Eris

On Matt Wallner. It is hard for me to get excited about someone who has similar to slightly worse K% in the minors than Brent Rooker. Wallner is striking out about 34% of the time this year. For comparison, Kirilloff fanned about 20% of the time in the minors. I hope Matt Wallner does well, but for now am skeptical.

Arizona plays in a division with 3 teams that have a better record than the Twins (LAD, SD, and SF). It is possible they are a better team than their record indicates. Teams generally don’t win many games giving up 7 runs or scoring less than two runs as the Twins did in the 1st and 3rd games of the series

He would not be the first player to not make it in New York. The scrutiny in NY is intense especially for those not living up to expectations. For other examples see Sonny Gray. I was down on the trade but Sanchez as surpassed my expectations.

We don’t know the vaccination status of the players who currently are on the IL with Covid. Worst case is the players on the IL with Covid are vaccinated and therefore we could be down 8 players against Toronto, plus any others who would get Covid in the interim. Edited to change 7 to 8 as I had forgotten about Ryan.

The Twins have 12 players on the IL. 9 are pitchers, 6 plays are on the 60 day IL. It does create some interesting 40 man roster management issues as each additional player added means one more player that can not be protected. Therefore the Twins will likely add AAAA type pitchers. In addition, there are a number of prospects with significant innings limitations. It would be useful to construct a 40 man roster for next year. as a means of comparison, here are some select IL for a few teams. LAD 9 Houston 4 Toronto 2 Data is from https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/disabled-list/current-player/toronto-blue-jays/

MLB is opening an investigation. I think it is one of these issues that regardless of Donaldson’s original intent, that this has gone on for several years is unacceptable. I look for Donaldson to be suspended. He also did not help himself with his half hearted apology after the game. The first link is an excellent article on this issue. https://yanksgoyard.com/2022/05/22/yankees-josh-donaldson-calling-tim-anderson-jackie-robinson-problematic/amp/ https://wtop.com/mlb/2022/05/leading-off-mlb-investigates-anderson-donaldson-incident-2/

Details are linked below for anyone wanting more info. https://clutchpoints.com/rumor-the-real-reason-mets-failed-to-trade-for-padres-eric-hosmer-before-start-of-2022-season/amp/

The criteria I believe they use is rookie eligibility. Celestino had 62 PA last year so he qualifies by that criteria. Time on the active roster is also considered (which I don’t know how to determine other than to indicate he wasn’t up that long). Rookie Eligibility Definition A player shall be considered a rookie unless he has exceeded any of the following thresholds in a previous season (or seasons): • 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues. • 45 total days on an active Major League roster during the Championship Season (excluding time on the Injured List). A player must have rookie eligibility to be considered for any MLB rookie awards -- such as the American League or National League Rookie of the Year Award -- or appear on any MLB Pipeline prospect lists.

I don’t understand all of the stats but I read what I understand. Isn’t the eye test the reason Derek Jeter won 5 gold gloves while accumulating -DRS in 4 of those seasons. How do you refute this without statistics. Or that Kent Hrbeck or Doug M deserved gold gloves. https://www.si.com/.amp/mlb/2021/11/20/derek-jeter-carlos-correas-golden-glove-comments-it-doesnt-warrant-a-response I was certainly surprised that Royce Lewis did as well as he did. For several years we have been reading scouting reports (from Keith Law and others) that indicated that Lewis had a hole in his swing and was likely not an MLB shortstop. My reading of this article is that Lewis received too many good pitches to hit, (perhaps because of the above mentioned hole in his swing) and I look forward to Lewis making the adjustments to either hitting or laying off breaking balls just off the zone.

Jomboy media break down on Angel Hernandez. Posting because the 2nd strike call on Kepler was well of the plate.

1) Where do you follow the Twins from? Saddle Brook, NJ. I was born in New Ulm, MN and last lived in MN in 1995. 2) What's your jobby job? Physical scientist working in the chemical industry, mostly on personal care and preservatives 3) How 'bout hobbies? Photography, hiking, raising butterflies. I released 100 monarchs last year 4) How long have you followed the Twins? Since 1970 5) How many games do you attend a season? 1 or 2. 6) Who is your favorite all-time Twin? It used to be Kirby until.... I will give 4: Rod Carew, Tony Olivia, Jim Kaat, and Joe Mauer 7) Who is your current favorite Twin? Buxton 9) What is the most memorable thing you've seen in person at a Twins game? Jason Kubel hitting a 2 out grand slam against Mariano Rivera at Yankee stadium to give the Twins a 6-3 victory in May 2010. It was also bat day. Yankee Stadium was just rocking until the grand slam. 10) What is your favorite all-time Twins moment? What I watch most often, especially if I am in need of a pick me up is Kirby's catch and home run in game 6. The most emotional moment is Joe Mauer's final game

Talking about lighting a fire under the team. Amazing what happens when every player who has played worse than Royce Lewis realizes that they may be sent down or cut. Do players actually think in these terms

The one stat that is most important is the W-L of the team when Byron Buxton is playing. There have been some variations of this stat on the other Buxton threads. https://calltothepen.com/2021/09/25/importance-byron-buxton-minnesota-twins/amp/

It is a great title. Good job at such a late hour of the day.

If you were to subtract of the 5 games Buxton mixed following his knee injury the figure would be 23/30, which equates to 124 games for the season.