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IndianaTwin

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Everything posted by IndianaTwin

  1. IndianaTwin
    Alcala was optioned on the 14th, so barring injury, he can't be brought up until he's been there 10 days. EDIT: 15 days, see below.
  2. IndianaTwin
    I doubt that Henriquez is up to start in Varland's place. Rather, he's likely up to serve as an extra person in the bullpen for a few days. Barring injury to a pitcher, when they need another starter on Wednesday/Thursday/Friday*, Henriquez or another optionable reliever will be sent back down to bring up SWR. *Technically, they don't "need" a starter until Friday, which would be Varland's day. My personal preference is that they bring him up for either Wednesday or Thursday, so that he can be separated from Paddack in the rotation. SWR last pitched on Friday, so he could go as early as Wednesday.
  3. IndianaTwin
    EDIT to add, as of 12:30 p.m.: Duarte to the 60-day IL, freeing up a 40-man spot to add Ronny Henriquez, who is called up in favor of Varland. And Henriquez has options, correct? So he or another optionable pitcher can be sent down to bring up SWR for the start. Personally, I'd prefer that happen on Wednesday, so that SWR is not back-to-back with Paddack.
  4. IndianaTwin
    Baldelli after yesterday's game: “There is urgency here,” Baldelli said. “I mean, we can’t play like this, pitch and play like this, and think things are just going to be fine. And our guys know it’s not just going to be fine. We’re going to have to do things. We’re going to have to be open to making roster moves and finding new ways to use players and figure some things out.” Rocco doesn't tend to telegraph roster moves, so this sounds like a change. With the amount they used the bullpen yesterday, if the plan is to demote Varland, I suspect we will see it today in order to get another reliever up. They don't have to have another starter available until Friday, so they don't have to go with another transaction until then.
  5. IndianaTwin
    I'll take this a step further and say that the Twins don't really want him on the 40-man roster either until Jeffers or Vazquez is hurt. With the two of them healthy, there wasn't another catcher on the 40-man all of last season. I don't remember prior years, but I think the overall principle was the same. A catcher wasn't added to the 40-man until he was needed. But they had to add Camargo last winter or lose him, and I think they like him well enough that they decided to keep him on the 40-man as a known quantity with some level of potential vs. signing the second coming of Drew Butera to a minor league deal. Folks are right in naming that Vazquez has sucked. Another reality is that when you are not hitting, defense becomes even more of a premium, so I'm guessing there's reluctance to have even a perceived decline in the defense from Vazquez to Camargo, when every run allowed is so valuable. Yeah, giving him some defensive innings in the blowout with Baltimore made some sense, but not in the second game of the doubleheader. That was the game Jeffers actually caught.
  6. IndianaTwin
    As opposed to 41 pitches through the first four innings. And two of their best hitters were due up in the seventh.
  7. IndianaTwin
    I went to visit a psychic. I knocked on the door and he said, "Who's there?" I left.
  8. IndianaTwin
    Jeffers has seen 21 pitches in his three plate appearances.
  9. IndianaTwin
    When on the bump, Bailey is looking like a Natural. Let's hope he doesn't run into a wall.
  10. IndianaTwin
    When Bailey pitches like this it's a wonderful life.
  11. IndianaTwin
    His April OPS (.778) is just a smidge above his career OPS (.762)
  12. IndianaTwin
    I get the sense he got the message another way.
  13. IndianaTwin
    And is on pace to play in 162 games!
  14. IndianaTwin
    I do enjoy the part where Chicago appears to have started at about 0.5 percent and have trended downward. I was not expecting anything out of them, but woooow…
  15. IndianaTwin
    Any idea how many pitches the non-Lopez/Ryan starters got up to during spring training? I don't know, but I wonder if it wasn't a whole lot more than 70 or 75, at least not more than once or maybe twice. He's probably not that far off from what they perceive as a rookie starter's workload. But yeah, you're right. It probably doesn't matter how many pitches he throws if 45 percent of them are balls, the way they were in his first three starts. Last night was also a huge step forward in that regard, bringing that number down to 33 percent. I don't know what's considered good. (Also, I just noticed that the number of batters he faced has gone 12-13-14-16, so if that counts as an indicator, he's moving on up. Just two more and he's at the magic "two times through the order.")
  16. IndianaTwin
    It is an interesting question. I suppose part of the equation is whether the decent starter will remain decent if he backs off a bit. It seems that teams aren't willing to take that risk. Or, they're trying to turn the equation to at least 12 starts from the elite guy, 10 from the decent and only 8 from the garbage fire. Personally, I think the next step in "preserving arms" will be the gradual transition to a six-man rotation [even if that means adding a 27th player (i.e., 14th pitcher), since that guy will be cheap.] With the minor league schedule set up so nicely with six-game series, it seems like the logical next step in their "development," which transitions to the majors when the guys coming up are used to being on that calendar. You hear about Japanese guys being the "Friday starter" based on that type of schedule. And note that I didn't say "preferred" next step. It just seems to me like the direction they are heading. Check back with me in 2028. Oh, and I agree. I don't think they'll deaden the baseball. More runs equals more (perceived) excitement. It's also counterproductive in this case, since it also means more pitches needing to be thrown.
  17. IndianaTwin
    If it's helpful context, his starts have been... 3.0 innings, 49 pitches 2.2 innings, 50 pitches 2.2 innings, 69 pitches 4.0 innings, 57 pitches The number of pitches per inning in the previous games is a problem. Turns out he'd walked nine in the 8.1 innings going into last night. I'd also like to see him build up further at some point, particularly if looks like he's going to be up soon. But in addition to the overall "load management" things people have noted, I wonder if there's also a confidence factor. They could say, "Nice job, dude. Four baserunners, five strikeouts and no runs over four innings. That's the guy you can be. Way to bounce back. Let's feel good about this outing, call it a day and leave with a good taste in your mouth.*" After his previous three games, I don't mind going that route. WIthout knowing the rest of the context, for last night I'd rather him pulled an inning too soon vs. an inning too late. *Which may or may not be the ballpark nachos.
  18. IndianaTwin
    Didn't think of this -- is 1979 the first year Topps put their logo on the front, other than as part of "Topps All-Star Rookie," etc.? I wonder if they were already anticipating the market divergence of 1981 that gave us Donruss, Fleer, etc.
  19. IndianaTwin
    Phooey. With the headline, I was hoping Jhoan had started a rehab assignment I wasn’t aware of.
  20. IndianaTwin
    I'll put more weight on Kepler's career 103 OPS+, including the 110 over the past five years, than I will on a five-game sample. March/April is historically his second-best month if you want to add that to the historical context. Regarding Bieber, you're overstating my argument. Go back to the original post and the one it was responding to. (Those were my last sentences on this discussion, which clearly isn't going to change anyone's perspective.)
  21. IndianaTwin
    True. Though he DHed in the second game of the year, so apparently there was at least some willingness to use him as a DH when he wasn't catching. Since then, he's DHed three more times, so maybe that would have been one or two extra games. Look, we're never going to know the exact breakdown. But it doesn't change my argument. Guys who have sucked would have gotten a lot fewer plate appearances if Lewis, Correa and Kepler were healthy.
  22. 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.
  23. IndianaTwin
    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."
  24. IndianaTwin
    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.
  25. IndianaTwin
    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.
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