Cap'n Piranha

It's still VERY early, but... Right now it looks like Cruz for Ryan and Strotman might be the best trade in franchise history, even if Strotman never throws another pitch.

I for one kind of hate this, pending more information on his recovery. I would have preferred he get plenty of rest to ensure he's 100% recovered. Does anyone remember last year when Buxton had knee tendinitis, but the Twins brought him back after only a couple days off, and he promptly hurt himself again and missed two months? Maybe those things were unrelated, but it sure seems to me that when you play an injured player, they're much more likely to compound that injury.

This team just doesn't seem to have any spark or fire to it. The performance of Morrison, Lynn, and Correa is making me question the wisdom of waiting out the market to sign bargain deals on FAs who hoped for a big payday. If what we're seeing right now is what the Twins are, there needs to be a major house-cleaning. Falvine gone, the entire coaching staff gone, and the current core (other than Buxton) blown up. If you get a can't-say-no offer for Buxton, you might have to do that too.

To be fair, the league strikes out at a 22.9% rate, while getting hits at a 23.1% rate. That's just baseball in 2022.

In other MLB news, Toronto sends Jose Berrios and his 11.81 ERA to the hill in Boston tonight. Glad the Twins got rid of that bum when the getting out was good.

I don't want Buxton back tomorrow. From the moment he left with a knee injury, it never made any sense to not put him on the IL. It's a long season, and I'd rather Buxton miss 3-5 more games in April then come back not fully recovered, and injure himself again. It's a shocking sign of incompetence to me that Buxton wasn't immediately sent to the IL so we could play with a full roster. I would be beyond surprised if Buxton plays in any of the next 5 games, so we essentially played shorthanded for a week+ for no reason.

That's awful! Please use regular bowling balls and not human children you monster!

So you're calling no walk-off tonight?

I'm just trying to figure out how to listen to it--I'm listening through the MLB app, but getting the T-Wolves playoff game instead. Guess I'll have to switch to the KC feed.

Sano has some interesting peripherals right now. As one of our two most disciplined hitters, I'd very much like to get him PAs against a guy who struggles with control, and see if that gets him going.

The Royals are trotting out a 25 year old, who in his 104 big league innings strikes out 7.5/9, walks 4/9, has a 4.53 FIP and 5.02 xFIP. I'm not super worried about him shutting down our lineup.

Does this Ned Jasso look like a guy who worked at a chemical company with Donald Sutherland?

A plethora of mine, some of which are the same or similar to others posted here (I'll acknowledge those if I can remember who said it). Some of my ideas contradict other ones, so this is not a slate, but more like a menu. All 30 teams make the playoffs every year (credit Mike Sixel)--if you lose in the first round, you get a pick between 9-16 in the upcoming draft; tanking immediately ends. MLB pays off 20 MiLB franchises and shutters them. 10 teams are added to the "MLB" tier (I'd say Portland, LV, Nashville, Charlotte, San Antonio, Vancouver are for sures), which splits into two leagues, the Gold League and the Silver League. Each league plays 7 Each year, 2 teams are promoted from the Silver League to the Gold, and two relegated from Gold to Silver. Teams promoted cannot be relegated unless they've completed three seasons since their relegation, and teams relegated cannot be promoted unless they've completed two seasons since their relegation. Players are no longer paid by MLB team, but by the MLBPA, which receives a set % of total MLB revenue. The MLBPA can choose to play players by any metrics they choose, and each team is bound by limits (there would still be team control at the beginning of a player's career, and only so many individuals/contract years can be held by one team at a time) The rules change to make the game last 8 innings, and there are only 8 fielders and 8 hitters in the lineup. Once all 8 spots have batted 4 times, that team no longer gets to bat, regardless of what inning it is (but they do get a bonus run for every inning they did not finish; for example, the team's 32nd PA ends with 2 outs in the 6th--that team gets 3 bonus runs for the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings. Conversely, a team gets a bonus run for every PA under 32 that doesn't happen for the opponent; for example, a team gets through 8 innings and only faces 29 opposing hitters to get those 24 outs. They get 3 bonus runs for the 30th, 31st, and 32nd hitters that did not appear.

Sanchez made a throw, which carries the risk of an error, allowing potentially two runs to score, as opposed to just forcing two guys to be at third, one of whom be definition will be out. That said, if the runner at third leaves for second, and the runner trying to go home gets back to third, you find yourself in another run-down situation, except now you have to monitor the runner at third as a risk to score if you're not paying attention. Ultimately, I think Sanchez made the right call, as it's more valuable to keep the runner in the run-down between third and home, as opposed to second and third.

Not for posters here--they're equally angry either way.

I have no problem with him getting angry, I would just prefer it's not at me, because I insulted him.

Starting?

He still has Arraez and Gordon available.

Garlick has a career 119 wRC+ against lefties, but 44 against righties. As such, he's not going to see a lefty the rest of the game, and since he doesn't bring any excess defensive value, I have no problem yanking him the second the opposing team's Southpaw Starter is gone.

Not sure about yourself, but Miguel Sano is very high on the list of people I would not want to make angry.

Just remember...

Mr Sano would like a word with you.

I'm starting to think the Twins might turn into Cleveland West--lost of good pitching, mostly inept hitting.