At that time we felt we needed two or three options so I think that Romo deal happens regardless. I wonder though if we had Pressly if we could have avoided the horrible Dyson trade. So that is something to consider. My thinking at the time was the year we traded him he wasn't going to help us. We were not going to make the playoffs. The next year we certainly could have used him but in the end I don't see him as someone who would have been a difference maker as we won 100 games without him and the issues we had in the playoffs were soooo numerous even if we had him he wouldn't have made a difference. So while we missed a year and a half of a fairly elite reliever I think the return works in our favor assuming of course the players received make it to MLB. I too don't think he would have signed an extension with the Twins and I don't think the Twins would have offered the money that he ultimately received as they seem to have a philosophy of not investing high dollar amounts in the pen. Hard to say for sure though maybe he would have taken a discount to stay on the Team he came up with and maybe they could have gotten a deal done but I don't think you can take that to the bank in fact the odds seem low to me that he would have stayed. Assuming they were not going to be willing to pay market value to sign him I think the trade looks really good for the Twins right now. They have 5 or 6 years of Control of Alcala who will never be quite Pressly like but still very good and a potential productive center fielder that could give them a lot of future flexibility. It is early but I don't see Celestino as an All Star type player but a very good player certainly better than 4th outfielder if he continues to hit. If both those players do hit MLB then IMO the Twins win this trade handily. If only Alcala makes it having him for 6 years versus the 1 and a half we didn't really need Pressly it is still a win in my mind. Even if neither player made it at this point I don't think I would be that disappointed in the effort to get better given where the team was at that time. Still too early to say how this all turns out but I still like this move.

I believe I called Wisler a Clown when we moved to get him as his stat profile was bad. He had the one good pitch and a fastball that guys hit over the fence. I was definitely not on board with the pickup at the time. So far this season I am the one looking like a clown. Hope he keeps it up. Getting a guys for free that performs like that really helps a team out.

Too small of a sample size for me but the trend is still worth pointing out. TIme will tell if you are a soothsayer or not.

Happy to get the win today but things didn't go as well as I had hoped against a hittable pitcher. For as great as Berrios's line was (only 1 earned through 6 innings) He was getting close to 50 pitches after two innings. For a while there it looked like he might only go 4 innings 5 max and these were the pirates not the Yankee's. It feels like he has a lot of things to work out. In the end he made it 6 innings so I guess I can't complain too much but it was pretty brutal to watch IMO. It was nice they got 2.1 innings out of Thielbar so the pen could rest a day. He doesn't look like someone to rely on just yet but a guy who could eat innings when games are out of hand. He looked OK out there to me but not overly dominant. At least he doesn't walk guys like Poppen does, but that is the only reliever I would say Thielbar might be better than in our current pen. Where would this team be at the start of this season without Cruz? Probably in about the same place as the Indians and Chicago. He has been a true difference maker early and yet teams keep challenging him. I see a fair number of walks and hit by pitch in Cruz's future. 4 walks for Kepler bodes well. Pitchers will have to give stuff to hit or put him on 1st for free. Good to see that good eye at the plate and solid contact. He should be a tough out if he keeps this up. Also nice to see Rosario beat the shift taking the ball to left. Beat it a few more times and they might have to play him more straight up again. We don't seem to have the homer magic we had last year but with the improved pitching we are still a tough team to beat. Here's hoping for a few more HR's in the next few games. Go Twins!

I am just not used to us pitching this well and having virtually no weak links in the rotation or the pen. The way they have pitched this year gives me hope that this team can do great things. Very happy we took 3 out of 4 from Cleveland as they are a very god team and I don't see them losing a series or much at all with the pitching they are getting. Essentially shutting our lineup down which is one of the deepest in Baseball is no easy task so other teams will likely have a difficult time scoring runs against them as well. Great series and am happy we came out on top and didn't split it. Really excited about this team. Go Twins!

The Twins hitters just couldn't tell if\when the ball was going to break or not and he often didn't throw strikes when they were lucky enough to work the count 3-2. He was going to bury the ball and not throw strikes in that situation until they figured it out. They never did. He was definitely a mind reader last night sensing the Twins would be aggressive when they were and throwing down the middle when he felt they would take. Honestly I think they solve him the next time out. At least draw more walks and bring his pitch count up. I don't see him ever giving up a ton of runs but I think they can make him work even harder and get him out of the game earlier. He had a great night and is going to be good pitcher for a long time. Here's hoping we can find pitchers that are just as good and soon.

I can see he understands his weakness and is trying and that is awesome, but as you can see by his chase rate he just doesn't have a great sense of the zone. Guy has amazing hand eye coordination and can turn on pitches that no other hitter I have seen can. He can hit balls hard that are out the of strike zone, but mainly makes weak contact there. Personally I think pitchers drool over getting to face him because there is little reason to throw strikes or quality pitches just let Rosario get himself out. Hopefully he improves because if he does look out he could be one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball.

Hate to sound like a broken record but pitchers were coming off the board like crazy in the second round. Seemed like a good time to grab one there. Grabbing another position-less player in a system full of them seems well down right wasteful to me. The positives appear to be that he does have a good eye and hit tool so a decent chance to make it to MLB. Also seems to have some power as well. With not a ton of picks this year I thought that maybe they would take more chances on pitching in the draft but I guess it is the same old same old. Not a bad pick but not what I was hoping for either.

Really like the write ups and the list I could quibble about the order but I think all these guys are in range of your projections. I too am not a Lewis fan mainly because of the bat but he looked very good yesterday with a Home Run and defensive gem that made me think why would anyone say he might not be able to play shortstop. It was an amazing play very few shortstops in MLB could make IMO. Anyway like you secretly I have Lewis at number three until the bat comes around. If that bat produces at AA then he truly does belong at number one because no one in the system has close to the athleticism he has. Also I give him props for bulking up. Dude looks huge this year, like he belongs in MLB. Just needs that hit tool to work and he has All Star written all over him.