IndianaTwin

Sure. Cut the sleeves off.

Do you know if they are again this year? I'm just heading home from work to check.

I've since Googled. Looks like I was close on No. 1 in that they were the first team over $4M in 1991 and 1992 and then did it again in 1993, but were topped by another team that year.

1. Blue Jays? 2. Babe Ruth?

As in, the perception of over-platooning.

So last year the complaint was that the lineup was always loaded up with lefties against RHP and vice versa. Now we complain that aren't enough lefties against the RHP, since Julien, Gasper and Kiersey are on the bench? After all, we could have Kiersey for Bader in left; Gasper/Julien to 2B, with Castro shifting to 3B and Gasper/Julien for France, leaving just Buxton, Correa and Jeffers batting righty. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Yes, a pitcher's bad outings are almost always going to have a bigger effect on ERA than the good ones do. That's in part because the distribution isn't a bell curve around the average. There's only so much better a game can be in comparison to the average, whereas it can always get worse with more earned runs.

@Tom Froemming, did the sportswriter for the Cedar Rapids Gazette actually play parts of three seasons for the Yankees? Because that's where that link goes.

I don’t think he’ll DH much, if at all. The configuration will never be Larnach, Buxton and Wallner in the OF with Bader at DH. If they wanted to play those four, one of Larnach or Wallner would DH and Bader would take his spot. Basically, if Bader starts, he’s either in CF for Buxton or starting in one of the corners.

(Deleted due to repetition --IT)

"Integral" is in the eyes of the beholder. I think they see him more as "bonus" than "integral." With Duran, Jax and Sands, he's at best No. 4 on the pecking order. With Varland, Alcala, Coulombe and Topa, he could be as low as No. 8 when all is said and done. Getting 34.1 innings at 2023 performance level from your No. 8 during the time he is active would be solid. If he does more than that, it's bigger bonus. If he does less, well, they were solid last year pretty much without him and have reason to think they are already improved elsewhere in the pen.

I said this in a different thread, but with Blewett not on the 40-man, I could see them rolling for a couple days with a seven-man bullpen, particularly if Gasper indeed avoids the IL. They have off days on days 2 and 9, with days 5-7 being games with the White Sox. I'd consider keeping Blewett off the 40-day for a few days and keep all three of Gasper, Martin and Kiersey around. After you've had a couple back-to-back games where you've the bullpen a full four innings, go ahead and send one of them, but for 3-5 days, maybe longer, you've got an extra pinch runner hanging around. EDIT: To add... https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/mickey-gasper-dashawn-keirsey-jr-make-twins-opening-day-roster "The Twins all but set the position-player side of their season-opening roster on Monday, notifying infielder-catcher Mickey Gasper and outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr. that they will make the club and optioning infielder Austin Martin." Meaning, they don't appear to be taking my advice. Oh, well, they haven't the last eleventy-seven times either. Maybe I've been using the wrong email address.

You obviously don't think they are going to ask me to come out of retirement and play one of those. 😀

The article hints at going outside to fill the 8th spot in the bullpen. With off days on Day 2 and Day 9, I could see them trying to sneak a few days with an extra bench player available until the bullpen usage backs up a smidge. Plus, you can't say this in the paper, but Days 5-7 are against the White Sox, so it's not unlikely that starters could go long on those days and keep the bullpen fresh. EDIT: To add... https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/mickey-gasper-dashawn-keirsey-jr-make-twins-opening-day-roster "The Twins all but set the position-player side of their season-opening roster on Monday, notifying infielder-catcher Mickey Gasper and outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr. that they will make the club and optioning infielder Austin Martin." Meaning, they don't appear to be taking my advice. Oh, well, they haven't the last eleventy-seven times either. Maybe I've been using the wrong email address.

I remember reading that about him when he was still playing, but a stat like that sticks with a person. If I recall, they blew out their opponents in the game where he had four.

Last year, Correa didn’t take days off very often at all. He took weeks off on a couple of occasion, but when he was active, he played almost every day. Games 1-11: Played 11 of 11 Games 12-27: IL stint Games 28-94: Played 63 of 67 Games 95-147: IL stint Games 148-160: On-off-on-off-on-off in what would have been a rehab stint if not in a pennant race, then played 7 straight. Each year is different, but if last year is the pattern, while it’s fair to name the concern of Correa having two IL stints (one very long), the idea of Rocco giving a healthy Correa lots of days off needs to go away.

Mickey Hatcher, Mickey Gasper. Mere coincidence to have such similar names? (Favorite Mickey Hatcher stat. In the 21 basketball games of his senior year in high school, he had 104 fouls. Do the math.)

Wait -- do you know something about my sons that I don't know? Mine have the exact same ages and similar dispositions. 😀 I was skeptical about the "quality start" at first, but have come to feel less so. As long as I define "quality start" as "kept my team in the game" as opposed to "Cy Young worthy," I think it means something. Not everything, by any means, but one of those quick-and-dirty stats that lets you look at a guy and say, "Yeah, he gave our team a chance to win." Most any time a starter gets through six and gives up only three runs (not distinguishing between earned and unearned runs), I've got some chance of winning. If my offense has scored no runs or only one, I'm generally sunk, period. If they've scored even two, I'm a solo run from tying. And as we've seen above, six innings also means that he's gone longer than average. The list of last year's leaders correlates pretty well with successful seasons. QS also has a way of softening the effect of outlier games in a pitcher's ERA when the manager leaves him in after getting shelled because the bullpen is depleted, etc. Ober had 18 quality starts out of 31, which is pretty good, for example, but his ERA was only 3.98 thanks to having given up 17 of his 79 earned runs in two starts. Without those, two starts, he's a spiffy 3.18. I found Jose Quintana as a guy who had a virtually identical ERA+ (105 compared to Ober's 104) in a similar number of innings (170.1 to 178.2). But Quintana only had 12 out of 31 QS compared to Ober's 18 of 31. That suggests Ober kept his team in the game in a bigger percentage of his starts. I'd rather have Ober's season on my team than Quintana's. An argument I've heard against the QS start is that it's only a 4.50 ERA, which it is for that individual game. But to keep using Ober as the example, only two of his 18 QS were exactly that figure. Every other combination in a QS, even three earned runs in 6.1 innings, lowers the ERA. I didn't do the math, but Ober's ERA in his 18 QS is likely well below the 3.18 referenced above. I'm not advocating for this, but I do wonder if, given that starts are getting shorter, someone will start advocating for a QS starting to include two runs in five innings or more.

That would be awesome, and they will sometimes. Lopez did eight times, Ober seven, Ryan five, Paddack twice and SWR once. So almost a quarter of the time with the top three and then a couple more. There were also a dozen or so other times when the starter was given a shot, but didn’t get through the seventh. Realistically, however, I don’t see them getting past an average of 5.5-5.7 in today’s game, but that would be well above average.

You never know. Rollie Fingers first grew the handlebar to get $300 from Charlie Finley and it seemed to work pretty well for him.

What is your definition of "go deeper"? The Twins have already gone deeper than other teams. The MLB average was 5.2 innings last year. Take out the two games started by Openers and the Twins averaged 5.4. Digging deeper, Ryan averaged 5.9 innings per start last year and Lopez and Ober 5.8 innings each. Paddack averaged 5.2 innings and odds would suggest he'll go longer in a second year removed from TJS. The rookies averaged less than 5 innings, in part because of load management, particularly after they fell out of the race. It's logical to think that they will go longer this year as well. Only four teams averaged more than 5.5 innings last year but it seems very feasible the Twins will be above that. It wouldn't be out of line to add a paragraph to the "The Good" section of the OP noting that the strength of the Twins rotation means their bullpen shouldn't be as stressed as others.

From the OP: Young starters may find themselves put to the test for the Twins this year, and that's always a risky proposition. We saw this play out in the late stage of 2024 after Ryan went down. The dependability of the rotation was greatly diminished as Woods Richardson posted a 5.23 second-half ERA, Matthews took his lumps, and starters generally struggled to get through five innings on a regular basis, increasing the bullpen's burden. Post All-Star Break, starters made it through five innings in 42 of 68 games. That's 62 percent of the time, closer to two-thirds of the time than half, which is what "generally" implies.

And for what it's worth, MLB Network's "experts" who were measuring the same thing listed Correa 42nd, Buxton 68th and Royce Lewis 82nd. The inconsistency makes me think that what it's worth is... "not much."

Nor are there 13 shortstops better.

But it really throws off a hitter's timing.