IndianaTwin

Giving Duran 1-2-3 in the order makes great sense in itself. And you just saw the additional reason it makes sense. Duran pitched in the one-run situation and Jax will have at least at a two-run lead. Otherwise, Jax gets Guerrero down a run and Duran gets the easier two-run lead.

Agreed. Case of 24 Diet Dews, preferably. After all, Mountain Dew isn't just for breakfast anymore.

But apparently a pretty bright baseball lifer who could have been an Ivy League nerd if he wasn't so good at baseball. From his wikipedia page: "Not only did Baldelli excel at sports, but in the classroom as well.[1] There (a college prep high school) he posted a 4.25 grade point average. On the SAT, he scored 1300, and considered attending University of North Carolina, Wake Forest University, Princeton University and Yale University.[1]" Kimmey, Will. "2002 Minor League Player of the Year." 2002. Baseball America. Electronic. November 26, 2013.

Since we've all found it so helpful (and productive) to discuss what an "ace" is, we should try to do the same with "pipeline," right? 🤣 When we've got that one taken care of, we'll move on consider whether the carbonated beverage is "pop" or "soda."

I think Jose, Alex Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach, the IL and even Manny Margot and Carlos Santana will let us know. As in, Lewis hasn't even been cleared to start ramping it up. They'll undoubtedly play it cautiously. It won't be surprising to see it be another month before they have to make that decision. The answer would have looked different a month ago, and I'm guessing it will look different a month from now. As Mama IT* always said, "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." But yes, it's great to see Miranda being productive and as good as they've been playing, there's still some pieces that aren't clicking on all cylinders. That's the depth they've been looking to build. *Mama IT lives in a nursing home in Iowa, so it would technically be Mama IOWA Twin. Go Hawks.

Yeah, for some reason I've enjoyed tracking where Kepler's at on this list. It's not like I'm even close to being a German native, though like a lot of folks with a lot of Amish, German would probably show up a lot in my ancestry.com profile. Looking at it from time to time, it's one part, "Wow, that sounds amazing," one part, "Yeah, but there's been less than 50 players," and one part, "But it's still kinda cool." But with good old Pretzels on the list, I always have to include him. A different tidbit: Brendan Donovan is the only other German native to played this year. Unless someone else comes up or he hits some, another seven by Kepler and he will have one-third of all the homers hit by a German native.

When I turn in the radio a couple hours into the game, there's always the question of whether to go back and read the Game Thread from the beginning. I usually decide based on the score. It's always fun to do in a game that's turned into a blowout, reading the angst over the lineup, etc., and seeing how things turned out.

Gilbert's ERA goes from 1.64 to 2.94 in just over an hour. Not that that's as fast as my 1984 Chevette's 0 to 60 in three or four minutes, but still pretty quick.

Except for November in Cancun. Before then would be helpful.

Gardy's numbers have him well down the list in all categories. Except in managing. He was 1200-1280. The other three, all pre-1929, were a combined 59-123. Apparently German engineering smarts didn't convert to baseball.

And oh, yeah. You may have heard this, but his parents were in the ballet! 🤣

Among players born in Germany, he's also first in home runs (155, more than No. 2 Mike Blowers' 78 and No. 3 Glenn Hubbard's 70 combined) and RBIs (478, Hubbard 448). He's also atop the career bWAR list at 20.54, ahead of Hubbard's 19.15 and 19th-century pitcher Pretzels Getzien's 18.04. He's also third in hits (822, following Hubbard's 1084 and Bill Kuehne's 993), second in doubles (192, Hubbard 214), tied for third in steals (35, with Hubbard; Kuehne 150, Fritz Mollwitz 70) and second in walks (398, Hubbard 539). Aside from Will Ohman's eight plate appearances, his .756 OPS trails only Brendan Donovan's .763. Also first in strikeouts (720, Hubbard 640). So a pretty convincing argument for being the best player ever who was born in Germany.

Early 1980s was a time when I lost interest in cards for a while. I think it was because of the multiple sets, and I couldn't bring myself to consider three different options. In general, I also thought the backs of the Fleer and Donruss cards were weak. Speaking of, I realized that part of my enjoyment with different sets and why certain sets were favorites was the back side. That's where I found out that Cal McLish's full name was Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskohoma McLish (1975 Tony Oliva) or that Tony relaxes by swimming (1974). It was fun to see little factoids about people, to see their birthday and where they were born and to see which players had been in the majors long enough that there wasn't room for their minor league stats, etc. Might you consider including a sample of the back side as you're writing? And again, great stuff. You're bringing back great memories. As soon as I see you've posted a new one, I always give it a read.

There's really three parts to a "pipeline" -- drafts/sign and develop, trades and free agent signings, For example, Cleveland used trades as part of the "pipeline" Falvey was considered to be a part of. Just as SWR was a AA pitcher when sent to the Twins as part of a deadline deal, Corey Kluber was a AA pitcher when he went from San Diego to Cleveland as part of a deadline. Note that I'm not saying SWR is as good as Kluber. I'm not saying he'll become as good as Kluber. I'm just saying that the thought of any team developing an entire "pitching pipeline" through the draft/sign and develop method isn't very realistic.

Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish “Cal”

I'm not sure if this is what @CCHOF5yearstoolate, was saying, but I read it as a gentle encouragement regarding the name of the list that people are put on if they are unable to play because of injury. If that wasn't what was intended, I'll offer that perspective instead. I don't want to highjack this thread, since it's about Margot, but I'm glad to have PM conversation on the topic if that's helpful. Regarding the name change from "disabled" to "injured" list, here's an article that I found useful: https://www.twinkietown.com/2019/2/9/18216976/mlb-changing-disabled-list-to-injured-list-is-a-long-overdue-move-twins-mn#:~:text=The move came after disability,being unable to play sports. It's written from the perspective of a person who is "disabled" rather than "injured." As the father of a person with cerebral palsy, the husband of a special education teacher and a board member of a disabilities awareness committee, I can relate to where the author is coming from.

Agree throughout. And not to bring up a swear word, but the scenario in which you describe using your 4th or 5th best reliever is the exact scenario in which Pagan actually thrived last year. If you look at his game log, you'll see that aside from the several games when he completely blew it (the homer against the Dodgers, for example), he actually pitched quite well in the "opportunity for a vulture" role.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it. "Are the Twins the clear winner..." implies that someone had to lose. Trades don't have to be zero-sum games. In the best trades, both teams "win." The question is, "Did the Twins benefit by trading Luis Arraez for Pablo Lopez and two prospects?" Given their needs and how Lopez (and Julien, et. al) have done, it's an unequivocal "Yes" in my book.

It would have been a Jimmy Piersall running around the bases backwards sort of thing. Oops -- bottom of the eighth. Corrected.

It's interesting that from time to time there's a lot of complaining about managers not using their best reliever in the highest leverage situation. Then when it happens, people complain. As someone notes above, Duran didn't face 8-9-1, he faced 9-1-2. That meant Duran (our best reliever, right) faced a righty, a lefty who is also the only guy in the lineup with an OPS over .725 (Rojas at .979) and the righty who's seen as far and away their best hitter (Rodriguez). That's not a good split mix for Thielbar, but Duran is probably the person on the team best equipped to face that. If one of them gets on, the next guy up is the switch-hitting Polanco, where there's not a platoon advantage either way. Assuming Duran gets through the inning unscathed (and that's the hope/plan, right?), it means Thielbar gets two switch-hitters and a righty. By definition, the Mariners have at least two platoon advantages in their favor either way. They are also OPSing .638, .626 and .725, with batting averages of .195, .214 and .206. That's much softer than what Duran faced. And if, as @2wins87 says, the switch-hitters are weaker from the right side, they ought to be facing a lefty. There's also another aspect. The Twins batted in between the two innings. Seattle has a good bullpen, but if the Twins score in the bottom of the eighth, it changes the top of the ninth. Said another way, Duran was guaranteed to pitch the situation where the Twins are up one. Assuming Duran does his job, Thielbar could have entered with a one-run lead, but he could have also easily entered with a two-, three- or even more-run lead, which lessens the leverage even more. Ignoring the inning/handedness, would you rather have Duran pitch the inning with a one-run lead and Thielbar with the one, but possibly more run lead or vice versa. I'd rather the former. In my mind, Rocco played it correctly.

I’m listening rather than watching. It sounded like Max would have been out if he tried to score. By getting hung up, runners advanced to 3rd and 2nd.

So then really .8 over the last, what, 13 games? 😀

I also like the opportunity to listen to the other team's radio feed, as offered by MLB Audio. That I typically do that from the fourth to the sixth inning may or may not be intentional.

It's really .6 WAR for 17 games, several of which he was hurt.

My MLB Audio subscription just renewed at $29.99 for the year.