IndianaTwin

Good point. Now Minnesota will be a more attractive destination for free agents…

Agree on the time clock, including having a similar experience with watching some old games a few years ago. Like Possumlad, I'm finding that wife is able to tolerate multiple innings. Speaking of rule changes, are these time stats counting all games or just those with nine innings? I still greatly dislike the Manfred Man rules, but it has clearly had an effect on the length of extra inning games. I miss the fluky things that came into play with the occasional really long game, even the effect that it had on future games because of bullpen deletion. If they truly needed the Manfred Man, I could have tolerated playing, say, two more "normal" innings before going that route. Holding a team scoreless in the top of the inning and then winning with a walkoff bloop single or a wild pitch (which wouldn't have been a wild pitch with no one on base) and a sac fly is about as anticlimactic as it gets.

Does Funderburk have options left? Because 40 pitches from the No. 8 guy in the bullpen often leads to a transaction. (I recognize that Alcala make be more deserving of an exit, but I'm operating from the assumption that the Twins aren't yet ready to cut bait.)

I've been one of the bigger complainers about Gladden over the years, but I actually think he's improved this year. I haven't heard nearly as much name-butchering and the camaraderie between him and Atteberry feels more genuine (though not necessarily enjoyable). On Opening Day, he actually said the couple of Spanish names correctly when doing the lineups. I've often said that if he spent even an hour getting a lesson in Spanish phonics from a native Spanish-speaker it would go a long way in not making him sound so much like a doofus. It seems like he may have done that. But yeah, not looking forward to nine innings of play-by-play the next several days.

You could break this into four posts and I'd give a "like" on each.

Thanks. That's helpful. I do see some significant differences from the Twins current situation. That trade happened in late July as opposed to early June. At the time of the trade, the Tigers were four games under .500 after losing six of their last nine. They were five games out of the last wild card and had to pass five teams to get to the playoffs. I don't know how much stock to put in the "playoff expectancy" calculations, but I'd have to assume theirs was pretty low at the time. I was going to say that at best, the Tigers probably saw themselves as marginal contenders, but given that they traded Andrew Chafin and Mark Canha that day as well, it seems they were pretty clearly in seller mode. However, one of the one of the teams ahead of them, ahem, collapsed, so they ended up sneaking in to the playoffs with the last spot. Hindsight's 20/20, but I have to wonder if come October, they were kicking themselves for having made the trade. If the Twins reach the point the Tigers were at when they traded Flaherty, I'm fine with trading Paddack then. But they aren't there yet. Separately, that trade may also be an example of what the Twins could expect to get for Paddack. Flaherty had more track record and was having a better season than Paddack and all the Tigers got were the Dodgers No. 8 and 22 prospects at the time. The former was in High A at the time and the latter was a No. 1 pick, but currently has a 77 career OPS+ in the majors. They certainly weren't needle-movers as it related to 2024.

Out of curiosity, when's the last time a contending team traded a starting pitcher on pace for a 2.5 WAR season?

From the OP: They send players down on the eve of an off day and delay the promotion or recall of a replacement until after the break. Ryan Fitzgerald, Mickey Gasper, David Festa, Eiberson Castellano, and Edouard Julien have all been subject to this strategy. -------------------------------------- Let's take a look at this "strategy": Fitzgerald was sent down on the 22nd and Correa not activated until the 23rd. First, why keep Fitzgerald on the roster when he can go across town and play in St. Paul? Second, why activate Correa before he's needed on the 23rd, in case he has a setback from the injury (or has some fluke injury with a water bottle or something)? Gasper's first demotion was on an off day, but they recalled Lewis the same day, so that doesn't fit the "strategy." Gasper's second demotion was also on an off day, but they didn't have any choice but to send him back down the next day -- he had been called up to be the 27th man in a double header. First, Festa wasn't sent down on an off day. Second, he's a pitcher. If he's not going to make the next start, it makes strategic sense to send him down. They called up Gasper and had an extra position player for a day before activating Lopez in time for his start. Third, had they waited a day to send Festa in order to give him an extra day of service time/pay, they would taken the pay/service time from Gasper, so it's a wash for the budget. Castellano was sent back to Philly during spring training. Not sure how this forwards the premise. Julien's was demoted on an off day, but Castro was activated the same day. Doesn't fit the premise. And as others have said, the travel plan makes no sense to send McCusker to Seattle, just to send him back home. It's hard for me to see a nefarious plot here.

Mainly it says that having a faster runner is better than having a slower runner and that Bader in left and Castro at third is a better defensive alignment for the last half-inning than Castro in left and Lewis at third. They probably would have made the same substitution if Lewis was hitting .400.

Hey, if calling it a "formula" means that we don't have to put up with all the "Rocco only manages his pitching by spreadsheet" comments, I'm cool with that.

To add to my "Bride likely wouldn't make it through waivers" comment above, the Twins actually traded for him by sending "cash considerations" to the Marlins. With how he has done for the Twins in comparison to how he had started the season in Miami, I'd suspect they could trade him to someone for either cash considerations or somebody way down the other team's lottery pick list.

In a world where the setup man starts to get attention, Danny Coulombe was on his way before the injury. He's still nearly the team's leader in bWAR among relievers, with two-thirds the number of innings. And with a good June, Sands could still be in the mix as well.

Phooey. They promised me I could in and out of town with nobody noticing.

I don’t know the injury situation elsewhere, but it seems that Bride has righted himself enough that he wouldn’t make it through waivers without being claimed.

I hear the Lynx are pretty good.

Does that count?

I got some new shoes this week. I was having hard time getting the shoestrings in place until I got some new glasses. They’re the greatest spectacles in lacing.

And now France swings like a pendulum do!!!

Always assumed it was the cops on bikes.

By the way, I read that Hrbek turned 65 this week. I think he should receive more credit for his heroic efforts to prevent Ron Gant from getting injured in a horrific fall.

Does England swing like a pendulum do?

The thought of Diamond hurling for three innings makes me want to hurl.

Also raining cats and dogs here in Kansas. I just stepped in a poodle.

Rocco hasn’t improved in terms of his willingness to use Durán in the seventh since he’s been installed as the closer. He’s been very consistent in how often he’s done it over the past three seasons — once each year. In other words, it’s wrong to imply that Rocco has used him in the seventh with any regularity and that he’s needed to improve in that regard.

In both of Sands’ saves, there’s more to it than just saying he was the next choice because Duran wasn’t available. His first save was in the second game of the doubleheader. Not only had Duran pitched in the first game, but so had Jax, so he wasn’t available either. Sands was the best of what was left after using the top guys to nail down Game 1. in his second save, Duran wasn’t available but Jax was. However, I think Rocco played it more by situation. Jax didn’t get the save but he was the one who got the top of the lineup in the eighth. Sands then got the save by pitching to 5-6-7 in the lineup. I’d argue that Jax was the more trusted one.