IndianaTwin

Concur. For what it's worth, they did not remove Sano for defensive purposes in any of his last 28 games. I mainly listened to games, but from what I could tell in the games I did see, I think Sano could be on his way to being a solid defensive first baseman. He did some things well (though not others) as a 3B, and he seemed to be very good on picks. He also seemed to have a very quick tag on pickoffs -- there were a couple of occasions where I think he outpsyched a 1B ump and got a call reversed. His mistakes seemed to be ones where he ranged too far going after balls and didn't get back to the base in time, which will come with more reps there. (Aside, I think the learning of a new position as a full-time 1B could have contributed to offensive struggles this year. His past offensive struggles seem to coincide with trying to learn RF and when trying to improve at 3B.)

I see what you did there...

If someone has named this, I've missed it, but there's another reason why I think the Twins won't start the year with Kiriloff and Rooker in the majors -- service time. Kiriloff is particular seems like a guy who "needs a little time in Rochester to adjust to high-level pitching." With a new CBA needed, it's not a guarantee that things will stay the same, but it's still probably in the mix at some level.

Thanks. That’s the gist of what was coming to mind. I think of Cron and Schoop as being distinctly different. They were both guys brought in from the outside on under-valued one-year make-good deals to an 87-loss team without clear alternatives. In Schoop’s case, he ended the season without a job. In Cron’s case, he’s one of the easiest things to replace, and I think their preference was to find a 3B alternative to be able to move Sano to first. By contrast, Rosario is someone who has been part of the building process and has been quite consistent in his maddening inconsistency, with an OPS+ of 115 to 119 in three of his last four years, plus a 107 in the year he was hampered by injury. To me, it feels like their orientation will be to keep him. That said, I think MLR’s point is well-taken. You can talk about whether to “bring back” guys like Cruz, Odo and Gonzalez, but the reality is that they are free agents and they have no actual control. Rosario is really one of the few places where the team can make a significant difference in their returning payroll. This is definitely a different year in terms of revenue projection. Yet, this team showed that when they think they are ready, they will spend money (see, Donaldson and a cast of several others). The White Sox overperformed, the Twins underperformed, and the Twins still beat them. They see themselves as competitive and more. Thus, my hunch is that they’ll keep him. A prospect is a suspect until they have proven it. Rooker has looked good in a small sample size and Kiriloff has four at bats, but neither played a minor league season this year, so it’s hard to know how they have really developed. This organization a) doesn’t like to give starting jobs to rookies out of spring training; and likes depth. With Buxton’s injury challenges, I see them going into the season with Rosario/Buxton/Kepler as Plan A, with the hope that Rooker or Kirilloff will be ready when someone goes down or if they force their way into a call up.

I'm not remembering past offseasons well enough. Who, if any, have the Twins chosen to non-tender since Falvey and Lavine? Have there been many borderline cases in doing so? That may give a clue as to their orientation on a Rosario.

Since you asked... (all including playoffs) With Donaldson, 17-8 (.680) Without Donaldson, 19-18 (.514) With Buxton, 22-14 (.611) Without Buxton, 14-12 (.538) It’s impossible to know what things would have been like, but a lot of us noticed the different feel the team had when they were back from injury. You describe “malaise” of the last two days, and I think that’s a good description. But I don’t think they have that malaise with them present. If they do, Donaldson is one of the guys in the dugout most likely to address It. It’s even more impossible to know that specific things would have been different, but here’s a few things that come to mind: *The lineup is simply longer with Donaldson and Buxton in it. On Wednesday, a guy made his MLB debut with the bases loaded in the first. If they’re healthy, Kiriloff isn’t up in that situation. *On Tuesday, they got Greinke to 30 pitches in the first inning, without one of their most patient hitters in the lineup. Wednesday, they got Urquidy to 26 in the first, again without the patient Donaldson. *A couple of specific defensive plays come to mind where Marwin wasn’t able to make the tough play at third and Donaldson has a much better likelihood of making it. Tuesday’s was particularly crucial, when he didn’t make the play on what would have been the third out of the seventh inning. Springer followed with the RBI single. It also cost Duffey a few pitches, so he might have gotten more of the 8th. *Wednesday’s play didn’t lead to a run in the top of the fifth, but if Berrios gets out with one fewer batter, he’s more likely to get the sixth. *We don’t know who would have replaced Rosario, but with Marwin and Kiriloff on the bench, perhaps Cave isn’t flailing at ball four with the tieing run on base. We don’t know how things would have played out. And yes, the Astros were missing players, but it also makes a difference to have weeks to prepare for missing pieces, rather than days as in the case of Donaldson and Berrios. And yes, they still needed to figure out how to get hits. But I think it’s definitely a different series with those two available and healthy.

Tim Kurkjian is big on talking about how you can go to a game and see something you’ve never seen before. I’ve never seen back-to-back reviews on the same situation each get reversed in about 20 seconds.

Eddie homer?

I don’t want to pull Berrios. But if you’re going to use Odo in the pen, isn’t this the time to do it?

Just showed off the Carew statue. Let’s send it up to the plate and see if it can get a walk next time the bases are loaded.

I’m an optimist so I’m counting on a win. But on the bright side, if they lose today we won’t have to go through another offseason talking about how they couldn’t win in October.

Wouldn’t count on it. How is the traffic in Denver these days?

Have to wonder if that’s a place where not playing across divisions made a difference. It’s been a while since Reddick played at Target.

Hopefully you are HR too.

That missed strike three cost eight pitches.

Call Century 21!

Liked running 3-2 with Cruz up and how slow Greinke is to the plate.

Wait, those cardboard cut outs have Homer Hankies!

Thank goodness Tim McClelland isn’t umping with the amount of pine tar Cruz has.

Hurts to miss Donaldson, but if I have to choose, I want Byron in the lineup. He’s the special sauce, no matter what Garver says.

Or, you can turn on the radio and hear the analyst be clueless. Sorry, but you put it on a tee for me.

Agree. And because it's never too early to start thinking about the Off-Season Blueprint, I was looking at the Roster and Payroll file. Not only have they made what appear to be good extensions on the three you mention, but I'm impressed that they are regularly tacking on an option year at minimal cost. The three you named all are smart extensions with the guaranteed years, but they've given themselves the flexibility to make them even better with the option year. The Cruz signing was great for 2019, but with just a million dollar commitment, they had him for this year as well. The Perez signing was all-in-all good for them in 2019, but they were able to bail on 2020 at minimal cost. Even with the big-dollar Donaldson, they have the ability to extend one more year. There's some Romo-disliking going on these days, but my initial reaction is to bring him back at $5M. And if not, it's only $250K.

The pitch was to Mazara was both low and outside.

Mazara goes to 0-2 and gets rung up on a horrible call.

Pitching change in Chicago.