IndianaTwin

People have clamored for the Twins to play the kids. These guys aren't necessarily young, but they are unproven, so I think it actually makes sense to move guys around to see how they respond to different situations -- empty bases, runners on, starting innings, middle of an inning, up/downs, etc.

Another consideration is that it doesn't seem like catchers get traded as often at the deadline, though perhaps I'm forgetting some who have. Good teams tend to already have good catchers and they don't seem to want to mess with their pitcher/catcher mojo at that point in the season. Also, with the number of young pitchers they have, I think the Twins would also want to consider the effect it has on pitcher development to trade their No. 1 guy. With those factors and Jeffers perhaps having played himself into a QO candidacy, I've been feeling less and less urgency in trading him.

@Steve Drumwright, I'm not sure where you find the 40-man roster on Fangraphs, but today's 40-man movement was dropping Topa (DFA) and Acton (60-day IL) for Jackson and Arcia. The moves of Lewis, Jeffers and Adams didn't change their 40-man status. The list on MLB.com is current, though it also includes those on the 60-day (Acton, Festa, Lopez).

I'm also impressed with how they have turned Josh Bell loose. He already has more steals this season than in the past seven years combined!

I wondered if anyone might comment on that. Could be interesting to put in a claim and see if past temptings of ratcheting things up in the pen still have any validity.

Particularly when most of the deals were focused at 2027 and beyond.

Correct. Outman isn't holding back a prospect. His role is pinch runner (4 of 4 in stolen bases) and defensive replacement. He's started only once in the last two weeks (and got a hit, by the way). Interestingly, his WPA is actually a tiny positive for the year. He's pretty much the second coming of Terrance Gore.

I don't get the "Twins pocketed the money after trading Correa" narrative. They freed up about $21.5M: Bell: $7M Caratini: $7M Larnach: $4.475M (because after all, everyone on TD knew they weren't going tender Larnach and then thought it was the dumbest move ever when they did. /s) Rogers: $2M That totals $20.475M, so either: The Twins did spend the money they saved on Correa; OR The Twins were going to make those signings anyway, which goes against the "cheap Pohlad" narrative. Also, trading Correa also freed up future opportunities for redeploying Correa's money AND opened the opportunity to play Lee every day. That's a clear win in my book.

Zebby threw 95 pitches Friday night, so he likely won't throw anywhere before at least Thursday. With Klein and Funderburk having been sent down this week, I'm not sure there is anyone left on the 40-man that they can bring up unless it involves an IL move. EDIT: They could bring up Raya, who threw 21 pitches on Saturday. He's given up a run on three hits and a walk, with five strikeouts in his last three outings, each of which went 2.0 innings. A cup of coffee wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

No team has ever had too much starting pitching. I prefer to view it as, "When the inevitable happened, the Twins have still been able to pivot to Prielipp and haven't even gotten to Matthews and others yet." Previous years brought us Chi Chi Gonzalez and the husk of Dallas Keuchel.

Trading Ryan now is punting 2027. No thanks. Ryan, a rejuvenated Ober, what-he's-showing-this-year Bradley, soon-to-be-back Abel, what we've seen of Prielipp and much of a season from Lopez could be a pretty legit rotation. That doesn't even count any bounce back from SWR or the addition of anyone in the minors. This season has always been a roll of the dice. A contender, most likely not, but if all the pieces came together, a chance to sneak in the back door. With how the rest of the division has played, there's still a tiny sliver of chance, but realistically, Lopez going down largely slammed the door. So keep the plan, which seems to be to let 2026 be a year of sorting: Who among the young guys will be legit? A few weeks ago, folks saw Lee as a lost cause both offensively and defensively, but now his OPS+ is 102. Let Lee, Lewis, Keaschall, Martin, etc., continue to play, at least until someone pounds the door down behind them. Heck, let Larnach's season play out to see if he's indeed turned into a 126 OPS+ guy. Let Wallner continue to play himself into or out of a future, at least until one of the AAA guys is ready. Find out which of the minor league studs takes a step toward being a major league stud. Do the experimenting to find out which pitching prospect is indeed a bullpen guy. At the trade deadline, go ahead and trade Bell and any free agent that brings anything. Special note on Jeffers -- I'd like to see them extend him a couple years. If not, I'm not sure that trading him at the deadline is the right thing. First, it doesn't seem like expiring catchers bring that much -- contending teams tend to already have a catcher unless one has just gotten hurt. Teams also don't want to mess up their mojo by bringing in a new catcher for their pitchers to get used to in the midst of a pennant race. And second, frankly, given the relatively little they would likely get for a two-month catcher rental, it may be more valuable to keep Jeffers to aid in the continued development of the young pitchers the Twins already have. Sure, he walks for nothing, but your pitchers are that much better. But if someone is going to give an Abel/Bradley-level pitcher for him, sure. All that to say that by the end of 2026, they should have a very good sense of what the needs are for 2027. In the meantime, don't create more needs by trading your best starter.

Thing is -- then TD readers would complain about signing Dylan Bundy, et al. 😀

I wonder how many Rays Daily articles have been written on how the Twins fleeced Tampa Bay on the Jax for Bradley trade. Point being, you win some and you lose some. Varland would be a huge help in the bullpen right now, but at this point, (Bradley + Abel + Rojas) > (Jax + Duran + Varland) and that doesn't even take into account Tait and what's to come. I'll wait a while to get my shorts bunched up too tightly.

I remember an old generalization from Bill James: Fast, good arm -- CF Slow, good arm -- RF Fast, bad arm -- LF Slow, bad arm -- 1B It's a generalization, but I think there's truth to it. I think he's still in the first group.

It's hard to underestimate the value that comes with Buxton making virtually every 90%+ play. It also feels like he's rarely doing things like throwing to the wrong base or overthrowing a cutoff man. I wonder as well if Buxton's general ability to cover ground allows the corner outfielders to shade a step toward the line. I don't have opportunity to watch games, but by comparison, bullpen and offense inconsistency aside, it seems like defensive lapses have been the most costly part of the Twins' season to date. Simply having the rest of the team approaching Buxton's ability to make the 90%+ plays would be a huge step forward. By now, Rodriguez has gotten nearly as much time in RF this year as he has in CF. Partially that's Jenkins' presence, but I have to imagine it's part of a plan to use him in RF in the majors if Buxton is present. Jenkins has played RF in a few games, but has been the predominant CF. I think we'll get a clue of whether moving Buxton to LF is in the cards if we see Jenkins continue to solely play CF.

I wish I'd had you in 3rd grade. Check that -- my 3rd grade teacher was awesome. Maybe 4th grade.

Maybe THAT’S what our bullpen has been thinking about this season!

He’s just happy to be here and hopes he can help the ball club. He’s going to give it his best shot and, the Good Lord willing, things will work out.

Nope. This was his second year of arbitration.

Wow -- not sure which reaction to choose on the stat about 86 percent of games. That's shocking.

Blyleven's innings pitched and shutouts seem unreachable by virtue of the change in the game. I'm not sure that Santana's scoreless streak 33 innings is untouchable, however. A Padre pitcher may exceed that total tonight. It's not even the Twins record, with J.C. Romero having gone 36 innings in 2004. Relievers even have an advantage in that good ones very often complete an inning. There's generally less chance of a good reliever having a stranded runner score than there is for a good starter.

Yep. Rojas has thrown 48 and 50 pitches in his last two outings. He'd be on schedule to pitch tomorrow on his normal rest. Bringing him up for three days in Funderburk's spot makes perfect sense, particularly with SWR scheduled for Wednesday. Functionally, you can almost think of it as being like the 27th guy in a DH -- one appearance then back down.

Correction on the radio pronunciations: It's been "Carantini" from the play-by-play guy during the fourth through sixth innings.

On the radio there was an audible "Oooh" after the pitch on Clemens was overturned. Atteberry said it was actually the home plate ump reacting to his own miss! 😀

Last year I observed that Gladden had actually improved with Spanish-language names, which should be pretty low-hanging fruit to improve. But today we have "Yu-hen-i-way" Suarez playing for the Reds. As a positive, today is the first time I've heard "Caratini" rather than "Carantini."