John Bonnes

Aaron and John talk about Jose Berrios' struggles, Byron Buxton's impending return, Brusdar Graterol's estimated time of arrival, Ryne Harper's demotion, another major injury for the Indians, what can be done to fix the Twins' defense, and tidbits from Thad Levine and Daniel Adler. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link. http://traffic.libsy...3?dest-id=74590 Click here to view the article

;-) Tough crowd.

Fixed throughout. Twins Daily deeply regrets our mistake.

After a ridiculous hot start for the Twins, they’ve been struggling to maintain their division lead over Clevelend. Something has been missing. An ace starter? A dominant closer? Byron Buxton? Nope. The team apparently needed a #RallySquirrel. Tuesday night the Twins again fell into an early deficit to the White Sox. They came back to tie it 3-3 and were threatening in the bottom of the fifth when this happened: Take comfort, Minnesota. When needed, she’ll be there. Click here to view the article

Aaron and John talk about the Twins' impressive road trip, Sam Dyson's return and Brusdar Graterol's possible arrival, Jose Berrios' worrisome struggles, Marwin Gonzalez catching fire at the best time, Jorge Polanco's throwing errors, and the Phillie Phanatic lawsuit. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link. Click here to view the article

In his last appearance as a AA-Pensacola Blue Wahoo, Twins #3 prospect Brusdar Graterol hit 103.8 MPH on a pitch and then was promoted to AAA-Rochester along with fellow fireballer Jorge Alcala. The move aligns with recent news that Graterol could be promotedto the Twins bullpen for their postseason run.The 20-year-old Graterol started the year as a starting pitcher and posted a 1.89 ERA with 46K in 47.2 IP, but suffered from a shoulder impingement condition in early June, and was shut down until late-July. Since his return to Pensacola, he’s been used as a reliever, throwing five innings, holding opponents to a 0.71 ERA, though he’s only struck out four batters. His outing yesterday versus Chattanooga was when he threw the 103.8 MPH pitch. Click here to view the article

Last night’s 12-7 win over the Rangers featured six runs before the Rangers got an at-bat, home runs by C.J.Cron and Miguel Sano, another solid relief outing by Trevor May and even two home runs from #OldFriend Danny Santana. But the inadvertent highlight of the game happened during the seventh inning stretch, and #MNTwins twitter was THERE for it.The Rangers started the seventh inning stretch last night with a rousing rendition of “God Bless America.” This guy went for it, really belting it out, but got a little carried away at the end when he made the bold choice to go for the high A on the last note. And choked. Literally. Poor guy turns into Tarzan on that last note. Cut to commercial. NO, FASTER! Click here to view the article

I almost clarified something in the story, but was rushed for time so I'll add on to what jorgenswest and stringer bell are saying. There are two situations (at least) where it is the scorer's discretion: 1) The starting pitcher leaves the game with the lead, but hasn't thrown five full innings, and the team never relinquishes that lead. In this case, the scorer is not allowed to give the starting pitcher the win, so she can choose whichever reliever she feels is most deserving. This one does not apply here because Odorizzi did go five innings and also left without the lead. 2) A reliever is on the mound when the lead changes, but is brief and ineffective. That's the situation as described above, but (as noted above) it should not apply either. If there is a different situation that should apply, nobody seems to be able to point to it, including the Twins Official Scorer, Stew Thornley.

There was a scoring decision last night that was at least odd and probably just plain incorrect. In the Twins 4-3 win over the Rangers, Sam Dyson was ruled the winning pitcher, despite taking the mound after the Twins took the lead. There are reasons to do that in baseball, but none seem to apply here. First, let’s go through what happened.The Twins entered the bottom of the sixth leading 2-1 with Jake Odorizzi on the mound. Odorizzi tired, and after getting two outs, gave up a two-run double that gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead. He was replaced by Tyler Duffey who struck out a batter to end the inning. In the top of the seventh, Twins second baseman Jonathon Schoop hit a two-run home run to give the Twins a 4-3 lead. In the bottom of the seventh, Dyson pitched, and wriggled out of some trouble to maintain the lead. In the eighth and ninth inning, Taylor Rogers and Sergei Romo did the same and the Twins won 4-3. The reliever “on the mound” when the Twins took the lead was Duffey, so why was he not given the win? I asked Twins Official Scorer Stew Thornley (who was not involved, because the game was in Texas) and the only exception he could point to is rule 9.17©, which gives the scorer discretion to give the win to a subsequent reliever if the reliever on the mound is “brief and ineffective.” But Duffey was not ineffective. He may have vultured a win, but he struck out the only batter he faced. He could not have been more effective. In fact, Thornley points out there is guidance on what “ineffective” means in this regard. The guideline states that if the reliever pitches less than an inning and gives up two or more runs, they can be deemed ineffective. In fact, Thornley wrestled with this guidance just last weekend in a Twins game. On Sunday, Brad Hand blew a save, giving up two runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game. Cleveland won the game in the tenth. Hand wasn’t particularly effective, but Thornley awarded him the win because he did pitch a full inning as the guideline suggests. The win statistic has come under a lot of fire over the last 25 years for being overrated. It has been and probably still is. But it's also in basbeall's rulebook. Whether you believe it to be important or not, it should at least be awarded to whom it is supposed to be awarded. Hopefully we’ll hear soon that a change has been made and Duffey gets his “W.” Click here to view the article

If you didn’t stay up last night to watch the ninth inning of the Twins blowout 13-6 win over the Texas Rangers (hey, we’re not judging), you missed a little in-game drama. Jake Cave hit a 3-0 pitch for a single, violating an unwritten rule in a blowout win, and teammate Max Kepler paid the price. Tom Froemming documented the video and radio calls of the play for us on Twitter: It’s an interesting sequence. As color commentator Roy Smalley noted, there is no way Twins manager Rocco Baldelli gave Cave the green light on that pitch. It looks like first base coach Tommy Watkins said something to Cave when he reached first base, and Cave immediately seems to gesture towards the pitcher that he is sorry, and made a mistake. The Rangers pitcher (to his credit, I suppose?) threw the pitch at rib level at Kepler, but it was a 93 mph fastball. Hopefully this act of vengeance puts an end to any ill-will regarding Cave’s brain cramp. (And I hope Cave bought Kepler a big steak, possibly to soak on top of the bruise.) I’d sure love to hear what everyone thinks of the unwritten rule, and the apparent retaliation. Would your opinion be any different if a Twins pitcher was the retaliating pitcher? Click here to view the article

Stare Into The Void. Ah, nothingness. ....

It is probably time for the Twins to consider benching C.J. Cron. Cron has been a far cry from the good player he was in the first half of the year. Since the calendar flipped over to July, Cron has hit just .209/.284/.358 and he hasn’t looked good defensively at first base. On the year he has really struggled against right-handed pitching with a .698 OPS and only an 80 wRC+ (while annihilating lefties to the tune of a 1.063 OPS and 167 wRC+). Cron has been worth just .3 fWAR this season and his wRC+ is 104, meaning he’s about a league-average hitter while playing a position that should produce more offensively. His defense has been below average (-2.7 UZR) and as we are all well aware, Cron doesn’t provide any value as a baserunner (-3 BsR).Part of Cron’s decline could certainly be attributed to the thumb injury he suffered in early July which has landed him on the 10-day IL twice. His offensive numbers have been way down and Cron has hit more ground balls and fly balls than line drives, which seemed to power his first half surge. His line drive percent has gone down from 24.3% in the first half to 17.5% since. Cron has also seemed to have had trouble catching up with fastballs of late. He has whiffed on nearly 35% of fastballs so far in August. Whether watching Cron play or looking at the numbers, it is becoming abundantly clear that he should not be an everyday player at this point in the season. This begs the question of whether there is a better player to trot out to first base. In actuality, there may be several. As referenced in the opening paragraph, Cron has hit lefties very well, so he should continue to see playing time when the Twins face left-handed pitching. But the majority of MLB starting pitchers are righties and we have seen that Cron shouldn’t be in the lineup in this scenario. However, Minnesota doesn’t really have any left-handed options to platoon with Cron, as the best 1B options appear to be either right-handed hitters in Miguel Sano and Mitch Garver, or switch hitters who hit better against lefties in Marwin Gonzalez and Ehire Adrianza. Technically, left-hand hitting catcher Jason Castro played about 11 innings of first base when he was with the Astros, but he seems unlikely to play first at this point. The Twins could also get aggressive and call up left-handed AA OF/1B top-prospect Alex Kirilloff, but that would start his service-time clock and coming up and playing a big role in such a crucial stretch of games is asking a lot from the 21-year-old. Of the players already on the 25-man roster, Sano seems to be the best option to slide over to first. Sano is a below average defender at third and his long-term home will most likely be at first base anyway. If the Twins non-tender Cron after this season, Sano is probably the most likely internal option to take over at first, so he could gain additional experience now and the Twins would get an extended look as well. Sano certainly seems to enjoy hitting as a first baseman. In an admittedly small sample size (seven games), Sano has hit .360/.448/.720, good for a 200 wRC+. For what it’s worth, Sano’s defense at first has also rated better than Cron’s (again -small sample size). Sano’s splits against righties are also significantly better than Cron’s (112 wRC+ vs. 80 wRC+). For the time being, this would mean that Ehire Adrianza would get more playing time at third with Marwin Gonzalez currently splitting time in right field with Jake Cave. Once Buxton comes back, the Twins would have the luxury of using Gonzalez more at third, where he rates the best defensively this season. However, Adrianza has hit righties pretty well this year (107 wRC+ compared to Gonzalez’s 83 wRC+), and although his defensive numbers at third haven’t been great so far in 2019 (SSS), his career numbers are better than Sano’s. Of course, the Twins could also get Mitch Garver some playing time at first. The Twins have been getting Garver more starts at catcher of late, but playing him at first would be a nice way to utilize his potent bat. Garver has destroyed lefties (1.147 OPS, 189 wRC+), but like Adrianza and Sano, he has been much better than Cron against righties as well (.864 OPS, 119 wRC+). Garver has hardly played any first base this year, but he has played the position in the past. Any or some combination of the previously mentioned players would offer an immediate upgrade over Cron. The Twins have an opportunity to not only improve offensively by getting Cron’s bat out of the lineup against righties, but also to improve defensively by getting Sano off of third more often. Cron could still play against lefties (and pinch hit) and the extra rest might be good for his thumb if it is still bothering him. Benching Cron also gives the Twins a chance to get Garver’s bat into the lineup more often and to get Adrianza, who has played very well in limited opportunities, more time on the field. Finally, once Buxton comes back, playing Cron less will allow Minnesota to continue getting Gonzalez in the lineup. So what do you think? Should the Twins continue to roll with Cron? If not, which combination of players do you prefer to play in Cron’s place? Click here to view the article

Check Game Scores And See How Many Other Teams Bullpens Stink. I specifically recommend the Cubs:https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1162189103192035330?s=20

Aaron and John talk about a bad week at Target Field dragging the Twins into a tie with the Indians atop the AL Central, Nelson Cruz's ruptured wrist being good news somehow, the lineup setting all kinds of home run records, the wheels coming off the starting rotation, and Taylor Rogers running on fumes. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link. Click here to view the article

Aaron and John talk about what can or can't be done to prevent more Byron Buxton injuries, Sam Dyson's post-deadline implosion and injury, Devin Smeltzer making a case to stick around, our crushes on Nelson Cruz, the biggest week of games at Target Field since 2010, and blogging, fantasy, and gambling. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link. Click here to view the article

Just talked about this on the podcast, but I'll ask it here: did the Twins get the best reliever of anyone traded at the deadline? I think I'd put Dyson over Shane Greene, though it's debatable. But is there anyone else I'm missing?