IndianaTwin

Kepler last played April 6. With the way the Twins use people in multiple positions, you're saying that having Kepler available for an additional 10 games wouldn't have affected Wallner's playing time? Sorry, but I'm not seeing that. And soft tissue, hard tissue, what does it matter? Lewis has two plate appearances and would have had a lot more if he was healthy. But whatever. Go ahead and allocate the 110+ plate appearances differently than I did (and I should have included Margot). The point still stands that guys who have sucked would have gotten a lot less at bats if those three were healthy. EDIT to add: Sorry, I didn't realize that Wallner has as few plate appearances as he's had. It wouldn't have cut his plate appearances by the number I listed. But the 40-ish plate appearances Kepler has missed would have affected some combination of Wallner, Margot and Castro.

Sorry, one of more comment. Based on this sentence, I wonder if the question you were really trying to get to was "Where does Thielbar fit in the bullpen," rather than "Is it time to pass the baton."

Based on this response, I'm taking this as willing to hear feedback. Where it came across as gloomy to me is that your questions at the end of paragraph 1 and 4 all set the stage for a downward spiral, which is followed by a reference to an 81.00 ERA that really means nothing after one inning. I think for me the feel would have been different had you gone paragraph 1-5-2-3-4 and then picked up from there. Paragraphs 1 and 5 are the lead, 2 and 3 are the context and 5 and 6 (or even combine them) ask the question you are trying to resolve. In your defense, while I can't speak for others, my response also comes in the context of what's felt like increased negativity on TD over past months. They have sucked so far this year, I get it. But a lot of TD articles have felt like kicking people when they are down, and from the beginning of the article, I was anticipating another.

If you're talking about using injuries as scapegoat, I assume you're talking about the hitters. Other than DeSclafani, all the starting pitchers are healthy, and the bullpen has been effective. In terms of injuries to hitters on the teams ahead of them... Cleveland has George Valera and Angel Martinez on the IL. Yeah, I'm not sure who they are either. Detroit has Andy Ibanez on the IL and Ryan Kreidler listed as "day-to-day." Kansas City has Michael Massey on the IL (as of Monday). I think Correa, Lewis and Kepler top any of those in terms of production lost. I'm guessing that the loss of any one of those (particularly Correa or Lewis) would be more than what any of these teams has lost. Collectively, the Twins have lost more than these three teams combined. Many of the guys who are healthy are playing like crap, but by definition, those guys would have around 110-120 fewer plate appearances if those three were healthy. The Twins have 604 plate appearances as a team going into today. That means close to 20 percent of the plate appearances have gone to guys playing because someone was on the IL. Consider the Twins offense with, say, 32 fewer from Martin (who hasn't been bad, but who is only up because of injury) and 20 fewer each from Wallner, Santana, Castro and Farmer. It seems to me that injuries have played a HUGE role in how the offense has performed to date.

If that's a genuine question and you're seeking honest feedback -- yes, it did to me.

Why? In his last outing he cut his ERA by two-thirds! Point being -- I'm with those who say it's way too early for such an article.

Larnach is out of options, right? So in other words, they pretty much have to try him sometime this year or risk losing him.* I suppose it makes some sense to give him a little more time in the minors to get his current mojo together, but I'm not sure that he's going to "learn" anything new (i.e., how to strike out less) with more minor league time. His OPS is .838 in the minors and has been at least .822 at every level of the minors. Given that, and that Wallner is really struggling, they might as well make the switch and let Larnach have at it now. If he succeeds, great. If he struggles, he's probably still better than where Wallner has been this year, and it gives Wallner the chance for the reset. And if he stinks at this year's Wallner level, it's better to find that out sooner rather than later. *I get that some might not see much risk in losing him. That's not my point. My point is that if he's going to get another chance, now's as good of a time as any, given the factors above.

Another fun article. 1. The 1979 season was the last year in which I went into the store and bought packs with gum, except for a one-year blip in 1988. I eventually was able to complete the set. For that reason it's a favorite set, but I agree with your "just OK" in terms of the actual look. 2. I remember Gary Serum, but I don't remember the circumstances of his career ending, including whether there was injury at play, etc., but it seems surprising that someone with 1.9 bWAR as a 21-year-old didn't get picked up somewhere, particularly in a time so quickly after expansion in 1977. His restaurant looks good, however. 3. I've always enjoyed leader cards too. I've also always been surprised that Parker didn't get more HOF consideration. His vote totals are amazingly consistent. He stayed on the ballot a full 15 years, but spent the last 11 years in a tight window of 10.3-11.6 percent. Most people either trend up or fall off. In looking closer, he probably doesn't belong, but he's very close to Tony Oliva in both categories used in JAWS. He, Jim Rice and Dale Murphy are these three outfield contemporaries who were monsters for several years, but weren't able to sustain at the level needed. I'm sure Parker's issues with drugs hurt him significantly with the voters. 4. Goltz/LaLoosh -- I can see it, particularly in the sideburns and hairline. I also see a bit of the "Well played, Mauer" guy in Goltz's face. Keep them coming.

He's at 8.1 innings through 16 games, which is pace for more than 80 innings for the year. That ain't happening. Add to that the schedule, which unfortunately includes the reality that an extended outing from the pen isn't out of the realm of possibility while facing Baltimore in these three games, followed by three more against a team he's just seen. And as someone noted, the Baltimore lineup is lefty-heavy, so three lefties in the bullpen isn't a bad thing. So yeah, load management. I'm guessing he'll have about three or four one-inning outings in the next two weeks and be back in the minimum number of days, unless an injury happens sooner.

First -- my apologies. I had forgotten about the potential second year, though in reality, mutual options are rarely used by both. Either the player is lousy and the team doesn't want to pick it up or the player does well and wants to try free agency. Second -- yes, the Twins didn't have to put him on the roster and could have let him walk. But if you are using that logic, don't you need to add anyone else they tendered contracts to, along with picking up the options on Kepler and Polanco?

They didn’t give Farmer a two-year contract while cutting $30 million. Nor did they add him this year.

Regretfully, if you're looking solely at batting average, Miranda's .154 (after the AB) and Wallner's .083 are both improvements on who they were hitting for.

Let's stick this closer in a van down by the river.

I hope you've enjoyed your time on TD while it lasted, Aggies. The administrators will be in touch.

After yesterday's game, something is feeling vaguely familiar here.

Me too, but I'm starting to think we should have put him back in for the eighth.

Based on Mrs. IT's response to my jokes, TD is the only outlet I've got.

If I'm a hitter, I'm not sure I want this on my front shoulder.

If so, I'm sure Chief is amped up about it.

I assume he's now conducting himself properly?

Fun article. Also, any article that has opportunity to reference Juan Berenguer deserves a “like.”

Lost in today's wins, don't forget about Tonkin. When he was signed this week, there were a decent number of people complaining, while others of us were naming that he was likely just a placeholder for a few days. Well, last night, he held that place and threw two innings after they were down 5-0. In doing so, he allowed them to have a fresh bullpen today, which was huge. Sure, Bowman could have conceivably thrown those two innings Friday night, but then he wouldn't have been available today (when he wasn't needed, but was an available body) or tomorrow (when he'll be the only completely fresh arm). It's almost like the front office knew what it was doing in signing Tonkin.

Beautiful job by SWR. With it and with the efficient bullpen work, no relievers enters tomorrow’s game having thrown more than 32 pitches in the past two days. Guys will need to go back to back, but everyone besides Funderburk, Jackson (both through yesterday and today) and Sands (28 pitches today) is probably available for at least a batter or two. Since I put in a request earlier for SWR to go six innings, I’ll go ahead and request that for Ober for tomorrow.

Gotta like having seconds on chicken!

I think it may be sorta both. Brock is correct that they have to be sent down. BUT, because he doesn’t have to stay down the normal 10 or 15 days, they can immediately bring him back up in exchange for someone else, which effectively does what Lecroy is describing. In the case of a starting pitcher, it doesn’t make sense to do that, however. Go ahead and send SWR back down, but you can still bring him back up for next Friday or Saturday if you want, but you still have several days’ access to the guy you would send down in his place.