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IndianaTwin

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Everything posted by IndianaTwin

  1. IndianaTwin
    Yes, clearly the FO saw my post in last night’s Game Thread and then had that confirmed by your excellent addition. But I would never toot my own horn either. “I’ve been on the ‘promote Keuchel for a couple of Ryan’s starts’ bandwagon for a while. What is the actual status on Keuchel? “We know that Keuchel opted out, but there have been several reports of the Twins having “a couple of days” to add him. Do they maintain exclusivity for a certain number of days? If so, how many? “I note that Keuchel last pitched on Friday, and the Twins are two days into a stretch with 13 straight. They haven’t announced weekend starters. I’d welcome seeing Keuchel Friday night.”
  2. IndianaTwin
    They also took an asset off our hands that provided some instant roster/dollar flexibility. 😀 (I'm not joshing about this -- I'm just trying to come up with a subtle phrase about what web site you can C4 more information on who I'm referencing.)
  3. IndianaTwin
    I don’t see them trading either Gray or Maeda. Contending teams aren’t going to mess with the mojo in their rotation. That’s a perfect way to alienate the clubhouse. Doing nothing is better than trading one of them. Joe Ryan has given up 16 runs in his last 19.1 innings over four starts. To resolve the Keuchel situation. I’m tempted to go with an IL stint for Ryan if there’s any sense of tired arm. If not, I’d still skip a start and give Ryan an intentional stint or two out of the pen.
  4. IndianaTwin
    Seems like we're getting a right-handed bat (who switches to a left-handed bat as appropriate) to fortify the lineup in a week or so when Polanco returns. And then another right-handed bat when Lewis returns. And I still think Buxton will right himself. I'm not that concerned about the offense -- anything that's sure to be an improvement will cost more than I'm interested in. There are enough potential parts to be able to roll with the hot hands. Something the FO has tended to do well is have a bullpen that grows in effectiveness over the course of the year. I was doing this in my head, but I think the bullpen has given up 10 runs in 40.2 innings since the break. That's a 2.21 ERA, and is hasn't felt like smoke and mirrors, wiggling their way out of jams by luck. That may or may not be sustainable, but it points to being headed in a good direction. I'm with Chief in pumping the breaks on assuming Thielbar and Stewart will be reinforcements, but they are two more parts to add to the mix. The sorting will continue, but with Duran, Jax, Pagan, Lopez, Balazovic, Moran, Ortega, Stewart, Thielbar and maybe Keuchel, etc., it feels like they have enough parts to be able to continue playing the hot hands there as well. I'd be glad to add to that, but don't feel the need to break the bank on a guy like Bednar with multiple years of control. Of names I've read, David Robertson has the most appeal. A particular thing I like about Robertson is that he can be used all over the board, from closer to setup. His ego doesn't appear to have Last year Robertson was traded for a Class A prospect ranked 26th on the Phillies list at the time and now projected as a 2024 ETA for the Cubs. On the Twins list this year. that is C.J. Culpepper, who is . I don't know anything about him, but if Robertson could be had for somebody in that range, I'd be on board.
  5. IndianaTwin
    Sorry, I didn't/couldn't see it -- I read the article on my work computer, which blocks anything that comes from Twitter.
  6. IndianaTwin
    From the article: "The Cardinals are seeking young controllable pitchers and pitching prospects in return." They will have no interest in Kepler. If they trade OFs, it's because they already have too many of them.
  7. IndianaTwin
    I changed my mind after seeing this. I'm interested in Sutter, just for the entertainment value...
  8. IndianaTwin
    An observation, and a hope. Observation: In one of the past two years, I remember going to the work of looking through the Twins and other teams' trades and found that over the previous number of years, the Twins had made an above-average number of trades. They've also shown a willingness to start those moves earlier in the month, rather than wait until the last day. Nelson Cruz was traded on the 21st, Magill and Morin traded for on the 19th and Escobar traded on the 27th. And, of course, Jaime Garcia was traded for on the 24th, early enough to get traded away a week later. There was also plenty of waiver action related to freeing up roster spots, etc. Plenty more trades have happened in the last day or two of the trade windows, but I have to wonder if the fact that we haven't seen much activity so far may be part of leading us to a less-active trading season for the Twins this year. That leads to a... Hope: If this does lead to a trade season when they largely stay put with what they've built over the offseason, can we please not have articles and comments ad nauseum about stupid the front office is and how they are not committed to winning? Most of us already have our opinions one way or the other, and those opinions probably aren't going to change with seven more days of activity or inactivity. I can hope, right?
  9. IndianaTwin
    Yeah, that's the danger of sneaking in a comment during a break from work. 😄 You are, of course, correct. I meant to say, "...deplete themselves further for the rest of the year." But I do think there's an element of truth here. If Cleveland bails, that makes it less important to tweak for the rest of the season. And given the random nature of the playoffs, I'm always less about trying to tweak for the playoffs than I am for getting there.
  10. IndianaTwin
    If we're talking "Perfect 2023 Trade Deadline," let's add the Twins going at least 3-2 the rest of the week and Cleveland going no better than 2-4. That puts Cleveland four games under .500 and 5.5 games back and hopefully makes them fully enter "sell" mode, depleting themselves a little further for future years.
  11. IndianaTwin
    I'm not concerned about identifying a "No. 1" starter. I've been saying all season that they have five guys who can pitch or have pitched "like a No. 1" for an extended period of time. That's better than having a clear 1-2-3-4-5.
  12. IndianaTwin
    Uh, why not just re-sign Sano? I mean, like Mountcastle, he's a right-handed hitter who can only play 1B. Mountcastle only strikes 171 times per 162 games, whereas Sano is much higher, but Sano has a higher OPS+ and more HRs per 162. Said more succinctly, "No, thanks." (And like others, I don't think Baltimore's likely to be trading him.)
  13. IndianaTwin
    Correlation doesn't equal causation, but it's been reported that Larnach will be activated on Monday, with Buxton to the paternity list. Perhaps the Twins got word the birth was impending.
  14. IndianaTwin
    From: https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-draft-2023-bonus-pools-pick-values; Teams that exceed their bonus pool face a penalty. Clubs that outspend their allotment by 0-5 percent pay a 75 percent tax on the overage. At higher thresholds, teams lose future picks: a first-rounder and a 75 percent tax for surpassing their pool by more than 5 and up to 10 percent; a first- and a second-rounder and a 100 percent tax for more than 10 and up to 15 percent; and two first-rounders and a 100 percent tax for more than 15 percent.
  15. IndianaTwin
    Because it's still at least a couple weeks out. Plenty of things will change by then.
  16. IndianaTwin
    It’s the Vulture role. He’s gotten two of his four wins that way. I haven’t seen anyone make reference to this, but this week he also got one via the rarely used “brief, but ineffective” clause.
  17. IndianaTwin
    I’ve been convinced for a while that the Twins are the only team in the division with the talent to be able to pull away from the others.
  18. IndianaTwin
    Exactly. Those two blown holds, coming on the heels of last season, have made it so people refuse to give him a break, but all in all, he’s done quite well. The primary niche they’ve used him in is the 7th inning, when down a run or two, with intentions to keep them in the game while not using their highest leverage guys when they are behind. He’s done particularly well in that situation.
  19. IndianaTwin
    It was described that way by Ozzie and the other guy on the Sox postgame show. I was kinda partial to the doink game from earlier this year when thinking about the game that most frustrated Ozzie.
  20. IndianaTwin
    WPA question here, for those who know this stat better than me. On today’s play where Gallo scored on the sac fly by Farmer, does the entire positive WPA contribution go to Farmer? If so, that’s ironic, since Gallo is the one who deserved it with his heads-up base running.
  21. IndianaTwin
    You’re right that he wouldn’t have NEEDED to replace Wallner. My comment was that he could have very well been planning to. I’m not sure which is a better defense — Vazquez at 1B, with AK/Castro/Gallo in the OF vs. AK at 1B with Gallo/Castro/Wallner in the OF. I definitely agree on your last paragraph about Farmer. He’s the guy I most trust to have a good at bat in situations like today.
  22. IndianaTwin
    Today was his 40th game. He’s blown a hold twice.
  23. IndianaTwin
    And had it gone another inning, I’d have been inclined to go another inning with Pagan before going to Moran, Sands or Balazovic, who were the three remaining.
  24. IndianaTwin
    I’ll bite on pinch hitting Vazquez for Wallner. 1. I don’t like to second-guess in general, at least in part because I never have all the pieces of information that go into a decision. 2. But for his career and for the season, Vazquez has an OPS of .730 against lefties, in several hundred at bats. 3. Albeit in a SSS, Wallner is 0-3 on the season vs. lefties and has a career OPS of .293 against lefties. That’s not OBP. That’s not Slugging. That’s OPS. Someone will say, “But how he’s ever going to hit lefties if he doesn’t get a chance?” By getting a chance in lower-leverage situations. Some of us grumble at times, but all in all, the team’s MO with rookies is to bring them along slowly into pressure situations whenever possible. 4. By already having used Castro, Gallo and Farmer, I suspect Rocco had already committed to taking Wallner out for defensive purposes if it reached another inning. The only way to do that is to go to Vazquez anyway, so he pretty much knew that Vazquez was going to be hitting in that spot if the game went through the lineup another time. 5. People were worried about using the second catcher, in case something happened to Jeffers (and it nearly did). In reality, they had an intermediate option if Jeffers has a minor injury. When Jeffers got hit, for example, an option was to flip him and Vazquez. And there was even another option, to actually use Buxton on defense. 6. See also, Chief’s comment above. 🤣 Right decision? Who knows. But to me, it’s much more defensible than he’s given credit for.
  25. IndianaTwin
    2) Agreed it was on Vazquez. Dugout could have also helped out by yelling to hold the ball when they saw the size of the jump. 4) Agreed on Buxton. Also saw the amount of time for him to get up after the steal. Even on the last strikeout, he had battled back well to a full count and then I think he just guessed wrong on the pitch call and was frozen. 5) When I looked at Balazovic’s minor league game logs, what stands out is very high pitch counts. He has had six games when he threw at least 70 pitches and in none of them did he get past 4.0 innings. For the season, he has averaged nearly 19 pitches per inning. I wonder if the team looked at that and said it’s not sustainable for him to be a starter. 8) And in winning last night and tonight, it pretty much puts them out of their misery. Had they come in and swept, they cut the lead to six and start to think they have a chance. I think we’ve effectively made this a two-team race.
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